Fun Run & Clam Beach

Ward Fun Run!

This week our ward had a Fun Run .   Guess who came in 2nd in their category??  You guessed it.  Karen still has her Fun Run number posted on our refrigerator.  

Before the race.  

At the finish line... 

 Pickleball in Samoa?? 

We discovered that our ward has a Pickleball group that plays 3 times a week  It is a great way to meet new people, get a little exercise and have a whole lot of fun (and perspire a whole bunch).  

Karen still gets to whack the ball around.  

 Mark Moors-- founder of Pickle-ball in Samoa

Mark Moors and a few others had a tennis group until they closed the Pesega Tennis Club.  While Mark was visiting the US for his wife's cancer treatment, he discovered Pickle-ball and brought it to Samoa. It was easy to recruit players.

The group plays indoors at the school gym or outdoors on the tennis courts.  Sometimes the group can have as many as 12 people, so the TVET missionary before us welded some poles for another pickleball net. 

Clam Beach -- 

... or should we say GIANT Clam Beach?

I'm not sure anyone could eat a bucket of these clams - or even find a big enough bucket!  One clam is about 3 1/2 feet across and a couple of feet wide.

Beautiful beach by the Clam Reserve.  . 

 Where there are senior missionaries getting together, there is food!

Fresh water pond next to the ocean.  

Our friends brought their underwater camera--  

Clam beds with baby clams (these are about 6" to a foot)  

You can get an idea of the size of the clam underneath in comparison the fins. 

When the sun came out the clams showed off their beautiful greens and blues and polka dots.  

Across the street the neighbors decorated with a clam shell in their yard. 

Samoan Cultural Day

Samoan Cultural Day 

This week the Level 10 students (about 14 years old) had a Samoan Cultural Day.  They prepared traditional Samoan foods, sang songs and all around had a great time.  They were right behind the carpentry shops so I was invited in join in the festivities.

Side note - I asked a few of my students if people cook this way today.  Many of them do Umu style cooking every Sunday.  They get up early and build a fire to heat up rocks.  The food is wrapped in banana leaves - taro, bananas, fish, etc. and placed on the rocks.  Then they shower up and go to church and come home to a traditional Umu meal.  It was kind of surprising that they carry on this tradition today.  I guess this accounts for the smoke that rises in small patches all around the area each Sunday.

Coconut is King!  

In the Samoan food culture, coconut is King.   Many of the traditional foods contain coconut and coconut cream (it seems to make everything taste better).
The student breaks the coconut in half, sits on a bench with a metal tong on the front and shreds the coconut.

When the coconut is shredded, they put the coconut in some of the fiber from the husks and squeeze out the coconut milk.

A fire is built from coconut shells and wood to cook the fish and the drinks.  They made two drinks -- one of mostly coconut meat and coconut cream and another made of Samoan koko (cocoa), papaya and coconut cream.--both sound better than they actually taste.

The fish are cooked directly on the coals and then simmered in coconut cream.

Taro is Queen...

 The taro is a starchy root vegetable, more dense and more starchy than a potato, and grown in abundance here.

This young man is using a piece of a tin can to scrape the skin off the taro root (hope it wasn't rusty!) and then cook it in, yes, coconut cream.
Below is a basket made out of banana leaves - the main method of carrying items here.  Every Samoan knows how to make these baskets.

Enjoying the feast!

The best part is when everyone gets to enjoy the fruits of their labor.

There are some benefits to being Senior Missionaries.  Everyone treats us nice, and they share the fruits of their labor.

It also helps to have this event just in back of the Vocational area of the school.

Day tripping

After running our morning errands,  we decided to go to the beach, so we hooked up with the Renchers and spent the afternoon sightseeing and swimming,  Craig Rencher is a dentist from Twin Falls who has been volunteering his dentistry services here for two months--they return home in a couple of weeks.)  Dentistry services are offered in the compound for free to anyone on the island.

We saw this waterfall just off the road.

We hiked a small distance to the second waterfall, and saw people swimming, so we grabbed our suits and returned to join in the fun,  We saw some brave souls jump in from the embankment high above the water--we were content to cheer them on.

An open air garden rest room

This was one of the most unusual bathrooms we have seen yet - but very scenic, indeed.

Survivor!

We tried to stop at Virgin Cove Beach on the way home, but the beach was closed due to filming of "Survivor Australia."  We wondered if the participants would find their way to a market close by for some refreshment, and thought of them camping out in the surrounding area.  We are standing just beyond the beach entrance, which is said to be the most beautiful undeveloped beach on the island.  We'll be back...

Draft budget complete and birthday party.

The draft budget for next year finally got turned in 

This week has been hectic getting a draft budget request turned in for next year.  Trying to help someone do something but not actually doing it yourself is a challenge!  We even shopped online and went out shopping for prices for equipment for the shop  and for chest freezers for the cooking area.

Here's a picture of our office.  Besides working on the yearly budget, we also started working on Microsoft Certification tests.  We thought we knew about Word, but we have so much more to learn!  We are hoping to get certified in the MS Office products to help the students become certified.

Award Assembly 

On Monday the school had an award assembly in the large gym area.  It was AWESOME seeing all the students at one time.   All the boys sit on one side, and the girls sit on the other.

Notice that both boys and teachers wear the traditional lavalava.  The men wear the black formal lavalava with a white shirt and the boys wear the school uniform lavalava.   However, EVERYONE wears flipflops-- girls, boys, teachers and principle.  

Birthday Surprise!

Our neighbor, Elder Starke, teaches Seminary.   We thought it would be fun to surprise him with  a balloon hat for his birthday.  It turns out that one of his students shared a birthday with him, so we made her one too.

Eating out  (Oh the variety we have in Apia)

There are actually several places to eat out, many of them Chinese restaurants. And yes, there is a McDonald's, though we aren't desperate enough to eat there yet. The Samoan version of McDonalds is Burger Bill's, which even has a children's playground similar to McDonald's.  

Actually the chocolate shakes were not too bad.

Since there is a lot of fishing in Apia, there are several fish and chips spots.  We had to try Mr. Chippy out, not only because the name was funny, but it was recommended by a fellow missionary.  Most of the fish and chip places use local tuna (either Albacore or Yellow Fin), which is really pretty tasty.

A Little Splurge    

Taumeasina Resort is a man made island housing a large resort and restaurant. Though it's just a few minutes away, it's like leaving Samoa and going to a nice hotel and restaurant in Hawaii.  We splurged on the seafood buffet to celebrate a couple of the Elders' birthdays.  

The hotel has several swimming pools that look out on the ocean.  We felt like we were mingling with the "rich and famous."  A father and daughter were there singing as part of the entertainment. It turns out the daughter and Tyler served in the Olongapo, Philippines mission together (small world!)

The staff sang to the 'birthday boys,' brought them a cake, and coaxed them to dance to the band's music.

Get together with the other Senior Missionaries

There are about 10 senior missionary couples serving here in Apia. Once or twice a month we get together for a fireside or cultural activity.   Our cultural trip to the Clam Reserve got rained out so we had a game night.  The other missionaries taught us Crazy Rummy and Karen taught the group The Great Dalmuti (complete with crown).

Mother's Day 

 This little girl at the market was making Mother's Day leis.  She charmed us into buying one.

We traded in 'The Beast' for Uma (our new Hyundai Tucson)  

This week we traded in our 4X4 Toyota truck with the manual shift for the automatic Hyundai Tucsan, which most other missionary couples drive.  It is much nicer for parking but not as well built as the truck.  We nicknamed the truck 'The Beast' and thought we needed a name for our new ride. We christened her Uma, since this is the sound she makes while backing up.

Pesaga College, rain, temple and church

First full week at Pesega College 

The Vocational Building has the Carpentry & Auto Shop,  Sewing, Cooking, Hospitality, and Computing.   Looks like this building will be our "place of business" for the next 18 months.  They just finished off our office complete with A/C and access to the internet.

Bud is helping in the Carpentry area and Karen in the Sewing and Cooking areas.  Both are trying to get smarter on Microsoft Office to go through the certification to help the students in the Computing classes.   (Pesega has a program to help students get certified in MS Word and Excel. )

The main gym for basketball and assemblies.  

The Angel Moroni looks on and can be seen anywhere on campus.

Here's an example of the student uniform - boys wear the traditional lavalava.  

Sometimes it's raining, it's pouring (even without the snoring)   

This last week we had a bunch of rain.  Our apartment is equipped with a solar heat device for our hot water, meaning lots of warm water when the sun is out  Overcast or rainy days mean quick showers!

The children really love the rain, especially when it floods the streets (which is common).  Below are  some of our neighbor kids playing in the water just outside our apartment.

Points of interest in Apia, Samoa 

The Samoa Temple is situated on the major street running into Apia, and is a landmark here.   The mission has taken advantage of that and converted most of the Mission Home (located right next door) into a Visitor's Center, where they have had a lot of success in sharing the gospel.

 If we aren't sure where we are, we just look up to see where the temple is and head toward it.

Church in Samoa

The members of our ward in Samoa have welcomed us in true Samoan fashion  We are attending an English speaking ward, which is a real plus for us Palagis (white people), though there are mostly Samoans in attendance.

The chapel can get really warm, with no air conditioning.  Last week I noticed many members bring a fan made of leaves--we now have one too.

We had a Mother's Day Ward Dance on Saturday.   We had fun hanging out with the Renchers, from Twin Falls, Idaho, who are helping in the dental clinic for a couple of months.  The church is built around a courtyard, where we are standing to get some fresh air.

 The dance was put on by the Young Single Adult group, and was well attended Bud was envious of the men who wore the traditional lavalava. (They even wear the lavalava at church and to the temple--.note the guy in the right of the lower picture.)   The Samoan High Priest had some pretty good dance moves.

The evening included some great food as well as some authentic Samoan dancing for our entertainment.