Talofa from Samoa - January 27

Hello from Samoa.  We are enjoying a hot summer with lots of rain.  We are still trying to catch up on the last 3 or 4 months and it comes a step at a time.  These next pictures are of our Culture Day in Vaiola.  This year they celebrated four different cultures: Hawaii, India, Mexico, and South Africa.  The students are divided into 4 houses for all events throughout the year.  Each house was assigned one of the countries and they had to learn their national anthems and songs and dances from each country.

This is a picture of our students as they gather on the outdoor basketball court  at the beginning of the day.

This is the flag raising ceremony where each house sang the national anthem for the appropriate country as their flag was raised on the flag pole..

These are girls from the senior class doing a dance.  A number of the students participated in several different dances and they needed 5 or 6 different costumes.  They love to dress in different costumes.  These girls are all wearing blue puletasi's.

These are the boys from the senior class doing their dance.  They too, have to have a number of costumes to perform in.

This is the food the cafeteria prepared for the students and spectators for lunch.  They are big hotdogs with a pop.  It still tasted good anyhow.

This is some traditional food served on a traditional plate.  They make these plates and place some flat leaves in the bottom to put your food on.  One problem is that if the food is greasy or has a sauce on it it will leak through onto your lap and creates extra laundry.  The food was very good, it had a very sweet taste and we couldn't tell what it was.

This is another traditional food made in the big pots and it is served in half a coconut shell.  It is kind of a thick soup and it tasted good.

 This is the principal on the left, Siaskaone (Jack) Taleni and Paogo Niupulusu (teacher in charge of the event) sitting at the head table.









It rains a lot here in Vaiola.  Around the campus every house has a big water storage tank.  When the tank is full the water pour out of a little hole at the top of the tank causing a water spout.  It also runs out of the top when the tanks are too full. Here are some pictures of our water spout.

This is the tank for our neighbors house and it is raining and just starting to over flow.

This is a picture from inside our house.  Its pouring outside and the tank is just starting to over flow.

I went outside in the rain and took this picture.  The stream is shooting out about 6 feet and the water is also pouring out of the top as well.








Each year the senior class picks a project they want to do for the school.  They usually pick something the school needs that will also leave a legacy for the class.  Last year they made cement steps up to the top of Vaiola hill and this year made 5 water fountains around the campus.

This is the start.  They make a wood cribbing then fill it with iron bars and big rocks before they put in the cement.

This what it looks like from the outside when they are building. They put quite a few rocks before adding the cement.

This is how they make their cement.  They mix dry ravel and dry cement in a pile then pour water on the top and start mixing.  For what they have they do a great job.

They continually add water till they get the right mix.

They shovel it into a wheel barrow and take it over to the fountain.

Its labor intensive and it is quite hot so they wear whatever they can to cover their head.

 This is the forms when they are filled with cement.

This is a fountain to the first stage of cement.

These are the forms they used.  They had to last for all 5 fountains.

Cement with the forms removed.

They had to build up the center so that it would function properly.

This is the first one that they put the base on.

They are forming a circular top so the senior class can be identified.

Once they got the base poured, then they cemented some flat lava rocks on the out side of the cement.

This is what it looks like with most of the cement covered with lava rock.

They are working hard so that it is all done on time.  These are members of the senior class and the rugby team.

After putting the lava rock on, they are putting tiles on the top so the water will run off the fountain.

This is a partially finished fountain.

This is what a finished water fountain looks like.  It is pretty impressive considering how it was constructed.  You can't read the writing on the top in this photo.

Here is the finished version and it actually works.

The lettering on top was made of poured cement and then cemented to the top.  Impressive isn't it?








This next set of pictures deal with plants and trees here in Samoa.  Most of these I had never heard of before so they are interesting to me.

This is another attempt at being a farmer.  I know it doesn't look like much but this is an avocado tree that I planted from a the big pit.  I have planted 3 avocado trees that will produce in 5 or 10 years so somebody in the future will be very happy that I was here.

Here is Mom holding some green beans that Bro Fafai (our school counselor) gave us.  They are huge and they grow quite fast.

We have an Indian Apple tree that has these huge fruits.  Nobody here eats them but one of our teachers is from the Philippines and he says the East Indians eat them but nobody else. 

Look at the size of the fruit.

I don't think anyone here has any ideas of what to do with the fruit.

This is a picture of some Koko Beans which is what they make koko Samoa from.  The koko beans grow from any part of the tree, the trunk, or the branches.

This is my attempt at being a potato farmer.  I had 5 tires stacked up and when I harvested it I got 2 potatoes, one about half the size of a golf ball and the other was smaller than my thumb nail. So I am taking a break for a month or so.

This is a picture of a Nonu tree.  They make a juice from the fruit that they sell in pharmacies here.  Jo says it tastes bad but it doesn't taste too bad to me.  

The first time we saw the Nonu fruit was when our school secretary brought some over.  You let it get ripe and then you rub it on your hands and your feet. It seemed to work okay for me but it burned Jo's hands as it has some kind of acid in it.  The fruit looks weird but it is interesting.

Each tree produces a lot of fruit and it (the ripe fruit)  smells kind of nice, almost like a lemony smell.

These are papaya trees and they are planted around the temple housing units.  This tree is just behind the temple in Apia and right close to House 7 where we sometimes stay.

Look at how big these papaya are, they look like small watermelons.

These are pineapples grown by our dorm girls.  They are going to be good when they are ready to pick.   Notice the little growths around the pineapple, if you use these to start your next plants, they grow much faster than using the top of the pineapple when you cut it off.

 It takes about 1 year for a pineapple grow from a top and about half the time from a plant shoot.

This is a nice one that is getting to the right size but it needs to ripen a bit.









This is all for now, hope you have a good day!!!!