One Year

 I’ve been in Samoa for over a year! What?! Last weekend, most of the other volunteers in group 86 met up in the capital, Apia, to mark our one year anniversary and celebrate a couple birthdays. It was so nice to catch up, and see that the other volunteers seem to be doing pretty well for the most part. The next day, group 87’s plane landed and we welcomed them with an ava ceremony (ceremony Samoans typically perform to welcome guests). I don’t know if it was hitting the one year anniversary, or reliving the ava ceremony from the other side of the fale, but I’ve been remembering what it was like to arrive, and reflecting a lot on how far I’ve come.

Apia

I considered writing a list of all the things I’ve learned or things I want to accomplish in my next year, but who has time for that? I’ll just say this: When I watched the new group, the number one thing I thought about was how thankful I am that I’m not there anymore! That time was confusing and more difficult than I ever would have admitted in the moment. I had never left the country, let alone lived abroad, and it was hard, but now… I’ve generally got things figured out. I’ve lived in Samoa for a year, and I’ve actually created a life here. I’m happy a lot of the time, and I have people I care about and people who care about me in my community. My point is, I really like where I am at right now.

And all of a sudden, things have picked up, and time is going a lot faster.

This week is White Sunday, which is a major holiday in Samoa. In each church, children perform songs and dances and plays, and lead the prayers or take turns delivering parts of the sermon. Because I live in a tourists village, we will most likely have English speaking guests, so children  have to give speeches in both English and Samoan.

Because I’m a Sunday school teacher, I’ve been attending the nightly rehearsals (at least 3 hours every night for over two weeks) to teach English songs and help students with their English speeches. Most volunteers are asked to join the children in their performances, but luckily my village sees me as one of the teachers and not one of the children. Sometimes, volunteers get tired of being pressured into singing and dancing in front of groups too often (we aren’t circus monkeys), so I’m happy to spend my afternoons at the church hall, sitting and chatting with the other Sunday school teachers. It’s been quite the time commitment, but I’ve earned major brownie points from the people in my village, and gotten to know some of the younger kids better. It’s worth it.

The children practicing their welcome speech

After White Sunday, I’ll spend the next two weeks preparing my year 4 and 6 students for their national exams, and I’ll have after school tutoring session for the year 8 students for their English Exam. We will spend the last week of October administering the exams.

In November, I’ll spend two weeks helping group 87 with their teacher training, and we have GLOW coming up. Then I will finish the early literacy assessments for my students, and then it’s Prize Giving (graduation). The school year will be over? That soon? Because as soon as school is over, I’m headed back to Denver to spend Christmas with my family!

So to sum this post up, I’ve been here a year, and I feel really good about it.