Sweet, lazy, summer days.......  While Grant is working away during the day, Levi and I are busy filling our time with activities, exploring and some cartoon time (mom has gotta have a break now and then).  I've tried to do a good job of finding connections and things for us to do and it's taken me (and Levi) a little time to get adjusted to the way things are here in American Samoa.  There are a couple of pretty decent play structures, and a library, but other than that there aren't a lot of things set up for young kids to do during the day.  I anticipated this and packed lots of art supplies, activity books and legos. But what I'm noticing is that kids here are more adept to find their own entertainment.  For example, it's much more common here to see a kid, or group of kids, sometimes as young as Levi, barefoot and playing a game of peek-a-boo in the hanging laundry between the neighbors' houses.  Or kids playing with sticks, mud, empty plastic water bottles (or whatever they can find) in our alley or even the street.  And most the time these kids are without adult supervision.  While I have a hard time thinking I would let Levi play in the alley without a parent watching, I can't help but feel that there is something refreshing about seeing kids able to play outside and just be kids without fancy toys and play structures and without much worry.  One really nice thing about American Samoa is that the crime rate is very low.  Yes, there are robberies, things stolen and such.  But from what I've heard, violent crime or kidnapping is virtually unheard of.  So I can definitely understand parents here who know all the neighbors and are sure their kids know to watch out for cars, feeling a sense of security with letting their kids play outside without supervision.  

We are getting to know all the neighborhood kids.  Sometimes Levi and I will play t-ball outside and it usually doesn't take long to attract a good-sized group of kids with big, curious eyes.  They linger at the open gate for a couple of minutes, a little shy and then I motion for them to come and play and before you know it we have 15 youngsters lining up to hit the ball.  I think Levi was a little overwhelmed the first time this happened.  They all kind of huddled around him and wanted to watch him hit the ball (which, by the way, he is getting really good at!)  :)    It's funny when I step back and watch them with him.  They love to touch his hair, pat his head and hug him.  He is warming up too.  But still a little overwhelmed.   On other days we do sidewalk chalk or bubbles with the kids and there is never a shortage of interest in these toys. 

We've also been exploring the beaches.  This is a great way to spend the morning.  The water temperature is perfect and there are a couple of good, clean beaches with really nice shallow water.  Levi loves putting his feet in and waiting for the waves to come.  We look for shells, hermit crabs, and coral.  There are a lot of beautiful shells and coral to be found here.  I'm starting a little collection.  :)  Our neighbor doesn't have access to a car because her husband uses it for work, so sometimes we take her and her one-year old son with us to the beach.  It's nice to have company and someone for Levi to play with. 

Driving around here is pretty fun.  I actually love the chance to go for drives because it's so beautiful and I get to drive along a road that winds right along the coast almost everyday.  The speed limit is 25 miles per  hour everywhere on the island.  I don't know what I'm going to do when I get back in the states and have to drive on a freeway!! :)  I love driving 25 because I can look around a bit and enjoy the scenery.  Everyone gives the right of way here, even when they actually have the right of way.  It takes some getting used to, but it's actually kind of nice.  I'm getting good at stopping, even though I have right of way and no stop sign, and letting cars turn who are stuck at a stop sign.  It's funny though, if you let one go, you better be ready to let them all go.  At first I thought I had done my duty letting one go and I started to go again, but the second, third, fourth car all decided to pull out and turn in front of me.  They all smiled and waved.  Now I've seen this happen lots of time to other drivers, so I know to go ahead and stop and wait for awhile and just let everyone go.  There is a lot of smiling, waving and friendly flashing of lights that happens around here.  :)

Speaking of driving, I can't wait to try riding on the Aiga buses.  They are smallish-sized, colorful buses that sport tassles, feathers, and slogans that say things like "God is Awesome" and "Practice Patience",  "Take it Easy", etc (I'll post some pictures soon).  They play fun, upbeat music and I can sometimes hear the riders singing to the music when they pass by.  Seems like fun. :)

This week has been full of new things and people.  We've definitely had some ups and downs too.  We had to make an emergency trip to the LBJ hospital at 2am on Sunday with Levi.  Poor guy woke me and had a fever of 104! I've never seen it so high.  It really scared us when he started shaking and saying that he saw an alligator in his room.  I know the alligator part sounds funny, but I could tell he was being serious and I knew he was probably hallucinating.  I started going into panic mode.  Got him a wash cloth and some tylenol and told Grant to get things together for the hospital. We jumped in the car and sped off.  I just held Levi in my arms for the 20 minute ride.  His breathing was labored and I just didn't know what was happening to his body and I didn't know what kind of an environment we were going to find at the hospital.   We've heard mixed things about LBJ; mostly that it has fallen into disrepair and such.  We pulled up and began the check-in procedure.  The emergency room was dingy, with peeling paint, and chickens wondering about outside the door. Grant was instructed to go to a different office to get a registration card for Levi since he was a new patient.  The lady in charge of the patient cards was asleep behind the desk, so Grant had to wake her up so that we could get the process started for Levi.  Not a great start!!  However, once we got past that, we had a really thorough doctor who did a great job.  She ordered labs, got Levi's fever down, and found out he had an ear infection.  As soon as his fever came down, he switched back to his old self.  We could tell he was better when he tried climbing the walls (literally) next to his hospital bed.  He also thought it was great fun removing the sheets of the bed and singing ABC's to all the nurses who came in to help him.  But before his fever came down, he was lying in the bed and you could tell he was uncomfortable and Grant and I noticed he was trying to do something with his hands.  We realized he was making the "hang loose" sign for us.  When we were in Hawaii Grant taught him that sign and he loves doing it now.  Sure enough, he worked on it and in a hoarse little voice he said "Hang Loose, daddy".  :)

 

So the "up" part of this week has been meeting some great people.  For the most part, the people here are very friendly; they wave and smile when you drive by and they are trusting.  Just the other day we were headed out to find a lady who sells house plants from her home.  There are no addresses on the island, so directions usually go like "OK, you know that yellow laundromat on the corner?  OK, turn right there and you'll see a white house with a blue truck and we are the next house with the ginger plants in front."  :)  Well we were having a hard time finding this lady.  We were talking to her on our cell and she said she would meet us at the laundromat closest to her house.  We met her there and she asked, "Can I just jump in the back of your car and show you how to get to my house?"  OK.  I guess we don't look like serial killers.....but you wouldn't find too many people who'd do that back in the states.

I also met a lady named Mary who heads up the Children's program at the local library.  She actually has been to Chico!  I can't believe it's the second person I've met who lives here and knows little ol' Chico.  Amazing.  Anyway, she told me about a children's playgroup that will be starting in August at the library for Levi's age group.  We are definitely going to do that.  She also told me that they have activities and art projects going on throughout the week.  Levi met a new friend named Tupu (he informed me that his name means "king").  Tupu is five years old and his mom works at the library so he hangs out there quite a bit.  The three of us looked at picture books and he taught us a couple of Samoan words.  Then we all went outside and Levi and Tupu took turns playing on the monkey bars and trying to hang upside down.  Oh by the way, Mary said I would do fine here because I'm "from Chico and Chico is so cool and laid back, kind of like Samoa."  So I got that going for me...

Tonight Grant and I went to Tisa's Barefoot Bar.  Definitely the best business we've been to so far here in Samoa.  We enjoyed a traditional umu.   I'm just going to copy and paste the description of the food below.  I can't even tell you how delicious it was.  Just too good for words.  You eat this food straight off of a table covered with banana leaves--no plates or utensils.  Also, people are fanning you while you eat to keep flies away, but it made me feel like some sort of royalty.....A Samoan princess perhaps?  LOL.  A girl can dream, right?  Also, they are filming a reality show called "Ghost Hunters International" in Samoa right now and the crew was at Tisa's tonight to film.  We had to sign waivers to agree to let them use footage of us on the show.  Candyman (Tisa's sidekick) said the show would probably air in July or August and it's on the SyFy network.  So keep your eyes open.  That reminds me, yesterday I overheard a palagi (non-Samoan) say "this island is spooky as shit".  It just made me laugh. 

Here's a description of the Umu at Tisa's

When all of the food is ready, and the rocks are hot, the umu is built. The hot rocks are leveled in the shape of a circle, with the larger rocks sorted to the outside. The rocks are dusted off (to remove most of the ash), and then covered with a layer of mango leaves. For extra moisture (our secret), fresh banana trunks are shredded and laid on top of the mango leaves (banana trunks are very high in water content). All meats are then laid down, followed by taros, cooking bananas and breadfruits. The larger rocks previously sorted to the outside and then place on top of the food. The palusami and fai ai pilikaki (fresh fish casserole in coconut shells) are placed on top of the top rocks, along with fresh squash or pumpkin, and fresh papaya with cinnamon. Layers of banana leaves and tamu leaves are then place over the entire umu to seal in the heat and steam. Cooking time is about 2 to 3 hours.