<"}}}><: Fai se miti malie i lalo o le moli o le masina

*make a sweet dream under the light of the moon

Besides a moderately sized hole in my elbow, things are pretty much back to normal in my arm. It’s good to be able to climb trees and rip apart coconuts again which is something I thoroughly enjoy. Last weekend was St. Patrick’s Day and I unfortunately could not partake in what became a highly celebrated holiday by my Peace Corps friends although I’m sure I would have been front row ripping fans off the walls with them had I not been on antibiotics. That Saturday morning I met with my six soon to be tattoo pupils at Kofe Haus for a crash course on Samoan tattoos and proper composure in front of matai. These six kids were students at the University of the South Pacific which sends waves of students over ever semester for our viewing pleasure. They are, in a way, like a junior Peace Corps and I think they have a pretty sweet deal. Anyway I was fortunate to be selected by them to teach them about Samoan tattoos and take them to Suluape for six traditional tattoos. They did great and walked away with impressive ink in various places. I was exceptionally proud of homeboy would walked away with a beautiful armband because the pain is tremendous in certain areas and he held strong.

Lately I’ve been learning a lot about Samoan folk legend although as I’ve been instructed it is custom not to retell a legend unless one understands it completely. The history of this country was preserved orally for many years and it should not be bastardized by a visitor like myself. Humorously however I was told that the problem in my arm was because I was bitten by the ‘bad fairy’ who lurks in the shadows at night. Upon learning about this I also discovered more about malu’ia, which is the moon mythology I mentioned many months ago. The moon is creepy here and I cannot explain why. Just last night I was having this extremely visual dream and I woke up abruptly to discover the moon lurking eerily above Mt. Tafua Upolu just behind my house and shining in my window. I would have taken a picture but it would never have done the moment justice. The strange thing was that this was one of those dreams that seems to continue into waking life and as I sat there staring at the moon I realized I was still dreaming to some degree and it actually made me shiver a little. I wonder about moon mythology all over the world and how different cultures have interpreted what it is. Ryuta once told me that the Japanese say there is a rabbit in the moon like we say there is a man, I even think that folklore in Peru tells of a fox in the moon. On long road trip drives late at night I would talk with the moon and thank it for keeping me company as my friends were sound asleep and I was alone. “Just you and me” I would quietly say and turn off the radio to listen to sounds of nothingness. I like watching the moon fall into the ocean or rise from it like an ethereal glowing orb. Kevin from Asau once told me that he brought his girlfriend to one of the lava rock freshwater springs on beautiful nights to sit in the moonlight. How otherworldy. Along those beaches there are enormous blowholes casting jets of water into the sky that must have appeared like fountains of diamonds

I sometimes have these dreams about people from home. Sometimes they are about random people of various personal significance who I haven’t seen in ages. Many of my dreams exist in a number of different worlds I’ve created, most of which containing water and aquatic wonders, and sometimes I bring visitors there to see my estranged world. The places in my dreams don’t change much although some of them have either been flooded by a broken dam or infested with strange creatures from time to time. I think one of them exists in the year 10013 ad because I asked somebody once. It’s nice to bring visitors there at times. If things go lucid and I realize I am dreaming I try to ask them if they are dreaming about me or I tell them to remember this and tell me about it someday. I never seem to do justice at explaining these occurrences to those who visit my otherworld, in fact I can never quite relay to them how wonderful it was to bring them there. Not many people usually see that place, actually it is exceptionally rare for anyone to make such a lucid appearance. I don’t know what they mean but I like how it makes me feel and I always wake up wanted to talk to that person and wonder what I have to do to invade their lucid thoughts some night.