Liet

If you like to sleep more than be awake, eat raw meat, go from happy and cuddly to aggressive in less then a second, move your feet when you sleep, expect others to do things for you which you won’t do for them, sleep in more than 3 places in one day, need love and cuddles and are not afraid to ask for it, are curious about everything in the kitchen and on the table sometimes strut, sometimes slink, you know what it is to be Liet. Who has been on walk-about for over a week- but I’m imagining that she is out looking on the prowl since I haven’t taken her to be fixed yet. Kind of a bummer since there are lots of hungry dogs around and shes a nice girl.

Work

There are all kinds of non work activities that happen at work. One of the nice things about working is the fact that all kinds of stuff goes on that has nothing to do with my job. The fabric lady for example shows up on paydays- with hand printed fabric to show and sell, she brings her kids and brother and hangs in the office.

The dancer is the finance guy/girl and the guy on the

left is the big boss

Morning tea- maybe it is kind of work related but – the American 15 minute coffee break could learn a few things from a proper morning tea- toast, and butter and jam and avocado and peanut butter and the terrible vegemite, tea, coffee, milo (some sort of chocolate stuff) outdoors by the flower garden with anywhere form 15 to 45 people attending each morning. Bare feet and tile floors make slipping out of those confining flip flops so relaxing, the colorful cleaning lady who has the most stunning outfits and jewelry who is actual a boy (bellow on the drum)

fresh flowers by the urinal, the office cat, the fortnightly office bar- complete with mixed drinks and bartenders, songs sung by the entire staff when visitors leave. I really like the dentists office- in the same examination room there is all the normal stuff and a baby bassinet complete with a baby- the dental tec brings here new born to work and has her in the room all day, sometimes the secretary comes and holds her for a bit. Its really quite cute and practical- the baby is good, she doesn’t fuss too much. My seamstress – well you have to have one if you are going to by the fabric from the fabric lady- is a terrible flirt, I had her sow some curtains for me and she asked me about how many pillows I had on my bed, explaining that she like to have a lot and I might need to get some more and where to hang my curtains for best effect- you know color schemes and all – she almost makes me blush-

Jumping

Thinking

I’ve loved jumping off things ever since I learned how to climb. Early on I figured that jumping on to the ground- no matter how soft – isn’t all its cracked up to be – bending your wrist backward trying to land a big leap smarts. However, water is much more forgiving. Though it’s a bit deceiving sometimes- you can take a leap that would paralyze you if you hit something solid, into water with good confidence that you’ll survive – however, one of my most vivid memories is leaping off of gok rock on the Santa Ynez river after spending 10 minutes thinking “the water looks lower then when I was a kid – na you’re just getting old – jump, you climbed all the way up- its really not safe to climb down anyway—OK GO” and taking a big jump out (cuz there are rocks just below- and during the long fall I had time to see that, yes, the water was to low, and that slopping rock was only 2 or 3 feet under the water and OH SHIT – better bend my knees – bounce out of the water and swim away with smarting ankles and a smile.

Samoa has water jumps- Climbing the walls at the sua trench is a great example- when the rock gets flaky you can just fail/push out and end up in the water. Sliding rock has great slides but also has some good jumps. The ocean caves have good leaps and people to watch too.

The real trick is getting up the rock- here is a creative method- jump out of the water

Flap your arms

Pull your self back toward the rockPush the air away

And stick the landing!

Races

The sunsets from the water, the complaining- which I can tell is complaining from the tone of voice- in Samoan about the distance and pace, the way it feels when the whole team is in time together– woosh woosh splash hup ho, gliding past corals and turtles, my back, the dearth of dogs and mozzis, being on the water, hanging out all afternoon in the shade racing a few times and winning- make paddling a first-rate Samoan pastime – at least for this Palagi.

Yesterday we had another successful weekend in the 12 week business house regatta series – 6 races over 3 months- social team- which means the teams are nonprofessional and mixed gender.

notice no other boats are near?

















Winning by a boat length in a long race is one thing - but in a 250 meter race??

The engine room

The Breaks

Pumpkin Soup

Now that I’m not quite as sick I wanted some food- but not to go shopping- humm- I’ve got a pumpkin and some potatoes – sick people eat soup- I should have soup, kind of a stone soup- whatever is in the kitchen that’s not moldy goes in. My experiment included

A onion – browned with some garlic, ginger and a HOT little red pepper

Add 1 pumpkin, and a hand full of potatoes, some old tomatoes and some water, chicken bullion

Cook, blend

Toast the pumpkin seeds, chop parsley -Top - eat

Then get lots of water due to the fact that little pepper was freaking hot – I like hot and it is still hot- makes you sweat and want more at the same time

Sicko

Some days I wake up entirely content, excited by where I am, the sun is shining, a breeze is blowing, the day looks bright. Waking up alone, no family, in an empty house on a small island with a fever, after 11 hours of sweaty sleep, at 5am is not one of those days. The roosters are loud, the room is hot but I’m cold - even wearing my one sweater, uggh. Cooking sounds like a bad proposition but 2 days without food dives me to eat some Doritos© -bad idea. Tea and bananas are a better idea. My hypothesis was that 3 weeks of too much beer and too little sleep had caught up with me when I woke up with leg cramps at 3am Sunday morning, but then when other paddlers described similar symptoms I modified my theory to “something in the water”; regardless - all one can do is eat some bananas and sweat it out, and maybe hide from the Vailima for a day or two. Blah

Supplies

Food- In American Samoa it was a problem, a common complaint was the lack of local produce and meats- Samoa rocks in this regard, the selection isn’t as wide as more developed countries but what is here is good- or maybe I’m just used to it but .. the little supper hot peppers, sashimi grade tuna every day, ripe tomatoes, bok choy- its all good, local and cheap. My most happy surprises is that locals don’t seem to be to into filet mignon – which is a treat in the US cuz of the price tag- so the local filet is pretty cheap, fresh and tasty.

There a great curry making supplies and what you can’t buy (ie good bread) you can make do to the simple fact its an island and there is always plenty of time for that sort of thing.