Aunt Mary and Christy!

I am sitting here with my cousin Christy on our last day in Austrailia. What a trip it has been! My Aunt Mary and cousin Christy arrived in Samoa on the 5th of December and then stayed for a week before we all headed to the "land down under" for a week. Tomorrow, back to Samoa for me and back to the chilly States for them. It has been great to catch up on all that is going on back at home and to show them where I have been living for a whole year. Lots and lots of giggly nights, chocolate stops, and well here are the highlights: (Pictures to follow when I am back in Samoa)

Samoa
----The last sunset of December 9th (Falealupo...)
----my cousin may have been the 1st sea turtle bite victim ever! watch out when you are feeding those supposedly harmless creatures...guess we got a little too close!
----one of the days, my aunt and cousin wanted to ride in a paopao, the small dugout canoe-like coats and learn how to husk cocounts...amazing how fast things happen when you know the village. The first guy I asked ended up having a boat and said yea sure...so we went over to his boat, he quickly did some repairs (of course only using a rock, some rope he found, and some twigs) and off we went. One of my year 6 boys was "tour guide" so he took my cousin out, then came back for my aunt...we learned however that those boats are quite small, and it was a little rough balancing, but hey it was fun...then to the coconuts. I asked another guy from the village to teach us...well, we certainly got the whole deal...he husked them, scraped them, let us eat the "Samoan ice cream", and showed us how to make the coconut cream...the most exciting of course was his climb to the top of the coconut tree in front of our house. Very impressive.
----Trip to Ma'asina. One of my Samoan brothers, after much convincing, went and got coconut branches and taught my aunt and cousin how to make the baskets. My Aunt, who makes baskets in the States, enjoyed seeing how they do it in Samoa, definitely different. They ate the Samoan way, cross legged on a mat on the floor, and enjoyed hanging out with the first people who showed me Samoa...
----Youth group weekend with Stephanie's youth group in Manono---Aunt Mary and Christy were there to watch an ava ceremony which was done when the group from Manono arrived. Well, the word "watch" doesn't exactly work in Samoa, especially if you are a visitor, because there is so much respect for visitors who come, and the people want them to be a part of everything... So as I went to get my aunt and cousin chairs so they could sit behind unnoticed, one of the ladies was directing my aunt and cousin to go and sit right along beside all of the high chiefs, pastors, people from the youth group...we later joked about their week visiting Samoa being a "100% immersion program", for obvious reasons...Afterwards, both groups performed songs, dances, and skits. They had the honor of watching me pretend to be a graceful Samoan girl...ha. Nope, but I have a year to learn how to be graceful...we'll see...
----Aggie Greys. Last night went to a fiafia at the hotel. Great songs and fire dancing.

To Austrailia!
Melbourne
----Took a day trip from the city to Phillip Island where we watched the "Penguin Parade"---it is stadium seating, all these little penguins come up to shore every night where they find their way to their little burrows where they spend the night before going back to the water in the morning. Very cute to see all these cute little pengiuns coming out of the water and walking up on the beach! On the way there, we stopped at a wildlife reserve --fed a koala and kangaroos and pet a wombat!
----Getting arrested..at the Melbourne Gaol and later toured the Prison
----Enjoyed the areas of South Gate and Federation Square, Yarra River, Victoria Open Air Market
----Went to the top of the SkyTower to view all of Melbourne...from the 85th floor...have you ever seen an elevator that only has the numbers 1,2,3, 85?

Decided that the whole driving on the left side of the road thing is way too difficult and it is also way too far to drive to get to Sydney, so we flew----

Sydney
----Sydney Opera house---absolutely gorgeous, especially when it is all lit up at night! Took a tour and then saw Christmas at the House, a performance with lots of Christmas carols, most we recognized but a few no clue, all the Aus favorites. Funny to watch there skits too about Christmas --one with a barbeque pit, and also their Christmas song about a kangaroo...very different to be going to an opera house to watch a Christmas show when everyone is in their cute summer attire!
----Took a day trip to the Blue Mountains, my favorite part though (besides the incredible Choc milkshake) was seeing kangaroos in the wild. In a national park we stopped at (in Melbourne they were in fences)---they are just like deer here, just hanging out while people are picniking besides them. One had a little baby in its pouch.
----Hyde Park- a nice city park in Sydney
----Bondi Beach, Manley Beach- took bus trips to both of these, some of the most popular beaches in Aust
----Museum of Contemporary Art, where we commentated everything, like the professional art critics that we are not

A wonderful trip. Austrailia is a wonderful, and also very large, as we have figured out, place. Definitely recommend visiting, although it is quite a trip from the States. Back to Samoa in the morning. I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Crazy that it will be 2008, the year already that I will going back home. Love you all! Love, Sally