The Inside of my House

Hello, everyone!...Here are some pics of the inside of my house...this is when i first moved into it...so its before i cleaned it and made it look more homey...when i say cleaned, i mean CLEANED...like drenched every inch of it with bleach...it wasnt really dirty, but i just wanted to get rid of or scare away the bugs...and lizards...that didnt really work cause my house is still filled with them...but you truly learn how to live with them...it sort of makes you realize that theres more things in life to worry about than a ant crawling on your table...yeah its disgustingly sick...and i still kill it...but i dont get stressed out about it anymore...its only an ant...right?...theres people losing arms and legs in the middle east...i can handle an ant...
anyways...the house is nice...it has two bedrooms, so if anyone comes to visit me they'll have their own bedroom...which is kinda cool...but i still dont have hot water...and my house is still kinda plain...even though i put up a lot of the stuff y'all gave me...like the pics and cards and books...and candles...but its still really white and boring...but ill work my way up to having a real home..with like decorations...though, if i buy stuff i gotta keep in mind that ill have to do something with it when i leave to go back home...

the dinner, or "umu" its called here in Samoa, on sunday with our friend sierra was nice...very interesting...i dont know if i said this yet but sundays here are completly devoted to church, prayer, and family...usually they go to church in the morning...then come home and do chores and sleep and prepare and eat the "umu"...which is chicken cooked on stones all day...and then they go back to church...so we were lucky enough to be invited to her family's "umu"...the food was okay...i had lamb...which i was proud of myself...and the chicken was good...they dont have chicken breast here though...only chicken "parts"...many families just kill the chickens that are running around their house...i also had turkey tail, which was also pretty good...they're big on their bread fruit...which is this plant that grows all over the place here...and its cheap and easy to eat...though i think its the most plain tasting thing ive ever tasted...lisa and i suggested putting butter or salt on it and they looked at us like we were crazy...crazy americans!...her house was deep in the mountains and jungles of samoa...it was beautiful and it was hard core samoa...their house was like the cabin up at the land...just a small square house with some rooms...beds in the living room...and ants crawling up the walls...its amazing that most samoans live in houses like that...not like the mansions lisa and i live in...sierra's two male cousins were there...they didnt speak a ounce of english...and they were kinda easy on the eyes, if you know what i mean...they were just walking around the house with no shirt on and only their lava lavas...mmm...lisa and i sorta wanted to see what was underneath...sorry mom...its been a long time...and the samoans and their lava lavas are startin to turn me on...(you guys so didnt want to hear that, did you?)... :-)
anyways, i have a really fascinating thing about this island to talk about...this interesting and mind-bendingly surprising thing has really made me question not only the culture here in american samoa but also my own...there's transgendered people everywhere here...yes, transgendered...or tranvestities or transsexuals or drag queens...whatever you wanna call them...in stores, on the streets, at bars, in the schools...its mostly men dressing up and living as women...theres even a couple teachers at tafuna that are transgendered...and everyone, including the students, know about them and are okay with them...its sooooo weird...this is such a religious, conservative, christian community yet they accept and respect these transgendered boys..or girls...i even have at least one or two of them in each of my classes...of course these are 16 year old boys...they're not completly changed yet...but you know they act like and want to be girls when they're older...they might wear make-up or carry a purse...and the other students dont shun them at all...in most cases, they're actually popular and outgoing...in the states, you'd NEVER see this happen...you'd never see kids being okay with other kids like this...youd never see parents being okay with their kids who are like this...you'd never see them working in a public school as teachers and administrators...at least openly...the transgendered people here are actually respected people in the community...they hold high positions in the government, churches, etc...now dont get me wrong, its not all fine and dandy...there are still many samoans that disagree or frown upon these people...but for the most part, samoans like them...on a side note, its alright for straight men to do stuff with these "girls"...its more upsetting to samoans when men want to be with men...its weird...and kinda sucky for me...i sometimes wonder if the only reason why there are so many of them here is because, maybe, as little boys they're encouraged or, at least, accepted as wanting to become a girl...or maybe its just in their DNA...or maybe, since theyre more accepting of transgendered people and are allowed to be trangendered, that men are more open and honest with their true selves...i guess theres a historical reason behind it but i dont really believe it...i guess, way back in the day, samoans were only having male babies...so they began making their sons do the more female jobs around the house...and it sorta snow balled from there...but i kinda think that seems too simple...its extremely complex and many of the people here dont understand it themselves...what is easy to understand, is that most of these transgendered girls/boys are really nice and funny and, in a way, rock stars...they're usually the best dressed people on the island...dolled up in make-up, beautiful dresses, and done-up hair...the life of the party...all i know is that its truly made me look at my own country or culture with different eyes...i mean, are they producing a group of people that maybe shouldnt be produced?...and will this encouragment or love for these people lead to sin and confusion and chaos amongst the genders?...or are they just being loving, tolerant, and accepting human beings...all i know is that my gay students are treated with a lot more respect and tolerance and love than they would ever even imagine having in the states...so, who is more moral?...samoa?...or the mainland?...its an oddly wonderful and frusteratingly strange cultural issue here...and its made me, as i said, question our own cultural practices...the tolerance, or lack there of, of people who are different in the states...the morals of american christains...the raising of children...and the creation of gender and identity...its all too deep and philosophical and scientific for my blog...

now that ive clearly scared you, ill say goodbye...dont worry, i do not fancy these people at all...i wont be coming home with a samoan transgendered boy/girlfriend...and dont worry, though this place may be filled with jesus-loving, gay accepting people, im still coming home...and i cant wait to do so...love ya and miss ya...

-JOE

"The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one's own country as a foreign land."
-G. K. Chesterton