Monday, October 26, 2009





Talofa Samoa

Well, what can I say besides, Can I please go back for another week…or a year or two or three. I loved it! I love the people, the culture, the language, the weather! Faga village and my homestay! My first lesson on the language, cooking dinner of fish and taro and coconut, lavalava, fales, pe’a! fun! We flew into Apia and were welcomed by the heat and humidity amidst a flurry of Samoan people. My first thoughts were of Mexico City, but I soon realized I was on the other side of the world. There would be no taquitos or Spanish. And they drive on the left side of the road. This was a new development… as in they just changed the driving side a few weeks ago and everyone is learning how it works. All 30 of us packed our selves and our packs onto a bus and headed to Tatiana Hotel. I was so anxious to see as much of Samoa as possible those first few hours of the night. I was shocked to see so many people out in their villages at 9 pm. Everyone was up, and I could see everything that was happening in their homes. You see, there are no walls in these villages. Privacy…haha. It was a totally new experience and I soaked as much of it up as I could. We slept our first night in Tatiana hotel…(more like a pretty shabby hostel) But it was great! I couldn’t sleep too well I was so excited. There were many many noises in the night from dogs barking, to a phone in our room ringing to lizards on the walls and chickens outside the window etc. And I woke up like 2 hours after I fell asleep and was sure that my clock was wrong. I felt like I had slept the night thru and I heard a few people talking outside the room, so I figured it must be morning. I got up and took a shower, I really didn’t want to miss any part of the day by being late. Anyways, I realized it must not be morning when I got out of the shower, got dressed and fell asleep again thinking I’d wake up in a few minutes. It was like a night of many naps. Anyways, long story for the first night. I will try not to be so detailed about these silly details.
The next day we went to the market in Apia (we had an assignment to observe the culture) and our first introduction to the people began. It was awesome. Again, I was reminded of Mexico a little bit. It was lava shopping time! These sarong-like pieces became vital to our outfits for the next week. That afternoon we travelled to the other island and arrived in Safua Hotel, our home for our first couple of days in Samoa. We were surrounded by beautiful tropical flowers, palms, and coconut trees. The Hotel was decorated with palm branches and woven and braided traditional green coconut tree leaves. So Beautiful! It wasn’t luxury by any stretch of the American idea of comfort, but it was high end for those in Samoa. But let’s talk about the people. Our hosts were so warm and welcoming, cooking us elaborate traditional Samoan cuisine and teaching us about the culture and the community. I ate some crazy things. Well, not too crazy. Just different. On Sunday we went to a congregational church in Safua, all spoken in Samoan. The people sing beautifully! And this would not be our only experience with that. On our last two night in Safua we were blessed to listen to a little Samoan musical group entertain us during dinner. One evening we even had a little fiafia…which you don’t know what that is, hmm I will explain later. It’s awesome. We taught them some Dutch Blitz and they taught me some Samoan! I can’t describe to you how much I love learning the language. I was so excited to ask questions about the structure of questions and to guess on the spelling of their words! And it worked! I could put it together and they were so willing to help me learn! That was a moment I loved, and I know God has put a passion for language in my heart. I can’t even describe the feeling! I loved this experience!
The next 3 days in Samoa were spent in the village of Faga. This is where we had our homestays. Once again, I was (and still am hyped up about it) more than excited about being truly immersed in the culture first hand. And it definitely was complete and total culture. We entered the village and were welcomed to the village with a traditional ava ceremony. This involved us all entering the village fale, where all the leaders and matai of the village sit on the floor. We come in and shake each of their hands before sitting on the far side of the fale. The majority of the ceremony is in Samoan and we each take a drink of the traditional kava drink while the village leaders watch and laugh at our mistakes. After the ceremony we were divided and distributed into our families, spread out around the village. I was paired with Robyn and we spent the next 3 days living in a little fale right on the beach across from our families few fales. We ate all our meals on the floor of the family fale while they watched us eat, fanning us and our food. Not gonna lie, it’s a little awkward, but you get used to it. We spent the days waking up super early, getting to know the many many children of the family (it’s a large extended family unit), playing volleyball in the dirt with a bent stick “net”, walking to the plantation, cutting open coconuts, snorkeling right outside our beach fale, struggling to communicate while loving the struggle, and learning so so so much! We spent the nights taking walks with lina and trying to not get into sticky situations with her “secret boyfriend”. The culture for dating is very different. She’s 17 and they are not allowed to date until they are 21. Even these little things are so intriguing! It’s real life over there too! Haha, but you know what I mean. Language and culture does not make the people that much different. We are all still so human. I love it! And I love trying to understand the language in order to understand more about the people, not only be a part of the cultural tradition. Oh my goodness! This was a great time! On our last night there we had a Fia-Fia. This is a ceremony with amazing music and dance…on their part. It’s an alternating concert idea, where they do a few numbers then we do some. They dance a traditional haka and sing beautifully! We tried to deliver but…they definitely had us beat. Oh! Prior to the fun, our host family dressed us in a traditional Samoan outfit with a ula (a lei of gorgeous yummy smelling flowers). I felt so special and loved. When we left Faga I returned to NZ with pe’a on my arm. Pe’a is the Samoan tattoo. No worries mom, they only drew on me with pen. It was definitely sad to leave. But hey! Now I’m back in New Zealand.

Sunday, September 27, 2009






Photos of my Travels!
This is the picture out my bathroom window in the morning!
And then there's a picture of the ocean about 5 minute drive to the edge of the peninsula.
And a sunrise picture! I rode my bike here early in the morning to see this. Pictures don't do NZ justice.
A friend at the museum in Christchurch,
and my Canadian friends watching our first rugby game!



Hello Hello!
First of all this is a picture of my home! Palm trees and ocean and snow-capped mountains! I have just finished another week and spent the weekend at my NZ homestay. My host for the weekend is named Margaret. She runs a B & B and has been living in the same house for 75 years! She is a sweet 89 years old and a great cook! They have so much teatime here! I had tea 3 times a day and then breakfast, lunch and dinner. I think one day I had chocolate cake 4 times! It's ok though, because we rarely have dessert at the convent. We went and saw some alpacas and then returned to the waterfall for my 3rd time there. This waterfall is where the yearling seals go and play. We aren't sure why they are there because it's freshwater and they live in the salt water. But anyway, there was a really cute little one who came right up to our feet and sniffed them. This is rare because usually they are scared. That was fun. Have I mentioned how beautiful it is! It was a good weekend. I stayed at Margaret's with another girl named Courtnee from the Convent. We had fun just walking around the top of the peninsula where she lives and taking pictures of the scenery and her gorgeous flower beds. I think I have gone overboard on pictures, but hey... I will try to upload them on here, but it's hard, and time consuming.
I have a free week this week before Samoa because I am not taking the elective Literature course that is offered this week. I will need to catch up on some reading for other courses. It's rainy this week too. should be fun...since I am supposed to bike back in half an hour and my bike is currently getting wet out in the rain. hmm. Oh, Grandma if you are reading this, our professors for this week are Rich and Polly Stevic (or however there names are spelled). Rich is coming to Samoa with us. I didn't realize they knew you, or who they were. But I told them my name and they told me the connection. I miss you guys!
Alright I have to go now. I will give you an update after Samoa!

Sunday, September 20, 2009

classes

So I just finished my first week of class. It was a really good class! The way classes work is we have one course for two weeks. This one is called sustainable community development. We have finished half of the class and we will do the other half after we get back from Samoa. Mick Duncan is our professor for that class and if you haven’t heard of hum m you should look him up online. He’s a great speaker with lots of stories that really made the class interesting. During the week the professor lives at the Old Convent with us and he is around pretty much all the time. It’s definitely a different experience eating lunch and dinner with your prof after class. We have class in the mornings from 9-12 and then again at night from 7-9. So we have all afternoon to do the readings and other homework. It’s a pretty crazy schedule, but nothing like real college. Sorry for those of you in real school, who can’t do their homework with 24 of your classmates in the same house with the most gorgeous view out every window and a personal chef. Not to mention instead of getting colder, it’s getting warmer here! I was sitting out in the sun today and it was amazing and warm! It’s still cold indoors, however. We’re having a swing dance session tonight! And line dancing on Thursday. This is reading week, by the way. That means we are all doing the course readings prior to our classes so that there is less to do during the week of class and the profs can just expect us to have read most of the material. I mean hey, we are actually taking a 4 credit class in two weeks, it’s gonna be intense. Later today I met head over to a lavender farm and eat lavender/honey ice cream! Yummy! Be jealous.

Monday, September 14, 2009

As of September 15th. that's NZ time for you.

I am such a horrible Blog-writer! Sorry it has taken my so long to finally get a post up. If you want to hear my excuses they are: I forgot my password, I am super busy, and I keep running out of internet time before I get to my blog. But I do want to keep you somewhat updated on the amazingness that is my trip to NZ. I had written an earlier blog but I never posted it because, as I said, I forgot the password. So, I just posted that now and this one.
I spent this last 3 day weekend in Christchurch! It was really fun. We stayed in a pretty nice hostel in center-city. Still find it strange to see guys in the bathroom when you get up in the morning. Coedness…interesting. We went to art galleries and markets and a botanical garden and experienced the night life. We even met some locals! Good times had by all! Oh! And we went to a Rugby game! Two big rivals in the south island. It was amazing, we followed up our live game with the All-Blacks game at a sports bar. They lost to South Africa, sorry for them. It created quite the uproar. We started classes yesterday… But I wasn’t in the best of health. I seem to have eaten something in Christchurch and ended up with food poisoning the night we got back. It was yucky, that’s all you need to know. But I am feeling much better today and our first week of the Environmental Sustainability course is gonna be good. OH there are so many things to tell you! The people here are great. I never knew living with 30 people in one house could be so fun. I experienced some Samoan culture already and we are preparing for our trip in 2 weeks! I can’t wait to be warm again. I haven’t eaten too many strange things, although we did have a kiwi iconic foods night here at the convent. The drinks like, L&P, ginger beer, and kiwi juice are probably the strangest, but they aren’t bad. Things seem a lot sweeter here. I miss you guys! Please pray for the health of everyone here, it’s no fun being sick in New Zealand.

Sorry it's so late! I'm Here!

I’m here! It’s so beyond beautiful. After 25 hours+ of travel 24 students and 5 faculty drove through hills and towns to a peninsula surrounded by snow-capped mountains, rolling hills and a pebble beach that is Kaikoura. The Old Convent is our home for the next 3 and ½ months…with a little excursion to Samoa! It’s an olf convent turned B&B which is currently being leased by Creation Care Study Program. Our rooms still have the names of the nuns who lived there. I live in St. Blandina’s past residence with 2 roommates. Sarah from California, and Stacie from Canada. They are both great. We ate Fish and Chips on the beach our first night with everyone. It was cold, but yummy. Did I mention I can see my breath in the morning…inside my room! Yea. It’s that cold. Lot’s of layers. Lots and lots. There is not much central heating in New Zealand apparently. It’s gorgeous though. I wake up and one look out my bathroom window and I see the pink cherry blossoms on the tree in the backyard, with the snow capped mountains in the background and a pink morning sky. I’m not complaining. OH, and if you look to the other side of the house, it’s the ocean. Yep. I know. Be Jealous. We eat great here! Jess, our cook, is amazing. Tons of veggies and fresh foods. I went on a hike the other day and we learned about the trees here and it was so green and pretty. I guess I wasn’t really expecting the plants to be that different. But they are. It’s so cool. Ok. I can’t tell you everything because there’s too much to tell, but I’m also biking to town, and church and anywhere that I want to go that isn’t with the whole group. So dad and Daniel, be proud. We have one more week of orientation and then we will be planning trips for the weekend. More details on life to come.