Living out of a suitcase

Spending the next few days in Apia before our final two weeks of training which will take place back in fair Ma'asina. Apia is fun and there is much more activity but I have to admit that I like village life better. My three day stay at my future home in Leulumoega was very nice. I got to meet with the Pule (which is basically the principal) of Paul IV college where I will be teaching in January. I can't wait to move in and actually unpack my suitcase. I found out that I will be living with two Japanese volunteers from an organization called JICA in a compound house on the outskirts of campus. The house is really nice and it has many rooms just waiting to be turned into perhaps an art studio, a library, a place to work out, a zen room, who knows? I met one of the volunteers already and he seems really cool. There is a thick language barrier but I'm sure that this will only add to the cross-cultural experience that I live in everyday. I've researched a bit about the turtle conservation area that I spoke of and I'm learning that I could help with very minimal tasks like distributing documents containing information about the endangered sea turtles. I suppose this is a start. The cool thing about the conservation area is that it offers a refuge for sea turtles to lay there eggs without being disturbed. One of the greatest problems contributing to the quickly depleting population of sea turtles, at least in this area, is the fact that many light posts have been built close to the ocean. When a mother sea turtle lays her eggs, she times the moment they are born with the patterns of moonlight. When the moon is full and directly over a certain part of the ocean, the well timed eggs will hatch and the baby turtles will instinctively walk towards the sparkling light over the sea. The problem is that all too often the turtles will walk towards the street lights and far away from the sea where they will never survive. I'm also doing as much research as I can about a fabled sea animal known locally as the uila sami (litterally, ocean lightning) that has never been photographed. It is a virtually invisible jellyfish-like creature that comes out at night. It remains invisible until it is approached by a predator or unfortunate passerby where it proceeds to display a marvelous lightning-like flash followed by a sharp sting that renders its victims blind for anywhere from 12 hours to one week. It is not known whether or not this animal even exists but I've read a few accounts of fishermen being stung by it. Either way it is an interesting legend to learn more about. Everything is well, happy, and peaceful on this tiny archepelago on the other side of the planet. I'm meeting all sorts of people from all over the world, many from Australia, New Zealand, and the many various islands of the pacific. Apia is nice for its diversity just like village life is nice for its taste of true Samoan culture. I may or may not post for a while because I am leaving on Saturday for two long weeks in Ma'asina but afterwards I'm sure that this blog will be full of many adventurous tales. Tofa soifua! (goodbye in good health!)