When You're Here, You're Family Sunday August 16

(Pineapple growing behind Foga and Rudy's house.  Pineapple season is in 2 months.  Can't wait!)

Last Sunday was our first day of church on Island.  We realized we didn’t have a way to get to the international ward (in Pava’iai’, it’s the only English speaking ward as far as we know.)  The buses don’t run on Sunday, our car’s on a ship somewhere in the Pacific, we didn’t have a phone at the time, and we had no one to call to ask for a ride anyway.  As we were walking home from the beach Nathan said “We really need a taxi… but we don’t have a phone or a number to call one.”  About two minutes later as we were walking through the back parking lot of the hospital to our apartment a taxi randomly drove slowly past us with the windows rolled down.  We looked at each other and laughed as we chased him down.  The driver agreed to pick us up at 7:30 am and take us to church.  Amazingly, he showed up on time and we made it to Church on the other end of the island.  I have no idea why he was driving in an empty hospital parking lot, on Saturday evening no less! Heavenly Father was making sure we got our muli’s to church!  Haha

We met a lot of really great people there.  The Wade and LeSa families, who were both in the Poly Provo 10^th ward with Nathan and I when we were newlyweds, were there.  The Lesa’s were just visiting and the Wades live on Island now.  We also met Tina and Adney Reid (they are family somehowJ) who Nathan and I had been emailing with a bajillion questions before we came out.  They may be the nicest people ever.  They gave us a ride home from church, then picked us up two hours later and had us for lunch.  The boys had a blast playing with their four kids.  Adney built a play set in their yard (I seriously think it’s on of two on the entire island) so the boys were in heaven in their yard.

Nathan had his first official day as a dentist on Monday.  His first two patients ever were pregnant woman.  The rest of the staff were teasing him asking if he came to Samoa to be an OB or a dentist. 

The weekdays were pretty low key with the boys since we don’t have a car.  Taking the boys places by bus is fun but it’s hard too.  They fight over who gets to stick there head out the window and it freaks me out because the windows are plastic and they rock back and forth… I feel like they’re going to fall right out!  On one of our bus rides home, there weren’t enough seats for both boys and I to sit together so this really cute older Samoan woman just picked Moses up and sat him on her lap. She scooped him up without a thought and she didn’t even look at me after- she just kept looking straight forward like she had never picked him up.  It was totally natural for her to just grab a kid when a mama needs some help.  I loved it.  Everyone here helps each other out as if they're all family... I guess because they probably are family!

We walked to the library on Wednesday to check out the children’s section.  I was pleasantly surprised.  The library is small but there’s a good selection for the kids.  Moses and I spent a good hour and a half reading while Des napped in the stroller.  They had a schedule that said there’s music time for younger kids every Tuesday and Thursday.  I asked the woman at the front desk about it and she said they aren’t doing it because they have summer programs going on right now.  She said “Summer programs will be done in two weeks.  Once those are over they will probably have a meeting or something and talk about maybe starting music time again in a while.  I think the people who run the kids programs need to take a break for awhile or something.”  Hahaha everything is on island time.  On the way home it started raining and Matt Wade drove by and picked us up.  It's kind of nice that there's only one road.  The chances of someone you know driving by to give you a ride is is pretty high.

On Thursday Tina picked the boys and I up and took us grocery shopping.  We went to DDW’s for lunch after.  It took them an hour to bring our food out to us- island time at it's best.  I didn’t mind though since Mose, Des, and Toa just played next to the outriggers by the patio outside.  It was nice to talk to Tina about living in Samoa too.  She has been here for a year so she answered a lot of questions and eased my mind about some things.   She said she had a hard time adjusting to Samoa even though she grew up in Hawaii.  Samoa is NOT Hawaii.  It made me feel a lot less whimpy and a lot less alone. 

I walked to the post office in Utulei on Friday and got a PO Box.  Yay for having an “address”!  It’s still crazy to me that we are living in a place with no street names… since there is only one street and a few dirt roads I guess it makes sense.  When people ask where we’re living we say behind the hospital in the grey apartments and every single person knows exactly where it is. 

We went swimming in Aua on Saturday with Foga and Rudy's grandkids.  It was kind of overcast which was actually nice.  No sunburns for us Palagi's.  The kids found sea stars.  Des wouldn't let go of his the entire time we were there.  I hope the poor little star didn't die!  

Odaesha and Seca in the background:)

Mose playing with Povi and Mark

This weekend we checked out some rental houses.  One up the hill fro Pava’iai’ and one in Leone.  We are going to look at a few more we’ve heard about before choosing.   The Reids gave us a ride to and from church again today.  Relief Society was hilarious.  The women in our RS are so great!  A lot of laughing… and spiritual discussion tooJ  I met one of the teachers from the “mormon” school in Pava’iai.  I asked her about signing Moses up once we have a car and she said it would be totally fine to sign him up a couple weeks late.  I’m going to check out the school and probably have him go half day a few days a week.  I think he’ll love it and he needs to make some friends!

Day 1 in American Samoa

Day 1:  Saturday, August 8, 2015

            We got in last night around 10 pm.  It was 2 am California time though so we were super tired and the boys were spent.  Mose and Vili did pretty dang good considering they woke up at 5 am, took a 5 hour flight, had a five hour layover, and took another 5 hour flight.  But it was pretty bad trying to round up our double stroller parts, two car seats, 8 check in bags, 8 carry on bags, and two SCREAMING kids who only wanted their dad and freaked out every time mom held them.  Haha.  Hey, we’re alive today, so that’s good. 

            Auntie Foga and Uncle Rudy along with Valentina and Kristina (the two dentists from LBJ) picked us and our luggage up from the air port and helped us get to our apartment.  On the drive from the airport to the hospital apartments Rudy talked about how when we left Samoa a few months prior Nathan and I had no Idea if we’d be coming back.  He said “it was Faith that got  you the Job at the hospital.  Nothing else could have opened a position that wasn’t there before just for you to come.”  Rudy was right! 

            This morning, I was so so greasy from traveling all day yesterday.  I HAD to take a shower.  When I turned on the shower faucet the water started to drip.  And that was it.  Just a drip.  Haha!  No water.  The sink had water (not hot, but atleast some water!)  So I filled up a pot and a pitcher from the kitchen and had a nice refreshing ‘shower’.  The process took a good 30 min of getting in the shower, dumping cold water on my head, getting out and filling the pot and pitcher at the sink, getting back in the shower scrubbing my hair, and repeating.  So I guess I had a nice workout and a refreshing shower! 

            Lucky for us I saw a maintenance man walking out of another apartment as we were leaving this morning.  So him and a plumber are here fixing the water heater and the shower.

            We had to make about five stops at different cell phone businesses to get my phone up and running and by the time we got all our questions answered the blue sky office was closed.  Better luck Monday!  The first stop was by the market in Fagatogo so we got some koko rice.  Yuuum.  My favorite thing!

          Found two cockroaches in our apartment while we were unpacking.  One in the storage closet and one in a kitchen drawer!  Ewww!   I have a feeling there’s a lot more where they came from.  Better get used to the bugs- the trade off for living on a tropical island!

Taking the bus for the next few weeks until our cars arrive.  The boys love it!  It's a dance party every time we get on the bus because they BUMP the jams.  Haha

Caught a frog in front of our apartment.  We have frogs, two dogs (we named them red and spotty), and geckos as front yard pets.  Every time we walk to the bus stop or to the store at the corner of the hospital Red and Spotty walk with us.  It's pretty funny- they've adopted us I guess!  Mose and Des think they're pretty cool.  Moses will say "maile" (dog in Samoan) when we see them and Des points and says "woo woo woo!" (Des language for woof woof.)