humpback mural

Wyland came out here to do a mural on the side of the Executive Office Building. It's done now so I need a new picture, but this is what it looked like mid-way through. The kids thought it was really cool.

Samoan Flag Day Fautasi Race

Flag day is the holiday in American Samoa. It marks the day in 1900 that the chiefs of Tutuila signed the Deed of Cessation, making it an official American territory, and the subsequent flying of the American flag (hence the Flag Day thing). I'm a little fascinated by it because the guy who was responsible for all this, Commander (at the time, Captain) Benjamin Franklin Tilley, became the acting governor and forwarded laws within the same month that protect the Samoan traditional way of life, mainly by protecting the communal land and matai systems. I'm so impressed that he had the foresight and desire to prevent the complete Westernization of the islands, and that these laws have worked so well to prevent displacement of Samoans from their native land. People can, and some do, live off the land here. It's a crazy concept for a palagi coming from US suburbia.

Anyway, April 17th is also the one Samoan holiday we've learned a lot about because, while watching our one channel on tv, occasionally the few US shows that are on will be interrupted and they will start broadcasting last year's Flag Day celebrations. Last week we were given both Thursday and Friday off, it seems almost a necessity because everyone -literally, everyone- is involved in the Flag day celebrations. There are two full days of speeches, singing, and dancing at the stadium, along with evening performances all week in the Fagotogo malae. Every village or group seems to make an appearance at least once.

I was most excited about seeing the fautasi race.


Fautasi are longboat canoes that used to be the main mode of transportation between islands. They hold up to fifty people and can be over 90 feet long. I wish I knew more details on them because it's pretty amazing to see them glide through the waves. The fautasi race begins out in the ocean and the rowers race the five miles toward shore.

We got out early to make sure we didn't miss it. We've gotten a little too acclimatized and were cold that morning, even though it rarely gets lower than the high 70's here. It might have been 75 degrees...

I had expected a huge group of fautasi boats to come up to the finish line, with a close exciting finish. Well, I should have known not to have expectations! There were only 8 boats in the race and they were so spread out that it seemed like there wasn't much competition. It was still pretty amazing to see them come rowing into the harbor. I love watching them all paddle in unison.

As an interesting side note, I later learned that the top 8 finishers won cash prizes. The top eight, huh? Convenient!

hmmm

Getting cards is always fun. I just hadn't thought to make one for myself lately.

floating your boat requires advance planning

Everett (surrounded by building materials, hammer in hand): I'm going to build a boat that's bigger than our whole house.

Paul: How are you going to get the boat to the water?

Everett (slowly stalling): That's an excellent question...

we're all mixed up too

Everett (explaining that Ila's a mutt): He's all mixed up. He's all different kinds of dogs.

creatures

Way too many creatures live in our house. They have not been invited - in fact, many have been very specifically uninvited via poison, traps, and bait - but they insist on staying.

Last night it seemed that they all decided to come out. I came home to find skink poop on my pillow. Yuck. Then Clif and I watched a movie, immediately after the movie he noticed a 3 inch long cockroach on the curtains. Yuck again. After much swatting (Clif) and squealing (me), it was flushed.

As I was in the bathroom getting ready for bed, which can sometimes take a long time for no particular reason and last night was one of those times, I noticed a trail of ants along the bathroom wall. I figured I'd follow the trail and replace whatever it was they were eating with ant bait. So I went to get the ant bait and as I reached into the box I heard scurrying. I put my hand into the box and simultaneously felt spiderwebs in the box (ew) and saw a rat running into the laundry room (ew, ew, ew). I hate the feeling of spiderwebs and, well, I don't particularly love rats either.

As soon as I stopped freaking out about that (which didn't take too much time since I already knew we had a rat-guest. I've seen him around lately and have been unsuccessful in my attempts to (a) murder or (b) displace him), but then I heard scurrying on the stove too. A mouse was trying to squeeze down under the heating coils. Yuck again!

I went to sleep (not easily or well, but the blame for that may be on the goriness of Sweeney Todd), content in the knowledge that we had never seen anything other than skinks -well, and that one poisonous centipede- in the bedrooms. Only to awake this morning to Simon's, "mom... there's a rat in the kitchen."

I had just about given up (traps never work. Poison works, but are dead, maggoty rodents any better than live ones?), but not anymore. I have had enough. I'm going to buy every rodent-ridding product this island has to offer (ummm, except poison. I've had enough maggots in my hair to last a lifetime, by which I mean, I've had one in my hair and that's more than enough.).

Hmmm, I can't imagine I'm attracting visitors with this post...

goofing off at Tisa's