A Graduation Gift

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

Che Hoo Jet Ski!!

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

2010 Draws to a Close...

...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

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?

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!

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!

18kg of Rice and a Bag

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

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!!

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!

Cracking and creaking in samoa

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

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

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

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

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.

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!

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

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!

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!

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.

Yes, we are still here!

I know it has been a while since we posted anything, but we have been very busy recently.

Busy with what you ask. Well, netball season is fast approaching so once again every spare moment is taken with training, playing or discussing netball which is why I am writing this instead of Angela!

This season there is plenty happening on the netball front. We are all very proud of Ang passing her umpiring exam. This year the umpires are much more organised, but this also means more meetings, learning the rules and even some fitness training! So Wednesday night is umpiring night. Ang is still running the USP team. This year the boys have also decided to enter a team so as well training the girls’ team she also has to try to teach the boys the basics of netball. No easy task! So Tuesday night is USP netball night. Of course we are both still playing for Hyundai, which means training on Mondays and Thursdays. By the time we play on Saturday then wash all the sweaty netball gear on Sunday there isn’t a day in the week that doesn’t involve netball!

On top of all this Angela has also taken on organising a Samoan Universities netball team to participate in the University Games in Toowoomba, Queensland in July. This is proving to be a big job, but she is getting stuck into it. Last weekend she ran trials so that she could select the team. 26 keen students/netball players came along to try out, and she had to make some tough decisions to narrow it down to the final 12. But that is where the fun began. She now has to organise visas, flights, accommodation, uniforms etc for 12 students. Just getting them all to turn up to a meeting is proving to be difficult! I am sure it will all come together in the end, but I get the feeling there will be a few stressful moments before they finally get on the plane! (By the way - funding is still a major issue, so if anyone out there is able to assist with sponsorship the team would be very grateful!)

One last piece of news – we are off to Brisbane to celebrate Lincoln’s 1st birthday next week. We are looking forward to catching up with the family – and Angela has promised to make the birthday cake. I will post an update and some pictures as soon as we get back!

We Passed!

Whoo Hoo 5 of us from Samoa Netball Umpiring passed our Regional Theory exam. Very stoked about this as it is a first for Samoa to have Umpires at this level. We are looking up. Must be party time now!!!!

Savaii II

Just had an adventure getting home. Ferry over booked by several hundred people. Adam went for a passenger ticket meanwhile i got called to drive the car on. The boat then set sail without adam and many others. After minor panic they now have another boat coming so im waiting 2 hours for him to get here. This is samoa!

Super savaii

Its been a lovely few days in savaii celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary. Could quite easily get used to living in a fale on the beach swimming every day. Walked up a star mound first day. Not sure what possessed us in the overgrown bush and 33 degree heat. Swim at the water falls after was the saviour. Plenty of jack drunk along with some blue juice!

Grass skirts, grass courts, grass mats and prayers

Last Saturday dawned a bit of a rainy day. Actually torrential at times but this did not dampen spirits. This was the day of the Champ of Champs netball tournament for Secondary Schools to be held at Samoa College.

The games were scheduled to start at 8.00am which meant a 6.00am rise for me, something normally quite unheard of unless it's an emergency situation!! On went the white umpiring gear as I wiped the sleep from my eyes and packed up a few supplies for a day at the courts. I was tasked with bringing the big water cooler and the request was for it to be filled with "Happy Juice" our Hyundai concoction of cheap and nasty vodka mixed with Sprim, a powdered cordial. Being so early in the morning and being it was a school competition I decided to err on the conservative side and filled the cooler with water and ice. Very boring I know!

Purchasing the ice was the first drama of the day. The corner shop was frantically busy at 7.00am and I wondered what all these people were doing out of bed at this hour?! Next fun part was trying to get through the road works through the centre of town in the pouring rain along with every other car in Samoa all the while wondering if my efforts were in vain and if the tournament was going to be cancelled as it was being held outside. I made it to Apia Park our meeting place but not before being stopped at the Police check point where I had to flash the pearly whites and apologise profusely for not carrying my drivers licence with me. Luckily I did have my seatbelt on and the car had a current registration.

We headed up to Samoa College next and this was to be a treat for me. 5 netball courts laid out on the grass in the middle of the rugby field!! This is the way it is done in the islands but the first time I have seen netball played on a grass court. Holes had been dug in the field and the goal posts were held up with rough pieces of wood jammed in to stop them wobbling. Well this is Samoa and we make the best of what we have here.

The day turned out to be fantastic. After the prerequisite opening ceremony and prayers the tournament got underway probably half an hour late which is customary! Many schools were there and 5 courts ran continuously from 9.00am-3.00pm. Us umpires facilitated a one on one off roster. The rain stayed away, the puddles on the field dried up and the sun beat down on us. It was noisy with the sounds pumping from the DJ and it was very very hot out there. The umpires were all decked out in bright red Digicel sponsored t-shirts and caps. I plastered on the sun block but still managed a slight pink tinge by the end of the day. An Uncle Johnny's ice block for 50 sene from the College Canteen was my saving grace during the afternoon. The players were decked out in all manner of uniforms. Some obviously sponsored from overseas and others home made local versions but nothing could stop the fun and excitement of your team winning! Footware of the players also varied from bare feet to jandals and luckily the holes on the field had been filled with sand before the tournament started.

We all managed to scout for up and coming young players for our clubs and I even managed to recruit a Sister who is interested in joining our umpiring group for the main season. All in all a very successful and fun filled day.

Our umpiring is really taking off over here. We have a group going now under the Samoa Netball Association and there are 10-12 of us currently taking this task seriously. Yesterday we studied and sat the Netball New Zealand regional exam for umpiring. It was a tough paper and we have to get 85% to pass so are now waiting in suspense to see if some of us can pull through and raise the standard of umpiring in Samoa for the first time. Fingers crossed. For the next month we will all be training and preparing as the main netball season starts on the 5th June.

Books, Books and yet more Books!

Well it's been 4 months since the load of 200 cartons of books arrived at our place and we are still delivering boxes and trying to arrange assistance with transport. This is proving to be a difficult task! In a round about way we now have contact with the right person at MESC - Ministry of Education, Sports and Culture and also with the Peace Corps Volunteers who are working in the Government schools so have been able to orgainse some more deliveries and identify truely needy schools to give the books to. Last week we went on an adventure to Fagaloa Bay to make a delivery to the Sauago Primary School....

The day dawned bright and sunny. Another lovely day in paradise. Adam loaded the car up completely so that no more boxes, or people for that matter, could fit in and off we went. It was a slowish trip around the north eastern part of Upolu behind all manner of vehicles out for a Sunday drive (on a Wednesday?!) We had consulted the map on the MESC web site and Adam said he was familiar with where we needed to go. Not far from where he has been working on one of the community centres. We headed up the big hill of the Le Mafa pass and kept going until we reached the turn off for Fagaloa bay. On the corner was a stall selling local produce. The road swiftly turned into a one lane sealed track. Being so high up the views were astounding looking down over the green lush vegetation to the sparkling blue sea. We made our way down the narrow winding road until we reached the bottom and swiftly realised we were in the wrong village! Luckily Adam had knowledge of the coast road or more like grassy farm track and knew it was unpassable in our low riding, loaded up car.

So back up the narrow winding road we went. Back along the Le Mafa pass and then we noticed the sign by a water fall for the Sauago village so knew we were heading in the right direction.

Now if we thought the previous narrow winding road was interesting the adventure was about to get more .... adventursome!! Narrower, steeper and more pot holed than ever we had to pick our way through at snails pace so as not to take the bottom out of the car. By this point we were swiftly heading towards being an hour late for our appointment however this is Samoa where time is of no essence!! The drive was picturesque. Palm trees and banana plants along the side of the road and again lovely views down towards the bay and the beautiful water.

We passed the men sitting in the shade of a tree carving wooden souvenirs. We also saw those cracking open coconuts and chopping up the flesh before laying it out on corrugated iron in the sun. Before long we passed some cows tied up on the side of the road and entered a village. We spied a rare sign only to discover we had somehow come too far and completely missed the village and the school we were heading for.

With the help of some friendly local villagers we managed to find where we needed to head and were escourted back along the road by a man, a parent and several children dressed in blue and white school uniforms carrying frozen cordial in plastic bags. Boy I could have done with one of those as it was extremely hot by now.

We tracked down Kyle the Peace Corps Volunteer and found the school buried in behind a fale and down a small hill. Many many excited and noisy children came to greet the palagi car and before long many willing strong boys were lifting and carring heavy boxes inside.

The school was pearched on a rise overlooking the sea but was like taking a trip into the past. Blackboards written on with chalk and wooden bench seats and desks. This school was doing their very best with what they had and the teachers and children were very cheerful and lively. We were shown the library which was also acting as a store room. There were a few old and dusty books on the shelves but they were desperately in need to something more. Thankfully we had quite a number of boxes to help them out.

The teachers and Kyle were very grateful for the donations and it was lovely to be able to deliver these books to a worthy recipient. One of the teachers immediately sat down and started reading a story so we have no doubts these books will go to good use. We were given a hand made thank you card which now has pride of place in the USP Library. Morning tea on offer was pot noodles and a cup of very strong very milky and very sweet coffee. All quite delicious after our journey.

This project has been a lot of hard work but is made all the worth while when deliveries such as this are made to happen. Tomorrow we are off to deliver to one of the Government Secondary Schools and Wednesday over to Savaii again with the car loaded up. After this there will only be a few cartons left.

An official thank you to all of the libraries in New Zealand and BECA who donated books will be posted soon along with an article for the papers but just in case you are reading now, thank you for helping us to make such a difference to the schools in Samoa. Faafetai tele lava.

Le Uaina

Talofa. We'd like to tell you about the Le Uaina resort on Upolu, Samoa just past the Piula Cave Pools on the North Eastern coast. We went and stayed here at Easter so had a lovely 3 nights in paradise. The resort is fairly new, only opened 4 months previously and still has more fales under construction at the far end of the beach. Meanwhile though there are a number of Garden fales and we were staying in one of the Ocean View fales.

After being greeted with a lovely Samoan Smile we were shown to our air conditioned room which was simple but very comfortable. The mini fridge was soon stocked with the Jack and Coke and the Banana Muffins and Easter Eggs we had brought along. We were soon relaxed into reading our books and contenplating a dip in the sea.

All persuits are available from this resort, kayaking, snorkelling, swimming, relaxing, reading, lounging, Happy Hour (yes Hedley!) and lovely food served outdoors on the spacious deck. Breakfast is included in the room rate and was a lovely spread of eggs, toast, cereal, fresh fruit and pancakes etc.

It rained (of course - remember we were on holiday) and the sun shone. We visited the Piula fresh water Cave Pools 2 minutes up the road one day but the rest of the time managed to read our way through a number of books, magazines and watch a few movies when we weren't in the water. Many families were staying with small children along with couples. We had sandcastles built on our front porch but it was all part of the great experience. Thoroughly recommend this resort to anyone considering a holiday in Samoa and for us, we'll be back as it's a swift half hour drive from Apia so very handy!

Here is their web site if you want to check it out and make a booking. We used this booking service and it was excellent. Prompt, efficient and it worked which definately gives you peace of mind, not always something possible in Samoa! http://www.samoa-hotels.ws/Le_Uaina_Resort Our photos are also on Flickr so follow the link to the right.

Beeping level 1.1 etc

The other day us netball umpires got together to do our first trial beep test. When we had a visiting NZ Umpire over in January he suggested we set a goal to reach level 5 by March then level 7 by May. We also need to sit our theory in May or June (yes have applied for that) and if we can pass and progress will have some qualified umpires up to Regional level by the end of the year.

Anyway we measured the 20 metre course, set up the CD and away we went. The recording (the downloaded one) was a little fuzzy and not sure the beeps were quite at the right intervals all the time but this is Samoa after all!

We ran up and down and up and down in time with the beeps. I got to level 8.5!!!! Wow. All the boot camp training Adam has been putting me though must be paying off! I was actually quite nervous about the test as when I did it at home up and down the drive (and on to the grass as the drive was not long enough)I got to level 6. Looks like I'm on track anyway, now just have to sustain it however it's Easter so I'm off for a 4 day relaxing break staying near the Piula Cave pools on the North East part of Upolu. The running shoes will go but may not make it out of the bag. Plenty of easter eggs are going to get eaten including the extra special Lindt bunny Adam got me the other day for WST$18!!! At least they are selling them here this year. Will report back on the snorkelling prospects near Piula and might think of you all as I sit under my palm eating Easter Eggs and having a Jack!

The Hurricane

So interesting is our life! The vacuum cleaner emitted a funny sound, wound down and clouds of smoke poured out of it the other day. Oh well it was quite old I suppose. At home this would not be a problem but vacuum cleaners are not common around here. Cleaning the house is usually done with a sulu or broom. Buggar that though when 5 minutes with a vacuum cleaner and the job is done. So off to see one of our friends Dad who runs an electrical importers shop. He is palagi by the way! There were 3 to choose from which was a surprise. Thought there would only be 1 and that would be it! The Samoan shop keepers were not a lot of help - well as I said not much experience with a vacuum cleaner or was it just with customer service?!

Actually to digress the cleaner at work was found one day trying to clean the whole library with the pipe end of the vacuum, with no brush on. No wonder it was taking so long! I had to give a demonstration on how to vigorously vacuum backwards and forwards. It still did not get done this way but in some half arsed dragging of the brush towards you kind of action! Anyway back to the purchase.

Adam went back another day when one of the palagis were there and received a bit more help in the way of the cleaner boxes so you could at least read the specs. A choice was made. A 5% discount given, on account of being a palagi friend, and the cleaner is now at home. It is the hurricane as it sounds like one and is proudly black and yellow! Can't actually believe Adam brought that one home! In the end it was the only one with a recognised brand name - Kambrook - and had an old Briscoes sticker on so here's hoping its with us as long as the last one. Oh and funny that we had a vacuum cleaner to sell for a friend who moved back home and just got rid of that one 2 weeks ago before our one decided to blow up. Sods law huh?!

Electrician Librarian

As I do not wish to dis any Library Security companies all shall remain nameless in this post however have you ever heard of an Electrician Librarian?

Well I used to be the Electronic Services Librarian (and people asked me where the batteries went!), then the Systems Librarian (and eyes glazed over when I explained what that job entailed - not good party conversation), then the Library Manager in Samoa (people were slightly more interested in this though more so for the palm trees and tropical images it conjured up!) and now I'm the Electrician Library Manager and general dogs body of all that needs fixing up in the Library!! Yes as is the way with many things here if you have absolutely no qualifications or experience, heck never mind you can do the job anyway. After all there is no one else with even half a clue so you sort of have to!

So this is how I became the resident expert in how to look after the library security system. This is the very expensive security gate system we have been trying to get up and running for nearly a year now (I kid you not!) There have been all manner of disruptions to our progress, waiting for delivery from overseas, waiting for the engineer to be able to come for the installation, waiting for someone to figure out how to configure the gates for our non conducive environment (too many metal things in the way and major electrical cables running close by interfering with the magnetic fields), waiting for errors to be fixed, waiting for a new part, waiting for the engineer to visit again to install said new part and now .... waiting again for more new parts as the display is dud and we now can't see anything!!

To cut down on some of this waiting though I am now the electrician who has to open up the cover of these gates and twiddle about with things (as instructed via email or over the phone!) Adam is known as my first assistant as I don't want to encourage other staff members to have a go in there whenever they feel the urge. When asked if I was OK with this I said "no" it made me very nervous and I hoped it did not invalidate our guarantee!! I am not keen to become the Electrocuted Electrician Librarian! Anyway I have been seen on bended knee screwing and unscrewing things, ensuring cables are connected properly, turning adjustment screws anti-clockwise, peering through holes to see if the laser light is lined up right and making sure to re-connect earthing wires! My next task is going to be installing a new LCD and cables. Will see how that goes.

Meanwhile the system is actually beeping and catching books as they go out of the library so that is something. It has been an ongoing job to get some pot plants into the library this week to block off access around either side of the gate. I still have a plant sitting in a large pot with no dirt (an no one in sight to plant this thing for me) and a plant sitting on top of a pot it won't fit in. Oh I have also requested trays for these pots as am envisioning watering plants and water seeping out and running towards new expensive nearly fully functional security gates. Maybe that does not bear thinking about!

Pumpkin

I don't really know anything about growing pumpkin however poked 2 seeds into the garden and low and behold I now have large pumpkin "vines" growing and seeming to be fine. Thing was after many inspections I could not see any pumpkin actually developing which I thought was strange? I hoped not another plant that liked to grow profusely while bearing no fruit which seems to be the way with many things in this tropical climate. Anyway figured maybe pollination was the problem so the other weekend I got out my smallest paint brush and went out to be a buzzy bee. I happily buzzed between flowers but to no avail ......

The next weekend however I noticed a new flower coming with a ball beneath it. Ah ha I thought maybe there are female and male flowers on a pumpkin plant? So what happened to my pollinating of the week before?!! My pumpkins may be the first ever gay pumpkins in the world!!

Pumpkins are now growing. Not many though. Heaps of male flowers and not many female ones. Oh well we might get to eat a pumpkin or 2 yet we will see. I've also got some ears of corn coming so the gardening experimenting is not over yet. These are fair dinkum straight up corn by the way!! As usual I'll keep you posted on progress.

The Hospital visit and The New Baby

Last weekend I went to the hospital to visit one of the USP students, and netball team player, 1 day after she gave birth to a lovely little girl. Yes quite a different experience this one. She went into labour on the Wednesday night and into hospital on the Friday morning when things were happening 2 minutes apart. She told me she waited, not sure where as the delivery suite was not available and a bed on the ward was also not ready. Apparently 9 babies were delivered before lunch time on this day including a first experience of twins for the doctor so things were a little busy!! Anyway our patient waited patiently while trying not to push as she had been
advised. At around lunch time she waddled her way up to the reception as she really felt the baby was "down". The doctor took one look at her and said "ready" to which she nodded but still had to wait 5 more minutes while they cleaned the delivery room and the doctor got over the shakes from delivering the twins! Into the room and basically the head was showing so with one push the baby was out!!! Even though I can't speak from experience I'm sure this is a far cry from what you get in a hospital back home? The next day when I saw her everything was fine although she was crammed into a ward room with 5 other ladies and only sideways shuffling space between the beds. I asked if anyone had been along to instruct her on what to do now and she said no she was figuring it out herself! Baby was feeding though so I suppose all was good?! After one check of the heartbeat etc she was free to be discharged from the hospital.

There were 4 Fijiian ladies present at this time and me the palagi (currently holding the baby!) All manner of things were packed into 2 large bags. When you visit hospital in Samoa you bring everything you need including sheets for your bed and crockery and cutlery for your meal (which incidentally they did bring around in a cart). There was a fair amount of luggage in tow and a big bunch of flowers. We were then ready to leave. Going home time. A big thing in our world. I asked the mother if she would like to be the one to carry her baby out of the hospital but she said she was fine if I did so the unusual procession that we were left the building.

Standing outside the next decision to be made was how we were all going to get home!! My car was right there so I handed over the bundle and went to bring it round. Some how we managed to fit all the luggage in the boot, 4 Fijian ladies, 1 palagi driver and a babe in arms into the car!! We were riding a bit low at this point but off we set. Are you noticing a lack of description of any car seat for this baby? That would be because there wasn't one! Yes you guessed correctly, baby traveled home at 1 day old in the arms of one of the "aunty's" in the back seat. Needless to say I was driving very carefully (Samoan speed even) and watching out for other crazy drivers.

We got home safely and piled ourselves and all the luggage out. Things have gone well from what I've heard over the last week. Baby seems fine. Many people are calling around to visit. There is never a lack in Aunty's or Uncles to look after a baby here which seems to be the Pacific Way. Now we are just waiting for the netball initiation. Mother is keen to get back on the court so I'm sure it won't be long until new baby Jasmine is spotted down a the Apia Park Netball Courts!! Never to young to start I say!!

The Mammoth Book Sort!!

Yes we have finally done it. After managing to enlist some help, albeit a minimal contribution, from some library minded people we have managed to finish sorting over 200 boxes of books. Found some great stuff like fairly recent editions of World Book Encyclopedia and also some interesting stuff like old annuals and books I remember reading as a kid. We even received 3 pairs of shoes! These will not go to waste. There are always people trying to play netball in jandals round here! With some help from the Ministry of Education van we did some delivering last week and now just have a trip to Savaii and a couple more deliveries round Upolu to complete the project. Again the schools have been very grateful to receive these donations but boy has it been a big job on the sorting front this time round! Think as this project seems to be growing each year I now need to get the Library Association of Samoa completely on board with raising the funds to cover the project and with full on help with sorting once the books get here. It's become too large for just Adam and I! More updates once the deliveries are complete and an article is written for the paper.

The Wedding of the Century!

Talofa All

About time we updated you on our last trip to NZ which was actually in February!! It was a great trip of course. Always fab to come home for a bit and eat lovely food. We had a flying visit for one night in Auckland and a lovely meal at Adam and Jo's care of Jo and Latika. Loved Jo's slice so much I had to go back for seconds!!

After this we flew to Nelson and were picked up at the airport by Zuzanna who we had never met but we looked out for a blonde with a baby and figured out who she was pretty quick! Although from the Czech Republic, and having never spoken english much before arriving in Nelson, we found Zuzanna a great host and able to hold a conversation with us. We met Denyel, Ales and Zuzanna's little son and he is gorgeous. Had again another lovely meal and great conversation with these guys. Unfortunately our trip was not long enough though as we were off to Wellington the very next day.

The plane landed in Wellington and we could see Dad in his Hurricanes shirt through the window waiting for us. Wasn't long before we were up at Nana's house in Newlands for lunch. Nana asked me if I was feeling alright which I assured her I was only I was frozen cold (yes welcome to Wellington!) so had to put on one of her big fleeces and drink copious cups of tea to thaw out!!

Friday we met up with Sharon and Simon and their daughter Sylvie. A first time meeting for Sylvie and us but no worries there. Sylvie is a real entertainer and on the go all the time. We had lunch with Mum and Dad before heading to Nga Manu Bird Sanctury in Waikanae to wear off a little energy! Quite an eventful trip what with duck bites and imaginery "trolls" living under all the bridges in the park! We saw native NZ birds and diving ducks. At the end of the visit Sylvie got to pick a knitted finger puppet from the box and chose the Pukeko as it had been her favourite bird. Many a happy hour was spent after this playing the "What shall we do today Pukeko" game and answering the question "Do you poo, Pukeko"!!!

On the Saturday we spent a great time at Waitarere beach. Sharon and Simon were staying at our beach house and other friends were arriving for the wedding and also renting houses at Waitarere. One couple were staying in the converted Catholic church complete with church organ and stained glass windows. We managed to take a walk on the beach and the kids of course got filthy and wet playing in the sand and waves. A few drinks and a nice meal across the road afterwards soon sorted everyone out.

Sunday Adam and I ran in the Wellington Round the Bays which was 7km starting at Frank Kitts park and going though Oriental Bay and other Bays round to the finish line. Adam can't find any event photos of his but here are mine if you want to check it out http://www.supersportimages.com/products/showbib.php?xs=673&s1=8541 We had a great time. There were crowds and crowds of people and lots of loud music but it was good to take part in the event. We were both pleased with our results and where we came in the "pack"

Monday was THE day. The day of the Wedding that is. All turned out fine. We met at the Winemakers Daughter around lunch time and before long a text came through that the bride was on the way. Of course she looked fab and so did Sylvie all done up in their EBay outfits! Yes a very modern bride this one who did all her shopping online. It was a lovely ceremony with 6 little blonde haired girls running around in pink outfits! I must have some friends who have boys surely??? What was also great about the day was being back together with school friends again. Nothing has changed (apart from a few more laughter lines and a few wee people running around!) At the end of the day we followed the Bride and Groom back to Waitarere where we took a few artistic photos on the beach and joined the others for a a happy hour.

Before the end of the whirlwind tour of NZ we managed to fit in visiting UCOL and Palmerston North for a day. I was amazed and impressed with the progress at the UCOL Library and only wished I could do the same in Samoa. Oh well a few more years and we may be moving in the right direction. UCOL will soon be putting a Nintendo Wii in purely for the students entertainment - and so they can say they have one!! We don't have such luxuries here. A few working and not ancient computers and a decent internet connection and I would be happy! We caught up with friends at the new Speights Ale House and that rounded off our trip quite nicely.

Back to Samoa to catch up and back to sorting the boxes of books that did not seem to sort themselves while we were away lol.

Where librarians sleep during natural disasters!

Hi all

Well the warning is now over. The wave was thankufully not too big, about 50cm here. Did not stop the panic and fear though after last year. Am watching what is going on in NZ also.

We have discovered the library is quite a comfortable place to hang out during a disaster. I have couches that can fold down so we managed a bit of sleep!! Had chucked a bit of food into the chilly bin on the way out the door so had the Accountnat and her partner in for toast and tea for breakfast. Managed to tune in the radio on the mobile and also practice with the dynamo wind up radio we bought from Kathmandu for these purposes. Adam was glued to the computer screen monitoring reports and news stories.

Time to head home now and round up the dogs. Phew that one is over. Boy we have had some natural disasters around this place lately!

Tsunami Warning

Awoken at 3.00amish this morning with loud tooting of a car horn and someone calling out my name. It was Silia from work letting us know of a tsunami warning. Soon learnt a big earthquake off the coast of Chile meant a wave heading our way and this time on the Apia side though due to affect all of Samoa. We have a bit of warning time this time as it's not due to hit until 9.00am. The heart is racing. Images of the last tsunami are in my head. Everything could be wiped out soon. We have chucked a few things in the car and evacuated to USP up the hill leaving the gate at home open in the hope the dogs will run up if necessary. So thankful also for the other friends who called round or rang or texted us to make sure we knew. Now we play the waiting game and keep an eye on the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre http://www.prh.noaa.gov/ptwc/?region=1 for updates. Back in touch soon. Adam and Ang x

Nz here we come

We are off to nz for our friends wedding. It is very hot here today. The cyclone has passed the sky is again blue the sea looks lovely and the air is as humid as while all the moisture of the last few days drys up. We had one of the calmest trips to the airport ever. At least not fearing for our lives this time! No hair raising overtaking manouvers. The view out the taxi window was lovely. Samoa really is a beautiful place. Reminds us why we are really here. As usual the airport is filthy. Cant find a clean place to sit. Trip to the toilet not much better but hey there was toilet paper and liquid soap so ill take it! A security man appeared from somewhere to help with the bags. This was a first. Gave him a few tala for his trouble. Bet he gets paid a pittance. Bet he also knows which palagis to target for the tips! Well must be time to peruse the meagre offerings in the shop. That said i usually find something to spend my money on!