last few days

In the last few days, my belly has expanded even further thanks to the little she or he (still dont know) who is growing a mile a minute in there:)
I have hunted the whole of Savaii up and down for Root beer (craving ) There are only 1 or 2 stores on the entire island that have a decent variety sporadically throughout the year, and they are all out of root beer, they did however have apple flavoured fizzy tea from somewhere in Kansas or something....something different for a change I guess!!
I have been holding interviews for new staff at the hotel cos just when we thought we had trained our current lot to the point of dependability and reliability, number ones family relocated to Apia (sorry I have to go) number 2 is on indefinite maternity leave (kinda saw that coming) and number 3s mother is "very ill" overseas and has to leave immediately...leaving me with nada in the restaurant this week
( heres me hoping that business remains quiet for once otherwise I am the cook the receptionist the waitress hahahaha how terrible would that look ! (just while the hubby is In Apia - today- back tonight)) Anyways, so interviews are always entertaining if anything (I know, thats almost mean but seriously you should come try it)

So the ad said , vacancy for a person to work in a hotel , duties bla bla, you must be 21-35yrs, you must speak good english, past experience a bonus but not absolute, you must be able to work weekend and evening shifts.

So interview-ee number 1) can you answer this question in english "what time does you church start and is it ok for me to come to the service??"- reply- blank stare
again ök , what time does church start- reply - blank stare
ok- then an admission that they cant speak english. 70% of our interview-ees did this, they can speak some but they are sooo terribly shy and afraid and embarressed re- broken english (which really is not an abosolute problem, as long as you can give one word answers and appear helpful you are ok)but its like they can even try, i try to encourage them to attempt because its not as hard as they think, but again, blank stare, I can just see a guest asking a question to one of our staff and they get the locked up wide eyed frozen stare reply, nice, welcome to Savaii!

interview-ee number 2- can you work weekend shifts- well actually no laga o aú le lead singer number 1 i le makou aufaipese i le loku....ok

number 3- had his mother phone, she said her son was 21yrs old spoke good english was an outgoing person who would be an asset to our business- was slightly annoyed with the mum ringing to apply but claims her son was somewhere else and had no credit when he heard the ad so 'please call me-d"his mum to please ring us from her phone and secure an interview. Person that showed up was a 45yr old fafafine who upon questioning in english "how do I catch a bus into town" went "BUS?!....ahhhhhh"and then started shaking nervously while frozen and wideeyed for 10 minutes (really uncomfortable) and then cried

i mean seriously, its like no one heard the requirements asked for in the ad, age, english, etc.... one girl who spoke no english ( or so she claimed) never had a job before, looked presentable enough, when asked what sort of work she would think suited her at our hotel (ie cleaning, serving etc) answered, in Samoan, "well actually I dont know if anything would because I am 3 months pregnant"....What the????? so are you applying for a job or what?? sounds to me like you are saying you cant work but you are here????ehhhhh, anyways, people here seriously need some advice on how to apply for a job. most people think that because they rang, they 'got'the job. then when they get here and get interviewed and asked about how they would contribute to the business, all say, i really need money so just give me anything to do ....thats it. shaminbadash.

anyways, we've chosen 2 of the lot and much to their dismay and doing training today (they look like nervous kids sitting exams) but so far all going good.

thought i would share my 2 cents for the day from my rural location!!
just another day in paradise!