And like THAT...1/2 the year was gone!!

 So I met this palagi traveler the other day, and in our conversation he said he was going to go hike to this certain monument/thing in the bush here in Savaii that has long 'not' been operating as a tourist site for some time now. In an effort to just prewarn him I told him ins and outs of this- there is no proper access at the moment, it is likely to be overgrown and you can not find it without a guide. Point being...find a guide. Oga sau ai lea ma laga fiapoko ma faimai..e le maga'omia e gaia se guide...ogaia o se kama "hunt i le bush" i giusila bla bla bla. Strike 1. When a local gives you advice about something in the bush/environment etc...you really should listen. After a bit of to and fro-ing. Sau fo'i ma leisi aga fia'poko..."dont the samoans know of how special this place/thing is bla bla. Why isn't there a tar sealed road (with golde rails)leading right up to it....they should do this and this and this" iiii..sa'o...laga ga'o oe lava le kagaka muamua ua intrigued i legei mea. Leai faamolemole, matou te iloa uma lava le significance o legei mea i le makou atunuu faamolemole.  Putting a path and rails and parking and a loo etc that you speak of  is not as easy at it seems. Not to mention lets just trash right round this sacred place to make it more about pleasing tourists than keeping the wonder that it is left as untouched as possible. NEWAYS

So, the next day, alu si kama i le bush ma laga fagu vai, insect spray ma laga samoa jasons guide...kau leiloa ma koeaikiki a oki i le bush. Oga ma koe meet lea after. WTF. Did you know that there is practically no raod to that thing?? Eventually I had too find a local villager...and when we got there I couldnt even see it!! ( ma legei eyebrows ua maualuga i luga le lagi ma frown pei  ua kaufaavalea gaia e seisi) ...yes Indiana Jones...I did tell you so.

Oga koe fa'aauau lea le ma conversation faimai..."you are not Samoan huh?"....hum..yes I am "no u can't be!!!.....hum ok apparently I don't know what I am....hmmmmm...because...apparently..my Igilisi is too good. Ia ...strike 2. Sorry a sole...but some of us speak good english too mate...e le gao  kagaka  Mai England e Iloa  speak English.  E ke Iloa foi  speak Maori...???



Anyways. The hubby and kids have been away overseas attending a wedding that unfortunately I had
 to remain home from, and hold the fort. It has been a little stressful but am so glad to be on the last

stretch ( last week) ...o le mea ouke fiu ai. As much as I do enjoy running our place and trying to give people good holidays...e iai lava isi kagaka e ke fiu ai. Someone wise said...you cant please everyone and thats the truth. The liner that bites me is what a mentor said to me about the type of business we run. He said...look you need to put yourself out there...you are selling yourself..not just a place a bed a room a tour a meal...put your touch your story your point of difference...be brave and wear it...
 Which is like the complete opposite of me as I am rather a hermit and hate 'putting myself out there' I guess the fear is if you come across someone that is not impressed and you are out there...how do you not take dissappointment personally ??

So ga iai le kusi  ga aumai se kagaka ga gofo i sheraton...uma lea koe sau gofo ia makou , i makou poku  piko kaugofie lava ..( ie kai kukusa ma le kau e ke ai iai i macdonalds lol).ae fai mai laga tala...after having come from (sheraton) I was not impressed with your place....bla bla bla....ka fia fai
iai...uhm...like of course. gae ua e sau compare le sevae kosokoso ma le sevae high heel Prada....e
makua ese ese mamaoooooo lava...sa kakau ga e alu e faakai kai seisi place kukusa ma lou prada ga ga e fiafia  Iai  i upolu...ma fai gi ou conclusions...eh se kailo ia se.
 Its hard not to take things personally when you are constantly trying and you think you are giving your best. But peoples expectations vary so much I guess and that is something I am trying to learn not to take personally.:)

...ANYWAYS.
 In another world where I perform a different Job...something I have learnt about our people is that the power of GOSSIP is immense here...i guess without a written language - word of mouth is everything. even more important then what a professional might have to say which is freaken frustrating...

 For Example-Today started with my first headache inducing patient) a man...who came in with his wife...to spend 30minutes explaining how his whole life, he had this thing - which did not debilitate him,..but he thought hed better come check out..that hed seen all the fofos in the world for..but had not cured....though he was actually absolutely fine..he could plant his taro, carry his popo..go to church..go to town..in actual fact there was nothing to worry about because he was as fit as a fiddle....but he just thought hed double check (they story went round like that for a while - and as you can see...15 minutes into it and I still dont know WTF  the actual complaint is) and in the usual Im the king of the village manner..me trying to interject to ask for a symptom, was quickly spoken over with further explanations of failed cures. In the end. A swollen testicle. Actually, a chronically on/.off swollen testicle that got bigger sometimes and smaller other times...long story short...a thing called a hydrocele (which is where a man accumulates fluid in his testicle and is NOT the result of an infection) ...anyways...Going on to trying to explain the cause (ie..its just poor plumbing and sorry mate..you were probably born with it) was interjected many times with - I dont need an operation but You must give me that "fualaa'au" for fula-polos that everyone takes. I just need the tablets doc. So using diagrams I tried to explain how this was not curable with any sort of fualaaus but is a result of plumbing mishaps which eventually if gets worse (ie swelling gets worse) you need repaired surgically...but still...furrowed eyebrows and more "why dont you want to give me the fualaau fula polos that everyone else takes....who the F* is everyone ??? I tried to explain other things that can cause fula polos like STDs might be amenable to antibiotic fualaaus but this is not a general 'for all fula polos" just for pus discharging penus'es, and  his non discharging polos were perfectly fine...that he may not need an operation even,  if it never got much bigger,  but if it did- that would be what needed to be done. Ends with....so you're saying.....you're not gonna give me the fualaau polos that people in the village said I need?...far the farg out man...who are these people in the village that seem to know everything and would they be willing to stand in a court of law if their treatments failed???I want to swipe someone...anyways...thankyou "word of mouth" in the village..for making my job more about persuasion and not about fact, and for making my job ever so difficult.  In the end I had to talk to the wife....if it gets bigger and painful..please take him to the surgical clinic. Thanks. Uma loa iiga.