Its been a while since a new post has appeared on this site...so I figured its time. Well, Ethan and I have been in our respective villages and separated for about two weeks, so this post will be more about me and whats going on in my life since, I cant speak on his behalf b/c I haven't spent much time with him lately. We have been hanging out at Nela's flat in Apia with her this weekend which has been lovely and sad because she is leaving on Monday back to the good ole US of A and we won't be near her again for quite a while. So out in the village, I have been a bit taa...because I keep heading out on my bike to visit friends on the other side of the village. One day, I woke up and was working on my college essay with a pencil and paper and decided, hey I can ride to Julya's house and use her computer while she is at school...then we headed back to my house in the afternoon so she could go to our primary school and check out their computer and what was wrong with it. She rode back to school the next morning with a headlamp at 5:30AM and was chastised for riding in the dark.

It has been nice these few weeks to go out on my bike and visit people and hang out and talk about me coming back and I get a bit nostalgic as I am really going to miss a ton of people in Taga. It took me a while to make friends without living with one family, but there are now so many people I am close with...it makes me sad to think about leaving.

Of course, I am excited about our trip plans and moving forward. I guess its just an emotional time for me with such a major change. This life changing experience and this great little island country is going to always be a memory for me and with the prices of flights here, not someplace I can just fly to on a moments whim.

Hey...if you are reading this...Ethan and I would like to know. Please send us a comment. As for pictures, I promise to get some posted eventually....internet is so slow here.

In honour of Nela's leaving...I am posting a pciture of our feet at our Regina's Beach Fales in Manase Savaii



and then is us with more patterned fabrics than one would think possible.

We are off to take a hike up to a lake with just us girls.. Should be fun. Fa Soifua! Sara

So, our COS conference was at Sinalei Resort...It was nice to be pampered a bit with some push-pot coffee, gourmet food, a pool (without eels and prawns biting at you) and plush accomodations. The little bungalows had air/con (a true luxary) and showers that were open air but still private.

Yup, Team building! Wow, can you believe Theresa made it on top!


How pretty! What a display.


Our nice sexy pose with Monte in the background!

CATWALK, COCKTAILS, and CLEAVAGE

I bet you never thought Peace Corps could be a AIDS benefit function. I haven't written in a while because Ethan and I have found ourselves emersed in the planning, organizing, and managing of the 2006 SamoaTel Fashion Awards. We have become part of a team of people that have pulled off what was dubbed 'the best party' of the year. I mean, if we had society pages here...we would be in it. It was a great sponsor party and tomorrow is the actual show for the public. For me, being involved with the media (television, newspaper, and radio), the fundraising, the logistics, the organizing...its all exilherating. Ethan has attacked the stage, lights, and catwalk making with a fellow a PCV and they are on fire. Ill write more when I have time...gotta run.

So, Saturday night was the fashion awards. Huge success! The place was packed with about 1000 people and everyone enjoyed the show. The glitches were small and I am so happy it is over. Yesterday, the staff and the visiting designer and models went to the beach and we had a great time.

This morning in the taxi ride over to the office, I watched the crew boats in the harbour preparing for next weeks races and I had my first thoughts of missing this country and getting sad about leaving. I mean, I only have two months left!!! I can't believe it. This country feels like home and always be my second country. That's it for now.

MAKING CAKES…THE HARD WAY
I never thought making cakes would take all day. I woke up this morning and did my usual coffee and working on essays for college apps. Then I headed out by bike to find some bananas to make banana bread for Sunday’s big meal at the pastor’s house. As I said earlier, Mothers Day is huge here and I was invited to the mothers meal at the EFKS church. Everyone loves my cakes and to do something special, I thought I would make two and bring them with. Also, I hoped to make one for the pastor’s wife of the Mormon church as a thank you for the Siva and Happy Mothers Day.
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At 8AM, I went out by bike to find bananas. I stopped at Koreti’s house. She was very sorry she didn’t have any, but insisted on picking a ripe pineapple that she had been wanting to give to me. I told her I would be back to pick it up so I didn’t parade it around town. Then I headed up towards Lauesi’s house, but on the way, Manu asked me where I was going and when I said I was looking for fa’i pula, he said to come with him because he had a hanging bunch. He had a kid wait at the road to flag down the bus, if it came, and we headed to get some bananas. Meanwhile, I passed Lauesi and she told me to come back and say hi. So, I did. We chatted, her baby is so cute. And then I headed back to my house. On the way, I ran into Tasi (who lives behind Mele, who lives next to me) and asked if he could scrape some coconut for me when he got home. He asked if he could borrow my bike when I was done. I stopped and chatted with Koreti and her husband, who had returned from the plantation in their car and picked up my pineapple. Then I stopped at the small store and bought flour and sugar. They didn’t have eggs or butter, so the cake making was on hold until Junior returned from Salelologa and opened his store. About 10AM, I was hanging with Mele when we saw Junior’s truck go by, so I headed back to the store with Fiti (he is 5 and so cute) but Junior said there were no eggs for him to buy in Salelologa. I bought butter and decided to make the cakes anyway, but substitute double baking powder for the eggs. In the meantime, Mele’s oldest daughter brought me one egg from under a chicken somewhere to use. I made the first cake, no problem, but then as I put the second cake into the toaster oven, the power went out. This is a usual problem in Savaii, we loose power every other night, but usually in the evenings…hence the cooking the cakes during the day. Mele was over and she and I were making candy necklaces with yarn and saran wrap. So we finished that task and then took our naps. The power was out for about three hours and finally I was back on cake making duty. By the time the fourth and final cake came out of the oven, it was 5:30PM. The fourth cake I divided up and gave to the moms of the families that provided me with supplies, which was appreciated. And now I will go put the other three in the fridge to avoid letting the cats indulge themselves. Task accomplished. Malolo (rest).

Mormon Siva “Dance”

So, I got back from Apia today after a bit of errand running. Did you know you have to have your visa before you get to India? Well, we sent our passports away so that they can issue them…meanwhile we are living overseas without a passport. I don’t think we have any risk of a ku (sp?) but it still feels weird to not have it on my person. Town was packed with tons of people shopping for Aso Sa Tina (Mothers Day)…I would say second biggest holiday here in Samoa, second only to Aso Sa Tamaiti (White Sunday). The lines were crazy and I too had to bring some gifts back so a little shopping was inevitable. The littlest things make me happy though. I was waiting in line when I looked up and saw one roll of Oral B special dental floss. It sounds so silly, but I have been using this unwaxed thick generic floss since my roll of good stuff ran out and I never appreciated the good stuff more. It was a wonderful treat and my teeth are very happy. Anyway, enough of that aside. We, then hopped the 2PM boat, full, packed, squeezed in like sardines in oil in 100˚ heat. Got to the Savaii and did some email checking, talked to mom on the phone, and then headed back to Taga on the bus of the last boat. I had barely gotten showered and unpacked when Mele invited me to the Mormon Dance. I figured, what the heck…and I went. I swear, every boy in the whole town asked me to dance. Now, when I first got to Samoa, I hated dancing and I thought that by dancing with a guy here was similar to accepting a drink from a guy in the States. You know, your accepting means you too are interested in striking up a conversation and getting to know the person. I was so rude back then, turning down all these boys for a dance because as I now know, in the Samoan culture, dancing is the one time you can get your groove on and the boy doesn’t want anything more than a dance. Simple, innocent dancing. It had truly helped me loose my inhibitions on the dance floor and I look forward to hitting some clubs on our trip and just letting go. Although, I would also like to learn to dance to a bit better. Anyway, I am going to miss this place and I am going to try to accept any invite that comes my way for fun new experiences from now until I leave. Rarely, have I ever been totally disappointed for doing something fun.

Back in Apia...it was a nice week in the village, although not much to do right now. I went through my stuff and started giving things away. I hung out with friends, ate papaya...chilled with the ladies...it was Aso Fitu week. I know it sounds silly, but my first papaya was ripe today. I ate it! I grew that little one from seed. How cool.
Ethan came to visit. I was a bit bored and deciding what to do with my day, when Ethan called and said that he was going to bike to visit. I was pysched and we had a great time just tafaoing and making plans...

Its Tuesday...we watched Brokeback Mountain last night. Had salad for dinner. Slept. Ethan left for Savaii at 4:30AM and I went to work. I go back to Savaii tomorrow for the first time in over a week. Wow am I kaa! We are doing really well with sponsorships at the SAF (Samoa AIDS Foundation) and working out logistics on the actual show. Tomorrow, we'll head out in the car and collect some cash and make some designer contacts... Thats about it. I keep thinking about grad school, travel, next steps, and I am still here for another three months. Slow down...

Selma, Edwina, Peati, Me, and Ken at the SAF Office.



Ethan and Maggie Chilling at Nela's House.

Ethan and I are learning how to post pictures. Here's some Samoan scenery.

Welcome to our blog! We booked our ticket RTW (round-the-world) today and in celebration, we opened this website.

Fia Ta’a
Fa’amatalaga o ma malaga
(Stories of our Wanderings)

Wow, now that this site has a name, we can get started. First, let’s provide you with a definition of it.

Per G.B. Milner’s Samoa English Dictionary:
Ta’a v.(&adj) 1. (of animals etc.) Run freely, be loose, be at large. ‘Ua ~ le solofanua: The horse is ~; ‘o le ma’a ~: Loose stone, rolling stone. 2. (of woman) Be loose, unchaste, wanton. ‘Ua ~ le teine: The girl is ~. 3. n. Lover, suitor. “O le ~ a le teine: The girl’s ~.

This word is used often now in slang for when someone leaves the house and ‘tafao’(hang out) outside the family compound. Hence, those of us that live in villages but do things in other villages (with girl friends, boyfriend, or actual work or PC related business) are generally teased as being kaa. I have been called kaa a million times in the last two years here, but significantly more since I have been in Apia working and leaving the village every week.

Fia Taa means that we ‘want’ to be taa. Faamatalaga is an explanation, o is of, ma is our (two people, listener not included), and malaga is a travel/journey/wandering/traditional introduction.

With the start of this new blogsite, we hope you know that our opinions are just that our opinions. We give an outsider/traveler perspective of the places we visit.

WHO ARE WE?
We are two Peace Corps volunteers in our thirties, who joined Peace Corps to live in another culture and learn about something about the world, to share our own experiences and maybe leave a little piece of ourselves. Since we are very different people, it is hard to write about us as a pair, but this journey is about sharing and learning to spend more than two consecutive weeks together. We are finishing our two year services separately in Samoa and excited to start our lives together. We met in San Francisco June 7th, 2004 at staging and became friends before we started dating. But after a time, we just couldn’t fight it. We continued our service in separate villages, both on Savaii although we were both still part of each others lives. Our projects were different but we did help each other with our respective skills. We talked about trying to do it together quite a few times and know we would have been successful and enjoyed it, but it just wasn’t in the cards. Maybe next time right?

WHERE ARE WE GOING?
We are working on booking our skeleton RTW ticket this month and we’ll get back to you on that. If you have advice for us on any of the following countries, please let us know:

India
Thailand
Turkey
Israel
Vienna
Frankfurt or other European cities on a budget from there

We are on the tightest budget we can be on, but know this is a trip of a lifetime. I am most nervous about the European part since the dollar is week and we will be ending our travel there.

WHAT WE WANT TO DO?
My goal is to learn to cook local food and flavours of every country we visit. After eating taro and breadfruit smothered in coconut cream and tinned mackerel for the last two years, I am looking forward to world flavours and earning some of my taste palate back. I want wine wherever it is available since I have only drank box and jug wine here.

Ethan’s goal is to travel with local transport wherever we go. Tuktuks and trains…I agree, lets stay away from tour vans and taxis whenever possible.

Homestays: We both want to do some museums and temples and I am interested in local art, but we both want to see and learn about the culture. We are NOT sick of the beach, despite what one may think after two years on a tropical island. We love the beach and look forward to finding other countries version of ‘beach fales.’