I'm coming home!

I’m coming home!!!! We packing all night long – got less than 3 hours of sleep. And we’ve been frantically packing and cleaning all day. And now I’ have 33 hours of traveling to do – and then I’ll be home! :) I’m so excited. It’ll be Christmas time! Yay. Ok, loooooong plane rides here I come…

See all you guys soon!

Leah

God & Nature week 2 - aka "workload mania"

This was our last week of God & Nature. Our prof, Bret Stephenson, came back to teach again, and I actually think I liked this week better than last. This week was full of bringing up specific controversial topics about the world and the environment and what exactly we should do to care for it. We talked about animal rights, deforestation, GMO (genetically modified organism) crops - which was really interesting, global warming, eco-feminism (don't even get me started), the problem of evil in the world, city slums, etc. All in all, we had some really good conversations. Often heated ones too, because people in our class were on both ends of the spectrum for everything.

We had to do an animals rights presentation for the class - and lead them in a discussion about some of the issues there, and that was really hard for me to remain unbiased that whole time I was doing it. Because I love meat. I always will. And I have no intention of becoming a vegetarian. But it was good to hear everyone's take on that and to learn more about it i guess.



On top of everything we had to do for the class - a ton of work - we had 4 birthday parties! Sunday was Anela's birthday (& Bry's, but we celebrated his Monday), and we had a spa night. Then for Bry's on Monday a bunch of ppl went paintballing. Then for Laura's on Tuesday, we had a runway "eurotrash" theme, which was really fun! And Friday was Bret, our prof's, birthday, but we just had cake.


On top of that we had a Thanksgiving meal on Thursday night. Which was realllllly good. A lot of people made their homemade recipes from back home. And we had soo much food. But it didn't feel like Thanksgiving, because NZ obviously doesn't have Thanksgiving here, and the weather is really warm for November - I think. So we had some even planned for every night this week. Lot of food. Lot of desserts. Good stuff. :)

Leah

ISP week - aka "don't do homework, do random fun stuff instead"

So this week we're supposed to be working on our ISP (Integrated Seminar Project) research papers. Since there is no class time involved in this, it feels like we have a "free" week. Which we kind of do, kind of don't. Well, ok, we don't, but we're not doing so much work as we are a bunch of fun, random things instead. :)

This is Anela's last week of being a teenager, and she she instigated this week of randomness. We started it by sleeping on the porch during the weekend, then that led to making a slide on the stairs (so fun), and they built a fort the other night in the classroom and slept in it.

Yesterday we went paintballing. That was so much fun! I had never been before, and I almost didn't go. Glad I did now. They have a really sweet "course" just a couple blocks away from the Old Convent, and they let us all do it for super cheap - $10 NZD, which is like $5 USD. We played capture the flag, where I felt like I was playing real life "Call of Duty 4", and then splatter hut, which was basically where 1 team pummels the other team who are inside a hut. That was my favorite. :) Got some good welts from it, but it was so worth it.





Then today was Tommy's birthday, so we all played live pac-man, Mario Kart, and Mortal Combat. So much fun! We used wheelbarrows (real and man-wheelbarrows), scooters, and jump ropes for our "karts" in Mario Kart, hahaha. then we had mud pie for dessert. yummm.


Tomorrow I will work on my paper....I will...maybe. :P

Leah

Fire at Westmont

(that's the library at Westmont) So if any of you don't know yet, Westmont campus caught fire earlier today. A wildfire on the hills behind Montecito spread with the huge Santa Ana winds (up to 70mph). The entire Montecito area has been evacuated, and dozens of homes have already been destroyed by the fire.

Westmont students have been evacuated to the gym, but they're safe now. The fire has completely destroyed the math building, physics building, bauder hall (a psychology building), the Quonset huts, and rumors of the prayer chapel as well. There are several fires in Clark, the freshman dorms, that firemen are trying to contain. So far none of the other major buildings have been severely damaged. But we heard there are several spot fires still, that are being blown around by the winds...

This is crazy. We've heard about California fires around the area in years past, but none has ever hit us - it never seem real till now. I can't believe that this is actually happening. I'm praying hard for everyone that they'll be safe and the campus will be ok. The winds have died down a bit, so hopefully not much more damage will be done.

I hope everyone's ok. This is just crazy..

Later:

Fire's out. Official damage report said the prayer chapel is still in tact, but the other buildings did burn down. 15 of the faculty houses burned down, including Mark the RD's house (my freshman RD) and Dr. McMahon's house (my advisor). 67 students (living on & off campus) plus faculty are now without homes, but luckily, no one was hurt in the fire.

It was amazing to see how fast word spread about Westmont and how many people were praying for the college. That's why most of the campus was saved, I'm sure. What is a miracle is that the math & physics buildings and the quonset huts were scheduled for demolition in a couple days and so were cleared out already. So nothing was really lost. The psychology department was the only one to really get hit, with losing offices.

But the main concern right now is finding temporary housing for the students and faculty. Classes aren't starting up again until December 1, so the college has time to fix the damage done on campus and to situate classes again. I wish I was back there, so I could help out.

Roadtrip day 10

We left Christchurch today, headed back to the Old Convent. Classes start at 9:00am tomorrow morning. :(

We spent this morning shopping again. I really just want to stay on this roadtrip around NZ and not go back to classes. A good thing about going back, though, is Jess’s cooking – no more pbj!

When we got to Kaikoura, Catherine and her family just happened to be driving back to the Convent, and picked up 8 of us so we didn’t have to walk back to the Convent with all of our stuff. So nice.

For our community night that night we all talked about our trips. It was fun hearing about what everyone did. Since it was Catherine’s birthday over the break, we had a party too. We played capture the flag, then had cake. Time to sleep – classes tomorrow.

Leah

Roadtrip day 9

We had to pack up and clean up our campervan this morning before we turned it back in. Took awhile. I didn’t realize how dirty and messy we had gotten. We just kinda embraced it cuz we were always so dirty too. The rental people weren’t satisfied that we had cleaned it enough and made us take it to a gas station to wash it. We didn’t want to pay for a carwash, so we cleaned it all by hand, with a squidgy and paper towels. We probably looked ridiculous wiping the car down in the gas station. :P Whatever, we got it clean, and for free.

So we then dropped the van off, on fumes, then headed into town for the day.

It felt soo nice to take a shower in Stonehurst when we dropped all of our stuff off. Second shower of the trip – woohoo.

We spent the rest of the day in town shopping. I probably spent too much money on clothes and stuff. Oops. I’ll be working over Christmas break, so I have money to last me through spring semester. We go back to Kaikoura tomorrow. Wow, this trip went by really fast. It’s been a ton of fun. :)

Leah

Roadtrip day 8

(Disclaimer: ok, just to let everyone know, I am safely back safe and sound in Kaikoura. So don’t freak out too much about this day lol)

We started our long drive back up the East Coast today. We’ve gotten lazier and lazer at getting up early to either watch the sunrise or go on a hike early in the morning before we head out. Anela wanted to get up at 5:00am to watch the sunrise! 5:00am! Haha, yeah right. (sorry Anela, too early for me). Besides it was raining really hard in the morning, so we waited almost 5 hours for it to pass (and for us to wake up) before we went to go see a waterfall. Then we headed out to Dunedin.

We were freezing cold the whole time we were in Dunedin – that seemed to be a theme during the whole trip. But with the cold and all, we stopped to see the Cadbury Chocolate Factory. Nissi and I snuck into the shop, though we were really supposed to pay for a tour to be able to access the store – oops, whatever. We got chocolate for really cheap there. :) yummm.

Anyway, driving out of Dunedin, we saw these 2 guys hitchhiking to Christchurch. When we saw them, we slowed down, almost picked them up, then decided that we shouldn’t and sped off again – they were so bummed they almost got a ride lol. Then we talked about it, and decided we should be Good Samaritans and we should turn around and pick them up. We were going to Christchurch too after all. So we clean up the van, hide valuables and all, then turn around and grab them. They were so stoked. They were 2 guys, Calum (18) and Ben (19), and they had never hitchhiked before. They were just going up to their friend’s house for the weekend, and needed a ride.

I know what you’re thinking, that we weren’t being smart at all by picking up random guys. But it felt like the right thing to do. And they were really cool guys. Made the whole trip more fun, learning NZ saying and slang, talking about the north and south island, and just hanging out. Oh, and they were agnostic, so we got to talk with them about Christ. And Calum was asking a bunch of hard questions that Christians commonly struggle with, like what about the scientific evidence for evolution, why is there evil in the world, why do innocent people die, etc. I had never witnessed like that to a person before, so it was really cool. I don’t really know if I got through to him or not, but I’m praying I did.

We got all the way up to Christchurch, dropped them off, and they gave us a place to park our van for the night, which was really nice. That whole experience made that day pretty eventful.

Leah

Roadtrip Day 7

A guy at Milford Sound confirmed for us this morning that Obama was in fact our president. And we also saw in on the front page of a NZ newspaper. The US election was bigger news in New Zealand than their own elections in a few days were.

So, anyway, we went to Milford Sound today! It was the prettiest thing we’ve done on this trip so far! We got awesome pics that just look unreal, they’re so beautiful. :) Soo happy we decided to stake it out a day and try getting up to Milford again. It was so worth it.

We had to rent some stupid chains for the drive up, just in case we got stopped again. But no policeman, no snowfall – we didn’t need them at all! Ugh. Oh well, that was God looking out for us yesterday I’m sure, and this morning was even prettier than yesterday would have been, so I’m actually glad we went today instead. I’d been told that one of the places I had to go to in NZ was Milford Sound – and they were so right. Mountains and sea cliffs come right out of the water, and huge waterfalls, and wildlife – everything was so pretty. It was really cold on the boat, but I loved it.

On the drive back to Te Anau and on to Invergargill and the Chatlens, the southern part of the island, we stopped on the side of the highway to make Anela’s first snowman. He was all lopsided and looked retarted cuz our hands were so cold lol. Rocks for eyes, gravel for buttons, piece of grass for his mouth, sticks for nose and arms. We named him Snorge. :P And we started a snowball fight – that was so fun. People were driving by on the road laughing at us. Good times. :)



Leah

Roadtrip day 6

It’s been snowing off and on all day long, and we’re now parked at Lake Gunn for the night – and it’s freezing!!! I didn’t like my sleeping bag at first cuz it was so bulky, but now I’m glad Mom made me get the warmer one. I’m the warmest on this trip right now, though my hands are still really cold. I could use Ralph here right now, to warm when up lol.

We totally slept past our cruise time – good thing we didn’t pay for it. But we still headed up to Milford Sound, hoping to catch a later cruise. And I opted to drive, cuz Anela had driven all last night.

BAD idea!!! Omg, SUCH a bad idea!! Like 15 km out a policeman stopped us to check to see if we were carrying chains for the van. Umm, no chains. Even though there were signs like 80 km back saying we needed them to be on the road. But we kept going anyway. Hehe, oops. Ok, so that was bad news #1) cuz he said he could fine us $750 for catching us without them! Bad news #2) the WORST possible thing EVER: I don’t have my license here in NZ! AND he asked me for it! Omg, I was freaking out soo much, my heart was pounding, and I had no idea what to do! I lied (to a police officer…not good) and told him it was buried in the back, so he told me to either find it or to show him the registration/rental forms.

So we searched the car for a good 10 min for the papers. We had no idea where there were, so we tore the whole van up looking for them. Finally found them. I show them to him. And miracle of miracles, he studies the paper for awhile, then says, “oh, good, you’re license number is on these papers. You guys are good to go.” But my license number was NOT on the paper – there was a huge blank where it said “license #: _______”!!! Omg, thank you Jesus! I don’t know how he looked over that. I could’ve been fined soo much, or I would’ve been taken to the police station and I don’t even know what could’ve happened.

So we quickly turned back around – Anela drove the rest of the way. But since we really wanted to go to Milford Sound we decide to rent chains in Te Anau and go back up to Milford for the cruise the next morning. The DOC ranger came to our campsite that night to charge us for staying there – the only time we got charged for a campsite. Only saw 2 of us in the van though, so didn’t charge us for Anela, who was hiding under her sleeping bag lol. We found out from him about the US elections. That Obama was winning. Lol, we found out from a park ranger in the middle of nowhere. I can’t get over that. :P

Leah

Roadtrip day 5

Well today in the states we figure out who our next president will be. But we’re almost a day ahead, so we have to wait an extra day. I wonder how we’ll find out, cuz we’re in the middle of nowhere for most of out trip.

We woke up this morning with sheep all around our campervan lol. And we all decided we needed a shower, cuz we felt nasty going without one for days. So after our breakfast of scrambled eggs & onions (which was actually really good!) we went to go wash our hair. Nissi and I just dumped lake water over out heads to shampoo – and it was SOOO cold! My head hurt cuz it was so cold. Brrr. But we felt clean after. :) yay.

We spent the day in Queenstown, and we met up with ppl from the Convent! It was really random, but it was fun to just touch base and hear about other’s trips so far. Some had gone bungee jumping, rock climbing, on a canyon swing, ice picking, etc. It all sounded fun. I want to go bungee jumping sometime. :)

We saw Catherine and Bridget there, and since it was Catherine’s birthday, we all went out to dinner. But we had to leave early so we could drive through the night and get over to Milford Sound by morning time, so we could catch a cruise.

And then guess what happened?? It started SNOWING!!!! :) So cool! Anela had never seen it snow before so she was stoked out of her ming. And she was driving too, so it was hard for her to concentrate on the road lol. The snow stuck pretty fast too. And it looked soo pretty. Made me want Christmastime and winter weather back home. It kept snowing hard for a long time, and the roads started getting pretty bad, so we eventually pulled to the side of the road for the night.

We definitely didn’t think it would be snowing on this trip. So cool. :) Didn’t bring warm enough clothes though. So, we’re freezing, but super excited it’s snowing.

Leah

Roadtrip day 4

Didn’t sleep very well last night. Too many sandflies. That, and with my allergies I was miserable. We also had an insane idea to get up at 5:00 am this morning and drive over to Lake Matheson to watch the sunrise. So much easier said than done.

We actually got out there before sunrise, but it was all cloudy and drizzly. It was still really pretty, but we were hoping for a clear sunrise with a good view of Mt. Cook. Got some good pics though.

We had an 8 hour drive to Queenstown today. And I sat in the back for a good part of it with all the sleeping bags – it was really fun. :) Really bumpy. And the drive was gorgeous, as always. It’s always a scenic drive in NZ. And there’s always lookouts and short hikes along the way to waterfalls and lakes that were really pretty and broke up the long drive.

Anela and I made pasta with our propane tank and mini gas burner on the side of the road right next to a park. It was really good, but we looked funny, sitting next to our graffiti-ed van with our mini burner.

Stopped off at Moke Lake for tonight. The sheep and cows all wander around here. And it’s really really cold. We don’t turn the heater on cuz we’re trying to conserve gas, so we just have to deal with the cold and curl up into our sleeping bags.

Leah

Roadtrip day 3

WE WENT SKYDIVING TODAY!!!!!!! Omg, I can’t believe we ACTUALLY did it!!! Ahhh, that was AWESOME!! :D

We did that this morning – I can’t believe it! The people who headed it up were really friendly and casual. They gave us a really quick briefing – only like 10 minutes. I was surprised. Thought it would be much longer than that, cuz I mean, we’re jumping out of a plane for crying out loud. Basically they told us we just had to swing our legs out over the edge of the plane when it was our turn to go, tilt your head back, arch your back, and let him do the jumping – ahh!

Nissi went up first cuz the plane can only hold 2 pairs at a time – it was TINY! The only seat was for the pilot, and 4 of us could barely fit on the floor of it – there were actually 5, with 1 sport skydiver with us, going by himself. So crowded! I went up with Anela, and she jumped first. I just remember getting so anxious when I realized that she had just jumped…out of a plane…and I was next!!! Before I know it, Greg, the guy I was strapped to, was scooting us forward and I was swinging my legs over the edge, dangling out the side of the plane while he gets ready to jump. Tilt my head back. Cross my arms. Arch my back. And we’re jumping! I can replay it like slow motion in my head – I was jumping out of a plane from 12,000 feet up!

When we jumped we did a flip and I could see the plane as I was falling away from it – that was the part that felt the most like falling. Then he flips me back around so I can see everything else, and we’re free falling for a good 45 seconds. I remember at first that it was hard for me to breathe cuz the wind was rushing at my face so fast, but the scenery was soooo incredibly pretty!! Mountains, glaciers, valleys, lakes, rivers, forests, the ocean – all there. And on a clear sunny morning too. Sure I could have gone skydiving in the states, but this was probably the most incredible view a person could get, and I was in NZ for crying out loud, so why not go skydiving? :)

Once the parachute was out, we did a bunch of spins and spirals, which was really fun – felt like a rollercoaster. We were up there for a good 6 min doing that. And I got to take my camera up there and take pics and stuff. But they don’t do justice to how high up we were or how gorgeous it was. I can’t believe I went skydiving! I never thought I would do that. So much fun! :)

So afterwards, though we were exhausted, we hiked over to see Fox Glacier, which was really pretty. Huge too. Spent the evening on the beach, watching the sun set. There were soo many sandflies there tho – I HATE sandflies. They eat you alive. But overall it was a good end to an awesome day. :)


Leah

Roadtrip!!! day 2

We got our campervan rental this morning – from Wicked Rentals. It’s a 3-seater van with a ghetto pump sink, kitchenware and silverware that doesn’t look clean at all, a gross fold-out table and chairs, a propane tank to cook with, etc. We can make a table area in the main part of the van, or put it down and turn it into a bed for the 3 of us. And there are compartments underneath the “beds” to stash our stuff. It’s pretty crazy – can’t believe we’re doing this! Oh! AND it drives on the left side of the road!

Omg, and they were about to give us a manual van! None of us know how to drive a manual! I should have gotten Ralph to teach me over the summer when I was at his house. I’m mad I didn’t now. Luckily they had an automatic we could use. Really I’m not supposed to be driving this thing anyway, cuz I lost my license at the beginning of the semester. But I will anyway – I don’t want to make Anela drive the whole trip. I just have to get used to driving on the left side of the road! This is so backwards.

So we stocked up on food and gas, then headed out! Woohoo, road trip! So we’re traveling through the Southern Alps today over to Greymouth, then down the west coast to Franz Josef tonight. The Alps have been soo pretty so far! Kind of like Steven’s Pass, but with less trees, some waterfalls, and springtime weather. The Alps are the Misty Mts in Lord of the Rings, which I thought was really cool. :)

That night: So we got over to Greymouth by dinnertime and went up to Pukaiki to see some pancake rocks and a blowhole. The pancake rocks looked really cool. Scientists don’t know how they were made. Stopped to make pbj sandwiches for dinner tonight. Mmmmm, pbj. What a meal lol. Sunset was pretty.

Heading down the West Coast to Franz Josef, I drove the car. It is SOO weird driving on the left side! I had to hug the middle line and it felt like I was going to hit al the cars coming at me! And I almost hit the posts on the curb a couple times – oops hehe. It’s soo different.

Took us forever to find our campsite that night. We passed by it at least 3 times before we found it. Signs were terrible. And we can just fit us 3 in the back for sleeping…we’re so roughing it lol.

Leah

On Our Way :)

So NZ doesn’t really celebrate Halloween. No decorations or anything in the shops or windows, no trick or treating. So today just seemed like any other day really.

Stressful actually. Today was crazy because our bus to Christchurch left at 4:00pm, but our final for God & Nature was originally scheduled for 4:00pm. Um, that didn’t work for us… So with a lot of pleading to the staff and our professor, Bret Stephenson, (of whom none were too happy with us), we got the test bumped up for us. But that meant we had almost no time to cram for the exam after class that morning, and then minimal time after the test to pack and rush out the door to catch the bus. After a long, stressful day studying, taking the test, and scrambling to get everything packed, though, we made it! And we got to leave a day earlier than everyone else. Sweet.

We called it an early night in Christchurch once we got there. We had to pull an all-nighter the night before to study for the exam, so on top of my 4 hours of sleep the night before I was exhausted. We have to share a room with 3 other ppl at Stonehurst though (so it’d be cheaper for us), which is really weird. They’re nice at least. Have to deal with communal bathrooms again too. Weird. Only 1 night though. Then we’re off on our roadtrip!

Leah

God & Nature week 1 & planning for 10-day!

This past weekend I cut my bangs. They were so long and I liked them shorter. But I kept cutting and cutting them – now I have legit bangs! Lol. I haven’t had them this short since like 3rd grade. I kind like them though. It’s something different.

This God and Nature class has been really interesting so far. It’s covering a lot of what I’ve gone over in Christian Doctrine and OT and NT classes from Westmont, and some bioethics too. But I like learning it from a new perspective. And it’s always stimulating – we get some good conversations going sometimes.

This whole week has been kind of a blur for me. There’s a lot of reading and homework for this class, so that makes the days go by quickly. And on top of that, we’re finalizing plans for our 10-day break that starts on Friday!

So for our 10-day, we were going to go to Sydney, Australia, which would have been AMAZING, but it was too expensive. So we opted instead to travel the South Island of New Zealand. Anela, Nissi, and I are renting a campervan for 8 nights and we’re road-tripping it all along the West Coast, down to the fjordlands on the Southern tip, then driving up the East Coast back here. We’re planning on going skydiving – we HOPE we can, but we don’t know if the weather will be good enough for us to go. It’s either that or bungee jumping! Then we’re going to Lake Matheson – supposed to be really pretty there. Next we’ll hit up a mini cruise in Milford Sound, then go kayaking in the fjordlands, check out the wildlife in Dunedin, etc. And we’ll be going hiking all over the place. It should be really fun! I’m so excited. :)

Leah

p.s. I’m finally getting pictures up guys!! So if you have time, you can go back and look at my old blogs of Samoa. Still working on the last few days, but I’ll have the rest of the pics up soon! Thanks for your patience. :) I never realize how little time I have to do everything in my life, especially when classes are this fast and crazy.

Stream Ecology – aka “playing with bugs all week long”

So this was the first ecology class here that wasn’t a review session for me. So I was kind of stoked on it to begin with, thinking, “hey, stream ecology, this is new. This should be kind of fun.”

So we start out on Monday with Russel, our professor, giving us a couple lectures on his research and what he does, New Zealand, then Kaikoura, kind of talking about streams and ecology, but not really. It was more of a generalized overview of the ecology of the area, but not really streams. So I had no idea what to expect when we went out into the field that afternoon. But it was pretty good…simple, and I didn’t get near as cold as I did during Marine Ecology.

Tuesday after class we went out again, to start our research projects – so that was another long day. Anela and I were research buddies again. :) we ended up studying if there was a difference in biodiversity in pools vs. riffles (fast moving water over rocks) in the stream. Interesting, I know. Haha. Anyway, we spent that evening studying a bunch of bugs under microscopes lol. There were some gnarly looking bugs we found.

But we didn’t have any class Wednesday or Thursday…we had like half the week to work on our research papers! That was so sweet. It was a lot of work, but we had plenty of time to do it. Then we did a presentation Friday, but it could be on anything, so Anela and I did it on our Marine Biology research project on sea anemones lol.

Class was overall straightforward, different, simple, but challenging with the quality of research he expected from us. I liked it.

Leah

Cultural Anthropology – aka “I have no life”

So this week was for an elective course the students could take if they wanted. 19 students opted to take the Environmental Literature course. For only one week of class you get 3 credits, so it was worth sitting in class instead of taking time off. Anela, Bridget, Catherine (my roommate), and Sarah didn’t take the course so they left for a backpacking trip to the north part of the South Island. As for me, I didn’t want to take the Environmental Lit. class, because those credits wouldn’t count for anything back at Westmont. So I decided to do an independent study instead for Cultural Anthropology. I thought it was a good idea. 3 credits, one week, and then I wouldn’t have to take a sociology class when I got back to Westmont. So it was good, right?

Haha. Yeah right. That was like the hardest week of my life. Even harder than finals week I feel like. Let me give you an idea of everything I had to do in one week: I had to read a 400 pg textbook, read and study 3 research papers on anthropology, read several case studies, read a 225 pg book on Samoa (which I cheated and only read 1/3 of it), write 4 4-5 page papers, and take 3 tests. All in 6 days. Monday to Saturday. I literally read, studied, or worked on papers from the time I got up to midnight, every day. It was so exhausting. That whole week is a blur now.

I now know how much work I can actually do in one week lol. I had to push myself so hard to get all of that work done. And I’m so glad that the week is over! And that I survived hahaha. It was so hard. But I learned soo much, and I thought it was interesting. So at least I wasn’t bored the whole week.

And I’m done! Woohoo! I got 3 credits for that class. :) Definitely worked for those 3 credits. Good class, but so glad it’s over.

Leah


p.s. I'm slowly working on putting pics up for these blogs - the internet here is really slow so it takes awhile. my goal is to have them done by friday!

Marine Ecology - aka "Jumping in puddles all week long"

That's pretty much what we did for the week. Jump around in puddles. Or tide pools, whatever you want to call them. :P

This week was pretty much an overview of my marine biology class that I took last year. A very basic overview. Hardly touched any of the core material I learned last year. It really felt like a step backwards into high school material. Which coming into this program expecting rigorous 300 level course material, I was a bit surprised.

Our 2 professors, Sharyn and Chris, only gave us lectures maybe 1/3 of the time for the week. We spent most of the time out in the field, learning or doing mini research projects. Anela and I researched limpets and whether their shell steepness correlated with wave exposure lol. Very basic stuff. Some class days were 10-11 hours of class with lecture in the morning and field work after. Made the days go by super fast.

Overall, it was a pretty good week. I still don't know if I like the week long classes - I do like how you can focus on one class at a time, but with just a week it's hard to retain any of the information you learn. Good think this a review class for me I guess.

Savaii Day 12 - Faga Village

We’re leaving Samoa today. We woke up early this morning to say goodbye to Eve and Tiota before they left for school. I’ll miss them. Even thought we never really talked a whole lot, we all had a mutual friendship.

Said goodbye to the rest of the family this morning, then packed and waited for the bus to pick us up. I’ve gotten so tan on this trip, and my hair’s been sun bleached too. :) I like it.

We left Faga Village after lunch and caught a ferry over to Apia, where we’re now waiting in the airport for 8 hours until our plane leaves…8 hours. So long. Oh well, we’re going back to NZ. :) Loved the trip to Samoa. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. But I am glad to be going back. Can’t wait for Jess’s food at the Convent.

Leah

Savaii Day 11 - Faga Village

Can’t believe it’s October already.

We didn’t do much at all today. Woke up with the sun (it’s hard not too cuz it’s so bright off the water) and had breakfast. They gave us cup of noodle lol. I guess they know we like it, but it was weird having it for breakfast.

Went swimming and snorkeling for awhile before lunch, and read some more. The family really just wants us to relax, and not do anything else. It’s great. Lunch came and went, and we basically sat at the beach until dinner.

We got ready for the fiafia after dinner (where they gave us more cup of noodle lol). They gave us each a “pulatassi” – a traditional dress they wear for special occasions. We got plain lime green ones with white trim. They sized us up really well when they made them, cuz mine was even long enough. They also gave us necklaces and these ridiculous headdresses to wear. They had leaves sticking out every which way to make up look like the statue of liberty haha. Which is what we ended up posing as in ½ the pics we took that night. :P










The night itself was really fun. The guys of the village performed a lot of songs and dances, and we as the CCSP grou sang some songs for them. Compared to them though, we were pretty lame lol.

But they wanted to perform their stuff more than watch us, so it was fine. We all had a turn to dance with our family that night too, which was fun. The whole thing was about 2 hours, and filled with lots of loud songs, excited dances, many bright colors, and lots of laughter. It was a great goodbye ceremony.

I am glad the trip’s almost over. I wouldn’t be able to stand this heat much longer. I’ve never been this hot for this long before. I think I’ve finally agreed with Ralph that I would rather be cold than hot. Used to think I’d rather be hot. Definitely not after this trip.

Leah

Savaii Day 10 - Faga Village

We slept in so late today – it was awesome to wake up and see the ocean first thing. We just relaxed on the beach until lunch today. We swam, snorkeled, and I read and took a nap too. Very laid back.

After Eva and Tiota got back from school, they took us to see their plantation. It was basically a bunch of coconut, mango, banana, breadfruit, and coco trees and then taro. Nothing too exciting.

The girls went off to their dance practice again, so Sarah and I just hung out at the beach till dinner. They gave us American hotdogs at dinner – yum. :) Then a bunch of traditional foods. We always have taro for lunch and dinner though. Getting sick of it.

We learned a song and dance with Eva and Tiota for the fiafia tomorrow night. Kinda silly, but I think it’ll be fun.

It was a good day, but I’m so dirty and gross with so many bug bites, that I think I’m ready to go back. It’s been an awesome trip, but I’m glad it’s almost over. Time to return to the civilization I’m used to.

Leah

Savaii Day 9 - Safua Hotel

This has been such a great day. We switched from Safua Hotel to Faga (pronounced “Fanga”) Village homestays today. And so far it’s been an unbelievable experience.

I’m always nervous starting a homestay, cuz I’m a little shy, and esp in a completely different culture where there’s a language barrier. And since we’re never told a lot of information beforehand, we had no idea what to expect.

When we got to the village, we had an “Ava Ceremony” with the chiefs of the village, which is their way of greeting us into their village and families. We had to drink this ground up ava root and some water – tasted like dirt. Then we were all separated into each of our homestay families. I buddied up with Sarah for the homestay, as we couldn’t be by ourselves in a house. It’s interesting here cuz the family consists of all the extended family – they all live on the same land, but each has their own fale, so there are 6 of us staying in the whole extended family, but just Sarah and I in one of the fales.

I think the name of the woman hosting us is “Molee”. She’s really nice, and speaks broken but decent English. She brought us to her home and gave us a coconut to drink and fanned us for like ½ hr, and asked us some questions about ourselves. Then she and her family served us lunch, and she has us sit and eat at our own table, and brought a ton of food out for us. She fanned us the whole time we ate. Awkward.

Molee then took us out to a beach fale, where we’re sleeping for the next 3 nights! Sweet! Literally right on the beach. :) With the coconut tress right next to us, a beautiful sandy shore, and the waves lapping at the base of our fale. How sweet is that! I get to wake up each morning to see the gorgeous teals and blues of the ocean over the coral reef. Omg, this is really one of my lifetime dreams come true. Ahh, I’m so happy right now. :)

We relaxed on the beach and hung out with people in the afternoon. It was really relaxing. I felt so lazy in the heat with the ocean and everything.

Molee has 2 daughters that are similar to us in age – Eva, 17, and Tiota, 15. They’re sleeping with us in the fale. They invited us to their church youth dance practice for their White Sunday holiday. That was fun to watch them all sing and dance. Some of the songs were even in English, which I knew.

Apparently the table we were eating our meals at was only taken out for Christmas and Easter, so it was a big deal for us to sit there and eat while everyone else in the family ate on the floor in another fale. And they fed us so much food. We were always stuffed. They’re so hospitable, it’s amazing.

Leah

Savaii Day 8 - Safua Hotel

My bruises started to hurt today. As long as I don’t put pressure on it it’s ok. And I did mean “bruises” – plural. I got ones on my other leg that hurt too. Mom would totally flip if she saw them, they look so bad (really, they’re ok mom haha, don’t worry). :)

We went to church this morning. I guess all the girls have to wear hats to church, which we didn’t know, so we had to wear all these ridiculous looking hats that Safua provided us lol. We looked so funny, and I’m sure the church was laughing at us as we came in. :P

Most of the day was free afterwards. Tonight after dinner, when people started singing like they normally did, the kids sang some Bible songs, like “deep and wide”. Then Sarah and I thought it’d be fun to sing “Father Abraham” for them, which the Samoans then sang back to us in Samoan. That started a sing-off of worship and Bible songs. Lasted a good ½ hour, and was so much fun. We were singing all these Sunday school songs I hadn’t sung in ages. I think that night was more fun than the fiafia, cuz it was spontaneous, and we were all having fun. :P

Leah

Savaii Day 7 - Safua Hotel

We had a free day today. It was so nice just to be able to do stuff on our own time.

Anela and I went to the market after lunch today. We had to catch a bus to the market, which basically just meant flagging one down on the side of the road. They really don’t have any bus stops, you just get on when you can catch one, and get off whenever you want.

We met up with Bridget, Sarah, and Catherine after lunch, and we all went to the waterfall again. We had to catch a couple busses to take us all the way to the waterfall, and the whole time I was thinking about how cool it was that we were all wandering around a foreign country by ourselves, taking busses to who knows where lol. Kind of unnerving too, but still exhilarating.

Since this was a non-CCSP sponsored event, we were able to jump off high rocks. And so we did. One jump was about 30 ft up!!! Ahh that was so scary, but sooo much fun. I totally forgot to pencil dive into the water though, so I landed on my leg and got this really gnarly bruise all down my thigh. Doesn’t hurt now, but it’s already dark shades of purple and red and it’s all swollen. Looks terrible. But totally worth it. :)


We had our fiafia for the hotel tonight, since they don’t dance on Sunday. The guys all got up and did a war dance, which was really funny, and we sang some songs for them. They all gave us lavalavas at the end. It was a pretty fun night.

Leah

Savaii Day 6 - Safua Hotel

I’m being eaten alive. I have so many bug bites this is ridiculous. Mainly on my legs and ankles but they’ve started munching away on my arms today. Not cool.

It was culture day today there at Safua. We learned some of the history and culture of the Samoans, then saw some older women demonstrate weaving and tapestry/traditional lavalava making. Very labor intensive. The fine woven mats are apparently very valuable, as they take 6 months to 1 year to make. And they used to be the only thing that one could give that would forgive an unforgivable sin, like murder.

Saw a guy climb a coconut tree – so cool! He made it look so easy. And we got fresh coconuts then too. Never had one before. It was pretty sweet, and different. Thought it was pretty good.

We also saw a demonstration of basket weaving done by Chris. I got to try it, and I make a basket out of one side of a palm branch. Woohoo. :) It was a lot of fun.

They also cooked all sorts of food the traditional way too, from a pig to fish to breadfruit to octopus. Very old-fashioned, but it tasted really good.

They did this awesome fire dance after dinner. Probably the highlight of the day.

The little kids are getting more friendly; today they were all following me around and I played and danced with this 9 year old girl, Mari. She’s really cute, and spoke pretty good English too. They all love smiling at you and holding your hand. :)

Leah