Tatou Aiga Faiaoga

I lost count how many times I’ve said to PCV Matt that Samoa is the smallest country in the world. I feel this way not because Samoa is literally small (although it is) but mainly because of how often I run into someone who is related to someone else I know, or worked with them, or they went to school together in Apia. It’s insane really. People talk of six degrees of separation but here it’s more like two.

To illustrate my point, I created the relationship doughnut below.

Every time we have a meeting at school our principal inevitably makes reference to “Tatou Aiga Faiaoga,” meaning our teacher family. I always thought this was a nice way for him to foster some sort of community building. But as with many things here, it goes deeper than that. I found out recently how deep the rabbit hole goes.

Teachers Ioane and Mele are cousins who are related to Fotu, the librarian, because Fotu is married to Mele’s brother.

Our headmistress Fono, is somehow distantly related to Paosia and Numia. Numia and Paosia are sisters (surprise, surprise, I had no idea until about a month ago). The three of them are also related in some way to Magele, but how exactly I don’t know (maybe he is second cousins with Fono??).

Sinapati, the bus driver, is Tiapepe’s father-in-law and their families share a house together.

Now, these are just the ones I know. It’s strange to me how I could have worked and lived here for a year and not known most of this. I talk with the teachers, ask them about their lives, but these things aren’t mentioned outright. Everyone just knows. And now I know the truth behind Tatou Aiga Faiaoga.

My Roommates

Ocean breeze, palm trees, beautiful views – island life definitely has its bonuses. I live right next to the ocean in what is probably the coolest house I will ever live in. It’s all good, right? Well, part of living on an island with tropical heat means you don’t have real windows, and part of living in a developing country means maybe your house isn’t as impervious to insect and invertebrate intruders as one might like. Holes abound in my siding and life flourishes here. So without further ado, I’d like you to meet my roommates:

The Crab. Usually lives outside, but one night decided to pay me a very neighborly visit and come on in.

The Baby Gecko. Small, cute, gets to be MUCH bigger. You’ll see.

The Spider. Holy crap.

The Black Lizard. Enjoys coconuts?

The Hermit Crab. Apparently not much of a hermit, it prefers my company and decided to join me in the house.

Godzilla. He is longer than two squares of a chain link fence and lives in my bathroom. It sounds like a cavalry charge when he runs thumping along my walls.

The Ants. There is no escaping them. You leave it, they will eat it.

The Lab

AJ came over after the power spike and helped me check the damage to the computers. All told 13 of 14 monitors are dead, along with 10 power supplies, one network switch and one printer. I wrote a report for the Director of Education requesting to get our computers fixed or get new computers. They are having a meeting this month and will talk about the possible options then. So now it’s just wait and see.