no internet connection = grrrrrr

It's been a long time... we moved, I got a new job, and lots of other blog-worthy stuff. But we still don't have internet at home. It's Samoa. Life is slooooow here. For the most part, I like it. But I'm kind of addicted to the internet so I'm not too fond of this slowness. After many conversations of one company not having coverage at our new location (seriously? the island is less than 55 square miles and probably less than 1/2 is populated. is it that hard to cover?) and the other company not having modems or possibly having modems but not being sure (hard to check. I understand), I just paid and I'm waiting and hoping that eventually, in the next decade or so, a modem will find its way to the island and then to my house and then I can blog again.

But while I'm posting, the new house is great. We have a resident crab in the bathroom. Not a hermit crab, a "eats the gunk on the bathroom floor" crab. I don't have picture proof. He's camera shy. But I do have picture proof of the beautiful view! It will make you all want to visit!

This weekend we went to Tisa's. It was one of those beautiful days when the water is calm and the snorkeling is gorgeous. Our friend Matt was getting a traditional tattoo up at the bar, we were watching the whales out in the distance, and we ended the day with pina coladas made with fresh coconut cream. It was one of those days when I couldn't help but wonder how I lucked into the island life.

Last weekend, Clif and I went diving in Fagatele Bay with a group of friends. The water was clear and beautiful, although murky for Fagatele. We saw tons of giant clams. The best thing about this dive trip didn't happen on the dive though. During our surface interval on the boat we saw a pod of spinner dolphins and two humpbacks! One didn't come out of the water, but we saw its back and its spout. The other one (a smallish one) breached over and over, slapped its tail on the water, and just generally showed off for us. It was incredible! Until then, the coolest thing I'd seen in the ocean was a Tahitian ray. The humpbacks definitely outdid that.

Just so you don't think that life is all too perfect in paradise, Clif has dengue fever. He'll be fine since it's generally only fatal to people who are very old or very young, but the kids and I are dousing ourselves in deet and hoping that any mosquitos that get to him, don't find us.

I think that's about it for now, hopefully we'll have internet sometime soon and we can post more regularly!

*sigh* I love that kid

Julia: We have to remember to take that fan with us when we move.

Simon: Yeah, because it keeps us warm so we're not burning burning hot. We used to be burning burning hot. *sigh* I love that fan.

update: we're ruthless

No, we have not fallen off the face of the earth (well, any more so than we already were considering our current location). I've been very slow at posting because we're busy packing and moving (into an awesome beach house!) and getting into the swing of the school year and dealing with the loss of the kid sister/shopping companion/babysitter/general household entertainment (apparently Ruth thought she needed an education -go figure). But be sure to keep checking the July postings because I have tons of great Arts Festival pictures that will eventually make their way to the blogosphere.

maybe random-sponse is more fitting

.. later on this week, still going on and on about paddling lessons.

Lisa: Wow, you're becoming a renaissance man with all the lessons you're taking.

Everett: What's a random-sponse man?

now that's a worthy aspiration

Everett: You know how I can't take sailing lessons until I'm ten? Well, I can take junior outrigger paddling lessons until I'm ten and then take sailing lessons and then I'll be this crazy boat guy!

Pacific Arts Festival Fire Knife Competition!

After a full afternoon at the Festival Village we headed to the stadium to see the fire knife competition. We were surprised to see that there were other performances in between the fire knife dancing. It made the whole night a bit long for us so we went home before we could see who won, but we loved the parts we saw!

Tahiti started the night off:

Then a Samoan tauluga, followed by part of the fire knife competition.

Yes, it's not just the picture... these kids are really young. I have no idea of their ages, but there was a kids' division in the competition. It was pretty amazing, especially when I considered that both Everett and Simon would probably love to get up on stage and throw around some flaming swords. I'm just not sure that anyone would survive. These kids (and the entire audience) survived and actually did very well.

Then Papau New Guinea:
Rotuma, which is now part of Fiji, but has a different culture:
And Fiji was the last group we saw before we called it a night.

Pacific Arts Festival again

I went over to the Festival Village at lunch again. This time there were improptu performances by different groups from Papau New Guinea in the center of the village. Unfortunately, my camera battery died so I just got a couple pictures.
Check out the guys with the black hats, those things are made out of human hair! I was disappointed about the camera battery issue since it would have been the best photo op of the week so far. The village was fun anyway. Some guys from Palau tried to teach me how to carve. We were all worn out and exhausted from running around so much that we didn't go to any performances in the evening. We could hear Rapa Nui and Taiwan from our house though. The stadium isn't very far away and the volume is loud!

Instead of taking a lunch break the next day, I took off early to enjoy the festival. The kids had been there for a while already, but they were happy to come back and do the rounds again. Going to the Festival Village with the kids is a very different experience. People are so willing to show them what they are doing, and let them experiment with instruments and carving tools.

The kids loved this huge stuffed and mounted coconut crab from Guam.

Taiwan was a special guest at this festival. Simon loved playing the drum that was as tall as he is.
This girl thought Simon was so cute! She couldn't speak much English, but we kept hearing "so cute, so cute" as she showed him things and helped the kids make their pan pipe.

And, of course, I can't leave off a picture of the nose flute. I don't even want to know what it's like to clean that instrument.

This Samoan guy is carving mortals and pestels. Simon had to be torn away. Everett was too busy playing the new pan pipe to care about anything else for the rest of the day.

Ruth was very entertained outside Rapa Nui's fale.

New Zealand tattoo artists. The 2nd guy has amazing face tattoos. And I worry about getting a tattoo in a place that I could easily cover it if I wanted...

Simon with a half-way woven Autralian eel trap on his arm.

Hawaii.
Clif and Tim:
Ruth and some crazy palm frond weaving.

Tongan wood carver, with Simon still mesmerized by carving.