Palolo Hunting

Palolo worms are an annelid sea worm that lives in tropical and temperate oceans. There is a specific species found in the South Pacific that rises from the coral to spawn two or three times per year. The timing of the spawning depends on the lunar cycle and happens for a 3-day periods in October, November, and/or December. The worms usually come out around 2 am and last for only a couple of hours. Locals in Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, and other Polynesian islands love to eat them and they are a delicacy, kind of like caviar.

During a spawn, the head of the worm stays attached to the coral, while the rest of it detaches and rises to the surface of the water, releasing eggs. Adults are about 12 inches long and look like lots of spaghetti floating around in the ocean. It really sounds and looks delicious!

It seems as though there is no definite science to figure out when the palolo will come. When it’s about time according to the lunar cycle for them to spawn, locals swarm to the oceans in the middle of the night to wait for the worms to come out. Last Tuesday we started hearing that it was time for the palolo to come. People had looked for them Monday night, but they hadn’t come. “I think tonight they will come for sure,” we heard the locals say. So, lured by the anticipation of tasting delicious sperm-releasing ocean worms, we called a taxi to take us to the beach at 11pm Tuesday night. We heard that you have to go early, so I guess it’s true that the early bird gets the worm.

We had a nice chat with the taxi driver on the way to the beach. He was a fun, enthusiastic guy who seemed impressed that 4 palagis were headed out to the beach to catch some palolo. He said that some people eat them raw but the best way is to eat them with lots of butter. He told us, “Cook them with lots of buddah. Mmmmmm hahahaha. Make a sandwich with lots of buddah. Mmmm real thick. Numbah one!!!” Good advice.

We got to the beach and had to walk for about 30 min to get to the good spot. It was pretty windy and was raining on and off. I think this is probably the 3rd time I’ve ever felt cold here in American Samoa. We got to the beach, which looked completely different in the dark and with tons of Samoans sitting quietly. I’m sure our white skin made us stand out. We got invited under a tarp to escape from the wind and the rain. We still had about 2 more hours until the worms came. So we waited and watched the Samoans walking by with nets and giant coolers to collect the palolo. When the time came we waded out into the water with our flashlights but didn’t see anything. Even by 2:30am we still didn’t see anything. A few of people said that they had found a couple, but it obviously wasn’t the right time. This seemed understood and everyone grabbed up their stuff and started walking back to where all the cars were parked. “For sure they will come tomorrow night,” they said.

One night was enough for us, since we got about 3 hours of sleep before we had to go to school and teach the rowdy kids all day long. Maybe we will try again in November and hope for a better harvest.

Pasi le Polo!

I haven’t updated my blog in a while and I’m getting a disgruntled vibe from my fans and followers. The weekend before last I was in Western Samoa for a 3-day weekend. I had to jump right back into school stuff when I got back, so I didn’t have time to update that week. Then on Sunday my computer died so I couldn’t type anything or use the internet. So I’m dealing with that which is a pain, but the bottom line is that I have limited access to computers and internet right now and maybe for a while. Thus is life in American Samoa. But I have so much to blog about that I’m not even sure where to start! I don’t think I can include everything in this post, but I’ll catch up eventually.

To start with I am now the assistant coach for the boys’ futsal team at our high school. Basically futsal is indoor soccer played on a smaller court with 5 players on each team. According to Wikipedia, futsal originated in Uruguay in 1930, spread across South American, and then became popular in Portugal and Spain. We play on the cement floor of the gym and the court is a little larger than a basketball court. The goals are a little larger than lacrosse or hockey goals. Futsal is also played with a smaller ball than regular soccer.

I found out that I was the assistant coach last Thursday when I read the daily bulletin to my class and saw that kids who were interested in playing futsal should see Coach Rita or Coach Abby. I had no idea what futsal was, but apparently I was the coach. I had expressed interest to the principal about coaching soccer, but no one had talked to me about soccer or futsal in a while. So on my break I walked into the office and the secretary/head futsal coach/default head coach of every sport told me that we were starting practice that day. “Great! I’ll be there!” I said.

When I got to practice all the players were scrimmaging in the gym. The majority of them were not wearing any shoes. A couple of them were wearing flip flops (or “slippers” as they are called here). Samoans have the innate ability to keep slippers on their feet no matter what they are doing: climbing trees, playing soccer, running, etc. They do not use the terms sneakers or tennis shoes. All kinds of shoes are called “sports shoes” which makes sense because they only ever wear shoes when they are playing sports, and even then it seems it is optional.

I spent most of practice confused. I didn’t have any of the players in class so I didn’t know any of their names or even recognize a lot of them. I couldn’t tell who was on what team during the scrimmage because they were all wearing different colors. They all spoke to each other in Samoan, as did the head coach. I’ve begun to learn a lot of their names which helps me keep track of who’s on what team better, but the language still makes things difficult. There are definitely some who do not speak English very well. But they are a nice group of kids and it’s been fun so far. We’ve won our first 2 games, but I can definitely see a lot of things to work on.

I also joined the village soccer team in Leone. I found out from a teacher that they practice pretty close to where I live every day after school. The field is about a 5 min jog from my house. We have games at the big field in Pago Pago every Saturday. Practicing with them is kind of like playing with a bunch of 10-year-olds with both the good and bad aspects. Their skill level is pretty low, but their enthusiasm and sense of fun is off the charts. EVERYTHING is funny. Sometimes players will start laughing as soon as they get the ball even if nothing has happened, especially the girls. The saying that it’s only funny until someone gets hurt could not be further from the truth for them. The harder someone gets hit or the more dramatic the fall, the more hilarious it is. Actually I’ve noticed that physical humor is what gets Samoans laughing the most, whether it is in sports or in the classroom. Just dropping a piece of chalk can cause an eruption of laughter for 5 minutes. And if someone falls down, just forget about teaching the rest of the class.

After the first practice I followed the team across the street to the back of the Laundromat where there was a big Gatorade jug of water for everyone to drink. I was a little surprised when a lot of the team pulled out cigarettes and started smoking. The 2^nd practice I went to there was a girl hiding in the dugout finishing her cigarette before practice. She was laying down on the bench and when I asked her if she was going to practice she said she would be there after she finished her smoke and not to tell the coach that she was there yet. The third practice I went to I was surprised (although at this point I shouldn’t have been) to see a player smoking while playing. She was standing in the goal playing keeper, cigarette in one hand, cell phone blaring Katy Perry’s “Firework” in the other. Inevitably she got hit hard in the gut with the incoming shot, which made everyone, herself included, keel over with uncontrollable laughter.

Most of the time all the players will speak in Samoan, so I’m not entirely sure what’s going on, but I’ve picked up some phrases and I recognize some words here and there. They also throw in English words or modified English words when there is no Samoan equivalent such as, offsides, pasi (pass), kiki (kick), polo(ball), keepa (keeper). I also know words like vave (fast) and palagi (white person) which they use a lot. I’ll always hear the word palagi interspersed with a lot of other Samoan words that I don’t know so I never know exactly what they are saying but I know they are talking about me because I am the only white person playing with them. Occasionally I’ll get someone to translate, but, again, I don’t think a lot of them have good English skills. It can be frustrating at times to play with them, but at least everyone is always having fun.

That’s it for now, but stay tuned for more posts about Western Samoa, palolo (google it for a sneak peak), and parent teacher conferences…

Flying Cake

Two years ago on the morning of September 29 a tsunami hit American Samoa caused by an 8.0 earthquake. Leone was one of the villages that was hit the hardest. Teachers and students remember this day as a terrible day of fear, sadness, and destruction. I’ve heard stories from students and seen some of the destruction that is still here, but I’ll never fully understand what it was like for those who were here 2 years ago.

At school on Thursday we had a half day of class, and then a special ceremony to remember and reflect. A priest led a lot of prayers and then some students did as well. It was almost all in Samoan so I can only guess what was said. The Leone High School choir sang a couple of songs and they were excellent. Supposedly they are the best choir on the island and they won the choir competition last year. Some individuals sang, too. Some were better than others, but, regardless, it takes guts to sing by yourself in front of 800 of your peers.

On a lighter note, on Friday my physical science classes present their edible atoms. After hearing about a life science class that had an assignment to draw the parts of a cell in icing on top of a cake, they had been begging me for weeks to do a “cake project.” I finally gave in last week and gave them a project to make an atom out of anything you can eat. Most students went the cake route, creating a 2-D atom on the surface out of icing or candies. However, one creative student made a 3-D model complete with orbitals using licorice and gumballs.

We then got to eat all the projects (which is exactly why they wanted to do the project in the first place). Unfortunately no one had brought any utensils, plates, or napkins. But as soon as I said the word, it was a mad cloud of cake crumbs and smeared icing. We managed to scrounge up one knife to cut the cakes. One student did not want to cut his vanilla cake with the knife after it had gotten chocolate all over it so he opened up my classroom door and leaned out, putting the knife under the downpour of rain outside.

Ten minutes later an astonishing amount of cake had been consumed. My class was probably the quietest it’s ever been, with students sprawled on chairs, eyes kind of glazed over, and chocolate smeared on their hands and faces. My room was a mess with chunks of cake everywhere. Despite my threats that they had better clean up after eating, it didn’t surprise me that most the cleanup was left to me. Needless to say, it will be a while before we do another edible project.

On Saturday I climbed Mt. Alava (491 m) for the 2^nd time with 3 other friends. The starting point is in the small village of Vatia, on the north side of the island. To get there you have to have a car or hope that someone picks you up, because buses don’t go there. From Leone, it takes maybe an hour and 15 min just to drive to the starting point. It is a pretty intense climb and much of it includes wooden ladders with ropes to help you pull yourself up. According to the National Park Service there are a total of 56 ladders and 783 steps. The photos really don’t do it justice. There’s a fantastic view at the top. I tried out the panoramic setting on my new camera and got some nice pics. Round trip it took us about 4 hours, but we spent a while at the top. We were exhausted and starving by the time we got back down so naturally we gorged ourselves on pizza, beer, and ice cream.