Happy Danksgiving!

November has come and gone. There are no signs of fall here in American Samoa as we’re getting deeper into summer (we’re on the other side of the equator). The weather is getting warmer and progressively rainier. Not the most ideal weather but we’re without a doubt adjusting.

Earlier in November we trekked out to Nu’uuli to go to Regal Twin Cinemas. That’s right folks, we have a movie theater with only two screens. We saw Catching Fire, which was so very epic (but this isn’t a movie review so I’ll go on).  We knew AmSam was right for us when we heard we’d still be able to see Catching Fire. It gets better; movie tickets are only $5.50 which I haven’t seen on the mainland since I was in something like 7^th grade.  Watching a movie in AmSam is a cultural experience in itself.  The ticket sellers don’t show up until about 10 minutes until show time, kissing on screen generates lots of giggles, everyone reclines super deep into their chairs (so it’s never an issue seeing the screen), and if the word “cheeky” is mentioned on-screen (which it so cleverly was in Catching Fire) the whole theater erupts into cheers. It’s really something every expat on island should experience at some point.

Back to the holiday cheer. Every time there is a holiday there is also some kind of celebration at school to go along with it. For Thanksgiving, it’s the infamous Turkey Run and a day of activities on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.  At our class meetings a couple week before the run, the senior class and our Vice Principal nominated Saul and I to be the male and female advisors running for the senior class. We’ve been working out six days a week for something like 9 weeks now so we’re like uhh we should be able to handle a 5K  (about 3 miles) and accepted the nomination.  We figured we could use the free turkeys that the winners of the race get. We came to find out the race is actually 7.24K (4.5 miles) and panic definitely set in.

The race starts at 5am so the morning of the race we were up at 3:50am to stretch, eat and walk down to school in pure darkness. The dogs were extra rambunctious which only made the anticipation worse.  There was a pretty large turn out at the race, which I definitely hadn’t expected. The race started a bit after 5am and we were off! We made sure to pace ourselves and not burn all of our energy sprinting at the start like the majority of the racers did. Water stations were set up all along the route manned by teachers and students so that was definitely a nice touch. We got to one of the stations (probably about half way through the race) and I found out that I was the first girl to pass. Woo-hoo. We kept going at a pretty decent pace and eventually ended up playing yo-yo with one of my students and his friend. They would sprint and then walk and Saul and I would just keep the pace. Eventually we left them behind and took off towards the finish line. With about a half mile to go Saul took off to clock a better time and I came a little after.

There are different categories for the run (Professional, Amateur, Advisor, Students, Power Walkers). Turns out that I ended up being the first girl on the entire island to finish across all categories and Saul was the first advisor to finish.  Note: there was definitely stiffer competition in the professional males category than for the females but still! J I was shocked. I’m not a long distance runner and never have been; same with Saul. We ended up getting two turkeys and impressing our students. Well worth the effort and definitely marks one of the more memorable Thanksgiving activities in my 24 years of living. After the run, which pretty much everyone finished by 7am, Zumba began in true Samoan fashion. All students had to show up to school by 7am to get their Zumba on. After Zumba, there was a mini-Maketi (the Samoan open-air market) where the students had fruits, veggies and different Samoan food (like Cocoa Rice) for everyone. The principal provided ice cream and popsicles (at 8am) and Thanksgiving relay type races etc. ensued. This was definitely one of my favorite (if not my single favorite day) here in AmSam.  Simply amazing and I felt so very fortunate to have been a part of it.

After school, which was let out at noon we began to defrost our turkeys and I made a double-layer cream cheese and pumpkin pie for our feast the next day. Some of the other expats here on island had a Thanksgiving dinner but Saul and I figured this was probably one of the only times we would get to try to make it on our own.

Thanksgiving morning, we got up pretty early and started to cook. Saul manned the turkey (cleaned it, put butter under the skin, seasoned it and got it in the oven). We tried this technique where you cook the turkey upside down for the first half and then flip it at the end. It was seriously the most juicy delicious turkey breast we’ve ever had.  While he was doing that, I was making homemade mac n’ cheese, garlic and lemon fresh green beans and sweet potato rolls from scratch (these turned out incredible!). After Saul got the turkey in the oven, he made the candied yams and stuffing (can you say amazing f-ing husband?!).  We topped it off with mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce along with gravy from the Turkey scraping and our Thanksgiving feast was ready.

It turned out better than we could have ever hoped for. Everything was delicious and we made cranberry-lime-champagne cocktails (with the limes from our tree) to boot. I’m pretty sure it was the best first Thanksgiving as a married couple we could have asked for.

We went and saw Frozen on Black-Friday and pretty much relaxed and ate leftovers for the rest of the weekend. I had to explain to my kids why Black-Friday is called Black-Friday. The only thing they really knew about it was that people fight and get shot when they go to Wal-Mart. I had to nip their racial stereotypes in the bud and explain that it’s called Black-Friday because it’s dark out when the stores open. -_-

Anyways this is turning into a novel. So I’ll go ahead and leave you with the words of one of my Algebra 1 students and Saul’s Computer Application’s students, Sherry, Happy Danksgiving!!

-C

Pretty view of the sun coming up at the cemetery near Sliding Rock.

The students that we were yo-yoing with for almost the entire race.

One of my Freshmen, Christian, on the right and his friend.

#64

And the husband, #68

Aso'faafetai  (which ironically means Thanksgiving) one of my geometry seniors and two of his friends at the senior market place after the Turkey Run.

I like to call this one "downward dog" :)

Goodies from our mini-maketi. Warm banana and tapioca pudding, koko rice (kind of like chocolate rice pudding), and panikeke (fried pancake balls)

Zumba!!!!

Our prizes! yessss.

Isaac is definitely not a morning person :)

Alex (our next door neighbor) and her bf(visiting from the mainland), Saul and I (with our turkeys)

Only in AmSam. Walking home with two turkeys

Thanksgiving!

Saul making candied yams! (with lots of marshmellows)

And buttering under the skin.

It came out so pretty and golden.

They say carving a turkey is one of those manly rights of passage.

Making the gravy

The breast meat was seriously the best turkey breast I've ever had (so juicy!)

The dogs on our property reaped the benefits.

Brownie :)

Selfieeeee

The sweet potato rolls I made. Soooo nom nom worthy.

Gravy, green beans and rolls.

Dinner is served!

This Thanksgiving, I'm thankful for such an amazing husband.

Yummy.

This was his second plate. Not so happy anymore haha

My fatass was still pretty stoked by plate two.

The Samoan teenager go-to pose.

Like he couldn't find a bigger tree or something.

Double-layer cream cheese and pumpkin pie.

Toto, I don't think we're in California anymore.

Gourmet coffee, our favorite wine, and avocados (they're yellow inside).

Boy, have times changed.

I call this "Samoan" boujie. Not be confused with the boujie[ness] of the mainland.

Use urban dictionary.com if you must. :)

Happy 6 Months Alofa O Lo'u Ola! (Love of my Life)

The first 6 months of our marriage really flew by. We celebrated our 6 month anniversary last week with a few exciting festivities.

On Sunday we tried to recreate one of our favorite date night meals at home—Houston’s Hawaiian rib eye. We nailed the marinade, and it tasted just like we got it at Houston’s. We had a little trouble figuring out how to cook the steak, considering we don’t have access to a grill or any other sophisticated cookware (including pans thicker than a millimeter or broiling pan). We ended up putting the steak directly on the oven rack and broiling it (kind of like a reverse grill). It came out a little more cooked than a steak at Houston’s, but it was still delicious. We had a baked potato and “Samoan salad” on the side. We call it “Samoan salad” because all of the vegetables came from here.

The next day (our actual anniversary), we had a meeting with the DOE in town (which deserves a rant), so we took the opportunity to go out for a nice dinner. We ate at Sadie’s by the Sea. It ended up being the best food we have eaten out on the island (however nothing compares to my wife’s wonderful cooking at home). Along with the delicious food, the atmosphere was extremely romantic. We had a table with a view overlooking the harbor and the weather couldn’t have been better.

After Sadie’s, we went home and exchanged gifts. Chelsia got me an awesome wooden frame with a picture of the two of us and what I think is my favorite picture from our wedding. I got her a bouquet of flowers, but it was filled with plastic flowers that she can wear in her hair. She had been wanting some for a while since it is popular for girls to wear flowers in their hair here. I thought this was the perfect time to get her a few.

Every day I realize more and more that it makes me the luckiest man in the world to be married to Chelsia. She is the most beautiful woman I have ever laid eyes on, she is my best friend, she is my rock, and she is my soul mate. I’m having a blast with her on this adventure that we are enjoying and the first 6 months has been amazing. I’m looking forward to many more adventures in life with this amazing woman.

-S

This is Halloween

Halloween is a day that, typically, I give very little thought to.  The weather is beginning to cool off, cute sweaters are all the rage (even though it’s actually too hot for that), and my boots are out in full force. Last year Saul and I (spur of the moment) decided to be Mario and Luigi and wear our costumes to a Clippers game. We would decorate our house with a few decorations but overall we put pretty little effort into it.

As Halloween approached this year, the weather was getting hotter (and still is), I don’t have any closed toe shoes aside from my workout sneakers, and sweaters are a thing of the past. We celebrated Halloween AmSam style. Starting about a week before Halloween we started making a whole bunch of pumpkin recipes. We made pumpkin mac n' cheese which was delicious! It was homemade (not of the easy mac variety) and came out fabulous. Then we moved on to pumpkin chili which while good, normal chili is about 100x better. Last we made double layer pumpkin cheesecake which pretty much is a pumpkin pie on top of a cheesecake (this was fabulous).

 Halloween just happened to fall during the same week as midterms. This was impeccable timing (insert sarcasm here) for midterms considering they dedicate a whole week to Halloween simply calling it “Spirit Week.” The schedule was as follows: Monday-Jersey Day (Saul and I wore USC gear). Tuesday – Miss Sophia Day (Miss Sophia is the AmSam transgender pageant); while it was pretty interesting to observe Saul and I decided to not participate on this day. Wednesday – FOB day (kids were supposed to dress up like they were “fresh off the boat.”) It was pretty hilarious because a day like this would simply not fly in the states but the kids didn’t see anything wrong with it and came looking like they got dressed in the dark. Thursday (Halloween) – was technically super hero day. Some students wore super hero gear while others simply wore Halloween costumes.

Thursday also marked the day of the infamous Halloween Rally which I unknowingly volunteered myself for. In AmSam, rallies are organized by class (i.e. Freshmen, Sophomores, Juniors, Seniors). Saul and I are senior advisors so we’re expected to help with rallies and other senior functions. Anyways, student council decided that the theme for this rally would be MTV Showdown where the students would have to perform to “Blurred Lines” by Robin Thicke, do their best Lady Gaga, SpongeBob and Joker impersonations, and the advisors would have to do a skit to include the PowerPuff Girls and Ghost Rider (so incredibly random, I know). Well there are two transgender senior advisors and me (no other women) so I didn’t really have a choice but to help out with the PowerPuff Girls portion of the rally.  I agreed to be Bubbles (the blue one) again not really understanding what I was committing to.  Monday comes around and Sina say “Oh don’t worry, I’m just putting together a little skit.” SKIT?!! I was shocked. I thought we were just dressing up. It turned out that we would be doing a little Beyonce booty shaking, walking it out and our very best fake fighting.  I was terrified! Thursday came and I put my game face on and just went up there and did what had to be done.  My students were so shocked that “Ms. Chelsia can do back flips and dance.” Not to toot my own horn but I became Leone High School famous for like 2 days. I would be walking and hear “awesome dance Ms. Chelsia”  or “the rally was so good Ms.Chelsia.” Turns out the Senior class advisors one the PowerPuff Girls portion of the rally and we won the overall portion. So I suppose all is well that ends well however, I don’t think I’ll be volunteering myself for another rally anytime soon.

-C


P.S. I do have a video of this madness coming soon (thanks to the wonderful hubby), it just takes forever to upload with our slow internet.

This dance was serious business. Had to get some last minute practice in.

Sina, Jayleen and me

Right before we went on stage

Friday Night Lights

It's been quite some time since our last posting. We're really starting to get into the swing of things here on the "rock" and in doing so, have a bit less time to post.

We've experienced not one but two rallies now. The first rally was a welcome back assembly. It's a new teacher right of passage to have to get up and shake what you've got in front of the entire student body and administration. Saul and I plus the other new teachers stood up to be introduced. Sure enough as soon as they were through saying all of our names, the song "Harlem Shake" came on. All of the teachers did their respective dance. Some people did a model catwalk, some people did a goofy swaying, etc. Someone pulled Saul out into the middle of the aisle and he did his best "I'm cool but I’m not about to embarrass myself dance." The students loved it! He kept it very classy.

I thought I had escaped because I was hiding behind my camera snapping away but sure enough I heard go "Chelsia" and felt a shove from behind. Had I though I would actually be dancing I would have had a plan of attack. Needless to say there was definitely too much booty shaking. I'll leave it at that. The rally was two Fridays ago and the following Monday my students came in and said Ms. Chelsia really knows how to shake it. LOL. Oh dear. I'm still hearing about it from them.

We also managed to make it to the football game vs. Samoana that same weekend. We headed to the Tafuna stadium with Alex, Isaac and Raina to support our JV and Varsity Leone Lions. Steevee and Chaundra were there too! Both teams won and the game was just so much fun. We have some amazing drummers that really get our side pumped up and it was just a great time! The game ended at about 9:30pm and because we don't have a car and buses stop running around 6:00pm we jumped on the football bus with the players. People were standing on top of each other, in the aisles and in the stairwell with the door open. It was just chaos but it was a free ride home. :)

The other pep rally was the "color war" class rally. This is the big pep rally every year and our classes were definitely impacted by it. Classes would be removed from the schedule for a day without warning so that classes could have meetings, classes would be shortened and students were definitely consumed by it causing their attention spans to be nil. All of the classes (freshman, sophomores, juniors and seniors) were pitted against each other to come up with the best skit and cheer. Saul and I are both senior advisors so we had to wear hot pink t-shirts with green bottoms; not the most complimentary colors. The rally was a blast and the skits were hilarious. I’ll try to post a video eventually. All-in-all seniors lost (third place) but it was still lot of fun.

We’re midway through week 6 of classes and time is flying by. It’s kind of insane. Saul and I are both getting super comfortable teaching and it makes the whole experience that much better. It’s crazy how rewarding it is when kids actually get things that you’re trying to explain. That’s not to say that we don’t have bad days. Saul and I each have a period that we dread due to the fact that the kids are constantly messing around and pretty much just don’t care about school.  Such is life, though. Our kids have taken to calling us all sorts of names. I’ve heard Miss Chels, Miss Chelsia, Mrs. Chelsia, Mrs. Castaneda, Mrs. Saul, Teach, Miss, Mrs. Bates. Most kids call Saul Mr. C but my favorites are Mr. Chelsia or Mr. Bates. They always give me a good laugh.

Also, I’ve now had multiple students tell me I look like Shakira. LOL so random.

We’re really getting into routine here in AmSam and we love it. We cook SO much. We’ve decided that our future kids are going to be the envy of all their friends because their parents are bomb dot com cooks. I’ve created a running list on the side bar of our blog with everything that we’ve cooked. It’s really becoming a hobby not just for me but for Saul as well. We also read an insane amount. I’m on book 23 in two and a half months and I know Saul isn’t far behind. He recently finished the entire Harry Potter series. Note to anyone going to a tiny island to work: bring a kindle. There hasn’t been a day that I’ve regretted it. Matter of fact mine had a slight malfunction where it started to freeze and I just about had a nervous breakdown.

We’ve continued to watch our shows from back home on our computers. (Insert a moment of silence for Dexter and Breaking Bad coming to their series’ end). Both fabulous.

I don’t want to bore you all with our day-to-day. It would be like writing about our live back in the states. It’s great to experience but not so great to read about.  We miss and love you all!

-C

Saul dancing at the rally.

The entire staff got home-made leis and candy leis.

Saul in front of his SmartBoard.

Rally swag :)

Our football stadium here in AmSam.

The cheerleaders.

We had a staff party down near sliding rock. There was definitely some volleyball playing with our principal. 

Awkwarrrd.

Our little staff party.

Color rally! Seniors were robbed.

Home-made pizza

We had to make meatballs to top our pizza.

He's a real life Emeril.

Into the oven it goes.

NOMMMMM!. So good :)

One of our many weekend breakfasts.

Staff uniform Ie'

Staff uniforms that we had made.

In the back of a truck on the way home.

On our way to airport beach.

Visibility wasn't very good because it had been raining but still so gorgeous.

Hey there! 

More snorkeling at Airport Beach last weekend.

Kisses from my husband.

It was windy and we were feeling artsy.

Grocery shopping at Cost-U-Less after Airport Beach.  It's pretty much like Costco (it even carries Kirkland brand)

Home-made orange chicken cabbage and rice. Yum.