Wednesdays have become my favorite day of the week. For one, its “hump day” but not in the sense you might be thinking. It’s that hurdle that gets you past the beginning of the week and sends you off towards the weekend: the hump in the middle of the week. With my teaching schedule so light on Fridays, I view Wednesdays as my workplace Thursday. The downfall of Wednesday in school is that our District Inspector has declared Wednesdays “anaponi,” meaning a fasting day. Instead of breaking at 10:30 for morning tea we teach right until noon, when the school gathers for a special prayer and then breaks the fast. I typically just east a big breakfast before coming to school and then pretend that I did not (aka I complain with the rest of the teachers all morning about being hungry) but today I forgot to eat. It was painful.
Speaking of food though, Wednesdays outside of class treats me well. I have fallen into the routine of making tortillas Wednesday nights. Normally I start around 5 and have a pile of 16 fresh tortillas made by 6:30, just in time for dinner. I keep them in the fridge and they serve as my bread for the week. During Passover I modified my routine and by leaving out the baking soda and oil, I made matzo! It was delicious. Tonight however my tortilla plans were foiled when I went to the fale’aloa and was told that they were out of flour. What a bummer. I opted for left over spaghetti with butter and cheese and then realized I have no microwave. That’s when I created my incredible “bootleg-double-boiler-microwave.” I took two handfuls of pasta from the fridge (yes, handfuls is a proper measurement because I literally used my hands), and put them in a loose bowl I made out of tin foil. I boiled a pot of hot water and then floated the boat of tin foil and pasta on top of the water, covering the pot with a lid to get the full steam effect. And what would you know - it worked! My pasta came out steaming hot and tasting like I had boiled up a new batch. Great success! I am excited to see what else I can use my “bootleg-double-boiler-microwave” for. Popcorn? Chocolate? Cake? I hope so!
In other news, if April showers bring May flowers, then Samoa is going to be overflowing with beauty pretty soon! It has been raining non-stop for the past 4 days now. I guess my prophecy is proving true being that I planned another dive attempt for this weekend. Lets hope that the rain lets up, and if not, at least maybe the water will still be clear enough to dive in. I can’t wait to get down there and see the underwater world!
This unexpected burst of rain has had some unforeseen consequences. For one, I put my laundry off too long and now I have no clean pulatasi’s to wear to school. As a result, today, for the first time in my teaching career, I did not wear a ‘tasi. And believe it or not, life went on as normal. My credibility as a teacher was not doubted, and I made it through the day. Another fashion first was wearing a long sleeve shirt because “I was cold” in Samoa! I never thought I would say that, and I am writing it here so that a month from now I can savor the memory (and believe it actually happened!) Actually, the one great thing about all this rain has been the dramatic drop in temperature. Last night I had to sleep with a sheet and I did not turn my fan on at all. This is big news to anyone who has been to Samoa.
Hmmm, Tortilla's sound great! Can you come over and teach me? The double boiler/microwave sounds less appealing but it sounds like you are having a great if not creative time there!
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