Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Samoan Drivers Licence
We have been here a couple of months now and all this time I have been driving illegally! It’s amazing what you get away with as a palagi. Anyway today I was starting work late so I decided it was about time I got a Samoan drivers licence. Adam already has his and so I knew to leave plenty of time and to take my NZ licence and WST$100 with me (in cash as there is no eftPos). As Adam had the car (and as I’m not meant to be driving anyway – yeah right!!) I walked up to the licencing place. The walk started off nicely. Lovely day, sun was shining and the sea sparkling but of course I forgot about the heat of the sun beating down. By the time I got to the top of the hill and to the licencing place I was hot and bothered and trying not to look sweaty!! Anyway I found there were at least 9 other people waiting……. Adam had warned me that things may take time so I joined the mob and waited too. The thing was it seemed to be the norm for people (the workers?) to come in and out of doors past us all without saying a word and to disappear behind a closed door never to be seen again. I had no idea what was going on but figured all I could do was wait. There was another man in the queue getting slowly more and more frustrated. He spoke to me in English so I asked him how long he had been waiting and he said 1 ½ hours!!! Just to get a licence!!! Well I figured it was now or never so I waited some more. While waiting I had to amuse myself somehow so I took to examining the jandalled feet of the others around me. They have all colours of jandalls here, sell them in the supermarket, and quiet a lot of people co-ordinate their jandall colour with what they are wearing. Interesting right? Well it sure is when you have nothing better to do than look at peoples feet! Eventually a guy came and sat himself down at the licencing office desk. The agitated man let himself in first and anyway I thought I would wait for the stampede to die down. It pays to be a white palagi female though as it wasn’t long before I was ushered to the front of the queue and told to take a seat in the air conditioned office. When I finally got served the Samoan behind the desk was talking to me about living in Wellington and the Cake Tin! Oh he also thought the train service was pretty good. Eventually he finished filling out the application forms (they seem to do these things for you here) and he remembered doing Adams licence so he looked him up and copied the address etc. I was then sent through to IT to have my licence created. Only a few minutes longer I’m pleased to say and my photo was taken, I signed an electronic pad and a plastic card was produced from a very high tech space aged looking machine (well anything whizzy like that stands out over here). 1 hour all up. Well this is Samoa!!
Palagi Pants and Palagi Pace
Correct me if I’m wrong but am I the only person who wears knickers in this country?!!!!!!!!!! I ask this question as my washing line seems to be the only one with knickers hanging on it in nice neat rows!! I now have a complex about this so have taken to hiding the hanging up of my knickers in between long towels and sheets so that no one can see them!! Just a thought to ponder, is it only palagi’s who wear pants?
Also, I have discovered there is palagi and then there is samoan pace for doing things. Samoan pace is s..l..o..w (you can’t rush things) and palagi pace (especially mine) goes 1,2,1,2,1,2. I recently had to send one of the library staff downtown to pick up some things which I needed before heading into a meeting. I had to instruct her to go at palagi pace otherwise I would have seen her 2 hours later!! No one walks around in a rush here and all tasks are done slowly and methodically (but done well ;-)) I will now understand the samoan people better when I see them in NZ.
Also, I have discovered there is palagi and then there is samoan pace for doing things. Samoan pace is s..l..o..w (you can’t rush things) and palagi pace (especially mine) goes 1,2,1,2,1,2. I recently had to send one of the library staff downtown to pick up some things which I needed before heading into a meeting. I had to instruct her to go at palagi pace otherwise I would have seen her 2 hours later!! No one walks around in a rush here and all tasks are done slowly and methodically (but done well ;-)) I will now understand the samoan people better when I see them in NZ.
Library News July 2008
On a work front the maintenance boys have been back in the library this time to replace all our mosquito screens on the windows. This is something I am very pleased about as I sit here at 6.45pm at night not having to slap myself and flick the bugs off my desk. I have been managing to get some action around here as you can see. I will have to stop spending the non-existent budget soon though although I have had fun ordering book display stands and other necessary library items that I don’t know how they have done without. Adam and I also created several panels for the walls which are plywood covered in samoan fabric. They are going to brighten the place up if and when we manage to find a way to hang them up on the very stubborn concrete walls. We have tried drilling and hammering but nothing will work. Hopefully the maintenance boys will solve this problem tomorrow and find something to hang the panels up with. Maybe this is why the walls have been blank for so many years ………. Note to self, curb weird and wonderful ideas in the future!
We have just started the Second Semester at work. Today has been relatively quiet. The students must be easing themselves into study again. Last Friday we had a staff meeting to talk about what we needed to remember to do when serving people. We also did some training on the library system Athena. Having read the manual (as you do – or as I do) I discovered things that could be done that were not being used. We therefore started with Circulation and went through each part of it to make sure everyone knew what was there. There is a nifty feature that allows us to search for any part of a patron record so you can search for a first name if need be. Quite surprising that the past system I looked after couldn’t do this even though it cost hundreds of thousands of dollars!! I have discovered that no one is using the reserves functionality so am looking to put this into place especially considering we have only 1 copy of most books. It’s contacting the students when the book is in that will be the difficult thing as we can’t phone mobile numbers from our phone lines and they don’t generally have a land line or a postal address. Email it will have to be and I think we might have to introduce the writing of names on a whiteboard like I’ve seen done in Whanganui. Next step – buy a whiteboard!!! There is also a booking feature but I’m saving that one up for later. It might be useful for putting bookings on DVD titles for lecturers. I discovered a barcode scanner in a drawer and plugged it in. Much to my surprise it worked – just like that – so hopefully that will cut down on the number of mistyped barcodes at the desk. We are going to have to enroll our patrons properly and put in more info about them than just their ID and name (which does not help with contacting them!) One of the other things that was news to the library staff was that you could put a message on a patrons name that could pop up at circulation. This is certainly going to help keep track of things if we put it into practice.
We are now closing at 7.00pm at nights. I wowed the campus manager with my spreadsheets and graphs of library usage in the evenings and convinced him that shutting an hour earlier was a good idea. As there are still just 2 of us covering the evenings and weekends this is a good thing. Hopefully this will mean that during study and exam time we only have to open til 8.00pm instead of 9.00pm which I personally found hard going. Soon we will have the place up to a standard I’m happy with (lol) and then we can begin to tackle new projects…….
Oh one thing I have to deal with here that I didn’t have to at home is sudden power outages!! Yes the power can go off without warning fairly regularly which then plunges us into darkness. The computers crash and the fans stop working so it fast gets hot. I have got a UPS plugged into the Library Server machine so at least that doesn’t have a hissy fit and we have time to shut it down normally. I also discovered another UPS in the cupboard (covered in dust and cobwebs I might add!) which I have plugged into my machine as it’s mighty annoying to lose what you are working on when the computer crashes. I’m the boss so no one else gets to be this lucky and have their own UPS!! I should put it out on the library counter really right? I’m just testing it to see if it’s working ;-)
We have just started the Second Semester at work. Today has been relatively quiet. The students must be easing themselves into study again. Last Friday we had a staff meeting to talk about what we needed to remember to do when serving people. We also did some training on the library system Athena. Having read the manual (as you do – or as I do) I discovered things that could be done that were not being used. We therefore started with Circulation and went through each part of it to make sure everyone knew what was there. There is a nifty feature that allows us to search for any part of a patron record so you can search for a first name if need be. Quite surprising that the past system I looked after couldn’t do this even though it cost hundreds of thousands of dollars!! I have discovered that no one is using the reserves functionality so am looking to put this into place especially considering we have only 1 copy of most books. It’s contacting the students when the book is in that will be the difficult thing as we can’t phone mobile numbers from our phone lines and they don’t generally have a land line or a postal address. Email it will have to be and I think we might have to introduce the writing of names on a whiteboard like I’ve seen done in Whanganui. Next step – buy a whiteboard!!! There is also a booking feature but I’m saving that one up for later. It might be useful for putting bookings on DVD titles for lecturers. I discovered a barcode scanner in a drawer and plugged it in. Much to my surprise it worked – just like that – so hopefully that will cut down on the number of mistyped barcodes at the desk. We are going to have to enroll our patrons properly and put in more info about them than just their ID and name (which does not help with contacting them!) One of the other things that was news to the library staff was that you could put a message on a patrons name that could pop up at circulation. This is certainly going to help keep track of things if we put it into practice.
We are now closing at 7.00pm at nights. I wowed the campus manager with my spreadsheets and graphs of library usage in the evenings and convinced him that shutting an hour earlier was a good idea. As there are still just 2 of us covering the evenings and weekends this is a good thing. Hopefully this will mean that during study and exam time we only have to open til 8.00pm instead of 9.00pm which I personally found hard going. Soon we will have the place up to a standard I’m happy with (lol) and then we can begin to tackle new projects…….
Oh one thing I have to deal with here that I didn’t have to at home is sudden power outages!! Yes the power can go off without warning fairly regularly which then plunges us into darkness. The computers crash and the fans stop working so it fast gets hot. I have got a UPS plugged into the Library Server machine so at least that doesn’t have a hissy fit and we have time to shut it down normally. I also discovered another UPS in the cupboard (covered in dust and cobwebs I might add!) which I have plugged into my machine as it’s mighty annoying to lose what you are working on when the computer crashes. I’m the boss so no one else gets to be this lucky and have their own UPS!! I should put it out on the library counter really right? I’m just testing it to see if it’s working ;-)
Netball, Netball, a bit of Mountain Biking a Party and all the rest ….
Just adding a post script to the post script below …. So did you see the bit about getting up to 40kms an hour!!!!!!!!!! Only the hard core break spokes by the way and what Adam doesn’t know is that I was hoping and preying (must have been in Samoa too long!) and muttering “Oh My God” under my breath as it was a pretty fast descent but I figured jamming on my breaks on a gravel road at this speed would probably not be a good thing. Thankfully I made it to the bottom with only broken spokes and no grazes to the knees!! Next time Mum I’ll go a little slower I promise.
Anyway Netball, Netball, Netball seems to be about all we are doing these days so apologies for the lack of white sand beach and blue sparkling water stories to tell. The netball season has now started and so we are at training twice a week and play on a Saturday. By the time we work around Adam’s game, my game and when I have to umpire there is not a lot of Saturday left. Speaking of umpiring, little white palagi legs starred on Samoan TV3 this week during the Shield match!! Think I did an OK job (still trying to upload a video to YouTube so watch this space. Most worrying of all is that this weekend we will be playing and I suspect we are going to get beaten. How embarrassing. Of course Sunday is spent catching up on the “house work” and preparing for the next week of work so we do little more than eat, sleep, work and play netball at the moment! Situation normal right?
Mind you this said we did manage a Pina Colada on our deck in the 29 degree heat as the sun set on Sunday afternoon this week. Even managed 40 winks in the lounger chair …………………. Hmmmmmmmmmmm. Us old farts get worn out by the lifestyle mentioned above!! Now the highlight of the past weekend for Samoa was that Condoleezza Rice, the American Secretary of State, was visiting. She was here for…… wait for it ……. All of 3 hours! We know someone who works at Aggies at the airport who had been told to cut his hair as it didn’t look very traditional Samoan. This was just for Condoleezza’s visit. I hope she noticed. I saw on the news though that she did a bit of shopping while in NZ so good on her.
Adam has reminded me to mention that we have averted the Jack Daniels crisis!! Yes the 2 bottles we brought in duty free ran out and the bottle store (THE bottle store as in the only one in town) had run out too so it has been a dry week or so. Never fear though as we now have a 1.75lt bottle to keep us going until Latika and Hedley arrive in September (I’ve put in an order for some more!)
Well it was a bit of a weekend of losses wasn’t it? First the AB’s on our Friday night. Many jokes were made at the party we had at work on Friday night as to whether I’d still be talking to my Australian friend on Monday morning – she is actually not that interested in the rugby so I got off lightly there. Speaking of the party – it was a leaving do for 2 of the senior lecturers. The culture around contributing to these sorts of things has blown me away. A list came around where we could all “pledge” how much money we were going to give to the party fund. Not wanting to look miserable I dutifully followed the lead of the other senior staff who had gone before me on the list. This meant contributing WST$50.00. The party was held outside where tables and chairs were set up. A massive cake was delivered (chocolate mud cake – very delicious). There was Vailima beer provided and red wine neither of which I drink so I stuck to the soft drink. Lots of lovely food, chicken, pork, palusami, taro, breadfruit, salad etc all cooked in the umu. Anyway not wishing to outstay my welcome we left at about 7.00pm. Low and behold I get to work today and an email is sent out to all staff with a spreadsheet outlining what everyone contributed (yes we were named) and a breakdown of the budget that was spent. Of course this then erupted into an argument over who’s contributions were left off and how the totals were added up wrong and how the balance was “demanded” to be deposited into the Senior Staff Social Group fund immediately!!! Well firstly I was astounded that everyone now knows how much I contributed and secondly that there would be an argument over the totals!! I then actually found out that some of the “boys” were still there drinking at midnight (long after the guests of honor left) and that the extra money not accounted for had been spent on more beer and CIGARETTES for them!!! Well oh well next time we will have to get our money’s worth right?
Anyway back to the losses, so first the AB’s, then Adam and I both lost our netball games (very depressing), the NZ Women’s 7’s team lost to the Aussies in the qualifying tournament for next year’s world cup and the Magic lost to the Swifts so not a good weekend all round for sport. Actually we weren’t even sure if the rugby was going to be shown on the TV as they started a movie 45 minutes before the game was due to kick off but in true Samoan style, the movie was cut off in it’s prime just in time for the game! (It resumed after the rugby of course).
We have been up to the new and improved supermarket on the corner of our street to look for Tim Tams! 1 packet polished off now. Sad to say though they are not like at home. These ones were made in Indonesia. They are thin and small in comparison and of course the chocolate does not taste the same but hey some chocolate is better than none right? I miss the double chocolate coated ones in the blue packet. This supermarket will be very handy when I’m having a Tim Tam crisis in the future.
I’m trying to grow some Frangipani. According to my trusty friend Mr Google you cut a piece off an existing tree (the ones by work sufficed here) and then starve it for a week. When I broke bits off it leaked a sticky milky stuff which I wasn’t expecting. I had to swiftly find something in my bag to wrap them in, all the while trying not to look dodgy hanging around on the street corner and breaking bits off people’s trees! I put these bits of stick on the table on the deck for a week until they looked suitably shriveled up. They are now planted in yogurt pots with Samoan dirt and a bit of water. Well this is supposed to be the recipe so I’ll let you know how they get on. Hopefully lovely fragrant and beautifully coloured Frangipani next time you visit ;-)
Anyway Netball, Netball, Netball seems to be about all we are doing these days so apologies for the lack of white sand beach and blue sparkling water stories to tell. The netball season has now started and so we are at training twice a week and play on a Saturday. By the time we work around Adam’s game, my game and when I have to umpire there is not a lot of Saturday left. Speaking of umpiring, little white palagi legs starred on Samoan TV3 this week during the Shield match!! Think I did an OK job (still trying to upload a video to YouTube so watch this space. Most worrying of all is that this weekend we will be playing and I suspect we are going to get beaten. How embarrassing. Of course Sunday is spent catching up on the “house work” and preparing for the next week of work so we do little more than eat, sleep, work and play netball at the moment! Situation normal right?
Mind you this said we did manage a Pina Colada on our deck in the 29 degree heat as the sun set on Sunday afternoon this week. Even managed 40 winks in the lounger chair …………………. Hmmmmmmmmmmm. Us old farts get worn out by the lifestyle mentioned above!! Now the highlight of the past weekend for Samoa was that Condoleezza Rice, the American Secretary of State, was visiting. She was here for…… wait for it ……. All of 3 hours! We know someone who works at Aggies at the airport who had been told to cut his hair as it didn’t look very traditional Samoan. This was just for Condoleezza’s visit. I hope she noticed. I saw on the news though that she did a bit of shopping while in NZ so good on her.
Adam has reminded me to mention that we have averted the Jack Daniels crisis!! Yes the 2 bottles we brought in duty free ran out and the bottle store (THE bottle store as in the only one in town) had run out too so it has been a dry week or so. Never fear though as we now have a 1.75lt bottle to keep us going until Latika and Hedley arrive in September (I’ve put in an order for some more!)
Well it was a bit of a weekend of losses wasn’t it? First the AB’s on our Friday night. Many jokes were made at the party we had at work on Friday night as to whether I’d still be talking to my Australian friend on Monday morning – she is actually not that interested in the rugby so I got off lightly there. Speaking of the party – it was a leaving do for 2 of the senior lecturers. The culture around contributing to these sorts of things has blown me away. A list came around where we could all “pledge” how much money we were going to give to the party fund. Not wanting to look miserable I dutifully followed the lead of the other senior staff who had gone before me on the list. This meant contributing WST$50.00. The party was held outside where tables and chairs were set up. A massive cake was delivered (chocolate mud cake – very delicious). There was Vailima beer provided and red wine neither of which I drink so I stuck to the soft drink. Lots of lovely food, chicken, pork, palusami, taro, breadfruit, salad etc all cooked in the umu. Anyway not wishing to outstay my welcome we left at about 7.00pm. Low and behold I get to work today and an email is sent out to all staff with a spreadsheet outlining what everyone contributed (yes we were named) and a breakdown of the budget that was spent. Of course this then erupted into an argument over who’s contributions were left off and how the totals were added up wrong and how the balance was “demanded” to be deposited into the Senior Staff Social Group fund immediately!!! Well firstly I was astounded that everyone now knows how much I contributed and secondly that there would be an argument over the totals!! I then actually found out that some of the “boys” were still there drinking at midnight (long after the guests of honor left) and that the extra money not accounted for had been spent on more beer and CIGARETTES for them!!! Well oh well next time we will have to get our money’s worth right?
Anyway back to the losses, so first the AB’s, then Adam and I both lost our netball games (very depressing), the NZ Women’s 7’s team lost to the Aussies in the qualifying tournament for next year’s world cup and the Magic lost to the Swifts so not a good weekend all round for sport. Actually we weren’t even sure if the rugby was going to be shown on the TV as they started a movie 45 minutes before the game was due to kick off but in true Samoan style, the movie was cut off in it’s prime just in time for the game! (It resumed after the rugby of course).
We have been up to the new and improved supermarket on the corner of our street to look for Tim Tams! 1 packet polished off now. Sad to say though they are not like at home. These ones were made in Indonesia. They are thin and small in comparison and of course the chocolate does not taste the same but hey some chocolate is better than none right? I miss the double chocolate coated ones in the blue packet. This supermarket will be very handy when I’m having a Tim Tam crisis in the future.
I’m trying to grow some Frangipani. According to my trusty friend Mr Google you cut a piece off an existing tree (the ones by work sufficed here) and then starve it for a week. When I broke bits off it leaked a sticky milky stuff which I wasn’t expecting. I had to swiftly find something in my bag to wrap them in, all the while trying not to look dodgy hanging around on the street corner and breaking bits off people’s trees! I put these bits of stick on the table on the deck for a week until they looked suitably shriveled up. They are now planted in yogurt pots with Samoan dirt and a bit of water. Well this is supposed to be the recipe so I’ll let you know how they get on. Hopefully lovely fragrant and beautifully coloured Frangipani next time you visit ;-)
Friday, July 25, 2008
Netball Shield Match Article
Hi All
Check out Flickr for a copy of a letter that was written to the editor of the paper here. Last weekend we started our outdoor Netball season. Apparently SMOGA are the current holders of a Shield therefore every time they play it's a Shield match. Shield matches are shown on TV3 here!!!!! Lots of exclamation marks as next weekend my team will be playing SMOGA (and yes we will be on TV!!!!!) Anyway just thought you might like to read about he fist-i-cuffs during the first game. Since the article I have heard that the GA got severely annoyed (obviously) with the GK who was mouthing off at her for the whole game and contacting. This was not controlled by the umpires (the umpires have a lot to answer for) so she eventually took matters into her own hands. Hopefully we will not end up in the paper after our game. Oh and I might even be having to umpire the Shield match this weekend so I will be sure to watch out for any contacting and mouthing off!!!!!!!!!!
Check out Flickr for a copy of a letter that was written to the editor of the paper here. Last weekend we started our outdoor Netball season. Apparently SMOGA are the current holders of a Shield therefore every time they play it's a Shield match. Shield matches are shown on TV3 here!!!!! Lots of exclamation marks as next weekend my team will be playing SMOGA (and yes we will be on TV!!!!!) Anyway just thought you might like to read about he fist-i-cuffs during the first game. Since the article I have heard that the GA got severely annoyed (obviously) with the GK who was mouthing off at her for the whole game and contacting. This was not controlled by the umpires (the umpires have a lot to answer for) so she eventually took matters into her own hands. Hopefully we will not end up in the paper after our game. Oh and I might even be having to umpire the Shield match this weekend so I will be sure to watch out for any contacting and mouthing off!!!!!!!!!!
Road Switch
Many of you will be aware that Samoa is in the process of changing the side of the road that we drive on. Currently we drive on the right side of the road - the opposite of NZ – and most vehicles are left hand drive. Just before we moved over here the government announced that they would be changing over and now allow the import of right hand drive vehicles. That is why we brought our car with us. There is still a lot of resistance to this idea and all through this process no one has ever said when the change over is actually going to happen. Well, this week they finally announced that September 6, 2009 will be the big day and there will be public holidays for the following 2 days to help with the transition. So it looks like we will be getting an extra 2 days off next September!
Papaseea Sliding Rocks - Postscript
There is a little bit more to our trip to the sliding rocks that Angela didn’t mention - that is the trip home.
After riding the 7 or so kilometres uphill for our swim we of course had a nice long downhill ride home to look forward to. The first 2 kilometres is unsealed road, which is quite steep in some places and can be a bit rough. Anyway, Angela seemed to be enjoying the descent, or maybe she had forgotten how to use the brakes. I was following her and was impressed to see her reach 40 km/h without screaming! Next thing it looked like she hit a pothole or a rock and there was a bit of a bang and finally she came to a stop with a strange rubbing noise coming from the back of her bike. Usually this is caused by her mudguard (yes, she insists on having mudguards on her bike!) having been shaken out of position and rubbing on the tyre, at worst I thought it might have been a buckled wheel. On closer inspection we found that not only was the wheel badly buckled, but that she had managed to break 2 spokes. So, after bending the broken spokes out of the way we continued on our way home, at a much slower pace.
Before we came to Samoa I stocked up on spare parts for the bikes – puncture repair kits, spare tubes, chains, oil, grease etc, but I didn’t think I would be needing to rebuild a wheel. I have never had to do this before, so I thought it might be best to find someone who knows what they are doing to do it for me. There aren’t many (any?) bike shops in Apia, but I did find a sports shop that have some bike parts and can do some repairs, but they couldn’t fix the wheel. They did give me the number of someone with their own workshop that might be able to do it, but so far I haven’t been able to get hold of him. I have had a look at my big book of mountain bike maintenance, and it makes it sound quite simple. So, maybe I will have to get some spokes sent over from NZ and have a go myself. In the meantime there will be no more mountain bike adventures.
After riding the 7 or so kilometres uphill for our swim we of course had a nice long downhill ride home to look forward to. The first 2 kilometres is unsealed road, which is quite steep in some places and can be a bit rough. Anyway, Angela seemed to be enjoying the descent, or maybe she had forgotten how to use the brakes. I was following her and was impressed to see her reach 40 km/h without screaming! Next thing it looked like she hit a pothole or a rock and there was a bit of a bang and finally she came to a stop with a strange rubbing noise coming from the back of her bike. Usually this is caused by her mudguard (yes, she insists on having mudguards on her bike!) having been shaken out of position and rubbing on the tyre, at worst I thought it might have been a buckled wheel. On closer inspection we found that not only was the wheel badly buckled, but that she had managed to break 2 spokes. So, after bending the broken spokes out of the way we continued on our way home, at a much slower pace.
Before we came to Samoa I stocked up on spare parts for the bikes – puncture repair kits, spare tubes, chains, oil, grease etc, but I didn’t think I would be needing to rebuild a wheel. I have never had to do this before, so I thought it might be best to find someone who knows what they are doing to do it for me. There aren’t many (any?) bike shops in Apia, but I did find a sports shop that have some bike parts and can do some repairs, but they couldn’t fix the wheel. They did give me the number of someone with their own workshop that might be able to do it, but so far I haven’t been able to get hold of him. I have had a look at my big book of mountain bike maintenance, and it makes it sound quite simple. So, maybe I will have to get some spokes sent over from NZ and have a go myself. In the meantime there will be no more mountain bike adventures.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Papaseea Sliding Rocks
This weekend we decided to ride our mountain bikes up the hill (yes I know - must be super mad) to find the Papaseea Sliding rocks. This was only 7 ish kms from home (only I said). The journey up was painful as you can imagine. Was huffing and puffing like a steam train. When I just about thought it was going to finish me off (I was pushing the bike by this stage or correction Adam was pushing mine and his!) we reached the spot of the Sliding Rocks. What a beautiful place. We duly paid our WST$2 each (about a dollar each) got changed into our togs and headed down the 130 steps (what goes down must come UP) to the river. Bumped into someone we knew from netball and were talking to some German tourists. The water was FREEZING!!! He he must be acclimatised now. Refreshing though after that hot and sweaty ride up hill. Best thing is we have now found a close by lovely place to swim that doesn't cost much. Our peace was eventually shattered by about 8 boys who came yahooing up stream but then entertained us no end with their kamakaze antics on the sliding rocks. Head first, feet first, standing up. You name it they did it. Oh the rocks slide by the way as they are growing green slimy stuff. This is not good for your togs so recommendation is that you wear black!
Turtles and Swimming
It was so hot 2 weekends ago that we had to go exploring to find a place to swim. We went back towards the airport and stopped at a place called Malua (where we met someone called Fua - Fua from Malua!!) There is a pond here where they have lots and lots of turtles. I have finally managed to upload a photo of a turtle for you! We watched them feed the turtles cucumber and taro leaves and also went for a swim across the road and out to sea. Adam complained the whole time that the water level did not get above his knees!! It seems to go out for a way pretty shallow and flat which is good for the locals reef fishing but not so good for swimming. Anyway we managed to duck down and get wet. The water was swirling with warm and cold patches. Also seems that a palagi girl dressed in togs is cause for yahooing in this country. I was minding my own business wading out to sea when a truck load of boys decided to yell something out to me and wave furiously! Of course I waved back '-)
Musings
I've put some more pictures up on Flickr and you will see these show you how to deal with a dead palm tree - Samoan style (I thought the next door neighbours house was burning down!!)
I also have a picture of a fruit bowl full of Samoan fruit. There is a spikey thing - Adam says he knows this as custard apple and he kids me it tastes like icecream!! Bit of a weird sensation eating that but I did taste a bit. Lemons are interesting here. They are green! I thought they weren't ripe yet but the only yellow ones were on the ground rotting. I was swiftly advised that green is the colour of lemons here so green it is. They still taste just as good in the Jack Daniels with Coke and ice! There are plenty of papaya and mangos. We are watching the mango trees bear fruit that is starting to ripen. There is going to be huge amount of mango in the market soon. Adam says we might get sick of it - not sure about this. My hate of bananas is starting to change. I'm enjoying the small and sweet bananas we seem to get here so they are becoming part of my daily intake of fruit.
Apologies for the order of the photos on Flickr by the way. I don't have a lot of control here. Only way seems to be to email photos up there 1 by 1 so I suppose it depends on which order Flickr receives them. Oh well some are better than none right?
I also have a picture of a fruit bowl full of Samoan fruit. There is a spikey thing - Adam says he knows this as custard apple and he kids me it tastes like icecream!! Bit of a weird sensation eating that but I did taste a bit. Lemons are interesting here. They are green! I thought they weren't ripe yet but the only yellow ones were on the ground rotting. I was swiftly advised that green is the colour of lemons here so green it is. They still taste just as good in the Jack Daniels with Coke and ice! There are plenty of papaya and mangos. We are watching the mango trees bear fruit that is starting to ripen. There is going to be huge amount of mango in the market soon. Adam says we might get sick of it - not sure about this. My hate of bananas is starting to change. I'm enjoying the small and sweet bananas we seem to get here so they are becoming part of my daily intake of fruit.
Apologies for the order of the photos on Flickr by the way. I don't have a lot of control here. Only way seems to be to email photos up there 1 by 1 so I suppose it depends on which order Flickr receives them. Oh well some are better than none right?
The Library
Hi all. Time for a bit of an update on what’s been going on at work I suppose considering I’ve now been here going on 8 weeks.
Well I started off slowly, had to cringe, ignore and bite my tongue over the cleanliness of the place but slowly we are getting there! As it happens the other ladies in the library are also keen for a clean place so now I’ve shown the cleaner the way, we are on to it! We have a male cleaner here so needless to say he doesn’t go near the toilet unless pushed – firmly! Seems we have also lost our full time cleaner so not sure what happened there.
I have tried really hard not to be cyclone Angela!! There has been a bit to catch up on and get my head around. I begun by trying to figure out what small amount is left in my very small library budget. A series of spreadsheets later and I think I have a grip on the situation but want a bet there are hidden things I don’t know about. Things seem to work pretty successfully in a manual way round here. Things get paid for by raising a cheque and the ladies in Accounts are very efficient about producing cheques, on their electronic typewriter.
Once I had the budget “under control” next step was to start to spend what is left! I managed to learn who the appropriate lecturing staff were, that I needed to be in contact with and I circulated 6 months worth of publishers catalogues to them (once I finished opening 6 months worth of mail!) I think they were very happy to have someone finally here to buy them new stuff as I have had quite a good response! Actually I’ve enjoyed doing acquisitions but I’m still learning as it’s a long time since I last did the purchasing for a library. I am also slowly learning about what areas we need to purchase in. Seems to be crops, agriculture, irrigation, soil, engineering, pests, cows, chickens etc etc.
I also had to allocate a part of the budget to “operating expenses”. So far we have managed to get some wooden chairs in the library recovered to replace the ripped orange seat covers with half their foam missing. We now have chocolate brown. Very nice! We have purchased a guillotine so we can chop up spine labels easily and straight! We also have a new heavy duty stapler which the students are going to love in the new semester. I am thinking about a laminator. The library used to have one but it broke. It would be good to make some new shelf signs and notices for the place and laminating them would help them last.
The main impact I have managed to have so far is the remodelling of the library counter!! It’s the semester break so the best time for making a mess – well that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it! Last week we had the maintenance guys in here banging and crashing and breaking down the barricade! Luckily for me the previous librarian also mentioned how bad the desk was so it wasn’t too hard to get something done about it. We now have a nice gate and way out from behind the counter so we can help the students easier i.e we can get out from behind the barricade! We took a higher part of the desk away so now it’s low and flat and open. Very welcoming. We are all liking it. Along with this I managed to get a flat screen monitor out of IT instead of the huge heavy one we had before so that we can easily turn the screen around when we are searching for things for the students. See Flickr for some pictures of the new counter.
We have a new DVD collection that arrived in a box from Fiji. Very nice of them to send these to us. They have been a great hit especially during the holiday break. My next job is to try and get a TV and DVD player for the library (and the campus) so that the students and lecturers without laptops can make use of the collection. In conjunction with this we have an ancient but valuable collection of video tapes that are in all manner of conditions. Hit rate does not seem to be very good for cleaning and converting these to DVD so sadly we might be losing some very good titles.
Have been doing some work on the library system – Athena. This seems to be a very stable and adequate system. Very basic but does what we want for now. There is no acquisitions module so orders are made separately in an Access database. Means no one knows what we have on order which is a shame. I have tweaked up some item types that control the issue periods and now need to do some global changes. Am working on exporting data out of the system, fixing it up and importing it back in. Not sure if I will be successful with this! There are rumours we might be moving to Koha here, the NZ developed open source software for library management, so watch this space.
So next tasks before the semester break is over is to brighten the place up a bit before the new students start. I have some ideas about covering boards with brightly coloured fabric or lavalava printed with frangipani or hibiscus etc and hanging these panels up on the wall. I think the locals think I’m nuts but hey I’m giving it a go. Am also going to work on the computers that are in the library and tidy them up a bit, make sure they are working correctly and make sure there is easy access to library resources oh and also remove everyone’s personal pictures that seem to end up as the desktop default! This might be a job that takes a while. The web site will also need updating and then there’s the web catalogue – you get the picture! Plenty of projects to work on.
The saving grace is that I have joined a few groups started by USP in Fiji to discuss Web 2.0 initiatives and have also been speaking to one of the librarians there about the use of Second Life in libraries and education. It’s a start – even though I can’t get in there myself at the moment! I am trying to keep up to date with things as best possible. I welcome any hints on what the next new technology for libraries is. The internet connection here sometimes stops me from being able to upload, download or even read my NetVibes page. Fridays are best as its Saturday in Fiji by then! Oh and also emails seem to disappear into the wild blue yonder of their own free will so if you don’t hear back from me it could be that it went poof!
Well it’s peaceful and quiet in the library today. No shhhhhhing required. One staff member on leave and another learning First Aid as she says – just in case I collapse one day then she can help me out!
Well I started off slowly, had to cringe, ignore and bite my tongue over the cleanliness of the place but slowly we are getting there! As it happens the other ladies in the library are also keen for a clean place so now I’ve shown the cleaner the way, we are on to it! We have a male cleaner here so needless to say he doesn’t go near the toilet unless pushed – firmly! Seems we have also lost our full time cleaner so not sure what happened there.
I have tried really hard not to be cyclone Angela!! There has been a bit to catch up on and get my head around. I begun by trying to figure out what small amount is left in my very small library budget. A series of spreadsheets later and I think I have a grip on the situation but want a bet there are hidden things I don’t know about. Things seem to work pretty successfully in a manual way round here. Things get paid for by raising a cheque and the ladies in Accounts are very efficient about producing cheques, on their electronic typewriter.
Once I had the budget “under control” next step was to start to spend what is left! I managed to learn who the appropriate lecturing staff were, that I needed to be in contact with and I circulated 6 months worth of publishers catalogues to them (once I finished opening 6 months worth of mail!) I think they were very happy to have someone finally here to buy them new stuff as I have had quite a good response! Actually I’ve enjoyed doing acquisitions but I’m still learning as it’s a long time since I last did the purchasing for a library. I am also slowly learning about what areas we need to purchase in. Seems to be crops, agriculture, irrigation, soil, engineering, pests, cows, chickens etc etc.
I also had to allocate a part of the budget to “operating expenses”. So far we have managed to get some wooden chairs in the library recovered to replace the ripped orange seat covers with half their foam missing. We now have chocolate brown. Very nice! We have purchased a guillotine so we can chop up spine labels easily and straight! We also have a new heavy duty stapler which the students are going to love in the new semester. I am thinking about a laminator. The library used to have one but it broke. It would be good to make some new shelf signs and notices for the place and laminating them would help them last.
The main impact I have managed to have so far is the remodelling of the library counter!! It’s the semester break so the best time for making a mess – well that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it! Last week we had the maintenance guys in here banging and crashing and breaking down the barricade! Luckily for me the previous librarian also mentioned how bad the desk was so it wasn’t too hard to get something done about it. We now have a nice gate and way out from behind the counter so we can help the students easier i.e we can get out from behind the barricade! We took a higher part of the desk away so now it’s low and flat and open. Very welcoming. We are all liking it. Along with this I managed to get a flat screen monitor out of IT instead of the huge heavy one we had before so that we can easily turn the screen around when we are searching for things for the students. See Flickr for some pictures of the new counter.
We have a new DVD collection that arrived in a box from Fiji. Very nice of them to send these to us. They have been a great hit especially during the holiday break. My next job is to try and get a TV and DVD player for the library (and the campus) so that the students and lecturers without laptops can make use of the collection. In conjunction with this we have an ancient but valuable collection of video tapes that are in all manner of conditions. Hit rate does not seem to be very good for cleaning and converting these to DVD so sadly we might be losing some very good titles.
Have been doing some work on the library system – Athena. This seems to be a very stable and adequate system. Very basic but does what we want for now. There is no acquisitions module so orders are made separately in an Access database. Means no one knows what we have on order which is a shame. I have tweaked up some item types that control the issue periods and now need to do some global changes. Am working on exporting data out of the system, fixing it up and importing it back in. Not sure if I will be successful with this! There are rumours we might be moving to Koha here, the NZ developed open source software for library management, so watch this space.
So next tasks before the semester break is over is to brighten the place up a bit before the new students start. I have some ideas about covering boards with brightly coloured fabric or lavalava printed with frangipani or hibiscus etc and hanging these panels up on the wall. I think the locals think I’m nuts but hey I’m giving it a go. Am also going to work on the computers that are in the library and tidy them up a bit, make sure they are working correctly and make sure there is easy access to library resources oh and also remove everyone’s personal pictures that seem to end up as the desktop default! This might be a job that takes a while. The web site will also need updating and then there’s the web catalogue – you get the picture! Plenty of projects to work on.
The saving grace is that I have joined a few groups started by USP in Fiji to discuss Web 2.0 initiatives and have also been speaking to one of the librarians there about the use of Second Life in libraries and education. It’s a start – even though I can’t get in there myself at the moment! I am trying to keep up to date with things as best possible. I welcome any hints on what the next new technology for libraries is. The internet connection here sometimes stops me from being able to upload, download or even read my NetVibes page. Fridays are best as its Saturday in Fiji by then! Oh and also emails seem to disappear into the wild blue yonder of their own free will so if you don’t hear back from me it could be that it went poof!
Well it’s peaceful and quiet in the library today. No shhhhhhing required. One staff member on leave and another learning First Aid as she says – just in case I collapse one day then she can help me out!
Monday, July 7, 2008
A Matai in my Library
The other day the library attendant asked me if she could have a day off for family business. Little did I know that she was actually attending the ceremony to be bestowed with the title of Mimisa Lina! The next day her picture was in the paper (see Flickr). As it turns out one of her family members is Eroni Clarke, ex All Black player, and he too was being made a Matai for her village so was over to attend the ceremony. Lina tells me that her Matai title means High Chief. Each village over here have the Matai’s who look after all the people in the village. Lina explained to me that now she is a Matai she will be responsible for collecting money for the village and dishing it out to those in need as well as for faalavalava or gifts for weddings, funerals and other family occasions. Her position is a non speaking one but she must attend meetings and listen. I think this is really awesome and I have told her I am proud to be working with a Matai in the library. Congratulations Lina.
Beach Hopping
Last weekend we also decided to have a day out on Sunday beach hopping. We headed off back towards the airport, a road we hadn’t driven on in the daylight, and found some beautiful spots. I have posted some pictures on Flickr showing the Main West Coast Road (airport road) and some of the beaches we found around the Western end of the island. It was beautiful, beautiful, beautiful as you can see. Sparkling blue water and sun shining all day. I got a bit carried away with the beach, sea, sand with palm trees shots but everywhere we turned it was just so …. Beautiful. We stopped in at Aggie Grey’s hotel near the airport and found their water sports area. Nice little white sand beach there. From this spot we could also see the other islands of Samoa – Manono, Apolima and Savaii (in the distance). As we carried on around we passed where you go to catch the car ferry to Savaii. The further away from Apia you get the more friendly the locals become. Some of the villages are lovely and anyone walking along the road was sure to call out and wave to us. We passed through a place near to Faleaseela which was slightly inland and where we had to ford the stream to get through. What a beautiful spot though and they have fales there you can stay in so might be worth another visit some time. Safaatoa was picturesque. It’s not far from Paradise Beach and you can tell! I had to take a photo of the rugby jerseys drying in the sun at Savaia. No wonder all the clothes in this country look so worn and faded. That sun is pretty harsh.
Our final destination for the day was Matareva beach. We paid WST$10.00 to drive 3.5 kms down a bumpy dirt road to reach the beach. Stopped at some fales that were peaceful and quiet but was not too taken with the toilet facilities here I must say. Bit stinky and when I dared to open the door ………….. well enough said about that. The bushes nearby were looking mighty fetching! Anyway we decided to carry on a bit further down the road and found more fales and houses you can stay in overnight (another place to revisit maybe). The toilets here were much better in comparison! The sea looked very inviting so after a bit of lunch we decided to go in. Snorkelling was a bit much for me as there was quite a swell and a few waves (I need it calm!) This beach is quite close to the coral reef so the waves crash over and come pounding into the shore. Adam managed to do some snorkelling though while I mucked about looking at the coral and found a nice gentle little pool to have a swim in. I did manage to get myself sucked up by the backdraft at one stage though then picked up and dumped back on the rocks and coral which was just a little bit painful! No major injuries though. One of the locals warned us about the sharks and to stay one side of a rope in the water – yes just a rope, no net on there so not sure how that keeps the sharks out! It was yet again a beautiful spot. The mozzies drove us out as the sun set so we headed to Coconuts resort for a traditional dinner of fish with taro and breadfruit chips served on banana leaves. Very nice.
Our final destination for the day was Matareva beach. We paid WST$10.00 to drive 3.5 kms down a bumpy dirt road to reach the beach. Stopped at some fales that were peaceful and quiet but was not too taken with the toilet facilities here I must say. Bit stinky and when I dared to open the door ………….. well enough said about that. The bushes nearby were looking mighty fetching! Anyway we decided to carry on a bit further down the road and found more fales and houses you can stay in overnight (another place to revisit maybe). The toilets here were much better in comparison! The sea looked very inviting so after a bit of lunch we decided to go in. Snorkelling was a bit much for me as there was quite a swell and a few waves (I need it calm!) This beach is quite close to the coral reef so the waves crash over and come pounding into the shore. Adam managed to do some snorkelling though while I mucked about looking at the coral and found a nice gentle little pool to have a swim in. I did manage to get myself sucked up by the backdraft at one stage though then picked up and dumped back on the rocks and coral which was just a little bit painful! No major injuries though. One of the locals warned us about the sharks and to stay one side of a rope in the water – yes just a rope, no net on there so not sure how that keeps the sharks out! It was yet again a beautiful spot. The mozzies drove us out as the sun set so we headed to Coconuts resort for a traditional dinner of fish with taro and breadfruit chips served on banana leaves. Very nice.
Netball Tournament
Last weekend Adam and I both played in a netball tournament at Apia park. This was the grading round for the outdoor season that is about to start on the 19th July. We have 3 teams in our club, 2 girls and 1 men’s team (although that is debatable!) We are playing for Hyundai so our uniforms are blue and white! As it turns out Hyundai are the only club that have ex-pats, not that that bothered me but it was the first club I found. We have a nice mix of palagi and samoan people in the team/club. We have made some new friends which is great. I was a little disappointed with the uniform to be honest. Was hoping for some tropical design but alas no it’s pretty normal. I have put some pictures up on Flickr and one of them shows one of the men’s team outfits which is pretty snazzy with flowery shorts. I was hoping Adam would end up with something like this or something pink just to make his day! Some of the girls have actually managed to score ex-Samoa team dresses (from the World Champs etc) so they are looking pretty flash in those.
Anyway we turned up at 11.00am ready for our 5-6 games. The games were a bit spaced out throughout the day so we actually didn’t finish til about 7.00pm. By the time we either played or watched each other play though the day filled itself in nicely. Pretty knackering playing that many games in a day even if they were shorter than normal. We must be getting old! In the end the girls A team came 2nd and the boys 3rd. I have heard that we (girls) will probably be playing a shield match against one of the other teams who we bet during the tournament so who knows we may be able to take that off them. Shield matches might also be broadcast on TV so heck – better do my hair that day – famous in Samoa!!
So it was a pretty entertaining day. There were Fafa’s everywhere and boy are they full on. They take the game very seriously. They had us all in stitches with one of the games with their little comments to each other and the ref and also their pushing and shoving and the indignant facial expressions – “Who me?”! Bad news is that I have been roped into umpiring when the season gets started and I think it’s the Fafa’s I’m going to have to try and keep control of!! We have learnt a thing or 2 about the Fafa’s. Some are very feminine, limp wrists and all. Others are very ‘manly’ but with lovely complexions, makeup and flowers in their hair. Others just seem to be cross dressing – and that can be all wrong especially when the beer gut hangs out below the orange crop top with shoe string straps and lace! Seems though that none of that matters when there’s a game of netball to play and a ball to be got by whatever means – rucking if necessary! Limp wrists out the window then.
Anyway we turned up at 11.00am ready for our 5-6 games. The games were a bit spaced out throughout the day so we actually didn’t finish til about 7.00pm. By the time we either played or watched each other play though the day filled itself in nicely. Pretty knackering playing that many games in a day even if they were shorter than normal. We must be getting old! In the end the girls A team came 2nd and the boys 3rd. I have heard that we (girls) will probably be playing a shield match against one of the other teams who we bet during the tournament so who knows we may be able to take that off them. Shield matches might also be broadcast on TV so heck – better do my hair that day – famous in Samoa!!
So it was a pretty entertaining day. There were Fafa’s everywhere and boy are they full on. They take the game very seriously. They had us all in stitches with one of the games with their little comments to each other and the ref and also their pushing and shoving and the indignant facial expressions – “Who me?”! Bad news is that I have been roped into umpiring when the season gets started and I think it’s the Fafa’s I’m going to have to try and keep control of!! We have learnt a thing or 2 about the Fafa’s. Some are very feminine, limp wrists and all. Others are very ‘manly’ but with lovely complexions, makeup and flowers in their hair. Others just seem to be cross dressing – and that can be all wrong especially when the beer gut hangs out below the orange crop top with shoe string straps and lace! Seems though that none of that matters when there’s a game of netball to play and a ball to be got by whatever means – rucking if necessary! Limp wrists out the window then.
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