Samowen Life

The Internet and Resurrected Dinosaurs

2010-04-14T21:38:00.005-11:00

The Tuasivi computer lab took quite a beating in October of last year. A power surge managed to break 13 of 14 monitors and computers had flames coming out of their power supplies that you should only see when roasting weenies, competing in a drag race, or watching a NASA space shuttle take off. Oh, and the printer and switch for the network broke also. Like I said it was rough. Needless to say, 2010 looked like a daunting year from where I was sitting when school began in January. Here, you teach Year 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13 Computer Studies (about 65 students) with one computer. Yeah, one.

So rather than pity myself and the students too much, I spent a good part of the beginning of this year applying for some UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supplies – a surge protector and battery all in one) from the main office in Apia. At the same time I received some very generous help from Volunteers Supy, AJ, Koa, and Jordan, as well as Returned Volunteer Dylan to get some replacement parts for what had been lost. So a HUGE thanks to all of you.

I also requested new computers and a printer from the main office and received five brand new computers in March along with the printer. LCD flat screens, 500 GB hard drives, 2 GB of RAM. They are super nice. Compare that to the 4 GB hard drive, 256 MB of RAM computers that I used all last year and it’s like comparing a Ferrari with a Model T.

However, even though those computers are old (some even from the 1990’s!) they still worked just fine and gave more kids the opportunity to learn. So I set about using the parts I got from those very awesome people I listed above and resurrected those dinosaurs. The lab went from one computer to 12 student computers and the server. Basically the year went from impossible to very doable.

Since the computers have been up and working I’ve been teaching my Year 13 students how to do email within our classroom over the network. They’ve learned how to compose, reply, forward, and send and receive attachments. It’s been very rewarding for me because I think it has been one of the most useful things I’ve been able to teach them that they can use in the future.

That said email isn’t really that cool unless you can use it with the Internet. So I decided to sponsor a field trip for my Year 13 students to use the Internet. Today we took a taxi to the main town, Salelologa, where you can use the Internet at several tiny Internet cafes. For all but one of the eight students it was their first time using the Internet! We went to a cafe at a hotel, where there are only two computers (that’s the usual) and checked out what exactly the Internet is all about.

I had them make real email accounts at Gmail, do some Google searches, Wikipedia, and even checked out YouTube. We saw pictures of their favorite celebrities, watched some music videos, and many students sent emails to family and friends living overseas or in Upolu. I’m not sure who had more fun - me or them! It was so cool and I felt most, if not all, wanted to come back another time.

My Year 13 students using the Internet for the first time!

One of the new computers.

The computer lab now.

On the top, a computer with a new power supply that wouldn’t fit into the system unit so I had our groundskeeper cut a hole in the metal case and it just sticks out. Haha, at least it works. On the bottom, and even more ghetto, is my server that has the same problem except that I just had to cover it with old cardboard. Whatever.

Some boys watching our school Easter program in the hall two weeks ago. There were church songs and performances of the resurrection and crucifixion. What a great setting for it too. Jesus looks good up there.

The ocean behind my house at way low tide. Upolu in the background.

Tide’s in at the top, out at the bottom.

Usoali’i, a former student now going to university in Apia, came to back to visit me!

Savaii Sports Tournament

2010-03-07T15:29:00.006-11:00

On Friday morning we had a sports tournament for all the Savaii high schools. It was far away, on the other side of the island in fact, so we set off early from school at 6 a.m. The girls were going on one bus and I was riding on the school bus with the all the boys. On our way there, after about an hour of driving, another bus approached coming from the other direction. As we passed, the two buses scraped together with a sound like driving over gravel. Then I heard the yelling. Boys in the back were yelling to pull over the bus. Two boys who had been resting their arms on the windowsill were bleeding all over the seats and had broken arms. Another boy had injured his middle finger. We asked a family nearby for their truck and the boys were driven the hospital. It wasn’t until we arrived at the sports tournament that I heard what happened on the other bus because it had kept driving. An old man had his arm severed at the elbow and it had been lying in the road. It was taken to the hospital from what I hear, but Samoan hospitals even in Apia don’t have the capability to reattach it. As told to me, the old man was lototele (courageous, brave) when it happened and had his arm wrapped in a lavalava (sarong) and was talking the whole time. This definitely took the air out of a day all the boys had been looking forward to and our two best Under 17 rugby players were the ones with the broken arms. I heard today one of the boys is in Apia to get his arm fixed at the main national hospital along with the old man. The other boy is doing well in Savaii at the regional hospital. Our teams still played and the rugby team made it to the semi-final round.

And now some pictures of the tournament and the last month.

Tuasivi girls playing volleyball.

The boys playing rugby.

A spectator from the tournament. This is for the Samoan speakers out there.

Dan, Paul, and Tui watching rugby from the grand stand.

A few weeks ago the water in my shower stopped draining and I would have to stand in a puddle while I showered. This sucked. I checked out the pipe and found some plant had sent its roots into my drain pipe and apparently it had reached maximum capacity, allowing no more water to drain. I pulled out about six or seven feet of roots and it was good to go!

Fresh yellow fin tuna. $3.50 tala per pound. So that’s 4 lbs for $14 tala – about $5 or 6 American dollars. Sweet.

Pufferfish for dinner. I had to “boil it until the spikes come off easily,” as advised by my principal. This took approximately 45 minutes of boiling on high.

It was delicious though; just make sure not to eat a spike.

This must be the first time a student has ever THANKED the teacher for a quiz. “Thank you! Mr. Owen for quiz. May our heavenly father bless you with his holy spirit. Thanks again.”

Talofa and Welcome to Samoa!

2010-01-31T17:53:00.004-11:00

Recently PCV Matt informed me that he was checking out the new Jason’s Visitor Guide for Samoa 2010 and he was pretty sure it was my host brother, Akeripa, on the cover. Matt’s host family is related to mine and he has seen Akeripa many times so I figured he was probably right, but was still a bit skeptical. My skepticism mainly stemmed from the fact that Akeripa lives at his family’s house in our rural host village of Fausaga – how would he end up on the cover of the brochure for all of Samoa?! Who took the picture?? But I got a copy and Matt was right – it’s him! Samoa is a mysterious place sometimes. If you want to read more about Akeripa, click here, and read my short host family profile of him.

Akeripa and I back when I was living in Fausaga.

Sure enough, there he is on the left. Good eye Matt! Malo Akeripa!

He’s doing the same hand sign!