I Am Palagi, Hear Me Roar!
Malo! How's everybody?...anyways, im alright...its been really hot here the last few days...and i dont think my body is used to it or something...cause today i had the worst stomach ache...and, at the end of the day, i always come home exhausted...i dont think exhausted is even the right word...im drained...bushed...pooped...like i literally cannot move my body or keep my eyes open...so i usually take a short nap everyday after teaching...which, with my american attitude, i always feel guilty afterwards because i dont get anything done...
but it does re-energize me...its pretty common to take naps here on the island...like its their way of life...so i shouldnt really feel bad cause im just doing the samoan thing...but, for some reason, its been instilled in my mind that taking naps is lazy or unproductive...and it is...but i guess i should learn to be okay with that...embrace the nap...they are kinda nice...i suppose more americans could use a nap every now and then...
well, i just have a few things to talk about then i gotta go...first of all, i was riding the bus the other day and the cutest thing happened...i was looking out the window and there was a bunch of little samoan boys sitting around outside...they were probably 6-9 years old...dirty, barefoot, and shirtless...and one of them saw me and shouted, "Hey, Palagi!"...and they all started laughing and waving...if you guys remember, palagi (pronounced pah-long-ee) means white person in samoan...now, usually i might have been embarassed by this...but i actually thought it was the cutest, funniest thing in the world...it made me smile, and, oddly, made me realize how i shouldnt take this place and my experience here for granted...where and when else in my life will people be excited, thrilled, and amused by my whiteness...im like a movie star...its great...oh, and the pic was taken over the ocean on our way to hawaii...yes, its an old picture...but i think its pretty...
guess what?...im turning samoan...no, i havent begun to turn brown yet...but my mannerisms and behavior have become very samoan...i already told you about the nap thing...well, lately i have been teaching barefoot...i know, i thought the same thing you're thinking at first...ewwww...how unsanitary and unprofessional!...but everyone around here is barefoot...yeah, they usually wear slippers (flip-flops), but barefoot is the second most popular way to travel...they walk around barefoot, and my kids sometimes sit at the tables barefoot...ive even seen people barefoot in the mcdonalds...and you should see the samoan feet...theyre big, meaty, and "scunned up" (that was a shout-out to bob and brian...i miss them!), probably because theyve been walking barefoot all their lives in jungles and on beaches and stuff...anyways, ive been teaching in my classroom barefoot...my feet are as naked as jesus made them...i always sorta laugh at myself...i never thought i'd ever be teaching in my barefeet...its like the twilight zone...so crazy...and im also turning samoan because i often will raise my eyebrows to say "yes"...i dont know if ive ever told this to you guys, but the samoans are so laid back and relaxed that they dont even nod their heads to say "yes"...they simply raise their eyebrows...the island life is just so casual and careless that even the nod of a head is seen to be too much work...in the past, id think this was extremely, pathetically sad...but, nowadays, i DO believe nodding the head is too much work, so im completly cool with the raising of the eyebrows...it kinda reminds me of survivor (the show) in a way...you always see those players on the island feeling so exhausted and tired that they just lay in the sun and sleep...and ive always wondered how they could be so fatigued...but now i know how it feels...the sun just seems to be more powerful here...i guess we are on the equator and in the middle of the ocean...so it makes sense...but, man, the blazingly tropical sun and weather here truly sucks the life and energy right out of ya...oh, and another funny survivor thing ive noticed...while im watching the show and theres chickens making noises on it, its like surround sound here because theres also chickens and roosters making noise right outside my window...so if youre watching the show and they show chickens, think of me...and how they surround my house...the picture is of the evil asian woman in hawaii who wouldnt let us check our baggage and leave the airport...lisa and i had a whole day of waikiki beach scheduled and planned...and the hotel people told us we could check our baggage and then leave the airport and then come back...well, this evil little woman told us different...so we couldnt leave and our whole day was ruined...the only pic i got of hawaii is the following picture...that was from our hotel room...not very pretty...so if any of you wanna go on a hawaii trip, i still need to see the island...
...so a couple of weeks ago we went and saw the "laughing samoans" show...this show is really popular here on the island and throughout the south pacific...its a duo of comedians who perform in SNL-like skits for audiences...and the samoans think its the funniest thing in the world...they laugh their heads off at these guys' jokes...ill leave their website at the end of this paragraph...anyways, they came to the island and it was this huge, celebratory ordeal...but the show was actually kinda funny...i didnt laugh at the skits as much as the samoans did (because, i guess, you have to be samoan to get many of the jokes), but i still thought it was highly amusing...the gist of the show is this...theres one samoan (the fat one) who is very samoan...in other words, he speaks very little english...the other samoan (the skinny one) is more westernized and speaks good english...he acts palagi...and he's lived most of his life in new zealand...anyways, the skits deal with these two guys (sometimes they act as children or women) trying to interact...usually the fat samoan makes fun of the skinny samoan for acting so palagi-ish...so uptight, proper, intelligent, and prim...and many of the jokes have to do with the fat samoan getting his english mixed up and incorrect...i cant really think of an example of a joke...but i remember one skit had them pretending to be little boys playing "rock, paper, scissors", and the jokes about the differences between samoan and palagi people run rampant...it sounds like it'd be racist or upsetting to watch the show...but it was actually pretty true and funny...and made me also realize how hard it would be to have to integrate yourself into a different culture...us white people have never really had to do that...we havent had to learn a different language or change our behavior in order to be successful and respected...but here in samoa, the children MUST learn english if they want to be successful in school and in their future...and they MUST also act proper and decorous if they want to be respected...which i dont know if thats a "white" thing, but its not really a "island" thing...so, techincally, the samoan kids have to change who they are in order to become lucrative...and i dont think many white people, including myself, realize how hard that must be...(I know many of you are thinking "well, thats what they get for being an american territory"...but they actually HAVE to learn english if they want to be successful in the WORLD, not just America)...anyways, speaking a second language is awfully difficult, and even after you do learn to do it, its not really expressing who you are and how you feel or think...you're not truly conveying yourself easily and fluently...its still confusing and worrisome to speak the other language...so, after seeing that show, i really look at all my students with a more sympathtic and patient eye...simply speaking to me might be a chore for them...so i can imagine how hard it would be to write a 3-4 page essay assignment that ive given them...
http://www.laughingsamoans.com/
alrighty then, here's the last thing i gotta say...lisa and i were put in a very complicated position this week...a very culturally complicated issue...here in american samoa, the funerals for the dead are very extravagant and luxurious...as ive mentioned before (with their admired grave sites in their front yards), the dead are respected and cherished here on the island...it is a powerful event when someone dies, and the people and villages really come out and come together to create beautiful, gorgeous funerals with flowers and music and exquisite churches...they also donate money to the family that has lost the family member...the people usually raise hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars for the family...its usually expected that everyone in the village donates about 5-10 dollars...well, lisa and i were told, not asked, to donate 10$ to the lunch lady at tafuna...her mother had died and the school was collecting money for her...at first, we were kinda angry...10$ is a lot of money...and we didnt even know the woman...and, in my humble opinion, i think the whole practice of showing respect for the dead in monetary means is just stupid...and even un-christian...i also thought that it was kinda rude of them to ask us for money...actually, force us to give money...its not our cultural tradition to give money for a funeral...so why should we have to do it...i mean, im all for respecting the samoan culture...but why should i have to pay money to respect it?...so we were all about to fight and speak our minds about this issue..."we're not gonna pay diddly squat for a dumb tradition"...but, of course, since im a push-over, i ended up giving the 10$ the next day... i suppose im glad i did...i dont wanna deal with something like that...cause i know that the whole island wouldve found out within hours that the local palagi teacher refused to respect the dead...besides, i dont really wanna burn any bridges while im here...i have two more years here...and i dont want the dead to come back and haunt me...what do you guys think of the tradition?...and did i do the right thing?...or should have i stood up for what i believed in?...you know, get all "american" on them?...
well, i gots to go...ttyl...this was a long post but i feel like my fans (you guys) deserved it...i havent written a long one in a while...well, let me know of your thoughts on any of the things ive discussed here...love ya and miss ya...
-JOE
p.s. since this is my nerdy blog, every week im going to do a list of the five things im obsessed with and loving for that week...im gonna call it "My Top 5 Obsessions of the Week"...its just things that are making me happy while im here in american samoa...oh, and humans dont count...in other words, im not gonna say my friends and family and students are making me content and blissful...its gonna be material, worldy things...like food, or tv shows, or music, or items and stuff...k, get it?...maybe you guys can send me your "top 5 obsessions of the week", too...
"My Top 5 Obsessions of the Week"
5. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince = i know, it came out like a year ago...but i just finished it and loved it!...i wasnt too fond of The Order of the Phoenix...but number 6 was most excellent...especially the final 200 pages...they were filled to the brim with mystery, magic, horror, and drama...i cannot wait for the final installment to come out...who's gonna die?...harry or voldemort?...will ron and hermoine finally get together?...and is snape REALLY a bad guy?...(that last one sounds obvious, but im convinced that he'll turn out to be good...call me crazy)...
4. "Smack That" by Akon featuring Eminem = just a great, sexy, catchy, and body-moving club song...they even play it here in american samoa...everyone loves a song about smacking it...all on the floor...give me some more...till you get sore...
3. Goober = ive just recently discovered this wonderful product...peanut butter and jelly put together!...in one easy-to-spread mixture of goodness and delight...it saves me money and time...and it tastes like heaven dipped in delectable gloriousness...
2. "Lullaby" by the Dixie Chicks = let me just say that their whole new album is superb...but this song, which was on the season premiere of grey's anatomy, is lovely and calm and poignant...a very pretty and peaceful song to fall asleep to...
1. Eva Longoria as Gabrielle on Desperate Housewives = first of all, i think the last two eps have been surprisingly good...especially compared to last year's lackluster season...the episodes have been consistently funny, surprising, smart, and energetic...probably more amusing than most sitcoms on tv right now...yes, its also corny, unreliable, and hard to believe (do you think bree would really marry a psycho guy again?...and wheres her children?...and how long are they gonna milk the whole gaby and carlos baby thing?)...but, to me, eva saves the night time soap with her portrayal of gabrielle...she makes me laugh out loud many times during each episode...her wickedly witty and hilarious one liners, along with her bitchy facial expressions and her "look-at-me-im-one-sexy-mother" wardrobe, always seems to cheer me up a bit...im obsessed with her...and im not even straight!... :-)
"When you travel, remember that a foreign country is not designed to make you comfortable. It is designed to make its own people comfortable."
-Clifton Fadiman
but it does re-energize me...its pretty common to take naps here on the island...like its their way of life...so i shouldnt really feel bad cause im just doing the samoan thing...but, for some reason, its been instilled in my mind that taking naps is lazy or unproductive...and it is...but i guess i should learn to be okay with that...embrace the nap...they are kinda nice...i suppose more americans could use a nap every now and then...well, i just have a few things to talk about then i gotta go...first of all, i was riding the bus the other day and the cutest thing happened...i was looking out the window and there was a bunch of little samoan boys sitting around outside...they were probably 6-9 years old...dirty, barefoot, and shirtless...and one of them saw me and shouted, "Hey, Palagi!"...and they all started laughing and waving...if you guys remember, palagi (pronounced pah-long-ee) means white person in samoan...now, usually i might have been embarassed by this...but i actually thought it was the cutest, funniest thing in the world...it made me smile, and, oddly, made me realize how i shouldnt take this place and my experience here for granted...where and when else in my life will people be excited, thrilled, and amused by my whiteness...im like a movie star...its great...oh, and the pic was taken over the ocean on our way to hawaii...yes, its an old picture...but i think its pretty...
guess what?...im turning samoan...no, i havent begun to turn brown yet...but my mannerisms and behavior have become very samoan...i already told you about the nap thing...well, lately i have been teaching barefoot...i know, i thought the same thing you're thinking at first...ewwww...how unsanitary and unprofessional!...but everyone around here is barefoot...yeah, they usually wear slippers (flip-flops), but barefoot is the second most popular way to travel...they walk around barefoot, and my kids sometimes sit at the tables barefoot...ive even seen people barefoot in the mcdonalds...and you should see the samoan feet...theyre big, meaty, and "scunned up" (that was a shout-out to bob and brian...i miss them!), probably because theyve been walking barefoot all their lives in jungles and on beaches and stuff...anyways, ive been teaching in my classroom barefoot...my feet are as naked as jesus made them...i always sorta laugh at myself...i never thought i'd ever be teaching in my barefeet...its like the twilight zone...so crazy...and im also turning samoan because i often will raise my eyebrows to say "yes"...i dont know if ive ever told this to you guys, but the samoans are so laid back and relaxed that they dont even nod their heads to say "yes"...they simply raise their eyebrows...the island life is just so casual and careless that even the nod of a head is seen to be too much work...in the past, id think this was extremely, pathetically sad...but, nowadays, i DO believe nodding the head is too much work, so im completly cool with the raising of the eyebrows...it kinda reminds me of survivor (the show) in a way...you always see those players on the island feeling so exhausted and tired that they just lay in the sun and sleep...and ive always wondered how they could be so fatigued...but now i know how it feels...the sun just seems to be more powerful here...i guess we are on the equator and in the middle of the ocean...so it makes sense...but, man, the blazingly tropical sun and weather here truly sucks the life and energy right out of ya...oh, and another funny survivor thing ive noticed...while im watching the show and theres chickens making noises on it, its like surround sound here because theres also chickens and roosters making noise right outside my window...so if youre watching the show and they show chickens, think of me...and how they surround my house...the picture is of the evil asian woman in hawaii who wouldnt let us check our baggage and leave the airport...lisa and i had a whole day of waikiki beach scheduled and planned...and the hotel people told us we could check our baggage and then leave the airport and then come back...well, this evil little woman told us different...so we couldnt leave and our whole day was ruined...the only pic i got of hawaii is the following picture...that was from our hotel room...not very pretty...so if any of you wanna go on a hawaii trip, i still need to see the island...
...so a couple of weeks ago we went and saw the "laughing samoans" show...this show is really popular here on the island and throughout the south pacific...its a duo of comedians who perform in SNL-like skits for audiences...and the samoans think its the funniest thing in the world...they laugh their heads off at these guys' jokes...ill leave their website at the end of this paragraph...anyways, they came to the island and it was this huge, celebratory ordeal...but the show was actually kinda funny...i didnt laugh at the skits as much as the samoans did (because, i guess, you have to be samoan to get many of the jokes), but i still thought it was highly amusing...the gist of the show is this...theres one samoan (the fat one) who is very samoan...in other words, he speaks very little english...the other samoan (the skinny one) is more westernized and speaks good english...he acts palagi...and he's lived most of his life in new zealand...anyways, the skits deal with these two guys (sometimes they act as children or women) trying to interact...usually the fat samoan makes fun of the skinny samoan for acting so palagi-ish...so uptight, proper, intelligent, and prim...and many of the jokes have to do with the fat samoan getting his english mixed up and incorrect...i cant really think of an example of a joke...but i remember one skit had them pretending to be little boys playing "rock, paper, scissors", and the jokes about the differences between samoan and palagi people run rampant...it sounds like it'd be racist or upsetting to watch the show...but it was actually pretty true and funny...and made me also realize how hard it would be to have to integrate yourself into a different culture...us white people have never really had to do that...we havent had to learn a different language or change our behavior in order to be successful and respected...but here in samoa, the children MUST learn english if they want to be successful in school and in their future...and they MUST also act proper and decorous if they want to be respected...which i dont know if thats a "white" thing, but its not really a "island" thing...so, techincally, the samoan kids have to change who they are in order to become lucrative...and i dont think many white people, including myself, realize how hard that must be...(I know many of you are thinking "well, thats what they get for being an american territory"...but they actually HAVE to learn english if they want to be successful in the WORLD, not just America)...anyways, speaking a second language is awfully difficult, and even after you do learn to do it, its not really expressing who you are and how you feel or think...you're not truly conveying yourself easily and fluently...its still confusing and worrisome to speak the other language...so, after seeing that show, i really look at all my students with a more sympathtic and patient eye...simply speaking to me might be a chore for them...so i can imagine how hard it would be to write a 3-4 page essay assignment that ive given them...
http://www.laughingsamoans.com/
alrighty then, here's the last thing i gotta say...lisa and i were put in a very complicated position this week...a very culturally complicated issue...here in american samoa, the funerals for the dead are very extravagant and luxurious...as ive mentioned before (with their admired grave sites in their front yards), the dead are respected and cherished here on the island...it is a powerful event when someone dies, and the people and villages really come out and come together to create beautiful, gorgeous funerals with flowers and music and exquisite churches...they also donate money to the family that has lost the family member...the people usually raise hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars for the family...its usually expected that everyone in the village donates about 5-10 dollars...well, lisa and i were told, not asked, to donate 10$ to the lunch lady at tafuna...her mother had died and the school was collecting money for her...at first, we were kinda angry...10$ is a lot of money...and we didnt even know the woman...and, in my humble opinion, i think the whole practice of showing respect for the dead in monetary means is just stupid...and even un-christian...i also thought that it was kinda rude of them to ask us for money...actually, force us to give money...its not our cultural tradition to give money for a funeral...so why should we have to do it...i mean, im all for respecting the samoan culture...but why should i have to pay money to respect it?...so we were all about to fight and speak our minds about this issue..."we're not gonna pay diddly squat for a dumb tradition"...but, of course, since im a push-over, i ended up giving the 10$ the next day... i suppose im glad i did...i dont wanna deal with something like that...cause i know that the whole island wouldve found out within hours that the local palagi teacher refused to respect the dead...besides, i dont really wanna burn any bridges while im here...i have two more years here...and i dont want the dead to come back and haunt me...what do you guys think of the tradition?...and did i do the right thing?...or should have i stood up for what i believed in?...you know, get all "american" on them?...
well, i gots to go...ttyl...this was a long post but i feel like my fans (you guys) deserved it...i havent written a long one in a while...well, let me know of your thoughts on any of the things ive discussed here...love ya and miss ya...
-JOE
p.s. since this is my nerdy blog, every week im going to do a list of the five things im obsessed with and loving for that week...im gonna call it "My Top 5 Obsessions of the Week"...its just things that are making me happy while im here in american samoa...oh, and humans dont count...in other words, im not gonna say my friends and family and students are making me content and blissful...its gonna be material, worldy things...like food, or tv shows, or music, or items and stuff...k, get it?...maybe you guys can send me your "top 5 obsessions of the week", too...
"My Top 5 Obsessions of the Week"
5. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince = i know, it came out like a year ago...but i just finished it and loved it!...i wasnt too fond of The Order of the Phoenix...but number 6 was most excellent...especially the final 200 pages...they were filled to the brim with mystery, magic, horror, and drama...i cannot wait for the final installment to come out...who's gonna die?...harry or voldemort?...will ron and hermoine finally get together?...and is snape REALLY a bad guy?...(that last one sounds obvious, but im convinced that he'll turn out to be good...call me crazy)...
4. "Smack That" by Akon featuring Eminem = just a great, sexy, catchy, and body-moving club song...they even play it here in american samoa...everyone loves a song about smacking it...all on the floor...give me some more...till you get sore...
3. Goober = ive just recently discovered this wonderful product...peanut butter and jelly put together!...in one easy-to-spread mixture of goodness and delight...it saves me money and time...and it tastes like heaven dipped in delectable gloriousness...
2. "Lullaby" by the Dixie Chicks = let me just say that their whole new album is superb...but this song, which was on the season premiere of grey's anatomy, is lovely and calm and poignant...a very pretty and peaceful song to fall asleep to...
1. Eva Longoria as Gabrielle on Desperate Housewives = first of all, i think the last two eps have been surprisingly good...especially compared to last year's lackluster season...the episodes have been consistently funny, surprising, smart, and energetic...probably more amusing than most sitcoms on tv right now...yes, its also corny, unreliable, and hard to believe (do you think bree would really marry a psycho guy again?...and wheres her children?...and how long are they gonna milk the whole gaby and carlos baby thing?)...but, to me, eva saves the night time soap with her portrayal of gabrielle...she makes me laugh out loud many times during each episode...her wickedly witty and hilarious one liners, along with her bitchy facial expressions and her "look-at-me-im-one-sexy-mother" wardrobe, always seems to cheer me up a bit...im obsessed with her...and im not even straight!... :-)
"When you travel, remember that a foreign country is not designed to make you comfortable. It is designed to make its own people comfortable."
-Clifton Fadiman
posted by Samoa Joe at 12:54 AM
3 Comments:
Interesting. You had to donate the money. That was in a friends episode too when Ross just moved into his apartment and they 'asked' him to donate 50 or something to a neighbors bday and he refused. Then all the neighbors ganged up on him and hated him. So yes, it's wrong for them do make you do it - but you really don't have an option in that situation. Especially when it would be a slap in the face against their culture.
I can't even remember that harry potter book its been so long, but I do remember loving it and being so annoyed with you for just not reading it right away!
I love gabbie too.
Miss you.
Actually money is often given to the families here in the states. At the funeral home/church there is a drop box somewhere to collect donations. I had actually talked to Grandma B about this because she then took (some/all?) of the money and gave it to the church for a program where you can buy a "mass" for your loved one. At that mass they will pray and honor/pay tribute to your deceased loved one. I thought it was interesting...never heard of something like that. Also, i know we have personally given a monitary gift when a death occured in a young family. Anyways, difference being it is your choice to do so here in the states not a mandatory custom.
My top 5 obsessions this week:
Buffalo chicken strips
Grey's Anatomy
Yoga
At Home America
Similarities in World Religions-Judaism
Islam
Christianity
(sorry had to do a Power Point presentation/ paper - 70 similarities!
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