Ma'asina - Round 2

Ioana and I
Honorable talking chief, Togia
Fale sweet fale
Yeah, Fagaloa Bay




Komiti performance

Uesile rockin it up.

Sunday November 5

I am beginning this entry in Ma’asina and later transferring it from notebook to blog. This way I can document all sorts of things from my two week stay in kua. I arrived yesterday around 4 and even though I really like it here, I have to admit that I wasn’t looking forward to coming back so soon. I’ve been all over the place lately. After 4 days in Savai’i, I only spent one night in Apia before returning to Ma’asina. My hesitation to return was quickly eliminated as I was very warmly greeted by my host family with hugs and new lavalavs. Solomona and I talked for a long time and he said that he considers me his brother. He said that when I was gone a villager asked who that palagi was that plays guitar so well and Solomona replied, “that’s my brother, Kilisi”. These next few weeks will be long but wholesome. Last night Solomona, Ioana, his real brother, and I lowered our inhibitions together while I played guitar. We then drank a very potent batch of ‘ava which promptly knocked me out. I woke up early this morning and listened to the sounds of the ocean. It’s raining now but all is well in Ma’asina.
Jammed a bit with Solomona and his family tonight. Music is a universal language that we all speak. I love to share my music with this place. They seem to enjoy the songs I write. Earlier today I watched Togia, the old high chief who lives with us, whistling while tying his tie in the mirror. You can’t put a price on moments like these.

Monday November 6

There must have been a pig revolution or something this morning because I was awakened by the most terrible squeals I’ve ever heard. This is okay because it happened right at the crack of dawn giving me a great chance to watch the sunrise over the bay. That giant fireball is beautiful when emerging from the sea, turning the whole scene a bright orange. The dreams here are delightfully maddening. They are intense and vivid and I find myself dreaming about people that I haven’t seen in years mixed with people I’ve just met. Sometimes I wake up confused and lost because the dreams are so lucid that I have to convince myself that I’m actually here again. But I am here and today is beautiful and windy. It’s not raining today but even if it does I wont lost my smile.

Tuesday Nov 7

I don’t know if I’ll make it home tonight but I know I can swim under that Samoan moon.

Staring at the ocean will drive you deep into your soul. It makes you think about things you never used to think about however sometimes it makes you think about nothing at all. No music in your head. No concept of time. I didn’t even know what day it was today. I always smell like salt. Even when it rains I stare at the ocean. Sometimes I can see the rain coming in from across the bay so thick that the mountain on the other side disappears. I spend a lot of time with my feet buried deep in the sand. I’m covered with little cuts and bruises from surfing. I’m very awake.. I think. I haven’t been here long but I already feel the change. I love the ocean. Once in a while a huge thing will jump out of the water in the distance and splash so big that it leaves ripples on the surface for a whole minute it seems. A short walk up the hill to the next village reveals a stunning view of the bay. I feel at home in Ma’asina for the time being. I’m practicing kung-fu again and better off for it. Solomona takes me on long walks and tells me legends about the bay and the mountains. There are many sacred places in this village whose name means ‘precious rock’.
After a long day of language I came home to eat a pile of fish with my ‘aiga. I had a few small sunfish and a large parrot fish that was very hearty and delicious. The more language I learn, the more enjoyable “family time” is around here. I am getting better at joking with my family and they have a very good sense of humor. One time I acted like I had never seen a banana before. I asked in Samoan how it works and before they could answer I proceeded to bang myself in the head with it. It was really funny and they caught on quick. Every time I eat a banana they look at me like they’re waiting for me to hit myself with it. Sometimes I do anyway because I like to make them laugh.
Sitivi, another volunteer and fellow kung-fu enthusiast, came to my fale to steal me for a night stroll. We walked to the end of the village and talked economics with one of our trainers for quite a while. On our way back I ran into my host mother (let me remind you, she’s 27) who was on her way to a Komiti meeting. The komiti is a women’s group where various village matters are handled, however currently they are rehearsing for a siva (dance) production. It was really a cool sight. Samoans seem to be naturally gifted with harmony and hearing them sing is really intense. The women sat cross-legged on the floor and sang while performing choreographed hand gestures and claps. I can’t wait to see them in their outfits.
Although it was very dark and starry when we came to the rehearsal, the moon had emerged from the ocean to great us when we got out. It was mostly a full moon, however the top section was flattened off and it truly was a mystical sight ascending between the mountains at the mouth of the bay.

Wednesday Nov 8

As I’ve mentioned, the dreams that I’ve been having lately are among the craziest dreams I’ve ever had. Until tonight I’ve been passing this off as traveler’s excitement about being in a foreign land but something happened last night that needs to be documented.
The moon last night was very intense and magnificent. I sat on the beach and marveled at its beauty for a long while and fell asleep very peacefully when I returned home. However I woke up sometime in the middle of the night with the moon shining in my fale and for some reason I felt absolutely terrified. There was a powerful wind blowing into the house and I felt an overwhelming sensation of creepiness all around me. I passed this off as nothing and after a long period of discomfort and fear I went on to dream about whatever it is that I dream about. All day I had nearly forgotten about this episode but when dinner came, a young man from the village named George joined us and I overheard him saying something in Samoan about the moon. I asked him in English what he was talking about and he told me that he was late for school today because he was up all night experiencing malu’ia. He explained to me that malu’ia is a condition that occurs when you sleep in the moonlight. There is an ancient belief that spirits travel under the moonlight and if you sleep in its light the spirits will grab you and paralyze you until the light passes. Under worse circumstances, like if the moonlight falls on your face, the spirits will actually drag you out into the night and although your body will remain where you were sleeping, your spirit will be dragged into a world of terror. He told me all of this without me ever telling him a word about last night’s incident that I experienced. I talked to the Peace Corps trainers about it, again without mentioning that I experienced this phenomenon, and they told me that there are legends of spirits in the moonlight that will grab you if you are caught sleeping in its path. Faleseu, one of the trainers, told me that he experienced malu’ia many times randomly since he was little and sometimes it is so bad that he cannot move. At times, he said to me, the spirits of the family will protect you from malu’ia and this is part of the old tradition of burying the dead members of the family in front of the fale. It hadn’t previously occurred to me but the fact that I sleep less than 10 feel away from the tomb of the grandmother of the family really is peculiar. She rests under a white slab right in front of the fale.

Saturday November 11

A day of exploration. Today a few other volunteers and I walked along the edge of a hill that connects Ma’asina to the neighboring village of Lona. Here there are marvelous lava formations and a great spot for swimming. Last night a few villagers, my friend Tavita, and myself sang songs on the footsteps of a fale. It was here that I learned more about local legends, most of which involve ghosts and spirits. Apparently there have been several instances of villagers sighting the ghosts of three fallen high chiefs who are known to wander the streets at night from nearby graves. The moon was a blood red upon its arrival over the horizon last night. Needless to say my dreams were as intense as ever. I was instructed by George to inquire about other volunteers’ dreams to see if there were any similarities. I had a dream the first week I was here about a girl who cruelly drowned another child in a river and laughed about it. I woke up terrified and covered in sweat with a strange drone in my ear. The moon was out. I didn’t think much of it but I would later discover that Lopi, another volunteer, woke up terrified one night that week after having dreams about a drowning girl. The odd thing is that when I’m not having these random horrific dreams, the dreams I do have are quite enjoyable and lovely.
I’m looking off into a lavender sky right now and a gentle breeze is helping to settle a very hot day. Sounds of children playing echo in the distance and Togia is making something out of coconut husks and smoking his pipe. Solomona is playing my guitar and singing on the footsteps of our fale. It is a very lovely evening in Ma’asina.

Sunday November 12

Went swimming in the bay along side the hill today. Same place as yesterday but it was high tide. I was with a villager named Sefa who lives next door. Not 3 minutes into the swim a shark appeared about 6 feet away from me. I believe it was a reef shark because it had a dark blue fin with a strange yellow stripe (I’ll verify this later). It was 3-4 feet long, maybe smaller. I’m told that they’re harmless and only curious. Either was it was quite a rush.

Monday November 13

Swam in the bay again. No shark sightings but we did make it to a tiny coral island in the middle of the bay. It was a strange little island with small coconut trees actually growing from the shards of coral. Things got much stranger on the little island. After only being there for a minute or so we heard a faint “meow” coming from the other side. Sure enough, there was a cat living in a small coral dwelling where it must have been seeking shelter for some time. The cat, although haggard looking, did seem to be surviving fine and somehow it found food on the island. We buried a few coconut half-shells to provide dishes to better collect rain water and make things easier for the cast-away. The island reminded me the lemur island in Life of Pi for some reason. From this unique place we witnessed a few small sting ray passing by as well as other various tropical aquatic wonders. We waited on the small island watching the sun set behind the mountains and when the tide went down we were able to walk back to shore in chest high water.
Had a lucid dream last night that was very convincing. I was with my friend Dan from back home and very happy to seem him. When I realized that I was dreaming I became very sad at first because I knew it was only a dream. However upon realizing I was dreaming I entered a lucid state where I had complete freedom to do whatever I want. I woke up in the middle of the night to a hazy moon on the horizon with the top half missing.

Wednesday November 15

Around 11:00 this morning the tide dramatically receded. It then returned to a very high tide however only moments later it pulled out very far again. This sparked an immediate panic for the trainers for obvious reasons: a tsunami. We were instantly huddled into two vans and driven to a high ground where we patiently watched the eerie scene below. The tide receded very far and prompted strange behavior in the bay. This all occurred just a few moments after I received two disposable video cameras in the mail so the whole experience was well documented as a nice intro to a video for Dan and Beth. We received word that an 8.1 earthquake struck Japan and tsunami warnings were springing up in various places like Hawaii. Ultimately we discovered that the result was a series of tiny tsunamis that didn’t come anywhere close to us and caused no damage but the conditions were met for a serious disaster. When we returned to the village we had a late lunch and returned to practice for our fiafia. The men in our group are performing a war dance and somehow I got selected to be the leader. Tomorrow I will video-document this event during practice and maybe steal a few pictures. My family is harvesting their kava crops and I have been learning much about the production of ‘ava. I have also been doing a lot of work around the fale lately. I‘ve been climbing for coconuts and helping to build the fire out of husks and dried palm leaves. I helped Ioana make cocoa Samoa from scratch as well as many other Samoan specialties. I caught two chickens, one with each hand, and made them talk to each other in Samoan which wildly entertained Ioana and the children. Tomorrow is the last day in the village and Friday is a Peace Corps event called All Vol where we will be performing. I will end this entry here because it is getting quite long. I’ll be back to Ma’asina after a week and after another two week excursion I will be finished with training. Sweet dreams and manuia le po!