So,
I know it’s been a month but here I am finally updating my blog. They keeps us very busy here. I guess if they’re going to do the majority of your training for two years in 11 weeks, it better be packed. The language is very interesting, 5 vowels and only 11 consonants. No two consonants can ever be paired. Every vowel is pronounced. And every word must end in a vowel. Those are the basic rules. There are also two markers of emphasis which go on the vowels, so although there are the usual 5, there are actually 20 different sounds. All said, however, I definitely don’t think it is the hardest of the languages to learn, and we are all progressing well. I actually am doing much better than I thought, considering my German experience – 12 years, few words.
The first two weeks here were spent in the capital city, Apia. We live in a small hotel that lets us use the little eating space to hold our lessons. Haha, they’re also very accommodating about letting us practice our bad Samoan on them when we have to do homework. They let us ask things like:
Hello. What is your name? My name is Lini. (That’s my Samoan name, lee-nee) Where are you from? What is your father’s name? What is your mother’s name?
It’s lots of fun really.
After two weeks of initial learning, we moved operations to our host training village, Manunu. It’s an inland village and really very beautiful. It sits at the base of the Mountains and has a river running near it. All the water is taken from the river passed around the village through a circuitous pipe system. This river also provides a couple of beautiful swimming spots. One is a waterfall that can be climbed up part way and the walls around it can be climbed to jump off. Very cool. I will include pictures of the the village and waterfall next time.
We arrived in village on a Saturday and immediately had an ava ceremony. This a meeting between the chiefs of the village and the visiting chiefs (or in this case a bunch of peace corps (aka pisikoa) and their trainers, some of whom are chiefs in their own villages). It’s very interesting but I am not sure of the details, so I won’t try to explain much. The ava is a drink made from the root of the ava plant and it has an effect kind of like alcohol, I’m not sure what is really is chemically speaking. Throughout the ceremony all the chiefs are give the bowl to drink from.
After this, we were taken by our respective families to our homes to try to figure out our families with our incredibly limited language skills. My family has 2 boys (22, 12) and 4 girls(20, 18, 15, and 2) but there is a general stream of relatives in an out too. They are very nice. Samoan generosity is actually quite a thing to experience. There is so much that’s its overwhelming at times. Our whole village is incredibly excited to have us and we have already been thrown 2 dances. These are very funny. The first was actually full of Samoan Siva (dance) and we each danced with our respective families. It was actually a surprise. If I had known we would each be dancing individually, I might have practiced harder with my sisters. But I had fun so I guess it was better not to worry about it.
The two weeks were kind of long due mostly to the sheer amount of work piled on us during it. Nightly homework, two presentations and one oral assessment. There is also the amazing mental workout working on a new language day and night. There is also the crazy amount of isolation. There is nowhere else to go and no real way of finding out American news. It’s a lot to get to used to. It’s not as much like that when we’re in the city. Actually I have been to the movies twice. I’ve seen Fantastic Four and Die Hard 4.0 (my first of the series) Hmm, 2 movies I would never have watched in the states. It’s amazing what you’ll go see when there is no tv and 2 movie screens.
Well, I have to wrap up this phenomenally long post as class is starting soon. I will be out for the next couple days visiting another volunteer at her site. We each got paired with someone different and have to get there by ourselves by bus tomorrow morning. Haha, that should be a fun experience – they gave us a list of contacts in case something happens. I’m pretty excited because I think the village is near a mangrove rehabilitation project set up by a volunteer that is ending his service next month, so I might get to check that out. My volunteer has also informed me that we will be attending the American Consulate’s 4th of July shindig. All the volunteers are invited but most will be too far away to attend. Anyway, maybe I’ll update on my trip when I get back Friday…or maybe not. Haha, this might be enough for everyone for a while!!
Talk to you all later!!

so now it's friday but i haven't had time to write anything and i'll be in the village for the next 3 weeks so i'll update then. bye!!