Rockin Host Family

I am so grateful for my incredible host family. We get along so well! We’re always laughing and joking around. The kids all love musicals and we watch High School Musical 3 and Sweeney Todd non-stop. They can’t get enough of Hayao Miyazaki’s anime movies, which are also my favorite. We even named the new puppy “Ponyo” after a movie character they like.

My host mom Talava is incredibly thoughtful and generous. She does my laundry and won’t hear it if I insist on doing it myself. She makes two bowls of soup, one with regular chicken with fat and bones and one for me, with fat and bones cut out. She pours me a cup of Cocoa Samoa first before she loads it with sugar because she knows I like it o’ona (bitter, like coffee). Mei and Sevai go into my room and feed my cat and tidy up when I go to town. Sevai loves to sit behind me and brush my hair. My brothers and I wrestle, tickle each other and pillow fight in the living room. Telefoni is usually gone doing some contract construction job, but when he’s home on the weekends he plays guitar (which reminds me how much I miss Dad) and sings beautiful harmonies with Talava while the children siva Samoa (do Samoan dances). Life is good.

Sevai, Ponyo and Sailiga

My youngest brother Sailiga, who is five, refuses to go to school. He went the first day and never went again. When Telefoni asked him why he didn’t want to go, he said that he didn’t like the Year One teacher Peka and that he was too busy at home doing the feau (chores) anyway. When Telefoni laughed and asked what feau he was doing, Sailiga said that he was making the saka (peeling and cooking taro and plantains) everyday and doing laundry. This is not quite true because all he does is chase Ponyo around and climb trees. Which is probably why all of his shorts have rips and tears in them. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him in shorts without a gigantic hole in the back. When we joke around about his bottom sticking out, he folds his arms and glares at us indignantly.

Sailiga and Moga Get a Little Over Enthusiastic with the Pig Slaughtering

Ponyo is our new addition to the family after the unfortunate murder of Reno and Fletcher. Well, at least that’s what Telefoni thinks. Our two dogs died, coughing up blood, within two days of each other last month. Telefoni, who was away in Apia building houses for tsunami victims, suspected foul play and urged extra vigilance when locking up at night. He thinks that by poisoning the dogs, the perpetrator(s) intended to decrease security around the house and make it easier to approach at night. An idea that became a little more believable when the back porch light bulb was stolen a few days later. Extra caution is being taken at night with new front and back of house lights and reinforced locks, so not to worry! Ponyo takes his job of barking at everything very seriously