Land of the Politically Incorrect...

bonjour!...joie de vivre!...quoi de neuf?...how is everyone out there in the internet wasteland doin?...oh, im content...cept i just burnt my grilled cheese sandwiches...so that sucked...but i digress...

anyways, this post, i noticed, has a lot of pictures...but ill also be writing a little something about the samoan culture...okay, here we go...

the above picture and the following ones were taken in my backyard...we didnt really do anything exciting this weekend, so im at a loss of images...those are obviously coconuts...not yet ripened...

i usually dont talk about lisa on this blog...(thats my friend and the person who came with me to this splendifferous island)...but something sorta interesting happened to her in the school cafeteria the other day, and i think it would make an interesting talking point...anyhow, one of the male teachers told her that it "looked like she had gained weight"...she, of course, flipped out and was very hurt by this comment...now this isnt the first time a samoan has told her this...many samoans, including my students, have told me this, as well...theyve told us that we were fat or chubby or "needed to jog"...im not going to talk about how lisa and i have gained weight (which we havent!), but i would like to discuss this behavior of careless bluntness on the island...

the samoans will say things that would be completely unacceptable in the states...i think ive told y'all about how they call gay people "faggots"...its very open and normal...they just simply say, "oh, he's that faggot"...or "there's that faggot"...they also will call eachother fat...the students do it to eachother all the time...especially to the girls...ive even began to hear them call eachother "niggers"...another word or phrase thats seen as derogatory and mean in the states...but they use it in a fascinatingly odd way...i mean, theyll call eachother "fat", "faggot", and "nigger" to make fun of eachother, but its also accepted as almost a term of endearment...almost like a silly tease...its hard to explain...but these terms arent necessarily hurtful to people, but theyre definetly seen as not good...(being "fat" here seems to be okay, being a "faggot" isnt always seen as being okay, and being a nigger here just means you have dark skin)...i guess what ill do is give two points that id like to make about this cultural phenomenon...i have so much i want to say that i need to organize my thoughts here...

1. the million dollar question we need to answer here is whether or not these sayings are hurtful to them...as i said above, i think its generally accepted to call eachother things like "fat" and "faggot"...and i think the reason why its accepted is because these terms arent considered unkind or insensitive...if they were, then samoans would stop using them...right?...to me, an american, these terms are seen as totally insensitive and cruel...but thats because in my culture these terms ARE upsetting and inappropriate...in a way, i kinda like this samoan way...dont get me wrong, i dont think people should be spiteful and tactless to eachother...but i do think people in america are way too sensitive...people are afraid to hurt people's feelings...everyone's kinda false and fake...everyone's too politically correct...here in american samoa, nothing's politically incorrect...that notion is not even imagined here...thats because samoans dont get upset over things that are said to them...they dont get hurt by name calling...or stereotypes...or anything for that matter...theyre too relaxed and carefree to care about whether or not theyre fat...and whether or not they act like a faggot...or look like a nigger...they especially dont get offended when someone else calls them these things...and they dont see the point in worrying and making things more complex by assigning certain terms to certain groups of people so that certain people dont get certainly offended or distressed...instead of saying "that person is overweight" (is that the politcally correct term for an obese person in america?) they just say theyre "fat"...instead of saying that person is "gay" samoans say theyre a "faggot"...doesnt that make their lives easier?...theyre utterly politcally incorrect...and carelessly blunt...and in a strange way, its kinda refreshing...

as a sort of side note, i have a story about one of the teachers at tafuna who kinda got confused by this conflicting cultural dilemma...you see, the term "retard" is slowly changing to "special" here on island...that change happened years ago in america, another result of politically correctness...anyways, she had a special education student in her gym class, and while he was playing basketball and not doing a very good job of it, she yells to him "hey, special ed!...pass the ball!"...lisa and i, when we heard this story, were shocked by it...if this EVER happened in america that teacher would lose their job and be sued...we laugh our heads off at the craziness of a teacher calling a student "special ed"...like its their name or something...now, i think this was totally insensitive for this teacher to do this...though im sure she was just trying to be politically correct...in her own incorrect way...but i suppose this is where i side with our american way...you just cant go around calling people names like that...its just cruel...so maybe our politically correctness is there for a reason...to protect people from insensitive, tactless others...then again, maybe they shouldnt get their feelings hurt so easily...i mean, even i get confused with what to call people with special needs nowadays...what do we call them anyways?...is it "special"...or is that politically incorrect now too?...and im guessing this special education student didnt even get offended by it...probably cause he was never told that he should get offended by it...what do you guys think?...has america's politically correctness gotten outta control?...or do the samoans have the right idea?...dont get offended by name calling...afterall, sticks and stones may break our bones, but names will never hurt us...

2. the other million dollar question is whether or not lisa and i try to change something like this...when kids use the word "faggot" in my classroom i instinctively reprimand them for it...and when the girls call eachother fat i usually tell them to "stop it"...but once again, in their culture these terms might not be seen as wounding or malicious...so who am i to say "stop"?...i guess this is the main question of a world traveler...do you try to change an aspect of a culture you dont agree with?...or do you respect it and change your own thoughts about it to fit in?...im probably, for the most part, the latter...ive been trying to change the way i think so that i can integrate myself into the culture...i mostly feel this way because i dont think its my place to try to change the samoan culture...thats not my right...especially when im the guest here...but i suppose i can always just let them know how things are done in america...or in other parts of the world...be a source of information for them...and they can take it or leave it...either way, i dont think its my place to yell and scream about how their culture sucks or is bad...and i dont think its my place to try to change it...cause theres some americans on the island that are like that...thats all ill say about that...

i apologize for the randomness of those above thoughts...as a teacher, id say this post is unorganized and needs to be more focused...i should have a thesis!...so thanks for being patient with my writing...and tell me your thoughts!...i wanna know what y'all think...

thats a picture of my spare bedroom...notice the clothes...we dont have shelves or dressers here...so thats how i keep my clean and dirty clothes...in case you were wondering...

this is where the magic happens...

i dont know if you guys know this story, but thats the christmas tree my mom sent me...isnt that hilarious?!...thats the saddest, most pathetic tree ive ever seen...sadder than charlie brown's!...maybe once i put ornaments and lights and garland on it the tree will be beautiful...but i was happy that i got a christmas tree...its the thought that counts...so thanks mom...love ya ;-)

rob the jewlery store, tell'em make me a grill...smile fo me daddy...lemme see ya grill, chad...

mary roelke modeling her crock pot...isnt it lovely?!...she should be a price is right girl...i bid 1$ bob!...

no amusing caption needed for this pic...i think it speaks for itself...

baby jacob...snug as a bug...

trish, stish, and sarah gettin butt lovin...and trish looks particularly aroused...

like i am so a teenager...like totally...jk, nicole!...i love ya!...

this is not really my butt...no, really...its just the folds in my arm...seriously...by my elbow...really...

proof of charlie becoming a little teenager?...exhibit A...she is too cool for this picture...and too cool to pose for her uncle joe...

k, au revoir!...bonsoir!...bonne journee!...keep leaving those messages...love ya and miss ya...

-JOE

"Travelers never think that they are the foreigners."

-Mason Cooley