More "Cash For Work"

Almost every village decided to do these painted rocks for part of their projects. They had them before the tsunami, but the waves washed them all away. They give the village a very clean feel.

So last friday we finished projects in 3 more villages: Saleapaga, Poutasi, and... I can't remember the name of the last one haha. Samoan names are weird. But once again, the projects were very successful and helped clean up the villages a lot! The people also loved the cash.

This is Saleapaga, probably the hardest-hit village on the island. This large expanse was FILLED with debris before. They also had lots of gov't aid, but Cash for Work made a large improvement.

This is a cute little girl in Ssafimaf. Just kidding. don't remember the name her village either.

This is the previous little girl's brother. He was really funny... whenever I wasn't looking, he would reach up and grab my hair or my face. I was the first palagi (white person) he'd ever seen.

This is just a snapshot of the beautiful island we get to drive in everyday. I love it.

They gave me this meal in Matafaa. According to Ken my translator, we weren't allowed to leave till we finished. This village was very poor, and spent a lot of money on the meal. It's also half-gone in the picture. There was one other bowl of stew, another fried sausage, and another wedge of taro. I felt like i could throw up the world when I finally finished.

This is the moon..

notice the craters.

killa

So the other night, there was a full moon - well almost. It was the brightest moon I'd ever seen. It lit up the whole sky and ocean like a sunset, and the clouds were just... amazing. So Agnes and I sat at the sea-wall for hours. It was most romantic.

this is one of many self-timed photos. we had fun

Agnes made me try a handstand and I almost died

an endless diamond sky.

Another Video.

So here's another video I made for MicroDreams. Some of the pictures may look familiar.. And again, because it doesn't fit in the blog layout, double click it to view the whole thing!

It's Been A While..

So it's been a while! I'm not gonna lie... blogging is kind of a pain and takes forever on lovely Samoan internet. I've been rebelling. I'll try and remember where I left off...

Well two weeks ago Russ left to reunite with his wife in Jersey. I learned a lot from him about humanitarian "business" and he is missed. I also miss his rental car ;)

With Russ' absence, Ken (the translator) and I have taken over managing the Cash for Work programs. Total, we've finished I think seven projects, and Ken and I have started six new ones that will be finished by the eleventh.

This is Maros in the middle. She is Mick's wife and she is hilarious. She is president/leader/queen of SPBD in Samoa - I forget her title.

This is a pile of collected debris in one of the villages. The government sends big trucks by every week to pick up the garbage.

Some villagers off to work in the morning.

This flag is in memory of the people who died in the tsunami. Villagers say that at night they hear the ghosts of people who died throwing rocks at their houses. They think it's because the ghosts don't want the villagers to move inland and abandon their beach homes. There are also ghost stories about taxi drivers taking passengers to tsunami-hit villages that are no longer in the car when they arrive... But I also don't think I've been in a taxi here with a completely sober driver..

For Thanksgiving, Agnes and I treated ourselves to the nicest restaurant (only over McDonalds) in all of Samoa. The place had a nice ambience and their food was surprisingly really good! Either that or I've been deprived of real food for too long. I've been living a pretty strict diet of fried food and cheap chinese, as that's honestly all they have here. And taro.. which is oookay..

I ordered a delicious garlic and rosmary shrimp spaghetti.

At dinner we talked about things we were grateful for..

Last Friday, Agnes had to visit American Samoa to renew her visa. I thought these were really cool pictures of Samoa that she took from her airplane.

What else... the weather here has been really wet, as it's "wet season." But I love the rain so I'm not complaining. The beaches are nice. Last sunday, Agnes and I went to Palolo Beach, right by our house, and just relaxed all day. We also got to watch a hundred japanese people swim which was kind of fun. The internet is still slow.. and I'm hungry, so I'm off to buy my daily $2 fried chinese meal. Hope you're all well and that you really enjoyed your real Thanksgiving dinners! ;)

L8R SK8rs