One of my last blogs was dedicated to my newfound passion for dancing. Little did I know that when I returned from Thanksgiving weekend, I would be doing little else for the next two weeks. I am writing this blog on a rainy Friday morning as I wait for a break in the downpour for a chance to bike to school. I would much rather be sleeping though as I an utterly exhausted. Let me start from the beginning.
As you probably know by now, I have been participating in a program called The Samoa Challenge II, a group weight lose program which began in September and ends this coming Monday. The general idea of the program was to encourage women to lead healthier lifestyles through better eating and exercising. Once a week we met to discuss different topics in a seminar form and following the meeting we would do jazzercise (or modified aerobics for all you Americans). Because of our success with the jazz, my group was asked to prepare a dance to perform during the awards ceremony on Monday. This meant step up the dancing to make sure our routine was spotless.
A few weeks ago we started practicing twice a week, then two weeks ago we bumped it up to three. Last week, with only one week to go, the women asked if maybe we could meet every day as a final push to the finish and of course I said yes because it is great to see their positive attitudes towards exercise (or at least competition…!)
We met on Monday for the final “weigh-in” and of course, to “Waka Waka” as we now call jazzercise. Midway through the meeting I was thrown a surprise. My counterpart, Vern, approached me with a huge smile on his face: “Um Rachel, the women want us to help them with their dance for the competition in town.” I was confused. “What competition?” I asked. He told me that every year during the Christmas season all of the villages compete for “Best Jazzercise Routine,” and the winners get featured on TV for the entire month of December. Unfortunately the competition is on Monday at the same time as our ceremony, so our group will not be able to participate, but for the 40-50 women who are not doing our program, they were all eager to make a dance.
Of course, I signed on again to this task. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Like I said, it is Friday now. Tuesday I spent 4 hours learning how to make music mash ups with Garage Band (amazing program!) and Wednesday and Thursday I pretty much moved into the fale komiti from 12 noon till 10pm to rehearse dances on and off all day. When not dancing, Vern and I were busy organizing the uniform for our group to wear on Monday. Around 9:45pm last night as I was tensing up over all the work we have been doing I closed my eyes and let myself just zero in on the situation. Here I am in Samoa, leading an aerobics class till all hours of the night to a great mash up of Silent Night and Hey Soul Sister, and although it’s tiring now, in a year when I am no longer living this lifestyle, you can bet I will be thinking back with great nostalgia on these evenings. Just the thought of where I am and what I am actually doing was enough to let the funk pass me by and I was energized and excited for the rest of the evening.
Today I am taking a break from the rehearsals to go to town, but between school and my trip to town I will be printing 15 tee shirts with the Mali’oli’o logo for our ladies and tomorrow to compensate for my ka’a (my being a slacker pretty much), we are having two practices. While this is an intense schedule, the thought that America is just a few days away has been pushing me on, and in a few days, I can sit down on an airplane and just sleep. I am so tired. I can’t wait!
Friday, December 10, 2010
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Sunrise, Sunset....5 days till home!
Since prize giving was last week, this week not much is going on at school. The students do not come to school and the teacher’s show up an hour or two late, just to watch movies and gossip. If this was unique to my school I would be utterly embarrassed to post this in my blog, but as it turns out, this is protocol for all of Samoa. I could get into my personal feelings on the subject, but instead, I will write about how I spent my fourth to last day of the school year.
I woke up late, around 7am and was unpleasantly surprised by my refrigerator, which had gone on defrost mode at some point last night and flooded my floor with water. Yuck. I put on some water for coffee, reset the fridge, and dealt with the mess. After coffee I biked up to school with my computer to put in some face time and make an exercise CD for one of the other teachers. Arriving at 8:15, I was the second teacher to come; a big change from the normal school year.
I made the CD and then at 9am said bye to the teachers. They looked at me like I was a terrible person for leaving school early, but then I explained that I had been invited to cook food for the construction workers at the church – a task that has been rotating amongst the women. I was very honored to be asked, and with a great deal of pride I walked down the dirt road towards the construction site. Upon arrival, the women who were already there were scurrying around to get the food ready before 10. I asked how I could help and they looked at me, paused, and then laughed. The Faletua (preachers wife) told me that before I help, I should go eat some morning breakfast with her children, so inside the house I went. I was served a plate of egg sandwiches, an apple, an orange, and some koko samoa. Once finished, I tried to get to work, but I was instructed to watch TV and told that I should never cook for the church since I am a guest of theirs. So much for feeling included!
After hanging out for a few hours, I returned to my fale (house) to work on a new exercise routine. I was attacked by a pack of dogs on the short walk back to my house and luckily I had my umbrella and was able to take a few good swings at them, but I didn’t hit any and they were not letting up. Luckily one of my year 6 students came to my rescue and neither of us were bitten. I hate walking down that road! At 3pm Vern came over to learn the dance I had created. Using GarageBand for the first time, I figured out how to mash up “Hey Soul Sister” with “Little Drummer Boy” and I am really excited about the resulting song! We practiced a few times and then around 4pm we went over to the fale komiti to teach the women.
When I signed up for Peace Corps I never dreamed I would be leading a weekly aerobics class. Now I am leading two classes a day for two different groups of women, and unfortunately for me, each group will be competing on Monday in different competitions: my original group is going to Apia for the end of the Samoa Challenge II (check out our article in The Samoa Observer, titled “Style Meets Fitness,”) and the other group will be competing for best jazzercise routine in Savaii. I will travel with the Apia group and we will be dancing at the awards ceremony. Whether or not we win the overall competition, my women have worked extremely hard and have all benefited in some way or other from this program, so in a way, we are all winners. But deep down, I want the satisfaction of knowing that my women won the Samoa Challenge 2010. Bring on the results!
I woke up late, around 7am and was unpleasantly surprised by my refrigerator, which had gone on defrost mode at some point last night and flooded my floor with water. Yuck. I put on some water for coffee, reset the fridge, and dealt with the mess. After coffee I biked up to school with my computer to put in some face time and make an exercise CD for one of the other teachers. Arriving at 8:15, I was the second teacher to come; a big change from the normal school year.
I made the CD and then at 9am said bye to the teachers. They looked at me like I was a terrible person for leaving school early, but then I explained that I had been invited to cook food for the construction workers at the church – a task that has been rotating amongst the women. I was very honored to be asked, and with a great deal of pride I walked down the dirt road towards the construction site. Upon arrival, the women who were already there were scurrying around to get the food ready before 10. I asked how I could help and they looked at me, paused, and then laughed. The Faletua (preachers wife) told me that before I help, I should go eat some morning breakfast with her children, so inside the house I went. I was served a plate of egg sandwiches, an apple, an orange, and some koko samoa. Once finished, I tried to get to work, but I was instructed to watch TV and told that I should never cook for the church since I am a guest of theirs. So much for feeling included!
After hanging out for a few hours, I returned to my fale (house) to work on a new exercise routine. I was attacked by a pack of dogs on the short walk back to my house and luckily I had my umbrella and was able to take a few good swings at them, but I didn’t hit any and they were not letting up. Luckily one of my year 6 students came to my rescue and neither of us were bitten. I hate walking down that road! At 3pm Vern came over to learn the dance I had created. Using GarageBand for the first time, I figured out how to mash up “Hey Soul Sister” with “Little Drummer Boy” and I am really excited about the resulting song! We practiced a few times and then around 4pm we went over to the fale komiti to teach the women.
When I signed up for Peace Corps I never dreamed I would be leading a weekly aerobics class. Now I am leading two classes a day for two different groups of women, and unfortunately for me, each group will be competing on Monday in different competitions: my original group is going to Apia for the end of the Samoa Challenge II (check out our article in The Samoa Observer, titled “Style Meets Fitness,”) and the other group will be competing for best jazzercise routine in Savaii. I will travel with the Apia group and we will be dancing at the awards ceremony. Whether or not we win the overall competition, my women have worked extremely hard and have all benefited in some way or other from this program, so in a way, we are all winners. But deep down, I want the satisfaction of knowing that my women won the Samoa Challenge 2010. Bring on the results!
Sunday, December 5, 2010
V Nights
I went to town Thursday evening to enjoy some true American food in honor of the Thanksgiving holiday: pizza. Giordano’s makes pizza in three sizes: small, medium, and extra large. Although it feels excessive to order an extra large pizza for two people, food is one thing that is always supersized in this country, so titling the large pizza extra large kind of makes sense, and ordering one for two people has begun to feel a bit more normal. I need to remember not to do that in America though or I will be eating pizza for at least the following three days! Size aside, the pizza was great: half BBQ chicken, half spicy Thai chicken. Sweet and spicy in perfect harmony.
Following the dinner we decided to head down to V-Bar where a company Christmas party was being held. I have never gone to V-Bar on a Thursday and was pleasantly surprised by the packed dance hall, costume party, and music going to till midnight (it typically cuts off around 10pm). The theme of the party was “International” and so people were dressed as geishas, Egyptian kings and queens, tourists, and other fun outfits. At one point, a group of about 10 people busted into an impromptu (yet planned) “Beat It” performance which truly did honor to Michael Jacksons name. It was awesome!
Friday was “Fiesta Night” at V Bar, so a bunch of us decided to hit it up. We got there around 5:30pm, began dancing around 6, and didn’t stop till midnight! Jordan and Dan were celebrating their last weekend on the island and it was a really fun way to say bye and send them off. At one point “Empire State of Mind” came on and Lili, Dan, and I busted out our collective New York pride and honored the state we all love so much. Everyone was in rare form and the dancing was better than ever.
Saturday was the spectacular Thanksgiving feast at the Charge D’affair’s house, and being that I was too full to move I feared my three night dancing parade might be cut a night short. However, after a few hours of laying on the couch I was functioning at about 75% and figured what better way to feel better from over eating than to dance it off? So back to the V Bar we went to dance off those calories and enjoy one last evening in the “big city.”
Returning home Sunday, my body felt like it had been through a marathon. I fell asleep around 9pm and didn’t wake up until my snooze had been hit three or four times. Still feeling the effects of the Dramamine from the ferry the day before I hazily went about my school day before returning home and sleeping for another three hours. It’s now 8:30 and as I write this I feel myself sinking into the comfortable calm before sleep. I can say I have successfully carried out my first dance marathon in Apia and although I am exhausted now, I know it will only be a matter of time before the dance party returns. If I have learned one thing here, it is to dance freely and frequently!
V Nights
I went to town Thursday evening to enjoy some true American food in honor of the Thanksgiving holiday: pizza. Giordano’s makes pizza in three sizes: small, medium, and extra large. Although it feels excessive to order an extra large pizza for two people, food is one thing that is always supersized in this country, so titling the large pizza extra large kind of makes sense, and ordering one for two people has begun to feel a bit more normal. I need to remember not to do that in America though or I will be eating pizza for at least the following three days! Size aside, the pizza was great: half BBQ chicken, half spicy Thai chicken. Sweet and spicy in perfect harmony.
Following the dinner we decided to head down to V-Bar where a company Christmas party was being held. I have never gone to V-Bar on a Thursday and was pleasantly surprised by the packed dance hall, costume party, and music going to till midnight (it typically cuts off around 10pm). The theme of the party was “International” and so people were dressed as geishas, Egyptian kings and queens, tourists, and other fun outfits. At one point, a group of about 10 people busted into an impromptu (yet planned) “Beat It” performance which truly did honor to Michael Jacksons name. It was awesome!
Friday was “Fiesta Night” at V Bar, so a bunch of us decided to hit it up. We got there around 5:30pm, began dancing around 6, and didn’t stop till midnight! Jordan and Dan were celebrating their last weekend on the island and it was a really fun way to say bye and send them off. At one point “Empire State of Mind” came on and Lili, Dan, and I busted out our collective New York pride and honored the state we all love so much. Everyone was in rare form and the dancing was better than ever.
Saturday was the spectacular Thanksgiving feast at the Charge D’affair’s house, and being that I was too full to move I feared my three night dancing parade might be cut a night short. However, after a few hours of laying on the couch I was functioning at about 75% and figured what better way to feel better from over eating than to dance it off? So back to the V Bar we went to dance off those calories and enjoy one last evening in the “big city.”
Returning home Sunday, my body felt like it had been through a marathon. I fell asleep around 9pm and didn’t wake up until my snooze had been hit three or four times. Still feeling the effects of the Dramamine from the ferry the day before I hazily went about my school day before returning home and sleeping for another three hours. It’s now 8:30 and as I write this I feel myself sinking into the comfortable calm before sleep. I can say I have successfully carried out my first dance marathon in Apia and although I am exhausted now, I know it will only be a matter of time before the dance party returns. If I have learned one thing here, it is to dance freely and frequently!
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