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…