Palagi in Samoa
I finally identified what will be most problematic about writing my thesis. Esther, my supervisor wrote an introductionary mail to two persons at the Samoan ministry of environment who have access to the information I need. The reply was a bit hesitant, one of the guys needed to ask the other what he thought. Some day later I emailed anyway asking for basic information on the bags, such as what company makes them, where they are made, from what etc. Information I think should be easily accessible since the government only allows a few kind of bags to be licensed. This is however not the case. The reply to the email was that I should come and meet him, down in Apia. Not really time efficient, but ok.
So tuesday morning I went down to his office for the meeting. He is a very nice man, but apparently the information I requested is confidential government documents. I was not really prepared for this. He asked me to ask Esther to email the CEO so he could agree to give out this information. So now I'm waiting for the CEO's reply, which will probably take a while. Guess this is how it works in Samoa/the South Pacific, so I'll just have to adjust. But this is part of why I wanted to do this project abroad and in a different culture, to learn what kind of problems you may need to tackle and how to work around it.
After the meeting the plan was that I should hang around Apia until lunch, when the man I met was going to the landfill where his collegue was. I was welcome to join him and was glad to, but apparently my stomach thought I was being to experimental down the market when I tried the kava (and not a little of it, they kept filling up my cup so I think I drank about three of them) which I doubt is made on filtered water. So when I got home to leave the food I had bought before going back to Apia I felt that I didn't really dare to go on a field trip. Amazingly enough I didn't get that sick (I'm surprised I haven't yet, I haven't really been that careful), but I could feel my body was fighting something. I thought I would rest an hour and then go to the office, but couldn't wake up when the alarm rang, so instead I slept for 5 hours. Then I slept 9 hours during the night and still felt like a wreck the next morning.
The part of tuesday I was awake on however, I was feeling really down for the first time since I got here. I was actually in a good mood after the meeting, even if I didn't get the information I wanted (although he did tell me some things), but after the taxi ride home from Apia I think it finally occured to me how impossible it is to be part of Samoa. I have had great company since I got here, but I haven't been hanging out with any Samoans. They are very kind (and always start up conversations), but always ask the same question (where are you from, what are you doing here, do you have a boyfriend?), and this day it finally got to me when the taxi driver asked all these questions again. After a while he laughed a little in a nervous way and asked if I wanted to be his friend. After being sociable at the market and getting a guys phone number in case I wanted to hang out I still felt like I wanted to get to know some Samoans. So I said "yeah, sure" and thought that I might call him if I don't have anything to do. I then asked him what he usually does in his spare time and apparently he only takes care of his parents. Maybe not the best way to experience the Samoan life. When we then got to the house he looked thoughtful for a while, and when I asked what it was he said "Would you really... be my friend?" in a way someone askes if one would really be his partner. A bit afraid I said "well, not boyfriend..." and he replied that he knew that. Still that was enough to scare me too much to call him...
Oh, and also some guys at the market laughed at me when I packed a basked of coconuts into the taxi, and when I asked the driver why they were laughing he said that they thought that palagis didn't know what to do with coconuts. At that time I mostly thought it was funny and called back to them that I liked coconuts, but when I got down after the taxi ride I thought that it was really rude of them to assume that I would be stupid enough to buy a basket of coconuts if I didn't know what to do with them.
Anyway it felt better after Pete got home and I talked to him. He said I should stick to the people who know someone I know, and focus on joining after work activities such as the paddling or squash club.
Have some pickies:
Morning star by the house. "My" house is the one on the right.
View from my bedroom. Wonderful to wake up to.
Nea (I think she's called), the SPREP-cat. Very nice company, although not that appreciated when I'm trying to photograph birds.
Sue thought she looked evil here. I don't see it, and anyhow she's not, she's a really sweet and cuddly cat.
One of the trees that fell in the cyclone. Somehow a lot of tiny pawpaws (papayas) manage to grow on top of the trunk.
My favorite weird-looking bird, the Purple swamphen.
The Pacific Imperial Pidgeon. Incredibly shy (well, there's a lot of meat on it...), only managed this photo before it flew upp high into a denser tree.
Banded rail, incredibly shy as well. Bad flyer, but such a fast runner! And they look really funny when they run, unfortunately I haven't managed to get a shot of it yet since it's hard to keep them in the viewfinder at full speed. Actually hard to get a shot at all, even though they are all around here at SPREP.
There's a tree of this kind right outside my office window, it's really relaxing to look at the foliage. Especially when there's kingfishers and all kinds of birds jumping around in it.