Field Trips

The days of being bored out of my mind are finally over. This week was pretty busy considering what I got used to out here on “island time”. On Monday I went running with a couple of volunteers. We ran along the sea wall for almost three miles. Halfway through the run my knee started hurting, and instead of stopping at that point, I kept going – only to regret it later. I was in total pain all through the night and was limping for the next couple of days. My knee has since healed, but my exercise was completely thrown off for the entire week.

Friday is one of my easiest days at work, as I only teach for one hour. I went with my roommate, Sina, with her class to the Apia Bottling Company for a field trip. They showed us how they make ice cream, juice, and bottle water. When I mentioned to the guide that I could smell the chili sauce being made, she offered to take me back to see them make it. They showed me these barrels that were full of Samoan chilies and vinegar. It blew my mind that all of these products are basically handmade. The people fill the ice cream tubs, the people pour the orange juice into the containers, and the people stir the chilies and press them to make the sauce.

The girls were fun to be around and had a blast. I got a picture of them all lapping up in the bus:

Saturday was the “Lenten activity” for all the girls of the school. My class was going to Vailoa where there is a home for the older nuns. We pulled weeds for a couple of hours, presented them with some gifts and then performed some dancing for them. My favorite part was seeing them dance!

I later went to the Peace Corps office to go to a seminar about how to get funding for ship computers to Samoa. I went to check on my bike (which I had parked there on Thursday night before Bible college) and it was missing – everything but the front tire. I went to the country director to report that the bike was stolen. We talked to the security guard and he had something written in his book that said “if you want your bike back, solve this riddle: it is in the b…” I went to go get a volunteer that could speak better English to communicate with the security guard. She told me that my bike was in the hall and that it was a joke. The joke was probably for the people playing the joke, as I did not find it very funny.