Looking Around

Now that we have a year under our belt, we're old pros here in American Samoa. I've been thinking about some things that might have been really novel a year ago that are just normal now. Here's a list of some things we see everyday that you might not see everyday:

• families chatting in lawn chairs...in the back of a truck whizzing down the street
• haggard looking dogs limping on three legs with enflamed glandular growths and mange
• groundskeepers picking, husking, cracking, drinking and eating a coconut on lunch break, then passing one to my kids
• signs around town saying Fa'afetai lava (Thank you), Ua Sa le Fanua (Private property), Toso (Pull), Palota mo Togiola (Vote for Togiola), and Puipui Fanau (protect your children [from drugs, alcohol, kava])
• dozens of grown men lining the road dressing in matching yellow shirts and green lavalavas enforcing Sa, or village prayer time
• drastic tide changes twice daily
• piles of rubbish and yard waste casually burned in my backyard, followed by us heading for the car for a day away from home
• fruit stands selling esi, fa'i, ulu, kalo, kukama, avoka, and popo (papaya, banana, breadfruit, taro, cucumbers, avocado, and coconut)
• folks talking to or about me referring to "palagi"
• people who raise their eyebrows for yes, I understand, you're right, or okay.
• people who end sentences with an "uh" grunt meaning, right? huh? don't you think?
• college-level volleyball games played on worn village courts by boys wearing slippers and baggy basketball shorts (Samoans don't use/need knee pads)
• BBQ plate lunch sold daily from the roadside (when Isaac sees smoke now he says, "Look mom, someone's cooking chicken!")
• Asian store owners, Filipino seamstresses, and Tongan construction workers making life work in Samoa
  

This is all off the top of my head. I'll pay attention tomorrow and report back later.