Back in the states!

I just arrived in Texas a few hours ago and am waiting for my flight
to Austin right now. The Houston airport has free WiFi complements of
Google over the Christmas/New Years travel season. Google is so nice
to me. I didn't get them anything so I feel kind of bad.

It is cold already and I still have more than a few hundred miles
north to go. That's alright though, I can survive the cold for four
weeks especially since I will be with Whitney and my friends an family.

The tattoo is healing slowly but now that I'm where it's cold and dry
I am looking forward to a speedy recovery.

As I said, will try to post a few times while on vacation but no
promises. I will have a hot blonde distracting me after all! Well,
there's my boarding call, 50 minutes and I get to see Whitney.
Definitely what I would call an early Christmas present!

Stupid tropical climate

So, on the positive side of things, just a few days left before I get
on the plane for vacation. Whoo-hoo! I still need to do some last
minute shopping, cleaning and packing and by last minute I mean do all
of it cause I haven't done anything yet.

On to the title of the blog-post, I've go a little bit of infection
going on in the tattoo, despite my best efforts of cleaning it 3 times
a day with hot water and keeping it moisturized. Now don't worry,
it's not like my arm is falling off or anything but it is very
uncomfortable. Things started off well but a few days ago I started
to notice some small holes in my skin. Being the intelligent person I
am I figured out that those were not supposed to be there. I visited
the Peace Corps Medical Officer yesterday and got some oral
antibiotics to go with the antibiotic ointment I have started putting
on the infected areas. I was instructed to keep it uncovered as much
as possible. I am actually writing this from home today because I took
a sick day.

This is where I get into my hypothesis of how it happened. It is hot
here, ridiculously hot and humid which for those of you who know me
well results in the sweating. Not like, wow it must be hot outside
that guy is sweating a lot. Like, what the hell, did that guy just go
swimming in his clothes. So with the combination of the heat, my
sweating and having to wear a shirt most of the day all of last week
the odds were evidently against me in preventing infection. So today
I have taken a sick day to try and jump start the healing process by
sitting at home with a fan on me and not shirt on. We'll see how it
works out and I'll make the decision about going in tomorrow, early
tomorrow morning.

About a week ago I would have been upset with missing these next few
days of work but the schedule we were working on has slowly
disintegrated and some of the things I was hoping to have done before
I left may not get done. Back home in the work environment this would
not be acceptable and would be very out of place but the meeting of
deadlines and timetables here is not so strict. So I have taken a
deep breath and accepted what I can accomplish before I leave for
vacation and will hope for the best while I am gone.

The major hurdle left for me is getting out and getting my errands ran
before I go. Hopefully I have some good progress in the healing of
the infection that will allow me to venture out into the stores for a
sweaty few hours. (immediately taking a hot shower and applying more
antibiotic ointment afterwards)

Ok, well I am rocking through an Arrested Development Marathon today
so I better get back to it.

71 hours until take off!

More Tattoo Info

I have some additional information on the Suluape family.  Sara (from group 79) sent me some information to clarify the specifics.  The Suluape family has three guys that do the traditional tattooing.  The father and the son as mentioned in my previous post and an additional son that does it as well.  The father's (or Senior's) name is Petelo and he also has a matai title (chief title) of Su'a. The son I didn't know about is Peter and like his father he does the tattooing in the village.  The second son who I referred to as Junior is named Paulo and was named for Petelo Senior's dead brother who was also a well known tattoo artist. So just to clarify, the son that is nicknamed Junior is the one who doesn't have the same name as his father.  Just want to say thanks to Sara for the clarification.

The healing is going well so far and I am just trying to stay on top of cleaning, moisturizing and massaging it.  I've been going down to the Peace Corps office two times a day to take a hot shower which of course is good for the tattoo and has the added perk of not being a cold shower. (I hate cold showers!) Sometimes it's hard to decide which was the greater sacrifice in joining the Peace Corps, giving up hot showers or living away from my girlfriend for 2 years.  Whitney, I am kidding!  (And there goes my chances for getting some when I get back)

I am officially under a week until I depart for vacation.  I am extremely excited and the last few months have really flown by so it seems like it's on top of me all of the sudden.  I am working hard to get things wrapped up at work before I take off but we'll see what happens.  There always seem to be things coming up that get in the way.  We still have to finalize the planning for the first 6 months of 2010, though we have made progress.  I have 5 more wprk days to try and push that to completion before I get on the plane.  Wish me luck because I am going to need it.

 

Joey Brown

Peace Corps Volunteer

Samoa Red Cross

www.redcross.org.ws
Joey.PCV@gmail.com

+685 726 2121

Tattoo

Well ladies and gentlemen, 4 and a half hours and $900 tala later I
have my traditional Samoan tattoo. I went in for my appointment at
12:00pm on Monday and in true Samoa fashion my tattoo started just
after 3:30pm. Of course I have been here long enough to know better
but like a rookie I didn't bring anything to read. At any rate the
time passed and before I knew it the tattoo began. For those of you
who are wondering or are concerned, the tattoo artist family, the
Suluape family, comes recommended from the Peace Corps Medical Officer
because she knows them and that they clean their equipment
appropriately.

As far as we (the volunteers) know there are two guys in the Suluape
family that do the traditional tattooing, the father who is usually
called "Senior" and one of his sons who goes by "Junior". Junior is
the one who did my tattoo. Junior usually does his tattoos in their
tattoo parlor while Senior only does them out in the village. While
it would have been interesting to have it done in the village in a
Samoan fale i have heard in the village the artists and their helpers
usually smoke while doing it and I hate smoke and I think I would hate
it that much more if I have jagged metal going in and out of my skin.
The parlor was nice because there was air conditioning and of course,
no smoke, so no complaints from me.

The tattoo process I am sure depends on the artist to some degree so
please don't take this as a universal practice though I am sure some
of it is standard for most traditional tattoos. Junior made a few
marks with a yellow Sharpie on my right shoulder and upper arm took a
second to look over my arm and shoulder and then it was go time. The
traditional Samoan tattoo required the artist and two helpers. The
guys helping are in charge of stretching your skin tight like canvas
over a frame and making sure don't move. The artist and the helpers
have an amazing rhythm and sometimes it is a mere fraction of a second
between the time they stretch the skin and the artist resumes
tattooing. The process of the tattoo was very stop and go. Junior
would start the tapping and go for about 10-15 seconds then get more
ink, readjust or review the line he just made. Every time there was a
break the helpers would wipe the extra ink and the blood from the
area. A few times in the four and a half hours the helpers would get
new rags for wiping the blood/ink away. This was a great time because
the rags were wet and cool. Unfortunately they quickly became dry and
felt like sand paper on my freshly ravaged skin.

The tools they use are wooden sticks with metal comb like ends. There
are different sizes of tools depending on the design they are doing.
The process of inserting the combs and ink into the skin is a rhythmic
tapping. Of course the first 30 minutes were quite painful as the
body adjusts to the assault but you do adjust somewhat. I have heard
some people feel little if any pain once they get into it for a
while. Call me a Sally if you want but it hurt the whole time, just
less. Of course on the boney parts and near the arm pit were very
sensitive and that always hurt no matter the stage of the tattoo. I
found the key to getting past the pain was exhaling as Junior would
start tapping the tool into my skin and then inhale when he would
break to get more ink or readjust.

The positions I found myself in were very odd but that seems to be the
usual experience. It's not about your comfort, it''s about the artist
getting the best angle at the skin. Most of the time my head was
turned away from Junior and often times smashed in between the
cushions they use for Junior and the helpers to lean on while
working. I one point I noticed that my face was only a few inches
away from on of the helper's big gnarly toe. This was a fleeting and
almost funny thought to me because in all reality it had been right
there for quite sometime but i was so focused on the tattoo and my
breathing that I was oblivious.

I have included a picture of the process but I want to wait to post my
final tattoo pics until after I show my friends and family back home.
I would rather them see it in person first. I am very happy with it
and have had nothing but good comments. The thing that makes me
confident it is a good one is the reaction I have been getting from
Samoans. When a Samoan is like "Ooooohhhhh manaia!" (manaia means
nice) and it is genuine you know you've got a good one.

Well, 9 days and it's vacation time. Wow, under 10 days, ridiculous!
Quick FYI, I probably won't be posting much over my 4 week vacay but I
might throw a few up just describing my experience being back and my
reactions. I won't be able to spend too much time on the computer
because I am going to have to exercise my ass off due to the enormous
amounts of food I plan on eating. It's going to be great!

First TV in Vaivase-Tai

Just a quick post today but I found out an interesting story last
night. Turns out the little 19" TV that is in my place was the first
TV in Vaivase Tai. TJ told me that a bunch of people from around the
village used to come over to their house and sit around the little TV
to watch rugby games and boxing matches. It is truly amazing,
sometimes being surrounded by families that have TVs, mobile phones
and cars you can forget how quickly these technologies and luxuries
have come into Samoan life. In the states is has been a slow gradual
build up as new technology is developed but here it has not been so
much the case. That is why you can see families living out in
traditional fales, living off the land and the sea nearly every aspect
of thier life traditional Samoan except the cell phone they have!

Old habits die hard

Sorry, sorry, sorry. I slipped back into my old habits and did not
live up to my word of posting more often. Well I have less than two
weeks before I come home to visit so I think I can do better in the
short term. The lightening of my workload will also help with that as
well.

We wrapped up our WASHE program out at the schools this week. This
week we taught the kids about disease transmission. As always the
students were very receptive and enjoyed the activities we had. My
mom sent a blacklight that we used for a germ spreading activity. It
went ok. To work best we need liquid soap made with blue dye (like
Tide) but I couldn't find any but I did find out that green dish soap
does work, kind of. In the activity you put some soap on your hand
than then proceed to shake hands and touch arms or clothes of other
people. Then you go around in the room (with the lights off) with the
blacklight which makes the transfered soap glow. As I said, the green
worked ok, though didn't glow as well as blue. The other hurdle was
the dark room. The classrooms here all have large windows and no
curtains or curtains made of light fabric. Small windows and/or heavy
curtains would just be a ridiculous choice for this climate. To
improvise we brought blankets (yes, the Red Cross has blankets. They
were donated to us as part of the relief supplies. Evidently by a
person with the geographical knowledge of a two year old). We used
the blankets to cover all the windows in one room so it was dark
enough for the activity. It worked but we had to keep the activity
short because once those blankets were up, the room was cooking! At
some point in time, someone left the blacklight on which killed the
batteries. I had spares and replaced them but the light didn't last
long after that. I have reserved a swift kick for the person who left
it on, if I ever find out which is unlikely. Good thing I am coming
home so I can pick up a few spare bulbs.

Now we are getting a report on the program prepared and the Health
Coordinator at the Red Cross wants to continue it and expand it next
year. Which is awesome, in theory. We do have a lot on our plate at
the Red Cross though so over the next few weeks we will be planning
the next years programs and activities. While it would be cool to
have this program that I spearheaded continue I really want to make
sure all the other programs that are already highlighted in the Samoa
Red Cross workplan are scheduled and adequately staffed. Planning and
assessment are two things I hope to work on closely with the staff and
volunteers at the Red Cross and be some of the sustainable skills and
knowledge I can share with them.

Today was International Volunteer Day and the Red Cross in cooperation
with the UN offices here organized a replanting and trash pick-up
day. Overall I have to say I wasn't all that impressed with the day
though I think the high demand on those who needed to coordinate the
event with tsunami recovery related tasks allows some room for
forgiveness. There was a large turnout of volunteers, though I don't
know the exact number. The attendance by Peace Corps Volunteers is
most accurately described as piss-poor. Me, Chris and Blakey were the
only PCVs to come to the event. Way to represent! The group of
volunteers Chirs, Blakey and I went with went to Satitoa village. The
replanting went ok, with trees donated by the UN, buuuuuut, we came to
find out after the fact that the trees were meant to be planted inland
a little ways and do not grow well next to the ocean/in the sand. The
volunteers planted them along the coast and mostly in the sand. Son of
a !!!! Because there were a limited number of trees and tools, I
picked up garbage the whole time, which there was still a lot of it
around and on the beach in Satitoa. The problem here was, no garbage
bags. So we piled the garbage up and were told that someone was going
to come through later that day with a truck to pick it up. I hope it
happened.

So next week is going to be a good week. Just planning mostly and
probably doing some work on the website and the database. I still
need to get a volunteer up to speed on how to update the website
before I leave for my 4 week vacay. Since i won't be going to the
schools four days a week I should be able to finally find some time to
make it happen.

Tatoo is tomorrow, looking forward to it. I am hoping they don't
postpone it or any thing, I ahve heard that can happen sometimes. I
want to give it a chance to heal a decent amount before I head home.

I will try to get some pictures from the WASHE program and our water
tank painting project up sometime this week. I'll also get some pics
of the tat up (unless it goes horribly wrong!)

Tofa Soifua (oh and my Samoan is getting a little better thanks to my
having to use it in the schools, now I just have to try and not lose
everything I picked up over the last month during my vacation)