We left for Apia Park at around 6:30pm (the ceremonies started at 8pm) and just like for the opening ceremonies, the streets were literally packed with cars and buses trying to get to the park. Instead of trying to park close to Apia Park, Kevin and I parked in a little parking area that was close to the Peace Corps office and walked the rest of the way. It was only about a 10 minute walk from the park, but so much better then trying to make our way through the bumper to bumper traffic – plus, getting out would be so much easier for us compared to the folks trying to park inside Apia Park. Kevin had a grandstand ticket and I had a general admission ticket (same type I had for the opening ceremonies), so we went our separate ways at the gate. As soon as I walked into the park, I knew there were a lot more people here compared to the opening ceremonies. I guess everyone saw how great the opening ceremonies were and decided that they had to be at the closing ceremonies. I mean every single area where a person could stand or sit was taken – there were people literally sitting in the side rafters.
The ceremonies began with the march of nations, this time without the introductions, so the athletes just walked around the track waving at everyone. I once again got photos of Zonder, Fila and Karl with their medals which was nice. Janita, a NZ friend of Sara's, also got to walk around the track because she has been heavily involved in organizing the SPG for about a year or so now – it was quite fun seeing our friends in this sort of spotlight. As some of the countries were walking around the track, a few of them did a Haku on both sides of the park – which got the crowd super excited and pump. After all the nations marched onto the field, the athletes sat on the track to watch the closing ceremonies.
After the march, came some singing and dancing from students who performed during the opening ceremonies. It was nice and in some ways better then the one they did at the opening ceremonies. The only thing that was bad about these ceremonies was the fact that when people got up to speak (such as the Archbishop of Samoa and the SPG Samoa Chairman), they were only speaking through the speakers facing the big grandstand so the people in the small grandstand (i.e. the area I was in) were unable to hear them talk…which led to people getting restless. After the speaking and dancing, they lowered the SPG flag and handed it over to New Caledonia, who will be hosting the 2011 South Pacific Games (maybe I will reapply to Peace Corps New Caledonia?!?). They had a culture group from New Caledonia come up and perform – they literally looked like bush people. It was quite interesting but the most interesting part is the lack of excitement from the audience – there was literally dead silence, which I have never seen in Samoa when it comes to any sort of cultural dance (I've seen them get excited for things from Vanuatu, Tonga, Fiji – so it was quite different). SPG New Caledonia's gonna have its work cut out for it if this is the type of reaction they're going to get in 4 years.
Once the SPG flag was handed over to the representatives of New Caledonia, I'm thinking that the Chairman of the SPG organizing committee came up and spoke a few words (we could actually hear him). He made some interesting comments:
- There were 33 sports played during this South Pacific Games. The next SPG will only have 28 games.
- 4,400 Athletes and thousands of volunteers were taken care of during these past 2 weeks. The most amazing thing is that they were all fed and (the athletes) all had good accommodations during their time here. This is the biggest event that Samoa has ever dealt with and they came through with flying colors.
- Because of the SPG, Samoa now has the best athletic facilities in the Pacific. This is both a gift and a curse – it's a gift because it could make Samoa into one of the premier sporting nations in the Pacific region. It's a curse because of the cost of maintaining these facilities – especially the swimming pool. It's the Olympic affect on a smaller scale, hopefully Samoa will be able to maintain these great facilities and use them to bring more recognition and money into the economy.
- This was considered the best SPG ever – a far cry from the doubt that many people had about the games leading up to it. While Samoans do tend to leave things until the last possible minute, somehow they usually come through – it's an amazing cultural skill.
- The chairman spoke of how Samoa did in the first SPG (i.e. not very good) and compared to how they have improved in the 13 years since that event – Samoa ended up with 44 gold medals (their goal was 50, but before now they had never done better then 25), 33 Silvers and 50 bronze medals – they were in 3rd place in the medal count. New Caledonia was in first place, don't know who had second place – maybe Fiji?
So these South Pacific Games were quite well done and went much better then anticipated. I didn't get to go to as many sporting events as I would have liked, but I enjoyed the overall atmosphere. I am really looking forward to when the population deflates back to its usual numbers come Monday.
Now onto the funny part of the ceremony – once the event got kind of boring, people started leaving early! I was like 'What is this, a football game?' People were literally leaving in droves – I guess the closing ceremonies weren't as exciting as the opening ceremonies….until the very end. While they were singing the SPG theme song, fireworks were shot off. These fireworks were suppose to be used for the opening ceremonies, but they didn't show up in time – so the fireworks went on for like 30 minutes…they had a lot of them! I think that's the real reason that people came out in droves, they wanted to see the fireworks (which are a rare commodity in Samoa). While everyone else was looking in awe of the fireworks, I took a video of them and photos before heading for the gate to try and beat the crowd. It wasn't to bad getting out of the park because everyone was still distracted by the fireworks. I made it back to the truck and waited for Kevin to show up. When he did, we decided to let the traffic die down for a bit before venturing into it – so we went to get some ice cream while we waited (there is a ice cream place called Scoops close to the Peace Corps office – it made a killing last night because everyone was buying ice cream). After Kevin and I got our ice cream, we sat down next to an old lady (and her daughter) who asked if we were waiting on a taxi to go home – Kevin told her we were just waiting on the traffic to die down. She then asked if she could get a ride from us and Kevin said yes – now odds are this would never happen in the states, but just goes to show the generosity that is sometimes on display in Samoa. She also lived relatively close to where we were going, so it wasn't out of our way to much. This old ladies face lit up when Kevin said that she and her daughter could come with us – she told Kevin "An angel must have sent you!" and Kevin replied "No, it was this guy over here!" (pointing to me). So we finished our ice cream and Kevin went to get the car and picked all three of us up at Scoops. We decided to take the back roads instead of the main road because there was a chance that there was less traffic there – because just like in the states, after any major event everyone seems to want to take the main way out instead of taking the back ways.
So we ran into little traffic on our drive, we dropped off the lady and her daughter and then made our way home. Overall, it has been a very relaxing 3 weeks off – sad to see it end, but we've got to get this 3rd term started. It ends November 1 so it's not to long – plus, I've got to get my kids ready for their finals and national exams….ahh, the fun is only just beginning. Plus this term features the introduction of my last group – Group 79 and the coming of Group 2. So odds are I'm going to be looking back at these 3 weeks fondly wondering how they went by so fast! L8r.
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