Manuia le Kerisimasi!

Merry Christmas from the Rock! Here's a photo/video montage of my Christmas activities!

The (HOT) day before vacation on the sea wall right in front of school

My StarBoys (learning about St. Lucia's Day in Sweden)

My St. Lucias (We used vegetation from behind the school - amazing finished products!)

Leraning about Diwali and lighting candles set afloat

We made pinatas for Los Posadas. Lydia broke the string when I dropped the pinatas lower, so we ended up smashing them on the pavement. Great fun!

On Dec. 15th, we went caroling at the hospital. We wanted to give back to our community since we have been the recipients of such goodness this year!

Nativity Scene in the church... Which of these does not belong?

The youth of the LMS church in Vatia during their Christmas Eve performance

Methodist churches across the island went caroling late on Christmas Eve.

The video is darker on this post than on my computer. Here's a photo to look at while listening to the carol :)

What Actually Happens to Your Books?

As I was sitting in my room last night, processing the latest (AMAZING - story to follow in another blog post) shipment of books for my school, I realized that you might be interested to know what actually happens to the books you send. Here's the process (I'll attach pictures to this someday, but I am on vacation now and don't want to go up to my classroom for at least one more day!):

1. The boxes arrive at Tafuna airport on one of the 2 flights a week that bring mail. They are sorted and brought to the post office in Pago Pago, where a yellow slip is added to WorldTeach's PO Box indicating a package is ready to be picked up. There are so many packages here that the post office uses a yellow cardstock and simply writes our box number on the back, so no one ever really knows how many packages are waiting.
2. My field director, Alison, checks the PO Box and does a package run (usually on Thursdays, though she tries to go more than once a week during the holidays, just in case...). If there are any boxes for me, she either contacts my host mom, Mata, who passes Alison's office on her way to work, or me (if there are only a few... to see if I'm coming into town and can pick them up myself). 
3. Once the boxes arrive in Vatia, they usually get unloaded to my door by the kids (CJ and Matalin). Then, the work begins...
4. The first thing I do after opening the boxes and doing happy dance is to label all books with "WorldTeach donated by _____." Each book you send has your name (or orgainzation's name) in it. I do this for 2 reasons. One, it identifies that the books have been donated through WorldTeach, which means that the DOE has no claim to them if ever challenged. Second, and most importantly, it allows me to say a "thank you" for each book as I write the donor's name(s) inside. This is my favorite part of the whole process because I get to think about YOU and skim through each book!
5. The next step (which I've only just recently added) is to bind the edges and spine of the book with tape. I took a hint from some books that had been donated by teachers to make the books hold up better. Island weather and kids who are not used to caring for books lead to a lot of issues keeping books in good condition. We are working on the latter (it takes a long time to educate a community and change old habits, but I can see progress already), and I'm hoping the tape helps with the former as well.
6. Books are then cataloged into my database and given a number. I write the number onto a sticker and attach it to the back corner of the book. This makes it easy to log the books borrowed into my other database. I'm trying to keep track of statistics: numbers of students attending, number of books borrowed daily, the frequency that each book is borrowed. I'm no Excel wiz, but I'm giving it a shot.
7. Finally, I attach a colored label to the book's spine that indiciates where it is shelved. The labels say "Vatia Reads!" and the genre (fiction, science, animals, biography, social studies, etc.). The colors help my students put the books back in an area that's generally correct. 
8. Soon, I'll be adding one more step: Attaching a letter to each book that will help keep books within each genre organized by author or topic.

The books are always presented to my fourth graders before I put them on the shelves. Usually this happens before the processing because I want them to benefit from having the books available as soon as possible. They are always thrilled and want to know who they came from (and the backstory of how you are all somehow connected to me).

Once books are on the shelves, they are free to be borrowed. Students come in every day of the week to look through and borrow books. They each have a library card (an index card) on which they write the title and number of each book they borrow. Each card has room for 10 titles, and some students are on their 3rd cards already. On the back of the card, I write "Vatia Reads!" in marker, and students move through the colors in the order of the rainbow. That means, I have some "Yellow Readers" already.

I hope this sheds some light on the "afterlife" of your books! Thank you, again, for everything!

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

October 11th was White Sunday, Samoa's equivalent of Children's Day. It is the one day a year that children do not have to do chores, get to choose the menu for meals, and are served before adults. Normally, kids are working hard to serve the adults in the family, so this is supposed to be their "day off." Naturally, because this is American Samoa, the day revolves around church services. For weeks, children are practicing bible verses, song and dance routines, and skits to perform at church throughout the day. In the morning, there is a service for children to share what they've worked on (they ALL recite a bible verse and participate in numerous other routines). The morning service lasts anywhere from 3-5 hours. Then, families go home to have their Sunday tonai (BIG lunch), where children are served first. Then, after an afternoon rest, families return to church to participate in more skits and songs.

My school had an assembly to celebrate White Sunday, and I want to share with you a video of one of my favorite Samoan songs. I have no idea the title, but this is the 5th and 6th grade classes dancing to the song, cutting away to my students Solomona (boy) and Asenati (girl) participating from the audience. One of my absolute favorite things here in American Samoa is seeing Solomona dance and sing to religious music!

Ua E Manumalo

This is one of the many religious songs on the soundtrack of American Samoa... Thought I'd share this with you all! :)

General Blog Update

In case you didn't notice, I removed the "Mail Call!" tab from my blog. The lack of reliable internet access has forced me to make this decision, since I can't keep up with updating my posts, let alone the extra tab. I will try to send emails when I get packages from here on out (though, often I can't), and I will definitely keep sending snail mail thank yous so that you know that your packages arrived here safely.

On the mail/package note, I've heard rumors of the complete disorganization of the post office here in American Samoa at the holidays, so don't be surprised if it takes a while for things to get through. I'll send good vibes into the universe to try to combat this, but I wanted to send out a warning to you so that no one goes into a panic. Keep your receipts so that I can track packages down as necessary! Thanks, in advance :)

Butterflies!

In October (yes, it's been a while), my students did animal reports. Part of their responsibility was to create a model of their animal in its habitat. Solomona went one step beyond creating a model and actually brought in caterpillars in his habitat box.After my glowing reaction, he brought 5 chrysali (chrysalises?) in, attached to leaves. We hung the leaves in our windows and hoped for the best, not knowing how transporting them from their original location would fare. All hatched into butterflies before our eyes! What an amazing opportunity to witness the miracle of nature.

Quick Words of Thanks

A message from Katerina

A message from Al-Roni

A message from Solomona

A message from Asenati

A message from Hosanna

An AMERICAN Samoan Thanksgiving

I have worked the past 4 Thanksgivings, so one thing I was especially grateful for this year was a day off! Determined to spend my favorite holiday IN the country (a territory of the country, but still American soil), I had a wonderful stay-cation for Thanksgiving break.

Thanksgiving morning was spent with fellow volunteers in Utulei, whose host family created an umu (traditional oven) in which to cook their turkey. An umu takes about an hour to prepare and about 45 minutes to cook the turkey. Sure beats 4-5 hours slaving away in a kitchen, huh?

First, rocks are heated and placed on the ground. Then, the meat and other dishes are added. They, in turn, are covered by more rocks before adding several layers of leaves. Finally, old, wet leaves (or wet newspapers in this case) are added on top to trap the heat and smoke inside the cooking mound.

Adding the food to the umu

Steaming deliciousness

Covering the umu with banana leaves

All done! Removing the hot leaves and steamed bananas (yum!)

Mackerel and coconut cream in coconut shells... delicious!

Removing the food - note the tongs (scroll down for picture)

A cooked turkey, and lamb shanks, and taro, and cooked green bananas

Doesn't it look amazing? The green are mango leaves added to enhance flavor.

!

Mmm!

With one of the cooks (Junior? - can't remember his name)... He was very drunk by 11am... Umu and beer go hand in hand.

Samoan tongs

Vatia Reads! Video

I put together a video of photos from the first month of Vatia Reads! This is an absolutely incredible program that our students LOVE! Our school has a population of about 70 students in grades 1-8. We average 40 students coming to each session on Mondays and Wednesdays. Every morning, I average 18 students coming in to exchange their books for new ones. We could run a successful program 5 days a week if we had the manpower to do it, as students ask daily "Is there Vatia Reads! today?" It breaks my heart to tell them no on our off days.

The power of one blog post explaining the book situation at my school and asking for donations of books has led to something incredible. I thought that perhaps two or three people would fill up a flat-rate box with old books laying around the house, but you all amazed me! You, my blog readers, have contributed to a library of over 700 books! I am grateful everyday for the love and support you have given my students and me. Being able to share these resources with the Vatia community through my outreach program (Vatia Reads!) is an incredible experience. Vatia is a ... unique... place. Your books have helped improve the lives of the children here, giving them something to share with each other, to talk about, to look forward to, to cherish, and to enjoy. As you'll see at the end of the video, I've come upon students reading in the most beautiful places, students who might otherwise be out causing trouble or simply sitting around the house. One of my toughest 3rd grade students (I teach 3rd grade science in addition to my 4th grade class) just lights up at the opportunity to come to Vatia Reads! He wrote a Thanksgiving card to me, thanking me for the program. I, in turn, have to pass that thanks on to all of you. When the emotional roller coaster that is teaching in my village is on an uphill climb, Vatia Reads! is part of the chain that grabs onto the slipping cars and pulls them up and over the peak. This video is intended to show you a bit of the excitement on the children's faces, some of our activities, and to be a tribute to your support. Thank you all for inspiring this amazing part of my life.