Our Umu

Our neighbors got a brilliant idea to to an umu. A palagi umu, basically. That means that we bunch of white people prepared a Samoan style dinner baked in a pile of burning rocks and leaves. (When I say "we" I mean "they" because I didn't help at all. I was at a school meeting half the day.)

Damien was our resident Samoan giving instructions and techniques. Ephraim drew from youthful experiences to scrape and strain the coconuts until his hands couldn't handle it anymore. Then James took over. Then Damien finished the job.

Frankly doing an umu is WAY too much work to do regularly. And many people here do it every week. They basically spend all day cooking for lunchtime. When I say "they" I mean the young people. When you reach a certain age you don't have to do that work anymore. Age has its perks.

The boys took their fish prep job very seriously.

Good training for their future at Starkist cannery.

We were nervous when the rain threatened our umu; when you cook outside the weather reigns (get it?).

In the end it turned out to be an amazing feast. My personal favorite: palusami. Young taro leaves baked in coconut milk and onions. Luscious. Dinners with our neighbors are ALWAYS a delicious success. We talked about our next umu... It's like giving birth, after awhile you think labor wasn't THAT bad. So, yeah, we'll see about next time. And when I say "we" you know I don't mean myself.

The Hut

Our amazing neighbors have been working on a hut for the past few months. The foundation posts were already there, leftover from some home renovation project, I suppose. An eyesore becomes an opportunity. It helps that our neighbor is a foreman of one of the largest construction teams on island.


Now our boys have somewhere to release their constructive energy (pound nails into the floor) like good little youngsters.

Looking forward to good campouts in the hut...

Kids in the Kitchen

Although life's been hectic, we TRY to get some home cooked meals in there most days. In fact last week Ephraim made the most amazing pan fried potatoes I've ever eaten thanks to carefully followed instructions from Terence and Vicki Conran's cookbook, Classic Conran. They were cut, boiled for 12 minutes then coated in hot meat drippings and baked until they were golden and gorgeous. Those aren't the official instructions and I'm not looking it up for you. Sorry. You get the idea.

I'm counting boxed Ghirardelli's as homemade.

At the School

Recess--keepin' it real

Here the students are drawing ideas for a school mascot.

Looks like the Ta'iala Fighting Bunnies.

School Days

Director Alaiasa schools the kids in 4-square

Hi all,

School's going well. I know you're wondering. We're adjusting to each other, which isn't always a picnic, but overall things are great. Kids are happy, teachers are happy, parents are happy. And we're all learning a lot!

A favorite so far: journal writing. My class of 5-6 graders (+one 7th grader) write everyday and I get to read their stories, ideas, and babbling adding my comments here and there. But the pages that are folded over are private, and I wouldn't even think about reading those ones.

I'm impressed with what I read, we have some creative talent in our class. Adventure series about ninjas vs. samurai, a teenage detective squad, and a confession about all the candy a boy would buy if he had $1 million. But he'd save some money to fix his cavities. That's foresight.

Being a teacher is more than time-consuming. Life-consuming. But I'm happy when Ella comes home from school telling us about paleontologists, houses built from old shipping containers, and Samoan songs. Isaac makes adorable things in kindergarten, and Owen has volunteers to hold him all day until he falls asleep on his little sleeping bag.

But if I don't write frequently, I hope you'll excuse me.

Ta'iala Academy is IN SESSION!

Big doings around here! I'll catch you up. Ephraim went to Oregon and Hawaii for 3 weeks (photos coming). Our camera here was broken. I worked night and day on our new school Ta'iala Academy. Before pictures here. The kids endured late nights, many meetings, and a heap of crankiness (from me). Ephraim came home Sunday the 22nd (with a new camera). School started Monday the 23rd. The school's going great! That's where we are. And here are the pictures.

Our faletalimalo, for assemblies, lunch, and rainy PE

About our logo: Our school logo was designed by my creative sister Jan. The awesome Samoan print was drawn by Cherish Schwenke from our ward. It represents growth (tree), culture (tapa print), and a bright future (child looking upward).

Our selfless teachers who make it all possible

And the reason for it all:
Our kids

(Do you like Owen's onesie?)

Today we took class pictures:

Kindergarten

Grades 1/2

Grades 3/4

Grades 5/6/7

School in session:

Science (condensation lesson)
Phys. Ed.

Mr. Alaiasa our dear director got more opportunities to counsel kids than we all expected him to have in the first week.My exuberant class:

So far so good. Everyone seems really happy, and we are so glad. There is a long story involved with this, but it will have to wait until much later.

Tooth Fairy Tonight

Today Ella was running on concrete, tripped, and ... lost BOTH her two front teeth. OUCH!
She was really brave about it. (But she was screaming her brains out.) And I remained calm. (I panicked on the inside.)

We managed to find one tooth, and I reminded her that the tooth fairy would come tonight, and that they were her baby teeth, and they were going to come out soon anyway. And we were okay after awhile.

So now our sweet little one talks a little more lispy than before. She has to adjust how she bites food. And fortunately she stopped sucking her fingers just two weeks ago (a huge accomplishment), so these new ones will grow in straight.

Now I'm off to see if the tooth fairy needs help finding 8 shiny quarters.