ISLAND LIFE

Animal Balance visits Samoa

2009-01-17T20:42:00.011-11:00

As many of you know, there is little to no health care available for animals here on the Rock. One morning a week when they have the medicine, and that is a big when, the Department of Agriculture offers spaying and neutering for companion animals (dogs and cats) for $25.00. Certainly a great price, but often you get what you pay for. For a perfect example, check out Phil Murphy's post on the issue here. And even though spaying/neutering is occasionally available, it is certainly not utilized to the degree that it needs to be in order to have any impact on the dog problem here on our island. What's more, there is almost nothing that can be done for your pet if it gets injured. As a member of the American Samoa Humane Society, we are doing everything possible to bring affordable animal health care, clinical care, and animal welfare education to American Samoa. One giant step in that direction was an assessment visit by Animal Balance to both American and Western Samoa. During this visit, we were able to conduct a free mini-clinic at which over 30 dogs and cats were spayed, neutered and treated for various ailments and injuries. Animal Balance founder Emma Clifford along with volunteer vets, Dr. Byron Maas and Dr. Larry Richmond, were on hand to perform surgeries, provide needed care, and dispense invaluable advice to concerned pet owners. To read a bit about it, see the SamoaNews article here.

Animals were brought into the clinic for all sorts of reasons. Bonnie, pictured above, had an eye infection that needed to be looked at. She also ended up getting spayed. Below, Dr. Byron Maas assesses the problem.

Then he explains how to treat the problem:
This puppy, Daisy, was attacked by some other dogs and brought in for treatment:
Dr. Maas assessing Daisy's injuries:
Dr. Maas examines Jack to see if his hip pin needs to be removed. Jack is doing well and won't need surgery today:
Ratu was attacked by another dog and needed stitches on the shoulder:
These two pit bulls, Dottie & Diamond, both came in to get spayed:
Dr. Larry Richmond removes a tumor and neuters Kane all in one surgery:
The list of patients kept growing. At the end of the day 33 animals were seen at the clinic. A very successful day:
Gently helping the dogs wake up after anesthesia:
Both of my puppies got spayed at this clinic. Here I am with my Suka after she got spayed. Meli is still in the operating room:
Emma Clifford, the founder of Animal Balance, helps the animals in the recovery room after surgery. Their ears were cleaned, nails clipped, and they were treated for ticks and fleas:
These Rotti pups were 9 days old and came in to get checked out. Aside from a flea/mite problem, all were healthy. Mom got spayed today too:
Snowbell had to be put to sleep. Unfortunately she had a tumor that was one third of her body mass:
At the end of the day just before the last patient was seen, the power in the clinic went out. Instead of giving up, Kona's neuter was moved out into the prep room where there was plenty of light to shave him by hand and perform the surgery. Good as new:
We are currently in the process of fundraising to help bring Animal Balance back to the Rock for a 2 week island-wide clinic in March 2010. We hope to have 25 volunteer vets return to help provide spays/neuters, animal care and welfare education in both Western and American Samoa. To read about the Animal Balance Samoa Campaign, go here for general information and here for the Feasibility Study Report. For more information or to help, please contact the American Samoa Humane Society here.

Really Cool Scientific Airplane

2009-01-17T18:45:00.001-11:00

The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) operates a Gulfstream V mid-altitude jet aircraft primarily to conduct National Science Foundation (NSF) sponsored atmospheric research. This aircraft is known as the High-performance Instrumented Airborne Platform for Environmental Research (HIAPER), or GV. The GV has unique capabilities that set it apart from other research aircraft. It can reach 51,000 feet, enabling scientists to collect data at the tops of storms and the lower edge of the stratosphere. With a range of about 7,000 miles, it can track atmospheric particles across the oceans or reach the South Pole from bases in South America or New Zealand.

We were lucky enough to be in American Samoa as the GV came through during Phase I of the Pole-to-Pole Observations. The “Collaborative Research: HIAPER Pole-to-Pole Observations (HIPPO) of Carbon Cycle and Greenhouse Gases Study” will measure cross sections of atmospheric concentrations approximately pole-to-pole, from the surface to the tropopause, five times during different seasons over a three year period. According to the National Center for Atmospheric Research, a comprehensive suite of atmospheric trace gases pertinent to understanding the Carbon Cycle will be measured. HIPPO will transect the mid-Pacific ocean and return either over the Eastern Pacific, or over the Western Atlantic. The program will provide the first comprehensive, global survey of atmospheric trace gases, covering the full troposphere in all seasons and multiple years. This was the first of those five times and it flew the following missions:

Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport, CO, USA -> Anchorage, AK, USA
Anchorage, AK to the North Pole (up to 85 degrees North) round trip
Anchorage, AK, USA -> Honolulu, HI, USA
Honolulu, HI, USA -> Pago Pago, American Samoa
Pago Pago, American Samoa -> Christchurch, NZ
Christchurch, NZ -> South Pole (up to 67 degrees South) round trip
Christchurch, NZ -> Papeete, Tahiti
Papiete, Tahiti -> Easter Island, Chile
Easter Island, Chile -> San Jose, CR
San Jose, CR -> Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport, CO, USA

This route is 27,760 miles (24,200 nautical miles) long and will take 21 days.

Above is me after checking out the inside. Because of all the scientific equipment on board, only a couple of us could go inside at a time to check it out. Below is Simon in the cockpit getting to check things out from the pilot's perspective:
Pavel Romashkin, our tour guide, describes what types of scientific data the G-V collects in its Pole to Pole Observations:
There was quite a large group of us there to tour the plane. Science is cool!
Here, Pavel shows us how the nose of the plane has been retrofitted to collect atmospheric data through highly sophisiticated sensors during flight:
The various instruments and sensors that were affixed to the jet make this a cutting-edge observational platform that will meet the scientific needs of researchers who study many different areas such as Chemistry and Climate, Chemical Cycles, Studies of the Upper Troposphere/Lower Stratosphere, Air Quality, and Mesoscale Weather.

Howard Dean visits AmSam

2009-01-10T20:47:00.004-11:00

Howard Dean recently visited American Samoa as part of his pledge to visit all the states and territories during his tenure as Chairman of the Democratic Party. Obviously, he saved the best for last and in his last week as Chairman, he made the trip to the South Pacific. There was no way we were going to miss it, so 9 of us bought $50-a-plate tickets to the fundraising dinner being held at the Tradewinds Hotel. Worth every penny. Above is Jeremy, me, the Dean, Chase, Ned & LTM. Below is Howard Dean addressing the dinner guests:Governor Togiola even spoke. And he was funny! Who knew?
Here's J.R. Scanlan and the Dean with the rest of our crew--J.R., Aaron, Vojik, the Dean, Doug & Naomi:

Sailele

2008-12-27T20:48:00.007-11:00

Over the long Christmas weekend, a group of us decided to spend a day at the beach just relaxing and hanging out. We chose to head to the north side of the island and visit Sailele. Check out the super sweet gold sequened fabric that is draped around the sign posts. Oh yeah, they're not playing around. To get there you drive up and over a fairly steep pass, but then you pretty much drive right up to the beach, get out of your car and you're there.

The next four pictures are shots of the coast line taken from left to right starting with the road that runs into the village where you park and moving along the beach.

Here are Nunu, Ben, Steve, Aaron and Naomi getting set up underneath one of the fales along the beach:

LTM and me:

Steve got a boo-boo:

He was in shock:

But Ben kissed it and made it all better:

Several beers in, Naomi had quite a bit to say about the awesomeness of libraries in general and the legalities and ethics of accepting donations of burned DVD's. She was in rare form and it was fantastic! We were just watching the show:

There was a group of kids playing in the water that day. They looked like they were having a blast:

Nunu taking a swimming (aka potty) break:

Emily had to be instructed on how to pee in the ocean. Sit down Emily, sit down:

Aaron's X-mas Eve Extravaganza

2008-12-26T21:59:00.007-11:00

On Christmas Eve, Aaron and Naomi hosted a great holiday party complete with good food, holiday decorations and even a gift exchange. Despite 90 degree temperatures, for this one night, it actually felt like the holidays. They even had a Christmas tree! Everyone brought a dish for the potluck and we ended up with an awesome spread. I made broccoli souffle, which is my favorite thing about Christmas dinner. I had to make a few adjustments based on island ingredient availability, but it turned out great. Aaron even fried a turkey, which was awesome. After dinner, the gift exchange got underway. Each person brought 2 gifts--1 in the $20-25 range, and another in the $2-5 range. We drew numbers, started picking gifts and then the stealing began. There were a few hot items including an American Samoa flag and a eukelele from Western Samoa. I walked away with the eukelele and a cooler. A pretty fantastic haul. Others were not so lucky. Ned ended up with 2 floppy fisherman type hats. Aaron got a collage photo frame that he was not happy with. And Naomi got stuck with a callous shaver. Dr. Dave & Maria scored a hamper set after some serious stealing back and forth with Nunu. There were also a couple of bottles of booze that kept getting stolen by Ben and Erick. All in all it was a fun evening and everyone walked away with a little something. Below are Aaron and Naomi explaining the rules and having people draw numbers to begin the exchange.

Here's Siri waiting for the present show to get on the road:
Voj chillaxin:
Julia & Liz:
Everyone waiting for the games to begin:
Melissa & Siri opening the eukelele (which I went home with...bwahahahaha):
Nunu opening the cooler (which I also went home with).
Voj unwrapping the hamper set. You can see Maria eyeing it off to the side..."Those will be mine...oh yes, they will be mine."
Ben in his reindeer gear:
Alden digging in:
See how happy Aaron is with his frame:
Ned and his floppy hats. Sweet.
Nate got LTM an extra special gift...it's Sport Action Lisa, complete with black eyes, a broken leg and Doug's drilling field.

35th Birthday Bash

2008-12-21T20:06:00.007-11:00

Every year on my birthday, mom and I would take the day off of work and have a fun bonding day. We would go to the movies, go shopping, get mani's and pedi's, go to lunch, and whatever else sparked our fancy. It was something I looked forward to all year. This year, however, that wasn't going to happen and wasn't sure how the day would go. Yet despite being 6000 miles from home in the middle of the South Pacific, Lisa made sure I had a great birthday. I got a pedicure, we went out to lunch, saw a movie and had an awesome 80's party that night at Ben and Emily's place in Coconut Point. We did a little shopping and I found all sorts of dayglow jewelry, a rockin' shirt and even tights with lace on the bottom! All right here on the island if you can believe it. Lisa decided to come dressed as a Cabbage Patch Doll. Note the pig tails. Sweet. Like we were like totaly set for an awesome 80's party. Below are some of the boys chillin' like a villian...Steve, Erick, Evan, Ben and NuNu (standing up).

More folks enjoying the evening on the deck. From left to right around the table are Emily, Kiwi Sara, Oscar, Haz-Matt, Kayla, Alyssa, Julia (hidden behind Ned), and Ned.

A few brave souls actually dressed up in the 80's theme. LTM as a Cabbage Patch Doll, Evan in his Def Leopard island tour T-shirt, and me and Steve all decked out.

Here is Evan's tour T-shirt. The stops on the tour were priceless:

Check out Steve's vans and his peg-legged jeans:

Julia, LTM and Ned hanging out on the deck. Check out LTM's blue eyeshadow. Awesome.

Aaron and Naomi came a bit later after the library Christmas party so they were dressed in another theme. Here is Lady Naomi, otherwise known as the Snow Princess:

And Aaron, her little helper:

A totally awesome dance party broke out. Here are Lisa and Emily taking a turn on the floor to Cindi Lauper's Time After Time:

LTM and Steve rockin' out to some Depeche Mode and Ben in the background loading up the queue:

You can call this Lisa's exorcist dance move. Steve isn't sure what's going on:

Ned and Lisa playing a little grab-ass:

And of course Naomi, LTM and Emily singing and dancing the night away right into the camera:

Church Decorations

2008-12-19T20:00:00.005-11:00

Some of the villages go all out with the decorations around the holidays. The Catholic Church in Leone has one of the best displays. There are all kinds of decorations plastered on every square inch of this place. Everything from your traditional baby Jesus in the manger scene, to Santa's of every size, shape and configuration, to penguins (and lots of them) and palm trees, candy canes, ferris wheels and merry-go-rounds, geese aglow in lights, Disney characters of every kind, reindeer parachuting with umbrellas, Christmas presents all tied up in bows and just about every other sort of decoration you can imagine. It was definitely worth the visit. Below you can see Ned, me and Nunu (Sean) in front of the church at night. Awesome...

Reindeer parachuting with an umbrella:
The church all aglow:

Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus along with Santa's, palm trees, Mickey Mouse & Whinney the Pooh:

Pese

2008-12-18T19:26:00.008-11:00

Every year at Christmas time, all government employees in American Samoa are called upon to gather with their various offices, agencies, and organizations to perform Christmas carols and variations thereof for the governor. Some in English, but most in Samoan, these carols take on all forms. You've got your standard Oh Holy Night, Jingle Bells, and the like. And then you've got other tunes such as Osana Ma Pepese sung to the tune of Livin' La Vida Loca by Ricky Martin. Yes, that's what I said...Ricky Martin. The performances are broadcast live on TV to the whole island and this is such a big deal that for weeks leading up to the three-night extravaganza, every agency has daily practices that last most of the afternoon. For most of the offices, these practices are mandatory. Yes, mandatory practice for government employees to sing religious Christmas carols during the work day. Don't even get me started on the separation of church and state. The practices in our office, however, were voluntary. I think that may have had something to do with the fact that we are a bunch of lawyers and actually know a little something about the Constitution. Below is Afa, the AG, watching as we perform. In between each song, the Directors of the various departments would give speeches, thanks, etc. and that is usually what takes a 2 hour show and turns it into a 5 hour marathon. Luckily, the AG kept is short and sweet. Thank you Afa!

Below are the palagi lawyers after we finished singing--Sean, Clif, LTM, Aaron & me. Lisa was so "animated" that the camera was apparently on her for half the show and the next day I swear she must have been recognized by at least 100 people, many of whom asked if she was drunk, which she actually wasn't--she just really got into the performance. I've got the whole show on DVD, so if you want a good chuckle maybe I'll show it to you.

Cookie Day

2008-12-14T20:03:00.005-11:00

Back home, every year around Christmas the women in my family get together for what has been termed Cookie Day. We start early in the morning and for one solid sugar filled day we bake hundreds and hundreds of cookies. We've been doing this for nearly a decade now, and since this is my first Christmas away from home, I was going to miss it. That is, until the women here on Tutuila decided to get together for our own version of this holiday tradition. Sara was kind enough to volunteer her air-conditioned house, all decked out in Christmas lights and along with some yummy drinks, holiday music, good friends, and lots of dough, for one night it actually felt like the holidays. Sara sent us all home with a fun holiday themed oven mit as well as a tray or two of yummy cookies, grandma's balls, and chocolate salami.

Above you'll find me making some hand-cut candy canes as well as some anatomically correct cookies. I am sooooo becoming my mother. Below, Amity and Barbara man the frosting station.

Here is Kim with her lovely blue frosting:

And Naomi searching for just the right cookie decorative toppings. Notice the palm trees outside the window--Christmas in the tropics.

Thanks to Julia, Sara & Liz (I think) as most of these shots were stolen from their various blogs and facebook profiles. Thanks girls!

Team Turkey

2008-12-11T19:25:00.018-11:00

This year a group of us decided to spend Thanksgiving in Ofu. There were about 16 or so in the group, and it became known as Team Turkey. There were the usual Ofu indulgences--snorkling, hanging out on the beach, losing yourself in a good book, and great home cooking. But with this group, there were also some new adventures (for me at least)--bridge jumping, sea parrots (thank you Aaron), cooking dinner with Team Wednesday, trying to find the Southern Cross in a sky with more stars than I ever thought possible, hanging out in the water for hours at a time without burning thanks to our handy dandy sun umbrella, LTM burning her back to the point of second degree blistering burns while snorkling, and then doing a cannonball off the bridge and busting open the blisters (only LTM...), karaoke with the very un-pollitically correct Uncle Ned, and the non-stop recounting of the legend of Snowy (sorry Gwen). All in all, it was a great way to spend Thanksgiving if I couldn't be at home.

Chase decided to do some tree climbing:

Here's Thanksgiving Dinner. As is the case with any meal at the Vaoto Lodge, it was fantastic!

After dinner, some folks took a walk down the airport runway. At the other end was a nice place to hang out and take in the view:

Haz-Matt, Lady Naomi & Ofu Jim:

Jer, Kiwi & Gwen:

Team Puppy:

Watching the sunset:

Between Ofu and Olosega Islands, there is a bridge. And one of the things to do while you're visiting Ofu is to jump off this bridge. There is also alot of hanging out under the bridge in the water that goes on, but it is somewhat of a rite of passage to jump off the bridge.

Here's the bridge:

Here is a view of the water below the bridge. It's a freakin' long way down!
Jer & Haz take a break from surface snorkling:
Chase telling one of his very animated stories:
Nunu, Gwen, Naomi, Kiwi and LTM lounging in the water:
As I stand on top of the bridge, cursing up a storm, and trying to psych myself up to jump off the bridge 35 feet above the surface into 8 feet of water, Chase leaps into action:

The boys assessing the situation before they jump:
Yes, I did eventually jump. Four times, in fact. Here's my second leap with Team Jump:
LTM held Kiwi's hand for her first jump. Or rather, Kiwi had a death-grip on LTM's arm...
Harper taking the leap:
Nunu's perfect form:

Between jumps:
Under the bridge:

LTM & Chase started getting into this one-upping competition with their jumps. One would jump backwards, another would touch their toes, and so on. As they were trying to figure out what each of them would do next, Jim decided to "jump the shark" and jumped up and over the railing from the side of a moving truck. Un-freakin-believable:

Here is Jim in the back of the truck:

Then, Chase got in on the action too:

After Jim and Chase took their death-defying leaps, LTM decided to do a front flip. Unfortunately, she over-rotated and smacked face first into the water. Here is a video of her "dive" from on top of the bridge. I assure you, watching it at water level and seeing her hit that water took it to a whole other level. Listen to the audio on the video for some special jems like the ambulance sirens...

How'd that feel?
LTM icing her injuries:
The black eyes and swelling setting in:

Ned after a day of bridge jumping:

LTM with her 3 pair of sunglasses after a long day on, off, and under the bridge:
Gwen jammin to some tunes for the ride home:
One afternoon a sloshball game broke out and it has since been described as the best sloshball game ever played. The scenery, I'm sure, didn't hurt:
Two down:
Doug in action:
High five Ned & LTM:
Jer & Kiwi
In the outfield:
Who saw it? Was she safe or was she out?
Aaron reaching and LTM opening:
Scott pitching to Doug:
Amity in the outfield:
Jer & Hazmatt with the airport runway in the background:
Rain schmain...play on:
Nunu built and tended to a bonfire on the beach thanks to the skills he learned in boyscouts:

Sitting around the bonfire on the beach:
Ned had a birthday while we were in Ofu. The clock just struck midnight and it's officially his special day. Sitting around a bonfire on a beautiful island...not a bad way to start the celebration.
Scott & Sara ready to go home:
Ned and Nate waiting for the plane to come in:

On the plane ready to head home:

The rest of Team Turkey:

Home at last...

Office Decorations

2008-12-10T19:49:00.003-11:00

Everyone on the island gets into the spirit of the season and goes all out for Christmas. The Attorney General's Office is no exception. Here are a few shots of our office lobby all decked out. Above is our office sign complete with flashing lights and giant candy canes. Below is our reception area:
And what office decorations would be complete without a Christmas tree...
Look a little closer, and yes, those are full boxes of ornaments hung on the tree.

Only in Samoa...

Humane Society Conference

2008-12-05T18:01:00.000-11:00

A few months after I arrived on-island I was recruited to join the American Samoa Humane Society. As a member of the humane society I got to go to Western Samoa for the Commonwealth Veterinary Association Australasia/Oceania Regional Conference. It was actually pretty cool because in addition to the usual country reports and scientific papers, they had integrated a heavy animal welfare component into the program. We had various humane societies from all over Oceania and several vets gave presentations on the campaigns they had done in their own countries where they would go door to door in Australian Aboriginal villages or travel out to remote islands (like in the Cooks) to spay and neuter dogs and cats as well as provide desperately needed vet care. It was great to get to network with the other animal welfare groups and learn what they are doing to better their islands for companion animals.

The Prime Minister of Western Samoa even came to speak:
The Reverend, however, wasn't as interested:
Here are Cheryl & Clif out on the balcony at our dinner banquet:

Me & Clif soaking up our last night in Western:

Golfing

2008-12-02T19:02:00.000-11:00

Every Friday afternoon, a group of ex-pats cut out of work a bit early and hit the links. A month or so ago, I decided to start going too. Here I am hanging out in the cart with Pu, our friend Doug's dog. Yes, Pu comes golfing with us. And while it's true that back home a round of golf can be quite expensive, here 9 holes will cost you a whole $3. That's right...three bucks. A cart is $7 split between 2 people, bringing the grand total to a whopping $7 per person. Wowzers. Because the sun sets around 6:30pm here, we try to move as fast as possible so that we can actually get through 9 full holes. As a result, we play a modified game where we all drop in and hit from the spot of the last best shot. I'm not sure if it's called a Scramble or Best Ball, but because we range in skill from fairly good to god awful crappy, it makes it so that we can all get through 9 holes without it taking 7 hours. We've also recently discovered that the golf course is the site of the biggest stakes gambling on the island. We wondered why many of the Samoans that we saw on the course were playing as if they were in a golf sprint, and now we know it's because the more holes they can get through, the more $ they can bet.

Above you can see LTM teeing up. Notice the box markers...painted coconuts.

Below is a closer shot. Gotta love this place.

The view from the course is absolutely beautiful.

Pu likes to play too...

Here is Doug preparing to swing...

Aaron's legendary swing...watch out!

Doug in action...

Because we live on a giant lava rock, the course has it's own set of built in hazards. There are quite a few patches of exposed lava rock on the course and the fairways and greens aren't the smoothest, but that just adds to the fun. There are also other hazards that you don't often see on your typical country club course. For instance, the fire hazard:

Here I am golfing for maybe the 5th time in the past 20 years. Awesome.

LTM is still playing even as the moon begins to rise:

Not a bad place to end the week...

Natural Woman...Fafa Style

2008-11-11T14:56:00.002-11:00

This performance was at one of the fashion shows during the Pacific Arts Festival:

Ayla Dancing the Ava

2008-11-08T15:01:00.003-11:00

Here's a video of one of our friends, Ayla, dancing the Ava, a traditional Samoan dance. Ayla travelled to Japan with a polynesian dance group earlier this year and has recently left the Rock to go back to Peru before she starts college. She's going to be dancing and teaching some of the traditional polynesian dances there to make some money for school. Go Ayla!

Welcome to the Rock

2008-11-08T14:46:00.002-11:00

Found this AmSam video on YouTube and thought it was fun:

Eeeewwwwwwwww

2008-11-06T15:49:00.000-11:00

The other night I was sitting in my living room when I noticed the dogs were unusually quiet. I found Suka underneath the end table in the corner eating something and when I went to see what she was doing, I saw that there were hundreds and hundreds of these little insects. Some looked like little worms wriggling around, but most looked like ants with white wings that were about twice the length of their bodies. They were swarming all around the table in the corner. I couldn't figure out where they were coming from, so I just got the Raid and started spraying. I must have emptied half the can onto the couch, table, floor and walls when I noticed that there were about 15-20 frogs gathering in my driveway. They were bellowing to each other and when I looked out the window, I noticed that an even bigger swarm of these winged insects were starting to gather around my front door light. In a matter of minutes there were thousands and thousands of them flying around the light. It was like something out of a horror movie. After about an hour, they disapated...to where, I have no idea.

Cut to a few days later, I was having dinner at Dougs when I saw a couple of those things flying around in his house. WTF are they?!? According to Doug, they are termites...it's hatching time right now. Fan-flippin-tastic. I wonder where the THOUSANDS are that I saw at my place a few nights before? At least I don't own the house.

Elections

2008-11-05T16:19:00.004-11:00

Yesterday a small group of ExPats crowded around a friend's TV in the middle of the South Pacific to watch Barack Obama be elected as the next president of the United States. I have never been so proud...way to go America! The sense of hope and optimism was palpable. Although I wish I could have been in the states just to experience the electric energy that we saw running through the crowds as we watched the coverage on CNN, I am nevertheless thankful that despite being nearly 6000 miles away from home, I was still able to vote in this historic election. I also loved this newspaper clipping that someone sent me back during the build up to the election. Pretty profound...

Here on the Rock, we had our own local elections, the biggest of which was for governor (basically like the president of AmSam). You can only vote if you've lived here for more than 2 years, which rules out most of the ExPats since for the most part we're here on 2 year contracts. On election day there were tents set up all over the island from the various candidates handing out free plates of food. In addition to all the races for representatives to the Fono (legislature), there were four tickets running for governor/lieutennant governor--the incumbant and three challengers. Since you have to get more than 50% of the vote, there will be a run-off in 2 weeks to determine the winner. It's down to Togiola (the current gov.) and Utu. We'll see how that goes.

Eni Faleomavaega just got re-elected to his 11th term as the American Samoan representative to the U.S. Congress. He has been representing the territory in this capacity since 1989, so he's no stranger to the political scene. Here he is on The Colbert Report...awesome.

Everyone Loves A Parade

2008-11-02T16:13:00.001-11:00

This year, American Samoa played host to the Miss South Pacific pagent. Contestants from various pacific countries came to our island to participate in the week-long competition. Miss Fiji, Miss Tonga, Miss Samoa, Miss Nuie, Miss American Samoa, Miss Tokelau, Miss Cook Islands, and Miss Aotearoa Pacific all competed for the top honors. Our friend Jeremy got to play host to the beauty contestants as part of his job...not a bad gig, huh? As part of the festivities, there was a parade complete with floats made by the delegations themselves. We went to check it out:

Miss Nuie walked away with the top honors. She's the one in the last float picture just above the boys watching from the sidelines.

Spooky, Scary

2008-11-01T13:31:00.009-11:00

If you're in Lions Park (where we live) on Halloween, you can expect swarms of kids to come trick-or-treating at your door. And when I saw swarms of kids, I mean HUNDREDS & HUNDREDS (if not thousands) of kids. They are bussed in from all over the island. Some are in costumes, others are not. Early on you get more of the little kids with their parents, but as the night wears on, you've got fully grown teenagers showing up without any costume on asking for candy or whatever else you've got to give. I was lucky in that we left Lions Park shortly after 6pm to go stock our friend Matt's house with food and supplies (he was having emergency surgery to remove his appendix on Halloween--actual surgery at LBJ...talk about scary!) so I didn't get overwhelmed with the full force of the invasion. But in the 20 minutes it took for me to get my stuff together and get out of the house, I had close to 70 trick-or-treaters and went through at least 1 giant bag of candy. For our Halloween fun, the Harty's threw an awesome pirate party over in Coconut Point. Julia spent the weeks leading up to the party collecting cool pirate paraphernalia and sewing costumes for her whole family. They were fan-flippin-tastic. Some people came as pirates, while others came in all sorts of other costumes. We didn't leave until after 3am and the party was still going when we hit the road. It was a great night.

A pirate fight broke out...even Peter Pan got in on the action:

LTM was Doug's House:

I was LTM: True Hollywood Story:

Aaron as Dirty Doug...wow...just, wow.

Yes, Nate is a douche bag:

Pirate Chris (aka Captain Jack Sparrow) & Samoa Steve (aka Giant Pirate)

The clerks in their rockin' safari suits:

A couple of latino kings:

Where do I even start...

By far, the coolest part of the night was the Tongan fruit bat that our friend Alden brought to the party. It's just a baby, so it can't fly yet. Only in American Samoa would you be able to play with a real live bat at your Halloween party.

As the night went on, we found more and more uses for Samoa Steve's awesome pirate sword. Here he is chopping Doug's cucumber with his sword. Don't ask why Doug has a cucumber in his shorts...long story. Check out Aaron as Dirty Doug doing his weights in the background and watch Jeremy's face after the chop is made...priceless.

Tisa's Tatoo Festival

2008-10-26T22:34:00.002-11:00

This weekend was Tisa’s Tatoo Festival, described as “the most completely unique tradition on the planet.” It was held at Tisa's Barefoot Bar, a South Pacific institution, located on a beautiful beach in Alega, on the eastern side of our fair island. All sorts of tattoo artists were on hand ready to lend their skills to those willing to become walking art canvasses. There were plenty of good times to be had—food, drinks, playing in the ocean, music, entertainment, and all around merriment.

Julia, me & Naomi:

Here's the beach:

Everett playing on the rope swing:
The stage was really cool:

The power cord in the water...not so cool:

Getting their groove on:

LTM, Naomi & Barbara:

Inside the bar:
Flags hanging from the ceiling:
Drunk Clif made an appearance...which was awesome!
Candyman & Tisa:

Tisa doing a traditional dance to close out day 1 of Tatoo Fest:

Maps & Such...

2008-10-26T20:04:00.007-11:00

American Samoa is often referred to as the heart of Polynesia. Here's a map of Oceania so you can understand where we are in relation to the rest of the islands in the South Pacific:

Here's a map of the islands of Am Sam (minus the Swains & Rose Atol):

This one shows how far away from stuff we are:

This map shows where we fall in relation to the International Date Line:

And finally, here is the flag of American Samoa:

A House Full of Puppies

2008-10-26T19:05:00.005-11:00

As I've mentioned before, there are alot of wild and roaming dogs that live in and around Lion's Park. A few weeks ago yet another one of those dogs was pregnant and had a litter of puppies. The mom had been coming around my house whenever I would take Suka & Meli out for several days and a couple of times I saw a little white puff following at her heel. Then, one day as I was taking the girls out to go potty one last time before I headed off to work, I saw mom with one of her pups. As I approached them the puppy ran right up to me--he was super friendly. In the picture to the left, he was the one with the brown patch over his eye. I picked him up and I could hear his brother yelping from behind the fence. You see, there is a fence that runs along the outer edge of our street and there are several holes in that fence that the wild/roaming dogs go in and out of. Alot of times the pregnant mom dogs go back behind the fence and dig out dens to have their puppies in. I found the other pup and was able to guide him along the fence to the hole. Once out, I was able to scoop him up too. Then it was back to my house to feed them and keep them safe until I could contact the humane society and see if we could get these guys fixed up and adopted out because the last thing we need in Lion's Park are more wild dogs. They had some skin issues, but nothing that couldn't be fixed and I gave them both baths (they were covered in fleas). For a couple of days I had 4...yes, 4...puppies in my house.

I couldn't believe how big my girls looked compared to the little ones.
Here's Suka playing with one of the puppies...

I called him Piglett:

I called him Patch:

As sweet as they were, there was no way I could keep them. The two that I have are plenty! So Cheryl came to get them and took them home to get all fixed up and ready to be adopted out. If you live in American Samoa and are looking for a good pet, these two pups are super friendly and are in need of a good home.

Marsik is Gone...

2008-10-26T14:10:00.003-11:00

Michael Marsik recently left the Rock for good and returned to Hawaii. But before he went, we had a little send off for him. Good food, good friends, and of course some awesome T-shirts! Following his lead, we all got shirts that said simply "Marsik". Good times.

Here's LTM & Marsik:

Siri hearts Marsik:

Jeremy & Naomi:

LTM getting her wine on:
Barbara, Marsik & me:

April (after coloring her hair with highlighters...yes, I said highlighters) & Marsik:

Amity, Doug, Jer & Naomi:

We (heart) Marsik!!!

Evergreen Store Fire

2008-10-26T13:47:00.004-11:00

A month or so ago as we were about ready to head home for the day, we got word that traffic was backed up for miles. Given that there is only one road, it made for a pretty long commute. For a good portion of the drive, there was a girl walking along side the road who was either keeping pace with my car, or actually moving further ahead...that's how slow it was.

The reason for the gridlock was a store in Nuuuli had caught fire and burned to the ground. As you got closer, you could start to see and smell the smoke. The fire started several hours earlier, but it was still burning. In fact, even the next day as we drove back past the store on our way into work, we could see the debris continue to smolder. Turns out, it was arson, and I've been assigned the case to prosecute. We'll see how that goes...

Sunset on Lima Street

2008-10-26T13:44:00.002-11:00

Sunset on the street where I live...nuff said.

Thanks Boys...

2008-10-24T17:26:00.003-11:00

I've been pretty stressed out lately. I got several trials dumped in my lap that were no where near being ready to be tried...discovery had been removed from the office, I had no contact info for essential witnesses, no preparation had been done, key evidence was missing, and my primary officer kept standing me up. After finally getting a continuance from the judge, the stress in my body hit a tipping point and I got a major migraine.

What I discovered was that the best medicine for my stress was a couple of friendly voices from home. There's nothing like reconnecting with good friends to lift your spirits and put whatever stresses this island has to throw at you into perspective. I had a smile on my face for the rest of the night.

Dan & Darin, thanks for the chat...xoxo

We Have Wheels!!!

2008-10-22T19:51:00.009-11:00

2000 Chrysler Seabring Convertible

Purchase Price...$5,000.00

Getting it checked out before we bought it...$65 carton of cigarettes

Parts needed to fix the lemon (6 spark plugs, 2 motor mounts, 12 lifters, a new battery, and other random parts)...$1,200.00

Labor for overhauling engine...$1,500.00

Stress over not having a working car for 5 months...some grey hairs and the beginnings of an ulcer

Finally getting to drive our convertible to work along the ocean...PRICELESS.

Camping at the Fales in Vatia

2008-10-15T19:49:00.011-11:00

Last weekend (Columbus Day Weekend), a group of us decided to go camping at the fales in Vatia. Vatia is located on the north side of the island and to get there you have to drive over a pretty steep pass. The view from the top is amazing.

This is a view of Pago Harbor on the way up the pass:

Below is a view of our beach from the top of the pass:

Our beach:

The puppies at play:

Here's the campground (the next 2 pictures were stolen from Ned's blog because I forgot to take pics of the fales):
Here are the Bromo's fale all decked out in mosquito netting:

There is a fresh-water shower where you can rinse off after playing in the ocean:

LTM & Ned stuck in the sand:

Emily hanging out in one of the fales:

Folks spent the day hanging out in the fales and snorkeling and swimming at the beach. Some of the boys played football with a few of the local Samoan kids, and another group drove down the road to go diving. When it started to get dark, we BBQ'd up some food and headed down to the beach for a bonfire. The weather was beautiful and it was fun night on the beach.

Marsik (out like a light) & Chase hanging on the beach:

Dance party 2008...Pirate Chris & April:

Tending to the fire:
Pirate Chris firejumping:

Pu, all tucked in for the night:

The next day, everyone was exhausted and spent some time on the beach soaking up the sun before we all piled in our cars and headed home:

Even Suka & Meli had their fill of fun for the weekend and settled in for the drive home:

Keep It Clean

2008-10-12T14:04:00.001-11:00

Read the sign...

Immediately next to the sign...

Awesome.

Seriously?!?

2008-10-09T18:15:00.006-11:00

Just when I thought Suka & Meli had turned the corner and got the whole housetraining thing, they decided to give me the double finger and start pooping on top of the bed in the room that they stay in during the day. That's right, I said POOPING ON TOP OF THE BED. After a week of no poop and no pee at all, for which I was sooooo proud of them, I have now had 4 days in a row of poop on top of the bed. Awesome. By the way, if you have any suggestions on how to deal with this problem, I'm all ears.

The other bit of dog news is that a few nights ago a dog was hit on the runway by an airplane. That's right...a 767 hit a dog. Not a bird, a rat or even a groundhog...a dog. Seen alot of dogs running loose on the tarmack at DIA? JFK? LAX? Imagining what kind of crack security we have here that would allow just a random dog to wander onto the runway? Welcome to American Samoa...

Plumbing Nightmare

2008-09-10T14:37:00.002-11:00

So a few days ago I got out of the shower to find a lake in my bathroom that extended out into the hallway. I got out, mopped it up and because I wasn't sure where it leaked out of, I dumped the water outside. A few minutes later I flushed the toilet and not only did water back up into the tub, but it started coming out the bottom of the toilet onto the floor. Great. So I mopped that up and dumped it in the bathtub. Again, water started coming out around the base of the toilet. OK, there's clearly a problem here.

Now, I live in government housing and we have a housing office and workers that take care of these sorts of things so it shouldn't be a problem, right? I was able to track down several phone numbers for the housing office, the security office, and the housing manager's cell phone from a friend but of course none of them worked. This was a Saturday afternoon and there is only 1 bathroom in each of the houses over here, so that made the rest of the weekend something to really look forward to. Luckily, I have friends who live on my street and if worse came to worse, I could use one of their bathrooms. I dumped a ton of Drain-O down the tub and that was enough to help me limp through Sunday. Monday morning as soon as the housing guys opened up (they are located 2 houses down from me) I went over and explained my problem. The housing manager said he could have someone come over this afternoon so I told them I'd be back at 2pm to meet them.

That afternoon three housing guys showed up and I told them my story. The main guy, Joe, agreed that there was a problem somewhere in the pipes and said we need to find where the sewer line comes out of my house. Only one problem...the plumber, of which there is only one that works for housing, is off-island. Apparently he was flown out last night (Sunday) to Hawaii due to an eye injury. And only the plumber knows where the sewer lines come out since he's the one with the maps, so they'd have to just start digging using their best guess. And so they did...they started ripping up all the asphalt on both sides of my house. They cut up my driveway with a saw, ripped out my bushes on the other side of my driveway hoping to find it out there, dug up a bunch of dirt, and out back they ripped up a 3 foot by 2 foot hole where they finally found an old rusty sewer pipe. And what did they do when they found that pipe? Well they busted it out of course. Just jammed it with a big crow-bar and knocked a 2 foot long section of it right out. Did I mention that none of them are plumbers?!?

It gets better. At this point there are now about 20 housing guys at my house all standing around watching because you can't just have one guy working, you need several others who do nothing but stand around, or pull your chairs out of your house so they can sit around, smoking, and watching. One of the guys who showed up told me that their boss called them when he realized that this was going to be a big job and told them to come over. Apparently, they had quit working at 1:30pm (like they always do) and were over in one of the other houses drinking when the boss called. So they all piled their drunk asses into the government truck and drove to my place. Fantastic...let's drive drunk over to one of the AG's houses.

I was outside with the puppies on their leashes watching this madness unfold at my place when the same guy who told me they were "partying" wanted to hold Suka's leash. He asked me all the typical questions--how long have I been here, how do I like it, am I engaged? Up to this point I've always told the truth to that last one. No more. I was talking to this guy for about 10 minutes before Joe told me that they wouldn't be able to finish the job tonight and would have to come back tomorrow. As I tried to pry Suka's leash away from this other guy he got closer and closer to me. Here, people say hello and goodbye alot with a side kiss on the cheek, and it looked like he was leaning in to do that but instead he grabbed me by both of the shoulders and said "give me a kiss." As I turned my head to the side and he said "no, a real kiss" and began to pull me in like Great Aunt Ethyl with her bright orange lipstick would do to her 4 year old nephew. In astonishment, I yelped "no!" and was able to turn my head and only walk away with his grimey alcohol smelling kiss on the cheek. WTF?!? I mean, seriously!

Anyway, the next morning Joe showed back up and continued to dig up the big hole out back where they had previously busted out a section of the sewer line. He ran some water in my kitchen sink for about 20 or 30 minutes and it poured out the broken line into the dirt. Then he cut a piece of PVC pipe and stuck it over the two exposed ends and cemented it in. No snaking of the pipe to clear the obstruction. Just bust out a section of pipe, run some water, patch it up, and cement it in. That's plumbing in American Samoa.

Corruption

2008-09-09T08:12:00.004-11:00

I came down here to American Samoa to get away from the drama and pressure of working in the District Attorney's Office back home. But it seems that drama is everywhere. Right now, the Attorney General's Office is caught up in a nightmare of a public relations scandal. One of the Assistant Attorney General's in our office recently filed 24 felony counts against 4 staff members in our office for embezzeling. Three of the defendants were transferred to another division of the office, the fourth resigned, and the attorney who filed the charges against them was fired. Makes sense, right? Then, when our office tried to get the court to appoint an independent prosecutor, which the law mandates, the cases were dismissed. Awesome. And while the rumor mill runs rampant across the schoolyard that is American Samoa, our office remains silent. No press releases, no PR damage control, not even an in-office meeting with the attorneys and staff to say this is what is going on. Nothing. It is unbelievable.

Here are just a few of the articles in the Samoa News about it:
AG sacks lawyer who filed charges in alleged CI scam
Ward nixes move for dismissal in alleged CI scam;AG says there is no intention by his office not to prosecute case
Independent Prosecutor Law hasn't been okayed by Interior; Ward: There has to be a way to depoliticize prosecutions or the feds will step in
Alleged CI Scam Case Dismissed

And some of the letters to the editor:
"UNBELIEVABLY SHAMELESS!"; "SHAMEFUL AG DECISION"; "ALLEGED CI SCAM"

I swear it's like I'm working for the mob. I'm waiting to wake up one morning with a horse's head in my bed.

Ofu

2008-08-14T21:48:00.011-11:00

The weekend after the Pacific Arts Festival ended, Tim, Lisa and I headed off for a weekend on Ofu. I had had a crap-tastic week and needed to get the heck out of dodge. Ofu is one of the Manu'a Islands (along with Olosega & Ta'u), which is part of American Samoa. It's about a 20 minute plane ride from our island of Tutuila. You get off the plane and walk about 20 yards and you're at the Lodge, which is owned by our friend Jim's family. This place is awesome! About 50 yards from your room is the beach and it has sandy white beaches with some of the softest sand you've ever felt and water that is an unreal crystal clear turquoise color. It was exactly what I needed. I just sat on the beach all day, reading a book, playing in the water, soaking up the sun, and enjoying the beauty of it all. I went snorkling the second day we were there and even saw a red octopus. It is officially one of my favorite places on earth.

A picture is worth a thousand words...this place is heaven on earth:

At the airport, you have to get weighed so they can balance the plane.

From Tutuila to Ofu, you stand on the platform between the check-in counters that you usually put your baggage on. At least there, the scale is visible only to the airline staff. But from Ofu to Tutuila, you step up on this free-standing veterinary-type-scale that has a HUGE digital display so everyone can see how much you weigh! It's awesome. Not embarassing at all.

Here, you can see all 3 islands--Ofu (left), Olosega (middle) and Ta'u (right).

Nick, LTM, me & Tim after alot of alcohol & 40 versions of this shot...

Playing cards at the Lodge...me, LTM & Nick.
Tim didn't really play well with others.

Hermie...
Hermie likes beer...
This is the day I fried myself.
The sun wasn't out, it was cloudy, and I forgot my sunscreen.
I know, I know...you can still get burned even when it's cloudy out.
I get it. I got it so bad that I spent the next day by myself at the Lodge because it hurt too much to even walk. I was peeling for weeks.

LTM jumping from the bridge between Ofu and Olosega:

My favorite spot...

Toes in the sand...
Look at that water!!!

Tim chillin' in the hammock on the beach...

Sunset on the National Park beach...

Nice nut, Tim.
Soaking it all in...

Our room at the lodge--complete with a dog of our very own...

The view from our room...
Drunkards hanging out on the airport runway...

Ofu from the air...

Pacific Arts Festival--Part 6

2008-08-07T19:00:00.012-11:00

There were so many amazing sights, sounds, and stories at the Pacific Arts Festival that it would be impossible to fully describe. So here is just a small sampling of some of the images that we enjoyed. Most of these pictures were taken from the blogs of some of my friends who are FAR better photographers than I. Thanks to Alden, Jeremy, Barbara and the Browns for most of these amazing photos. It was truly a once in a lifetime experience. And despite all the crap that has gone down so far in my time on the rock, I am glad I was here to experience this rich cultural event.

The things to do and see at the Festival went far beyond just performance arts...

The delegates paraded into the stadium for the closing ceremonies.

Because the Governor was off-island, the Lieutennant Governor addressed the crowd. It's always awesome to have a criminal defendant currently up on federal charges representing your island at one of the most significant events in the South Pacific.
A parade of women in white pulatasi's encircled the delegates on the field in a visual representation of the Festival's theme "threading the oceanic ula". Where the 2 ends met, a flag was passed from a representative from American Samoa to one from the Solomon Islands, who will host the 11th Festival of the Pacific Arts in 2012.

During the closing ceremonies, we were treated to a giant fireknife performance.

At the end of the closing ceremonies, there was a fireworks display. Now, remember how in my 4th of July post I said that fireworks are illegal here? That should tell you how big of a deal it was to have them for the closing ceremonies. Everyone was so excited--the mood in the stadium was electric. And although it was awesome to get to see fireworks, it wasn't with the same professional safety standards that you take for granted when you're watching the sky over Coors Field light up after the Rockies game. Imagine handing $60,000.00 worth of explosives to a 17 year old--that's pretty much the level of safety planning that took place. The fireworks were set off so close to the crowd that burning embers were falling on our heads. Only in Samoa...

Yes, in the last shot, those blurry spots are bits of ash, some burning, that were falling down on our heads. Awesome.

Solomon Islands--PAF Part 5

2008-08-07T18:15:00.007-11:00

The delegation from the Solomon Islands had several different performance groups. The most amazing of which was a group of guys who played bamboo flutes/pipes and drums. Some of the flutes or pipes were smaller like the size of a file folder. But others got bigger and bigger. And a few of them were bigger than a car door! These guys jumped around on the stage, dancing, swinging those pipes around like it was nothing, and played some of the funnest, happiest, most awesome music ever! They absolutely brought the house down every time they played. They were by far just about every one's favorite performers of the entire festival. And to make it even more awesome, one of the guys is blind! Here are a few videos I took of their performances...trust me, watch them all.

Aren't they the best?!?

Here are some more photos of the other Solomon Island performers:

Tahiti--PAF Part 4

2008-08-05T19:13:00.013-11:00

Here are 3 video segments from the Tahitian dancers' performance at the Pacific Arts Festival:
Part 1...

Part 2...

Part 3...

And here are some photos of Tahiti's delegation throughout the Festival:

Since everyone elses pictures are waaaaaaaaay better than mine, most of these have been pilfered from other people's blogs. Hopefully, they've all been given appropriate credit.

This first one is from Barbara's Blog...

The next 4 are from the Brown's Blog...

The rest of these shots are Alden's:

Rapa Nui--PAF Part 3

2008-08-05T07:47:00.002-11:00

Rapa Nui was one of my favorite delegations to watch at the Festival. Rapa Nui (better known as Easter Island) is a Spanish speaking country west of Chile. It's a unique blend of latin and polynesian influences. Incredibly sexy, captivating, and energizing. Their music is also amazing! I even bought their CD. Here is some video of Rapa Nui at the Fashion Show:

More video from their performance on the Utulei beach stage:

Here are some of Barbara's photos of Rapa Nui:

The Brown's have some awesome shots:

Here are more of Alden's ah-mazing photos:

Papua New Guinea--PAF Part 2

2008-08-04T08:45:00.007-11:00

Here are some shots I got of various Papua New Guinea performers in and around the festival village:

Pacific Arts Festival--Part 1

2008-08-03T08:28:00.017-11:00

Over the past 2 weeks we were treated to the 10th Festival of the Pacific Arts. It's like the Olympics in that it happens only once every 4 years and there were delegations from 20-some-odd Pacific Island Countries doing everything from singing and dancing to carving, weaving, and tatooing. There were fashion shows, indiginous food preparation, and healing arts among other things. It was awesome!

After a parade:

There was a traditional ava ceremony:

Every day there were tons of things to do all over the island. It was such a rarity, that everyone ran themselves ragged going to as much as was humanly possible. It was probably the most exciting thing that will happen during my 2 years here, so I didn't want to miss a minute of it. Luckily, the main stage at Utulei Beach was right outside our work, so every lunch hour turned into a 2-3 hour excursion where we watched groups perform, shopped at the Festival Village, and generally took in all there was to absorb. Here are just a few photos of the Utulei Beach stage:

This is the view of the stage. Nice background, huh?

Here's Tim up on stage one afternoon after the performances ended. Can you believe this view is right outside my office?

Everett even got pulled up on stage during one of the Tahiti performances.

More to come...

If 1 puppy is good, why not 2?

2008-07-29T13:22:00.009-11:00

About a week after Suka's mom abandoned her at the Harty's house, she showed up with another puppy...Suka's sister. Clif, Julia & I came home from work and met the latest puppy to be rescued into the Harty household. She had the same coloring as Suka, only she had some white on her paws, arm, nose and the tip of her tail. She was much more reserved and tense than Suka was when we first got her. And she also had quite a few cuts and sores on her, maybe the extra bumps and bruises she got out there contributed to her shyness. It seemed as if she had been through a bit more than Suka had by the time we got her.

Now I know what you're thinking..."2 puppies? Are you crazy?" Maybe I am, but when I held her in my arms, I knew that I had to take her home with me. I've had dogs before, and although it may seem counterintuitive, 2 dogs, in alot of ways, are easier than 1. They have each other to keep themselves entertained! Plus, they were sisters. How could I turn away Suka's sister? So, Meli (pronounced may-lee, and it means "honey" in Samoan) came to live with us. Over the past few weeks Meli has become more comfortable and outgoing and both she and Suka love to play with the Harty's dog Ila (pronounced eee-la, which means "spot" in Samoan).

Here are some more shots of the puppies:

Meli sleeping:

Hike to Larsen's Bay

2008-07-29T09:22:00.006-11:00

My second weekend here on the island, on Father's Day, I hiked to my first beach...Larsen's Bay. It's located on the south-west corner of the island and it's a beautiful, clean, sandy beach (which is actually quite rare here on the island). The Harty's (Julia, Clif, Ruth, Simon & Everett), LTM, Tim and I all made the trip. The hike starts along a little road that was covered with dead toads and flies (eewwww...gross). It comes to a steep ravine that is shaded by trees and vines and then opens back up into a field at the bottom. Although the road itself is hard to see (just 2 tire tracks that are extremely overgrown with grasses), there is an even smaller trail off that road that cuts off to the side. You follow that trail and it leads down to a little rock cliff that you climb down and then you're on your own secluded beach. We just hung out in the water all afternoon getting tossed around by the waves. There was some snorkling, the dogs played around (Ila--Clif & Julia's dog, and Lexington--Tim's dog both made the trip), and Ruth took a nap on the beach after having a huge branch come crashing down on her head when we stopped to "swing on the vines". Check out the Harty's blog for more on that story. We even saw a jellyfish! All in all, it was a great day. Here are some pictures from the hike...

This is the "road"--notice the tire tracks:

Here's the steep ravine & also where Ruth got her "head injury":

I think this is where we turned off on the trail that cuts away to the beach:

This is the view of the beach when the trail ended:

We just had to climb down the lava rocks and we were there.

And finally, here is a view from the shore of the waves crashing into the cliffs:

Not a bad day.

The Old Homestead

2008-07-15T13:52:00.005-11:00

I know folks back home want to know what it's like where I live. I live in Lions Park, which is a government housing area in Tafuna. No, it's not Section 8 housing...it's a bunch of houses that are owned by the government and that government employees live in. It's on the western half of the island on the south side right next to the airport on Pala Lagoon. The houses vary between 1, 2, and 3 bedroom versions. I have a 2 bedroom version (hint, hint...there's room for visitors). On one end is the living room that connects to the kitchen. Most of the houses are open between the living room and kitchen with a large island that separates the two. Mine has somewhat of a wall that divides the spaces with an opening in the middle. It's kind of nice because it means I have a built-in bookcase on the living room side and a built-in pantry on the kitchen side. There is a small room with washer/dryer hookups on one side of the kitchen and then a hallway that runs the length of the house on the other. From that hallway, you can access the bathroom, the guest bedroom, and finally the master bedroom on the other end of the house. The place comes furnished, although the furniture isn't very comfortable--think dorm room. There are doors on either side of the house about where the kitchen is, and mine has these beautiful vaulted wood ceilings. The houses here are also not built like you are used to seeing back home. Instead of regular walls and windows, many houses walls ARE windows; floor to ceiling slatted windows, which provide the ventilation that cools the houses when the winds blow through from one side to the other. A great concept, but it doesn't make for a very clean or secure housing environment.

The other nice thing about being in Lions Park is that most of the people we know and hang out with also live here. That makes socializing much easier especially considering how long it takes you to drive anywhere on the island and the fact that gas is nearly, if not over, $5 a gallon here. I live across the street and a couple of houses down from LTM and there are 2 other AG's on our street as well. One of the judges' actually lives at the end of our block.

Despite the fact that I'm talking about my "street", I don't have a formal address because none of the roads are named here. My house number used to be T-86, but now it's 287; at least that's what is painted on it. When I went to the power company to get things set up in my name, I didn't know anything about the old T-86 number. Here was the exchange:

ASPA Lady: What's your house number?
Me: I think it's 287.
ASPA: You sure it isn't T-86?
Me: I don't know. The number painted outside says 287.
ASPA: Oh, did Scott Sweet live there before you?
Me: Yeah.
ASPA: OK, this is the right one.

I'm telling you, it's a small island. Here are some photos of my pad:

And here's my view from my front yard:
Not bad, eh?

I'm in the process of picking out colors to paint the inside of my house. Once that's done, I'll upload pictures of the inside.

CONTACT INFO...

Also for those of you who want to get ahold of me, here is my info:

P.O. Box 4178, Pago Pago, AS 96799
684-770-0272 (cell)
684-699-3506 (home)
claudia.kelly.dixon (Skype)
ckdixon20@hotmail.com

If you want to call me, don't just dial me direct because chances are you'll be charged for an international call. Go to speedypin.com and buy a phone card; I got one to call LTM with before I got here that was $6 for 120 minutes. You can use it from either a cell phone or a land line. Remember, there is a 5 hour time difference between here and Colorado, so if you want to call me at 9am your time, don't; because it's 4am for me and I probably won't answer the phone. Also, if you are planning on sending anything down here (care package or whatever), I highly suggest you send it priority mail unless you want it to arrive 2 to 4 months later. The post office has these flat rate priority boxes that are a great way to ship things here.

4th of July Weekend

2008-07-09T19:15:00.017-11:00

FRIDAY...

Because American Samoa is a U.S. Territory, we do celebrate the 4th of July here on the island. The day started off with the huge sale at Ace Hardware where everything you could fit in your bag was 20% off. It was a crazy big production with a raffle, door prizes, and a hot dog stand out front. It was actually the most patriotic display I saw all day. We were handed American flags when we entered the door and were able to pick out all sorts of free flag inspired give-aways when you left depending on how much you spent inside. I got 2 red, white & blue star necklaces, a red, white & blue scrunchie and a U.S.A. lavalere. Total crap, but it was free.

And like many other places back in the states, fireworks are illegal here. The difference is that even though it may be illegal to possess or light off fireworks say, in Denver, you can still go to the Rockies game, Fiddler's Green, 16th Street Mall, or any other number of places to see professional fireworks displays. Not so much here. I didn't see or hear about one single fireworks show anywhere on the island. And on the 4th I didn't hear even one Black Cat or Bottle Rocket being set off. It was pretty wierd actually. But the Ex-Pat group here decided to celebrate our nation's birthday nonetheless with your typical drinking-BBQ-pool-party. We all went out to Haz-Matt's house, who lives out by the cliffs on the ocean. His place is absolutely georgous. It's a giant 3 bedroom house with a huge yard, a pool and it's just a hop, skip, and a jump from the ocean. We went down to the cliffs and watched the crashing waves as our version of fireworks.

Here we are hanging out at the cliffs (Naomi & Emily, me & LTM)...

Back at the house, folks were hanging out in the pool, playing bocce ball, drinking fun drinks out of coconuts that Sam husked from one of Matt's trees, and enjoying some great food including hamburgers, steak, pork chops, fish kabobs, and a home made apple pie.

Here's Aaron making sure he's covered with sunscreen...

Apparently, when I went down to watch the waves crashing into the cliffs, Suka "fell" into the pool. I came back and found her soaking wet and shivering under a bench up against the house. Later I found out that she didn't actually "fall" unless you consider Doug picking her up, putting her in the water, and letting go, "falling." Not cool. The good news was that apparently, she did try to swim. The bad news is now she won't let me get her anywhere near water. Giving her a bath is like trying to catch a greased pig. Thanks Doug.

SATURDAY NIGHT...

The next night we had a lu'au party for Ayla, who was heading off to Japan for a Polynesian dancing job. The party was at Oscar's house (her dad) and it was the BEST party I've been to so far on the island. Everyone had such a good time.

Here's Ayla & Michael all decked out...

The Brownies (Michelle & Sarah)...

New Sam (another Brownie) & Ayla...

Me & LTM...

Emily, Ayla & Sleepy Sam...

Emily & Oscar...

Alyssa, Aaron, Emily, Matt & Doug...

Matt was in rare form that night...

Chef Oscar hard at work...and the pig of course!

Some of Ayla's friends are in a band and they performed a few songs for us.

What a Weekend...Part 3

2008-07-02T10:21:00.016-11:00

The weekend didn't end with my new puppy. I also went snorkling for the first time ever. LTM, Julia, Simon (Clif & Julia's 6 year old son), and I all decided to take a trip to Airport Beach. We live right next to the Airport and there is a beach on the other side of the airport that has just about the best snorkling on the island. There are 2 ways to get there. Either you can go on the garbage walk past the dump (uh, no thanks), or you can walk along the cliffs on the ocean. We opted for the more beautiful, less smelly route. This is where the journey begins...

We tried to go to Airport Beach my first weekend here, but we couldn't find the opening in the wall that you have to climb over to get onto the cliffs and while we were searching for it, being the klutz that I am, I totally lost my footing on the wet lava rocks and cut up my knee and hand pretty bad. We didn't make it to Airport that day.

This time we did. And the hike is really easy. You walk along the ocean front on a series of lava-rock cliffs with dotted with blowholes where the waves splash up and out. It really is beautiful.

There are a few spots where you walk along a narrow trail that cuts through some vegitation. As long as you go early enough in the day you don't have to worry too much about spiders and other bugs (other than mosquitos--they are always a problem). But the closer to sundown that you go, it seems that the spiders come alive. On the way to the beach we had to move maybe 1 or 2 spider webs out of our path. But when we came back it was getting dark, and there must have been over 30 big spider webs with spiders in them that were blocking our path back. The person who walks in front needs some kind of stick to move the webs or they could walk face-first into some nastiness.

The beach at Airport is not a sand beach, but rather is made up of crushed coral. So it's not fun to walk around barefoot on.

My snorkling gear hadn't arrived yet (after all I only shipped it a month and a half ago) so I used Julia's sister's equipment. We started out and the current was so strong that we were quickly going to be swept away from where we wanted to go. So we army-crawled under water (about a foot and a half deep at this point) over to a place where the current wasn't so strong and pushed off into the harbor. At first, it was hard to adjust to the thought that I was breathing underwater, and I'm not going to lie, I may have had a minute or two of starting to hyperventilate, but then I relaxed and realized if 6 year old Simon can do this (and he was doing a great job if I do say so myself), then I could certainly do it. And once I let go, it was AMAZING!!! The area that we were in got pretty deep for snorkling on the island (about 20-25 feet in spots) and there was all kinds of coral and fish to check out. The cool thing about snorkling is that when you're out in the woods looking at nature, the animals can hear you coming and they take off, but in the water, the fish don't swim away--they just look back at you like, "yes, can I help you?" It was also kind of wierd to realize that this entire other world is just below the surface. I can't wait to go back.

Here are a few shots from the walk back at sunset...

What a Weekend...Part 2

2008-07-01T21:28:00.009-11:00

Sunday, my life here on the island changed.

I woke up, walked out my front door and was greeted by Everett, the 8 year old who lives across the street. Everett begins to tell me that he has a present for me. Apparently, one of the wild dogs here in Lion's Park was pregnant and Clif & Julia (Everett's parents) had been feeding her when she came around in hopes of keeping her healthy and strong for the puppies. Well, that morning mom showed up with one of her puppies and abandoned it on Clif & Julia's doorstep. Mom started to leave and when the puppy tried to follow it, mom just took off. Ruth, Julia's sister who is here for the summer, tried to get the mom to take the puppy back, but she wasn't having any of it. Puppy was homeless.

I had mentioned to Clif & Julia in previous conversations that I was thinking about getting a puppy here. I had been wanting a dog for a while back home, but I lived in an apartment, worked crazy hours, and just didn't think it would be fair to the dog to bring it into that kind of situation. But here, my work hours are flexible, I live in a house with tons of space to run, and since many of the palagis have puppies of their own, everyone seems ok with bringing them to many of our gatherings. So when Clif came over with this rolly-polly hunk of fur, I fell in love. She was maybe 4 weeks old and just the sweetest little lover you'd ever seen. She just wanted to nuzzle right up to my neck and after I held her, that was it. I never wanted to let her go.

Her name is Suka. It means sugar in Samoan. How could you not love that face?

Check out the Harty's Blog for more on Suka.

What A Weekend...Part 1

2008-07-01T18:12:00.026-11:00

This weekend was jam packed with excitement. I went to a new island, snorkled for the first time ever, and got a puppy!

Saturday morning a group of about 13 of us decided to take a trip to Anu'u, which is a small island off the east coast of our island of Tutuila. We all decided to meet at Aaron and Naomi's house before we set sail on our Saturday adventure. They live on the east side of the island and knowing the drinking habits of this group, there was no way everyone would be on time for a 10:00 am departure. Slowly but surely, everyone trickled in. Aaron made real coffee, which was a treat since most places in American Samoa only sell the instant stuff. As we waited for everyone to arrive, we sat out on their porch, which overlooks the ocean. It was so peaceful I could have sat there looking at that view all day. Eventually everyone arrived and we made our way to the docks where we took a water taxi across the ocean. Our water taxi and the docks:

Here's a view of Anu'u from the water taxi as the ride over begins:

And although this isn't from my trip, here's a video of the water taxi ride to Anu'u:

I know what you're thinking...beautiful view, crystal clear water, ocean breeze blowing in your hair, what more could you ask for, right? Well, let's just say I have a "small" fear of open water and the big blue ocean. So while everyone else was enjoying the scenic boat ride, I was white knuckling the railing with my stomach in my throat and praying the boat wouldn't wouldn't flip over with the next gust of wind. Normally for that short of a ride I think I'd be fine, but this boat felt like it weighed about 10 pounds and was only moving at about 8 MPH (I figured, because if it went any faster it would capsize with the next swell of the sea). Despite my fears, we made it to Anu'u and spent the day hiking all over the island. Here are some shots of our journey...

The two shots above are both views of our island of Tutuila from the shores of Anu'u. The next few shots are the beginning of our hike around Anu'u: I don't have any shots from the bulk of the hike in which we went up and over the highest point on the island because we were trudging through the mud uphill for most of it and you basically have to watch your feet the whole time to make sure you don't fall. I had my camera in my hand for part of it, but LTM made me put it away because she has come to learn what a klutz I am and knew that at some point I very well may fall and we didn't want to destroy the camera on the way down. Half way through the first part of the hike, we arrived at the cliffs on the other side of Anu'u. They were georgous. See for yourself:

We hung out at the cliffs for a bit just taking in the beauty.

Here's Luke (an attorney from New Zealand who also works at the AG's office) taking a break.

Here's another shot of the sandy wall along the cliffs just below where Luke is sitting:

After our little rest stop at the cliffs, we continued our hike back through the jungle of Anu'u. When the jungle cleared, we found ourselves at the perfect spot for a swim:

After a while it looked like some rainclouds were rolling in...

So we headed out in search of the infamous quicksand lake. We found the turn-off that led to the lake and walking through tree covered path felt like we were in another world entirely. It was very Blair Witch....

Because the last ferry back to Tutuila leaves at 4pm, we had to hustle back to the docks to make sure we weren't stuck there over night. So we had a Grizwald-Grand Canyon kind of moment and were back on the trail.

That night we had a poker party at Aaron's house for Markus' bachelor party. I was the first one out. Oh well. Aaron also make some fantastic pizza's for dinner that night. I didn't know he had it in him. I was pretty impressed with his chef's skills. However, Aaron is a bit of a hot sauce fan, and he made one pizza with a CRAZY hot sauce. So hot...that just touching the bite to your lips sent your face on fire. So hot...that after eating one tiny slice, Matt went to use the restroom and because he hadn't washed his hands before he used the facilities, the burning fire was transferred to other parts of his body. So hot...that the bottle of the hot sauce Aaron used on that pizza had a freakin' skull & cross-bones on it! Duh, last time I checked, that meant poison! Or here, burning flesh for the next several hours. Needless to say, I'm sticking to the regular pizza from now on.

That was Saturday.

Supply & Demand

2008-06-27T20:28:00.003-11:00

Shopping on the island can be interesting. For the most part you can get some version of just about anything you'd need here if you look around enough (notice I say some version and need). You've got your basic staple stores: Cost-U-Less (our version of CostCo), Forsgrens (kind of like Walmart only much much smaller), and KS Mart (the island's King Soopers--at least the one in my village of Tafuna). There are also tons of other little shops on every corner that carry all sorts of items from toiletries and snack food to fabric and school supplies. Every store has something different and if you check out enough of them, you find all kinds of surprises. For instance, Steven & Sons actually carries green Tobasco. I love green Tobasco!

The age old question then becomes how much to buy. You see, you never can tell when or if you'll see a particular product again, so it follows that if you see something you like/want/need you should buy it then and there and lots of it, right? Well, that may not be your best course of action I've come to discover. On more than one occassion, people I know have gone into stores looking for something they have seen and/or purchased there before only to find it no longer available. And when they asked about the missing items (which were not obscure items, but rather very marketable and popular) they were told that indeed those items were very popular and for that reason they are no longer carrying them. Because they keep selling out. Apparently they don't teach economics in school here. Supply and demand...it's a crazy concept.

Car Painting

2008-06-27T17:41:00.009-11:00

In a few weeks, American Samoa will play host to the upcoming 10th Annual Pacific Arts Festival during which thousands of people from all over the South Pacific will descend upon our little island to celebrate the arts of the region. There will be everything from quiltmaking to fashion designing, tatooing to log carving, indigenous food preparation, navigation and canoeing, indigenous medical treatment, visual and of course, performance arts. Not wanting to be left out--or so the newspaper would believe--(and also because we have to make our own entertainment here) a few of the Palagi's decided to get into the spirit and paint one of our friends' cars. They used palm fronds for the front, made the bed of the truck look like a zebra, spruced up the grill and rims with a nice gold color, and even had the truck owners put their own feet and hand prints on the doors in paint. You know, your typical Sunday afternoon around these parts. The awesome part was that someone sent in a picture of the paint job to the local paper and today, it was on the front page of the Samoa News! Check it out...

For the real low down on the car painting as well as more pictures, check out Jeremy's Blog.

Office Space

2008-06-27T13:05:00.001-11:00

So I've officially been here for a month now, and still I have no office. It's really starting to get old. I've been trying to work by jumping onto other people's computers while they are at court or out sick and I'm just about at my wit's end. You'd think that a professional office, like the Attorney General's Office would have an office for the professionals that it hires. Or at least a freakin' work space! Lisa and I have suggested turning this file room into an office and just moving the file cabinets that are in there out into the hallway and line them up along the wall outside the library (because there are about 40 other file cabinets lining the hallways throughout the office in other spots), but the office manager's response was, "no, that would make it look too junky." Like not providing one of your Assistant Attorney Generals with even so much as a couple of square feet to work is any better?!? For the next two weeks I'm camped out in Nikki's office, who is off on vacation. So at least I have a little bit of time that I don't have to worry about where I can work. Every time I start to get worked up about it, I have to remind myself that this is American Samoa...nothing gets done with efficiency here, so why would I expect my office to be any different? Oh, the price we pay for living in paradise.

Did I also mention that even though I've been here for a month, I have no office supplies at all? I was online trying to buy my own from Staples.com, only I got to the checkout and discovered they don't ship here. Good times.

Dogs, Dogs Everywhere

2008-06-22T17:13:00.005-11:00

Magistrate Lung was right about one thing...here in American Samoa, there are thousands of wild dogs. Although some can be pretty vicious, most are not. You pass them on the street like you would any other person. Some are loners and seem to run by themselves, but many others run in packs. You see alot of them hanging out under cars during the heat of the day--anything to get a bit of shade. Alot of them look pretty bad. Dirty, ribs showing through, patches of hair missing, scars on their sides from wounds they suffered at the hand (or paw) of another more dominant dog. And the sad part is that not all of them are wild. Many of them actually belong to someone here--someone that just doesn't take care of them.

A few of my friends have rescued various dogs off the street. Puppies really. One of the attorney's in my office, Tim, rescued a puppy by the name of Lou. He was incredibly skiddish around other people when Tim first brought him home, but he's being socialized and now that Tim's dog from back home has arrived (his name is Lexington and he's a boxer), Lou is doing much better. I'm actually thinking of adopting Lou, but we'll save that for another post.

The Harty's, who live across the street, just rescued a puppy last week that looked like he had a broken leg. They took him into their home for the Humane Society and tried to nurse him back to health. He was clearly malnourished, had worms, his ribs were showing through, and his stomach was swollen so big it looked like it would burst. They gave him medicine to try and de-worm him, but he wasn't pooping the worms out like he was supposed to. They gave him an IV, since he wasn't eating or drinking anything and even tried giving him an enima. But the only thing that came out were a few rocks. Apparently, when they are on the verge of starvation, the puppies will resort to eating rocks to get something in their bellies. Unfortunately, it was too late for this pup and he passed away a couple of days after they took him in.

If you want to read more about the animals on the island, check out the Humane Society's webpage at http://www.ashumanesociety.org/clients.htm. This link will also show you some photos of the dogs on the island.

A Few Of My Favorite Things...

2008-06-10T12:53:00.001-11:00

Moving to a new place requires a trip or two to various stores to set up your new house. Many different items have been purchased to make this my new home away from home. Among those purchases are a few that stand out...

Bug spray. Many forms have been purchased...Raid, Ortho-Killer, Cockroach/Ant/Spider Killer, ant traps, roach traps, giant roach traps, rat poison, and my favorite--Bug Stop. It comes in the gallon-size jug with a spray hose that you attach and can take around and spray all the base boards both inside and outside your house. It's awesome. About a week into my stay here, I came home and found a spider the size of a baseball perched on the side of my couch. That's right, I said a baseball. No joke. Ahhhh, the joys of tropical living.

Fans & Air Conditioning Unit. I purchased 2 tall standing fans that I keep in my living room and an air conditioning unit that I had installed in my bedroom. Best $$ I've spent yet.

Otter Pops. Yep, Otter Pops. Found them at Cost-U-Less (our version of CostCo) and they just make everything better.

Golf Umbrella. Actually, Lisa bought this one for me before I came, but it is one of the best investments on the island given the crazy amount of rain that we get. And at $3, you can't beat a deal like that.

Zip Lock Bags. And tons of them. They have been a tremendous help in my quest to not give the bugs any real reason to stick around. Everything gets zip-locked around here. It's amazing what some ants will do to your motivation to clean up after your self and every little crumb that gets dropped.

Machette. That's right, I've got an 18 inch machette that I bought at Ace Hardware. It serves 2 purposes: home protection and hiking. You need a machette to go on many of the hikes around here because everything grows so quickly and lots of the "paths" to the beaches are through dense jungle that you've got to cut through to get through.

These are just a few of my favorite things...

Getting Here...

2008-06-04T08:11:00.015-11:00

Getting to American Samoa is no small feat. About 24 hours of travel and 3 plane rides is what it took. Let's start with the travel arrangements...

Having your new job buy your plane ticket to paradise sounds like it would be an awesome bonus, right? Wrong. You see, in order to travel on the goverment's dime, you need to go through a travel agent, who will keep renewing the reservation for the 12 years that it takes the American Samoan government to process a travel authorization. What's that you say...a travel agent? Who knew that in today's world of internet access, web-based fares, and online check-in that these mythical creatures still existed? Well they do, and in American Samoa the one that was "recommended" was J & J Travel. Now, you didn't think I would actually be able to go through a travel agent back in Colorado, did you? Silly rabbit. You also are probably imagining this "travel agent" to be a knowledgable professional in the travel industry, right? Someone who knows the business, what to do, what not to do, and can help answer your questions and prepare for your trip, right? Well, let's just say that despite no less than 30 phone calls and emails to this travel agent, I NEVER got a copy of my own itinerary. That's right...I said never. But for Lisa being able to track down a copy of my itinerary at the Attorney General's office, I wouldn't even have known what time to show up to the airport. I guess I was lucky in that I got my ticket about a week before I was due to fly out, which is quite early considering Lisa didn't get her ticket until 2 days before she was scheduled to leave. And when I say I "got" my ticket, I mean Lisa told me that it was paid for by the AG's Office. Good times.

Now here's where the travel agent's experience and professionalism paid off...Luckily, because Lisa tracked down the itinerary sent to the AG's office, I knew that my first flight left Denver at 7:00 am. I had been up since about 3:00am to get to the airport from Conifer in time. When I went to check in at the Frontier counter, because I was flying on multiple airlines and wasn't provided with all of my flight numbers and information needed to get me all the way to Pago Pago, the gate agent could only check me in through Honolulu since they couldn't access Hawaiian Airlines database to get my flight info from Honolulu to Pago Pago. I was told that I would have to pick up my bags in Hawaii and re-check them to Pago Pago. So that's what I did.

The flight from Denver to San Diego was about 2 and 1/2 hours; the one from San Diego to Honolulu just under 6. After I picked up my bags, re-checked them and went back through security, I sat down in a little restaurant in the Honolulu airport to grab a bite to eat since I had a few hours to kill before my last flight to Pago Pago. As I sat there eating my chicken ceasar salad and watching all the travelers coming and going from their tropical vacations, it hit me...I was picking up my entire life, leaving my friends and family behind and MOVING TO AN ISLAND THE SIZE OF A POSTAGE STAMP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN!!! What in the hell was I doing?!? Was I insane? Had I not thought this through? I started to have a bit of a panic attack. This wasn't just a little trip to Hawaii for some fun in the sun and sand. This was for 2 years! For 2 years I would be half-way around the world, away from everyone I know and love. Just then, my cell phone rang...it was Lisa calling to tell me she would be there at the airport to pick me up tonight. Man, it was good to hear a familiar voice and know that she would be there when I arrived in this strange new place. So I stopped, took a breath, remembered why I was doing this and headed down to the gate to wait for my plane.

I slept for most of the flight from Hawaii to Pago Pago (it's about a 5 and 1/2 hour flight for those keeping score). And when I finally stepped off the plane, the heat and humidity hit me like a brick wall. I certainly wasn't in Kansas anymore. We exited down those portable staircases they push up to airplanes and walked outside toward the airport. Now let me back up for a minute and describe the "airport". It's basically a runway with a holding area on site. There is a building that I guess you'd call the terminal, but I use that word loosely. As you enter, there are a few booths that you go through for immigration. They ask you about the purpose of your visit (if you're there for business or pleasure), give you another customs form to fill out, and stamp your passport. Then you move forward another 20 feet or so and you're in the baggage area. There is one conveyor belt similar to what you may have seen back in the States, only here, the electrical outlet that this belt plugs into is hanging from a pipe full of wires about 6 feet off the ground over the belt itself. And the wires look like they've been pulled out of the pipe by vandals. Now, where you are probably used to seeing a small opening covered by vinyl or plastic flaps through which the luggage would magically appear at a normal airport, here, there is another mini-conveyor belt on the back of a truck that drives into the "terminal" and parks next to the big conveyor belt. A second truck carrying luggage carts then drives up to the open end of the conveyor belt and a couple of very big Samoan men turn on the conveyor belts (after about 30 minutes of trying to figure out what was wrong with the power to the big belt--here's a hint, maybe it has something to do with the exposed wires) and start unloading the luggage. Did I mention that the mini-belt runs on some sort of diesel fuel that had we not had a 20 foot section of wall missing, may have caused many-a-passenger to pass out? The baggage phase of my journey was almost as long as my Denver-San Diego flight. Maybe it had something to do with the 5000 pieces of luggage they had to unload from the airplane. You see, when traveling to and from American Samoa, you don't travel light. I myself, had 2 checked bags and 2 carry-on's (well, 1 carry-on and 1 personal item--a tote bag), but I was moving there for 2 years! I should also preface this by saying that when Samoan's travel, they travel with like 15 family members and each group has close to 75 pieces of luggage. And it's not the kind of luggage you're used to seeing at American airports. I saw no less than 45 giant duct-taped coolers come off that conveyor belt. No idea what was in them or why there were so many. There are alot of things here in American Samoa that you just learn to say, "ok, cool" about, and this is one of them.

Although my flight arrived on the island at about 9:30pm (2:30am Denver time), I didn't get out of the "terminal" until after 11:00 pm. Once I had my bags, I made my way to customs (another 15 feet off of the baggage area), gave my form to a customs officer, and walked outside to a sea of people waiting to pick folks up from the flight. You see, flights only arrive and depart on the island from Hawaii on Thursday's and Sunday's, so it's a big deal. And on the day that I arrived, several people in our social circle here had folks flying in. Some were just visiting, others were new people (like me) arriving to start their contracts, still others yet were returning from a trip off-island. Hot, sweaty, and exhausted, I came around the corner to see Lisa standing there with a beautiful boquet of flowers. She grabbed 2 of my bags and we headed out to the parking lot where Shitbuggy was waiting to drive us home. Sidebar--Shitbuggy is the name we affectionately use to refer to one of our office cars that had the sun roof left open on it one day and the rain destroyed the center console leaving behind the permanent, yet fragrant smell of mildew. It was a beautiful Nissan Mirano when first purchased, and now it's Shitbuggy. But enough about that. Lisa then drove us the whole 3 minutes from the airport to her house (which is just across the street from mine) where we chatted for a bit before I crashed for the night in her air-conditioned spare room. Aaaahhhhhh air conditioning...

Weekend of Goodbyes...

2008-05-12T16:23:00.004-11:00

This past weekend was Mother's Day and the whole weekend was jam packed with event after event. It started out Friday night at a goodbye happy hour with folks from the DA's office. Then the real party at Dan's house on Saturday night (which finally ended around 5:00 am). Followed by a Mother's Day celebration Sunday morning at my cousin's house (on 3 hours of sleep) and a Dixon farewell in Castle Rock that afternoon. I was dead by the end of the weekend. All I want to do is sleep...

Last Week at the DA's Office

2008-04-28T15:57:00.002-11:00

Five days left to go at the DA's office and counting...

Today was my last Monday at work. Man, does that sound nice to say out loud. I think I've also managed to get rid of pretty much all my evidentiary cases this week. Everything either pled or continued, so that makes this last week all that more enjoyable. I'm actually starting to feel a bit nostalgic about leaving the DA's office...but not enough to stay.

Since I announced my resignation, the Magistrate has been a bit upset...understandably though, given that ALL of his DA's are leaving or have left. I'm moving to American Samoa, Clinton quit and then got offered a part-time gig in intake, and John got moved to cover Lisa's docket. The day I resigned a Google map appeared in chambers with an arrow pointing to American Samoa and in big red letters were the words DROP BOMBS HERE. Then a story appeared about these wild dogs that attacked some tourists on the beach and everywhere they went on the island. I frequently get called to the bench to pick up documents with notes attached that say things like "Australia is attacking American Samoa" and "American Samoa is overrun by land sharks". And now that the Magistrate has learned how much I hate spiders, that has become his new favorite topic of conversation. Apparently, American Samoa is overrun with spiders so big that they eat cats. Or so Lung would have me believe...

I cannot even begin to explain how much I still have left to do. And the days just keep ticking by. I have no earthly idea how Lisa worked up until just days before she flew out. I would absolutely go insane if I did that. As it stands now my apartment looks like either a tornado hit it or I should be one of those horders on a Dr. Phil show. You don't realize just how much stuff you've really got until you pull it all out into the middle of the room. I've got boxes of stuff to ship, boxes to store, boxes to sell, boxes to donate, and boxes to trash. If I don't get rid of this stuff soon, I may end up just chucking it over the balcony.

Oh yeah, get this--I heard today that the office is trying to put me in a house with this random guy named Doug. WTF?!? Luckily Lisa has come to the rescue again and is putting a stop to that. I also was finally able to get someone from the travel agency on the phone today and she said she would reserve me a plane ticket, but I have yet to see anything pop up in my email. Things definitely seem to operate on "island time" down in AS.

The Adventure Begins...

2008-04-19T03:18:00.000-11:00

It's been almost a week since I made the decision to drastically change my life. I accepted the position with the AG's office in American Samoa and resigned from the DA's office on Monday April 14th. In six weeks I will be living on an island 25 miles long in the middle of the South Pacific. No one actually though I'd do this. They thought I'd daydream about the adventure, talk about what could be, and generally stew over it, but wouldn't actually pull the trigger. Well, I did pull the trigger and shot a blast that will change my life forever.

There is sooooooo much to do before I leave. This past week, I've made all my doctor's appointments, resigned from the DA's office, started packing, and got my vaccinations (Hep A, Hep B, Polio, Teatnus and Typhoid). Today I'm breaking my lease, quitting the gym, and generally figuring out how to shut my life down here in Colorado. Mom is coming down this morning to help me sort through everything in my apartment. If it's worth the time, effort and $ to pay to store it or ship it, then that's what I'll do. If it doesn't fit into either one of those categories, it's getting sold or donated to charity. Spencer thinks he's going to go on a shopping spree through my apartment and take whatever he wants as "Monaco Donations". Although he's full of it, I will say that the process of streamlining your life and getting rid of all the excess "stuff" is quite liberating.

OMG...I can't believe I'm moving to American Samoa!!!!