Is There Life After the End of a Long Marriage?
One man's journey to find a new life after the break-up of a marriage of more then 20 years.
Monday, August 30, 2004
The Two Samoas
Part 7
The Two Samoas
Many thanks for the emails of encouragement. They do mean alot to me! I've been called "brave" by some of you, but that's simply not the case. Starting over has been one of the scariest things I've ever done. But I really didn't have much choice. The alternative was to sit around and feel sorry for myself and just be depressed. I quickly found out that people really do not want to be around a person like that. In fact, they avoid you like the plague!
So at first you go through the motions of a life... going places, meeting new people and having new experiences. Before you know it you are living a life again. Sure I still have my darker moments and think about "what was", but the "what is" isn't bad either! Life truly is, what you make of it!
The next stop on my itinerary after leaving Fiji was American Samoa. As the title of this chapter says, there are two Samoas. American Samoa and Samoa, (fomerly Western Samoa). Both are inhabited by native Samoan people. Just 77 miles apart, it's not so much the similarities that are interesting, but the differences between these two islands.
For one, American Samoa is a U.S. Territory, governed by the U.S., much like Puerto Rico or Guam. The currency there is the U.S. Dollar, the kids play the typical U.S. school sports of basketball and football and the voltage for your appliances is our familiar 110 volts/60 cycles. By contrast, Western Samoa is an independent nation, but still has close ties to New Zealand and Australia. The kids, (and adults, for that matter), play rugby football, soccer and cricket. The voltage for their appliances run on 220 volts/50 cycles. The two political systems don't share much in common either. I won't go into the intricacies of their respective governments, but an over-generalization would be to say that American Samoa is more like the United States and Western Samoa's is more like that of England. Actually, more like New Zealand or Australia's, but as they used to be possessions of Great Britian that might be expected.
I'm not really sure why, but as a general observation, Western Samoans seem to have a greater sense of national pride. I would have to guess that this might have something to do with being an independent soveriegn nation.
Another surprise to me... You would expect that, of the two, the one with the McDonald's restaurant would be American Samoa. If you did, you would be wrong! Now if I seem to mention that hamburger franchise with some regularity it's only because when you travel you do sometimes get to missing the familiar fast-food you grew up with. McDonald's is a known quantity. No surprises there! The Big Mac and fries you purchased in the Ginza in Tokyo tastes pretty much the same as it does anywhere else in the world. There are subtle differences though. The McDonald's in Costa Rica also offers the national dish of beans and rice. Usually it's just the addition of the local favorite dish.
I had scheduled four days each in American and Western Samoa. I ended up leaving American Samoa a day early and extending my stay in Western Samoa to fourteen days. What happened those first few days in Western Samoa to make me want to stay so much longer? Read my next post.
Coming next post...
Part 8, You Never Know Where You Will Find Family
The Two Samoas
Many thanks for the emails of encouragement. They do mean alot to me! I've been called "brave" by some of you, but that's simply not the case. Starting over has been one of the scariest things I've ever done. But I really didn't have much choice. The alternative was to sit around and feel sorry for myself and just be depressed. I quickly found out that people really do not want to be around a person like that. In fact, they avoid you like the plague!
So at first you go through the motions of a life... going places, meeting new people and having new experiences. Before you know it you are living a life again. Sure I still have my darker moments and think about "what was", but the "what is" isn't bad either! Life truly is, what you make of it!
The next stop on my itinerary after leaving Fiji was American Samoa. As the title of this chapter says, there are two Samoas. American Samoa and Samoa, (fomerly Western Samoa). Both are inhabited by native Samoan people. Just 77 miles apart, it's not so much the similarities that are interesting, but the differences between these two islands.
For one, American Samoa is a U.S. Territory, governed by the U.S., much like Puerto Rico or Guam. The currency there is the U.S. Dollar, the kids play the typical U.S. school sports of basketball and football and the voltage for your appliances is our familiar 110 volts/60 cycles. By contrast, Western Samoa is an independent nation, but still has close ties to New Zealand and Australia. The kids, (and adults, for that matter), play rugby football, soccer and cricket. The voltage for their appliances run on 220 volts/50 cycles. The two political systems don't share much in common either. I won't go into the intricacies of their respective governments, but an over-generalization would be to say that American Samoa is more like the United States and Western Samoa's is more like that of England. Actually, more like New Zealand or Australia's, but as they used to be possessions of Great Britian that might be expected.
I'm not really sure why, but as a general observation, Western Samoans seem to have a greater sense of national pride. I would have to guess that this might have something to do with being an independent soveriegn nation.
Another surprise to me... You would expect that, of the two, the one with the McDonald's restaurant would be American Samoa. If you did, you would be wrong! Now if I seem to mention that hamburger franchise with some regularity it's only because when you travel you do sometimes get to missing the familiar fast-food you grew up with. McDonald's is a known quantity. No surprises there! The Big Mac and fries you purchased in the Ginza in Tokyo tastes pretty much the same as it does anywhere else in the world. There are subtle differences though. The McDonald's in Costa Rica also offers the national dish of beans and rice. Usually it's just the addition of the local favorite dish.
I had scheduled four days each in American and Western Samoa. I ended up leaving American Samoa a day early and extending my stay in Western Samoa to fourteen days. What happened those first few days in Western Samoa to make me want to stay so much longer? Read my next post.
Coming next post...
Part 8, You Never Know Where You Will Find Family
D.A. Wright, 10:36 PM
