So I got a one day visa to visit the mainland last Friday. An unavoidable fono I had committed myself too and some empty shelves dying for stock in my clinic meant that I had to go. And leave the kids and hubby behind much to their dismay!
So, in the usual Savaii style manner, my Friday was the expected panic stricken crazy hectic rushed sorta Friday. Down to literally 10 minutes before the boat was due to depart, I am still in Lalomalava trying in my most polite and non rude way to break a conversation between the hubby (who was meant to drive me to wharf) and some diginitories..... Sat in the boat and realised had not organised a ride into town and debated whether I would dare try a bus (after all the commition lately with buses and accidents, and an already sceptic views of drivers anyway..this was sort of not really even an option!) Luckily, I found a seat in a hospital car (yay) and made it safely home.
Had to rush off to my meeting at a hotel in town only to arrive any hour early...( I thought it was at 5...but no, it was at 6) which meant I got to go and kill time at Amanaki (!yay) Which meant I got to enjoy a cold beverage some Poke and limu yum!!
Literally 24hours later from that moment, I am back in Savaii and I look back at the 24hours passed and it cracks me up what a contrast of lifestyles I just blitzed through!
One moment, I'm haggling vendors for cheaper fruit and the Salelologa market, debating with salu lima makers over the prices of salus going up when the number of kuagius in the broom are going down and scouring for Limu that I used to hate, and now I love!. Not to mention, chipped in my senes for the collection of da mafutaga o tina for whatever it is we are fundraising for (financial member only!) lol...then next I am sat in an air-conditioned bar which has been sealed off for our conference, we are being served wine and cheese with a room full of highly educated and motivated personal and of course my current lifestyle in the bush is even discussed as a topic!lol... fly forward to the next day and I'm rushing around Apia town trying to get all my shopping for da big island done. And the only vehicle available to use is my little brother's homey G done up skyline.
Now let me explain this car to you. All my shopping to my disgust, has to be squeezed into the passenger seat because although the car has a sizeable boot, 95% of this space is occupied with a speaker. The very high tech sound system that compliments that has a list of MP3 music which I do not recognize (techno?RnB? I can barely make out the words being sung all you hear are base and treble tweaks the whole time! is this what the youth of today are into!! I feel very old...) The drivers seat is purposefully about a foot lower then a normal car should have, so that I feel like I am sitting on the floor , honestly with my legs lying flat on the ground (without a bend in the knee) to reach the peddles.Its awkward, who drives like that?? The car itself is only about half a foot off the ground so I feel like I am literally sitting on the road, Im sure it was higher then that when I first saw it, but I think lowering your car until you hit all the speed bumps you go over in town is the in thing now !lol
Only about half my head can be seen outside my side window which means alot of people I dont know wave at me, I think my brother and I share the same shaped forehead so I do him a favour and wave back enthusiastically to all wavers which I know would be strange as my brother is more of a furrowed hermit! The music when only on volume 2, is shaking the vehicle. I can not tell whether this deafness by the minute is a result of the music or the muffler which can still be heard when the music is switched off!! I can not help but feel like everyone is staring at me and its a tad amusing but mostly embarrassing and Im just glad I can not be recognised! .Coz I am really not this homey-G-ish! lol! And in my rush to get home when I realise I really needed to be halfway to the wharf, I cringe the whole way because the muffler explodes (not in a broken way, but in a purposefully amplified way!) and now the whole damned town and oncoming traffic is staring at me!! errhhh
Such a contrast to the horseback riding in the bush! (not!) but you get what I mean. It was nice, the change of scenary, change of people. change of ware...makes me appreciate the little things in life all the more.
So anyways, back now in Savaii ....back to the grind back to da bush. Until my next visa
ciao
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