puppy love?

We are suckers. Someone dumped a pathetic puppy off near the entrance of our street, and we ended up with it. It is malnourished and probably infected with just about anything that crawls. It has a terrible case of mange and it stinks like a dog in old age.

He will probably be cute once he's not so sick, but right now he just looks pathetic. He has the thick skin and hair loss of a very sick animal, but he looks like he's getting a little bit better already.

I took pictures so you can see just how sorry looking our new mangy mutt is, but haven't gotten around to downloading them from the camera yet. He has no name yet so if you have any ideas, let us know!

Oh yeah, Clif and I found out we passed the MPRE today. Clif is happy because now he won't have to worry about exams anymore. I am, of course, glad I passed, but more concerned about the bar results that I'm still waiting for. UPDATE: I passed the bar! I found out yesterday. I'm more relieved than excited, but it's still great news.

So we think that we have the child care situation figured out. We were introduced to a young Tongan mother who has been cleaning for Heidi (the other law clerks wife). She has agreed to pick up our kids from the school and bring them to our house after school. Its good for her because she needs the extra money and she can take her baby to work. They will be riding on the islands private bus system. So we are not to sure how that will work. Julia is going to go and do a trial run with them on Monday to see how it goes. If it doesn't work then at least we have somone and we can figure out the transportation as we go along. The great think is that this means that I can start at the Attorney General's Office sometime this coming week.

So here is another picture from my drive. This was my favorite beach on the drive. You cannot see it from this picture very well, but there is actually a nice sandy beach below the palm trees and running around to the right.

I got a job. Now we just need to figure out what to do with the kids after school. Apparently there is no real after school child care on the island. The wife of the law clerk that Julia works with is going to watch them twice a week and who knows about the other days. Anyway, the attorney generals office offered me a position. I just need to figure out the daycare situation before I start. I could end up working for a private attorney if we cannot find someone to watch the kids after school.

So most of my time has been spent shuttling the kids to school and Julia to work. However, one day I was able to go on a drive. I drove westerly on the main road until it ended. I started from our house in Tafuna, which is southwest of Pago Pago. The road goes across the flat part of the island until Leone. Leone was the original central village on the island and the place where european sailors visited the island until steam ships made it possible to enter Pago harbor.

The drive was interesting. The road slowly got more and more narrow. By the end it was no wider than a small logging road in Northern Idaho. It also has a lot of twists and turns and cutbacks (also like a logging road) so I had to be careful around the turns. It seemed like there was always a bus or van coming around the corner at same time. I had to pull over, let them by, then continue on my trip. Some of the villages were dilapidated and deteriorating and obviously in need of repair. Other villages were fixed up with fresh paint and a nice new fale (central gathering building). After Leone the road followed the shoreline for about ten miles and then finally ended the village of Fagamalo which sits on a nice little sheltered cove.

Here are a few photos:

It looked like a good snorkling spot. The blue line in the middle is an Ava (current). When snorkeling you can get pulled out to sea by an ava if you are not careful. Pulled out to sea = bad.

This is where the road ended. You can see the little village of Fagamato. Whis is really only about six homes and a church. the road goes right up to the water and ends. The cove is a protected fish preserve so fishing is not allowed.

We are going to have all of our pictures posted on flickr or another site soon so that anyone who is interested will be able to look at all of the pics.

mostly photos this time

Swimming lessons:

The kids and their teachers at The Learning Tree:

Now we're just frantically moving and packing and entertaining guests (as best we can). The biggest challenge is trying to get everything that we own, and would like to continue to own, to fit into a 12x5x9 storage shed. Fortunately we've sold most of the larger pieces so it actually seems possible. And, we've still got the MPRE to take and attempt to pass on Friday. This next week is going to be crazy!

whew!

I'm so glad to be done with the bar! Now we've just got about a million other things to do - we can't wait to see those of you who are coming to visit in the meantime!