Epilogue: My New Adventure

Well, hello everybody!...I'm back!...I am so, so, so sorry for taking forever with this epilogue (final blog entry)...I have not only been hella busy, I also wanted to wait until I had pictures of my new life here in Wisconsin...And now that I have got everything settled, I can actually tell y'all about how my stay in the states is goin' so far...Anyways, wow...It's kinda weird sittin' here and writtin' this blog entry...I mean, it seems like years ago I was doing this on a weekly basis...I almost feel like I'm in Samoa again...Man, I miss it...and, man, this blog gave me so much comfort...I knew I could vent about anything that I was experiencing in Samoa on this blog...It was very therapeutic...

Well, I'm gonna try to make this quick...(Are you guys having flashbacks, cause I sure am!)...I have a ton of stuff I should be doing...Essentially, I'm just gonna inform you loyal blog readers of my new life and how I feel about leaving Samoa and returning home...Lets begin...



There's my new school I work at...It's called Veritas High School, and it's in Milwaukee near 27th and Oklahoma...It's a half charter, half public school...It's been around for about 20 years...It's kinda hard to explain...The school is owned by a private, non-profit organization (Seeds of Health), but the students come from MPS and do not have to pay for the schooling...The philosophy of the school is complex but essentially they believe in smaller classrooms, better cooperation between teachers, parents, students, and administrators, and the importance of not only academic learning but also the education in life skills...Got that?...As you can see, the school is pretty small...There's only about 150 students that attend the school...And all of my classes have less than 25 kids in them...In other words, it's really nice and unique...The learning is highly individualized, and none of the students get forgotten about...All the teachers know each and every student and is always checking up on each and every student...This is one thing I love about the school...Inner-city kids NEED this kind of environment...This kind of personal, compassionate atmosphere is almost unheard of in Milwaukee Public Schools...So I feel very blessed to be working in it...I think it's been a great school to transition in...I mean, I am going from teaching on a small island in the South Pacific to teaching in a big city in the states...I could've been very overwhelmed and I may have felt insignifcant at any other school...But here, like Samoa, I feel I am making a difference in my students' lives...I don't feel like a number...Similar to my students at Veritas, I feel valued and valuable...


There's my classroom...I hate the table situation...I'm a desk kinda guy...But whatever...


That's the bulletin board my friend Tiffany created in the hallway outside my classroom...It's all Samoan-like, with "Reading is fun" in Samoan...Obviously, I miss the island just a tad bit...I talk about it to my students all the time...I'm kinda known at the school as "that guy who went to Samoa"...

There's the front office...

That picture above is our cafeteria and where we have our assemiblies and stuff...By the way, Veritas is truth in Latin...

Those were my two Freshmen classes....I'm teaching American Literature to them...I was really scared to teach Freshmen at first, but they've turned out to be a lot of fun...A little rambunctious and talkative, but also very funny and lively...

Those were my two Sophomore classes...I'm teaching them World Literature...Maybe you can notice but about 50% of the students at Veritas are Latino...I almost believe about 60-70% of my students are of hispanic heritage...I have many Mexicans and Puerto Ricans...This is another aspect of the school that I absolutely adore..The diversity is thrilling...Most of my students speak Spanish everywhere except in the classroom...So, like Samoa, I've had to deal with ESL learners...But I love it, and I admire their lanaguage and culture...I'm so excited to learn more about the Latino community and maybe even immerse myself in it somehow...I became obsessed with Samoa when I lived there, and I think that might happen with this hispanic dominant school...Oh, and I kinda like the fact that some of the kids come from broken and/or lower-class families...I can relate to them easily with that one...

Those pictures above were of my new village of Greendale, Wisconsin...No more Fagaima...The reason I moved to this small suburb near Milwaukee is because of its downtown area...It's beautiful...Quaint and quiet and safe...Just what I've always dreamed about...A block away from my apartment is this street with cafes, little stores, parks, churches, nice schools, and restaurants...The old style ice cream shop is especially wonderful...This town is close to the city of Milwaukee yet it almost seems like a whole other world...A world from the 1950's or Leave it to Beaver or something...When I jog at night I swear I'm in Pleasantville...Sometimes it's kinda chilling...I mean, it reminds me of the Stepford Wives or some creepy-perfect thing like that...Sure, it's a bit different than Samoa, but I dig it...And I could even see myself raising a family here...Well, for now, at least...

There's the front of my apartment building...I live in the back...Near the scary woods...

The following are links to some of my final video clips I made in Samoa...Check 'em out...I'll warn you guys though, you may get teary eyed as you watch them...Well, I do...I sometimes get terribly sad when I think of my years on the island...I miss it awfully much...

Gene's Birthday Video/Last Day on the Island:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7SUJ7ziwTs

Fagaima Flood:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTOZWDcW8X0

My Birthday:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jf4l9BZN538
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-UIbmHnJww

Those were pictures of my new apartment...Yeah, yeah, I know...It's kinda empty...Hey, cut a guy some slack...I have started from nothing...I had to buy a couch, table, desk, towels, utensils, etc., etc., etc....It's slowly but surely coming together...I learned from the television show Design by the Dime that it's okay to take your time to fill a space...Don't rush it, that's my motto...I wanna design my home with interesting, meticulous things that represent me...Oh, and things that are also cheap...I'm broke as all get-out!...

And there's my brand spankin' new car...It's a 2008 Nissan Versa...It's excellent on gas and pretty roomy with its hatchback...The payments are a hassle and I sometimes miss my days in Samoa of having not to worry about an automobile, but it's still great to have a new car...

Okay, so now I briefly wanna discuss my transition that I've been experiencing...Going from American Samoa back to the states has actually been much, much more difficult than I had anticipated...There are times when I get heartwrenchingly somber when I think back on my experience in Samoa...As I've said several times, I miss it terribly...There are times when I regret leaving...There are times when I feel I'll never be happy here in the states...There are times, like last week, where I cry because I miss it...I feel like I want to go back to the island...Although there may be several reasons for why I want to go back (one is because I may be trying to run away from facing myself and the fear of being alone or whatever...Second because I may just miss the unstressfulness of Samoa...I mean, I had no bills and worries for the most part there), I think the biggest reason why I want to go back to Samoa is because I simply long for the life I had there...I truly miss the daily life of the island...I miss my family I created there...I miss the brotherhood and even fatherhood I had there...I'll never experience anything like that again, and that fact makes me heartbroken...I realize my time on the island was finished and I know I couldn't not leave it, but I still sometimes want that time and experience back...I guess I'm in a grass is always greener mentality, but I also feel like I am blessed beyond reason to have lived in Samoa...But I know that this is my new adventure...Coming back home and starting a life in the states is terrifying in a strange way...Not only do I have to deal with the stress of the states (bills, the fast lifestyle, American teenagers, consumerism, etc.), I also must deal with my self...The greatest adventure I'll experience here in Wisconsin is focusing on my own self and who I want to be and how I want to live my life...It's all kinda new because I've almost always focused on other things like school and Samoa...But now I must make a life here alone, and I am kinda fearful...I know I will visit or maybe even move back to Samoa in the future, but this adventure I'm living right now is one of the most thrillingly scary I've ever experienced...Thank you Samoa for being responsible for both of these adventures...

Before I leave for good, I'd like to say how proud I am of this blog...I still to this day get emails and comments from people all around the world complimenting me on this blog...Many read it to learn about Samoa, and others read it to learn about traveling abroad...Either way, this blog has brought comfort, knowledge, and inspiration to not only me but others, as well...I thank all of you for stickin' with me and reading it...

What do you guys think of my new life?...Do you think I should feel more grateful?...What do you think of my emotions on transitioning from Samoa to Wisconsin?...Are my thoughts justified?...Or am I just complaining?...Should I shut up and be happy here in the states?...Or should I move back to Samoa?...Or should I move to Africa?...Leave me a comment and show me some final love...

Goodbye...I love y'all...

The End...

-JOE

"It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power."

-Alan Cohen