T Martin's Travels

Holidays in New Zealand

2008-01-02T16:53:00.000-06:00

So I'm back in New Zealand for the Christmas new years break. Traveling around with Dylan another volunteer from Samoa. We're in about the middle of our trip. We spent the first week on the north island divided between Auckland and Rotorua. Then came to the south island for our last two weeks.

In Auckland we just kind of hung out got used to the developed world again. We headed to Rotorua Christmas day. There we did two main activities the mountain luge and sledging.

Luge course

Aftermath of going fast, but how else should you go?

Sledging is a great way to go down rapids.

On the South Island we spent a night in Christchurch then went to Mt Cook for a night. We did a short day hike there.

We were able to get beds the 30th in Queenstown but for new Years Eve we camped out with a bunch of others on the rugby club pitch in the middle of town. It was better than staying in a hostel.

Lake on the Road to Milford Sound.

The Chasm gorge on the way to Milford .

We got lucky and we're able to get beds at Milford lodge which turned out great because it rained hard over night. We also hoped to do a kayak trip on the sound but they were full. So we ended up taking one of the boat cruises which was fun because the waterfalls were all going full on. Thats it for now hope all is well .

A Samoan Tradition

2007-10-25T13:48:00.000-05:00

This past weekend was pretty crazy. Friday night was the welcoming fiafia for the newest group of trainees. However members of group 1 and 2 were here for a renunion and the fortieth anaversery of Peace Corps Samoa. The night opened with an Ava ceremony thatI got to be a part of though my role was to just sit next to the ava bowl, Dylan and Vik did the serving. But it was great to learn a little bit more about what all the roles are and how it is organized first hand. This was followed by the usual introduction and rounds of dancing by the volunteers. However there was a little change this year. The new head of state was in attendance and I ended up starring straight into his eyes for the war dance. The night went well but long with all the added events that are usually not part of the fiafia. And the next day I had to be up early…

To get a traditional Samoan Tattoo. Julya and I went visit Suluape the best at his craft. Samoa has the longest unbroken tradition of tattooing in the world it is the one place missionaries were unable to break it and Suluape continues that tradition today using the same types of tools, most of his needle combs are steel instead of the traditional bone. I chose to get the top half of the pe’a on a smaller scale on my calf. The pe’a is the male body tattoo that extends from knees to mid chest. The portion I got represents from the waist up. He started on the back and worked his way around. The whole process took about four hours including a short break. It went pretty quickly and I got to watch the final of the rugby world cup which helped time move along. (Rugby is a huge sport in Samoa and I have started to enjoy it some myself but find 7’s more exciting and Samoa is much better at it.) The process is kind of where you just give an idea, location and size, example a band, on the ankle three fingers wide, and then turn your self over to let him do his work and see what happens. The tattoo turned out very well and I think even the guys who work for Suluape were surprised at the amount of detail he put into it. Getting the tattoo pretty much wiped me out and I ended up going to bed early and just laying around most of Sunday as well.

Walking around since getting it reminds me of when I first got here. You can see peoples eyes following it and many people have stopped me to comment on it. Everyone seems to think it’s great, Samoa is different from the US in this respect it is almost more common to have a tattoo than to not have one, but most importantly I am really happy with it and that’s all that really matters.

Ava ceremony

Suluape getting started and the guys who strech and hold your skin.

The needle combs used for traditional tatooing.

Laying out the back.
The inside of my calf.

Front and side

The Back

Queenstown NZ

2007-08-04T01:56:00.000-05:00

So it's been awhile but I'm just going to skip to the present. I'm in Queenstown New Zealand a nice little ski town on a lake int the mountains of NZ's south island. A nice and needed change in location to recover and experience a little different life style from Samoa. I'm going to take advantage of this connection and get some pics up so enjoy.

After 14 months of Vailima the first pint of Guinness tasted great, (not that there's anything wrong with Vailima but variety is good)

Mountains what else can one say.

The other night there was a rail competition in center of Queenstown. Not a bad night out.

My folks brought my board along (thanks to j for getting it in proper working order) and today I hit the Remarkables. It was great to be out but they could use some more snow there is a rumor that it might show up over night (knock on wood).

2007-04-19T14:26:00.000-05:00

So once again it has been awhile since my last post and it has been a busy few months, with plenty of highs and lows (which I sure the staff said was normal at our early service conference if I had been there to hear it but more on that in a minute).

So after my dad left I headed back to the village and spent the two weeks working on the new building for the women’s committee. It was fun to be doing some physical labor and put my skills to some use. There is also a lot of ceremony that goes along with such a project. At different times different groups presented to the others different gifts such as fine mats, canned fish, meat, etc… It is kind of funny because everyone including the builder is from the village but those are the traditional requirements of the culture. During those two weeks I was also fed very well and lots of it. I would often have at least 6 meals served during the day. Breakfast at home, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea, something at the end of the day and then dinner back at home. Often at lunch different people would get me to sit next to them I think at least in part to get my leftovers which were usually quiet a bit of food. While working there is often also a lot of down time for sitting around drinking ava and playing checkers which adds some variety to the day.

So my groups early service conference was the week of Feb 12 at a very nice beach fale place on Savai’i, they had hot showers. I however started running a fever the Saturday before and by Monday was pretty well drained. So I proceeded to sleep in a fale until wed when our medical officer came over and decided I should come into Apia and that I probably had Dengue Fever. I spent wed night in a hotel room in Apia and then was admitted to the hospital Thursday morning. I had become very dehydrated and was admitted mainly to be put on an IV of fluids. I was in till Saturday and then a few more days of rest in a hotel. Dengue Fever is something you never want to experience your whole body hurts joints, bones, muscles and You have a blinding head ache behind the eyes so that you want it to be dark all the time. Then to top it all off you get a rash all over your body.

Then it was back to the village for a few days of hanging out the work had stopped for various reasons and wouldn’t start back up again until nearly April. But that was ok I had plenty going on. Jim one of my professors from tech had been at a conference in New Zealand and was able to come to Samoa for a quick visit so I had four days of playing tour guide and he got to see a good section of what I’m doing here and the conditions I live in which was nice. We also did a short hike to the Robert Louis Stevenson tomb and spent sometime on the beach.

After Jim left career day took over my life for a few weeks. The Apia career day was 6th and a huge success. We had nearly 1500 kids and about 40 businesses participate as well as departments from the National University of Samoa where it was held. It gave students a chance to see what kind of options where available and what skills they would need to take advantage of those opportunities. We also held a smaller event two weeks later on Savai’i which also went well but it is harder to get businesses to come over so which means not as many sectors are covered. We are going to look into getting more funding to bring everyone to NUS next year but we will see what happens.

Also right after Jim left I learned that a good friend from Tech had pasted away. It came as a great shock took awhile too work out among the chaos that was my life at the time. He was unfortunately not the first friend to pass while I have been here but it doesn’t get easier if anything it gets harder each time. So I just wanted to say thanks to all the friends and family back home and around the globe I know I’m not the best a keeping in touch but hearing from you all is great and exciting.

In fun news we had a nice little volunteer pub crawl through Apia complete with home made t-shirts. It was a lot of fun and got a good cross section of the post together with out causing too much trouble.

More recently have been finishing up the women’s fale, the grand opening is tomorrow. And doing other random things around the village. It is hard to believe how fast the time goes by. In June I’ll have been here a year and a new group will be showing up I still can’t believe it. Hope all is well and I’ll try not to let 3 months go by without a post but no promises.
Peace
Tim

Placing forms for the Women's Committee fale foundation.
Mixing concrete in the developing world is pretty universal and labor intensive.

The fale has an ope front area fo meetings and a few rooms in the back for storage.

A sea of youth at the Apia Career Day.

The Police drew quite a crowd to there display.

St. Patty's day just isn't the same without Guinness but that didn't slow us down.
The Aftermath (note not as comfortable as it looks).

2007-01-13T13:47:00.000-06:00

Well it’s been awhile since my last update and its been fairly exciting here. My folks and sister came for a visit after Christmas. My mom and sister were here for two weeks before having to get back to school but my dad was able to take advantage of his retirement and stay nearly a month. The first two weeks were kind of a whirlwind that allowed me to see a lot of the places I had heard about but had yet to get to visit and play tourist a little bit. We spent New Years Eve in Falealupo which is at the extreme west end of Savai’i to watch an amazing sunset. It was a pretty chill couple days hanging out with most of the other volunteers in country. We spent 4 nights at my site so my two families could all meet and get to know each other. We drove around both main islands and stayed a few different places which has definitely allowed me to decide which places are worth heading back to. After my mom and sister headed back my dad and I headed back to the village for about a week of village life. Ray and Jan two other volunteers from my group came up for a night and had a nice visit. Then to wrap up my dad’s trip we headed out to Manono a small island between Savai’i and Upolu for 2 nights. It is a very traditional island with no dogs, cars or even bikes. We were able to go snorkeling for a bit on the reef which is always exciting. Right before my dad left our post ended up going on stand fast because there was a storm that could become cyclone off the west coast of Savai’i. He got off fine and the storm ended up tracking to the north so everything went fine. Hope this finds everyone well. Enjoy the pics below.
peace
tim

The beach fales we stayed in at Falealupo.

The group hanging out on New Years Eve waiting for sunset.

The last sunset of 2006.

The folks at the fiafia the place put on for us at new years.

The women’s committees of each village show the fine mats they have been weaving one each year. Sarah from my group joined her committee in the parade.

Update

2006-12-08T15:56:00.000-06:00

Well it’s been about two months since the last post so let’s see if I can get you all up to date. Well the big news is that Group 77 arrived shortly after my last post and now are done with training they officially became volunteers the 13th. They are teachers mostly in IT but a few other subjects as well. There are 16 in the new group four of which will be coming to Savai'i. And with new volunteers swearing in it means that old volunteers are closing out their service here in Samoa. As a trainee you see the cycle a little but as a volunteer you interact much more with the other groups and it is sad to see them go. But that is the cycle and it really adds an interesting dynamic to Peace Corps service. The fact that Samoa is a small country with a fairly small number of PCVs probably allows us to see each other more often and develop those relationships. So good luck to all that are heading into their next stage. There was a great time at Halloween (costumes will probably ruin future political careers) but I was sick during the Thanksgiving get together. I managed to force down a couple pieces of turkey since it will probably be the turkey other than the tail that I will see until next year. And if you are wondering "what do you mean turkeys have a tail you can eat?" I would say no they have a ball of fat from the tail region (that is shipped to Samoa I'm guessing because it is cheaper than sending it to a landfill) that may contain two very small bites of meat if you work for them. I chose not to bother.

In other news went on a few more hiking expeditions. A few weeks back into the same area we went last time with Vik, John and Dane. The waterfalls weren't running this time but we had some fun hiking around in the woods. Last Sunday ten of us also went to Lake Lanotoo. We started the hike with a down pour that got us soaking wet and made the trail a slip ‘n slide. The trail was mainly red clay that we ended up covered in. The lake is in a crater and is full of goldfish that come up and nibble on toes. It was great to swim in freshwater and made for a real nice day.

Also had a craft day in the trainees village, Maasina, was a great village very beautiful. It was put on by a NGO Avanoa Tutusa that I have been working with as a secondary project. In other news my folks and sister come on the 27th so I am definitely looking forward to that. Hope all is well at home with the upcoming holiday season.
Peace & hope you enjoy the pics below
Tim

Hanging out with Julya at Halloween.

Vik, Dane and John on our Savai'i adventure

Crafts day in Ma'asina.

The bay in Maasina.

Dane, Robert & John on the Lake Lanotoo hike.

Lafi at Lanotoo

2006-10-02T15:11:00.001-05:00

It’s been a month since swearing in and things are going well and have settled in to my place. Time has been going pretty quick and I have been keeping busy getting to know people and hanging out. Last weekend went on an eleven hour hike with two other volunteers. We used a tourist map and some random directions from people to plan our trip. We were told many stories about what we would find including many waterfalls, a very high cliff and a lake millions of feet deep. We set off at 6:30 in the pouring rain to see what would happen. The riverbed is like something out of a dinosaur movie when the people are getting chased down some canyon. We were falling just walking there is no way a person could run over these rocks and holes. We found six waterfalls ranging from 15 to 30 feet that we got over before we met the big one that was over a 100 ft that we tried to get past but couldn’t get up. It made for a great day out and we found a trail on the way back that will let us get back there in 2 instead of 6 hours. The next day we were pretty beat up and spent nearly the entire day on the floor flat on our backs. Back home I would do almost nothing when I would get cuts or scrapes. Here you can aggressively treat and take care of them and they still will get infected. We started referring to our bodies as puss factories because every limb had multiple little cuts and 1 or 2 larger ones that were infected.

When I got back to the village started on my first project. There is no piped water system in my village just rainwater tanks and a couple wells of unknown quality and salinity. So I did a survey of the village with 3 locals of what everyone had. We counted water tanks, noting size and condition; roof area for collection and how much was being collected; number of people; and so forth. This also helped define the village boundaries for me and locate some of the homes that are well off the main road.

The new group for the other program comes on the 11th and I’ll be back in for that. It has been great hearing from people mail is always great to get and I’ve been working on replies. Enjoy the fall and hope all is well.
peace
tim

Jon & Vik at the first roaring waterfall

The riverbed

2006-10-02T15:11:00.000-05:00

A PCV

2006-09-04T14:12:00.000-05:00

Well its official I am now a PCV. Its been a while since the last post and the time has been filled. Training went well but I think everyone including the trainers, maybe them most of all, was ready for some time apart. There was definitely a bitter sweet ending with a great party had in the village. It was kicked off Friday the18th with both the training group and village doing different traditional dances. Then we had smaller parties and BBQ's with our families before a final roaming party around the village. The next morning we headed back to Apia to wrap up some administrative work and last minute details, this also included getting our bikes. After three months of being driven everywhere its crazy how liberating a bike can be once again. Then Wednesday we went back to the village to have our swearing in ceremony. That night was party with the other volunteers in Apia and then next morning we loaded our pile of belongings and were off too our new homes.

So on to the present. My new home is in Falelima on the west coast of Savai'i. I see the day end in beautiful sunsets over the vast empty pacific. I have a large family that has taken great care of me.

My new home is a faleo'o or small traditional house. The one end is enclosed for a bed room and the open area is great for reading and hanging out. When I visited during training I got to help turn the palm leaves into the thach shingles for the roof. Right now I am building some shelves and cabinets for my junk inside.

So this is the view from my porch and I have to admit it is pretty hard to beat. The pipe running across the picture goes from the roof of the main house to a 7,000 gallon tank infront of my faleo'o, that provides all my water. There is currently no piped water in the area. The NW corner is probably the dries area in Samoa. The wet season has just now started to refill the rainwater tanks.

This is on a small island that blocked our training village from the open ocean. We were able to spend a few nice Saturday afternoons relaxing on a nice beach there. The channel into the bay runs right by the beach creating a nice ledge for jumping in. Vik is laying out for the disk.

This is Papapapa-tai waterfall. It is in the middle of Upolu. We stopped one day when we were heading back from Apia to the training village. When we got there the whole valley was filled with fog and you could just hear the falls. Jokingly we told Setu, on of our instructors to do something. So he said a little prayer and right before our eyes the fog moved out and revealed the falls. At this point there is nothing Setu can't do.

Finally these are the ladies of group 76 doing their dance for the village at the going a way party.

Hope this finds everyone well and not working to hard.
peace
timoteo

Site

2006-07-29T18:33:00.000-05:00

I just a short post the internet is not at it's best today. We are in Apia for the weekend and then head to our sites monday for the week. I am going to Falelima a village on the west coast of Savai'i which I am very excited about. They have some construction and water projects proposed. Hope all is well.
peace
timoteo

Some more pictures and stories

2006-07-21T15:28:00.000-05:00

Malo-
Well I am on a little lay over ina Apia. Today is dropoff day for group 76. What that means is that we got in a vehical at 6 this morning and then after awhile the van pulled over and kicked 2 of us out. We then find our way back to the training village. My partner Jame and I were dropped about a 10 minute walk from a village where we caught a very full bus headed for Apia. After about 1o minutes the bus stopped and was not going to start again. Luckily beacuse we were the last on we got off while the driver and others were messing with it and were able to hitch a ride in a van that came by with some kids heading to school. One never knows how the public transit is going to work out. Also have some more pictures up enjoy. Time here is flying by only 4 more weeks of training.
Hope all is well
peace
Timoteo

My home in Vaie'e

I've got a nice little room in the Back corner of the fale(House) and...

I am forced to wake up to this out my window. Life can be pretty rough some times.

Trip to visit Min. of Agriculgture research station.

Our language trainers Setu, Leata, Fale and Onofia.

Finally some pictures

2006-07-07T20:45:00.000-05:00

Finally got a few photos up hope all is well. We head back to the village tomorrow for 3 weeks. Don't know if we will get back to town during that time so enjoy these. Also just got back from my volunteer visit on Savaii it was great and I got out to try surfing. M ore later got to get going.
peace
Timoteo
Group 76 arrives in Samoa

Fire dancer at the fiafia(welcome party) This guy was incredible!!

This is an island off the south east of Upolo. We were down here for water safety training.

Water safty training...

Back from the Village

2006-07-03T18:26:00.000-05:00

Well the first couple weeks in the village was pretty intense, but had to love every minute of it. So our training village is Vai'e'e. It's on the south side of the island on a lagoon. My host family is my parents, four kids 6, 5, 4, and 3 months, and my mother's sister and father. Our house is pretty new and I have my own room that is about 15 feet from high tide. I live at the east end of the village so I am a little more removed from some of the goings on but that seems to be ok (there are also less roosters to wake me up at night). Having young siblings has also allowed me a little more freedom. I don't have someone walking me everywhere which I enjoy. However it is a little harder to practice some language because the kids stayed in that wide eyed stare mode into the second week but then it was like a lever switched and they started to go off on random words.

Food has been great but I think the pisikoa are causing a drastic reduction in the village moa(chicken) population. Also fair amount of fruit, I get more rice and potatoes than taro which I am ok with. Being waited on is getting a little old though. Last night two other trainees and I took over the hotel kitchen here in Apia and made a spaghetti feed for the group which was a nice change of pace.

So language it has been the main component of training the past weeks but it is coming along and our trainers are fantastic. I also seem to be relearning and some time just learning lots of english grammar again.

So I head to Savaii wed to fri for my volunteer visit. I am excited to see the other main island and have a little change. Then it is back to the village for three more weeks.
Hope everyone has a great 4th of july and I'll try to get photos up soon.
peace
timoteo

Off to the village

2006-06-16T18:41:00.000-05:00

Well it has been a great week and a half here in Apia but I am feeling ready to head out to our training village. We leave for two weeks tomorrow. Training has been going real great but today is a little crazy. I am trying to upload a couple pictures so hopefully that works out.

Yesterday we went to the extreme south east end of Upolu for our ocean safety training, the fact that we need such training I feel is amazing. We were taken out by a dive company for the afternoon. First we went in groups and let the currents start to take us out through the break in the reef and then had to swim back across the current to the boat. After that we had about an hour to snorkel around the reef. We saw lots of fish and some blue starfish. The whole area was beautiful. The volunteers say it is the best beach on the islands and I am ready to believe them.

This afternoon we are going to the Ministry agency that is our counterpart agency in the village development program. I am interested to see what they have for resources that we can draw on. After that I am meeting with two volunteers that are engineers that have been working on water issues in Samoa. I am excited to get as much information and contacts as I can before they leave Monday. It sounds like there are many interesting projects happening here.

In other news congratulations to my dad, he has now retired from St Paul public schools. So we will all have to see what he ends up doing next.

got to head back
peace
timoteo

Samoa the first week

2006-06-12T18:19:00.000-05:00

Hello all Hope this finds you all well. First there are a couple slight changes to my address so check those below. Stagging went well in LA, or as well as sitting in a windowless room for two days can. It was a nice hotel and we got to know each other. The group of trainies is pretty broad which I think will definatly be an asset. So here is a quick run down.

The group is 16 trainees with an even split male to female and an age range of 21 to three retired members, including a married couple who served in Morrocco 25 years ago. 13 of us are in the village based development program(VBD) and three are Intercoastal Management(ICM). The backgrounds of the group cover a broad range including agriculture, business, economics, marine biology, politcal science, and theater. The group also covers the geographic spread of the US. More about folks as stories arise.

Since we arrived in country we have been in the capital Apia in a nice small hotel getting some initial training. We will head out to a village on the south shore of Upolu next weekend where the majority of our training will take place. Samoa is an incrfedibly beautiful place and I have been enjoying every minute that I've been here. Our days have been filled with a variety of activities and training sessions. We usually have four sessions a day broken up by tea or lunch. Language training has been wonderful and is about a third of our time. Other topics have been culture, an intro to some of the counterpart organizations, and medical which has included a few shots but all pretty basic ones. The training staff is wonderful and are all full time staff members which is a great asset.

Over the weekend I was lucky enough to spend both saturday and sunday afternoons on beaches relaxing. The water here is wonderful and very clear. Much of the island is reef protected and both beaches I was at had lots of fish and other aquatic life.

We have also been getting to know some of the current volunteers at various training and after hours events. They had a welcome pot luck and party for us saturday night. It seems like this will be a wonderful place to serve the next couple years. There is one volunteer here with a civil background and from talking to her seems like there are going to be lots of oppertunities to use my skills at levels ranging from village to national levels. She is leaveing next week so I hope to glean as much info as possible while she is still here.

Need to head back for the afternoon sessiions soon, but things here are great we're eating well and having some great times. More to come soon .
peace
tim

LA

2006-06-06T17:56:00.000-05:00

Well made through staging. The group is 16 with lots of diversity. Got to check out and head to the airport. so talk to you later.
tim

first post address

2006-06-02T08:32:00.000-05:00

So I have joined the world of blogging. Things are getting a little crazy as I get ready to head to Samoa. I head to staging in L.A. Sunday and will be in country Wednesday. My address is below hope summer is starting off great for everyone.
peace
Tim

Timothy Martin, PCT
Peace Corps
Private Mail Bag
Apia, Western Samoa