Awards Re-Cap and Housecleaning

First the Academy Awards (feel free to skip this section)... Overall, I’m happy. “Avatar” may be the technical revelation that only comes once every couple years, and that’s great, but I maintain it has no business winning the top awards without telling a good story. A good counterexample is Pixar. When “Toy Story” came out in the mid-1990s, it was an amazing step forward in cinematic arts—but it also had a poignant, clever story.

In any case, I was happy to see “The Hurt Locker” take Best Picture, Director, and Screenplay. The fact that it snaked the sound awards is even better.

I was happy to see Christoph Waltz win for “Inglorious Basterds”. It was too bad The Academy overlooked the movie in all other respects, but I guess some people just don’t get Quentin Tarantino. Some critics say it’s his best ever, and I can get on board with that. It’ll never be a pop cultural staple like “Pulp Fiction,” but as a piece of filmic literature, it’s great.

I thought the John Hughes tribute was great. I would still rank “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” in my top 3 favorite movies of all time.

I was proud that I called “Up” for Best Score. Everything I read pointed to other favorites-to-win, but I called the underdog. It’s got that simple, great, happy, tragic melody line. It fits the movie like a glove. I called it.

In the end, I called 14/24, which is 55% better than last year, but doesn’t match my 2007 record of 17/24. Oh well.

Regularly Scheduled Post

I had to install drivers on Thanpuii’s computer just before I watched the Oscars at Maengi’s house, and in similar conversa- tions, they both made the same observation: this seems to be the hottest year in Samoa they can remember. They both arrived in December 2001, so that’s pretty substantial.

In my first period class this past Wednesday, I was standing at the chalkboard at 8:00 a.m., and I could feel my body drenched in sweat. It rolled down my frontside and my backside and everywhere in between, and my clothes felt heavy on me as they absorbed what they could. It was gross. Later that day I talked to Blakey, and she reported having the same experience in her first period class. First period!

I bring all this up, one, to give you an idea of what we’re all going through here, and two, to give you an excuse for why I haven’t been doing anything for the past couple months. My house is in squalor. The trees outside are overgrown, and the inside has become a dumping ground.

Guests show up, and I have to move loads of dirty laundry to find sitting space. It’s embarrassing and gross, but until today my motivation has been rock bottom.

But this morning I needed to find a certain piece of paper to give a lady at church, and that finally tipped the scale.

I found I have stacks and stacks and stacks of out-of-date school stuff from last year, so I shed all that. And along with that, there was heaps of other stuff: old telephone bills and Peace Corps meeting agendas and draft syllabi and old notices from my pule and blah blah blah.

I also found:

• $5.20 WST;
  
• 4 flashdrives;
  
• Weeds Season 3 Disc 3
  
• The current Samoa tourism brochure (and the one before that, and the one before that);
  
• The Periodic Table of Elements;
  
• The receipt for my dental work in New Zealand; and
  
• Many other fun things.

It was a productive day, and I made a little cash. The dirty laundry is still sitting on a dining room chair though. Call before you come, and I’ll move it.

I hope you’re well. Pictures below.

A teacher at my school borrowed my camera on Friday, and this picture of me was taken as a test shot.

A couple months back, Jordan asked, "Why do cats like to sit on pizza boxes so much?" And lo and behold, Scout found a pizza box this week.

I took her to the de-sexing clinic in this box, which she hated. But turn it on its side, and she loves it. Whatever, Cat.

Baseball, Ray

My parents brought a bunch of movies with them when they came to visit, which has worked out well since I’m in between seasons of Weeds and The West Wing right now, marking time until school starts again in June and my nightly routine can commence. Many of the movies they brought are from the late 1980s, which might be my favorite movie era. I fell in love with music in the early-mid 1990s, but movies came earlier. “Rain Man,” “Stand By Me,” “Big,” “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” “Back to the Future.” And though it’s not my favourite, I’ve watched “Field of Dreams” multiple times since my parents left.

In the time leading up to the Super Bowl, there was much chatter among group 81 about whether we would be able to watch the game, and if so, where. I admit, my level of interest in the Super Bowl was lukewarm at best. I didn’t grow up in a house that valued football, and I didn’t really care too much about the sport until I got to USC. But throughout the Super Bowl crisis, I worried about missing out on baseball.

Not that I’m all that much of a baseball fan. Between rough Little League experiences and the players’ strike of the mid 1990s, baseball and I had a falling out that wouldn’t repair itself until college. And when baseball and I reconciled, there were significant changes. The Oakland A’s are unrecognizable from the franchise I routed for in my youth; feeling alienated by the drums, the flag-waving, and the Coliseum counterculture, I’ve morphed into a San Francisco Giants fan. The bigger change springs from the distrust that plagues any reconciled relationship. In the late 1980s, I put a lot of emotional dependence into baseball, and it let me down. And I don’t know that things will ever be the same.

See, 1989 was quite a year for baseball in my life. Carter and I were in our second year of tee ball. The Giants and A’s went to the World Series. “Field of Dreams” debuted in theatres (Incidentally, Dire Straits’s “Walk of Life” was just hitting its stride as a common anthem at sporting events, and I still associate that song with the blithe innocence of my childhood.). Baseball came into my life on such a high note, that there was nowhere for it to go but downhill.

“Field of Dreams” became one of those videos at Marlis’s house that got watched nearly every day for an entire summer. I can still recite nearly every line from the scene where James Earl Jones threatens to beat Kevin Costner with a crow bar. I remember Tanya explaining the premise to Todd the first time he saw it, and realizing how absurd a premise it is. But mostly I remember the baseball.

It’s funny how James Earl Jones’s big speech in the movie is about how “America is an army of steamrollers and the only constant is baseball,” but for me, the movie itself is so iconic that it’s as much a constant as the actual sport.

And so in the absence of major league baseball, a baseball movie with little actual baseball is surprisingly sufficient. It’s intertwined enough it’s able to scratch the itch for now. And that itch has been festering since Spring Training, which might explain why I’ve gobbled up 2 disks worth of special features and I still feel like I could watch the movie once or twice more before moving on to something else. Or, you know, six or seven more times, maybe. Hell, maybe I’ll just bring it to New Zealand for a couple more screenings.

I hope you’re watching baseball in my absence. And I hope my fantasy team continues to thrive. Pictures below.
















This hibiscus bush on my daily path is in full bloom despite the overcast sky.
















Clouds over Apia Harbour this morning.

Double Debrief: Oscars and Nu'u

First the Academy Awards… In high school AP Psychology, Mr. Friedman used to talk about a study where chimps filled out multiple choice tests, and guessing at random, their average score was approximately 25%. So my score (9/24 = 37.5%) beat the chimp. So there. And Sean Penn won! Wowa. And he and screenwriter Dustin Lance Black were quite vocal in their support of gay rights. How exciting! Don’t get me wrong, I still can’t stand Sean Penn, but I’m pretty happy with tonight’s results. And shocked. Maegi and I both gasped when they announced his name. “REALLY?!”

How lame was that telecast? Hugh Jackman. Boo. The opening musical number and the tribute to musicals were both painful. The one musical highlight (which was actually the highlight of the entire 3.5 hours) was John Legend and A.R. Rahman and whoever that girl was mixing the 3 Oscar-nominated songs. That was awesome.

I also liked the way they edited older movies into the Best Picture clips. I can see how other people wouldn’t like that so much. Am I the only one who did?

The worst part of the show was the In Memoriam. Why were we watching weird panning views of smaller monitors paying their respects? Watching a TV on TV is redundant and stupid and difficult to read. Hella lame.

My travel blog just morphed into a mediocre amateur entertainment blog, and I apologize.

Anyway, I wanted to do a little follow-up to yesterday’s post about the village. I took the pasi mulimuli on Friday. It’s the last bus of the day, so anyone who doesn’t get in is pretty much stranded in Apia, save for hitchhiking or paying an insane cab fare. So if you don’t make it on, you’re SOL. The nice thing though is that bus drivers are incredibly sympathetic, and most of them are willing to stop and pick up anyone who needs to get on.

This is awesome if you’re late getting to the bus and you miraculously catch it. This is not awesome for those who would like to get home in a timely manner (I was in no rush… but still the bus can take forever.). Also, physics tells us that there is a finite amount of space within the confines of the walls and roof of the bus. That said, the policy here is to fill as much of that space as possible.

This includes, but is not limited to:

• Strangers sitting on strangers’ laps (although lap-sitters are always of the same gender unless the two people are not strangers); and
  
• Cramming the central aisle to the extreme.
  

I tend to be smaller than the average Samoan (believe it or not), and thus I am an eternal lap-sitter. This is certainly as awkward as it sounds, and my ass has made a bit of return to the boniness of my youth. So… sucks to be that guy. That ride was nearly 2 hours.

As far as the actual village goes, the baby definitely recognizes me now. And she walks! It’s insane the progress she’s made after a month. And Akanese has started kindergarten and there was a palpable change in her behavior.

Leaving the village yesterday morning was difficult logistically. I wanted to hang out as long as possible, but I did not want to get stranded in the village; I didn’t bring clothes for church, and taking a 5:00 a.m. bus on Monday morning in order to get to school on time would be lousy. I asked a bunch of people when the last bus would leave, and I got a different answer each time. So my plan was to catch the 10:00 a.m. bus to be on the safe side, but my family assured me that there’d be another. Finally, Asolima called the bus driver to confirm that he’d be making a trip to Apia in the afternoon. Calling a Muni driver in San Francisco would be bizarre, but here, it’s pretty normal, I think.

That’s all I got for now. Hope your weekend was nice. Pictures below.
















I made popcorn for the Oscars. I may have made popcorn on the stove in 1992. It's been about that long.
















The TV at Maegi's house. I just got that Eddie Murphy was the new Nutty Professor. Duh.









This is my huge cool bus panorama. Click on it to see it big. It took forever to get it together... so click on it. Do it.
















Octopus and banana prepared.
















Akanese swimming in the public bathing pool. I felt kinda like the uncle who comes to swimming lessons and takes picturs. She'd still be a tiny tot, I think. Maybe a Level 1.
















One last Taupo pic. This is me with Tone... She's good friends with Phil's sisters.

Special Edition! Oscar Picks

Those of you who knew me well back home know that I get a little obsessive about the Oscars. I follow the politics and the predictions, and I even like the movies themselves (Yeah. I genuinely enjoyed “The English Patient.” Sue me.). And usually my predictions are pretty accurate. I came in first place in the 2007 CNET Office Pool, although I fell to a measly 3rd in 2008. Elizabeth, you would have a target on your back if I was still stateside.

Usually I see most of the movies as soon as the Golden Globe nominations come out, but this year of all the films up for best picture, I’ve only seen “Slumdog Millionaire.” So I’m making my picks blindly, but I figure The Academy is often predictable. So here goes…

Note: I realize I’m a bit down to the wire, but I’m posting this at 12:36 p.m. Samoa Time, which is 3:36 PST, and 6:36 EST, so I’m going on the record with my predictions before the show starts. Cool?

Best Picture: "Slumdog Millionaire."
Actor: Mickey Rourke, "The Wrestler"
Actress: Melissa Leo, "Frozen River"
Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger, "The Dark Knight"
Supporting Actress: Penelope Cruz, "Vicky Cristina Barcelona"
Director: Danny Boyle, "Slumdog Millionaire"
Foreign Film: "The Class," France
Adapted Screenplay: John Patrick Shanley, "Doubt"
Original Screenplay: "In Bruges"; Dustin Lance Black
Animated Feature Film: “WALL-E"
Art Direction: "Changeling"
Cinematography: "Changeling"
Sound Mixing: "The Dark Knight"
Sound Editing: "The Dark Knight"
Original Score: "WALL-E," Thomas Newman.
Original Song: "Down to Earth" from "WALL-E," Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman
Costume: "The Duchess"
Documentary Feature: “Trouble the Water"
Documentary (short subject) : "The Witness — From the Balcony of Room 306"
Film Editing: "Slumdog Millionaire"
Makeup: "The Dark Knight"
Animated Short Film: "This Way Up"
Live Action Short Film: "Spielzeugland (Toyland) "
Visual Effects: "The Dark Knight"

It's Like I'm There

For being cut off from Hollywood, there is still quite a bit of pop culture passed around among Peace Corps here in Samoa. Through DVDs, Divx, and mp3s, I’ve been able to acquire a fair amount of movies, TV shows, and music that I hope will compensate for the lack of TV in my house. And while I’m a little shocked at the sheer amount I’ve been able to stockpile, I still feel like a depression-surviving pack rat, rationing my intake of pop culture to assure that what I have will last.

First, let me say that my jury is still out on getting a TV. While Samoa only has 2 TV channels, it would be nice to have a little bit of that weekly routine that I had in The States. The other thing I really like about TV, and which is actually accented by having only 2 channels, is that it’s fun to be able to watch as a community. I enjoyed going to work or school in The States and being able to talk about whatever was on TV the night before. As much as TV has come to control our lives, I think it’s an important part of culture, and I’m still contemplating buying one here.

That said, my strategy for rationing out the stuff I have is by watching one episode of “Arrested Development” and one episode of “The Wire” per night. I have watched both series in their entirety before, but they have a similar amount of episodes, and it’s been nice to start out with something old and familiar.

The weird thing though is that watching 1 episode per night is a bit unheard of in The States. I feel like most people watch 1 episode per week while a show is still being televised, or the show is released on DVD and people go on a binge watching several episodes a day until they finish a series.

This strange middle ground of watching one episode per day, particularly with shows like “Arrested Development” and “The Wire” that don’t rush to tell the story, means that I remove myself a bit from either show’s story arch. It feels less like a story is being told, and more like things are happening to the characters as they move through their lives. Since it’s one episode a day, you feel like you know the characters better than when you only see them once a week, but they seem more real than when you watch them for 3 or 4 hours in one day.

This is especially true watching from my couch, living in a surreal situation and a pop cultural vacuum. Sticking to 1 hour a day of “The Wire,” it starts to feel nearly as real as the rest of my day; or maybe what I mean to say is that joining the police force in Baltimore seems almost as conceivable as joining the Peace Corps in Samoa. An example of this is at the beginning of season 2 of “The Wire,” it’s winter in Baltimore, and seeing the characters in overcoats and gloves on a regular enough basis made me feel like I was there too, even though I’m living through my first tropical summer.

From a critical perspective, watching one episode a day heightens the senses. The tone and style are constant in my head, but there’s no information overload. I feel like I notice more about the characters and the way the story is told more so than the weekly or binge-style of TV digestion.

I noticed that I really underappreciated Wee-Bey during my first time through “The Wire.” And “Staff Infection” is one of the most underrated episodes of “Arrested Development.”

Finally, it’s a treat to watch either series. They are both extremely re-watchable in the sense that you get so much out of repeat viewing. On both shows, you can catch things that you didn’t notice before but enhance the story that much more.

But I also think the asceticism of pop culture here only serves to enhance what I watch.

I hope you’re enjoying TV and Movies. It’s my first Oscar season away from home, and it’s a little disorienting. Promotional pictures below.














McNulty confronts corner boys on "The Wire."





















Tobias's headshots from "Arrested Development."

Into the Wild

Note: Yes, today was my first day of school, but being that I didn't teach--I never planned to since students clean for the first week-- I figure I'll put off talking about that til tomorrow. Also, I was up til 2:00 a.m. writing the following thoughts. So I figure I'll validate the sleep deprivation and post today. School news tomorrow.

In the copy of Into the Wild my dad sent, he put a note in the pages saying that he had read the book after 2 of his colleagues had an argument about it over dinner on a recent business trip. Well I just finished watching Sean Penn’s filmic adaptation of Jon Krakauer’s book, and I think Mr. Penn and I would have quite a lively argument.

What a garbage movie! Sean Penn is obsessed with melodrama and milking a moment for more than it’s worth. He also has a tendency to go for ridiculously over-the-top symbolic imagery that feels more and more like a cheesy student film. My biggest qualm with the movie though, is in its portrayal of the protagonist’s philosophy.

Part of what makes the book so engaging is that Krakauer’s starts with asking what lit a fire under Chris McCandless’s ass. Krakauer had his own Great Alaskan Adventure, and so with a sense of kinship, he seeks to understand McCandless. Krakauer follows the guy’s journey while weaving in experiences from his own youth. He talks about their common love of adventure and the fact that they both had overbearing fathers.

Sean Penn takes the rebellion angle to heart and makes it the focal point of the movie (Right down to the “Last Temptation of Christ” ending, which was stupid, but I just read that too and it was an interesting coincidence).

The thing is, Krakauer also epigraphs each chapter with quotes from Jack London and Henry David Thoreau and Leo Tolstoy and others. And what Penn overlooks is McCandless wasn’t just running from his parents, he wasn’t only fleeing society. He was heeding the call of the wild. He was giving in to his compulsion to find the joy and sorrow and solitude and triumph and sacrifice that adventure provides. It’s the same thing that compelled Jack Kerouac and Thoreau and Larry Darrell in Sommerset Maugham’s The Razor’s Edge. Hell, it was what called me to join the Peace Corps.

Yeah. I guess I feel all riled up about Sean Penn missing the point because I think I feel my own affinity for Chris McCandless. I’m not claiming to be nearly as hardcore as the guy in way, shape, or form. He hitchhiked for 2 years and shot a moose in the backwoods of Alaska; my Peace Corps experience has me typing a blog entry on my laptop. I realize there’s a discrepancy there. Nonetheless, I think a large part of my being here has to do with a similar calling, that same compulsion.

Krakauer points out that McCandless highlights this passage from Tolstoy: “I wanted movement and not a calm course of existence… I felt in myself a superabundance of energy which found no outlet in our quiet life.”

Larry in The Razor’s Edge: “ I thought I’d start by going to Paris… I don’t know why , but I’ve got it into my head that there everything that’s muddled in my mind would grow clear.”

My late grandpa (whose birthday is today) on Creedance Clearwater Revival: “I really like them. They hit on something deep down. Something primordial.”

Furthermore, I think part of the reason that this “something deep down” is so difficult to articulate is because I don’t know that McCandless knew exactly what he was looking for in Alaska. Nor did Krakauer know what he was looking for in his mountain climbing days. Nor does Larry Darrell in Paris. Nor do I in Samoa.

Some join the Peace Corps with a very specific goal in mind. Some want to share their gifts with the world. Some want to learn a new language, to see a new part of the world, to build up their resume. And I guess I want to do all those things. But more than that, I felt a calling. A voice inside. Something primordial.

And how do you feed an insatiable urge like that? You do something to change it up. You hitchhike for 2 years and shoot a moose in the backwoods of Alaska. You climb a bad-ass mountain. You move to Paris. Or Samoa.

McCandless himself writes, “Nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.” I don’t think he’s advocating that we all become hobos, but I think the call for drastic change is there.

Yesterday morning, I was making small talk with the family I met at mass, and the daughter asked me why I joined the Peace Corps. And my answer was, “To come here.” I don’t relate this story because I thought the moment was wise or profound; I just think it’s interesting that I didn’t say I was fleeing a terrible economy or coming to rescue Samoan students from the pitfalls of Microsoft Excel. I came to feed the insatiable urge. You know… that superabundance of energy.












This is a promotional photo from that crap movie. The real Chris McCandless is picture at the top of this post.

Dinner and a Movie

I’ve been to the movie theater twice before last night, and I wanted to talk about it on the blog, but both times I’ve been, it was in the middle of the village stay, and it was lost in the sea of other things that were going on. I pointed out earlier this week that the theatre was still playing Mamma Mia!, but today they finally got a couple new movies in the schedule at Magik Cinema, and so a large contingent of group 81 made plans to head over.

While I was at the internet café posting last night’s blog, Blakey, Supy, and Jordan began preparing dinner at my house. Blakey and Supy bought some carbonerra –flavored pasta, and I had called Jordan in advance and had him pick up a loaf of bread so we could make grilled cheese. I met up with Paul around the internet café, and when he and I finished, we both headed back to my place and the 5 of us ate.

I introduced them to adding honey and rosemary to the inner side of either piece of bread. I discovered this revolutionary change in grilled cheese production when Luisa and I used to occasionally hold Grilled Cheese Experiment Nights. It’s glorious. It will blow your mind.

After dinner, we headed to the movies.

The outside of the movie theater is not much to write home about (literally, apparently), but once you get inside the lobby, it does feel surprisingly similar to a Cineplex in The States. It’s air conditioned and clean and has real tile floors and interior decorating that feels generically corporate, which is strangely comforting.

Blakey also pointed out that the theatre has a “fountain pop.” At first I thought she was using a quaint Samoan phrase; something akin to “ice bob,” which are the popular ice pops they sell in the village (I really need to blog about Samoan confusion of the English uses of the letters “B” and “P”.). In any case, it took me a moment to realize that Blakey wasn’t using a quaint Samoan phrase, but rather, a quaint Minnesotan phrase. You mean like a “SODA fountain,” Blakey? Ha.

The theatre itself gives a surprisingly American experience as well. The seats are a cheap, red crushed velvet, and the flatness of the theatre is reminiscent of the now closed Festival Cinema that used to be across the street from Kennedy Park in Hayward. When was the last time you went to the movies and didn’t have stadium seating? It’s a blast from the past, right?

The movie we saw was “Body of Lies” with Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe, a spy thriller that felt like a cheap John LeCarre story. I had mixed feelings.

It was appropriate that we went to the movies last night being that the Academy Award nominations were announced yesterday. I was really hoping that they’d include a film or two that I’d already seen, but I think everything up for best picture has been released since I arrived in Samoa. I guess I should just be happy that I have already seen “Slumdog Millionaire.”

Anyway, we got into the movie after the lights had already gone down. So it was a funny surprise when the lights came up and a ton more Peace Corps had also been in the theatre the whole time. Attendees of tonight’s movie included: Me, Blakey, Paul, Jordan, Supy, Cale, Sara, Chris, AJ, Dan, Erin, Jim, Ben, Aaron, and Max. Yeah. Just the 15 of us. I hear this is a slightly common occurrence, which isn’t that surprising. The cost of admission is relatively cheap ($6 WST), they don’t change the movies too often, and they’re almost all American movies… So a bunch of Americans showing up to finally get to see something new isn’t that surprising.

It was a fun night.

My staff meeting this morning was excruciating, in the sense that it went on for 6 hours, but fun, in the sense that everyone knows my name and I was able to contribute.

Props to Luisa's friend, Gary, who got a call this morning and starts a new job at the White House on Monday. Congratulations, Gary, you've renewed my sense that there is justice in the world as well as my own feelings of inferiority. Respect.

Tonight I am heading back to the host village for no other reason than to visit and hang out. I’m coming back pretty early on Saturday morning, so it’s not much of a trip.

I hope things are well at home, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend. Pictures below.
















The lobby of at Magik Cinema.





















This picture is on the wall in the men's bathroom. Yes, it is a color print out on an 8.5" x 11" piece of paper. Yes, it is a movie poster for "Bloodsport," the 1988 cinematic masterpiece staring Jean-Claude Van Damme.
















Gobs of Peace Corps on the street in front of Magik Cinema after the movie.
















Supy and Blakey and pre-grilled cheese sandwiches.
















Jordan. He says his family let's him know very soon after I post any pictures of him. So I suppose we'll test the response time.

Getting to Know the New Boss

It may have been the air conditioning. It may have been the electricity of D.C. on Inauguration Day. Or maybe it was the copious snack food, the mimosas, the excitement of Bush leaving office, the pleasant conversation, the domesticated dogs, the real couch, the game of cards, the hotness of Soledad O’Brien’s voice, the smooth confidence of Michelle, the genuine charm of Sasha and Malia, or maybe it was the gravitas of Barack Obama himself. Whatever it was, it made the last 20 hours really really fun.

After I posted yesterday’s blog, I met up with Koa and Blakey for dinner, we grabbed some snacks, and then headed up the mountain to the Charges-Affairs’s house. PCV Hannah was already there because she’d been housesitting at the house for the 3 nights prior. I had been looking forward to last night / this morning since Wednesday, and I was a little nervous at first. Word had spread among Peace Corps volunteers, and I worried that we would overwhelm the house of poor Robin (the Charges-Affairs) with a bunch of dusty hooligans who were looking for a chance at a pool swim and a hot shower. These fears grew when Robin told us to put our cokes in the refrigerator next to the sparkling wine that we’d use for the mimosas.

In the end, 5 additional volunteers showed up: Kate, Christian, Ben, Erica, and Casey. Robin had to go to the airport to pick up some cargo for the embassy, so the 9 of us made ourselves comfortable. And the Charges-Affairs’s house is comfortable. Like I mentioned above, the entire house is air conditioned, the toilets function like toilets, and the couches are big and comfortable. Blakey, Koa, Erica, and I played some Euchre while the other guys watched some TV shows that Casey had on his computer.

When Robin returned, we turned on the movie “Volunteers,” which she has on VHS. I had never seen it before, but given that the movie is about the Peace Corps, it had a whole extra dimension of humor. Perhaps the best part is when Tom Hanks narrowly escapes the throes of a goon by slamming the airplane door, only to turn around and see all the volunteers in coach singing “Michael, Row Your Boat Ashore.” Although also funny, and more true to our experience was when a diligent but exhausted Rita Wilson sees apathetic Tom Hanks speaking perfect Thai. She asks, “You learned to speak Thai?” And he replies matter-of-factly, “How else do you expect me to communicate?”

We had heard that things would get started between 3:00 and 3:30 Samoa time, so I only got about an hour of sleep (if you can call it that). And then I proceeded to watch 9 hours of banter and pageantry. Some observations I made were:

• Michelle Obama has an impeccable sense of fashion;
  
• Wolf Blitzer is an idiot;
  
• CNN spends far too much time highlighting bizarre new-fangled technologies that don’t translate well to TV (e.g. the 3-D picture that was not really 3-D and the exclusive satellite pictures);
  
• Anderson Cooper sounds like Bill Maher;
  
• Bill Clinton looks really good, George H. W. Bush looks frail; and
  
• Having Yo-Yo Ma and Itzak Perlman play at your inauguration is way cool. We should have had them play our Peace Corps Swearing-In.

The poet laureate was not good at reading her own poem. The content sounded interesting, but her diction was ridiculous and distracting. I was also happy to hear that it was John Roberts rather than Barack Obama who flubbed the Presidential Oath. It was funny, but awkward, and it showed that both Obama and Roberts are human. But still, I’m happy it was Roberts’ fault and not Obama’s. Finally, I wanted to give Orrin Hatch a hug when CNN reporters were grilling him on Ted Kennedy’s seizure. Poor Orrin Hatch. Sure he’s a conservative idiot, but who wants to go on national TV when his/her friend has suffered a seizure?

In any case, we did get to go in the pool, and we did get hot showers. We left promptly at noon today. The event was a complete success as far as I was concerned.

The evening/morning was such a good time that I felt a little depressed when we had to leave and return to our solitary lives in Samoa. At first I really thought it was the Obamas. I thought that I enjoyed watching their family so much and that I enjoyed Barack Obama’s cool, confident smile. Between the inauguration coverage, the air conditioning, the domesticated dogs, and the comfy sofas, things felt like home. And admittedly, it was a sad little awakening when we left to head back to Apia.

Oh well. Apia is fine. It’s been very hot the last two days.

I hope things are well back home with you and your new president. Hooray! Pictures below.
















The group pre-sleep. Left to right: Kate, Koa, Blakey, Erica, Christian, Ben, Casey.
















John Candy in "Volunteers"
















The group once things started to get underway. Left to right: Robin, Kate, Blakey, Ben (sleeping), Koa, Casey, Erica, Me, Hannah.
















Our spread this morning. Left to right: Seal-printed glasses, sparkling wine, orange juice, bloody mary mix, vodka, sugar doughnuts, milk, chocolate doughnuts, coffee.
What do you think: I realize that bloody marys are normally served in the morning after a night of drinking, but we didn't drink the night before. Not sure if bloody marys are still appropriate in this situation. Are they strictly a morning-after drink? Or can they just be a morning drink?
















Me at the pool when things got slow.

Adventures in Simple IT and the Quotable Matt

A lot of us were intimidated when the Peace Corps told us that we’d be working in IT here in Samoa. In fact, most in our group who came to do Informa- tion Communications Development have very little technical experience. Sure, I know Microsoft Excel inside and out, but when it comes to hardware issues, I’m clueless. That said, I’m pretty functional when it comes to fixing computer problems here.

I was walking past my principal’s office today when he sprinted out to grab me. “Can you help with the computer?!” He was a little frantic. I had nothing to do, so I came in to look at his computer. It turned out that he had somehow printed the same two documents 6 times each, and this was wasting printer ink since the documents totaled 7 pages between the two. I opened the printer queue and canceled all of the remaining print jobs.

Problem solved. I AM GENIUS.

Less than an hour later, a friend of mine at the Congregationalist Church headquarters called me to ask about a Microsoft Excel issue. He had a hard time articulating the problem over the phone, and I was going to be walking past the headquarters soon anyway, so I told him I’d stop by. The gridlines in his spreadsheet had disappeared because the cell pattern had been changed to white. So I changed the pattern to “No color.”

Problem solved. I AM GENIUS.

The ironic (isn’t it?) thing here is that the only computer issues I can’t seem to solve are the ones I get myself into. The Microsoft Office 2007 I have on my computer is a Trial version that needs to be purchased before January 31. I have no problem paying for it, but every time I try to pay for it, it doesn’t let me. It just keeps asking me to pay.

I also was unable to get the printer in my computer lab to print. I’m unclear if it’s just not on the network, or if there is a bigger issue than that. Really, I have no idea how the network works at all.

Right now, the plan is Max from group 79 is coming to town on Wednesday to help me configure the network in my classroom. I am counting on this being an enlightening experience. And really, how hard can it be? Afterall, I AM GENIUS.

In other news, I was sitting in my computer lab today trying to print, and I found the copy of Grosse Pointe Blank that I had copied on to my flash drive from Casey from group 80. The computer I was using didn’t have the correct codec (or any codec, for that matter) loaded, so all I could do was listen to the audio track. And when I gave up on printing, I played a little minesweeper while I listened to the movie, and the dialogue is sharp. I always knew this, but cutting out the video portion allowed the dialogue to shine more than usual. Also, how underrated is that cast? Dan Akroyd, Jeremy Piven, Joan Cusack and Alan Arkin are all solid. I love that movie.

I also listened to Ben Kweller for the first time last night. Erik described him as “fun,” which seemed odd to me—I’d always assumed Ben Kweller was some emo white kid who wrote songs about the misery of growing up a northeastern elite. But he is pretty “fun.” Who knew?

The school librarian called me aside today to chat. We spoke some Samoan… kinda. My Samoan isn’t good enough that I can carry on full conversations the way Phil and Koa did on various phone calls last week. My biggest problem is comprehension; my brain still has to convert almost every word into English and then string the sentence together. I never quite got to the point in training where hearing what was being said was second nature. But anyway, with the librarian today, I peppered the conversation with whatever Samoan I could throw in.

She seemed pleasantly amused. I AM GENIUS.

Who’s not pumped for the inauguration? I’m hoping for a timeless catchphrase a la “Ask not what your country can do for you…” Here are some Mattisms from the Daily Concise Advice I’m willing to lend to Barack Obama:

• Singing along helps you learn the words;
  
• Don't jump ship until the next is on the horizon;
  
• Shiny pennies are still only worth one cent;
  
• Every free moment should be spent flossing;
  
• A belch can be key in breaking up the tension; and last, and maybe greatest…
  
• You can't make a burrito without spilling beans.

Yeah, you’re welcome.

Hope things are well back home. Pictures below.
















This is the black currant jam I was talking about yesterday. Hard to see the little grape-like fruit, but they're there. But yeah... hard to spread.
















This store is at the end of Palagi Alley, so known for the white tourists that frequent the area. I really like it because it's called "Imagelab Photomart Camerahouse." 3 compounds words, all of which are not real, and each would be sufficient on its own as the name of the store.





















These guys are standing in front of a Mamma Mia! poster, which is showing again at the only movie theatre in Samoa. It's been playing on and off at least since we arrived, and probably for a couple months prior to that. Eagle Eye has also been playing here forever (Eagle Eye?).

A Not-So-Pitiful Friday Night

I remember my freshman year at USC, I was all alone on a Friday night. No one was on AIM, all of my roommates were out, Sara was busy and/or not interested in doing anything. I think I had an abnormally difficult transition into college, but Friday nights were the most painful. Who stays in alone on a Friday?

How times have changed. After I finished using the internet last night, I walked home and the thought of spending the evening alone felt like a relief. The Peace Corps is not something one does to get rich quick, and making the small monthly stipend last through the month makes budgeting necessary. This past week had a lot going on too. I had to actually get up and go to work for 3 whole days. Exhausting!

It was began to drizzle when I was halfway home, and by the time I was at my door, the rain clouds were reflecting the pink sunset, and the entire sky was a crazy shade of red.

I was feeling lazy, so I just had peanut butter and jelly for dinner. The grocery store was out of boysenberry jam yesterday, so I was forced to get black currant. I’ve never had black currant before. I thought currants were large—like the size of an apple—but the little fruit in the jam are the size of grapes. This made spreading the jam awkward. Boysenberry is my favorite because it tastes good AND it can be chunky and spread easily at the same time.

I’ve been trying to limit myself to one episode of Arrested Development and one episode of The Wire per night. So I watched those while I made curtains for my bedroom. I have curtains on every window now except the little one over my bathroom sink. That might be a project for tonight. In any case, sewing curtains takes forever, and I wasn’t half done when The Wire ended (I watched Season 1 Episode 5 for both series last night. Lindsay tried to save the wetlands, and Poot and Wallace spotted Omar’s boyfriend playing pinball at the Greek place.), so I listened to The Blue Album, The Green Album, and half of The Red Album until I finished the curtains.

See, a PCV from group 80 who went home for Christmas was able to secure a bootlegged copy of “Slumdog Millionaire” and I got it from him, and I wanted to finish the curtains before jumping into a bilingual movie. So yeah. Once the curtains were complete and hanging, I watched the movie. And then I went to bed. And that was my Friday night.

I think it helps to know that most other Peace Corps are having the exact same amount of fun. In college, my lonely Fridays felt incredibly pitiful compared to everyone else, but here, peanut butter and jelly and a movie is right on par.

Saturday morning hasn’t been too wild either. I think people were going to a local bar to watch the NFL Playoff game, but I’ve spent a lazy morning reading, napping, and listening to music.

Other volunteers told us this would happen. We were told, “There will come a day when you’ve got your place together and you’ve bought enough food to last you for a while, and you’ll decide to not leave your house for 2 or 3 days.” That time has come.

Although, yes, I do still need to leave my house to post this on the Internet. Speaking of, I stopped by SamoaTel yesterday to inquire about the phone line that I’m supposedly getting in my house so I can get internet there. They told me that my phone line doesn’t work, but that I do have a phone number. It was a bit perplexing.

In any case, times are lazy here. And I’m cool with it.

Oh... a few responses to yesterday's comments. Paul's mom, Jane, is right in pointing out that Tetsuya is Paul's roommate. I forgot to say that. Also, yes, Reeda, my school year starts the Monday after next, January 26. Government schools start the first week of February, I think.

Anyway, I hope things are as lazy back home as they are here. A couple pictures below.
















My new bedroom curtains. The way the light shines through gives the room a dark red glow that is not unlike a brothel.
















This is the warning at the beginning of the copy of "Slumdog Millionaire" that I watched. It's an award season screener.
















This building is next to the Catholic church here in Apia. It says "Fetu o le Moana," which means "Star of the Sea"... which is the name of the Catholic Church on Geary.