It all started last fall, when four mates and I went to Philly to see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra one weekend. In the car on the way home that Sunday, we were talking about important things, and one of those things was living adventurously. Making the most of opportunities, taking chances-just not being afraid to do something or meet someone or learn something or go somewhere. We decided that the best life is filled with adventures, big and small. I was thinking about that conversation before heading to Samoa, and that risk-taking mentality helped me have a fuller, richer experience in the tiny island country. Here are some of the adventurous things I did there, in no particular order:
•snorkeling in the Pacific Ocean and swallowing a ridiculous amount of sea water
•getting multiple crabs put down my shirt by a 9-year-old girl named Val
•reading aloud Proverbs 19 in Samoan during sa (family devotional time)
•going one-on-one in a game of ninja warrior versus the high chief of Safua village
•being singled out to perform a traditional Samoan dance in front of the village during fiafia
•knocking back a mouthful of kava drink with all of the village matai watching
•eating an unhealthy amount of taro, hot dogs, and Ramen
•singing and dancing to “Rockin’ Robin,” “Take It Easy,” “Build Me Up Buttercup,” and “Play That Funky Music” in front of two hundred Samoans
•wearing an ankle-length wrap skirt (lavalava) for 10 days in 90 degree weather
•sleeping in a house without walls for a week
•climbing a coconut tree (with much aid from my homestay brother)
•teaching 13 Samoans with varying degrees of English to play Dutch Blitz
•finally convincing my homestay sisters, after I had finished eating, to let me fan the food while they ate my leftovers
•attempting (and failing) a magic card trick and then being shown up by a villager
•using the bathroom many many times while staring at 4-cm-long cockroaches
•wading through 5 inches of mucky water in the Apia flood
•getting slammed into the sand by my homestay cousins during full tackle rugby on the beach
•taking cold showers-while wearing clothes in a desperate attempt to get them clean
•trying to sweet-talk my coconut leaf basket through NZ customs (failed)
Samoa is a country full of beautiful people and beautiful places, and for me and the rest of us here at CCSP South Pacific, it is a country full of adventure.
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