Me in my Lava Lava...

Hi, everyone! Here's a pic of me in my lava lava...that's a man skirt...the men and boys wear them here in Samoa...they're actually kinda comfortable...very practicle for the island life...you get a nice little breeze when its scorchingly hot, if you know what i mean...though must of us wear like sports shorts underneath...you can get all different kinds of styles but this is the tafuna high school ones...notice the maroon...go warriors...oh, and you can kinda see in the background how i made my room look a little nicer...of course, since im a teacher, that came out of my own pocket...oh, and i look sloppy in this pic...i usually tuck my shirt in and i look nicer...i dont have to wear a lava lava everyday but i do wear it like three days a week...like i said, the man skirt has grown on me...maybe ill start the trend in wisconsin...

the pic above me is one of our school...thats what the buildings look like...theres about 7 or 8 of those long buildings which hold those classrooms that i showed pics of a couple days ago...yes, those are tin rooves (rusty!)...dont the clouds look soooo cool...but dont get the wrong impression of these pics ive showed you...it looks like its always cool and rainy and cloudy but its really not...it is winter right now here...summer starts in december...but it still gets hella-hot here...ill have to post pics of some of the sunny days we've had here...

anyways, i dont want to write much...i have like 130 journals to read and correct...just wanted to post some pics...the beginning of this week was a little rough...i was really homesick and lisa and i were having issues...but we're fine now and so am i...we got paid, too...so i dont need money anymore...we went dancing last night and i learned how to do a traditional samoan dance...one of the moves involves the men sort of twisting their fists like their squeezing something...its supposed to symbolize squeezing the juice from a coconut...no sexual overtones with that move...and tommorow we're supposed to have lunch with a firend we've met here...they're gonna cook this chicken on stones and put all this yummy spices on it...its supposed to be really good...and im excited to be around a family...though its not mine, i still need the company and love that only a family can bring...

by the way, for my interesting thing about the island...ill talk about food...first, theres these pancakes...well, they call them pancakes but they're actually totally not...they're like fried pancake dough rolled into a ball...they're delicious...then theres the cooked bananas...they actually stuff them with this sausage...thats pretty good too...cocoa rice is awesome too...just rice with chocolate...and their ham and meat is good here too...they always put spectacular pineapple and coconut juices on it...they love their chop suey here but i dont think its all that good...k, bye...miss and love ya...write messages!...i feel like no one is looking at my blog...gosh darn you all...i love the following quote...when i read it it really connected with me and my experience here...not only cause i learned the samoan dance...but also because im learning a whole new way of moving my body in this world...literally and symbolically...there's some good ole wisconsin cheese for ya...

-JOE

"Peculiar travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God"
-Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.