Goodbye to Samoa and Back to Work

It has been a week since I updated the blog. I am in Pago Pago, American Samoa working on my regularly assigned ship, Hi’ialakai. I was to leave Apia on the 12th, however a typhoon came roaring up to the islands canceling all flights from Western to American Samoa. I was delayed until Sunday morning at which my sister-in-law and her husband drove me to the airport. I flew out of Fagali’I at 09:10 and arrived in American Samoa 35 minutes later.

I hated to leave Samoa as I always do. The last week in Samoa is always the most difficult to endure. Some ways you cannot wait to get back to the creature comfort of what you are used to and in other ways, the hospitality makes it hard to leave. My experience is certainly nowhere close to reality TV series of “Survivor Samoa” but cannot make any comparisons since I proudly admit I did not see a single episode until the last ten minutes of selecting a winner. The set from Hollywood caught my attention more than the excitement others felt about who was going to win. The statues of Tiki Gods and lit torches are something you would see in French Polynesia and Hawaii respectively. After an entire season, you would think that the producers or set people would get it right. Television here consists of shows mainly from Australia or New Zealand and American shows are reruns of canceled or series long past their prime including Seinfeld.

The last week in Samoa was spent relaxing or going to town to take care of errands and drop by the Internet café to check e-mail or get the latest news. One day I took a trip to the fish market with the nephew to buy tuna for Samoan Oka, Samoan version of sashimi. “TU” and I had lunch at Roko’s with a couple of beers. “TU” has grown up since we first met and is now a proud father of a cute year and a half daughter. After lunch we returned to Fugalei market for veggies, tomatoes, cucumber. The tuna we bought was the lowest price since Newport.

Up until the typhoon struck the islands the weather was nice compared to the heat and humidity experienced after my arrival two and a half weeks ago. Throughout the week it was usually cloudy with slight rain. In the village from the in-laws house, across the street, I could hear children singing from their pre-school. When taking a break from writing as I look out the window men coming down from the plantations with pods of coconuts on each end of the carrying stick while wholesaler trucks delivering goods to the village kiosks while buses cruise by taking villagers to and from Apia. What was done to the buses were interesting during last year’s shift in driving from left hand drive to right (right side of the road to the left) was the doors shifted from right side of the bus to the left. The steering wheel remained on the left side.

It’s getting late as I have to get up in about four hours and it looks like another ten plus hour day today. The task list is long as well as taking care of logistical and administrative items that need to be finished before we depart on Wednesday morning.

Talofa from American Samoa