Nu'uuli Falls

Lauren and I went on a great adventure a while ago. I haven’t written about it yet since I am perpetually behind in my blog updates. During orientation we visited the waterfalls in Nu’uuli and it was great, but we hadn’t been back there since then. We had also found out from reading blogs from people who lived here that there were more waterfalls than the big one that we saw if you climbed up behind it.

The first waterfall is pretty easy to get to. The bus drops you off in Nu’uuli, right in front of Family Mart. Apparently this is the “hood” of American Samoa. There’s a road that goes back behind the stores and then it’s about a 30 minute hike. There’s not a lot of ups and downs but occasionally the trail is hard to follow. You have to cross the stream a couple times and then pick up the trail again on the other side.

The first waterfall that we came to was the one we had visited before. It’s a nice place to swim because it’s so secluded and the water is so cold. It is nice and refreshing. There are hardly ever any other people there, except on our way back we saw some Samoan teenagers jumping off the rocks into the water.

But our real adventure began when we started looking for the other waterfalls. We had heard that there were seven more. We had to climb up the steep mountain to get to the top and then follow the stream farther back. The hill was very slippery with lots of rocks and loose soil. It was the kind of climbing that required gripping with your toes and grabbing on to tree roots. I was only wearing my chaco flip flops so I ended up just taking them off and climbing barefoot which worked much better. Once we pulled our way to the top, we could see the stream that led into the big waterfall we had seen below.

Following the stream, we found 2 directions that we could possibly go. The stream to the right seemed like a dead end and was covered with branches and big trees so we chose to follow the stream to the left.  We walked along in the water and kept coming to small little waterfalls that were only about a few feet high. We weren’t sure if we were supposed to count these baby waterfalls or not. At the end we found another bigger waterfall that wasn’t as big as the one in the beginning of the hike, but was still large enough to swim in. After a while of exploring we retraced our way back down to the main waterfall.

There were some Samoan teenage boys swimming when we got back down who seemed surprised to see to young palagis appear from the trees, one of them barefoot. They quickly befriended us and told us that if we had turned to the right instead we would have found a lot more waterfalls. It looks like a dead end but it’s really not. So the next time we climb up we’ll have to turn to the right and find the ones that we missed.

We decided that since we had had so much finding hidden waterfalls, the next weekend we went to find the waterfalls rumored to be hidden behind the hospital. On our way there we ran into a palagi who works for the tourism department and he told us how to get there. Basically we just had to follow the road back until we got to a construction site. There would be piles of gravel and we would think that we went the wrong way but it was actually correct.

This was exactly what happened. We had to enter a construction area with piles of gravel and big bull dozers and stuff. It was all enclosed by a fence that had been left open and there was a sign that warned that we were entering a “hard hat only zone.” We kept walking. We climbed up some piles of gravel and looked around. At a loss, we asked some construction guys where we were supposed to go to find the waterfalls. Luckily they knew what we were talking about (as so often is not the case here in AmSam), and point us in the right direction. Sure enough, just beyond the construction zone was a fairly large waterfall.

Lauren had read in someone’s blog that we needed to climb up the hill and get above the first waterfall in order to find some more. We assumed it would be similar to our hike last weekend. We were wrong.

It started out similar enough. We had to grab onto roots and rocks to pull ourselves up. Quinn and I took off our shoes to get a better grip into the lose dirt with our toes. Not far into the climb, rocks started tumbling down on us from Lauren who had gone ahead. Quinn and I had reached a point where there was nothing left to grab onto plus we were getting pummeled with rocks. So we decided it would be best to stop there. Lauren, however, lured by the thought of hidden waterfalls, forged ahead.

Propped against roots, Quinn and I waited for reports from Lauren, whom we could no longer see: “I’m just going to go a little farther!” or “I’m ok!” after some rocks had fallen down on us. Eventually we heard her yell that she was coming back down. This is when the rocks really started falling. We yelled at her to wait until we had gotten out of the way. Quinn and I half crawled, half slid our way down the hill. Then moved a safe distance away from the bottom and yelled at Lauren that she could continue to descend. At times, giant rocks came crashing down and broke into bits as they tumbled into the waterfall. Quinn and I moved farther away.

After what seemed like forever we finally saw Lauren’s bright orange shirt through the trees and watched her climb the rest of the way down. Every other sentence out of Lauren’s mouth was either “I’m sooo stupid!!!” or “Thank the Lord!!!” She said that way up at the top there are even fewer things to grab onto and climbing down was even worse than going up. She said the only thought that comforted her while grasping at loose soil and showering us with giant rocks, was the fact that we were right behind the hospital in case anything happened.

Amazingly we all made it out unscathed except for a few minor bumps and bruises. We won’t be trying that again, but it definitely was an adventure. The blog that Lauren read described hike as similar to rock climbing, but it seemed to me that it was like rock climbing except all the rocks fall down and cause avalanches behind you. So future waterfall hunters beware!

Valentine's Day

It’s been a while since Valentine’s Day but I’m still trying to catch up on my blog writing. I received two valentines from students. Actually one of them is not my student but my class room is his turf and I always help him with his chemistry homework. The first, from one of the boys in my chemistry class, was written on a small red heart. He made the valentine in Quinn’s class because they were doing a project for which they all got a heart and could write about anyone or anything that they wanted. All of the valentines were turned in to Quinn at the end of their class. I’m pretty sure he never meant for it to end up in my hands, but Quinn gave it to me later that day. On the front it said:

To my best teacher Miss Abby

Your student _________

And on the back it said:

Coming every morning to see your smile and to see you. Your smile keeps me going, everyday your smile keep me going through bad to good all day.

The 2^nd valentine I received in person and was from two students: the same one who wrote the red heart valentine and the boy whom I help with his chemistry homework. I’ve included pictures of the elaborate drawings. The front is a picture of a waterfall and says Happy Valentine Days. It opens up to reveal a note framed on both sides by two roses and lots of little pink hearts. It reads:

To: Miss Abby

Happy Valentine day my dears friend, we just want to say thank for being a loving, caring and loyal friend. Your our friend from far places and we hope you enjoy your Valentine’s Day present.

Love always,

_______ and ______

These are the types of things that keep me going when I’ve had a rough day dealing with some headache inducing, crazy children. Sometimes teaching can feel useless, hopeless, and extremely frustrating. So such genuine notes are a much needed reminder to me that I’ve touched the lives of at least some of these kids in a positive way. Best Valentine’s Day cards ever!