The practice for our farewell fiafia began on November 23. The trainers asked my host family if we could practice there because it was so far away from the training center and we didn’t want the whole village to see everything before the big day. The fiafia preparation included the women learning a Siva (dance), the men learning a slap dance and the group doing a sasa.
We were planning on having our farewell fiafia the night before we left. The mayor went to the trainers and asked them if we could move it up one week. He wanted it to occur the same night that the village pastor wanted to take us to the beach and present gifts to us. There was a mass confusion and we agreed to have it one week earlier. Because of our willingness to adapt, Silao brought ‘ava with him everyday so that we could sit around and drink ‘ava after practicing. When the day for the fiafia came, the pastor came by and talked to the trainers and told them that the women of the church wanted to have the gift presentation. It was getting really confusing and so we decided to go ahead and hang out with the pastor, as that is what was originally planned.
We quit practicing for a few days and had a couple of sessions before the fiafia. It was a blast learning how to dance like a Samoan and the trainers exhibited patience and kindness as we learned how to sing and dance in harmony.
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