Netball Season

After the odd false start and the inevitable delay the new netball season has finally started. Things are very much the same as last year - the Men's team stated with a convincing win over the NZ Immigration Services team (45-15) and the Ladies A-Grade side had a loss to Viavase.

And like last year Saturday's main event wasn't necessarily the netball, but the after match drinks and BBQ. Although this year things might be a bit different in that area because a lot of the new players in the Ladies teams are under 21 and don't drink!

The club has new uniforms this year, so at least we all looked good on court!

Puppy Update

The puppies are now 5 weeks old. They are venturing out from under the shipping container now and even making a squeaky racket in the middle of the night to let us all know they are there! It has been interesting watching them grow from the rat like stage when they were first born with closed eyes, to the wobbly legged blue eyes open, to the strong playful puppies they are now. They crouch and pounce and bite and chew everything including each others tails and ears, with much protest from the bitee!! There are seven, 5 black ones that look like Lucky but with various patterns of brown and white, a golden one that looks a bit like Old Man and a grayish one.

Still have not figured out how many boys and girls as so far I’m having to look from outside the fence. Some Chinese people who run the Coin Save (aka $2 shop) that has just opened downtown are living in the house and so I haven’t ventured inside the gate onto their property. I have found homes for them all. Thing is that when I visited today there were only 5 so maybe some have been given away already?

Adam and I are off to visit Raymond, Lisa and Lincoln (new Nephew!!) in Brisbane at the end of the week so will see what the status is with puppies when we get back and re-home some then if necessary. Will also get the Samoa Animal Protection Society around again to perform the spaying of Lucky.

Old Man got the chop about 5 weeks ago and has recovered from his ordeal well after having a few nasty looking wounds probably from lying down in mucky places and dragging his tummy along the ground. I was on dog bollocks watch for a few days to make sure they did not get too infected. Lovely job that!!

I think Lucky will be more of a handful when it comes to muzzling and injecting her etc. APS basically back up the truck, unload a portable operating table, inject the sleepy drug then a painkiller, antibiotic and anesthetic then get to work on the dog. I couldn’t look at the surgery as it was making me feel queasy! Anyway we don’t want any more puppies and I think after 2 litters in the last year she might like to enjoy a life free of motherhood!! Maybe the APS can check on any puppies left when they come but I think they are looking pretty healthy. We are still feeding Lucky and Old Man daily which I hope is helping. Lucky is so very bony and skinny now and it doesn’t seem to matter how much food she gets she is still bony and skinny! The puppies must be taking it all from her just now. It has been an interesting daily jaunt up the street to visit the puppies since they have been born and I’ll miss them when they go but we can’t be feeding 7 new mouths on the street so good homes are what is required!

Library Week Samoa 2009

Whoo wee (or Choo Hoo as the Samoan’s say)! Have just got to the end of one massive week that was Library Week in Samoa – well in Upolu anyway. We are off to Savaii at the start of August to do it all again! This is the first Library Week Samoa has had for 21 years!!!!! I could say it’s taken the executive 21 years to recover from the last one and that would be pretty close to the truth!No seriously it was a massively successful week just a whole lot of work for the 8 of us on the Executive Committee.

Samoa Library Association Executive Committee

It all began with a Library Week opening Parade through the centre of Apia on Monday 6^th July. The parade went from Aggie Grey’s along Beach Road to the Nelson Memorial Public Library. We were at first worried that no one would come and join us and that we would be walking up the street on our own but at the last minute found out that Robert Louis Stevenson school was planning to bring all 300 of their students and with a couple of other schools we knew about, including Amoa College from Savaii, we were suddenly expecting around 500-600 kids!! How to keep them all entertained and amused after the parade was the main worry. Luckily for us it so happened the US Navy ship was in the harbour and we had been asked if the US Navy band could join us in the parade and if some of the US Navy boys could come along and read. This was the perfect solution to our 500 or so kids and much appreciated assistance.

So anyway the parade began at 9.30am and was led by the US Navy and Samoa Police bands. The Library Association of Samoa followed next with their freshly painted banner (thanks to one of the Executive’s brother who did a fabulous job) and dressed in their uniform/puletasi/shirts. Walking along we sure did attract a bit of attention with people and tourists on the side of the road waving and taking photos. The TV cameras were also following. Looking behind it was great to see a huge trail of people following us in a big worm like movement. The children had been invited to dress up as their favourite book character so there were many inventive costumes including ghouls, ghosts, witches, Cindrella, Harry Potter, surgeons, army people etc.

At the Public Library we divided the kids and adults. Kids outside with iceblocks and packets of chips and adults inside for the speeches. The Reverend Lotu Uele blessed our ceremony and gave the opening prayer. We then had the Deputy Prime Minister the Honorable Misa Telefoni Retzlaff as the key note speaker. Our Patron Her Highness ????? said a few words and cut the ribbon to open Library Week. It was a very appropriate ceremony followed by lovely refreshments.

Throughout the week there were Movie nights at NUS and USP libraries, storytime at the Public Library in English and Samoan and Short Story/Poetry writing competition. There was much coverage of events in the Samoa Observer News Paper, Newsline and on Television 1 and 3. The President Avalogo Togi Tunupopo and myself were interviewed for Television 3 which was a nerve wracking experience. As was pointed out to me by friends my nervous wiggly foot twitching thing carried on throughout the whole interview but it was a great experience. First time I’ve been in a TV studio.

Prizes for the competitions were awarded at the end of week High Tea at Plantation House where a small select few people were invited to attend. The events were set up in the little fale with comfortable chairs, music, presentations, prizes and guest speaker Robin Yeager from the US Embassy who spoke on the importance of reading and literature and entertained the crowd with a children’s story telling. The evening ended with a glass of champagne to celebrate and lovely finger food by Marita who is a great cook!

Exhausting but fantastic. This time the Executive does not want to wait 21 years to remind the Samoan public how important literacy and reading is to life long learning and knowledge. In order to do this though the Association needs support in the way of book donations and funding. Membership fees are kept very low so that librarians and interested people around Samoa can afford to join so as a not-for-profit organization it is important for the Executive to identify sources of funding and support. If anyone out there is willing to help this important cause then please contact me!

Backyard Garden

Well it was our pleasure recently to watch one of the Agricultural students projects which was a DVD on backyard gardening!! Apparently growing your own food in your back yard is great for fitness and supplementing your family’s health and well being plus it saves you money!! Tonight for dinner we have had a BBQ with salad made from lettuce we have growing in the back yard and cherry tomatoes, which I’m informed might be the first of this variety in the country. Thanks to customs for letting me in with the seeds. Lunch time was tomato and pesto sandwiches with pesto made from our own basil crop munched up by Adam’s new stick blender. Very yummy and delicious. So nice to have some recognizable food for sure. Mind you we also had breadfruit chips on the BBQ which were great. I love breadfruit!

Another Fun Run

Last weekend was another 5km Fun Run along the Apia waterfront. This time I couldn't convince Angela that it was worth getting out of bed for, so I left her sleeping and headed off for the 6.30am start.

It was another good run, I came second again in the 'Masters' division. In this event if you are over 35 you a labelled a Master. The first time this happened it made me feel old, and a little offended, to be lumped in with the 'oldies', but I am getting used to it now. There is a cash prize for the first Master to finish, so all I have to do now is figure out how to beat the one other Master that keeps finishing in front of me (or arrange it so that he doesn't turn up!) and I will be in the money!

Why all this running some people are asking? Well, earlier this year the US Veterans of Samoa decided to organise a running event that they have called the Samoa Perimeter Relay. As the name suggests this is a relay run around the perimeter of Samoa. The course this year is actually going to go about halfway around the main island (Upolo) and the following year the route will do the other half. Anyway, this means that this year the run will be approximately 64 miles (103 km) to be completed by teams of up to 6 runners. The course is divided into 24 legs, with each runner to do 4 legs.

The New Zealand High Commission decided to enter and somehow I found myself on their team, so that is why I have started doing some running. At the end of August I somehow have to drag myself halfway around Samoa!

If anyone wants to find out a bit more about the event they have a website up now so check it out.

Lindsay - if you are reading this in Palmy have you got any tips for running a relay event like this? I know you guys do the Taupo Relay and any advice will be appreciated. By the way, the organisers are taking international teams so if Manawatu Striders want to enter a team I will look after you!! It would be a great way to escape the miserable NZ winter!

On the road again

We are very pleased to finally have our car back on the road again. After all the hassles eventually the right windscreen arrived and was successfully installed.

I was surprised to get a call from the insurance company saying that the correct windscreen had arrived and that if I delivered the car before lunchtime they could have it installed by the end of the day. This seemed very speedy for Samoa! So I delivered the car and we checked again that they had the correct piece of glass then left them to it.

When I went back at the end of the day I was very happy to see our car ready and waiting with its brand new windscreen. I had a quick look to make sure everything was OK before heading home. Everything looked fine, then even managed to transfer the rear vision mirror over without breaking anything!

On the way home I had to use the windscreen wipers to clean the windscreen. I got a bit of a surprise to hear the sound of metal scraping on glass and when the wipers had finished their sweep they were pointing at strange angles across the windscreen! When I got home I was going to get on the phone and give the installer an earful, but realised that they were closed for the day. So I went out and had a closer look. After scratching my head for a while and trying to figure out what had happened I finally realised that the wipers were on the wrong way around (the drivers side wiper was on the passengers side and vice versa). I guess they must have taken them off when they were installing the windscreen and put them on the wrong way round. Fortunately it was and easy thing to fix and there was no damage done.

So, the trusty Subaru (or Knight Rider as it has been christened here by some of the students) is back in one piece again.

Baby Photos

Well, Angela was right - Lucky was due to have puppies.  The other night she didn't come around for dinner, which has never happened before. Then the next night she appeared and got us to follow her down the road to the empty house where the Americans had been staying. She then squeezed under they gate and disappeared under an old shipping container that has been left in the front yard.  The gate is locked and we don't have a key.  The fence and gate is topped with barbed wire, so climbing over didn't look like a good idea.  In the end I decided it was the only way I was going to get in there and manged to get over the barbed wire without doing any damage.

As soon as I got near the container I could hear squeaking coming from underneath.  When I looked under there was Lucky and her litter.  It was hard too see under there, but it looks like 6 or 7 puppies.  Angela has already started thinking up names for them, but I don't think we will be keeping them. Anybody want a puppy?! 

Lucky seems to be fine, she came out and had some food and water. We can't really get at the puppies yet, but I guess they will come out when they can.