Pictures!!! Easier than trying to tell you in words...

How do we do this Lola??? Attempting to husk the coconuts...






Check out this huge fish my Samoan brother caught!



Scraping coconuts (one of my new favorite hobbies) with the professionals making sure I am doing it right...



Hanging out with my Samoan sisters




My Samoan brothers, posing for a picture, after finishing one of the craziest and greatest dances I have ever seen.







My happy, goofy Samoan family, except for the little one, who ran away during this picture.

I woke up one morning, went to brush my teeth, and this was going on right outside!! (Imagine walking outside to your backward and seeing a bunch of guys skinning a monster pig!) Two of my Samoan brothers and a Samoan uncle getting the pig ready for the umu...

Culture Day! Gutting fish! To think that I used to make Dad or Preston put the worm on the hook everytime we went fishing and take the fish off the hook if I caught one...


Our crazy brothers dancing in the fale. Our brother (the second to the end) decided to dress up in his wife's dress!

Kids playing with their creative toys...a stroller wheel attached to a stick

Practically an official volunteer!

2 days until I will be an official volunteer! Leaving Ma’asina was definitely bittersweet---it was such an enjoyable 5 weeks where we learned so much and laughed a whole lot along the way. The last night was the fiafia with the village---the women’s committee and the Peace Corps volunteers did dances back and forth and some people in the village spoke (Look at Lola’s blog for pics!). Afterwards, we went back to our fale, had a big dinner (pig and palusami…yummm…) and then exchanged goodbye speeches and gifts. Afterwards we had siva---dancing in the fale! Our Samoan family told us how they were now our Samoan family and if we ever needed anything, they are there for us. Definitely a great feeling to know there are people in the country who truly care about me when my family is far away. Describing what is going on here is pretty difficult---hopefully these pictures will help! May not be posting for a little while with Christmas and the New Years…so until then, I hope all is well! And have a great holiday! Of course I will be talking to many of you soon! Love you all! Love, Sally

Anyone interested in sending some books and such???....
Reading Teacher!!! At the school I will be teaching at, most of my responsibilities will be as a reading teacher, years 3-8 (grades 2-7 in the States), helping students learn how to read (in English). Students here are taught in Samoan until year 6 when the teaching switches to English (years 7 and on). Many students have a difficult time with the transition (because of the language barrier) ---I will be helping students to improve their reading skills, to hopefully make that transition a much smoother one. The school does have a library, but unfortunately with very limited resources, and many of the books they do have are quite worn. The school is looking to improve the library and to increase the amount of books available for the students. Also, educational materials such as alphabet letters, literacy games, dry erase boards, (as well as in other subjects such as Math etc…) are only available in Apia if at all, and are quite expensive. There is no need to go out and buy brand new books, but if anyone if looking for a place to send some they do not want anymore, they would be more than appreciated here (Any elementary or middle school level book)!!! As school starts (January 22), I will let you know if there are other much needed resources. Thank you!

WOW! Goofy, goofy, goofy!

Hey all! This will be short and sweet but... an incredible few weeks! I just finished my language test and we had one of our final interviews yesterday, so I am almost an official volunteer! (Wednesday we swear-in in our village!) So many great days----Culture day...all the volunteers got together along with some people from our families---we killed, and cooked the pigs, cooked turkeys in the umu (a late Thanksgiving)---it only took 45 mins. for a whole turkey---compare that to the 5 hours it takes with our ovens! Made palusami, supoesi (papaya soup), husked cococuts....great day! Had an arts and crafts day in the village with the kids---I was in the balloon making stand (who would have guessed!) and crazy enough, there are 2 other Peace Corps who make them too, and they are the professionals (like Riley!). Day at the beach with the Volunteers, snorkeled around for awhile and enjoyed the nice sunny weather. Had a youth night for the church at our fale---our family did different siva dances and some of the volunteers danced it them too (I got to too!) Our brothers were all in ridiculous costumes and were hysterical. Great night, lots of people from the village all dancing and having a great time! All the goofiness has truly come out in our family! We have people dancing around and singing all of the time!

Hope everyone is having fun getting ready for the holidays! We are listening to Polynesian Christmas music and are really excited to be going to Ma'asina for Christmas! Love you all, thanks for all the sweet and funny notes and the letters! I love them! Talk to you all soon for Christmas! Love, Seli...

*****Check out samaonadventure.blogspot.com to see Laura's blog ----lots of pictures of our family on it!