So, for all my sch scoffing at the constant reminders everywhere about 'when to switch your clocks back'...I now cant remember if it was meant to be last night or tonight or tomorrow night! eh...woke up and the TV station had it switched back, turned on the laptop and don't know HOW it knows this but a message popped up reminding me that SAMOA's daylight savings ends tomorrow meaning i switch clocks back tomorrow..and no one can tell me so far, not the hubby or the workers if it has actually changed! so we are all operating on, 'I-dont-know-the time' time, which is nothing new here in Samoa, ok, lets just say Savaii then he he!!
I was telling the hubby recently that half our issues with workers who are real casual about NOT being prompt to work, is that they dont have a watch or a phone...so they dont really have any idea of the time. They catch the bus to work, get to the front gate stop at da shop in the front, faikakala to the shopkeeper, stroll down the front drive, stop and chat to the neighbors and then arrive thinking its only been 5 minutes since they left their houses to a fuming me, who has been expecting this person over an hour ago and is ready to FIRE everyone..but whats the point? it would mean just that..fire EVERYONE coz everyone does it! oh the joys of living where i live... What I need to do is get someone to bring me over a box of $5dollar watches for all da workers!!
So this morning we were woken with a phone call indicating someone in da village needed da hubby to bring his behind over with our car to do da village shopping for da village meeting. so thats fine, hubby disappears, heres me thinking for an hour! then the power goes off..uma cashpower..so im texting everyone if anyone of 3 adults living in our house bought any cards in advance,No..so next is I dont have a car to go buy some and the shop that sells is quite a distance away...trying to text da hubby where hes at ..no relpy, later discover he is now AT da meeting and part of da meeting so there goes the whole morning for sure, thanks for letting me know!! Thanks also to cash power for imposing your cashpower regime on us, and then not making the cashpower cards available to every village, theres like 1 shop in a 10km or more radius here that sells em and when they are out and da EPC office downtown is closed, ia, well kafi your afi outside with some fafies coz no one is coming to your rescue mate. I heard that DIGICEL offered them an easy solution that would let us purchase power with digicel cards, ae airena se fia rub shoulders epc to the idea, so fanks for making life easier now, suppose less available cards means less power for all meaning less work for your generators, thats gotta be good when they are always encouraging everyone to save power!chuhoo..se malo EPC.
Anyways, so now i have to resort to walking to da shop some distance away -OMG lol! not really but the 3yo is hangin off my dress going mummy me come!! mummy me come! so we walk, and I get ambushed by the village women, who tell me dat Im down for supplying da kau i'as for da 'fafaga' of da fai-aogas next saturday here for suegas..I THINK, thats what she said..not entirely sure thats 100% accurate but sounded something like that. I suppose if I were a fisherman that would be a good deal ...anyhow, those particular saoga-meas annoy me a tad...when its feeding teachers for no real special occasion even...like, ok...bring your lunch with you? and if there are 4 teachers and 20 village women each bringing some form of food, dang thats a whole feast there!! i just dont get these people coming up with decisions like this and than not actually being able to afford to carry them out...I would know because i get the stream of "please can I aikalafu $50" (er, you mean HAVE- big difference, if you dont ever intend to repay me- than its HAVE and not aikalafu) eh...I have concluded that these are the cause of my small gnag of grey hairs now popping up mysteriously!! lol..so i am gonna try not to worry over these things as there are bigger things going on in the world!
I'm in limbo at da moment with what I am doing in the near future. The opportunity to do part time work again at the Hospital is there and Im seriously considering it to change the scenery and get the braincells working a bit:) Sometimes I look at myself and ask if this is where I saw myself at 30? (cos you know, Im not yet 30 but its just round the corner!!) and I can honestly say- no. Although I dont know where exactly I saw myself, just not exactly where I am at today. I thought I would have done more for myself, but I guess I only have myself to blame (quoting good old Dr Phills- " you are a product of the decisions YOU make for yourself!") thanks Dr Phil, although Blame sounds pessimistic and I hafta say Im certainly not pessimistic or dissappointed, I guess at times its more like Im just baffled haha! Ua ke'i a le keige Apia e ala ifo lesi kaeao ga ua nofo i Savaii ha ha!
ok, so thats enough philosophizing for the day...was very happy with the evictees of American Idol last night, I know who I want off next but will just hafta wait for next week. In the meantime Im gearing up for a bake-a-thon for easter in Savaii..and then a really busy MAy though I might be at the hospital by then so- haha, someone else can do the work im currently doing...or wait a minute..boo hoo it might be me after work at da hospital! oh well im SUPERMUM sometimes..when I feel like it...
Ok, gonna sign off for now- ciao and fa laia
Saturday, April 02, 2011
Thursday, March 10, 2011
please dont feed da birds...
ok, Ill start this one off with- I just had falai elegi and rice for lunch..mmmmmm. Some days I crave Elegi like its Gods gift to mankind(!) and other times I cant stand the smell..maybe its the different brands but yes, Im a cheap and easily pleased gal sometooiiimes! Soooo...what that made me think of was eating Elegi and the nice little not so nice stint on one of the TV stations last night alluding to poverty in Samoa. I'm not really sure whether the particular story was for it, or against it? If they were exposing the poor or exposing what a joke it was??
So what they 'caught on camera' was a tour bus full of tourists with lotsa kachings $ at a particular site in Upolu, surrounding by a little mob of kids, some with only dirty lavalavas on, some looking like they just finished school and decided to harass a tourist or two...asking the papalagis for "money please" "give me money" or "monday please...give me monday" as one of them said... with the tourists dishing out the dollar bills :( and the story was alluding to poverty in Samoa...hmmmm
What made me laugh is the camera guy ASKS one of the kids- WHO IS YOUR MOTHER and the kid answers "o __ma" and who is your father? "o la'u kama o ___te" totally gave away both the kids parents names!! when asked what the money was for they said "faakau ai mea'ai"...
ok, my thoughts on this?? are the same as a few of the help me stories you sometimes see in the paper, you know, the "i live in a faleoo, sleep on a mat, am so poor please help me" ones. which I think are bogus, the ones where people are disabled and sick are different, but those other ones....may as well be my whole village. Since when was sleeping in a faleo'o and on a mat definition of poor?Is this not the content way Samoans have lived for yonks?? anyways, straying off the subject.
The child beggars seriously is a problem in Samoa which is fast getting outa hand. You see it purulent in Apia, but now apparently its in the rural villages too. Is this not the situation of one kid finds out that if they just ask for money they get it from a sympathetic but naive tourist, and then this becomes a vicous cycle?? the parents see this as an easy money making thing and all morals and ethics and sound parenting flies out the front entrance of the fale in exchange for an easy 10bucks to buy some elegi- forget about fishing for a day??
What I have learned very quickly since living in Samoa in da bush is that, some people will let their morals swagger for a quick buck, wait a minute, a lot of people. Lets just ask (beg ) the neighbour to pay for the feast we want to put on, just ask that lady who owns the shop to pay for our power, please someone pity me and let me have a free ride this month and not pay my phonebill lets spend frivulously without thinking about what we can afford....lets just send this 5yr old kid to sit infront of big bear and BEG for free money...errhh...WHERES THE SHAME?? theres none...its like there is no harm in asking, and getting turned away and frowned upon means nothing.
Perhaps I go to far with this post and there are indeed some very hard up people out there struggling to put food on the table, but out at Fagaloa bay?? or whereever this film crew was?? come on, Im sure these people are not starving, this is just another way to make a quick buck off the palagis, and no parents faces need to appear...I hope the Pulenuus who may have seen this clip take this back to the village, and get to the bottom of things. Im sure the kid who divulged his parents names went home to a nice fat fukislam but really, its the parents fault, for allowing this behaviour to happen!!erhhh
I really hope someone somehow , some organisation can help to eradicate this problem or at least get to the bottom of things because last time I checked, I wasnt living in the slums of india. We almost need to construct a whole lot of signs like those "please dont feed the birds" signs you see in parks overseas, except they would be "please dont give money to the kids" signs.
I have on occasion been mistaken as a palagi (saiga/fliopino/cambodian lol) and been asked for money at a beach etc..and believe you me my masau answer of "ole a? o ai lou kama!?" has often been followed by kids laughing realising Im not a palagi..which says it all aye, its like the behaviour is a joke, and they're just giving it a go to see if they hit the jackpot...blaarrdy annoying if you ask me, and makaga etc etc...anways,fingers crossed something can be done about this before its gets past the point of no return!
So what they 'caught on camera' was a tour bus full of tourists with lotsa kachings $ at a particular site in Upolu, surrounding by a little mob of kids, some with only dirty lavalavas on, some looking like they just finished school and decided to harass a tourist or two...asking the papalagis for "money please" "give me money" or "monday please...give me monday" as one of them said... with the tourists dishing out the dollar bills :( and the story was alluding to poverty in Samoa...hmmmm
What made me laugh is the camera guy ASKS one of the kids- WHO IS YOUR MOTHER and the kid answers "o __ma" and who is your father? "o la'u kama o ___te" totally gave away both the kids parents names!! when asked what the money was for they said "faakau ai mea'ai"...
ok, my thoughts on this?? are the same as a few of the help me stories you sometimes see in the paper, you know, the "i live in a faleoo, sleep on a mat, am so poor please help me" ones. which I think are bogus, the ones where people are disabled and sick are different, but those other ones....may as well be my whole village. Since when was sleeping in a faleo'o and on a mat definition of poor?Is this not the content way Samoans have lived for yonks?? anyways, straying off the subject.
The child beggars seriously is a problem in Samoa which is fast getting outa hand. You see it purulent in Apia, but now apparently its in the rural villages too. Is this not the situation of one kid finds out that if they just ask for money they get it from a sympathetic but naive tourist, and then this becomes a vicous cycle?? the parents see this as an easy money making thing and all morals and ethics and sound parenting flies out the front entrance of the fale in exchange for an easy 10bucks to buy some elegi- forget about fishing for a day??
What I have learned very quickly since living in Samoa in da bush is that, some people will let their morals swagger for a quick buck, wait a minute, a lot of people. Lets just ask (beg ) the neighbour to pay for the feast we want to put on, just ask that lady who owns the shop to pay for our power, please someone pity me and let me have a free ride this month and not pay my phonebill lets spend frivulously without thinking about what we can afford....lets just send this 5yr old kid to sit infront of big bear and BEG for free money...errhh...WHERES THE SHAME?? theres none...its like there is no harm in asking, and getting turned away and frowned upon means nothing.
Perhaps I go to far with this post and there are indeed some very hard up people out there struggling to put food on the table, but out at Fagaloa bay?? or whereever this film crew was?? come on, Im sure these people are not starving, this is just another way to make a quick buck off the palagis, and no parents faces need to appear...I hope the Pulenuus who may have seen this clip take this back to the village, and get to the bottom of things. Im sure the kid who divulged his parents names went home to a nice fat fukislam but really, its the parents fault, for allowing this behaviour to happen!!erhhh
I really hope someone somehow , some organisation can help to eradicate this problem or at least get to the bottom of things because last time I checked, I wasnt living in the slums of india. We almost need to construct a whole lot of signs like those "please dont feed the birds" signs you see in parks overseas, except they would be "please dont give money to the kids" signs.
I have on occasion been mistaken as a palagi (saiga/fliopino/cambodian lol) and been asked for money at a beach etc..and believe you me my masau answer of "ole a? o ai lou kama!?" has often been followed by kids laughing realising Im not a palagi..which says it all aye, its like the behaviour is a joke, and they're just giving it a go to see if they hit the jackpot...blaarrdy annoying if you ask me, and makaga etc etc...anways,fingers crossed something can be done about this before its gets past the point of no return!
Tuesday, March 01, 2011
hmmmm
Hmmmmm...
My husbands shoes were stolen (AGAIN) today from INFRONT of our house, for the 3rd time THIS MONTH...
I am overcome with rage/frustration and want to Kill someone..but..WHO??
my lovely husband?who naively continues to leave his shoes on the front doorsteps because- "its not gonna happen twice, come on" or "3 times in a month? come on" yea come on...3 times in a month BABY next time you can try going barefoot for a while...
but seriously it makes me paranoid because
- there are people walking around my house in the dark, waiting for us to go to bed, so that they can steal shoes off our doorstep..
- who knows if they are trying door handles/car door handles?? peering through the windows? watching?waiting? Did I mention our house in on a 3 acre property that it completely fenced?? the gate is like 200m away from our house meaning trespassers are crossing some distance to get to my front doorsteps!!( yes, the fence has many holes and pushed over bits thanks to some ignorant neighbours who dont understand the purpose of a fence and have over the years continued to just 'hop' on over - but its still a fence with a purpose)
I told my hubby that I think I should keep a weapon at the house, you know, just in case?? like...does he keep a pistol anywhere??It doesnt even need to work, or have bullets(!!) it can be just an imposter a toy for all I care so long as it looks the part! Im not a person for having such 'equiptment' around anyways especially with little ones...but I am seriously the HUGEST fefevale out there, that just having it stored locked in some attic nearby is enough to just calm the nerves...JUST incase something ever happened... you know what he said?? "What?! you cant keep one of those! its just not right (to point that at someone.. especially someone from the village)...best to keep a baseball bat or something"...because you know, whoever is stealing shoes is probably a well mannered gentlemen who just happened to need 1, 2 no 3 pairs of shoes....who doesnt really have a bad bone in his/her body..yes, its not some crazy lunatic wide eyed salivating mouthed bushman that I keep making it out to be...no, and this person cant possibly ever have the intent to do anything more then just steal shoes..we know that becauuuussseee...? oh and because it may be someone from nearby that maybe acquainted to us you know, best be on my best behaviour when confronting them.....eh...man, I dont care what kinda lunatic/gentlmen is out there stacking a pile of our shoes in his her house, Im not one to take my chances so bring on the be be /air gun....
anyways, thats my rant for the day
life in the islands...gota love it!
My husbands shoes were stolen (AGAIN) today from INFRONT of our house, for the 3rd time THIS MONTH...
I am overcome with rage/frustration and want to Kill someone..but..WHO??
my lovely husband?who naively continues to leave his shoes on the front doorsteps because- "its not gonna happen twice, come on" or "3 times in a month? come on" yea come on...3 times in a month BABY next time you can try going barefoot for a while...
but seriously it makes me paranoid because
- there are people walking around my house in the dark, waiting for us to go to bed, so that they can steal shoes off our doorstep..
- who knows if they are trying door handles/car door handles?? peering through the windows? watching?waiting? Did I mention our house in on a 3 acre property that it completely fenced?? the gate is like 200m away from our house meaning trespassers are crossing some distance to get to my front doorsteps!!( yes, the fence has many holes and pushed over bits thanks to some ignorant neighbours who dont understand the purpose of a fence and have over the years continued to just 'hop' on over - but its still a fence with a purpose)
I told my hubby that I think I should keep a weapon at the house, you know, just in case?? like...does he keep a pistol anywhere??It doesnt even need to work, or have bullets(!!) it can be just an imposter a toy for all I care so long as it looks the part! Im not a person for having such 'equiptment' around anyways especially with little ones...but I am seriously the HUGEST fefevale out there, that just having it stored locked in some attic nearby is enough to just calm the nerves...JUST incase something ever happened... you know what he said?? "What?! you cant keep one of those! its just not right (to point that at someone.. especially someone from the village)...best to keep a baseball bat or something"...because you know, whoever is stealing shoes is probably a well mannered gentlemen who just happened to need 1, 2 no 3 pairs of shoes....who doesnt really have a bad bone in his/her body..yes, its not some crazy lunatic wide eyed salivating mouthed bushman that I keep making it out to be...no, and this person cant possibly ever have the intent to do anything more then just steal shoes..we know that becauuuussseee...? oh and because it may be someone from nearby that maybe acquainted to us you know, best be on my best behaviour when confronting them.....eh...man, I dont care what kinda lunatic/gentlmen is out there stacking a pile of our shoes in his her house, Im not one to take my chances so bring on the be be /air gun....
anyways, thats my rant for the day
life in the islands...gota love it!
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