I have been back from Samoa for about a week now, and looking back it was an incredible adventure. We spent the first couple of days in the capital city of Apia, which is on the island of Upolo. Western Samoa is made of two islands: Upolo and Savaii. After a couple of days in Apia we took a ferry to the other island, Savaii. We stayed in a place called Safua hotel, and it was a very cool cultural experience. We had a culture day towards the end of our stay which was a great time. The Samoans showed us how they prepare food and do other cool things like climb coconut trees and make mats. Our fale, which is basically a hut type structure, that we stayed in had gigantic tarantulas, cockroaches, and venomous centipedes. We got mosquito nets after the first night, but we didn't sleep much the first night. Each night as we ate our dinner a band of Samoan guys about my age played Samoan music for us. I took some video of it on my camera so I can show people when I get home. Most days at Safua we went on tours around Savaii led by an Australian man named Warren who lives at the hotel. We saw a lot of beautiful sights, such as blowholes, sea arches, and a waterfall of paradise.
After about 8 days at Safua hotel, we spent four days in a place called Faga village. It was basically a total immersion in Samoan culture. My father's name was Fa'amamafa and my mother's name was Saloulele. They had a daughter a year older than me named Pila and a nine year old daughter named Nora. They treated me with amazing hospitality. I was able to go to the plantation with Fa'amamafa and harvest some Taro (a starchy root that is a staple of the Samoan diet). The last night in Faga village our group participated in a Fia Fia (Samoan for "happy"), which is a celebrative festival of dancing. It was basically a dance competition between our group and their village. I and three other students, along with Fa'amamafa, sang a Samoan song for everyone that he taught us.
The last week of our stay in Samoa was back on the island Upolo for Marine Ecology class. We stayed at Taufua Beach Fales resort and restaurant. It was a much more Westernized setting than the previous two weeks had been. There were approximately 30 other guests staying there besides our group and most of them were from Europe. Our accommodations were amazing! We stayed in very simple fales on the beach, probably about 100 feet from the shoreline. We rolled out of bed in the morning and could go snorkeling or go to class in our swimsuits. The snorkeling was amazing! I saw hundreds of different species of fish, coral, and invertebrates. The water was crystal clear and around 82 degrees F. everyday. Our last day at Taufua we were swimming in the ocean and the most beautiful rainbow anyone had ever seen appeared in the sky. It stretched from the horizon above the water one side to the treeline on the other side. It was almost a complete half circle, and it was so brightly defined that on the base of one side the color pattern actually started to repeat itself!
This past week of God and Nature class was an awesome class! We had a great professor from Hope college come and teach us about our calling as Christians to care for the earth and all of creation. We did a lot of in depth biblical study that changed a lot of people's views, but it was awesome to learn so much. I plan on behaving a little differently when I return home because of the class.
