24/7/2012 Tuesday 9:00 PM

Talofa everyone!! Having some keyboard issues (my h only types when I write a y, so that's fun) so a quick post today of just some pictures from our Island Tour last Saturday. We had a picnic and some swim time in Auasi on the far east side of the island and then drove all the way out to Leone on the west end of Tutuila. It was the first time I got to see te village I'll be living in and the scool I'll be teaching at. Training is going well, including trying to learn Samoan, and the other volunteers are awesome!!

Fatu ma Futi, the brother rocks. There's a story about how they got there but no ones told it to us yet even though it's been mentioned often.

WorldTeach 2012-13 volunteers!!

A cool pine tree by our picnic site in Auasi

Madeline looking at the beach

A shipwreck near my village

Faga'itua, the village I'll be living and teaching in this year!!

A view from the only road through Faga'itua

Tisa's Barefoot Bar (hidden on the beach), an east side staple that my field director, Veronica, told me I'll be very familiar with, haha

Sea stacks everywhere!!

My favorite picture I've taken of Pago Harbor

The actual town of Pago Pago

The bus exchange

Inside an Aiga bus

Mountains on the east side of Pago Harbor. The tall one is Rainmaker Mt.

The Leone volunteers got to stop and look around their school. From left: Jill, Josh R, Kristina, and Sara (no h on purpose!) C (we have 3 Sara's, 3 Jessica's, and 2 Josh's in our group)

That's all for now, once training is done I'll have more time to write about day to day life here on Tutuila. Until then lot's of love and hugs back to the states or wherever you might be reading from.

Tofa!!!

Mike

Update: Te eighth lehtter ofh tghe ahlhpghabet ghahs now dhecidhedhh to pop up in rahndhom plhahceshhhhhh. Super. I'lhlh remove te hhhhhhhhhhhhhhh'sh fhrom here on out.

Also, if you want to get e-mail updates about new posts (since facebook doesn't always work) send me an e-mail to MGallant@skidmore.edu with the subject line "add me" and I'll add you a running list

17/7/12 Tuesday 7:00 PM

After almost two full days of flights and layovers I’m in American Samoa safe and sound. It feels so good to be back in the southern hemisphere. The nights have been cloudy, so no stargazing yet, but looking forward to seeing those southern constellations again.

After getting in at night we woke up to find that the school we’re staying at, Nu’uuli Vocational Technical High School, fronts onto the pacific and is surrounded by mountains. Our 6 star accommodations consists of thin little pads to sleep on, which are actually really comfy, a kitchen, a guys bathroom with two heads and a toilet, and a shower room that has two sort of sections wih four spigots and no privacy. Livin’ large.

Nu'uuli VocTech High School

The view across the street just after sunrise

Shower cabin, boys are on the left

Kitchen at breakfast, busy place

We had out first day of orientation today which consisted of us playing name games, going over the History of WorldTeach, and getting split into groups and exploring a few of the towns around Pago Harbor without any sort of supervision. Our field director, Veronica, is really nice and smart and will take good care of us this year. We also have two alums named Jenn and Allison who will be in and out during our orientation.

Utulei beach on the west side of Pago Harbor

Our groups were assigned tasks that forced us to talk to the locals, who are all very friendly and will smile and wave at you or help you find the post office. One of the tasks everyone had was to buy an I’e lavalava, which I still don’t know how to tie properly. We also got to try out the aiga buses, which are all painted colorfully and have cool names.

Pago Post office!!

Some are flamey

We went over the schedule for orientation which will be an intensive few weeks, but I think it will all be helpful and will help to bond our group, just in time for us to be sent all over the islands haha. The people here are an eclectic mix with all levels of teaching and travel experience. Looking forward to making some good friends to visit all over and travel with during the year.

All the fabrics at the Tutuila store in Fagotaga, where we got our lavalavas

This whole experience finally feels real, even if its mostly surreal, and I can’t believe I’m lucky enough to be living here for the next year. I’ll try to keep this up as much as possible, as I said last time keep pestering me to update. Bear hugs from the southern hemisphere!!

Mike

Oh yeah,  there was a rainbow...

14/7/12 11PM

My flight out of Logan is in 9 and a half hours. After a delicious dinner and some wonderful cake and a cute, quirky Wes Anderson movie with my family, I'm home and finally finished packing my two checked bags, had to redistribute some t-shirts so they’re both under the weight limit. 80 pounds of stuff should get me through a year, I hope. Among that gear is a new mask and snorkel, an abundance of clothes and notebooks, my brand new Swingline Stapler and my good scissors from fibers class. Shawn gave me a neon pink tank top from St. John that was too short for him, so I’ll be bringing some Atlantic style to the Pacific.

Rockin' the pink. Yes, they're going to allow me to teach children. I was shocked too...

My rock hammer is packed tightly away next to all my yarn and my hand lens, so I’ll be able to geologize in Samoa and knit to my hearts content, or at least until I run out of yarn.

I arrive in LA at 11:11 tomorrow, at least if my plane is on time I will. I then have a full day before my 10:40 flight out of LAX. I’ll be in Samoa by 10 pm local time on Monday night, so two full days of travel and adventure ahead. Some of the other people on my program are getting to LA early too, so we’re going to try to have some sort of adventure during the day before out meeting at 8 that night.

I couldn’t be more excited to start this adventure. I’m going to miss everyone on the mainland immensely, but luckily I got to see and say goodbye a fair number of people during the weeks I’ve been hanging out. And those of you who didn't get to say goodbye imagine I'm giving you a firm handshake or a massive bear hug, whichever you deem appropriate for our level of acquaintance, or another form of goodbye, if that suits you better. 

Please keep pestering me so I update this thing regularly.