Gone but not forgotten...

I realize that it has been quite a while since I have posted, and surprisingly enough I have not heard the end of it. So in an effort to keep all of my adoring public to keep being adoring I have submitted to the requests.

Oh what a week it has been. Tomorrow marks my 6th week on the island which amazes me. It really is going quickly, but I wouldn't be opposed to it going a little quicker. I am anxiously awaiting the Christmas holiday, which begins for me in a mere 46 days. When I am awake in the middle of the night I think of all of the places that I am going to be able to go, the things that I will be able to wear, and where I am going to eat. I haven't been in a "good" restaurants since I have been here. There are places that are okay, but no where FANTASTIC. You would think that would encourage me to be a waif... which makes me want to laugh.

I am learning more about the island every day. For example, I have thought for 5 weeks that I live in Pago Pago, but I was informed recently that infact I live 30 minutes from Pago. Who knew? I apparently live in Ili Ili right now, but I am moving to Tafuna tomorrow. You move from village to village as you travel around the island. No one understands the concept of cities or even streets around here. There are no street names, stop signs, house numbers or anything that remotely resemble real life. It is obvious that the fantastic grid planners of Lubbock never made it to the South Pacific. The odd thing with the villages is that no one gets mail in their village. Everyone's mailing address is in Pago, but it is really just the harbor.

We celebrated for at least four days for Halloween this year. It is the most aloneness I have done in my life so far, and it is the most I will ever do again. I wore myself out, and from fear none the less. The Halloween movies started on Saturday when we thought that it would be a good idea to watch scary movies. I say "we" very loosely because I have never thought a scary movie to be a good idea. We watched the Amnityville Horror which is supposed to be based on a true story. It scared me to death even though I was watching the movie with my ears plugged and my eyes covered so that I could only peek through. When I knew that it would be really scary I would lightly press on my eyes so that the images would be distorted thus making the movie less scary. After we watched the movie I came back to my apartment and stayed up all night because I couldn't sleep. I kept seeing disturbing images in my minds eye. The next day I signed up for another scary movie without thinking twice. I actually skipped out on work that I should have been doing to sit and watch White Noise. White Noise is all about EVP or talking to the dead on tape players. Extremely creepy is all I can say. The movie wasn't all that scary, but the thought of communicating with the dead makes me want to throw up. It makes me really nervous, but I went ahead and joined in to try to talk to a "ghost" in some friends apartment. We followed all of the EVP rules, but didn't get anything back. Everyone else is bound and determined to try again to try to pick something up, but I am out. I have decided that you do not mess with the dead. That is risky business that I do not want to be a part of.

Halloween was possibly the scariest day I have ever experienced. We had been planning on going to this haunted all girls school here on the island in the afternoon to get some pictures and scare ourselves a little. Well one thing led to another and we didn't get out of the house until after 8...here that is the middle of the night black. I knew it wasn't a good idea, and tried to tell everyone. I thought we should play a game or do something silly, but I was quickly overruled because I was being a wash. On the way to the school I hugged my bible the whole time trying to figure out how to metaphorically put on the "armor of God" because people have been known to be possessed from this place. We got out of the car and hiked strait up the side of a hill to this old deserted school and my heart was about to jump out of my chest. I couldn't get a good breath because I was so scared, but no one seemed to have much pithy on me. Before we got into the school a villager drove up and hollered for us to get out of there, and I was ready to go. You do not have to tell me twice. Everyone else wanted to go ahead and go inside, but the man started yelling and left. What I didn't know at the time was the man was telling us to get out or he would go get the men of the village. Unfortunately I do not speak Samoan, so I just act like I don't hear any sounds at all. That was a mistake because on our way down he came back with the village men who happened to be angry and carrying rocks. I have learned in the past that I am very selfish when it comes to scary situations. I will leave just about anyone in the dust to save myself. When I was walking to the car I was talking extremely loud saying things that I thought would make the villagers spare me and get everyone else. I tried to act like I had been kidnapped and dragged there but decided that it wasn't the best ploy. We got away without incident luckily.

last night was my first "compass Rose" meeting which is a fancy way to say PTA. The only differences are that a) it's short, and b)I had to put it on myself. I worked my tail off to get ready and only 2 parents showed up. They are both parents that talk to on a regular occasion, so I was a little bummed out. I wouldn't have waisted a clean outfit if I would have only known.

I am going to try to keep you better updated. I am moving tomorrow into a new apt. with my friends Amy and Luke. It should be fun. We are representing the misplaced Texans in this world.