Another post for Wednesday, April 10, 2013.  We had so much going on in the last week that we decided to do two separate posts.  The other was getting so long and this post is all about fun Teacher Retreats.  Every other year here in Samoa, the teachers get to have a retreat that is totally paid for by the schools.

On Thursday evening, April, 4, 2013, the Sauniatu teachers did their evening activity because they wanted to see the show at the La Manumea Hotel and they only perform on Thursday evenings.  We all met together and ate a very nice Samoan buffet then they had dancers, singers, drum players and fire dancers perform for over an hour.

 They had this group playing and singing as you came in and sat down for dinner.  They were also the drummers and performers during the fia fia.

 This lady is making kava in the kava bowl.  It is a ceremonial drink that has been used for hundreds of  years.  It is made from kava root. They served it to a few guests.  They did not offer it to any of us. 

 The girls performing a traditional Samoan dance.

 This man shucked a coconut, cracked it open, grated it, made coconut milk all within a couple of minutes.

 Girl on left spreading the coconut milk on her tattoo.  The female tattoo like this is called a malu.

The girl on the right is showing one of the many ways to tie and wear a lava lava.

 The fire dancers performed in the dark which made it a little harder to take pictures.  You can see that the one on the left has fire in his mouth.

 They danced and twirled their fire sticks around.

 At one point all three of the different ones came out and performed together.

 Brother and Sister Gase.  He did not come and get in the group photo.
The photo on the right was all the performers at the end of the fia fia (performance.)  Some of them were the waitresses and office help.  The picture below is all the teachers, staff and spouses at Sauniatu except for Brother Gase.

 

 

On Friday morning, April 5, 2013, LDS Church College Pesega and Pesega Middle School had their retreat together.  As we were walking to the gym we saw this beautiful rainbow, nice way to start the day! We met at the gym for breakfast at 8:00 a.m. then drove out to Aggie Grey's Resort in Mulifanua by the main airport.  It took us 40 minutes to get there.  We drove some of the teachers in our van.  They played all kinds of games at the Aquatic Center area right off the beach then had lunch at Aggie Grey's.  It was not a very good lunch but the games were fun.  Then some people swam. Reed snorkeled but said the water was so full of organisms you could not see anything.

 The men were sitting outside and said it was a chiefs meeting, no women allowed!

 The women were inside the room eating.






The picture below is a dish called faausi, it is taro with coconut milk and brown sugar over it.  The brown sugar mixture almost has a burnt taste to it.  Not our favorite.

 This was the t-shirt they gave everyone to wear.  It had a scripture on the front side 2 Nephi 1:21.

 When we got to Aggie Grey's they divided us into teams.  Reed was our team captain and we were called the Hurricanes.

 This is our team, the Hurricanes, huddled up doing a math quiz.

 Doing a scripture game that includes math equations.

 This is our team the Hurricanes.

 Leo, the high school principal is in the middle and Brother Lolo the middle school principal has the hat on.  Brother Iafeta, with the turban, is one of the teachers.  People here, especially the men, cover their heads with shirts, lava lavas or whatever to keep the sun off.

 They had people tie their legs together and then tie balloons on their ankles and then you tried to step on the other teams balloons to pop them.

 They did races with straws that had a bongo, like a round chip with a hole, on them.  You had to get the bongo from your straw to your teammates straw without touching or dropping it.  It was very clever and they had a lot of fun.  This is Joyce, one of the high school secretaries and Reed.

 They played a game where you had to pass the ball over, under, over, under and then run to the front.  It was hard to get a turn to play.  Nobody wanted to ever sit out.  They loved playing the games.

 They seem to play music for every event.  Rather it is a game, activity, assembly, dinner, they always have music.  Brother Fa'aola just started dancing while we were getting ready to start the next game.

 Sister Te'o lives right behind us and has been in some of our classes.  You had to put the egg on your spoon and carry it in your mouth to the other side.  They were not hard boiled eggs.

 Another relay race.  You had to toss it to every member on your team and they had to toss it back to you.  Then the first person in line had to run and take your place and then throw it back and forth to every member on your team until every member had a turn.

 They had a speed walking relay race.

 This was the funniest game.  They put a lava lava in the middle then called numbers.  A member from each team with that number would go to the middle and try to get the lava lava back to their side.  Some got it fast and others they kept calling numbers until it looked like a football scrum.

 Reed got right in there with the rest of them.  He got pushed around but he did his fair share of pushing, too.

 Some people ended up on the ground.  They were all laughing and having a great time.  A little too rough for Nada, she sat this one out.

 No matter the age or size they all love to play volleyball.  They play it on cement, sand, grass and in the middle of a hot sunny day.  It doesn't matter.


Below is a picture of the beach.  The water was very warm.  It looks nice from the top but Reed said you couldn't see anything.  It was a lot of fun.  That night we went to Kokobana's for dinner.  It was the best Samoan food we have had so far.  The teachers and spouses visited, ate and danced.  It was a great retreat.  We forgot our camera so we have not pictures of the dinner.  We were tired when we got home just after 10 p.m.

 

 Saturday, April 6, 2013 we got up early and headed to the South side of Upolu to meet up with the Sauniatu teachers and spouses for the rest of their retreat.  We went to Hideaway Beach which took us a little over an hour to drive to.  We had a little devotional and then breakfast.  They, too, played a lot of fun games and then we went swimming and snorkeling.  Reed and Nada snorkeled and then we let some of the teachers use our equipment.

 

 Nada getting ready to get in the water.  You can see the big dining area of the resort.  It was very cool with a light breeze under there.

 You can see how beautiful the water and beach are here.  This was a very nice beach and the water was warm.  Okay snorkeling but great for swimming.

 Sister Filifili showing us how to tie and wear a lava lava.  Her version from the fia fia on Thursday night.  She is a crack up and a lot of fun.

This is the whole group that was there.  This was a great location for pictures.

Brother Gase in the middle.  He is a very large Samoan man and a very great guy.  He is the only male teacher and the women teachers really cater to him.

We played matt volleyball.  You have to sit and you cannot see the ball coming until it is almost to your side.  It was a lot of fun and actually kind of hard to just sit and hit the ball.

 Reed falling backwards after hitting the ball.

They played the game where you call a number from each team to get the ball in the middle and try to get it back to your side.  It was much more fun and harder to play it with the lava lava yesterday.

 Teachers sitting around after Sister Peresetene got a bunch of sand kicked into her eyes.  We were waiting for her to get it cleaned out.  She has had eye surgery and is having her other eye done next week so everyone was a little tense.

They played hockey on the sand.  It was hard to hit the ball and run in the sand but fun.

 

We saw this lion fish while we were snorkeling.  It was very cool to see.  However, when we got back to our office we looked it up.  They are poisonous and very harmful to reef fish.  Reed kept poking at it trying to get it to move.  Good thing it never attacked or he would have been very sick!

 

Sister Peresetene with a fish in her mouth.  Her husband and Steve, the principal, caught this fish and she wanted Reed to take her picture with it in her mouth.  She said she likes to just eat these fish raw!  She loves her picture to be taken.

 

We were able to watch some of conference from our house live.  We really enjoyed that.  We have watched the rest of conference on our computer in our office.  It is always great to hear and learn from our leaders. 

 

We have a two week break right now so we have no classes.  We have been working on classes for next semester and trying to get a little ahead while there are no teachers or students around.

 

We hope you enjoy seeing what our lives are like.  We had a lot of fun on these retreats getting to know the teachers in a whole new way and getting to meet their spouses.  We love our mission and love the gospel.  We hope you are all well and busy doing good things.  Until next time.

 

Love, Elder and Sister Spencer.