And another one’s gone (Written 12/4/07)

Day by day, the Group known as 75 dwindles away into the history books of Peace Corps Samoa. Yesterday (Monday), Julya left the island to go to yet another island (New Zealand) and then will travel to two more islands before coming home to Samoa – who says she's tired of the island life? As I previously told you, on Saturday I said my final goodbye to Bryan and today I had to say my final goodbye to Candice.

I met up with Candice at ClickNet and just made sure that everything was squared away in terms of packing for her and Bryan's bikes. They are going to be spending 5 weeks in New Zealand just biking the island – quite an endeavor but I couldn't think of two people from my group more suited and up to the task of biking around a country. Out of all the folks in my group – next to Sara – Candice is one of the hardest ones to say goodbye to. The main reason for this is that she is one of my best friends in the Peace Corps and I always enjoyed going over to her house for Sunday lunch and just talking. When you come into the Peace Corps community, you realize two things: 1) It's very therapeutic to verbalize a lot of the things that happen to you in a foreign land and 2) You need to talk to someone you can trust. Candice fit both of those criteria for me, so it was a tough goodbye to say the least. Hopefully she will keep me updated on their progress throughout New Zealand and I will see her (and Bryan) stateside…in the country of Texas!

While I was helping out at ClickNet, Mark (Group 78) came in to use the net for a bit. Apparently he had missed the last bus back to his village and thus had to stay the night in Apia. He had no big plans for the night, so we just sat down and talked. As always the first topic most guys talk about when they sit down for a bit is sports – it's the universal male language! So we talked about the NFL for a bit before going into some other stuff about home (we're both from Tennessee) and talking about our Peace Corps experience. He's only been here for 6 months so I was able to give him some pointers on how to survive the 6 month period of being a volunteer and also told him some of the things we're trying to improve within the Peace Corps community. This was the first time I really sat down and talked to Mark (or anyone from the newer groups – 78 or 79) and we actually had a bit in common. It was almost like talking to a friend back home because he is unlike a lot of the other volunteers around here, which is nice. So as we were talking, I was checking my email and found out that Fa'atuatua College was having their prize giving tonight (Tuesday night). So I had to leave the shop for a bit and Mark wanted to know if he could join me (again, no plans) and I said 'Sure why not'. So we walked and chatted until we got to the Peace Chapel Hall (the same hall where we have Sunday service). I was glad I could be there because Fa'atuatua is like my second school and I wanted to see my 3 computer studies students and congratulate them. When we arrived, the Principal was giving a report of what has happened at the school over the past year. The program went fairly quickly: Jewell and Leilani tied for first place in Computer Studies, Jewell came third in her class (Year 12), Leilani came second in Year 12 and Uati received an award for being a House Captain. This was also the first year that Fa'atuatua College implemented Year 13 (which allows the students to receive the equivalent of a high school diploma). The Valedictorian for Fa'atuatua College was a tie – a brother/sister tie. Their names are Conrad and Rene and I believe that this is the first time in the history of schooling in Samoa that there was not only a tie for the Valedictorian (called the Dux) but that it was a brother and sister combination who won it. Each one said they were surprised to have tied but since both of them prepared speeches, you could tell that each one pushed the other to be better academically – which is a nice change of pace.

So after the graduation I went to my 2 students, Jewell and Uati (Leilani is in Australia) and congratulated them on their hard work this past year and wishing them well next year. This was the first prize giving that Mark has been to in Samoa, so I gave him a slight overview of what was going on and how everything worked (since this was my 4^th). Kind of amazing really – my night was probably going to be really slow, but just when I needed something interesting to happen it did. God has good timing. So a small conversation with Mark turned into going to church for a prize giving – never could have predicted that one.

After the prize giving we came back to ClickNet (right before it began pouring down rain – so good timing) and Mark did a little bit more surfing before heading off to the Peace Corps hostel. Something tells me that if I were staying for another year, Mark and I would get along pretty well. And this is why I avoid getting to know most of the new people – because if you see commonalities between us, then it becomes that much harder to say goodbye. And trust me – it's already going to be hard to say goodbye to this place.

Tomorrow (Wednesday) at about 12pm, Bryan and Candice will be off to yet another island for their newest adventure and then there will only be 2 left: Sara and I – the Dynamic Duo. L8r.