"Bells Will Be Ringing" in American Samoa

Living immersed in a new country for a year provides a thorough introduction to an often radically different culture that is often full of surprises (and confusion). WorldTeach American Samoa volunteer April Kirby shares her experience with the Samoan bells system, the island’s way of enforcing curfews, prayer times, meal times, and other significant times of the day.

"During the first week of school, two of my students walked up to me.  “Miss, we won’t be at school tomorrow because we have to ring a bell in our village.” When I was in high school, I had skipping class down to a science.  You make up a valid excuse (I have a very important Future Slackers of America meeting at Taco Bell), offer to have the teacher to call your parents (My mom is actually the president of the organization, call her if you want) and bribe parking lot security (so I’ll bring back a crunchwrap and a Mexican pizza, no meat). Worked like a charm.  But no matter how creative I got, I was never excused from class for bell-ringing duties.
 

Bells are a way of life here.  I hear about twelve bells a day, not counting Sundays when they’re more regular than the Activa spokeswoman.  The way that I used to use my iPhone to manage my life, I now use bells.  What time is it?  What’s the weather outside?  Any good news?  The bells will tell me.  When I get back, I’m considering developing the Samoan bells app, just so I don’t go through reverse culture shock.

‘Bell’, it turns out, is a very generous term.  It’s actually just an empty gas tank hanging from a tree.

My village of Mesepa has what’s called “sa.”  It has been explained to me, at one point or another, as all of the following: forbidden, curfew, prayer time, and noise control.  Right... because crowd control is a huge problem in this bustling metropolis.  From what I’ve been able to tell, sa is like a dinner bell.  If the dinner bell were enforced by unhappy looking body builders in skirts.  Each day, these body builders (known in Samoan as “aumaga” - village police) ring the first sa bell at 5:55.  This is your warning to get off the streets or be prepared for some nasty consequences.  The children playing in the graveyard next to our house will usually toss a few more NFL-worthy spirals before running home.  Sa officially starts with the 6:00 bell.  During sa, you are expected to be inside your house with your family quietly praying.  Unless of course you are an aumaga, in which case you are expected to stand on the street with your arms crossed and glare at any vehicle that dares to drive through your village.  Sa ends seven minutes later when the third bell rings and people are allowed to return to their outdoor activities.

I have so many questions about sa.  For example, how are the aumaga picked and where can I find an application?  Who decided that seven minutes of prayer was the correct dose?  And most importantly, what would happen to the brave soul who dared to break sa?

Sa only accounts for three of my daily bells.  There are two more at 9 and 10 pm.  These serve as curfew for children and adults, respectively.  But no worries, you can be out after curfew.  Need to catch a taxi?  No problem!  Want to run to the store to buy beer?  That’s just fine.   From what I can tell it’s more of a suggested bedtime than an actual curfew.  I guess the village chief really wants to make sure everyone in town gets enough sleep.

The bells tell you when to go to church, when to pray, when a hurricane or tsunami is coming, when there is a meeting, and when to go to bed.  Bells are as much a part of my daily life here as hangovers were in college.  Not to mention they’re the best watch I’ve ever had - even if they do tend to run on island time."

WorldTeach American Samoa volunteers

April's school

You're the One that I Want: WorldTeach Chile-style

WorldTeach Chile volunteer Maureen O'Leary shares this awesome footage of her students performing the hit from Grease. Is anybody surprised that this song has international appeal among teenagers?

Peñablanca!

Another WorldTeach day-in-the-life from Chile Semester volunteer Lauren Lastra, reporting from her site in gorgeous Peñablanca. We are still accepting applications for both our year-long and semester-long programs in Chile for 2011, departing in March and July, respectively.

6:55am- I awake from my Dreamland to the sound of my alarm. beep! beep! BEEP! Somehow I always know its coming and wake up just moments before it goes off, wishing, hoping for a few extra minutes of sleep. I roll over, slip on my pantuflas (slippers), and turn on the lights. My body still longing for some shut-eye, I crawl back into my warm, cozy wool blankets and check my email all the while applying my mascara and lip-gloss.

7:30am- I eventually roll out of bed and downstairs for desayuno which is waiting for me on the dining room table. Each morning it’s the same thing: a yogurt with oats, pancito with turkey and cheese, and coffee. Mi mama usually will join me for desyauno. While we are eating breakfast, my host brother and sister are running around the house getting ready for school and my host father is enjoying breakfast in bed.

7:55am-  I grab the bright pink lunch sack from the hallway table and head to school with mi mama. It is a five-minute car ride from our driveway to the front door of campus. We head straight for the sala de profesores and get our materials ready for our first class. Sometimes I enjoy a coffee with the other teachers if there’s time. But usually, I am in a scramble to get to class!

8:00am- All the students line up outside for morning announcements. I enjoy the bright morning energy and the sweet goodmorning besos from my students. The cold air and warm smiles awaken my senses and I immediately feel energized to teach!

8:15am- My students head to my classroom where I greet each of them at the door with a big cheery “hello!” or “goodmorning!”. They quickly settle in and I begin class right away with a hearty “GOOOODDDDMMORRRNING!” to which they all respond by standing up and saying in unison: “Goodmorning, Miss Lauren!”. A ball toss usually follows as we practice the five key questions that we’ve been reviewing all semester: 1. What’s your name, 2. How old are you?, 3. Where are you from?, 4. How are you?,

 5. What do you like to do?. By the time I leave I hope that all of the things my students have learned this semester they will be able to answer these five questions.

11:15am- I head to the sala de profesores for a break. I lesson plan, enjoy a nice cup of coffee, and chat with my co-teacher. Claudio and I usually talk about our classes and any student behavioral problems amongst our constant chatter of laughter. I am lucky to have an incredibly warm and welcoming co-teacher who makes me laugh every single day.

11:30am- I head back to class for more teaching!

1:00pm- ALMUERZO! Again, I head to the sala de profesores where most of the teachers circle around the red and white checkered table to enjoy lunch together. Since my school is small there are only about 15 teachers total. I gratefully enjoy the lunch mi mama packed for me and I eavesdrop on all the student drama the teachers dish out! Around 2:05pm I head back to class to wrap up teaching for the day.

3:30pm- I gather my materials from class and put everything away in my locker. I then take some quick notes on my classes and what material was covered in class. I leave school and walk a block to catch the micro back home. I am usually surrounded with students at the bus stop and I like to practice my Spanish with them.

4:00pm- I arrive home and head upstairs to my room to relax. I usually get out of my work clothes and into my sweats. I then check my email, my facebook, and chat with mi familia. Sometimes I’ll read a book outside and soak up the sunrays, or write in my blog, or help my very studious 11 year old brother study for an English test, or watch my energetic little sister do gymnastics in the hallway. Other days Ill catch up with family and friends on skype, or take a drive to Villa Alemana with my host dad, or simply lay in bed and rest. 

8:00pm- Family onces! We all enjoy onces together at the dining room table- me and my host mom, dad, brother, and sister. Our perrita Luna, a weiner dog, is staring at us from outside through the sliding glass doors as we enjoy pancitos and usually a postre (dessert) of some sort, wagging her tail and hoping for some leftovers!

9:00pm- I then head upstairs and get ready for bed. I say goodnight to each one of my family members with a beso and oftentimes my little sister will come into my room two or three times in the evening just to say “goodnight” in English and give me another beso.

10:00pm- I get back under my cozy covers and reflect and/or meditate for an hour. I then find myself in my Dreamland again…

A Dispatch from Remote Outer Islands...

While we unfortunately don't get as many electronic dispatches out of the Marshall Islands as we do in some of our other programs due to their spotty-to-nonexistent internet access out at some of the tinier outer islands, we are lucky today to have a few notes and photos from field director Angela Saunders from her latest site visits out to some of her more isolated volunteers. We hope you'll enjoy this glimpse of a very little-known corner of the Pacific!

"One of the best parts of my job as Field Director is going on site visits to watch the volunteer teachers in action. Last week, I spent 6 days on Aur Atoll, which is 80 miles North of the capital Majuro. There are two inhabited islands on this Atoll, Aur and Tobal, both of which are hosting a volunteer this year. Aur and Tobal are both beautiful and welcomed me in true mantin majol (Marshallese culture) style. Being a volunteer on a remote outer island is incredibly challenging and it makes me proud to say that WorldTeach volunteers Todd Mulroy (Aur) and Laura Sundblad (Tobal) are not only raising to the challenge, but beyond. Here are a few pictures from the visit." 

Aur Atoll from the air. I was in a small plane- 14 seats.

 Volunteer Todd Mulroy completing a reading assessment with student Juda

  Volunteer Laura Sundblad standing in front of her house

Laura enjoying a coconut and surrounded by all the food the Tobal PTA brought for my welcome party

Happy Teacher's Day from Bangladesh!

We celebrated World Teacher's Day this week here at WorldTeach, and wanted to share this uplifting dispatch from WorldTeach Bangladesh volunteer Jessi Hinz. A big thank you to all the teachers out there, worldwide!

I have the best job in the whole world!! I love all my students! Two of my students made me cards for Teacher's Day :)

yes, that's a candy wrapper - Aaraby is so crafty!!

A card from Nima :) such beautiful drawings!

Mabaruma: a Photo Journal

Suzanne Giunta, WorldTeach Guyana volunteer, is teaching math and physics to 8th and 10th graders at her rural placement in Mabaruma. Below, she tells us a little bit about her site and daily life through a series of photos.

 This is the view from the 12-seater plane that we took out to Mabaruma. Though the trees are faint, that's the Amazon jungle!

A typical view of the Mabaruma hills and of two houses right by the school. So beautiful!

Fellow volunteer Lizzie and I washing clothes on our "living room" floor. Typical Sun am/Sat afternoon activity. We're really bad about doing laundry every day so it usually piles up and then we have lot to do on the weekends. Good bonding time though!

Our morning assembly at school - this is the view of the students in their lines from the balcony where the teachers stand. I think they're saying their mandatory school prayer in this picture.

It rains almost every afternoon here, since it's the Amazon basin, and usually there's a beautiful rainbow that appears right after. Lizzie and I always stop and stare because we're still not used to rainbows every day, and the residents usually stop and stare at us staring at the rainbow. This one's a double arc!

Our house! It's the last of 3 apartment buildings, so I tried to show just our section. Lizzie's bedroom is just above the light. Also, the bright green string out front is our new clothes line.

Of course I had to show the food...this is what we got at market last Saturday. The big blue bottle in the back is what we use to collect our water for drinking after we're done hand pumping it.