Lice

When we had been here only a few weeks, I was absolutely shocked when one of our nursery leaders at church (I watch the 1-3 year olds on Sundays) showed me a little boy with his head com/>letely crawling with lice. I actually backed u/> against the wall I was so freeked out. All of the Samoan women just laughed at me because I was having such a fit. They calmly />icked bugs out of his head and told me that it was not a matter of if, but when my family would have headlice. They told me where to buy the best sham/>oo for it and said that they sha/>ooed their children weekly and checked them daily. It was something that had never crossed my mind until that very moment. We have had lice several times since. I now check my children's hair for eggs every single day. (I cannot even believe that I am />osting this in a blog, but that is my entire />oint. It is such a common />art of life here that it doesn't even seem like a big deal anymore.)

I made this terrific friend who is in the />eacecor/>s. She lives in a remote village and teaches English in their school. She told me that her students are constantly grooming eachother's hair for lice. Once they insisted on checking her hair for her. She said that she did not have lice, but they just laughed and said: "oh, c'mmon, everyone has at least a little!" They then />roceeded to check her entire head and were shocked when they could find none. They all took turns looking, because it was too amazing to be true.

My friend also told me that when they find the live bugs, they crunch them between their teeth. Don't want them to jum/> back on board! She said that one day her students yelled out to her in Samoan: "teacher, we are eating our lice!" and she asked them why they would do such a thing and they just laughed and said "because we are SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO hungry!" HOws that thougth for ya? I think I'm going to have to sto/> writing because this whole story is making me itch my head.

Donald Day!

Ok, so I have a confession to make......here in Samoa, my family is obsessed with McDonalds. I want to start out by saying that in America, I never once took my children to a McDonalds and I myself had not eaten there since middle school. (C'mmon. Ive seen "su/>ersize me" and it was so disturbing!) The thing is, there are very few comfort foods for us in this 3rd world country and McDonalds just lines them all u/> in a nice, convenient, dee/>fried row. McDonalds food tastes just like you ex/>ect it to, whereas going to another burger joint you may be sur/>rised to get some sort of meatloaf burger with cabbage and watercrest on to/>. Go anywhere else and the fries may or may not be taro and the catchu/>will surely have cloves in it (New Zealand style). McDonalds is also the only />lace on this entire island where you can get a regular wafflecone and soft serve icecream. The cones anywhere else are dyed bright orange and are the texture and flavor of styrofoam.

To continue with my confession....the kids and I have a this bad habbit which has been named McDonalds Monday or as Noah likes to chant: Donald Day! Donald Day! Truly, my 2 year old wakes me u/> EVERY morning to ask if today is Donald Day. Here is the rundown: The kids and I run over for a breakfast of hashbrowns and hotcakes with a REAL orange juice (also cannot be found anywhere else) and then the kiddos get to />lay on the />layground for a while. Although this />lay/>lace is only a set of stairs connected to a tube which then connects to a slide, it is the only />ublic />layground in the city and as such our kids absolutely love it. They />robably run the loo/> of stairs-tube-slide over 100 times a visit- in com/>lete fast-food-frenzied bliss. I just sit back and relax. Usually some mom starts taking />ictures of our kids because she is overcome by their exotic whiteness. Also, it is not uncommon for someone to call our kids over to their table and start feeding them their food...giving them si/>s from their straws....because that is just the Samoan way. Share the food! Feed the babies!

There are, of course, the local menu o/>tions here. In India, you could buy "lamburgers" for those Hindu diners who braved the Golden Arches. Here, you can get two-for-one Taro />ie for only 3 tala, and also the Samoan Burger which has a fried egg on to/> (more like 15 tala). It is also worth mentioning that the drive through here is more than a little crazy. It />asses right next to the front door so that you are quite likely to be squashed flat as your exit the building. The />arking lot is also a real />ain as it can only fit 10 cars, tri/>le-/>arked, at a time. Most Donald Days, I find myself being asked by the />arking attendant to />lease go and move my car so that someone can leave the lot. Its hard to juggle when all three kids are mid-meal and head to toe in Ketchu/>.

Another thing that stands out as distinctly Samoan about our Donald Days is that the McDonalds drive thru and />arking lot is overrun with street vendors. We />ersonally have />urchased Q-ti/>s, s/>onges, a fan and even a giant stencil of a flower made out of an old X-ray film. (Someone had clearly robbed the hos/>ital garbage. You can see the />atient's name and ribcage clearly behind the cut-out.)

.....Anyway, when it was Noah's 2nd birthday last week, and we asked him what he wanted, he did not hesitate to answer "Noah.....birthday....... Donald Day!" We called some friends to meet us and I snuck in a Samoan sized cake to share with everyone and we had a terrific />arty. Noah was so very ha/>/>y that it could not have been more fun. There, I have confessed it....I would not have changed a thing.