The thoughts and opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not represent those of the WorldTeach organization.
March 30th (part two)
Jenn drove the car into Apia on Thursday. Saunoa’s friend, Sonny, owns a car rental dealership and was going to give us a good deal on a car. We sat and spoke to him for a bit. He also rents out a spare bedroom in a separate house on his property. Jenn and I were going to stay there for our last two nights while Mark and Monica were going to stay just for Thursday night. Since there are few, if any, street signs Sonny decided to drive us to the house. We went left, right, left, left, right, and so on until we finally reached his house. We decided that we would have some trouble finding this place again. After seeing the place and dropping our bags off, we headed off to Sliding Rock.
When we went to leave Sonny volunteered to drive in front and show us how to get there. As we were about half way there we realized we should probably pay attention to landmarks for directions. Sliding Rock consists of waterfalls where the fall is smooth enough that it can act like a natural waterslide. We were pretty nervous when we reached the waterfalls. The “slides” were a lot taller than any of us envisioned. There were some tourists from Germany that were just finishing up and were giving us advice on which slides to go on. It sounded like they were too chicken to try the big one. After much hesitation we went down some of the smaller fifteen foot waterfalls. Eventually I got tired of it and ventured off to the big one. I first check out the water below to make sure it was deep enough. I couldn’t touch the bottom so I figured that was good enough. When I went and sat down at the top the Germans were yelling at me that I shouldn’t do it. They were heading off to leave but then sat and watched me because they thought I would get hurt. Psha, I proved them wrong! It was a nice drop into the water. We did it a few more times until we headed back off to Sonny’s to shower.
The ride back to Sonny’s was interesting. Somehow we managed to make it and better yet, we didn’t make a single wrong turn!! There were doubts towards the end but somehow we made it. After showering, we headed out for dinner. We went to a nice Italian restaurant in the city. It wasn’t the best Italian I have ever had, but it was a restaurant so I enjoyed it. We were all exhausted that night and went to bed pretty early. The next day, Friday, Mark and Monica were going to head back to the east coast to see Rosa but first we all spent time at the market. I bought some artwork and a couple of bracelets and Jenn bought a few things.
After saying goodbye, Jenn and I decided to go explore the national park for the day. On a map it showed a 5 km hike to the coast so we decided to try it out. It ended up being a 5 km hike to the beginning of the trail to the coast. We ended up hiking about 12-13 km in total. It was a nice hike but very hot. I definitely didn’t bring enough water with me and was very happy when we made it back to the car. The trail along the coast showed us a beautiful coast line full of natural arches. It was definitely worth the hike. After our hike, we headed over to some waterfalls to cool off. After being alone for fifteen minutes we had some Samoan visitors that decided to swim with us. When the one guy took off his pants we decided it was time to go. We drove down the road a bit and turned off to see the black sand beach. After paying money we headed down a long windy road into the woods. It was a very fun drive for me! When we got to the end we found a half white half black sand beach all to ourselves. There water was nice and calm so I jumped right in. It was late in the day when we arrived so we didn’t stay long. We jumped in the car and drove the hour back to Sonny’s house. I was excited to cook something in our little kitchen that night but Jenn was craving pizza so we decided to go to a real pizza restaurant!!! The restaurant was lit by candles and was very relaxing. We ordered a barbeque chicken pizza and a nice big dessert to finish off our vacation.
On Saturday morning we woke up, went shopping again at the market, and headed to the car rental dealership. They agreed to drive us to the airport. At the airport we met up with two other volunteers. One traveled to Australia during the week and the other was hanging out on the eastern coast of Western Samoa’s main island of Upolu lying on the beach. Felicia is one of the volunteers over in Ofu so we both planned on catching the plane to Manu’a together on Sunday. Once we arrived back in Tutuila we needed to figure out where to stay the night. I called the girl Kelly who lives close to the airport but she was on the other side of the island. Felicia was exhausted and decided that we were going to stay at a hotel room. So she (her mom) bought us a hotel room for the night.
It was the same hotel Saunoa and I stayed in for the wedding. I took a nice bubble bath and relaxed in the air conditioning. Felicia was going out with her principal for dinner that night and I was going to relax in the hotel. A half an hour after Felicia left, I decided to head to CostULess to pick up a few more groceries before my flight the next day. When I walked into the lobby, her principal was standing there looking for her! He remembered me from my visit back in October and invited me to dinner with them. We finally found Felicia and then headed off to Sadie’s By the Sea for dinner. After dinner her principal wanted to stop at a bar and order us each a drink. The one drink turned into four for each of us girls. Her principal probably had about seven or eight cans of beer. He kept ordering me wine. I was completely tired of drinking after two glasses yet he kept buying me more. Then it got to the point where we weren’t going to leave until I finished drinking all my wine. When they finally weren’t looking I poured all of my wine into my water cup and they thought I drank everything. Oh for quick thinking. I was a little worried for our two minute drive home. Her principal had a lot to drink, but there was no way to get out him driving us. Luckily, we were safe and there were no other cars on the road. So much for my peaceful night alone!
The next morning I met Josh at the airport and we left on the 11 o’clock flight back to Manu’a. Before leaving I was told the midterm exams would be given on the day we returned. I was very stressed since I didn’t write a single exam. Luckily they made the exams on a Tuesday and I spent Sunday relaxing. I was up at school pretty late on Monday preparing for the midterms. I managed to write all the exams for Tuesday and decided I needed a break and went home. Throughout Tuesday I worked on writing the exams for Wednesday. After writing, I had a pile of grading to do. My week back was very busy. On Thursday we were supposed to have a visit from Olosega Elementary School. After the exams there was practice to prepare for our gathering. On Thursday night we were to have a music festival and on Friday we were to have Samoan Day. On Wednesday afternoon everything was canceled due to our gym not having electricity.
It was a bit of a bummer since we had been preparing all week for nothing. Thursday ended up being a field day of sorts filled with more Samoan Day practice and volleyball. Friday turned out to be a regular school day which was painful to get through.
The weekend was actually more eventful then I thought it to be which I will save for part three!!
Love,
Gretchen
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