Apia Town Clock

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!