First Day Back!

What a fun day

          My first day back was great! My mom took off work and I was able to spend the entire day with her! It was great! Of course we didn't do the most exciting things, but it was so good to have her home and helping me! We started out by unpacking! I had heaps of stuff! You have no idea how much stuff you have! It was spread out all over the family room and the kitchen. Literally there wasn't a bare spot on the ground! I couldn't believe it!

 

        Yeah it was really messy! As we were getting my stuff ready to put in the washer and everything else, Ashlyn called me. I think she missed me quite a bit! She called and talked to me for about forty five minutes, then we decided I should come out and see her! She told me bring a little surprise, but save the rest for later! So Grandma and I went out and saw Ashlyn! She was so cute! While I was gone, Ashlyn had planned an entire sleepover for us! She planned the dinner, the treats, the movies we are watching, the breakfast, she had everything even down to the pajamas we are wearing. She wanted us to where matching pajamas, and she wanted it to be Phineas and Ferb pajamas. So the matching pajamas she picked out were Perry the Platypus! When I got out there, she had it sitting ready for me, was wearing her's and said, "Try it on! Wear it, and never take it off! So I put it on! We played for so long! Ashlyn and Bryson are so cute! I missed them so much! It was a lot of fun just to play with them! It was great to see Natasha and the kids again!

 

         Ashlyn had dance that day, and it was time for her to go to dance! She was cute, she wanted to wear Perry to dance, but we told her that probably wouldn't work out too well. So she went to dance, and said, "I'll see you tonight!" 

         Later that night Natalie, Natasha, and Ashlyn and Bryson came up to my house for dinner! It was such a party! My Dad made hamburgers (They were one of the foods I missed the most), and then I got to give them all of their surprises, and tell them all about the trip! It was such a fun night! It was crazy, and the house was still a disaster from all of my stuff, but it was well worth it! It was so great to see my family again! It was a great trip, and as much as I enjoyed it, I loved just being home and seeing my family again! It was a great first day back!

 

 

        I am so grateful to be back, and for the experiences I had! I learnt so much over seas, in New Zealand, and it has been an experience that has truly changed me. I feel so lucky and blessed to have had such an incredible experience and adventure! I loved New Zealand. I loved the country, the people, the food, the schools, and everything about it! New Zealand will always be apart of my life! I can't wait till I can go back one day! It was the most amazing opportunity! Now my life is opening up a whole new chapter! Teaching and starting my career! I can't wait to see the new adventures I get to experience with that!

Flying Back Home

Flight to Auckland/Lay Over/Flight to LA/Lay Over/ Flight to Utah

             Well guess what! I made it back home safe and sound! I can't believe I am already back home, the time has flown by! Anyway, before I got home, I still had heaps of traveling to to do! It's crazy how comfortable I am getting in airports, they have become another home to me! Okay, not really, but airports use to stress me out, but now they are just a breeze! 

              My first flight took me from Samoa to Auckland! It was about a four hour flight. I'm going to be honest and say I almost didn't make it on the plane! For some reason our luggage allowance was put into the system wrong, and they weren't going to let us on the plane I was a little bit nervous about this! I didn't know what I was going to do! After several phone calls and a lot of time, the staff figured it out, and we made it! Good thing! That flight went really well! It was a pretty smooth take off, and even a smooth landing. Or maybe I'm just getting use to flying.
             After flight, we had about a three hour lay over in the Auckland airport. It's crazy how at home I am feeling in the Auckland airport. It feels so natural. We didn't have to get our luggage because it was linked to L.A, so we got our carry ons, and then we went off to our normal lounge. We had a nice comfy couch, and we were able to relax and get ready for the long flight!

            The lay over went by really quickly. We walked around the shops, had one last sausage roll, and then relaxed! We got on board for the long flight, and guess what, THEY HAD NEW MOVIES! It was one of the most exciting things ever! We were all a little bit stressed, because we didn't know what we were going to watch. We had flown so much in the past couple of weeks, we had watched all of the movies and tv shows we wanted to see. So finding out that they had new movies was fantastic! I got to sit by Anna and Emily! We had so much fun! The flight didn't seem as long as I thought it would. I watched How Do You Know, and then I started Braveheart, and they brought us dinner! For dinner I had some lamb and Kumora. It was a very traditional New Zealand meal. It was a good one to end on. Then after that, I fell asleep and tried to get a littl bit of sleep. I slept till about morning, and then it was time for our breakfast! I had some hot cakes with raspberry syrup. It tasted pretty good! By the time we were eating breakfast, we were all so excited! We were so close to LA! Then we started our initial decent! It was so exciting! I couldn't believe how fast the flight went! 

           The landing was really smooth! I was so excited! It was so weird to be able to turn on my cell phone when we landed! As we were waiting to get off the plane, we were all excited to be in California, so we started to play all the songs about California! We started with Miley Cyrus! I mean really, we literally, "Hopped of the plane at LAX!" It was really fun! After we got off the plane, it was time to go through customs. I was trying to get through fast, and it surprisingly went pretty fast! I got through in about a half hour! Who would have thought! After I booked it over to see if I could catch an earlier flight home. I ran clear from terminal two to terminal five hauling all my luggage. I was quite the funny site! Sad news, I missed it by fifteen minutes. If I would have been there fifteen minutes earlier I would have made it. Sad, but it was okay, I only had another three hour lay over. 

           This time, Hannah Anna and I got to chill out in the airport! This time it was a little different we could talk to our families. Well I sort of could, for some reason when I turned my phone, it wouldn't let me make calls. I could text but not make calls. That was a little bit of a bummer, but that was okay. The time went by really fast. We hung out, and chatted, then it was time for me to board.

             I went to go through security, and it was a breeze! I thought I was going to have to do a lot more than I did when I was going through the Auckland airport, but guess what, I didn't! I didn't even have to take my hoodie off! It was crazy! Once I got through security, I went and got a little bit of dinner! I went to CPK (California Pizza Kitchen)! It was so great! and the best news of all was that I ordered a personal pizza. When I got my pizza, it was the size of a New Zealand medium sized pizza, and it was so great to see a normal sized pizza again! It tasted really good. It was the first American food I had had! 

                After I got my pizza I sat and waited and waited and waited! My flight was late! It was so depressing! I waited forever! About forty minutes later, I got to board! Now I had my boarding pass and I was on the 12 row! I was thinking, "Wow, I must be sort of at the front this is great!" Well I was wrong! ha ha! I was on the smallest plane ever! I was terrified! I had just come from this huge two story plane, and now I was on a twelve row plane! I was so scared! I got on and the first thing they say is, "We are sorry for the delay, we had maintenance problems." This is not the most reassuring thing to hear when you are boarding a plane! I was so scared the entire time! It was a good thing that this was a super short plane ride! It was only about an hour and twenty minutes! So about the time we got in the air, it was time to start our descent. The landing for this plane was a little rough! I'm going to be honest! It was so scary. Little plane bad landing, I thought for sure I was going to die. Good news though we made it, and all was well.

               We left the plane on the blacktop, and not in actual terminal, and then I had the longest walk of my life! I think it felt like it was the longest walk ever because I knew my family was there waiting for me! I finally made it, and I had to go down the escalator, and when I saw the bottom, my mom was there standing waiting for me with a sign and balloons! It was the best feeling ever to see my mom!

 

               After my mom and I had gotten my luggage we walked out to the car and met my Dad. They were doing a police drill, so he had to leave and go to a different area so he couldn't be there right when I got there. Did you notice on the sign the special picture that Ashlyn made me! She wanted me to have it and see if first thing when I got off the plane! IT was so cute! I loved it! But it was so good to see him and my family! Now I thought I would come home and crash, but I didn't! I came home and talked to my mom and dad till about five in the morning! It was crazy! It was so good to be home! I am so grateful I made it through all of those flights safely, and that my luggage made it the entire way. It was an incredible trip! Truly was the trip of a lifetime!

Samoa

Last Day Here

                Well it was our last full day in Samoa! Can you believe that it has gone so fast?! I know I can’t! It’s gone by so fast! But enough about how fast the time went! Today was a great day! We slept in and then got up and had breakfast! I had the same sticky bun things that I had the first day! It was really good! Anyway then I got ready, and guess what, I actually did my hair! I know it’s a little bit ridiculous that I haven’t done it once when I have been in Samoa, but I just found it so pointless to do my hair when I knew I would go swimming or be on the beach everyday! It was great!

                Anyway, we got ready, and then Tina came and picked us up. We were going to go to her ward. Don’t worry it was all in Samoan. This was a really neat experience. I didn’t understand anything! It was crazy! Although, the thing that has become the most important to me over here is the spirit that comes with going to church. No matter where I am, what language is being spoken, or who I am with, the spirit is always the same, and I feel right at home. I think that is the one thing that has made this experience possible for me. To feel at home here and feel that spirit is the most incredible thing in the world to me. I am so grateful for all of the incredible experiences I have been given and the growth it has given me! 

                Anyway, that was the extent of our day, and then just hung out and chilled in Samoa. Also, we talked a lot about being home, and I am so excited for coming home! After that we talked all about all of our favorite moments here. There are so many incredible things that happened over here, and I am so grateful for all of them! Anyway, I’ll see you all soon! 

Samoa-Savai’i

Lava Fields/Sea Turtles/Beach/Water Fall/Samoan Barbecue

                It was another great day in Samoa!  It started out bright and early! We woke up around 4:00 am, and we were getting ready, and Tina came and got us at 4:30! That’s ridiculous! It was so early! This is twice in two weeks I have been picked up at 4:30! Crazy eh? Who would have ever thought I would get out of bed and be ready that early! Anyway, we had to catch the ferry at 6:00 so we had to get there! So we started our day of really early!

                As we were driving, Tina was getting really tired, she kept asking Anna, Emily, and I if we were sleepy, and we were like a little bit, but not too bad. Then she’d be like man I am! I can’t keep my eyes open! This was a little bit scary for me to know that my driver couldn’t keep her eyes open! Then the next time she goes, “Nancy, how are you doing?”  I said, “I’m doing great, not tired at all wide awake.” So she said, “Perfect, come drive! I need some sleep.” Guess what! She wasn’t kidding! I got to drive a car for the first time in about 4 months!!! I was so excited! Not only that, but I got to drive a car on the opposite side of the road! YEAH! It was so much fun! It was a little bit scary! The first thing I thought when I got into the car was, “Hmm…How do I drive again?” That isn’t the best thought to have come into your head when you are about to drive! No worries I did so good! I was a pro! The only thing I messed up on was that I turned the windshield wipers on when I tried to turn. Ha ha. The switch was on the opposite side of the road, but after that one time I was fine! AND…I even made it to the ferry and we were on time! It was so sweet!

              Anyway, so we get on the ferry, and I was like oh this will be like the ferry going to the zoo, and nice little short ride! Boy was I wrong! Ha ha! An hour and a half later we reach Savai’i! It was great ride though! We were able to watch the sunrise, and it was really relaxing! It was great fun!

                The first place she took us on Savai’i was to the “NEW” market! It’s new market they are trying to start up, and so it was a lot nicer than the one we went to the day before. I didn’t get anything, I’m just not a market person. It’s not my place. That’s okay though, I don’t think I ever really want to be a market person!

                After the market we started off the rest of our day! The first place she took us was out to the lava fields! These are similar to the ones in Hawaii. It was pretty sweet. You could see the black rock on the ground, then the greenery coming up through them, then at the opposite side of the black rock was the perfectly clear blue water! It was gorgeous! We were able to get out and walk around for a little bit, and that was pretty sweet.

                The next thing we did may have been my favorite thing we did over here. She was like I’m going to take you to see the sea turtles. We were like okay that sounds great! So we drove over then we got there, and we go in, and there are just pools of sea turtles. Now I know right now you are thinking, hmm, that isn’t that great why is it her favorite? Well now I’ll explain that! So the owner comes out and starts feeding them and just whacks a papaya (or something like that) and heaps of sea turtles come swimming over! He hands the piece of the fruit to me and I got to fee the sea turtles, right out of my hands! Now if that isn’t cool enough, pretty soon the owner goes, “Aren’t you going to jump in and swim with them? Pick one up and hold one?” I didn’t even know we could! So guess what I got to do! I got to hold a sea turtle, and I even got to swim with a sea turtle! It was so much fun! I was a little bit scared at first. If you remember yesterday, I was scared to swim with fish, and the sea turtles were a lot bigger, and a little more slimy, but I was the first to jump in and the first to touch them and the first to feed them out of all four of us! This was so much fun! How many people can say they have swam with sea turtles? I don’t know how many people can, but I know can say I have! It was so much fun!

                After the sea turtle adventure, it was time to head over to the beach for a little bit of relaxation! We went a little ways down the road, and there was one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen! It was incredible! The water was so blue, and shallow so far out!  You could just walk clear out in the middle! At least 150km out of just shallow perfectly clear can see the bottom of the ocean! We spent some time there and it was perfect! You could just float on the top of the water, get a little bit of sun and just let the tide take you! It was incredible! This was the picture perfect Samoan Beach!

                We spent a couple of hours there, and then it was time to be off on our next adventure. Tina told us she was taking us to a waterfall, and we were a little bit sad because we didn’t want to leave the beach, and we’ve seen some waterfalls, but we decided we’d just go with it! I am so glad we did! This was so cool! There were about five little waterfalls, and then one big one! Then the big one had a nice fresh water lake that you could just dive into and swim around! This felt so good! It was a little bit chillier than the ocean so it was so refreshing, then you could just swim around, jump off the rocks and the cliffs, and just relax! This was beautiful!

                After we had swam there for a little while, we were all starting to get hungry, and it was about dinner time, so we went and had our traditional Samoan barbecue! We had chicken and taro this time! It was really good! I know why Samoan people are as big as they are, because they feed you heaps and it all tastes so good, so you want to finish it, but you are full! It tasted so good!

                It was now about time for the last ferry, so we headed off to the ferry to come back in for the night! It was such a fun day! Who would have thought, I would ever get to swim with Sea Turtles, and drive a car on the opposite side of the road in one day! Another great day in Samoa! 

 

Samoa

Okay so maybe it is paradise…

                So day three was just as good as day two! I am so grateful we met Tina! We would have been lost without her! Anyway, so this morning we woke up kind of early and took a stroll into town. We decided it was time that we should check in with our families, and also get an internet card so we could skype with them on Sunday. It’s pretty important to make sure they know where we are and what the plans are for when we fly in!

                Anyway after we had gotten our internet cards, we went and walked through the markets. I’ve decided I’m just not a market person. They are really dirty, and I just don’t trust them. Give me Nordstrom and Buckle and all the other great stores I shop at, and I just love them so much more! Anyway, we walked around the market, and we saw the flax bags and fans, and heaps of lava lavas! It was really pretty fun just to walk around the market place. Some of the girls that a fan, but I already had one from my birthday party in New Zealand, so I didn’t feel the need to get a flax fan, but it was really fun to walk around! The other good news, is we finally have our bearings of where we are in relation to other things and it feels so good not to be lost in the middle of nowhere! Yeah for finding our way!
                We made it back to the hotel, just in time for Tina to come and get us! She picked us up, and today was our touring of this island! I must say it really is gorgeous! You get outside of the dirty city, and it’s just palm trees, and beach everywhere! It’s incredible! She took us first to the white sand beach! There was absolutely no one there! We had the entire beach to ourselves! We could swim about 100 km out into the ocean and still be able to touch, and there weren’t any strong currents or anything. It was so great! We spent so much time there swimming! My favorite thing is just floating out on my back in the middle of the waves, and then getting a little bit of a suntan while I am floating! Yes! It was amazing! We tried to body surf for a little bit. We did alright, but it wasn’t really the best waves for body surfing, but it was still so much fun! Plus it was gorgeous! Right across from the beach was just a huge hill (they call it a mountain) of trees and greenery. All palm trees and other bush! It was incredible!

                We finished up our swim, and then we were off for the next adventure! We kept driving along the coast (the only road around the island), and kept seeing the amazing gorgeous view of the ocean and the greenery. Then we came and we went to see the falls! There was a big waterfall she took us to! We walked in through the bush and trees. In the bush was my favorite plant/flower. I’m not sure what they are called, but I love them.

Then we got down to the bottom of the little trail and there is a waterfall! It was so pretty! It was just fresh water and then trees all around! There was a cute little hut there too! It would have been such a fun place to pack a picnic lunch!  Good news though! Tina had already thought about this, so she had gotten us a traditional Samoan barbeque lunch! It was so good! I’m going to be honest at first I was a little bit nervous seeing how I didn’t know where it was cooked, and we aren’t suppose to drink the water over here, so I was a little scared. We figured it would be okay though so we ate it. We had pretty much an entire chicken that was barbeque, and then rice and chop soy. It was so good! Why have I been eating at McDonald’s when we could have been having the barbeque for cheaper! It was really good! It was a nice little place for a picnic!

Anyway after our picnic, it was time to relax and spend the rest of the day swimming and tanning! Tina next took us up to the cave pools! These were incredible! It’s just a little closed off area of fresh water. Then the fresh water goes into a cave! Don’t worry there were definitely  heaps of fish in the water with us! For some reason this scared me a little. It’s stupid that it did, because whenever I  am in the ocean I am swimming with fish too, but I guess then I can’t see them, so I don’t feel like I am swimming with them! Anyway, I jumped in, and we were able to swim over and then swim through the cave and explore the cave! It was so much fun! It felt so good to go take a swim, then go layout and dry off and get hot, then go jump in a fresh lake of water! It was so much fun! Not only was in fun, but it was gorgeous! It over looked the ocean, and then the greenery over hanging the cave, it was so pretty! It was also nice, because we were the only ones there too! We spent the rest of the day there!

I am so grateful that we met Tina! If we wouldn’t have met Tina we would have been lost! Because of her, we love Samoa! It’s such a pretty place, and it has so much to offer! I am so glad I was able to come! Something else I love is that I understand my students in room 3 more! Now that I better understand their culture, I understand why they thought some of the things they thought! I am so grateful for all I have! I am so grateful for the day we had, and the fun adventures we are having! I am loving Samoa!

Samoa

Day of Relief and Fun

                 Okay, so we woke up around nine thirty the next morning, completely wiped out from the day before, but managed to wake up and get breakfast! Good news the breakfast was pretty okay! I had sticky bun of some sort. It was actually really good. I was a little bit nervous. After breakfast, Emily and I walked over to the other girls room and we were trying to decide a plan. We decided the first thing we should do was get ready and go over to the temple. We would try and go do some baptisms, and get some help!

                We quickly got ready then we were off to walk to the temple. The good news of this, is that the temple is only about a 5 minute walk straight down the road from us! This was a very comforting thing! It really is amazing how comforting the temple is for me, and how much safer that made me feel! We got on the temple grounds, and all of us were so much happier! It just felt like home! I’m going to be honest and say I started crying as soon as we saw the temple. It was just the best feeling of relief I have ever felt!  I was feeling so helpless in kind of a dirty city, but to see the temple and the cleanliness of it made me feel so at home! I don’t think I have ever been happier in my life. I was so grateful for the peace I felt.

                               We went inside and talked to the front desk, and they told us to come back to do baptisms a little later on in the evening. We said great and that we would be back! We walked back and then we were at square one again. We decided we would all feel better if we had a contact number from the mission home to call in case something happened.

                We got over to the mission home, and we ran into one of the couple missionaries! They were so sweet, they told us everything we needed to know, things to help us keep safe also gave us their number! They told us to go inside and relax for a minute! We went inside and another couple came out to talk to us. This was such a great person to talk to. They were Brother and Sister Eves. Sister Eves asked us where we were from, and when I said Brigham City Utah, she said, “Oh do you know any of the Frishknicks?” I know I didn’t spell that right, but I’m not sure how to spell it so I just sounded it out… I got really excited and said, “Yeah! My mom has taught them, and my family knows them pretty well.”  She got all excited and we talked about that for a little bit! That was so comforting to know that someone knew where I was from, and knew the same people I knew! The Frishknicks were their grandchildren! I was so happy!  After we had been there for a little and relaxed we walked outside, and then one of the Young Single Adults pulled up! She pulled over and started talking to us. Her name was Tina! Good news, Tina was our blessing from oh high! She said, “Get in I’ll help you guys out and show you what you want to see.” She asked our plans for the day, we said, “Only baptisms later that night.” So she said, “Here is the plan, I’m going to take you to get your Togs,  then we are going up to the sliding rocks. After I’ll bring you back down you can do baptisms. Tomorrow we’ll take you on a tour of this island, and we’ll take you to the really pretty beaches. Saturday we’ll go over to the big island and show you around the whole island, then Sunday, are you going to church?” We said, “We want to, we need a time and stuff.” She said, “Well perfect. You can come with me at noon, then after you can come over for a good Sunday meal. We are going to take care of you guys. We want you to have a good experience and love Samoa.”

                I was so grateful for her! I seriously wouldn’t have made it without her! If we wouldn’t have met her, we probably would have packed up and gone and taken a flight to anywhere we could have gotten! Anyway, she brings us back to the hotel we get our togs, and off we go! We go up past the temple about 10km and then we are in the middle of the tropical forest! It was gorgeous! She goes k right down these stairs are the sliding rocks! You’ll love them there are three pools to slide into and you can swim! So we walk down the stairs and guess what, it was GORGEOUS! We go sit on a rock, and we are a little scared! We are looking straight down into this little pool and these rocks that don’t look the safest and we are suppose to slide down them! We sit up top and stair and try and get the courage, then finally we decide to go!

 

                Oh my gosh! I am so glad we went! It was so much fun! It was just like a little natural waterslide! It was so much fun! You just slide down, then swim around, and then there is a little shallow part and you can stand up! Oh my gosh! It was incredible! It was gorgeous too! There were just pretty waterfalls and then pools! I was in heaven! Not only that, but then you could go and climb up a little farther in a different area and you could cliff jump! It was so much fun! Who would have thought only 10km out of the city would be this gorgeous place where you could do all of this! It was so much fun! We spent most of the afternoon up there just playing around! It was really funny, there were some other tourist that came up there with us, and they were as scared as us to go down the first time! Watching their faces was hilarious! They were guys so they were trying to be brave and excited, but their faces showed how scared they were! We had such a good time!

                Once we had finished their, we walked back up and Tina was there to get us, she took us down to the temple and we were able to go into the temple and do Baptisms for the Dead. This was a much needed time for us. We felt so at home, and it felt like such a change. Going in from the dirty city into a temple that was so clean and pure was amazing! Truthfully this was the most incredible feeling in the world! I am so grateful we were able to this.

                We finished up our baptisms, and Tina picked us up and took us back to the hotel. She asked if we wanted to go into town or anything and we decided that we didn’t want to be out after dark, so we would just go watch a movie. That’s sounds weird, and a little lame, but we just don’t feel safe after dark, so we just hung out and watched Hotrod. A movie I had never seen that was actually rather stupid, but really funny! It was such a great day though!

                I am so grateful for the blessing we were given and for the comforting feeling of the gospel and the temple! I am grateful for Tina, we would have been lost without her! I am so glad that we were able to meet her and be blessed. This was a TONS better day in Samoa and it was so much fun! I am glad we are here!

Samoa

Welcome to Paradise…

           So after we spent several hours in an airport, and I mean several hours (pretty much two days, it was a little bit ridiculous) we got on the plane to go to Samoa. Now this was a littler plane than we were use to, but it was still nice. We still had personal tv’s  so all was well. I pretty much slept the entire way though, because we had been up for almost 24 hours or more straight! I was exhausted! I woke up about 30 minutes before we landed. The pilot came on and said, “We will now be starting our descent.” I looked out the window, and I was a little bit nervous, because all I could see was water! We kept getting closer and closer to landing, and still all I could see was water! I was a little bit freaked out! Then a little farther down we began to see land so I felt better! The water though was the most pretty blue I have ever seen! I couldn’t even believe it was real!

                The plane landed and it was a really smooth landing, and we got our stuff and get ready to leave the plane! Don’t worry we got to leave the plane on the little steps! Also this is the smallest airport I think I have ever seen! It was crazy! It looked like a little cute bed and breakfast! It did not look anything like an airport! Especially when the past three airports you have been in are Auckland (Big), Sydney (Huge), and LA (Gigantic). It was just such a laid back feeling. We got off and we stand in line for customs. There is only one person there to check our passports so it took quite a while! But while we were standing there, our pilots came through, and you could tell we were in Samoa!

                We finally got to the front of the line to have our passports checked, and we walk through the next door, and there is a little Samoan band singing and playing Samoan music! It was so great! I loved it! I felt like it was the Full House Episode where they go to Hawaii and they walk in and there is music playing! It was really fun! We get our bags, and then we have to go to the next customs where we claim items or not, well we claimed items since we all had candy. We go to the person, she asks “What are you claiming?” We all answer, “Just candy.” We open up one bag show her our candy, and she says, “Okay, you guys are good to go!” We didn’t even have to send our bags through a scanner! I thought Auckland security was nothing, well Apia’s is even less! It was really funny!

                We got to the front of the little airport, and we get a shuttle from the funniest guy! He’s just the classic Samoan! Laid back, over friendly and not a care in the world! Just taking his time and doing whatever we want! It was hilarious! As we drove into Apia, he told us everything about everyone! He goes, “Here, everyone’s business is everyone’s business! You have to know about everything going on.” It was so funny! We got to see his house, his garden, and so much more! We drove along the coast line all the way into Apia (Mainly because that’s the only road). I am so still floored at how blue the ocean is!

                We got to our hotel and we checked in. We have two private twin rooms, with private bathrooms, air conditioning (which is a big deal), and it provides us with breakfast every morning. It’s not quite as nice as the hotel in Sydney but it’s working!

                We get our stuff all settled in and we decide that we want to go to the beach. So we head down to the beach where the front desk person showed us. She goes it’s about 6km that way and points down the road. So we take off down the road. Well first off you have to understand, we all have the gorgeous tourist beaches in mind. We get there, and it’s a lot farther than we expected, and it is a pretty tiny Marine. Ha ha! We go in and we swim and we spend the rest of the night there. It was really pretty there though. Even though it was little it was really pretty.

                Now that we had seen the closest beach, we weren’t sure what we were going to do, pretty much our plan was to spend every day at the beach, but this beach wasn’t suited for that at all. So we were all a little worried about what we were going to do. We started to head back into town (Decided we would stop at McD’s for dinner), and we are walking along the road. Now there are signs all over the place that say beware of stray dogs! I have never seen so many stray dogs in my life! There are heaps of them over here! They are rather scary!

                So we are walking into town, and these two house dogs escape their fence and start following us. We think, “Oh it’s okay, if we walk far enough they’ll turn around and go home.” We silly us for thinking that! We kept on walking about 3km they are still following us! This is when it got a tad bit scary! So we now are passing the place where all the stray dogs were, now the dogs that were following us were scared of these dogs, and the stray dogs start barking and gnashing their teeth! The four of us are creped out! We were about to get attacked by the wild dogs, and we didn’t know what to do! AGH! So we ran over and hid behind a bush! Which would have worked, except the trained dogs followed us! We were about to freak out and then a policeman walked by us, and helped us out! He was laughing so hard at us, but we were grateful he helped us!

                We get into town, and we are trying to find our way back to our hotel (Which shouldn’t be hard, because there are only about 5 roads literally), and we get ourselves so lost! We were so scared! We were being honked at every place we went, we were constantly getting whistled at, we were hot, tired, and lost. All of these things were not a good combination! We finally make our way back to our hotel and we were so scared! We all came in our room and just broke down! We had no idea how we were going to be able to stay here for the rest of the time! We tried to think of everything we could do! We thought about changing out flights, we thought about calling someone,  we thought of everything! But here was the catch! We had no internet, no cell phone, no phone, no cell service on our home phones, and had no access to anything! We calmed ourselves down and decided we would watch Ferris Bueller’s Day Off! Well good news is we were all exhausted enough that we fell asleep within about 5 minutes of the movie! This was a relief!

                So that ended the first day, and we were completely unsure of what we thought about Samoa! The airport was great, and the beach and the swimming were rather fun, but then the city and the dogs we were terrified of, and had no idea how we were going to get around for the next day!