Samoa is a Mix Tape...

Talofa...ou te alofa ia ou...translation: i love you...ive been learning my samoan...i actually know a lot...i try to learn a phrase everyday...and i have my students write it down...its a lot easier to learn and understand a language when its written down in front of you...especially when it comes to pronunciation...anyways, im doin good here...lets begin the entry...

the pics for today's blog entry were taken at a church by my house on mother's day...the assembly of god...one of my students, gene, goes to this church and he invited me to go to the service...i actually didnt go to the morning service at which these images were taken...i went to the evening service, but gene took my camera and took some pics of his family and stuff...i realize you guys have no idea who any of these people are...in fact, either do i...i only went to the church this one time...(although i do know gene's family)...however, i posted the pics because i thought it would be cool to show what a very traditional samoan church looks like...this church is all in samoan and only samoans attend it...hence, when i went that sunday night, i felt a little awkward...i was probably the first palagi to ever go to this church, and i felt like everyone was staring at me in total disbelief..."who is that white guy!?"..."we have a palagi at our church?!"...it was the first time in my entire life where i felt like an outsider...i mean, dont get me wrong, the people were absolutely wonderful and kind to me, and made me feel very welcomed...but, you know, i felt very, extremely white...it was like that sesame street game..."one of these things is not like the others"..."one of these things just doesnt belong"...oh, and the service was entirely spoken in samoan...gene did a pretty good job of translating...what was so delightful about the experience was seeing the moms dance and sing and put on skits...it was great...once again, i could never see 50 or so year old women in america doing that kind of performance during church...but it was lovely...and the youth group put on a fine play for the mothers that was actually kinda touching...here's some clips of the moms dancing and the kids singing...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxr9l8_J9P8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSLqd4Ldjwg

look at those mega piles of candy ulas...that was me for teacher appreciation week...and, man, i gained too much weight...i have nightmares of those candy leis...they attack me in my sleep...

okay, lets get on with the topic of the night...im reading a beautiful new book by Rob Sheffield called "Love is a Mix Tape: Life and Loss, One Song at a Time"...its about a guy who meets a woman and they fall in love...and they get married...and one day, suddenly and tragically, she dies of a brain aneurism...he chronicles their relationship and his memories of their love through the mix tapes they made together...the mix tape they worked out to...the mix tape they cleaned to...the mix tape they had sex to...the mix tape they fell asleep to...i used to love mix tapes...especially when i was a teenager...i made them for all my girlfriends...of course i thought i was hella special and romantic when id create them...little did i know that every guy made 'em...i suppose i still kinda make them...i mean, i always make mix cds...and an ipod on shuffle is sorta mix tape-esque...cept the songs are randomly played...on a mix tape the songs are carefully chosen...even the order theyre listened to is meticulously designed...anyways, sheffield describes the splendor of mix tapes...and the crux of them...he says, "The times you lived through, the people you shared those times with -- nothing brings it all to life like an old mix tape. It does a better job of storing up memories than actual brain tissue can do. Every mix tape tells a story. Put them together, and they add up to the story of a life."...

this isnt supposed to be a book review...(although i do give it two thumbs up!)...but the book has given me an idea...what if my experiences here in american samoa were a mix tape?...what songs would be on it?...well, i decided to answer my very own question (isnt that a sign of insanity?) and create a mix tape for my first year here in samoa...ive pretty much chosen the songs that ive listened to the most...and the songs that bring back the most memories and emotions, good and bad, ive had here on the island...im forcing myself to write only one sentence for each song...therefore, id like this to be quick...the following is my mix tape...keep in mind, this isnt a countdown...(what?!...joe's not doing a top five!?...thats crazy!)...the numbers just represent the order the songs would go in...oh, and if you really wanna see how my experience was here on the island, download the songs for your very own samoa mix tape...

My Year in American Samoa Mix Tape:

1. "SexyBack" by Justin Timberlake = i listened to this song a million times my first two weeks here...i think it was therapeutic to lose myself in straight up dance pop...especially when my house, the first one, was filled with roaches and lizards and termites...

2. "My Samoa" by the Katinas = my very first samoan music cd...and although i would have days where i hated the island, this song would always remind me of the good aspects of it...and it would also encourage me to TRY to see the good aspects of it...

3. "Remember Me as a Time of Day" by Explosions in the Sky = this stunningly stirring song reminds me of my student, sam folau, who was paralyzed during a football game...his empty table, along with this song, still brings tears to my eyes...

4. "Coming Home" by John Legend = this piano ballad is actually about the soldiers overseas...so i hate to compare myself to their bravery and sacrifice...but theres some days when i just want to come home...and i picture myself singin this to my ma...

5. "Dusk and Summer" by Dashboard Confessional = this emo rock tune makes me feel all summery inside...and images of the samoan beaches and sunsets come to my mind...oh, and i utterly became obsessed with this band since living here...dont ask me why...theyre just rad...

6. "African Queen" by 2Face Idibia = samoans adore this song...and earlier last year, you could hear it being played everywhere...every car and every house and every person was listening to this reggae-like, damn catchy, cant-get-it-outta-mah-head song...and my students were constantly singin it...

7. "Gravity" by John Mayer = this is a great, great song...i love to belt it out at the top of my lungs...and it also is a wonderfully bluesy song to listen to at the end of a long, busy, hard, and tiring day...it reminds me of gravity...and that it will never fail in bringin myself back down to earth and to reality...

8. "If I Ain't Got You" by Alicia Keys = this unplugged, accoustic version of this song is perfectly graceful and heartrending...and my students once sang it to me gorgeously with their ukalele...i had to bite my lip not to cry...cause it reminded me of my fam...

9. "Wait (The Whisper Song)" by the Ying Yang Twins = this is the most raunchy, sexual hip hop song ever recorded...and ill spare you the details on why this song was so important in my life while i was on the island...lets just say it helped on those lonely, private nights ;-)

10. "All I Need" by Mat Kearney = first of all, i love this guy...his entire album, "nothing left to lose", is righteous...second of all, ive listened to this song so much that i think my laptop might explode if i play it again...when im shaving...when im doin my work...when im ironing...when im goin to bed...this song is playing...dont ask me what it has to do with samoa...i just like the song, k?...

okay, y'all...what'd ya think of my mix tape?...do you remember makin any mix tapes?...your challenge for the week is to try to remember one and leave a message tellin us all what songs were on it...did you ever have a night songs mix?...or a sex songs mix?...or a love songs mix?...lemme know all about your memories of your mix tapes...if this year in your life was a mix tape, what songs would be on it?...

one more week until i go home...i cant wait to see y'all...love ya and miss ya...

-JOE

"..we love to pluck songs off albums and mix them up with other songs, plunging them back into the rest of the manic slipstream of rock and roll. I'd rather hear the Beatles' 'Getting Better' on a mix tape than on Sgt. Pepper any day. I'd rather hear a Frank Sinatra song between Run-DMC and Bananarama than between two other Frank Sinatra songs. When you stick a song on a tape, you set it free."

-from Rob Sheffield's Love is a Mix Tape: Life and Loss, One Song at a Time