Tsunami Update

By last night we getting a clearer picture of just how much damage the tsunami has done, and it is a lot worse than we first realised. The south coast of Upolo (the island we live on) has been devastated. Many villages have been destroyed and there has been significant loss of life. We aren’t sure exactly how many people have been killed, but reports here have ranged from 40-100. At this stage there are still lots of people missing so I guess it will be a while before the real numbers are known.

The areas hit worst include many of the beach fales and some of the bigger resorts. We have seen pictures on the local news and it is hard to comprehend how much damage has been done in some places. They have been showing pictures from some of our favourite beaches and holiday spots and we can hardly recognise them. It is strange to be so close to such destruction and yet where we are has been unaffected. We have been very lucky, and spent a little while yesterday reflecting on what might have happened in the tsunami had come from the other direction.

Clearly this is quite a tragedy for the country and everyone has been affected in some way. For us it has been with the loss of Peter Letui. Pete played netball with us this season. Earlier in the year he had joined the Fire Service and often told us how much he was enjoying it, especially because it gave him the opportunity to help people. Yesterday we heard that a fire truck had rolled when it was on its way to assist after the tsunami. Peter was killed in the accident. It is so sad to lose someone that was so full of life with so much to offer, but unfortunately in an event like this I guess there are will be many other similar tragic stories. We have already heard about families that have lost children and children that have lost at least one of their parents.

We would like to thank everyone for their concern and kind messages of support. These days news travels so quickly and we were amazed to hear from people all around the world that had heard about what had happened here.

Devastating News...

We have just received the news that one of our friends from the Hyundai netball club passed away this morning going to the rescue of tsunami victims. He recently began working for the Fire Service. No further news at present other than it was a Fire Truck accident.

Peter was the life and soul of the party, a kind and caring guy. His time was not up yet. He had a lot to offer Samoa and so many fantastic business ideas. We all loved spending time with him and appreciated the help he gave to the club.

We hope he rests in peace knowing he was loved by us all at Hyundai and that he was taken while going to the care of others - something that reflects his personality.

Here is Peter (kneeling) at our end of season netball party at our house surrounded by his friends and drinking the "happy juice"

EARTHQUAKE!!!!!

By now most of you will have heard that Samoa was shaken by a rather large earthquake this morning, followed by a tsunami. First of all, for our Mums and everyone else that is worried about us, we are fine.

The earthquake hit around 6.50 this morning. In NZ and while we have been here we have experienced several earthquakes, but this is
definitely the biggest. Our house shook a fair bit, with windows and dishes rattling, but no real damage. What surprised us was how long it went for. Usually these shakes are over before you realize what is happening, but this went on for a couple of minutes. There were then a few small aftershocks.

We were trying to tune into the local radio stations to find out more and about half an hour after the main quake the tsunami warning was sounded. Last year not long after we arrived they tested the new tsunami warning system and had a national tsunami drill, so we all knew what to do. For us living by the water it means head for high ground. The sports complex just up the road high enough (about 80m above sea level) and not far away. Angela was still in bed when the quake struck, so she had to get up and decide what to wear before we could evacuate. I did manage to get her out of the house without doing her hair and makeup, but she still managed to bring her cup of tea!

No one else in our street seemed to be showing much urgency, but I figured if a tsunami was coming we better get out. On the radio we heard that a village on the south coast had been flattened by the tsunami, so that was good incentive to get moving.

We ended up parked up the hill looking out over the sea, trying to see any signs of the tsunami. We didn’t notice anything, but it turned out that we were parked in front of the house of one my work mates. So we went in and had a drink and caught up on all the latest news. The radio stations broadcasting in Samoa seemed to have the most up to date information, so we were able to get a translation.

I am sure the international media will be reporting all the facts, but at this stage we have been told that the earthquake was magnitude 8.3 on the Richter Scale and was centred about 190km southeast of Apia at a depth of 35 km. The tsunami was reported to be up to 3m in some places and has hit the south and eastern coasts of Upolo and Savaii as well as American Samoa. The airport at Pago Pago (American Samoa) is closed after it was swamped by the tidal wave. There are various reports of missing people and damage to villages along the south coast of Upolo – Siumu, Falealili, Lalomanu, Aleipata etc. Parts of Manono Island were inundated too as well as some parts of Savaii. At this stage we don’t know how much damage has been done.

We have been home to collect some things and are now up at USP. Apia is a bit like a ghost town now. All the schools are closed for the day and while the tsunami warning is in effect business in the main CBD area are closed. The Alafua area were USP is located is one of the designated assembly points, so there are heaps of people all around here. Some families are well prepared and have even brought picnics with them. About 10 minutes ago we were advised that the warning has now been lifted, so I guess I am free to go back to town and in to work now. I reckon a lot of the Samoans won’t be back at work today and USP is closed, but I have work to do so will head back there soon.

So, that was our excitement for the day. We are OK and there has been no damage around our place. Hopefully there hasn’t been too much damage around the rest of the islands.

Bula!!

The real reason we hadn’t posted anything for so long is because we are currently enjoying a break in Fiji.

Angela has been supposed to visit the USP headquarters in Suva, but after more than a year it still hadn’t happened. Anyway, they have finally got it organised and this week she is busy meeting her colleagues in Suva and checking out the USP facilities here and joining in the USP Open Day activities on Friday. I am sure she will be posting more about this soon. While she is at USP I thought I would be able to do some sightseeing, but I actually have some work to do and Kramer have an office in Suva, so I am working out of their office this week.

On our way to Suva we managed to fit in relaxing 4 day break at Plantation Island. It was all arranged at the last minute and I didn’t realise how family orientated the Plantation Island Resort is, but we managed to survive the screaming babies and bratty kids and had a good time.

Of course it wouldn’t be a holiday for us without some rain and for 2 days it rained heavily all day. On our first day there our outdoor dinner was interrupted by a brief shower that sent everyone running for cover, but we are used to things like that. But it was the next day that the heavens really opened. Parts of the resort were underwater, but the frogs seemed to be enjoying it. That night we came back after dinner to find that the toilet was about to overflow. After a few calls to get the plumber we had to resort to bailing out the bowl with a coffee cup! Eventually the plumber managed to get things sorted and we could sleep easily.

Through the rain we got out for a few walks around the island, and Angela did some shopping! Lucky for me there aren’t many shops on the island, but I am sure we visited each one twice. Once the rain stopped and sun can out we enjoyed some snorkelling and time on the beach. The water wasn’t as warm as what we are used to in Samoa and we were both shivering and complaining about the cold!

On our last night there we enjoyed a lovely dinner at the Flame Tree Restaurant at Lomani Resort, complete with transfers by stretched golf buggy and champagne. It was also the night of the All Blacks vs Wallabies tri-nations test. Our ‘chauffeur’ had been keeping an eye on the game and was able to give us an update on the way back to Plantation. He managed to get us back in time to watch the end of the game on the big screen in the lounge where we caught the last 2 All Blacks tries. I hope he didn’t have any urgent pick-ups because he joined us in the lounge to watch the end of the game!

The next day we headed for Suva. For some reason we decided to take the bus so that Angela could see some of the countryside. After 4 hours bouncing around on the bus I don’t think she thought it was a good idea! For the record it is raining in Suva too!

So Far So Good

After a week or so of driving around on the left side of the road we are pleased to report that things are still good. Actually, at the moment they are better than normal. Most people are driving slowly (the temporary speed limit is 25 km/h in town) and there are plenty of police patrolling the busiest intersections. With all the new signs and road markings in place it is easier to get around than it used to be. Even all of the traffic lights are working (for now). We have found it easy to adjust to driving on the left and there haven’t been any reports of major problems.

The bus drivers have come to an agreement with the government about installing new doors on the left side of the buses, so that seems to be OK now.

Over the first few days there were no accidents reported. Now there have been a few crashes, but they have been minor and most of them had nothing to do with the road switch. I reckon it won't be long until everyone has forgotten that they ever used to drive on the right.

Surviving the Switch

Sorry about the belated posting. For those of you that were getting worried that we had not survived the chaos of the road switch no need to worry we are still here!

Actually the switch went OK. There were a lot of people predicting disastrous consequences and even some threats by those opposed to the switch to disrupt things, but in the end common sense prevailed and the changeover was fairly smooth.

Originally we had planned to stay off the roads completely and enjoy our 2 days of holiday chilling out at home, but as the countdown progressed there was a bit of a sense of excitement about the event. There was a surprising interest from overseas media with TVNZ, ABC, BBC, NY Times and various other media from all around the world covering the event. On Friday night before the switch all the TV stations (both of them!) were broadcasting programmes about the switch, how to prepare and what the procedures were for the actual time of the change at 6.00am Monday. After watching all of this there was a feeling that this was going to be a piece of history and we started to think that maybe we should walk up to the main road to watch the events. Then we decided that if we were going to be up and about at that time on Monday morning maybe we should be in our car and ‘be a part of history’!

Much to my surprise Angela was keen able to get up at 5.30 in the morning and hit the road. We tried taking some movie clips and photos, but it was still very dark and a bit wet, so the photos aren’t the greatest. We will try and upload some soon.

Anyway, we headed out, driving on the right side of road and were surprised to see quite a few other cars on the road. The road was giving live coverage of events, but some it was in Samoan, so we could understand all of it. The headquarters were at the Fire Station on Beach Road, and all the dignitaries were there. Like all important events it started with a blessing and then speeches from the Prime Minister and others.

As we got closer to town it got busier and before we knew it we found ourselves at the clock tower roundabout, at 5.50 am just when they were making the announcement for everyone to stop driving and pull over. This was probably the most awkward place to try and change over – a roundabout on a four lane road with 5 or 6 approaches – but it was too late to do anything about it.

The instructions were to pull over to the right side of the road at 5.50 and wait for 10 minutes, then at 6.00 move over to the left side of the road and wait another 10 minutes, then at 6.10 start driving on the left side of the road. As we approached the roundabout it was about 5.45, but the announcement to stop had already been made. All the announcements were in Samoan, but we could guess what was going on. Time here is a bit of an abstract concept and I don’t know whose watch they were using but it certainly wasn’t right. Anyway, as I pulled over and prepared to wait for the prescribed 10 minutes all the cars in front of us started to move over to the left side of the road. The policemen at the roundabout were directing them so I thought I better do what I was told. So much for the official procedure! At about 5.55 (or 6.00 on the official watch) another announcement was made on the radio and a siren was sounded. We assumed that this was the signal to move to the left side of the road, but we had already done this so just sat there. Then the police started waving us forward onto the roundabout – again not quite as per the procedure, but who were we to argue. After creeping around the roundabout we had to stop and wait for the official signal to start driving. Again the announcements were in Samoan, but the tooting of horns and sirens going off were a pretty good signal that the time had come.

We ended up doing a lap around town, past the headquarters and TV cameras and headed back home. It was amazing – heaps of people out watching and taking photos and cars driving up and down tooting their horns etc. All of the fire engines and police cars were out, with all the flashing lights and sirens going. All of the intersections and roundabouts were patrolled by policemen, along with the Red Cross armed with their first aid kits and stretchers!

As it turned out it was probably the best time to be out to do a bit of practice on the other side of the road. Everyone was driving carefully and there were plenty of policemen around helping to direct traffic.

After all of the excitement we made it home OK and Angela went back to bed while I watched the replay of the events on TV. I even saw our car driving past the Fire Station!

Miss Samoa 2009

I am now the Netball Coach of the reigning Miss Samoa 2009-2010 the elegant and beautiful Miss Jacinta Bourne!! I sat with Jacinta's family, friends, fellow students and boyfriend in the audience and we were all so excited as they announced the winners and she was left standing there. We felt pretty sure she was going to do it but didn't dare to hope and jinx the situation. We all lept to our feet Chi Hooing when they announced her name. We then couldn't get near her for the people who wanted to congratulate and take photos.



She intended to come to the last netball game of the season yesterday but the game was in the morning and instead her tasks had already begun with a press conference and the awarding of trophies to the Rugby 7's players.



We were honoured and thrilled however to have Jacinta come to our house for the end of netball season BBQ with the USP and Hyundai teams. It was nice to see her able to relax and enjoy some time with friends. Jacinta oblidged with a few special photos and that crown winning smile just for us.



Congratulations Jacinta you are beautiful in heart, soul and appearance. We know you are going to do a fabulous job and be a great role model for the young people of Samoa. We are pleased to be there to support you in all you have to do and to keep you fit by playing netball!!

We are becomming Lefties!

Road Switch this weekend so it's a 4 day weekend but we aren't going anywhere as Adam says the car is staying put until all the silly buggers figure out what they are doing!! It is going to be very interesting next week driving on the left hand side of the road. Let's hope we can avoid any prangs!

Tonight I am off to the Miss Samoa Competition with some of the USP Netball girls to support one of the team as she competes. Not biased or anything but I think she is lovely and would make a great Miss Samoa. Go Jacinta!!

USP Alafua Open Day 2009

Last Thursday we had Open Day on campus. This is when the college students from all over Samoa get to come to USP to see the facilities and find out what courses are offered.

The campus looked fantastic. With a new Director at the helm a lot of effort and energy was put into tidying the place up a bit. Lawns were mowed, weeds pulled, paths swept, rubbish picked up etc. Each section also got well into the spirit this year and put together some great presentations and displays. The library girls out did themselves with a very artistic display of new books and decorated the library with Teuila flowers and flower arrangements.

This year I was on the committee to help organise Open Day and so was in charge of the Tours around campus. We had 10 locations from the library to IT, satellite room, crops, engineering, tissue culture and farm etc. It was my job to walk around campus with the camera and get photos in each area. You will find these up on Flickr! Unfortunately I did not have my own camera as it got accidentally broken at netball so I was using the ancient campus camera that takes 30 seconds to re-load between pictures!! Anyway some photos are better than none.

My most favourite part of the day is the cultural performances by the various USP students. Again this year they all practiced hard and put on a good show. The netball girls had me sewing their costumes which meant 2 late nights in the sweat shop but they looked so beautiful on the day and got some nice comments so it was well worth it. See the photos of the lovely pink outfits for proof! I will also upload some short clips to YouTube soon.

In the evening we had our first ever staff party in the newly opened Multipurpose Centre which is for staff and students to share. Somehow I ended up organising this too but it wasn't too hard. Got a few sausages and some bread for a sausage sizzle and told everyone to bring their own drinks. Had IT hook up the laptop with some tunes and away we went. I think I managed to entertain with my Samoan Siva on the night and am still living it down!!

Puppies and Taro

Last weekend I discovered Lucky up in my garden sitting in a big hole she had dug with a Taro in her mouth. She got short shift from there I can tell you especially as my lettuces ended up all over the place due to her frantic digging!!!!

Adam thought it was funny but the puppies got a hold of the Taro and started to eat it. Problem is Taro is quite sticky when it comes out of the umu. There was some very peculiar puppy head movements as the Taro got stuck to the roof of their mouths and they couldnt get it off. Managed to convince Adam to stick his fingers in their mouths to give a bit of assistance - only for them to pounce on the Taro again as soon as their mouths were clear and have a repeat performance!

Two more puppies are going tonight :-( They are 13 weeks old now and are my little friends. I will miss them as it has been great having them around and watching them grow. It is getting a bit expensive with the food though and we sure don't want 5 large dogs hanging around so off they go. Will have 1 left after this so 1 more good home to find.

One of the amazing things though is that Lucky now sits when I say SIT. I'm pretty sure it's not a coincidence!

The Sheild

Well yes as Adam says it was a pretty exciting and amazing game of netball last week. Mary and I have been kicking ourselves over little mistakes and wondering why we couldn't have made the big upset and won the shield!!! Actually before the game I was pretty sure it was going to be another severe beating so much so that I partook in a "Happy Juice" mixed by the opposition! Maybe that is why I was so relaxed for the whole game? Actually it wasn't until 1/2 time it dawned on me that we had the shield within our reach so I had to quash the nerves and try and keep calm.

Anyway it was not to be but we gave them a pretty good fright. I heard later on SCOPA were out in the clubs with the shield in tow!! I didn't think they should get to celebrate that hard considering they were being beaten by the team coming 4th in the division!! Luckily my spies were out so I managed to get a dedication to Hyundai through the DJ just to remind them how close they came to losing it!!

Weekend Results. Part 3 - Netball

Obviously I didn't play netball this weekend because I was busy running around the island, but Angela's team was challenging SCOPA for the shield.

This was not something that she was looking forward to - they have never beaten SCOPA and the games have never been close. When I arrived they were in the 2nd quarter and I was surprised to see that the score was quite close. Then I got a bigger surprise when I found out that they were actually leading!! The game was very exciting, they were playing well getting lots of turnovers and scoring their goals. At half time they still had the lead (maybe 4 goals?). I don't think they could believe it. Could they do the unthinkable and take the shield off SCOPA?! Unfortunately not. Although they played really well they ended up going down 45-40. It was a really good effort - probably the best game they have played.

As for the men's team - we were playing GM Bakery, the team that took the shield off us. I didn't get to see the game, but apparently we didn't play so well and ended up losing by 10 goals.

There are the usual dramas going on with the netball. The men's association are all squabbling about the way the playoffs have been done. When the draw was first published it showed 7 weeks of round robin games then the top 4 having playoffs over 2 weeks - a semi final then grand final. Apparently now the top 4 will have another mini round robin where they will play each other over 3 weeks. I am not sure what is happening now, I don't know if we have 2 more games or 1 more. At this stage everyone in our team seems to be more interested in the end of season party than the games we have left to play!

The other drama on Saturday involved the game that Angela was umpiring. The poor thing, she gets given all of the tough games. This one was between 2 of the strongest mens teams - SCOPA and Marist. There has been a history of 'trouble' between these teams. One of the Marist players in particular can get a bit worked up and last year was actually banned from the courts for 2 weeks following an incident after his Marist team had been beaten by SCOPA. During the game this week he was sent off by the other umpire. Angela isn't exactly sure what for, but according to the boys he was swearing at the umpire in Samoan. After the game he again got a bit worked up and apparently was threatening to throw a chair at the umpire. So I guess just like last year he will be banned again.

Weekend Results. Part 2 - Relay

The relay run went really well. We all had heaps of fun and were still standing and smiling at the end - and talking about doing it again next year!

The 3.00am wake up to get to the start line for our 4.15 start was a bit of a struggle. My good intentions of going to bed early were derailed when, much to our surprise and un-advertised, the netball came on TV. So it wasn't until 11.oo that I got to bed!

The running was good. My first leg started about 4.45, so I was running in the dark. There are no streetlights out there and it was pitch black. We had our van following the runner most of the time s, but while we were changing runners the runner on course was left alone for a while. It was a bit eerie being out in the middle of nowhere all alone in the dark, but it was nice and cool - good for running.

My second leg started at 7.15, so it was light and much easier to get gear organised etc. It was still nice and cool and along this leg I ran past some of the TV cameras. Saw myself running on the news this morning - it looked like I was having fun!

My third leg was going to be my toughest - mainly uphill and a bit later in the day when it is starting to get hotter. The uphill wasn't too bad, a long gradual hill, and I did get quite hot but we were lucky with the weather. It was overcast all day with a strong breeze, so it was as cool as it could be.

I was pleased to get to my last leg. By this stage I my legs were starting to stiffen up from sitting in the van for so long and I was getting a bit tired, but once I got going I felt OK.

Before much longer it was time to get out of the van again for one last effort - the whole team was allowed to join our final runner for group finish. We all crossed the finish line together flying our NZ flag 9 hours and 50 minutes after we started. We were please with our effort - we had estimated that it would take us about 10 1/2 hours, so we were quicker than that. The organisers had estimated our time at 11 hours 40 minutes.

We had some good battles along the way as we caught up with some of the other teams along the course. With our 30 minute head start we managed to cross the finish line before the Australian team and win the Charity Challenge. This earned $2000 for our charity, the National Children's Orchestra. Overall the Aussie team was a few minutes quicker than us, so claimed the trophy for fastest Diplomatic Team.

At the prize giving it was interesting to mix with the other teams and hear how they had gone throughout the day. There was a real mixture of teams - some that were very social and took 12 hours or more to complete the course and there was one open mens team that was very fast and managed to finish the 102 km in 7 hours 13 minutes. The most remarkable achievement of the was that of Dave Edgar, the fitness trainer for the Samoa Rugby Team - he ran the whole course by himself. I think it took him just over 14 hours, but he was still running when he crossed the finish line.

I will try and get some photos and post them later.

For the record the total course is 63.6 miles or 102.4 km.

The NZ High Commission Team took 9 hours 50 minutes to complete the course

My legs were:

1. 4.83km 26:10
2. 5.09km 27:01
3. 4.83km 26.09
4. 4.51km 25:17

Total 19.18km 104:37

Weekend Results. Part 1 - Road Switch

Well, at 2.00pm Friday we all tuned into our radios to hear the verdict, but in true Samoan style it wasn't until 5.00pm that the announcement was made. No surprises, the PASS case was dismissed so the road switch can still go ahead as planned.

On Monday PASS had a march to protest the decision but it didn't seem to be as big as some of their previous efforts. Surprisingly the government had a meeting on Monday afternoon to discuss the possibility of delaying the switch, but in the end they have decided to go ahead as planned.

So, this time next week we will be enjoying our 2 days off and getting used to driving on the other side of the road.