our big fat fa'alavelave

Maaaaaannnnn....
When I used to live on 'the other island'...I thought I had a fair idea of what a 'big fat fa'alavelave' encompassed. But i have definitely been educated since moving over to the 'bigger better' island har har...:)

This education has come as a bit of a shock to the system and in some ways it has been a process to understand. Like grieving- you have to go through denial, anger, acceptance and all that. At first- it was like WHHHAAAA..OMG....very much a me me me...as a victim of the process cause all I saw was dollars going out the window. After a while, you start to see how in actual fact,there is a lot of good in it too, and at the most unexpected times, it does actually come back to help you if not in an interest financial sort of way, in other ways...anyways- we just had one of those as a close relative of the hubbies recently passed, it was very unexpected and many from afar flew in for the occasion - it involved

1) stopping everything we were doing when we found out and declined any further business for the week that led up to the big 'day'
2) make available to incoming relies, rooms, floors, couches even cars to sleep in...as everyone needed a place to stay at the last minute...
3) cooking for 50 then 300 then 500 then 700 people over 2 consecutive days
4) accepting that our cars were suddenly -everyone else s cars, and not let the fact that someone broke the glovebox put gum under the steering wheel removed cd's from the insides -affect my sleep patterns- at least none were in an accident like the last big fat faalavelave!!
5) eating and sleeping were one of those things where every man is for himself(su'e a e le tagata le mea e ola iai!) when you are part of the integral dynamic team of worker bees going round the clock at peeling potatoes and chopping onions, I had to remind myself I had kids to check on and praised the lord that my sitter is so good and knows how to boil rice and open cans of tuna
6) enjoying the company of relies who we never get to see- drama aside, it was a blessing having them and I actually wish these people still lived on the big island as life would be so different I am sure!!
7)driving up and down a 50 meter driveway 300 times in one day to cart people, pots, fine mates, bags, ice, drinks because it would save me the 2 minutes if I had walked!! and 2 minutes over 300 trips is= alot of time (ok so i wasted alot of gas but you get my drift with the chaos)
8) realising I still dont know shit about si'is and talking chiefs and fine mat responsibilities but thank goodness plenty of other women in the family do...
9) a big thing with these as well is ensuring a steady supply of pots of coffee- like big as pots not little teapots, and coffee and ava to go around to 'fuel the workers' I did a big Fresh bread jam coffee and eggs round for breaky and all people wanted was pancakes masi and koko samoa!! haha- what a palagi am I !!choohoo!
10) Again, feeling humbled and in awe of my mother in law who is as always, the rock solid amazing women who needs no sleep, but is always composed, charming, and just a fountain of knowledge and history and all things Samoan...when everyone else is tired and angry, vevesi-ing solo- she is just composed and focused and couldnt be shaken or strayed from the things that needed to be done..a true inspiration for all Samoan women...just watching her throughout the whole fa'alavelave was a real experience.


thats all for now as I have 5days of work to catch up on...but thats what Ive been up to as of late..incase anyone was wondering!