Christmas!

Christmas Western District Choir
In my last post I mentioned that Cyclone Evan had canceled the choir performance that Sara, Amber, and I were suppose to sing in.  It was rescheduled for December 18.  We found out the day before!  We got to the Lee Rex Auditorium and  the choir director put the three of us front and center!  We were doing good singing the songs in Samoan until we got to the governor's song where we have to sing, sway, and clap at the same time.  We ended up mouthing the words to that song and bumping into each other.

 (Sara's frig snowman )

(Our choir uniforms)

Afterwards people kept telling us how well we did.  I'm not sure if they were really telling us that because we did well or if they were telling use because they felt bad for us.  The performance was even on television!  For a few days afterwards students would say they saw me on TV and want to know if I could speak Samoan now.  Haha no, just because I could sing memorized words does not mean I can talk to you in Samoan.  Hopefully, the video will be on YouTube at some point in the future.  I haven't been able to find a copy of it anywhere.

Christmas Eve
For Christmas Eve a Samoan family invited Amber, Alison, and I for dinner.  When I got there I realized it was the family of one of my students.  The truancy officer from the school was also there.  She is the aunt of the student.

The house had beautiful gardens.  The dinning tables were set up outside in the covered patio.  The Christmas Tree was on the front porch and there were lights and decorations throughout the garden.  It appeared that there entire Christmas celebration would be conducted outside.  There were probably 30-40 family members that came for dinner.  The teenage girls in the family were the help for the night.  They sat the food out, got drinks, cleaned up, and served dessert.  I never saw them sit down to eat.  The family's two large dogs ran through the tables waiting for someone to drop food.

There was so much food.  Tui, the host, said, "it's Samoa we eat until your dead."  People kept putting offering me more food.  There was so much that I wasn't even able to sample a little of everything before I got full.  There was a whole pig, including the head!  There was also taro, boiled bananas, papaya, pineapple, salad, noodles, ham, pork, fried chicken, turkey and stuffing, and curry.  About five more dishes came out after I had made my plate.  For dessert we had pumpkin pie, chocolate cake, and a version of peach cobbler.

We went to the LMS church's Christmas Eve service.  It was almost 2.5 hours long.  There was a sermon in Samoan and then youth performances.  I had three students on stage that I could see.  The kids sang songs, performed skits, and danced.  One of the songs the students sang was the same song that I sang for the Christmas choir.  It was neat to be able to sing along with them.  As the service ended I was walking towards the doors when another of my students stop me and asked in a playful surprised way, "what are you doing here?"  All my students came up to me after wards for a hug and to wish me a Merry Christmas.

(Inside the LMS Church)

Since Sara had left for New Zealand the previous day I decided to stay the night with Amber.  i didn't want to be alone on Christmas morning.  We staying up until midnight tracking Santa (using the NORAD tracker) and waiting to see him visit American Samoa on the map.  However, he did not come here!  He went to Johnstone Atoll and then back to the North Pole.  I guess all of my students were too naughty for Santa.

Christmas Day
Christmas day didn't appear to be a big deal around here because families see each other and have huge meals together every Sunday.  I woke up to the neighbor mowing the yard and doing yard work!  Really?  Who mows the yard on Christmas?  I opened some presents sent from home and then relaxed the rest of the day.  AKA, I went back to sleep because it was too hot to do anything else.  I was able to talk to everyone back home for about 2 hours.  That was the best part of the day.

It was a different feeling Christmas.  The heat index was 99 degrees with full sun, still air, and a UV index of 10.  It felt like July 4 not December 25.  So after laying around and relaxing all day Amber and I were invited to dinner with some other palagis (white people) on the island.  We went over to the house of a previous WorldTeach field director and some contract teachers from the states.

Of course we ate another huge meal; turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, more stuffing, cranberry sauce, umu, and potato salad.  We completed the night by riding around looking at Christmas lights and singing carols in the back of a pick-up truck.  Most of the extravagant lights were on churches!

 (Leone Catholic Church)

 (A church in Iliili)

 (House in Nu'uuli)

 (In the back of a truck; Michael, Rachel, Jenn, Amber, and me)

 (A house in I think Kokoland)

 (Church in Kokoland)

(A house in Kokoland)

I am so lucky.  Christmas was spent away from family, 1/2 my friends here were off island traveling, but the community made sure that I was around people and fed for Christmas.  i was able to experience a Samoan Christmas Eve dinner (which is a lot like family dinners at home) and an American Christmas dinner.  I felt like I had a special Christmas, but I don't want to be away for it again.