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Back from Samoa
Journal Entry: Sun Sep 30, 2007, 3:02 PM- Mood:
Peaceful - Listening to: Eva Be, Salmonella Dub, Tiki
- Reading: The Battle for Spain by Antony Beevor
- Watching: NASCAR - rain delay at Kansas - BORING!
- Eating: Oka
- Drinking: Vailima (when I manage to locate a source)
Me and the whanau just flew in from Samoa late on Saturday afternoon and have just managed to begin to get my head back together. Six foot four and economy class DO NOT mix.
Not that I'm bitching though - Samoa was an absolute blast. I had really high expectations going in and they were all surpassed. I've got plenty of writing to do over the next few weeks because I want to get it all down before the memories fade too much and I managed to amass over 250 photos during the past 10 or so days and have those to sort through as well. I also managed to collect some cool fabrics and bits and pieces featuring designs I hope to adapt to some new art pieces. I've also started designing my own patterns reflecting my heritage and things that are important to me. Isn't learning great!?!
Suffice to say I've come back fully charged and tremendously inspired by what I've seen and done. It's going to be hard to get over the 10-beer lunch pattern I established, but Duty Free should see me right through to nearly Christmas! LOL.
I managed to get a tailor-made black lavalava (kind of a wrap-around skirt looking thing that men wear in the islands) that should go great with my leather jacket and boots. Don't wait for photos though! I'd never realised I'd look so great in a skirt. Look out New Plymouth this summer!
We also managed to make a trip to the Robert Louis Stevenson museum and house in Apia. So cool to go to the place so many great adventure books were written, especially for a history nerd like me. LOL.
I saw fruit bats flying around both at night and during the day. Man, I love a good fruit bat! Also saw plenty of lizards and a bug of some kind that had HUGE eyelash things.
I went swimming in water nearly as warm as a bath and sat on the beach and watched crabs dig holes in the sand.
I made friendships with locals that will last a lifetime and hopefully my new friend Efeso will be staying with us on his first trip out of Samoa early next year. It'll be great to get impressions of New Zealand from a totally clean set of eyes.
I learned a little bit more about materialism, humility, spirituality and the things that make people truly happy. These things I'll take to heart and use to improve myself.
I also learned that New Zealanders can be just as much a bunch of ignorant wankers when they're are on holiday as any other nation. Shit, we've still got a long way to go when it comes to integrity and honesty. Just because somebody doesn't have a massive plasma TV and shag carpet doesn't mean they're ignorant savages people! It just means they have different priorities. I hate bigots and I hate bigoted kiwis more than any others. Embarrassing? Hell yes.
I also learned I can live without the internet and my cellphone for over a week (as long as I've got LOTS of distractions). LOL.
Look forward to more over the coming weeks ...
... anybody remember The Ballad of Jerry Curlan?
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Devious Comments
Great reading. Hearing your thoughts and adventures, I like you even more now. Don't feel bad about New Zealanders in particular. Way too many people are jerks everywhere
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If you happen to have a little too much, or regret buying it, or get sick of it I'll give it a good home. Swap for some Koori fabric? LOL
Sounds like a great holiday, not one of those ones you return exhausted and need another break to catch your breath. It must have been an interesting place if it could take the place of the internet and mobile phone, a place to recharge the soul and get back in touch with values our modern societies lose touch with.
Now Alastair, if you admit to wearing a skirt, the least you can do is prove it!!!!! Leather jacket, boots and all. I think there a few fetish categories you could choose from. Thats a must. I'll get all of your DA friends to spam your site until you do. So there, you've been told.
Look forward to the new art works, they sound very interesting with a new perspective or evolution of design.
Would like to hear more about their culture, spirituality and the things that make them happy. Apparently the happy score for us richer westerners is very low. It would be interesting to hear how they achieve that, maybe we could all learn something from them.
It seems the Samoans have grasped the more colourful aspects of the English language when they sang about Jerry Curlan. LOL Apparently they sing it in very angry tones too. Now I don't somehow think I would have heard it on commercial radio!
You've got me stumped with the band that had an album by the name of Vailima. You called it an album, not a cd, so its got to be in the 70's or 80's. More clues please.
Great to have you back Alastair, recharged and ready to entertain and delight us again with your wonderful art.
Sue
Sorry. Forgot to mention fabric. I collected a few bits and pieces. I'm hardly a walking fashion statement, but I love ethnic patterns and stuff. I've even got a few new art pieces based on them. What is Koori fabric?
It was a great holiday and a definte must go place again. I loved the people and the culture. Just beautiful. It took a couple of days to get through that paradigm shift of seeing poverty etc. They live in a totally different way, where openness and giving are the most important things. Not what you've got. It makes me want to chuck the TV out the window and go and live down in the paddock. Apart from the fact it's so bloody cold I probably would.
The black lavalava is for private viewing only (and probably for summer parties LOL), although I'll ask Lesley and see what happens. I also got a very cool light brown lavalava. Very cool patterns and icons printed on it and great in the heat.
Great spotting on the Angry Samoans. They were a white-boy punk rock band that I doubted ever got anywhere near Samoa. The Ballad of Jerry Curlan is a (very old) classic. Poke Your Eyes Out was another hit. LOL.
Vailima is Samoan beer and very nice. If you can find an album about it let me know - I'm right into that!
My old boss (unfortunately) spotted me at the airport on Saturday as we were getting back in and asked me to work on Monday (DAMN!) Money is money though and like a greedy bastard I agreed. Did I learn anything in Samoa? LOL All over now, so I'm looking forward to spending some time getting out all the new art bits I've got floating in my head. I'm really keen on doing some patterns based on the fabric designs etc.
Why do people have to take their dumb, ignorant, bigoted attitudes with them when they go overseas? It's seems to me to be a very expensive way to go and criticize somebody else's existence. Can't they just sit at home and nod along to Fox news?
Last November I was in the western Caribbean and nearly all the Americans expected and demanded everything to be just like in our country. I was totally embarrased to be with them.
How does anyone, anywhere stand tourists? They are all alike.
I watched Fox news once. That's when it hit me why they made the remote. [click!]
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I watch Fox news pretty regularly. Sun Tzu - "Know your enemy". LOL. Their 'liberal' use of words is stunning and very scary.
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