yeah, so the left side of my face is all swollen at the moment. 2 doctors have identified it as the mumps. even though i've had at least 2 mmr's. but anyway. it's fun i couldn't eat solids or anything with really any flavour for about 5 days. but now i've moved on to real foods, yay!!! it's still swollen but it doesn't hurt nearly as much.
so we swore in this past wednesday and now the group is scattered to all different corners of the two main islands of samoa. it's a strange feeling to leave everyone so abruptly after living so highly intensely with all of them for 12 weeks. i have a new home that i'm sharing with one of the other integrated coastal management volunteers, ana. it's quite nice and big. but very very dirty. so far we've managed to scrub down our bedrooms and move our stuff into those respective rooms but the others have been, thusfar, neglected. we start again soon.
tomorrow i will start my new job. i will be working in the Fisheries office for the samoan government. i'm quite excited really but nervous too. just like any new job, i'm feeling a little overwhelmed at the moment but it will pass eventually. i will be working in the section that is responsible for working with villages to make the most of, and conserve when needed, their marine resources. should be very eye-opening. because of the way land is owned and overseen forever by the same families and villages, there is a unique system of enabling villages the right to oversee their own coastal areas. So i guess over the next couple of years, i'll be learning all about it.
so we swore in this past wednesday and now the group is scattered to all different corners of the two main islands of samoa. it's a strange feeling to leave everyone so abruptly after living so highly intensely with all of them for 12 weeks. i have a new home that i'm sharing with one of the other integrated coastal management volunteers, ana. it's quite nice and big. but very very dirty. so far we've managed to scrub down our bedrooms and move our stuff into those respective rooms but the others have been, thusfar, neglected. we start again soon.
tomorrow i will start my new job. i will be working in the Fisheries office for the samoan government. i'm quite excited really but nervous too. just like any new job, i'm feeling a little overwhelmed at the moment but it will pass eventually. i will be working in the section that is responsible for working with villages to make the most of, and conserve when needed, their marine resources. should be very eye-opening. because of the way land is owned and overseen forever by the same families and villages, there is a unique system of enabling villages the right to oversee their own coastal areas. So i guess over the next couple of years, i'll be learning all about it.
I have finally gotten the pictures off my camera so I thought I'd share some. I picked them pretty much at random so hopefully they show a little of my life here in Samoa.
This is my group in the airport on arrival. We are the 78th in Samoa. Aren't we awake looking considering that it was taken at 0530 after a 10 hour flight?
Our host families in Manunu started giving dinner parties for the various peace corps (pisikoa). This was my family's. I call is Cafe Kalolo. My sister served.
more pics later, i'm running out of internet time.
