4: ...And Then the Gas Ran Out

Wednesday Cale was making macaroni and cheese. Or should I say macarrones y queso (it's spanish here, I don't know why). But, man, that water just wasn't boiling. Oh! I see, the gas it out. Brillant. Five days to go and we cannot cook anymore.

Then I had what I thought was a brilliant idea. Put the noodles in the electric tea kettle and then just keep pressing the button to keep it boiling. Brilliant in theory, less brilliant in practise.

Other electric tea kettles have large openings and would work just like those little water-boiler things we had in college for making ramen. This one, however, was specifically designed to keep particles from getting out. It has a small opening to put the water in, a small opening for the water to pour out and screens over them to keep crap from getting in and out. Once we had the noodles in and boiled, we had a heck of a time getting them out.

— Sara

5: The Last Hump Day

Well this is it - hump day.  After this one, the rest of our service should just fly by. And don't tell anyone, but i think were are going to knock off early on friday so - even shorter!

-Cale

p.s. - our internet access will get pretty spotty starting tomorrow - the time has come to sever our services

6: Last Tuesday

Today is it, I won't be seeing another Tuesday in Samoa. I better get all my Tuesday stuff in.



Yesterday afternoon we went to visit our host family for what we thought was the last time. We took Cale's bike to give to them as a parting gift. Our host mom was pretty insistent we have a last dinner with them, so we will be back in to have dinner with them on Thursday after my Prize-Giving.



We also had our last dinner as Group 79. Well, sort of. Erik and Max weren't at the dinner, but we will see them at Thanksgiving on Saturday. This was the last time we will see Rosie in Samoa. She headed back to Savaii and won't be coming back in for Thanksgiving.



Tuesday Cale's school had a lunch for him and invited me. His pule gave a wonderful speech about how we will both be missed. There was food and Cale' students gave both of us some parting gifts. The sewing instructor also made us one last set of matching clothes, you cannot have too many matching outfits.

— Sara

PS. I finally got around to posting this after midnight, so this is really Day 5 now, but I won't tell if you won't tell.

7: Beautiful Samoa

Beautiful Samoa by Mr. Tee is a popular song and the unofficial national anthem of the country. Living in the suburbs of Apia, it is easy for one to forget just how beautiful Samoa is. Saturday Cale, Erik and I took a drive to check out some of those beautiful sights us Apia volunteers rarely see. Driving around, I found myself a little jealous of Group 82. They are all going to rural sites. They are spending their training in a village right next to this waterfall. One of them is posted to the village that has the view below.



After we saw these beautiful things we went to FaoFao on the south side and saw something that was beautiful in a different way. Our friends at FaoFao are rebuilding as fast as they can. They are the only beach fales rebuilding on the south side right now and they hope to be up and running within two weeks. Va'a pointed out that it is easier for them because no one in their village died in the tsunami. The other fales and villages are having a harder time moving back to the sea and starting over. FaoFao on the other hand is determined to rise from the wreckage. They have had a lot of outside help. Cale and I dropped off a donation from Cale's mother and aunt. It will go towards rebuilding the hall or the bathroom facilities.



If you are planning a trip to Samoa, I highly recommend you work FaoFao into your trip. These guys need all the support they can get. When we were down there we met up with a couchsurfer who had emailed me earlier. His trip to Samoa for fishing and snorkeling was set before the tsunami and he didn't want to cancel. However, now he was interested in helping out. He hooked up with John the Welder and John directed him to FaoFao where he is staying and lending a helping hand in constructing new fale.

More later.

— Sara

8: A Death in the Family

Yesterday, Saturday 21 November, my PepPep Hoffman passed away in West Virginia. He had been ill for quite a while now and his health had been deteriorating rapidly in the last few days.

We are so close to the end of our Peace Corps service, but not close enough for me to be there for the funeral in Pennsylvania. It will most likely be the Saturday after Thanksgiving, two days before Cale and I fly to America.

Part of me is torn. I could get on plane tomorrow (the only flight to America between now and the flight we take on the 30th) and be home in time for the funeral, but what I would have to do to make that flight would be insane. Also, if I flew out tomorrow, I wouldn't be coming back to Samoa. Instead of an end of good-byes and planned events, I would do frenzied packing and make a made dash to a plane. I would miss my school's Prize-Giving and any opportunities to say good-bye to anyone here. I would leave work unfinished. My textbook wouldn't be done, the two school computer labs wouldn't be completely prepared for next year, I wouldn't know if the magazine was successfully printed.

My mom insists that staying in Samoa is the obvious choice. She was torn about even telling me, knowing that it would cause me more stress and I wouldn't be able to do anything about it. I am glad that she told me though. She says that Grandma is busy with the funeral preparations today, but I can call her this week. I would have felt like such a jerk if I hadn't been told and never called Grandma during this time.

So once again, here I am on the other side of the world, helpless.

— Sara

Flash Drive Drive Update

A big thank you (THANK YOU) goes out to the following people. They either gave flash drives or money to my mother who then sent us a bulk package of 37 flash drives bringing the total to 57! It was a close call with the package arriving only a week before Prize-Giving.

Barb and Tom Carusillo
Chris Pitzer
Brenda Lear
Marilyn Sisil
Amanda Kutoloski
Jan Bryant
Marilyn O'Bannon
Anne Corcoran
Steve Anslinger
Greg and Cynthia Daniels
Sarah and Nick Klingler
John and Laura Noel
Kim Ort
Ellen Izzadore
Sean Izzadore
Kathy Johnson

— Sara

11: Breaking Down and Buying Toothpaste

The toothpaste situation was actually pretty dire weeks ago. However, yesterday morning I had to cut the toothpaste tube open so I could swirl my brush around inside to gather a little paste together so I could clean my teeth.

Seriously, we need toothpaste.

When you are fast approaching the end, you don't really want to be making maintenance purchases. You wonder to yourself, it is only X more days, I can make it without right?

I ran out of deodorant two weeks ago and had to break down and buy more. We have no q-tips, we have no conditioner, my face wash is on it's last leg. Recently, Cale dug through the box of stuff we took into the office several weeks ago for tsunami victims and found the bar of soap our couch surfer had donated and brought it home. We had been out of soap for like a week. I had been using shampoo all over. I haven't shaved since September, no razor blades.

We never replaced our Mortien when it ran out months ago. We used to Mortien the house once a month. It did wonders at keeping the ants at bay. Our last Mortien was a long time ago and you can tell. The ants are waging war and they are winning. We fear they will carry us or the house away before we can leave. But who wants to spend $12 tala on a can of Mortien when we leave in 11 days?

The ant problem is really a compound problem. They are leaving their little piles everywhere. At first I tried to sweep them up every, but it wasn't just back the next day, it was back the next five minutes. So I stopped. But now the piles are growing out of control. I attack the publicly visible ones every couple of days or so, but there is one that is growing under the toilet bowl brush holder (peaking around the edges) which I am just ignoring. I don't know how long I can ignore it though, as the spiders have found it and have built all their webs around the area in hope of an ant meal.

Since I am already letting the ant piles go, why not just let everything go. I last mopped a month ago before our couch surfer arrived. I cannot remember the last time I scrubbed the bathroom. Since the couch surfer has been in the extra bedroom all this time, I am not even sure what is going on in there. She did put some water shoes and a blanket from the closet outside because she discovered they were swarming with ants in the process of moving eggs. We get that sometimes here, an insane swarm of ants moving eggs to start a new colony. Also good sign it is time to Mortien.

Can I make it another 11 days with out breaking down and buying the things we are out of or cleaning something? I think that I can.

— Sara