The Palagi Perspective

USP Alafua 2011 Graduation

2011-12-22T17:11:00.004-10:00

Congratulations to all the Graduates of USP Alafua 2011.

Josie from the Public Library with her USP Certificate in Library and Information Studies.

The Graduates.

Adama and I in the Procession march.

The Library girls working as ushers.

New friend Sofia from Vanuatu.

USP Alafua Library inaugural Authors' Tea

2011-12-22T17:09:00.003-10:00

On the 14th December 2011 USP Alafua Library hosted an inaugural Authors’ Tea to celebrate research work published by Alafua staff in the last three years. In the presence of the USP Vice Chancellor, Professor Rajesh Chandra, six staff members presented their work, outlining the basics of their research. The event highlighted the various subject disciplines covered by staff and their contribution to the body of knowledge for topics of interest to the region and world. It is hoped this event will be the first of many annual Authors’ Teas, showcasing research taking place at USP Alaufa. The following list identifies the USP Alafua campus staff who have become Authors, often working in collaboration with others. This research can be accessed from the USP Alafua Campus Library:-

• Adama Ebenebe
o The cabbage webworm (Hellula undalis) on tickweed (Cleome viscosa) in Samoa
o Relative impacts of some insecticides on infestation and damage by leaf-eating caterpillars and on non-target arthropod diversity in head cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. capitata) crops in Samoa
o Exploring the source of corm rots affecting fresh taro exports from Fiji (Poster)

• Tolo Iosefa
o Improving taro production in the South Pacific through breeding and selection
o Linking Farmers, Genebanks and Networks for Genetic Enhancement of Taro
o The taro improvement programme in Samoa: sharing genetic resources through networking

• Angela Jowitt
o Surviving a tsunami : Dealing with disaster : Lessons from the Samoa tsunami 29.09.09 (Book)
o Learning from the victims: New physical and social science information about tsunamis from victims of the September 29, 2009 event in Samoa and American Samoa

• Jagdish Bhati and Sonny Lameta (edited by Ruby Vaa)
o Planning and management of agricultural projects : A manual

• Ioane Malaki & Tolo Iosefa
o Subsistence food security in the tsunami affected areas of Samoa

• Pradeep K Singh
o A case for prioritizing agriculture for development in Pacific Islands countries
o Development of agrientrepreneurship in Samoa : Opportunities and challenges
o Rural and agricultural credit in India and Gujarat
o Modernizing agricultural entrepreneurship in Samoa: A small island country in the Pacific region
o Managing Sustainable Development of Rural Economy through Integrated Planning of Farming Systems and Natural Resources

Apia has Fireworks c/o BlueSky SamoaTel

2011-12-22T17:05:00.002-10:00

Old man and his coconut

2011-12-22T17:02:00.002-10:00

He's a real Samoan this one. Loves coconut, papaya, taro, palusami and any Samoan food going!!

Waterfall Adventure

2011-12-22T13:56:00.002-10:00

The things I let myself get talked into! For the last year or so our Russian friend Slava (the crazy runner and unicyclist) has been wanted to walk to the Papapapaitai Waterfall. This is an impressive 100m high waterfall that you can see from Cross Island Road, but there is no track to the waterfall.

Anyway, he had managed to find where the river comes out down at the coast and had made one attempt to walk up the river to find the waterfall, but this had been unsuccessful. Apparently some of the group that accompanied him weren’t properly prepared for what they were tackling and they turned back.

This time he wanted to tackle it again, properly. No ‘sissies’ (his term!) and an earlier start, and he wanted to know if I was keen to join him. For some reason I said yes! Angela has already warned me that Slava must be a little bit crazy, but I thought it would be a good little adventure. As it turned out I was the only one foolish enough to join him this time round. So, we made an early start – the breakfast buffet at Aggie Grey’s at 6.30 to get fuelled up for our trek! We also helped ourselves to a few pastries, bananas, and fruit salad to take with us.

Our Goal - Papapapaitai Waterfall

Slava managed to find the way to the river no problem, so it was time to leave the car and start walking. He had warned me that there were no tracks and the only way to go was to follow the river, so I wasn’t surprised when he waded straight into the water. I quickly discovered that the river bed was made up of round, slippery boulders and finding a safe footing in the flowing water could be tricky. We seemed to be making good time – twice as fast as last time according to Slava – but it was hard work. After 2 hours we had a break, and some bananas and pastries! By this stage we had covered about 3.6 km, but figured that the waterfall must be at least 7km from where we started, maybe further, so it w as time to carry on.

The trek was awesome – some parts of the forest were very much like New Zealand with lots of ferns and moss. The temperature was not like NZ though and walking in the water helped to keep us a bit cooler. By this stage we were coming across some deeper pools which we had to swim across, but this was easier than scrambling over slippery rocks.

As we continued we could hear some serious thunder and sure enough it started to rain. We were already wet, so the rain didn’t really worry us. After more than 4 hours we were starting to reach the stage where we would have to turn back to avoid being stranded in the forest in the dark. We both were hoping that we would come around the next corner and see our waterfall, but each time we were disappointed. Eventually we came to a smaller waterfall that we couldn’t climb up. It did have a nice deep pool so we decided to jump in for a swim before heading back.

The trip back down the river was probably harder than heading up, and we were getting pretty tired. About 10 hours after setting out we finally got back to the car. It had been quite an adventure. Although we didn’t manage to get to our waterfall and we were worn out we had had a great day exploring places that very few people have ever been. Slava is keen to come back and try again – with ropes and more equipment next time. I will recover from this effort first before I agree to another of his crazy adventures!

Lunatics!

2011-12-22T13:47:00.003-10:00

So who knew there was a lunar eclipse the other week?

Our crazy Russian friend Slava told us about it and asked if we wanted to get up an watch it. We were planning to do the 5km fun run the next morning, so when he said that it would be at about 3.30 am we decided to give it a miss!

As it turned out we were woken up in the middle of the night by the dogs, and when we saw that it was about 4.00 am we decided to get up and check out the eclipse. The proof is in the photo below. Unfortunately just when the eclipse was at its best a few thin clouds blew in.

For the record, only one of us made it to the fun run the next day!

2011-12-22T13:34:00.002-10:00

This is a Manutagi or Crimson Crowned Fruit Dove, enjoying the red berries off our palm tree. Pity about the barbed wire in the photo!

New Church

2011-12-21T13:38:00.003-10:00

Pictures of the newest church in town - Our Lady of the Rosary. It is very big and impressive looking, but some people reckon the towers are on a lean!

High Tea in Vaigaga

2011-12-19T14:46:00.003-10:00

Inspired by our High Tea at Raffles earlier in the year Angela decided that she would have her own high tea here as a Xmas get together with a few friends.

In the weeks leading up to the high tea there was plenty of consulting recipe books and magazines to find suitable recipes (with ingredients that we can get here!) and slowly the menu started to come together – actually the menu got a bit out of control with dozens of suggestions on the list. Anyway, the day before the big event Angela hit the kitchen and I made trips back and forth to the supermarket for vital ingredients! She really cooked up a storm – good enough to rival Raffles!

Our high tea started with a champagne cocktail and fresh fruit platter, including pineapple from our garden, passion fruit curd tartlets and scones with guava jam and lemon curd.

The second round was custard squares, passion fruit tart and guava shortcake with ice-cream.

The final round was for the chocolate lovers - chocolate lamingtons, chocolate chip cookies and chocolate rum balls!

All of this was served with selections of teas that we brought back from Singapore – strawberry tea, French earl grey tea, rose and vanilla tea, with chocolate tea to finish.

This was a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

A truck full of Vailima!

2011-12-02T12:01:00.001-10:00

So we are driving to work today and turn up the road by the Vailima Brewery factory following a water truck. The truck indicates and turns into the Brewery gate.

My perspective is "Oh they are taking some water to the factory to brew the beer". Adam's perspective is "They are taking the water truck to the factory to fill it up with beer"!

And is the glass half full or half empty?????

Ready for eating!!

2011-11-23T12:41:00.002-10:00

The pineapples have turned yellow and when I tested pulling a leaf out of the top, it came away easily. I think this means they are ready to eat. Yippee! Just in time before we are away at Christmas. Time to plant those slips now too I guess so we can have more pineapples in a year's time. Yummy....

Telesa : The Covenant Keeper

2011-11-23T10:45:00.005-10:00

Last week Lani Wendt Young was here in Samoa to launch her new teeanage fantasy/romantic fiction novel Telesa : The Covenant Keeper. I have been reading this as my first ever e-book on my Galaxy Tab and I have to say it's ............ brilliant!! The story flows so well it's hard to pick a spot to put the book down. Hence a number of after midnight late nights recently. It's a magical, spiritual Samoan story weaving contemporary Samoan life with an old legend of the Telesa who were women with elemental powers of earth, air and sea. The love interest is Daniel, who is portrayed by Ezra Taylor one of the Manu players (and not at all based on Daniel Carter as Lani informs me!)

Anyway we were invited to two launch events. A pre-launch at Plantation House which was a small and personal affair where we were treated to a speach by Dr Emma Kruse Vaai, launch of a new jewellry range by Beau Rassmussen and delectable delights by Marita Wendt herself. On Thursday 17th November was the offical launch of the book at the Millennia hotel fale. This was a combination of speeches, multimedia interviews and live shows of song and dance. Great entertainment.

In the end though the most important thing is that this book is fantastic and is the first Young Adult fiction authored by a local Samoan Author. It is the first in a trilolgy and we now can't wait for the second part due out early next year. The e-book is very reasonably priced at US $5.99 and can be purchased here http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/82460 or http://www.amazon.com/Telesa-The-Covenant-Keeper-ebook/dp/B005I3WD8Q/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1315609616&sr=1-1

I recommend you all buy it and read it!

I spoke to a real live teenage boy who read the book in 24 hours, thought it was awesome (especially the powers - maybe not so much the mushy bits) so this is a great recommendation!!

Well done Lani.

Sunday To'onai

2011-11-16T12:27:00.003-10:00

Angela's prize for 'Most Committed' at the recent netball tournament was a Sunday Lunch (for 2) at the Orator Hotel. So, last weekend we got dressed up in our finest Samoan clothes and enjoyed our Samoan Sunday lunch. There were all the favourites - umu cooked pig, fish, taro, palusami and fresh oka (raw fish cocktail) along with more palagi style dishes - salads, pasta etc. All finished off with some chocolate cake and ice cream. Yummy!

This was the first time I had been to this hotel and I was impressed. The surroundings are very pleasant and the food and service were excellent. We had to have a bit of a laugh though - even in an upmarket hotel we were still served by a waitress in barefeet!

G'Day Samoa Fun Run

2011-11-16T12:00:00.002-10:00

This Saturday morning I managed to drag Angela out of bed to take part in the G’day Samoa Fun Run. As you might have guessed from the name, the event has been organised by the Australian High Commission.

Despite the heavy rain on Friday night there was a big turnout for the event. The local paper reported a crowd of 800, but I am not sure how reliable that number is. Anyway, there were heaps of kids doing the 3km route and plenty of familiar faces from netball and work tackling the 5km run.

They organised the event really well, there was crew taking us through a Zumba warmup before the run started. I think some people were there more for the Zumba than the run. I decided to save my energy for the run rather than embarrassing myself trying to Zumba. After the run there was a bit of food and some prizes handed out.

This is part of a healthy lifestyles programme and will be held every month until July 2012. They have promised an even bigger and better event next month, with the contestants from the Miss South Pacific Pageant attending.

LAS Fundraising Dinner

2011-11-16T11:55:00.003-10:00

The other night the Apia Community Group organised a fundraising dinner for the Library Association of Samoa at the APTC (Australia-Pacific Technical College) restaurant, Visions. This is a training restaurant that is staffed by the Polytech students of the tourism and hospitality courses. We have eaten there before and have been impressed by standard of the food and service delivered by the students.

This dinner was something a bit different for us – a Degustation Dinner. For those of you that don’t know (and yes, I had to look it up in the dictionary) degustation is that act of tasting or savouring.

In this case we were served 7 courses, each with a wine matched to the course. We were even given instructions on how best to enjoy the experience – thoroughly chew the food, then take a sip of wine just before you swallow. I am not sure if these instructions were followed at our table and I know that as the evening went on a few of the food-wine matchings were a bit mixed up by those that couldn’t keep pace or those that decided that they didn’t want a red with the next course and would just have another glass of the yummy Riesling!

Anyway, a good time was had by all and the food was great. Certainly a step up from our usual options for dinner out here in Apia. Once again the students did a wonderful job with preparation and service of the food and drinks.

As far as we can remember the menu was something like the list below, some of the details are a bit hazy, but For the wine buffs out there, sorry they didn’t give us any details of the wines, other than the variety and why it had been matched to that particular course.

Aperitif – Campari, sweet vermouth, gin and soda

Prawn mousse tarts with chilli and mango salsa

Oysters with sesame oil and lime - Sparkling Cuvee

Caramelised Onion Tart - Merlot

Reef Fish on rice noodles - Riesling

Chicken with mushrooms – Sauvignon Blanc

Chocolate fudge cake with Cabernet Sauvignon

Cheese platter and tawny port

Netball

2011-11-16T11:53:00.001-10:00

It has been a few posts since we mentioned netball, but last weekend there was a one-day tournament organized by the SCOPA netball club. It was a full on day of netball. We got down to the courts around 8.30 am and over the course of the day Angela played 9 games and umpired another 8. Meanwhile I manned the BBQ where we sold about 300 sausages throughout the day.

For the record the Hyundai team came third and Angela won a prize for being The Most Committed.

We Count

2011-11-16T11:51:00.001-10:00

Recently there have been a number of ads on the TV that seem to be about the upcoming national population census, but because they have all been in Samoan we haven’t really been sure what it is all about.

Then, a few weeks ago some stickers appeared on our gate post, which we figured must have been related to the census, but again we didn’t really know what was happening.

Unlike in NZ there didn’t seem to be any forms being distributed to be filled in, just ads saying that the census would be carried out from 1^st – 10^th November. We figured that maybe we would miss out on being counted because we didn’t know what we were supposed to do to get our forms.

Then last Sunday afternoon a strange car pulled up at our gate and a woman armed with her census ID and booklets got out. It turns out that they do things a little differently in Samoa. Here the census officer comes to you and fills in the questionnaire for you. Well actually, she noted the answers in a separate notebook, and was going to transcribe the answers to the proper forms later when she went home. Talk about doing things the hard way!

So, we sat down and went through the questions. Most of them were the usual sort of things – age, level of education, do you rent or own your home, jobs, etc etc. But there were a few that I haven’t seen on a census form in New Zealand, including ‘Do you have a sewing machine?’ She seemed quite pleased when we said, yes we do have a sewing machine! There was a whole range of questions about which household appliances we have - washing machineü, fridgeü, air conü, dishwasher û. They also wanted to know if our kitchen was inside the house or outside. There were also the expected questions about religion and children (everyone here seems to ask those questions). The children one seemed to come up several times, and each time we got a very sympathetic ‘how sad’ when we answered that we have no children.

Anyway, we can now rest happily knowing that we have been counted.

Guavas Galore

2011-11-16T11:36:00.004-10:00

When we first moved in here we didn’t realize that there was a guava tree on the property, and for the last three years it hasn’t produced any fruit. Earlier this year it was starting to flower, but then much to our dismay the lawnmower gang gave it a severe ‘pruning’, chopping off most of the main branches. Anyway, the tree not only survived this brutal attack, but has flourished and is now producing lots of nice, big guavas.

We now have more guavas than we can eat, and the house is full of the sweet smell of ripe guavas, so we decided to make some guava jam. Neither of us have made jam before, and didn’t really know what we were doing, but we hade a couple of recipes to follow, so decided to have a go.

We completely underestimated how much fruit we had and therefore how much sugar we would need, but after a morning of preparing the fruit, a quick trip to the shop for another bag of sugar then boiling up our brew we had a pot full of guava jam. We weren’t sure if it was quite ready, it didn’t seem to be meeting the ‘set test’ as described in the cook book, but it smelt and tasted pretty good, so we decided it was ready.

The other challenge for us was trying to find jars or some type of container for our jam. After searching all the local shops all we could find were plain drinking glasses that were about the right size, but of course these have no lids. These were all we could find, so we decided we would have to make do. After searching the internet we read about various ways of sealing jam jars without screw on lids, including wax, silicon, waxed paper, cellophane etc. None of these things we could get here in Samoa, so we figured we would put our jam into our glasses, let it cool, and then cover it with glad wrap.

We are happy to report that not only does the jam taste great, but the glad wrap seems to be working ok. I don’t think that this is a very good solution if you want to keep your jam for a long time, but somehow I don’t think that this jam will last too long anyway!

The drought is broken

2011-10-25T21:50:00.001-10:00

For several months now it has been hot and dry here in Samoa. We have had water shortages meaning nothing coming out of the tap for entire afternoons. The earth went dusty and we had to eek out any water we did have so that the plants could also have a small drink. At work they are collecting water bottles for Tokelau who are in even more dire situation to us.

But this afternoon the heavens opened, the temperature dropped 10 degrees (is this now winter?) and it hasn't stopped raining since! The male students poured out onto the field at the back of campus with rugby and soccer balls in tow. After a short run up they dived with a splash into what was now a mini lake and slid in glee while everyone else watched on shrieking in laughter.

Just goes to show you are never too old to play in puddles!

posted from Bloggeroid

Our New Kitchen

2011-10-17T15:33:00.004-10:00

This is our kitchen before....

And this is our kitchen after renovations!!

Very flash albeit a few more chips out of the tiled floor in the process. Cupboards and drawers that open and close with ease and no termite dust everywhere. Hoping the pesky geckos will also stay out along with the spiders! The bench under the window is now a bit longer as well which is great. The only issue now is where to store the dog biscuits!!

NZSS Netball

2011-10-17T14:29:00.005-10:00

Talofa. Well as Adam mentioned we have just returned from Napier where I was invited to umpire at the NZ Secondary Schools netball tournament. This tournament features the top secondary school teams from each of the regions in the Upper North Island, Lower North Island and South Island. Needless to say the standard of the competition was fierce and fast!

I expected to have to hit the ground running (ha ha) however the speed and skill level of the game was still a bit of a shock to my Samoan system! The week was thoroughly enjoyable, exhausting and enlightening though. I have a long way to go still and need to find a way to gain more experience at this level if I wish to progress further.

Meanwhile check out below my fantastic umpiring uniform and some of the group of umpires I met there. There is even one of me in action!!

What We Miss Here in Samoa

2011-10-07T11:53:00.002-10:00

After being here for more than 3 years we think we have adjusted pretty well to the things you can and can't get here, but there are still a couple of things that we do miss -

The biggest one is THE DISHWASHER!! Everyday I have to put on my rubber gloves and tackle the dishes, not my favourite chore, and one that Angela will not tackle unless it is a real dire emergency!

That brings us to one of the other things we still can't get here - dishwashing gloves! I can not find the good old, basic rubber gloves for doing the dishes. Whenever we go to NZ that is one of the first things I pick up at the supermarket - while Ang is stocking up on chocolate, shampoo and hairspray!

Things got a bit desperate recently. My last current pair of rubber gloves sprang a leak and there were no more in the cupboard - apart from this flash pair Mum gave Angela for Xmas! Fortunately we are heading to NZ next week and I will be able to get some 'real' gloves.

Netball end of season prize giving 2011

2011-10-02T15:59:00.003-10:00

Last night was the end of season prize giving for Samoa Netball. This year Hyundai club did very well with the womens U21, A Reserve and A Teams all taking prizes. During the season the A team held the shield for 4 weeks and then played some tough games to come 3rd in the grade. This was an excellent achievement and a much improved performance on previous years. Congratulations to the SCOPA club for coming 1st in the A Grade and to Faleula a new club for taking out 2nd place by beating Hyundai in our final game of the season by only 1 goal!! Nail biting stuff.

USP struggled this year however this did not dampen spirits with the boys and girls teams showing up each week keen to take the court and play the game. I am proud to say the USP boys showed great commitment this year and developed their skills during the season having some close matches and taking out the prize for Sportsmanship and Best Development so congrats to them for winning 2 new balls, a ball bag and some cones to assist with our training. Girls found the A Reserve grade they moved up into challenging.

Many thanks as well to SNA for my prize for top umpire which I greatly appreciate. Here some of the A grade team are pictured with Ray and Tate who also received umpiring prizes for passing their Centre Badges. Well done on a great season everyone!!

Samoa Library Week 2011

2011-10-02T15:50:00.000-10:00

From the 26th - 30th September 2011 Samoa held its 3rd ever National Library Week. During the week events and activities were run to celebrate and promote literacy and reading in Samoa. This year the theme was "Reading is your Pathway to Success" and many schools and people joined in with the book character, story and poetry writing and poster competitions held. Library Week was launched with a parade through Apia town with 500-600 people joining in and then the opening ceremony at the EFKS hall in Mulinuu where the School Library Assistants performed a mania siva and the story of Little Red Riding hood was acted out by library staff from LDS Pesega.

Here is the banner from the Robert Louis Stevenson School

This is the prize winning costume of the Very Hungry Caterpillar

Here we all are parading through town past Carruthers store and the Apia town clocktower

On Tuesday the Library Association Committee members went to the Atua Farmer's District Library in Lepa for stories and activities and then on Wednesday it was over to the big island of Savaii for more parading and book character fun with approximately 300 participants. Thursday saw the book launch of new children's book "Surviving a Tsunami : Dealing with Disaster" by Jackie Faasisila, Angela Jowitt and Walter Dudley and finally on Friday was more stories and activities in the Nelson Memorial Public Library before prizes were awarded for the story writing and poster competitions and librarians ended the week with a dinner.

Faafetai tele lava LAS Committee for a job well done and a very successful Library Week 2011.

Pineapple update at Week 7

2011-10-02T14:54:00.001-10:00

As you can see the Slips are now forming and getting quite large under the fruit and the plant is on a bit of a lean. Might need to stake that up! Wonder how long we let the Slips grow there before we take them off and plant them. Hmmmmm must consult a book in the library....

Go da Manu!

2011-10-02T14:51:00.001-10:00

Well Rugby World cup fever has certainly been gripping the country. There have been flags flying, banners up and people have even gone so far as to paint their cars with "Go the Manu" and decorate their bonnets with the Samoan flag. No matter whether they won or lost people were still positive and happy about their performance such that there was great celebration and racket of car horns tooting after every game. Samoa also experienced it's first "flash mob" last Thursday 29th September when everyone was invited to gather on Beach Road dressed in their garb with flags in tow to storm the road at 3pm, perform the Siva Tau while being filmed by TV3 and this was then hurridly edited and put up on YouTube in time for the boys to see it before their game.

Meanwhile Old Man stays true to the All Blacks!! Oh well that's what he gets for being adopted by NZ Palagis!!

Friends in Samoa

2011-10-02T14:41:00.000-10:00

We recently had visitors to the island our good friends Ang and Dave from NZ. This is us all in our back yard next to the pineapple garden.

Nicola and I also farewelled Elenoa with dinner at the yacht club, Swashbucklers. It was a fun filled evening full of laughs and we hope 'Noa' will settle back into Fiji with her family and new job.

Samoa Perimeter Relay 2011

2011-10-02T14:36:00.001-10:00

The 17th September was the 3rd running of the Samoa Perimeter Relay, and once again I found myself lining up with the NPI Flyers.

The event was pretty much the same format as the last 2 years - 104 km, 24 legs, 6 members in each team. There were a few changes to some of the legs, and all of us that struggled with the heat in the middle of the day last year appreciated the organisers decision to put the longer legs earlier, when it is cooler, and give us shorter runs at the end when it is hot.

From last year's team only 3 of us are still in Samoa, but Slava (the crazy Russian vet) decided that he was going to run the entire 104km himself, so that just left Darryl and I. We eventually managed to round up 4 willing(?) volunteers to make up our team, including a last minute substitute when one of the team was injured only a week before the event. My own build up was very disrupted, including a 2 week lay off recovering from a sprained ankle suffered when I stood on a rock while out for a run (it didn't help that it was dark and the street lights were not working!) Darryl too had his training interrupted by injury - he managed to break a rib while playing business house soccer! So it is fair to say that we were not the best prepared team, but we did make it to the start line!

This year I must have drawn the short straw as somehow I ended up with the longest leg and the section that has earned the nickname 'Heart Break Hill' over the last couple of years. The 6.1 km leg around Lalomanu didn't worry me too much - it is a really nice stretch to run and is fairly flat, but I wasn't looking forward to the steep section of heart break hill, or the steep downhill that follows it. As it turned out it wasn't too bad. The uphill had me huffing and puffing, but the downhill was much harder on the legs. The dodgy ankle managed to survive they day and I made it to the end OK.

We did have one small drama when Andy, our 4th runner, hurt his knee during his 3rd leg. He managed to walk/run/hobble to the end of that section and we were able to use a substitute runner to run his final stretch for him. I had bravely/foolishly volunteered to take up his last leg, but I was very relieved when our spare runner Pete said that he was able to do it.

For the record we made it to the finish line in 9 hours and 37 minutes, about 17 minutes ahead of our target time, and good enough to win a Pizza Feast from Giordano's which was very much enjoyed by the team . This is becoming a habit - Angela also won a Giordano's voucher at the Independence Day Run.

NPI Flyers at the Finish Line

Launch of Surviving a Tsunami : Dealing with Disaster : Lessons from the Samoa Tsunami 29.09.09 by Angela Jowitt, Jackie Faasisila and Walter Dudley

2011-09-29T17:37:00.004-10:00

Fittingly today, on the 2nd Anniversary of Samoa Tsunami, Jackie and I launched our book. It is with many thanks to Rae from Read Pacific Ltd for making this possible in such a short time frame to meet the deadline of today!
The ceremony was fitting and included a moments silence in memory of lives lost 2 years ago.
A copy of the book was donated to the following people:-
• Nelson Memorial Public Library
• Salelologa Public Library
• Atua Farmer’s District Library
• Clea’s Library at Lalomanu Primary School
• Poutasi Secondary School
• Saleapaga Primary School
• The Reverend Lotu Uele
• The NZ High Commissioner – Nick Hurley

Tili Afamasaga was our keynote speaker and commented on the UNESCO International Tsunami Survey Team, that Jackie, Walter and I were a part of, explaining its formation and the research report presented to the Goverment. She also made brief comments on the book saying that “it includes lessons and what can be learnt from the disaster. It includes basic information about Earthquakes and Tsunamis and combines scientific information with the experiences of the survivors. It is written in simple and informative language, using photographs, graphic illustrations, simple maps, iconic images and the voices of survivors in brief but startling excerpts. Every reader young or old whether in or out of school should find useful information in this book.”

Books are available for purchase through Read Pacific Ltd or by email to our publishers in New Zealand or through the following bookshops in Samoa - Samoa Stationery and Books, Business Systems, MaxKar and Plantation House.

A huge thank you to everyone who attended our launch today especially our friends who came to show their support and to the schools from the South Coast who came over. We are very pleased to be able to present this information for the people of Samoa.

A USP Colleague reading the book and Jackie and I autographing copies.

In central downtown Apia the MaxKar bookshop has it's windows plastered in a book cover display!

posted from Bloggeroid

Our beautiful Samoan girl

2011-09-05T20:02:00.000-11:00

On Saturday 3rd September we lost a light from our lives. After a week of illness and going down slowly Lucky lost the fight to breathe and her heart stopped.

It was not until she refused to eat for 2 nights running that we knew something was really wrong. It took 2 of us and a whole day off work to get her in the car, only her second time ever, and take her to the vet. A thorough check was made but no definite conclusions could be drawn as to what was the matter. She was young, only 4-5 years old and prior to this was strong and healthy. We could only conclude it to be some form of poisoning or something dreadful she ate.

Apparently in Samoa 4 years is the averge lifespan of a dog. There are not many options available for testing, certainly no x-ray or sophisticated blood tests. If tthere was no improvement the next thing to try was opening her up for exploratory surgery of the stomach to check for obstructions. She did not appear to have a tender stomach though. It was more the short heavy breathing. In the mean time we administered hourly fluids by syringe. A combination of water and Niu, coconut juice, to combat dehydration.

We are going to miss her welcoming us home every night. Tearing around the section like a mad thing with her ears flapping up and down, chasing the pigeons and running towards us in such great excitement to see us that we thought she would bowl us over. You had to be quick too, to dodge the big lick she had waiting for you. She was a protective and jealous dog at times which was something we had to watch out for and she was the main suspect for the excavations in the garden but she came with us whenever we walked up to the shop and waited for us outside. She learnt to "sit" very quickly, no mean feat for a Samoan dog, and she learnt to wear a collar and to chase a ball, which we thought was pretty good for a dog suspicious of foreign objects and new experiences. Most of the time however she would roll on her back with her legs in the air waiting for a tummy tickle. She loved it when Adam rubbed her ears hard and she would lean her head against your hand until you did this for her.

She was the first dog I ever trusted and learned to love. When she had her puppies she led me up the street to show me where they were and she trusted me to pick them up. She may also be the only dog around who could scale a 1.2 metre high fence by climbing up it and fitting between the mesh and the barbed wire that was on top. This meant we could never keep her in. She was a free spirit who ran the street and was always up for chasing off the strays. She was a slightly palagised Samoan dog who didn't have a bath in the whole time we knew her as she was crafty at avoiding water.

Our beautiful Samoan girl will always be in our hearts and our minds. She is buried wrapped in a Samoan lavalava and surrounded by frangipani and hibiscus and she will be here in her street and at the place where she knew she was loved forevermore.

RIP our Lucky. We are glad to have spent time with you and glad we could show you some happiness during your life but we will miss you dearly.

The pineapples

2011-09-05T13:14:00.006-11:00

Our pineapples are getting bigger. We have it on good authority that the purple flowers are normal and that after this it will take until about Christmas for the pineapples to be ready. Runners are coming out of the base below the pineapple and if we replant these we'll get more in another year.

Pineapples at 2 weeks

Pineapples at 4 weeks

The little one holds the big Log of wood

2011-08-01T13:34:00.002-11:00

This Saturday, 30th July the Hyundai girls A team won the netball shield off top of the league SCOPA in a controlled and skilled game. Well done ladies!!

Pineapple Season

2011-07-31T17:27:00.001-11:00

After almost 2 years of sitting in the garden and doing nothing other than getting big and spiky our pineapple plants are starting to make pineapples!

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Back to Reality

2011-07-31T13:43:00.002-11:00

Well, our wonderful holiday is over and we have made it back safe and sound to Samoa.

Since our last post we spent our final day in Singapore exploring the local markets and Chinatown. Yes, a bit more shopping, but by then we were running out of room in our suitcases!

One of the things we wanted to do in Singapore was have High Tea at Raffles. Fortunately Angela had contacted them and made a booking otherwise we wouldn't have got in. We were warned about the dress code, so we put on our best clothes - coming from Samoa I thought I was doing well to find a pair of long trousers and shoes, luckily I didn't have to wear a jacket and tie! Even with our best clothes on we still felt a bit out place, but the high tea was great. We started with our tea and plates of delicious pastries, cookies and slices. Then we realised that there was a buffet with dim-sim, dumplings and spring rolls and another selection of scones, cakes and fruit. I hadn't eaten anything since breakfast and was hungry, so tried to have a taste of everything on offer, but couldn't manage it. After enjoying our high tea we had a look around the rest of the hotel and ended up in the Long Room where we had the obligatory Singapore Sling. We even had some peanuts and threw the shells on the floor - its the done thing apparently. I suggested that if it was good enough for Raffles then we should do it at home, but Angela didn't agree! After Raffles we took a last look around town, ending up at the Merlion park.

We were sad to leave Singapore behind, but we did have a couple of days In Surfers Paradise to break up the trip home.

I hadn't been to Surfers Paradise before so it was nice to look around, but July isn't really beach weather! We couldn't fit anything more in our bags, so Angela wasn't allowed to do any shopping, not that that stopped her!

Although we weren't brave enough to get in the water for a swim we did enjoy a nice run along the waterfront from Surfers Paradise to The Spit and back. By the time we got back we both had cold noses and ears and had to have a hot shower to warm up.

We also checked out Jupiter Casino. Neither of us are gamblers, so the gaming tables and pokie machines didn't really interest us, but we did enjoy their Dinner & A Show deal. Dinner was lamb shanks and the show was Stomp and we really enjoyed both.

On our last day on holiday we went to see the final Harry Potter movie in 3D.

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Singapore Flyer and Marina Bay Sands sight seeing

2011-07-11T04:17:00.002-11:00

Our body clocks are all out so we seem to have been making it out the door around lunch time each day and are still going at 10pm at night but everything is still open then! Today we stopped at our local Kopitan which apparently means coffee shop, though it has a lot more than the coffee shops we are used to. After our usual $2.50 breakfast with a plate of mixed fruit we headed back towards the Marina Bay Sands area for some sight seeing.

First stop was the Fountain of Wealth which is apparently the biggest fountain in the world. Pretty impressive. Adam had read about the Hindu tradition of walking around the fountain 3 times for wealth and luck so we thought we would have a go. We very quickly found though that walking around the top in the wrong direction doesn't cut the mustard!! We then discovered that you can walk around and touch the lucky waters at the centre of the fountain at certain times of the day and that there is also a light show at night so decided to come back a little later for this.

Next stop on the tour was the Singapore flyer which is a big wheel similar to the London Eye. We were in a capsule with 4 others and the view was fantastic. Would recommend this to anyone visiting Singapore. It took 45 minutes to do a full revolution and if you so desire you can hire the champagne capsule and drink your way around or do 2 revolutions while you eat dinner!

We then visited the Marina Bay Sands hotel itself which is an engineering feat. We had seen on the National Geographic channel on the TV a programme about the building of this hotel. It is pretty impressive, huge and is known for it's leisure facilities up on the roof looking down on Singapore. This was also certainly a view though a little disappointing not to be able to see the swimming horizon pools up there, though if I was a guest I wouldn't want to be one of the attractions on view in Singapore so suppose that is only fair.

Here are some shots from thr Flyer and the Hotel observation deck.

Feeling a little weary after this we found the TWG tea shop back down in the plaza. Much of this newly developed area of Singapore is still being working on so it is currently a bit of a walk from the Promenade MRT stop to the hotel and the feet needed a rest! The plaza itself is also a place to get lost in. Anyway we had a very delicious but expensive afternoon high tea and I swear it took me half an hour to choose which tea to have from the several hundered on offer.

Feeling refreshed we then visited the Art Science Museum which is in the lotus flower shaped building. The museum is currently hosting Salvadore Dali and Vincent Van Gogh. Dali was of course weird but many of his quotes made me laugh. The only thing I could understand of his was his "soft clocks" which are distorted clocks and to me this meant distorted time. Well I never can seem to arrive anywhere when I'm meant to and there are never enough hours in my day to achieve all I set out to! The Van Gogh exhibition was an amazing digital multimedia display with constantly changing projections of his paintings onto canvases in a 360 degree view. It was hard to know where to look and I could have stayed in there all day but there was so much else to see.

We ended the day with a pub meal at an Irish pub in Singapore complete with Asian Irish band, Guiness on tap and a Guiness beef pie, Bangers and Mash. Lovely!

Here is the Fountain of Wealth.

Finals nail biter

2011-07-11T04:08:00.002-11:00

Oh well what can we say? It was always going to go down to the wire and that it did. Australia came out this time with the 1 goal lead in the last 30 seconds of extra time after a missed goal by NZ but there were also many other moments in the game where we did not score off brilliant work done by the defence. Anna Scarlett intercepted a blinder in extra time and Casey Williams had a storming game with an injured calf, and we expect there was no way she would come off the court. Maria did not look right from the start missing many shots in warm up. Oh well another World Champs over and our experience of the last one got us through this time! We were not sad of the result but of the fact that it was all over for another 4 years and that we would soon be leaving Singapore. It was time to think of life after netball!

So we walked off some steam! From the stadium to the Marina Bay Sands to watch the light show from the hotel. It was a fair walk over one of the major bridges across the water again aided by the tablet and gps so we knew we were heading in the right direction. Took many pictures of Singapore at night and battled the food hall for dinner with so much choice it took a while to decide. The freshly squeezed orange and strawberry juices went down a treat. At least we managed to escape the main crowd of Aussies that would have been on the MRT that night. Yes they won but only by 1 goal after a pretty good fight by the ferns!

Rollercoaster ride for netball supporters

2011-07-09T17:04:00.002-11:00

Yes it's been a bit of a journey for us netball supporters. Mary nearly had a heart attack and those cheer sticks got a bit of a hammering!!! Samoa ended up playing Barbados for 11th - 12th place after losing the playoffs for 9th - 10th to Wales by 1 goal in the dying seconds. We are still left wondering how they managed to lose this game after being up by at least 10 for the whole match??? Samoa finish in 12th which is down 2 on their previous ranking.

Fiji ended up playing Wales for that 9th - 10th position and gained 10th place which is also a drop on their previous 5th. So what is going on in pacific netball?? To win these days you need that killer instinct and 100% sustainability on commitment and focus for the whole game.

Then it was on to NZ vs England and it was pleasing to see the Kiwis come out with a controlled came that saw them counteract everything the Brits could sling at us and come away with a win. The Aussies also pulled off a great win against the sunshine girls Jamaica, who surprisingly didn't look like they had turned up to play netball and even with the tall timber of Aiken and Fowler in the shooting circle could not compete with Australia.

Diligently we also fitted in a run last night along the river and with glimpses of the fireworks and light show coming from Marina Bay. Very pleasant however pretty warm so just like running in Samoa only the footpaths don't have holes and their is street lighting the whole way so no guessing where your feet will land! This was finished off by watching the end of the Ireland vs South Africa game which was a nailbiter. Ireland kept fighting back but just couldn't hold a lead over South Africa. Then is was dinner at our favourite 24 hour spot by the Bras Basah MRT station. Fried rice set me back $4.50 and Adam's duck $6.00!!

We are now decked out in all the black we can find and are about to head to the stadium for the final against Australia. Wish us luck. We have the team to do it but you can never underestimate Australia on the day.

KIWI KIWI KIWI - HEY HEY HO
KIWI - HEY
KIWI - HO
KIWI KIWI KIWI - NICE ONE BRO!

Netball day 6

2011-07-08T00:23:00.001-11:00

Time for a bit of laundry and domestics today so it was off to track down the laundromat near the Bras Basah MRT station. It never fails to amaze me how great google maps is at helping you find everything you need and with the GPS on the tablet it makes you wonder how people managed before we had all of this? Anyway washing being taken care of as we head for another day at the netball.

All those people with finals tickets have now turned up and taken over the stadium lol. Unfortunately we are now surrounded by green and gold and people with many opinions of what is taking place on court . . . and we have to listen to them even when they are wrong lol.

The Kiwis were welcomed onto the court by the Patea Maori Club which was fitting and got the crowd going however New Zealand got of to a lacklustre start to their game against South Africa and were down by 1 at quarter time. After a team change though that was soon sorted out.

Fiji had a very close game against Barbados today with the lead swinging backwards and forwards but they hung in for a win by 1. Samoa are up last today against Wales.

The Ausies are on now so will see how the do against Malawi. No billabong tunes for them though they get Land Downunder and Jimmy Barnes! Game update - the Aussies also looking sluggish today managing to win by only 14. Malawi had them stumped for a bit there.

Having another Jack and a pizza at the park then back in to cher on Samoa.

Kenny Rogers Restaurant Singapore

2011-07-07T16:01:00.001-11:00

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Marina Bay Sands Hotel Singapore and the Durian

2011-07-06T23:41:00.003-11:00

Samoa on court against Malaysia

2011-07-06T23:32:00.002-11:00

Training with a Diamond!

2011-07-06T23:24:00.002-11:00

Well this morning we had a training session in the hotel gym with Sharelle McMahon! Well she was doing her thing and we were doing ours. Does that count? Lol. It is good to see her on the road to recovery from her archilles injury. Yes I know she is Australian however I still think she is an awesome player and I feel for her having to miss these World Champs.

Have just finished watching Samoa beat Malaysia in a tough game that was going goal for goal a times however they did it by 9 goals. Now on to tomorrow to try and stay in the running for 9th or 10th place but thy need to win tomorrow against Wales or Botswana - that game is currently in action.

Oh well time for an early one today and regain strength for more netball watching tomorrow. Have found some more shops from the UK namely Topshop and Miss Selfridges so bit more retail therapy might be in order!

World Netball Champs 2011 photos

2011-07-06T03:06:00.004-11:00

The teams during the opening ceremony

Botswana supporters - Yvonne Willingering watches Botswana play South Africa

The Singapore Indoor Stadium - Australia vs Sri Lanka in the distance

Singapore dogs

2011-07-06T00:05:00.002-11:00

So would my dog ever be this well behaved? YEAH RIGHT!!!!!

Netball Day 4

2011-07-05T23:57:00.001-11:00

We had an earlier start today because Samoa's must win match against Northern Ireland was the first game of the day.

We decided to get breakfast at a plaza just up the road from the hotel, next to the MRT station. We found a good feed at a good price - tea and French toast for $2 and tea, toast, sausage and egg for $2.50. I think we will be going back there again. We even managed to pick up some sandwiches for lunch for $1.50.

After our hearty breakfast it was down to the serious business of the netball. Samoa had to beat Ireland to make the top 8 playoffs. I think the Samoan girls may have been feeling the pressure of situation and made a slow start. Even though we were trying hard to cheer them on they were never able to catch up. The team were disappointed with the result, but now have to pick themselves up for a playoff game against Malaysia tomorrow. Meanwhile the Irish team were delighted, this is the first time they have qualified for the top 8 at the World Camps.

Next game was an equally tough match between Fiji and Wales, which Fiji managed to win. Then it was time for the Silver Ferns final pool match, against Trinidad & Tobago. The Ferns tried a few different combinations and T&T were quite rough, so the game never really flowed as well as the previous game against Wales, but the Ferns still managed a comfortable win, with a few smiles just for Norma Plummer!

We then needed a break from Netball, before the evening games, and have found a nice restaurant under the stadium. We have been enjoying wagu steak, pizza, boutique beer and Jack Daniels by the riverside. It even has free wi-fi, so we are taking advantage to make this post from our tablets while watching State of Origin, pretty cool.

Netball Day 3

2011-07-05T22:48:00.003-11:00

We had another great day at the netball. First up was a very close and tough game between Fiji and Trinidad & Tobago which Fiji unexpectedly lost.

Next up was Samoa against Sri Lanka, a game that Samoa had to win if they were to have any chance of making the quarterfinals. We met up with all the other Samoan supporters, all decked out in our blue Samoa shirts, to cheer the team on. It turned out to be a much closer and tense match than most of us were expecting. Sri Lanka had a very tall, skinny shooter that the Samoans struggled to shut down - the height mis-match between her and the Samoan defenders was quite funny to see. In the end the Samoan team managed to hang on for the win 57 - 53.

Our Samoan cheer squad must have been doing something right, we caught the attention of the Sky TV camera crew and they recorded a "Talofa" cheer from us. Then after the game the two of us were interviewed by a reporter from one of the local newspapers.

After our media commitments were finished our next game was NZ against Wales. The Silver Ferns came out firing and poor old Wales were a bit shell-shocked, behind 28-2 after the first quarter. As expected the Ferns went on to score an easy win 91 - 21.

After the game the Silver Ferns were signing autographs and we managed to get the entire team to sign a Netball World Championship shirt. They were all pretty relaxed and happy to chat a bit. We learnt that Laura Langman has got her crucial supply of crumpets sorted out, according to Irene van Dyk there are so many crumpets that they can't eat them all. Irene also sends a hug out to Dad. Paula Griffin's tattoo up her arm is a quote that inspires her. Casey Williams was hungry and reckoned that it was time for dinner and Jolene Henry and Temepara George weren't completely satisfied with the game.

There have also been plenty of stories floating around about Australian coach Norma Plummer. She seems to be a total control freak, paranoid about everything and full of conspiracy theories, usually about how New Zealand is trying to manipulate things to their advantage or how Australia have been disadvantaged. She even complained that the Silver Ferns were smiling and laughing too much during their game!

Netball Day 2

2011-07-04T15:19:00.002-11:00

We had a bit of a slow start to the second day of the netball. We are still suffering the side effects of our colds and were a bit worn out after all of the shopping, so ended up having a bit of a lie in and a big breakfast.

We made it down to the stadium in time to catch the end of the game between Jamaica and South Africa, which Jamaica won 72 - 45.

Next up it was Samoa taking on Australia. Of course we were cheering for Samoa. They did alright, but as expected the Australians were too strong and ran away with the game, finally winning 82 - 23.

We then got our first look at the Silver Ferns and they looked very flash in their new shiny uniforms. Fiji played well and the Ferns had a few rough patches, especially after Maria Tutaia went off, but they came right in the end to record a comfortable 80 - 25 win.

The stadium is really impressive and everything is running on time, but we are finding it cold in there! We can't survive the entire day without heading outside to warm up every few hours.

We also got to see some games between Sri Lanka and Northern Ireland, Trinidad & Tobago and Wales, England and Malawi, and Barbados and Malaysia. A day full of netball - only six more to go!

Netball World Champs Opening Ceremony 2011

2011-07-03T15:48:00.004-11:00

Sunday was the start of the netball, but that wasn't until later in the day so there was time to hit the gym and pool in the morning and fit in another trip to Orchard Road before heading to the Netball.

We are starting to notice a bit more a netball vibe now. There were plenty of Black and Green & Gold shirts on the train to the stadium and a few famous netball faces around the place.

The opening ceremony was really good. It had drummers, lion dancers, rhythmic gymnastics, light show etc and then the march past of all the teams. The kiwis got a good cheer from the large group of NZ tour parties. We then had the usual round up of speeches, including us all singing Happy Birthday to the President of Singapore.

After that it was time for some netball, with Singapore taking on Botswana. Singapore started off well, but in the end Botswana spoilt the party for the home crowd eventually winning 43-36.

Singapore Electrified

2011-07-03T15:05:00.007-11:00

Saturday saw us hit the shops. The shopping here is amazing, but rather overwhelming after Samoa! So many malls full of shops and people. Our first stop was the Funan Centre, 6 floors of electronics shops! After starting at the bottom and working our way through 5 floors of laptops, mobile phones, tvs etc we finally found the cases and keyboards we were looking for.

After this we headed up Orchard Road starting at the new Ion centre. As it was Saturday night the place was buzzing and there were people everywhere. It was also very noisy with lots of sounds competing against each other. Phew again!! The amount of shops in this place is completely overwhelming. Life exists above and also below ground where there is a rabbit warren of tunnels full of more shops and food courts. It is at times impossilbe to know where you are and you get completely lost and disorientated! Overall though everything is sparkling clean, there is no rubbish lying about and people are polite and courteous going about their business. YOu can get everything you could possibly need and want - oh apart from crumpets apparently which is what Laura Langman is craving before taking the court against Australia!!

Here is a photo of the Ion centre

Samoans in Singapore

2011-07-01T14:09:00.002-11:00

We have now arrived in the humid tropics of Singapore and feel more at home as the temperatures are very similar to Samoa. We took off from Brisbane in the middle of the night and flew Emirates with great in flight services. Continual drinks (the non alcoholic variety!) and on board entertainment. Managed a couple of hours sleep around movies.

Arrived in Singapore in the early morning and was surprised that there were no little boxes to tick about what we were bringing into Singapore with regard to food or animal and plant products and no bag scanning unit either for that matter so we let ourselves in! Singapore airport is huge so it was a nice hike from the plane to customs and no queue when we got there probably because everyone else got distracted by the shops and eateries on the way through.

Got ourselves on a shuttle to our hotel after changing some currency and using the ANZ machine which kept talking to me. I kid you not! Was pretty impressed it knew who I was by name and could give me funds from our Samoan account.

We are staying at the Carlton which is on Bras Basash road at the bottom of Orchard Road and right next door to Raffles. This is a great area of town. Cant remember where I stayed last time I was here 15 years ago. The hotel is great. We have a lovely room and it all feels very luxurious with a beautiful shiny reception area complete with fountain and chandellair of sorts.

As we couldn't check in straight away we opted to go exploring. It was hot out of the comfort of our air conditioning but we made it up as far as the Dhoby Ghaut train station via two different shopping malls. Things were very quiet and we were amazed that none of the shops opened until 11am!!! We were feeling pretty weary however some frozen yogurt with fruit soon refreshed us enough to explore a bit more. We discovered Marks and Spencer and Dorothy Perkins from the UK and it was great to have a look around and reminisce about the good old days of shopping in London! Might pop back some time to poke about at leisure without husband in tow! So far things have not been very Asian as all the top Western influences are here including food. We even found a store where you can choose, stuff, dress and name your own teddy bear! What next aye? Anything to get money out of you. We went into a sports shop and 1 running outfit later were still trying to convince the shop keeper that it was not worth us paying $49 to join their club, even with the free sports bag, as we are only visiting!

Managed to pick up some interesting packets of chips and nibbles to try after looking through the fish balls and dried fruit on offer. Also picked up our Netball tickets from the stadium. We were pleasantly surprised at how we could purchase these online from Samoa several months ago, turn up to the box office and be presented with tickets with no dramas or problems what so ever. Hmmmm maybe we have been living in Samoa too long as we are certainly noticing the customer services here! Saw the Wales and Malawi teams at the stadium training and checked out the restaurant options for the coming week.

We have sussed out the MRT and got ourselves a card which we top up with credit as required. The tube is efficient and can get us everywhere we need to go this week so will be making the most of that.

So after all this we headed back towards the hotel, passing 3 of the England team members along the way who stood out by their accents and height! Obviously some down time for them as they were out exploring. We went in to check out the Chijmes center across the road from our hotel and collapsed onto a chair in the lovely court yard where we were brought a Tropical and a Peach Sangria. After a couple of these we also decided to order up dinner and chose the vegetarian set menu as it had mushroom, babycorn, asparagus and cherry tomato dishes all of which we miss in Samoa! Dinner was delicious and finished off with a lovely cheesecake and icecream.

After a bubble bath, another one of those luxuries we miss in Samoa, we crashed . . . . .

Nephews in Brisbane

2011-07-01T13:53:00.002-11:00

Have had our stop over in Brisbane and spent time with the new baby who has a lovely mop of hair and played many hours of Thomas the Tank engine interspersed with blowing bubbles! Also managed to catch up with friends who have moved over to live in Brisbane and are working on the house they have purchased in Manley. Of course in the 5 days there we managed to both pick up colds which seems to be the norm whenever we leave the tropical temperatures of Samoa!

Canada

2011-06-28T15:14:00.002-11:00

A few weeks ago I got the sad news that my Nani (Grandmother) in Canada had passed away. Mum was going to travel to Vancouver for the funeral and I decided to join her. This meant some hasty arrangements to get me from Samoa to Vancouver in time and some dramas with my passport and visa here in Samoa, but everything fell into place and I left Angela behind to look after the dogs while I set off for Auckland, then LA and onto Vancouver.

Although it was a sad occasion, it was also a rare gathering of the family, and a reminder for me of just how big the family is! I got to see all my uncles, aunts, cousins and of course Nana (my Grandfather) many of them I hadn't seen for almost 20 years. It was really good to see Nana, he is still so strong and alert and he kept us entertained with lots of stories from his days back in Fiji. I also enjoyed catching up with my cousins. Even though we don't get to see each other very often it is always great fun to hang out with them, as if we see each other all the time.

The funeral preparations, rituals etc were all new to me as this was the first time that I had ever been part of a Hindu funeral. Although it was a tough time I am glad that I was able to be there to share that time with Mum and the rest of the family and I was pleased that I was able to say a few words about how special Nani was to Anita and I.

The funeral also coincided with the Stanley Cup (ice hockey) finals and the local team, the Canacks, were in the finals for the first time for many years. The day I flew out was the first game of the best of 7 game final, so I was fitted out with Canacks cap and shirt before heading to the airport. Everyone at the airport was glued to the tv screens until the game finished, a last minute goal sealing a dramatic 1-0 win for the Canacks. Fortunately I was well away from the city a couple of weeks later when the Canacks lost the deciding 7th game and the city reacted by rioting!

Samoan 49th Independence Day Run

2011-06-21T14:08:00.003-11:00

A couple of weeks ago Adam and I took part in the Samoan Independence annual Marathon /Half Marathon/10 km run. We have been training for this since the start of the year on and off, Adam more seriously than I. We rose at 5 am (yes this is true, even I!!) and headed to the start line in the pitch black of darkness. Bumped into a few other people we knew including some netballers who were running for Rotaract and a few touch rugby players. It was a cool day with a few clouds about which was a good thing and we hoped the torrential rain of the night before would hold off. At 6.30am on the dot the race began. I had to laugh at the two girls who got about 500 metres down the road and then discussed how much they didn't really like running and whether they should stop and walk!! 10km is a long way, made even longer if you feel this way.

The route started near the wharf and followed the main road up past Apia Park and around the coast line to the Head of State's residence and then back. Adam’s goal was to run it in under 55 minutes which he managed to achieve with 51:37 time and about a 5^th place which was only seconds behind the 3^rd and 4^th place getters. Not too bad considering he had only just got back from Canada and hadn't run for more than a week. My goal was to plod the whole way and not stop to walk. I did manage to achieve this and slowly passed many of the other girls along the way. At the turn around I had noticed I was coming about the 4^th girl and surprise, surprise I passed number 3 within a kilometre of the finish line as she seemed to slow down her pace a lot. So I made it home in 3^rd place and won us a voucher to our favourite Italian restaurant – Giordanos!! Yippee. Have to say this is the first and probably the last running award I will win in my lifetime. It’s taken 40 years and it seems that if you want to get a place it’s a good idea to pick the right race to run in!!!

We hung around after this as knew Adam’s friend Slava from Russia was running in the marathon. Low and behold he blitzed the field and came in first, in 3 ½ hours looking fresh as a daisy and as if he could go further!!! Good one Slava very well done. Slava works for the Animal Protection Society in Samoa and it’s good to see him back in the country. After the race and the prize giving we found him jogging home which admittedly was not far, to Aggie Greys, however is the guy mad?!!!!

Homeless Old Man

2011-06-21T14:03:00.003-11:00

Our dog, Old Man, has recently taken to sleeping in a card board box and if that is a little uncomfortable he likes to re-arrange it to suit. Never mind the mess that ends up all over the car port!!

Unfortunately he also recently got a bite to the bum and had to be taken to the vet to have it drained. This turned into a 2 person job – one person trying to keep the dog in the back of the car while the other drove. We partly succeeded. Old Man ended up sitting on Adam’s knee on the back seat after climbing over the seats with car in motion! The vet trip was also a little traumatic for all involved what with getting anaesthetics into the dog and draining the abscess then waiting for him to come back around with is tongue hanging out the side of his mouth. Pleased to report however he’s back to his bouncing self and shaved butt is looking much healthier!!

A Date Change for Samoa?

2011-06-21T13:43:00.000-11:00

Not only is the side of the road we drive on changed, a change in date and shifting of the international date line is also now in consideration! There is some debate going on about this with regards to tourism and other benefits however personally I think this will be a good thing. Samoa does much of it’s dealing with New Zealand, Australia and for us at USP, Fiji, all of which are a day ahead meaning we are operating when it’s their weekend and vice versa. To me it will be a whole lot simpler and far better to be on the same day as family, friends and colleagues. I still can’t promise to get birthday wishes out on time however and oh dear I won’t have that excuse any more after December when the date change is meant to come into being! So will this mean I lose a day of my life????

Library Association of Samoa AGM 2011

2011-06-21T13:29:00.002-11:00

You are looking at the new Vice President of the Library Association of Samoa!

Mt Vaea and the Tomb of Robert Louis Stevenson

2011-06-21T13:24:00.004-11:00

We recently took a walk to the top of Mt Vaea in Vailima which is near the Robert Louis Stevenson museum. Even though the walk sounds hard is not too taxing! It took about an hour and 15 minutes to complete the 3km walk to the top. There are two tracks known as the long and the short! We took the longer and less steep track up and the shorter, steeper track involving steps back down.

At the top you can visit Robert Louis Stevenson who was ceremoniously buried here, as a mark of respect, by the local people after his death in 1894. As is customary and accepted in Samoa you can climb onto his grave and sit while you think about the great literary work he produced. From the top you can also see down to the township of Apia and spot other landmarks such as SPREP and the US Embassy.

Savaii, Sunsets, Snorkelling and a Spa

2011-06-21T13:11:00.003-11:00

The 3^rd set of visitors in as many months arrived in April for the celebrating of another birthday. A T-shirt gifted to Adam in January again came in handy and summed up just how I felt about it all, however with the help of the parents and the lovely resort Le Lagoto we were staying in on the big island of Savaii the day turned out great. Well not too much can be wrong with starting the day with presents (and Happy Birthday sung in Samoan), swimming with turtles and finishing with a large chocolate cake and icecream?!

The holiday itself incorporated many nights of fantastic sunsets, many happy hours, a lot of swimming and snorkelling, a little bit of running (but it was a bit hot and far too much effort for this really J), a fair bit of reading and relaxing, far too much good food and a handstand that was perfected in the water (by one of the over 60’s!!)

We also discovered another great location in Savaii, the Satuiatua beach fales. We were well looked after and extremely well fed here and enjoyed some days of relaxing in our beach fales. This is also the location of the best ever snorkelling to be found in Samoa. As the area is a protected marine reserve the coral and fish are amazing. No where else have I managed to get 13-15 Moorish Idols in one photo. The coral is also very close to the shore so if you are not a confident snorkeller you can stand on the edge and still see some great fish life.

In addition the BIG 40 was brought on in by friends and a few drinks at YNot where I bumped into Dev who first contacted me via this blog back in 2009 before coming to Samoa and who I seem to see in all manner of drinking spots around town. Nice to know Dev and what a small world we now live in brought closer by technology!

I was also treated to a very nice afternoon in a day spa for a manicure and pedicure with a friend. Many thanks to all for making it so special!!

Stages of a Coconut

2011-06-21T13:00:00.002-11:00

Over here we sometimes get a bit 'nutty' about our coconuts. Here are few photos that show the development of a coconut.

Flowers

Nuts Form

Coconuts Grow

A Samoan Wedding and another Tsunami Evacuation

2011-06-21T12:52:00.003-11:00

In March we were pleased to receive our second visitors for the year not only for a holiday but also for their wedding! We really enjoyed showing friends from Palmerston North around Upolu starting with a swim at the Piula Cave pools on the north coast and moving on to Lalomanu beach were we stayed for the first time since the tsunami. At the Taufua Beach Fales we enjoyed a great Fia Fia night put on by their staff. It was a bit freaky hearing the waves break during the night from our fale on the sand however Taufua has recovered well and now has an escape route up the hill in case another evacuation is necessary. We stopped again at the Togitogiga waterfalls which were looking a lot more normal than the previous raging torrent so managed to have a very refreshing swim in the cool fresh water. We also stopped at the To Sua ocean trenches and admired their garden (several flower photos and plenty of ribbings later!!) as well as the blow holes.

It was an eventful wedding eve night at Samoana as this coincided with the massive earthquake in Japan which triggered a tsunami warning in Samoa. A knock on the door at 11.00pm warned us we might be evacuating which was something we didn’t need to be told twice. With hearts thumping and a bit more time to hand than in 2009 we bundled everything including bedspreads and pillows into the car and made our way inland and uphill to where the guests were allowed to stay the night in the church fale. This was our first experience of the concrete fale floor and I somehow managed a little sleep on a mat woven from coconut leaves with the bedspread keeping away the mosquito’s which were still buzzing around my head. For our friends however this was a bit much and they took refuge in the car!!

We were able to carry on to the wedding destination the next day, Le Vasa resort, having survived our tsunami evacuation experience and coming to no harm. Well what is a wedding without a little drama?!! Here we were greeted by friendly staff who were ready and waiting to set up the wedding arch where requested and who got busy with decorating things in flowers, weaving fronds around the coconut palms, making the bouquet and a cake. With the “wedding aisle” of palm trees selected we were ready for the day to dawn.

And dawn it did in beautiful sun shine. This was however to be short lived as the clouds rolled in and tropical rain began to fall. Despite this however we managed a break in the clouds and got through the ceremony before dashing inside for a drink and out again for some photos. The ceremony included a Samoan Warrior and traditional songs from the local resort staff. It all turned out beautifully well in the end and it was so fantastic to see our friends very happy with the day they have waited many years for. Congratulations Mr & Mrs!

Nicola Leaves USP

2011-06-21T12:47:00.002-11:00

Sadly my good friend Nicola, our Accountant, has now moved on from USP and the place is just not the same without her. However, she is still “on the rock” and now working for Aliki’s so is not too far away. We couldn't let her go without a bit of a bash so it was to the local Thirsty Gecko’s we went!

USP Alafua Library Renovations

2011-06-21T12:41:00.003-11:00

With one week to go until the start of semester 1, funding was approved to undergo renovations of the library at Alafua so we flew into action and got the builders, electricians and IT team on the job. At times like this it pays to have someone in the know and many thanks to Adam for his planning and demolishing skills and knowledge of engaging contractors. He even turned his hand to Auto CAD and produced some professional looking plans of the library and what needed to happen! Most impressive. He could not wait to get out the crow bar and sledge hammer and see what damage could be done to a partition wall that needed to come out however I drew the line at being the one to stand there and catch it as it fell. Fortunately for us the on campus Student Welfare Officer offered his hand and muscles for this job.

After creating a huge big mess of demolition and sawdust the walls and existing computer bank and library counter were removed and the builder began constructing new furniture from old. The results were fantastic and we managed to have the library ready for the new University year. The students have taken to the new layout and facilities as if they were always there and are using the computer bank (new computers to follow), DVD watching area, quiet study carrels and group study areas as intended. We have added a library catalogue computer which has been adopted without the need for training and a wireless router giving the students a better connection to the internet. More power points are also providing for students who wish to use their own laptops.

Garden Update

2011-06-21T12:34:00.004-11:00

We have a guava tree in our back yard and despite being chopped back a couple of times by the people doing the garden it is still trying to bear fruit. We recently managed a bowl of tropical fruit with produce from the backyard and a little help from the market. See below for the guava (pink), abiu (white), papaya (orange) and vi (yellow). Very delicious.

We also have corn growing which looks fab but despite much TLC and plenty of watering is still producing cobs that are a bit shrivelled and dry. Hmmmmm need a bit more investigation into why, or does all Samoan corn come out like this?

Bird Brains

2011-06-20T14:00:00.000-11:00

We have been having a few problems recently with birds of the feathered variety. Not only do they dare to come into our section they also dare to nest in our roof. Yes baby pigeons are chirping away up there as we speak!!

These birds however underestimate the laziness of our Samoan dogs who can spring to life in an instant. One day a mother chicken with her chicks in tow dared to come in the gate. Before we knew it there was much squawking from outside and a flapping of feathers. This resulted in us flying out of the house and me running around the backyard yelling at the dogs like a fish wife. Not sure the neighbours have even seen a palagi fish wife before as they looked quite startled to see this!! Don’t worry I gave them my best Cheshire cat grin J Adam had to grab a dog and then rescue said chicken and toss it over the fence while the chicks managed to escape through the wire fence. Phew, job done for one day.

Sad to say though that one of the parent pigeons was not so lucky. It in fact got caught by “Lucky” and met a dead end. RIP pigeon. I think I’ll stop encouraging the dogs to “get em” pesky birds as I’m not so sure I like the consequences or dealing with the aftermath!

Samoan Bus

2011-06-20T13:57:00.002-11:00

This is the life, Vailima on the beach. This is what Samoa is all about right?!! Check out this graphic on the back of one of the new Samoan busses and remember to “enjoy responsibly” as it says!

Focaccia Bread

2011-06-20T13:54:00.001-11:00

Inspired by the recipe in the NZ Gardner magazine we received at Christmas we made this focaccia bread.Yummy. Bagels – bread, what will we try our hand at next?!!!

Dragonflies

2011-06-20T13:45:00.002-11:00

There have recently been huge numbers of dragonflies flying around our backyard. Very cool. Reminds me of that scene in Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone where Harry, Ron and Hermione have to find the key to open the door to a chamber and the keys are all flying around their heads. Here is one of the dragonfly’s on a flower.

Samoa National Netball 2011 and NZ Umpiring Badge

2011-06-20T13:21:00.002-11:00

In January 2011 the Samoa Netball Association held national trials to select the squad to compete for Samoa at the Netball World Championships in Singapore in July. Trialists from Australia, New Zealand and local Samoan girls fought it out on court for a place in the team. Cyclone Wilma managed to wreck some havoc on the netball courts at Apia park and caused many more leaks in an already leaky roof so trials had to be swiftly moved to one of the gymnasiums at Tuanaimato, Faleata. We were fortunate enough to have two visiting umpire coaches from New Zealand who worked with the Samoa Netball umpires during the week long events, coaching and mentoring to help us improve our skills. On the final day myself and “Joanne” sat our NZ Umpiring Badges while umpiring one of the trial games … and we passed!! This was very exciting and is an excellent achievement for us and for Samoa Netball as now we qualify to be invited to umpire at certain events in New Zealand and progress further.

In April 2011 we were invited, along with 2 others from Samoa, to attend an Umpires Training Camp in Auckland along with umpires from Fiji and the Cook Islands. This was a fantastic week of training and umpiring in local competitions and nice to focus time just to umpiring. We stayed in Henderson, West Auckland, right by the Waitakere Trust stadium where Adam and I had attended the World Champs in 2007 and got to see the Pulse vs Mystics game live. We have now been named in the OPUS – Oceania Pacific Umpiring Squad and I have been invited to umpire in October in Napier at the New Zealand Secondary Schools Championships, a tournament where a number of Silver Ferns have been identified in the past. I’m expecting this competition to be fast and furious and am beginning to see why I need to reach 14.5 on the YoYo test to be an umpire at this level! We appreciate the help we receive from Netball New Zealand with our umpiring and know we could not have achieved these results without. There has been mention of becoming an IUA (International Umpires Association) umpire for Samoa. This will require further testing and nailing of Postion, Vision and Timing including that pesky Advantage rule which is my next mission to accomplish. Maybe in October ……..

Visitors During Cyclone Wilma

2011-06-20T13:06:00.004-11:00

Shortly after arriving back in Samoa after Christmas we had visitors from the

. Friends from Bristol who I hadn’t seen in 10 years (am I really that old?!) and who hadn’t met Adam. It was of course excellent to see them, just like the good old days, and fantastic they made the trip to Samoa as part of their 3 month world tour.Unfortunately they arrived about the same time as Cyclone Wilma so maybe didn’t see Samoa at its absolute best however what can you do? No one can control these natural events. As it happens everywhere they went on their travels they encountered some sort of natural disaster, cyclones, earthquakes and snow storms so hmmmmmmmm!! The cyclone brought much rain and eventually some strong winds but nothing worse than a windy day in Wellington!! I had the interesting experience of trying to pick Adam up from downtown one day by driving through flooding. The water reached the bottom of the doors on the car and sploshed, sounding like the hull of a boat. The big Samoan busses coming towards me caused quite a bit of wake that I hoped wouldn’t swamp the engine.

Our friends did manage to get out snorkelling at Samoana before the worst of the storm so saw a bit of beach and sunshine. We picked them up and took them touring round the south coast of Upolu, past various sights. Lulled them into false security with a nice lunch at Sinalei resort before heading for a swim at the Togitogiga waterfalls but due to the rain they had turned into a torrential raging river like we had never seen before so we decided against the swimming idea! We arrived at our place of accommodation for the night at Hideaway, a new resort, and checked into a shared double fale with 1 room and 2 double beds side by side. Very interesting arrangement! All fine though. The cyclone decided to hit and they eye passed close by so we battened down the hatches and broke out the travel Rumikub game to while away some time. Before the trip everyone wanted to know why I was packing so many snacks and drinks however these came in vary handy during this time, especially as there are not a lot of shops to purchase things on this side of the island. On the Sunday we all partook in traditional to’ona’i Sunday lunch after dashing through the rain and holding down the table cloth blowing in the wind. That was an interesting experience for our visitors with octopus salad and solid pieces of taro which they say they could still taste several weeks later!! We finished off the trip with a drive around Lalomanu to check out the re-building after the tsunami.

Maniac on the Water!

2011-06-20T12:45:00.003-11:00

After her short ride on a jet ski at our netball party Angela decided she has to get a jet ski. Unfortunately for her that is not going to happen, but for her Xmas present I managed to hire one for half an hour.

So, after getting our lifejackets and a few instructions we were let loose, Ang in charge and me hanging on not knowing what to expect. It started off OK, nice and gentle keeping to the speed limit while we got away from the beach, but once we were clear then the fun began! All of a sudden we took off and I was almost left behind, then we came to a sudden stop and I had my face mashed into the back of Angela’s lifejacket. At this stage I couldn’t tell if she was having a good time or not as all I could hear was a strange mixture of screaming and laughing.

Well, she was having a ball and the faster the better. The only problem was that the faster we went the harder it got to see where we were going. I just held on with my eyes closed while we charged up and down the beach, jumping off some waves and crashing into others. We also quickly realised that she was not that worried about (or very good at) turning, so our ride became a series of high-speed blasts along the beach, usually with a sudden stop at the end, followed by a slow u-turn then the next blast along the beach.

It was great fun, but after half an hour we were both a bit sore from hanging on so tight and being bounced up and down. I think she wants to go again, but maybe next time I will get to drive?!

Making a running shoe cake!

2011-05-29T13:01:00.004-11:00

Yes while in NZ we had the first of the 40ths for this year. A great party was put on at Shakespeare Park in Whangaparoa with lovely food and many friends and family attending. Thanks to everyone who made it such a great day.

It took a whole day but the following Birthday cake was finally produced. Inspired by pictures of what others had done on th internet the cake became 3D rather thn 2D!

Step 1 - Cakes
Bake several chocolate mud cakes. We used 2 large baking dishes to give us enough. Annabel Langbein's chocolate mud cake recipe with coffee in it works well.

Step 2 - Making the pattern
Take one clean and new running shoe and using tin foil and baking paper draw around it and press the design into the foil to make a pattern. Cut these out.

Step 3 - Building the cake
Layer the cakes on top of each other to give enough height. Stick each layer together with icing.

Step 4 - Cutting the shape
Using the cut out templates carve the shape of the shoe into the cake.

Step 5 - Putting on the first layer of icing
Roll white icing large enough to cover the whole cake. Use plenty of icing sugar on your rolling surface to stop it sticking. Soften a little raspberry or apricot jam in the microwave and using a pastry brush brush a thin layer all over the cake to help the icing stick. Pick up the icing by rolling it over the rolling pin and in a swift motion, with your tongue held right, put the icing onto the cake. This is the most nerve wracking bit! Try and get the icing in place first go as repositioning is near impossible especially once you have sticky jam on the back! Use your hands to gently mould the icing into shape. It will blend and stretch a little bit to help you. Trim excess icing off around the base with a sharp knife.

Step 6 - Decorating
If you want the shoe to have a mesh canvas design then use something like florists netting or normal net to press the design into the first layer of icing. After this use your patterns to cut out the other shoe decorations from rolled coloured icing. Use egg white to stick these patterns onto the cake. Roll a long piece of icing thinly to make a shoe lace.

Step 7- Unveil your creation and enjoy the look on peoples faces!

Christmas 2010

2011-05-29T12:58:00.000-11:00

6 months have gone by for this year already and its not for want of something to say its that we have too much! Sorry for the silence. Will update you now on the last little while.

So back to Christmas. A while ago but still great memories of family and friends during our time home in NZ. Had a lovely time down Wellington way and this year even managed a few days staying at our beach house at Waitarere. Enjoyed fish and chips on the beach at Paraparaumu with Mum and Dad from Dads favourite place "Fed Up"!

Also spent some great days up north with fantastic NZ weather and plenty of delicious food and drink. Tried a new cocktail made with iced tea, Jack Daniels, Cointreau and mint leaves. Very lovely. Also went to Kawau Island for the day and I won the competition for the most photos taken of the copper mine from all angles around the.island. Are you surprised?! We also visited the sculptures at Brick bay which were interesting indeed.

One of my Christmas presents this year, following on from my taster on a jet ski in Samoa, was a 30 minute jet ski ride at Whangaparaoa. Adam dared to ride on the back and even though I tried a couple of times to loose him, he was still there clinging on for grim death at the end! Eat our spray man we zoomed and it was such an adrenaline ride. Spray in our faces the works. Still need to perfect the turn, as didnt quite believe what I was being told about the jet ski being impossible to tip over and that it would always pop back upright like a Weeble that wobbles but wont fall down!

Check our Flickr for the photos.

Referencing technique

2011-02-22T11:10:00.002-10:00

Check out the referencing on this photo that appeared in the Samoa Observer on Wednesday 16th February 2011 on page 7!! You are currently reading the aforementioned now famous in Samoa - blog!!

A Graduation Gift

2010-12-13T13:42:00.002-10:00

A little something for Elenoa from NZ and Samoa...

Che Hoo Jet Ski!!

2010-12-13T13:40:00.001-10:00

Tafatafa beach zooming up and down - SANTA I WANT ONE OF THESE!!!!

2010 Draws to a Close...

2010-12-13T13:12:00.003-10:00

...But it's not over and out just yet! No sireeeee. Infact it's still very much hanging in there. Although there are now hardly any students on USP Campus the end of year maddness persists as we prepare for Graduation which is this coming Friday. It is going to be a happy and sad time this year. Very happy for all those students who have come to the end of their studies and achieved great things, this includes my Library Assistant Betty and many Agricultural students including Elenoa. A little sad to see so many head back home to their islands in the pacific after spending hours together here at Alafua. This is just the beginning though and not the end!!

So having returned from NZ and the Koha conference back in November, a week later than planned having got very sick in NZ due to the FREEZING cold weather!!!!! It was not long before I was back on the plane heading to a USP Library Retreat in Fiji. A couple more over night flights and many hours driving either in a beat up bumpy old taxi or an even more beat up, shakey, rattly and draughty school bus I got to the Laucala Library and then round to the Intercontinental Resort on the Coral Coast where the retreat was being held. Wow what a resort!! I was awestruck. Massive is the only word for it. Never seen anything like it before. Huge 2 story apartments, golf course, amazing food, pacific service (hmmmm nough said) and a little bit of work and brainstorming was done around taking photos of the resort!!!!! Even think I might have to take Adam back there some time. The weather was rubbish so unfortunately I didn't don the bikini and go for a swim.

The moment I arrived back in Samoa I got 4 hours sleep before heading to Tafatafa beach to join the Hyundai Netball Club Christmas party. Great time was being had by all. I turned up just in time for a swim in the rain, BBQ lunch which everyone else had prepared for me (I did butter some bread!) a game of Survivor, a game of Touch Rugby and then the prize giving. Won a set of rabbits ears to help me "hear" when I'm umpiring and a trophy for Defence!!! Adam also scooped a prize for his contribution to manning the sausage sizzle this season. It was a fun time and a beautiful beach to be at.

This weekend we hosted Elenoa's Mum and Sister from Fiji who have come over for her graduation this week. They are staying in the other house on our property. Adam prepared lovely food for a BBQ dinner and I made a Pavalova so we introduced them to a bit of Kiwi! We had to battle a split pipe leaking water in their house but in true pacific style everyone took it well in their stride. Had a couple of extra "campers" stay in our spare room but that's what it's all about.

Around all of this there also seem to have been a few nights out at the local night spots lately. Many things to celebrate especially as there are many people passing exams and graduating at the moment.

We are also tackling our project for this "quiet" period in the library and are doing some major renovations which Adam drew up and made the plans for. Adam the demolition man has managed to pull down one internal wall in the library which has opened up a lot more space (he couldn't wait to get that crow bar out!!). The shelves have all been moved and the books arranged in a different layout. We are preparing for a bit of money coming our way when we will install bay end panels to our shelving to allow us to display materials and to brighten the place up. We are also alterating our study carrels to turn some of them into smaller study desks that the students can work around. This is the beginning of us trying to provide a more "learning commons" environment however we have a wee way to go before we fully achieve this. Not enough funding this time round to move the counter and build a new computer desk to house more PCs. Maybe in 2011.......

So there are many photos of all this going up on our Flickr site. Check them out. There are also a few of Sei Pua Day which is the Samoan Daffodil Day raising money for the Cancer Society. Of course here it's all about Frangipanis!!

Maybe see you in NZ over Christmas and for someone's Birthday party ............

USP Girls Netball Trophy

2010-12-03T10:32:00.003-10:00

Talofa Everyone

An article about the Alafua USP Girls netball team is currently on the USP website with a photo of the trophy. Check it out here http://www.usp.ac.fj/news/story.php?id=681. We recently had an end of season netball party. Had to cancel the trip to the beach as it has been raining and raining here lately so we went to our Multipurpose centre on campus, played pool and table tennis and enjoyed some cake and icecream. Certificates were presented to members of the team for best and most improved players etc.

Business Class?

2010-10-23T07:00:00.002-10:00

Get this. I am now in Auckland airport having just travelled Business Class from Samoa to NZ!! How did I manage this? Your guess is as good as mine! Might have had something to do with booking my tickets last minute and paying the earth? So anyway after battling the broken doors, lack of loo paper and amusement of the palagi's over the state of the toilets at Faleolo I boarded the plane and was directed to my plush leather seat with wide arm rests, foot rest and plenty of leg room. Not that leg room was something I really needed especially as my feet did not even touch the ground from my chair! I was feeling a little under dressed I might add in my trackies and Samonan Lokostyle hoodie top. And to top it all off none other than the great Michael Jones (who has been in Samoa leading an eye mission this time) walked straight past me heading towards the cheap seats!! Feeling a little guilty I was.

I was sitting next to an Indian lady who was none other than a food hygiene inspector and when I asked her how she had found Samoa she stressed very heavily that they have just started and that they are beginning with putting standards in place and working on food labelling! I asked if she had been to the markets and she said that that was going to be way way way down the track! We received our breakfast and my fritata was a little frozen in some places and a little warm in others. As I was most officially informed that this was not safe to eat, by the resident expert in the seat next to me, I avoided eating it. Decided to leave the dry muffin as well. I wonder if Michaels Umu box that I later saw on the conveyor belt would pass inspection....

Ferns win gold!

2010-10-14T00:44:00.002-10:00

Whoo hoo what a match. Extra time and extra on top of that until either australia or new zealand were 2 goals up in the commonwealth games gold medal netball final. In true samoan style the tv signal went in and out for the whole game and then what do you know but a power cut in extra time. I swear these people do this to 'p' me off! So it was a mad dash in the car round to nicolas house to see the last 9 minutes worth. It was a nail biter and a calculated risk going to an australian's house but it paid off in the end. Thanks to my friend nicola for her electricity. Being so gracious and putting up with me bouncing around her living room! WE WON GOLD. Yippee! My pick for player of the match is Maria Tutaia who was cool, calm and collected and banged the goals in from everywhere. What a star. Closely followed by casey williams who had another stormer in defence and anna scarlett making a great comeback and messing up aussie che with those long arms! Well done girls enjoy those medals.

Beautiful Frangipanis from the experimental gardner!

2010-09-28T11:53:00.004-10:00

18kg of Rice and a Bag

2010-09-28T11:43:00.004-10:00

So what do you do when you win an 18kg bag of rice in a raffle and it would take 2 of you until next Christmas to eat it all??? Split it up and give it away of course then give the bag to the dog to play with!! Loving the cooking instructions on the bag especially the bit about foreign smells!!

Clea salavert . . . In memorandum

2010-09-25T20:30:00.004-11:00

Had been out with friends celebrating the 100% all kiwi samoan influenced achievement but still managed to get up today at 6am ready to head to lalomanu with the library association of samoa. 25ish samoan librarians today helped set up the clea salavert memorial library which has been built by her family at lalomanu primary school in memory of a young australian avid reader who sadly lost her life in the tsunami while in samoa on holiday. We unboxed books sent by cleas school in australia, labelled, shelved and made pockets, cards and date dues for them. Yes it is a manual library as there is no computer or internet there yet. A terrific amount of work got done over a period of 6 hours but there is still plenty more to do. I spent a bit of time trying to crash course train someone to be a librarian and teach them in the space of a few hours what has taken me years to learn! Struggled a bit with the samoan lunch provided as i still have not got used to umu food and the taro sat heavy in my stomach. Thanks to those for preparing the meal however. No time for a swim unfortunately but checked out the tsunami rebuilding. Taufua is looking great and restored to former glory. Cant quite say the same for the neighbours who have built a great concrete monstrosity on the beach that ruins the landscape and loses the whole purpose of a samoan fale holiday. There are still remainders of destroyed buildings strewing the coastline and the place has turned into a ghost town now all the families are living inland but the vegetation is returning. I was hoping i could stick my head in the sand and avoid the 29th anniversary but that is pretty unrealistic especially as we will be remembering our dear friend peter from netball. The clea salavert library opens on the 5th october and i am looking forward to meeting her family though expect it will be a painful time for them. Photos of this event can be found here http://www.flickr.com/photos/libraryassociationofsamoa/sets/72157624929943355/

I DID IT!! White skirt brigade here I come!!

2010-09-23T11:11:00.003-11:00

Apia Town Clock

2010-09-21T09:28:00.004-11:00

Speaking of time-related matters, the Samoa Observer reported yesterday that the town clock is going to be repaired.

For those of you that know Apia, this is the clock that is only right twice a day. It hasn't worked for 10 years or so, but it is now being repaired to coincide with the start of daylight saving.

Apparently the clock also has some impressive bells that will ring again once the repairs are complete.

Daylight Saving

2010-09-17T10:57:00.002-11:00

Daylight Saving is coming to Samoa!

I don't know if this is a good thing, but like it or not next weekend (Sept 25) we will be putting our clocks forward for the first time ever.

Since we have been here we have experienced a few major changes, particularly the road switch and now we have this to look forward to. I am not 100% sure why they want to do this one - I have seen some wacky claims that this is going to "...improve Samoa's health system." (Samoa Observer 24/9/10). One of the ideas is that this is going to give people and extra hour in the evenings to exercise, but somehow I don't think it will make a difference. For me personally it will be an inconvenience because I like to run after work just as the sun is going down, now I will have to wait and hour longer (or work and hour longer?!).

The other argument is that it will reduce power consumption because we won't have to turn our lights on so early in the evenings, but for me it will mean I will now have to turn the lights on in the morning while I have my breakfast!

I wonder how many people will turn up late for work on the following Monday?!

Winter in Samoa

2010-09-17T10:41:00.003-11:00

This last week has been the coldest since we have been here and we have been getting some really heavy rain too. Angela took this photo of the rain at work the other day.

On Wednesday morning it was only 21 degrees when we were going to work and it has been so cold that we have had to put the duvet on the bed! Well, just the duvet cover actually, but this is the first time that we have done this in more than 2 years here. Maybe we are getting acclimatised!!

I know I shouldn't complain about the weather here - we have been watching the news from NZ and can see that you guys are having to put up with some really rough weather too right now. At least we haven't had any snow here!

Teuila Festival

2010-09-14T14:29:00.009-11:00

Last week was Teuila Festival over here. During the week they have a number of cultural performances, the fautasi boat race and other events. This year one of the events was a fashion show that was put on by the big fashion label here - Mena. Angela went along to the show (I stayed home and wacthed the rugby on TV!) and here are some of her photos.

The first picture is Miss Samoa 2009/10. The models in the next few pictures play in Angela's netball team.

The other highlight of Teuila Festival is the Miss Samoa Pageant. I didn't get to stay home watching rugby this time - I did promise Angela that I would go along with her. They have a habit of making these things go on forever, but this year there were only 6 contestants so I was hopeful that it would all be over quickly. Actually, they put on a good show this year and I don't think I complained too much! It still took 4 hours though, but I did get home in time to see the All Blacks beat the Wallabies. For the record, the winner was Jolivette Ete with Miss Samoa New Zealand the runner up. Jolivette was also a model at the fashion show Angela attended earlier in the week (that's her in the picture above).

Kitchen Experiments - Part 2

2010-09-14T13:42:00.003-11:00

Still inspired from the weekends efforts I decided to add a bit of pacific flavour to last nights dinner.

Instead of our usual BBQ fish, I decided to cook our fish wrapped up in banana leaves with coconut cream, lemon and tomato - the tomatoes were homegrown too. I still had some coconut cream left from Sunday, but needed to get some banana leaves. No worries there - there are some young banana plants growing next door, within reach of the fence. So, armed with my machete I reached over the fence and harvested a couple of leaves. I only ended up with one scratch from the barbed wire!!

I used the banana leaves instead of tin foil to wrap up the fish, coconut, lemon and tomato parcels. All you need to do is peel the thick rib off the back of the leaf then heat it quickly over a fire (or the element on the stove) to soften the leaf and it is ready to use. This is a much more environmentally friendly version of tin foil and it gives a great flavour to the food.

Kitchen Experiments - Part 1

2010-09-14T13:35:00.003-11:00

Last week during the Teuila Festival a new pacific cookbook was launched – Me’a Kai by Robert Oliver. It is a really nice looking book, full of great photos and pacific style recipes, so we decided to get a copy. Inspired by looking at the colourful photos I stopped in at the market on my way home from my Sunday morning run and stocked up on pawpaw, breadfruit, coconuts etc. While Angela was diligently studying for her netball exam later in the day I started experimenting in the kitchen – with mixed success!!

First up I decided to make a warm coconut breakfast drink. There is a Samoa version that I enjoy (Vaisalo), but have never made – you can just by it from the market or roadside stalls. There was a Tongan variation of the recipe in the book, so I decide to have a go. It involves using the juice and soft flesh from green coconuts and boiling this up with a bit of lemongrass and vanilla to make a thick, warm coconut drink. I couldn’t get hold of any lemongrass, so threw in a wedge of lemon instead. It turned out really yummy, but I seriously underestimated how much juice I was going to get out of the coconuts and ended up making a huge stockpot full of this drink, only to realise that Angela doesn’t really like hot coconut drinks!! I drunk several mug fulls over the day, but still had a pot full left!

Next I made some breadfruit dumplings with coconut caramel sauce. These were relatively easy to make, after I had grated the coconuts to make the coconut cream. But again this was not a hit with Ang. She doesn’t enjoy the stodgy starchy foods – the only way she likes breadfruit is when I make breadfruit chips! So, I decided not to make anymore breadfruit dumplings and used the rest of my mashed breadfruit to make a breadfruit loaf. This was much more successful – we both enjoyed this one!

By this stage Angela was wanting to prepare for her exam and I had made a total mess of the kitchen, so it was time for a break!

After lunch (boring sandwiches) I went back to the kitchen. I still had some grated coconut, coconut cream and lemon to use up and found a recipe for Coconut Lemon Cream Pie. This sounded good – a pie with a coconut layer, a lemon cream layer and topped off with meringue! While Ang was sitting her exam I had a go at this pie. The crust was no problem and the coconut filling came up good, but when I got to the lemon cream filling I found that I had no condensed milk! No panic – now that I can get internet access on my phone it was just a quick trip to Google and I found a recipe for a condensed milk substitute! This seemed to come out alright and after a bit of fun separating the eggs the lemon cream layer was done. I was running out of patience by the time I got to the meringue, so it wasn’t the lightest, fluffiest meringue ever but it was getting late and I wanted to get the pie in the oven! Well, as the say ‘the proof of the pudding is in the eating’ and this one definitely passed the test!!

By this stage the major drawback of my day experimenting in the kitchen became obvious - a mountain of dishes and no dishwasher!!

Samoa Perimeter Relay

2010-09-14T12:52:00.005-11:00

While Angela was away in New Zealand the second Samoa Perimeter Relay was held. This is the same event I participated in last year as part of the New Zealand High Commission Team. We all had a good time last year and vowed to do it again this year, but since then 3 out of our team of 6 have returned to New Zealand including Caroline, the High Commissioner and our team captain. Her replacement isn’t a keen runner, so not only were we looking for 3 new runners, but we also needed a sponsor!

This year Darryl took charge and pledged the support of National Pacific Insurance so our team, the NPI Flyers, was created. Joining Darryl, Jenny and me form last year were Paul (Jenny’s husband), Slava (the new volunteer vet at APS, all the way from Russia) and Saxon (at 18 years old he was the ‘fresh legs’ of the team).

The NPI Flyers (l-r Darryl, Slava, Adam, Saxon, Jenny, Paul)

The organisers made a few minor changes after last year, but basically the event was the same – teams of 6 running 104 km around the coast of Upolu, starting a Sinalei and finishing in Apia. The route was divided into 24 legs that ranged from about 3km to just over 5km – so each runner had to run 4 legs an a total distance of about 17.5km.

This year we started 5.15am, an hour later than last year but my hopes of a better night’s sleep were dashed because I had to take Angela to the airport at 1.00am! We got to the start line OK, all decked out in our NPI hats and ready to run. Paul was our first runner and set a cracking pace that was keep up by Saxon, then it was my turn. The first leg is always the easiest, it is the coolest part of the day and you are still fresh. I had a good run, starting just before the sun came up and finishing as the sun rose.

By the time we got to my second leg the sun was up and we realised it was going to be a hot day. There was a bit of light rain around, but we always seemed to miss it! My run was along a flat part of the coast that had been hit by the tsunami last year. The buildings to my left in the photo above were damaged by the tsunami and have now been abandoned. I hadn’t been back to some of these areas since the tsunami and it was a little strange to be running through these places. Closer to Lalomanu a lot of the tourist accommodation has been re-built, but a lot of the villages have been abandoned with new settlements having been established further inland.

By the time we got to our last rotation it was the middle of the day and really hot, with no wind or shade. We all found it hard going but pushed on, keen to get to the finish. Later in the day we heard that some of the other teams had runners that couldn’t complete their legs, meaning that one of their other runners had to pick up the extra distance. I am glad this didn’t happen to us because I know I wasn’t keen to run any further than I had to by the end of the day!!

We got to the finish line just after 2.00pm in a time of 8 hours and 54 minutes – this was almost an hour quicker than last year and good enough for 3rd place!

Cracking and creaking in samoa

2010-09-13T01:05:00.000-11:00

So dr rachel is currently visiting samoa and she comes highly recommended as a chiropractor by both adam and ray so i thought it was time i went to see if anyone could relieve the pain in my neck! Too much computer and mouse use and all that. After a consultation punctuated with many ohhhs, wows and ahs over the state of my spine and her ability to find every sore spot along it i was most impressed when an "adjustment" had instant effect. Since then there have been more cracks and creaks and slowly we are working through all areas. This is the first time i have been to a chiropractor and have to say it has been a positive experience and i now feel like i can move even if some days have been like a decrepit old woman while the body gets used to where it should be! Thank you dr rachel please visit samoa again soon!

Frangipani Flowering

2010-09-05T21:05:00.004-11:00

The Frangipani that I planted from a cutting about a year ago has sprung in to flower while I've been in NZ.

UNISS – Upper North Island Secondary Schools Netball Tournament

2010-09-05T20:54:00.002-11:00

Oceania Umpires from Left - Raijieli (Fiji), Jona (Fiji), Angela (Samoa), Mela (Fiji) and Punanga (Cook Islands)

I’ve just returned from the UNISS tournament which was in Glen Innes this year at the Auckland Netball Centre. The centre was built about 4 years ago and the area is still being developed around it. It is a fantastic facility. Over 20 purpose built courts and 2 indoor courts that can also accommodate indoor netball and soccer etc. The building has space for a cafeteria, physio room, control room and umpires facilities. I was invited as one of 6 Oceania Umpires to this tournament so there were 3 from Fiji, 2 from the Cook Islands and me and we were part of the 100 strong Umpiring team there.

The weather was changeable. Sometimes bright and sunny and other times raining with a fierce cold wind! The netball was fast and clean compared to what I’m used to and the girls have great skills. They were all as tall as trees and very competitive, I’m sure it wasn’t like that in my day!! For the first 3 days I ran up and down frantically trying to follow the protocols and keep up with the game but on the 4th day I received some mentoring from one of NZ’s top umpires and had a couple of “ah ha” moments where things dropped into place. By the last day of the tournament I think I had nailed positioning and anticipating/reading the game so as to be one step ahead. I started to see how it was meant to be and discovered umpiring is completely different to playing the game. I observed some of the top umpires in action and learnt a heck of a lot in a short space of time.

I was super impressed with the way the game was controlled during the tournament. All the umpires from A to C grade followed the protocols and knew the rules equally as well. I found that the 2 of you on a game really did need to work as a team and control things together from before match checks to starting the game, injury breaks, advancing penalties and warning players. One thing I did notice is that the umpires don’t tolerate any nonsense from the players or the spectators and think nothing of awarding a penalty to the opposing team if grief is given. This is something we could do a lot more stringently in Samoa. I did have an incident on my first day with a player being “punched” in the back of the head and ending up in hospital with concussion and I didn’t even see a thing!! Now how can that be possible???

I learnt about “doing hot and colds”!! Basically this is standing in a plastic rubbish bin up to your thighs in icy water for at least 30 seconds. I braved this a couple of times and yes could feel the difference to the aching muscles however it was more like torture than fun as I was sure my legs were going to drop off. I wonder who discovered that this was a good idea for tired muscles??

Now it’s back to Samoa to practice my new found skills and work towards my NZ Badge starting with the NZ theory on the 13th September. Fingers crossed to pass that exam.

USP Open Day

2010-08-20T11:23:00.002-11:00

Yesterday was USP’s annual Open Day – another reason why Angela has been so busy recently. There seems to be a lot organise and she has ended up on the Open Day Committee – they seem to have a committee for everything these days!

Anyway, it sounds like it was a successful day. Something that they did differently this year was the cultural performances. Each year they get students from the various countries that make up USP to perform some traditional dance items from their homeland. This has always been done in the afternoon, so those of us at work miss out – although I have been able to experience it second hand thanks to Angela’s movie clips and thousands of photos! This year they held it in the evening, so I took the opportunity to go and watch the performances first hand. For those of you not lucky enough to live here and be able to see the show, Ang will be uploading some photos and video clips soon – but she has plenty to sort through first!

The students did a great job – as always. For us Palagi it is a great reminder of what an important place song and dance has in the culture of the Pacific Islands. And it is a great way to see so many different cultures and compare the similarities and note the differences between them.

I am just grateful that they don't expect this uncoordinated, rhythmically challenged palagai to get up and perform some kind of dance from his homeland!

Weekend Away

2010-08-20T11:05:00.002-11:00

Me again - this is what happens when Ang lets me loose on the blog!

In between all of the netball we did managed to fit in a weekend away recently. It was Father’s Day here a couple of weeks ago and in Samoa that means a long weekend! So we headed off around the coast to Le Uaina – this is the same place we went at Easter. At Easter I spent most of the weekend suffering with a bad back (I told you I am getting old), but this time I was fully fit. We enjoyed a very nice few days relaxing and snorkelling.

When I was making our booking I went to their website (yes, they are one on the few places here that have a website) and was surprised to see that some of Angela’s photos from our last visit now appear on the website! Check it our here: Le Uaina That is Angela holding the blue starfish! I think a couple more of her photos are some of the other pages of the site too.

We will be uploading some photos from the weekend to flickr soon.

Netball Update.

2010-08-20T10:55:00.003-11:00

Sorry we haven’t posted anything for so long but things have been quite busy recently. All the usual stuff – netball, netball and more netball! So, it has fallen to me to give a quick update.

Angela’s team has been going OK, a bit inconsistent but they are currently vying for a respectable 3^rd or 4^th place finish in the A Grade. There are only a couple of weeks left in the season so they are keen to finish strongly and maybe take out third place.

The USP girls have finished the season undefeated and have taken out the B Grade – thanks largely to ‘Super Coach’. Yes, that’s me! While Angela was away in Toowoomba I had to look after the team. They were all very worried about how they would cope while she was away so insisted that I came down to the games with them. While in charge I helped them to hard fought wins over Hyundai (our club) and St Mary’s, and earned the nickname of Super Coach.

The USP Boys team has been a different story and the cause of a great deal of stress for poor old Angela. They never turn up to training, but then complain that they need more practice. Some weeks they turn up to the courts without enough players to make up their team and other weeks they will arrive with a whole bus load of players. Last week only 1 turned up, the rest of them had been out drinking on Friday night and were still in bed when the van came to take them to netball! I don’t think Ang is keen on having a boys team next season.

And of course Angela is still umpiring. As one of Samoa’s most highly qualified netball umpires she gets put on all the tough games. She is always worried about her performance, but I can see that she is doing a really good job. Last week she had to umpire the top 2 men’s teams. This is a game that has often got out of control in the past, with lots of dirty play, talking back to umpires and even the odd fight or chair being thrown! But last week she was in control of this unruly bunch of fa'afafines and it was a good game to watch. Soon she is off to NZ to umpire a secondary schools tournament in Auckland and after that she will be sitting her next umpiring exam. If only she could but down her Phillipa Gregory and start studying the netball rule book!

As for me, I have only played a few games this season. I have been struggling with a sore knee, or maybe I am just getting old! Not playing doesn’t seem to excuse you from spending all day at the courts though. I still have to watch the games Angela plays and umpires and am expected to give intelligent feedback, and of course someone has to man the club's sausage sizzle while everyone else is busy playing.

Because of my dodgy knee I have only been doing a limited amount of running, but am still planning to take part in the Samoa Perimeter Relay again. This is the 102km relay run that I did last year. There are 3 of us from last years team that are back to do it again, the other 3 have all returned to NZ, but we have rounded up 3 more suckers to join us. The event is next weekend and I promise to post a report as soon as I can.

University Games Success!

2010-07-13T20:38:00.003-11:00

So it was freezing cold (yes even frost on the ground) in Toowoomba but none of that could dampen our spirits!! WE WON BRONZE!! I kid you not. It is awesome and we feel like we have done something great for Samoa even if it is just to win a bronze medal at the UniGames Netball competition!! It was an awesome week. Everyone was fairly well behaved (ah hem!! nough said) we fought hard, we played hard, we kept our cool when it was necessary and we did not give up for one minute even though we had to beat "Turbo" who was turbo sized from the University of Southern Queensland 2 team in the play offs for the bronze. Everyone is so stoked. Made all the organising and worrying over funding very worth while. Lets hope this can bring great things to Samoa for University sports. We certainly got noticed internationally by a FISU - International University Sports Fedreation member and AUS - Australian University Sports person both of whom came to support our games once they saw how well we were doing. Here are the results for the mixed netball:-

Gold - University of Southern Queensland

Silver - Griffith University Gold Coast

Bronze - Samoan Universities

Yeeee Ha still riding that wave!!

Samoan Netball

2010-06-30T21:35:00.002-11:00

So we have been back in the country only 3 weeks and so much has happened. In this time the girls A team won the netball shield. This is no mean feat and a once in a lifetime opportunity for us. Next game is against the top of the grade and a very strong team so we will see if we can hang on to the log of wood! Of course we had a celebration out that night and took the shield with us around town!!

As well as this we have had the South African team visiting to play 2 test matches against the Samoan National side. Always exciting to have international teams here. The courts never look better. We also seem to acquire new things like tarpaulins to keep the sun out so at least local netball also benefits. Most of us were at the courts working in some way or another. Adam and I got roped into doing the flip chart scoring. I'm sure he was more on to it than me as I was so focused on all there was to watch such as the teams and what the international umpires were doing. Speaking of which, myself and Ioane were asked to umpire the curtain raiser for the first game. This was between SCOPA and SMOGA the top 2 secondary school teams in the country. Always a rival match that one. Anyway little did we know that the NZ international umpires, Faye, Jono and Bobbie, came in to watch our game, assessed us and passed us for our Regional Umpiring badges!!! Very exciting for us as we are now the first ever umpires to reach this level in Samoa. We will see now about attending the clinic in Auckland in September to help us study towards the NZ Theory and NZ practical exams. This honor does not come lightly however as we are already getting asked the hard questions regarding the rules!!!

We - meaning mostly Adam - have also done our good deed at USP and got stuck in and painted the netball court lines. Having waited over a year and having come up with 3 quotes that were all exorbitant it was becoming pretty urgent that we needed a court painted so Adam sourced some road marking paint, make up a template with wood the right width for the lines and we went and measured up and painted the thing on before anyone could stop us. Yellow hobbit feet later (paint overspray!) and the courts look fab. It has been great. Now we can train properly. One small thing to sort out now which is the 2 tennis net poles sticking up in the middle of the mid court however hopefully maintenance will be on to that soon ..... or maybe we will have to wait another year to get them removed. Can't rush these things!! The courts have been christened by USP and the UniGames team ....

Yes there have been 2 solid months of serious organising to take the University Netball Team to Australia. Just yesterday we got that bit more funding we needed for our last bill which is the accommodation in Toowoomba. So we are off on Friday 2nd July to be the first team to compete in the UniGames in Australia. The team are all pretty excited and so am I. It has not been easy fundraising and filling in forms, forms and yet more forms but we have the flights, visa's, accommodation, travel insurance, uniforms, balls, team lineups etc all sorted now and we are ready to play. Think we are all going to freeze as it is 5 degrees over night and 10 degrees through the day in Toowoomba but will let you know how it goes. I hope the 13 young adults I have to supervise behave?????????????????????????

Other than netball ...... well is there anything other than netball? Oh yes there is that work thing that gets fitted in around! Have been asked to re-design the inside of the Alafua Library which is a great opportunity. Hope there is some serious money available. Have to move the counter back apparently and make more student space then see if we can refurbish etc. I am hoping to create more of a "learning commons" space with more/new computers, small and large tables for study, wireless internet, relaxing space and generally make the place look more inviting. Adam again has been a fab help using his autocad skills to draw up a floor plan of the libray and help me plan what would need to go where. Big job. Need to write a proposal. I guess that will be the first task when I get back from Toowoomba.

Take care all. Speak soon xx

PS check out Flickr as will be uploading more photos soon

Go the Manu! and true Samoan Style!

2010-06-10T13:15:00.003-11:00

I suspect only in Samoa can a public holiday be declared to welcome home the 7's rugby team and celeberate their series win for 2010?! Well we arrived back in Samoa just in time for this day. Go the Manu we say as if they take out the Commonwealth Games as well we just might get another day off!!

Have spent a great week in Australia for my nephew's 1st Birthday and managed to catch up with 2 long lost friends from the UK at the same time. Managed to make a truck Birthday cake with tray on the back full of lollies so was happy with that. Went to Movie World one day with Mum and Dad and Adam had to go on all the rides! I held the camera! The Scooby Doo ghost ride freaked me out and Batman simulation made me feel sick! The bubbles during the street parade and Shrek in 4D was more my style!!

Now back to normal life which means planning the UniGames Netball trip to Aussie at the start of July in Toowoomba - it's going to be freezing there. In true style nothing happened towards the organisation of this while I was away so now we are full on into fundraising. If anyone out there would like to sponsor us even a small amount that would be much appreicated. We also have accommodation etc to pay for in Australia so....anyone?? Donations of team tracksuits etc also most welcome as these guys are going to freeze and I know even myself I don't have anything warm to wear in Toowoomba!!

Also in true Samoan style we are still experiencing rolling power cuts. These started about the 24th May with campus having no power every afternoon from 1.00-5.00pm and will continue for the forseeable future. We are running out of things we can do with no power and it gets very hot and dark in the library. The students also panic about getting their assignments printed so we have a huge queue at the desk - don't ask me why the library is the only place they can print on campus!! This afternoon however it is raining which apparently means the hydro power generation is all good so the power is staying on - yippee!

Adam also had the funniest trip to the Vet yesterday with old man who will not stay in the boot of the car but prefers to climb over the back seat while the car is moving and even over into the passenger seat. Anyway driving with a dog on your lap is not to be recommended and causes much amusement to passers by!! Old man by all accounts managed to switch the wipers on and off and turn off the radio with his nose when the breaks were put on not to mention slobber all over the place! Adam also seems to have acquired a number of scratch marks on his legs so I wonder why that might be!! All this just to have stitches removed.....

Emergency Surgery!

2010-05-28T23:32:00.000-11:00

Don’t worry it was either of us, but one of our dogs!

The other day we noticed an ugly growth on Old Man’s back and it started looking a bit nasty, so we decided to take him up to the Animal Protection Society (APS) to get it checked out. Unfortunately Angela had to work, so I had to do this myself. Old Man had never been in the car before, and even though he has been wearing a collar for a while and we even bought a lead a couple of weeks ago, he has never been on the lead. After trying to convince him to jump up into the car I realised the only way he was going to get was if I picked him up and put him in. Lucky for me he is a very laid back dog and just let me do it – unlike Lucky who tried to run away and then peed all over me when I picked her up! But unlike Lucky, once we started moving he didn’t want to sit still.

Somehow he managed to drool all over the place then climb from the back of the car over to the back seat then tried to stick his head on my lap for a pat! Once we got to APS I was pleasantly surprised when he let me put the lead on then climbed out of the car almost on command.

Once the vet had inspected the lump we decided to remove it. The surgery went OK, but when they removed the lump they discovered it was a tumour and was a lot bigger than they thought. After half a day recovering from the anaesthetic he seems to be back to normal, but he does have quite a big scar now.

So, a big faafetai lava to Skye and the team at APS for locking after Old Man so well.