DO Go Chasing Waterfalls!

Hey, brothas and sistas...i just had the best day ever...well, the best day so far here in samoa...first of all, it was White Sunday...this is a special holiday that the whole island celebrates...they pretty much celebrate and dedicate the day to the children...its sort of like the opposite of mothers and fathers day, but this day is sponsored more by the churches...anyways, all the kids wear white and they perform songs and skits for the church...and then they go home for a big lunch and play and get gifts...i dont know if ive told you guys this but ive been going to a church here for about two weeks now...the only real reason why i like it
(and i know God would be very angry with me if He knew this...going to church for selfish reasons, or course) because of
the people and it also gets me out of the house...well, today im so glad that i "got out of the house"...the white sunday celebration at the church was really cute...families did performances and sang, and it was amazing to see these talented families working together and dancing and singing...i dont know if youd see that in the states...then the tuala family asked me to go eat lunch with them...thats one of the families at the church...and their son, Gino, is in my class...so i went back to their house to eat a big, delicious lunch...and watched football...it SO reminded me of home and all of you guys...it made me a little homesick but i am so thankful that a family took me in and made me feel like i was a part of them...

now, here comes the fun part...the boys were going to go to the local waterfall to go swimming with some of their friends...they asked me to go, and i was all like "hell's yes!"...so we hiked (it was about a 15 minute climb) to the waterfall in the middle of the jungle and at the foot of the mountain...and we went swimming in the waterfall and pool below it...it was awesome!...the water was a little chilly, but refreshingly cool and beautiful...ive never really swam in a real waterfall...sure ive been in ones at the kalahari...but this was a real, fresh waterfall in the middle of an island in the south pacific...and we had the whole hole and waterfall to ourselves...

as you can see, all of the kids in the pics are part of the youth group at church...they are incredibly polite...and a lot of fun to hang out with...three of my students from Tafuna were there with us...so, that was a little weird, but they didnt act like it was...by the way, thats one thing im truly gonna long for when i leave samoa...the island is so small and friendly that i see my students everywhere and theyre always yelling "Hey, Mr. Neman" and smiling and waving...surprisingly, im gonna miss that immensly when i get back to the states...its so close-knit, modest, and loving here...in the states, when you do see your high school english teacher out in public, which is rarely, its an embarrassing, awkward moment...here, its charming and pleasant...k, back to the wonderful waterfall...these kids gave me about a thousand heart attacks...they would climb up the rocky, jagged waterfall cliff edge and jump into the deep, bottomless pool below, and then they'd wrestle and fight on the big rocks...and play king of the hill and tag in the water...they were so adventurous and brave and naive to the dangers...but theyve lived in rural, forest-like conditions, playing in jungles and oceans, all their lives (TV is almost non-existent here...and you can tell that the kids are good at playing outside...unlike american kids nowadays), so they were experts with the environment and played like a bunch of monkeys...ive been looking for an island experience like that...and now ive gotten it...i sat underneath the waterfall and let the water flow over me...it was exhilarating and invigorating...the kids told me that sometimes rocks fall from the top...so after that, i stayed away from the bottom of the waterfall :-)

on our way back, we went swimming in this cave...that was awesome, too...it was underneath this little waterfall and it was like this secret cove...i guess all the teenagers make-out there...which disturbed me a bit because those teenagers couldve been my students...but it was still pretty cool...oh, and then we went in this smaller pool of water and they told me eels might be in it...so i got out of there faster than a jack rabbit...but anyways, its one of those experiences that a camera or a trivial little blog (which today, i realized how insignificant this blog really is) could never capture...it was absolutley stunning and spectacular, and i didnt want it to end...i could probably live at that waterfall and be perfectly content...it was natural and clean and private and revitalizing...once again, these pictures and my own words cannot express how happy i was to be able to be there...and be there with those remarkable kids...those kids are not at all like teenagers in the states...their innocent and well-mannered (well, without MTV, the movies, technology, the suburbs, chaos, american cynicism, etc., tainting them, why wouldnt they be?)...and incredibly nice...and a whole lotta fun...i guess, all i can say is, "you had to be there"..."it was a time"...

so now that i got that out of my system...ill probably let you go...i finally got my camera parts, so i can now post pics all the time...im hoping to put some up of my house and of our hiking trip (that seems like ages ago) one of these days...dont worry, though today was a awesome day, i still miss you guys incredibly and i cannot wait to come home...im just so joyful that ive finally had a pure, thrilling samoan experience...yes, our dangerous hiking trip was that, but this was different...it was so islandy...and reminded me of childhood...oh, and of brooke shields and christopher atkins ;-)

...it was way cool, man...k, bye...love ya and miss ya...

-JOE

"My favorite thing is to go where I have never gone."

-Diane Arbus