Big times on little island

Having grown tired of sandwiches made of white bread and corned beef cans, American Samoa has opened its second 24 hour McDonald's! Right across the street from the Court, the new McDonald's opened with great fanfare last week. The Governor and other dignitaries attended the ceremony.
Expecting large crowds, no less than six members of the police department manned the front door.
The hoi polloi in line for their free McNuggets...


Not quite as incredible as the new McDonald's, last week co-clerk passed the California bar exam...


To celebrate, the palagis went to the American Samoa Community College production of the "King and I". Here I am, ready to be transported to magical Siam...

Magical Siam

I was asleep 30 minutes into the show so the photos stop here but I was told the production was incredible.

Ride to work

Although quite ordinary to me at this point my drive to work is not the usual commute and so I thought I'd post some shots from my daily grind...



On my 20 minute ride to work there are approximately 4-5 signs warning the youth about the dangers of teen pregnancy, here's one


Cruising along the coast...


Passing Samoana High School...

This is probably the best of the teen pregnancy signs: "Don't Be Fooled Because He's Cute." Awesome because of the blue-eyed white guy on the sign.
The port...
Some non-pregnant youth outside the court...

Election day in the territories

Voting [for Obama] via absentee ballot a few weeks back, my election day had already taken place but politics were in full swing in the territory. There were three parties running for governor of American Samoa this year and various groups vying for county representative spots in addition to three candidates running for American Samoa's [non-voting] seat in Congress. In the end, the gubernatorial election was too close to call and there will be a run off between the teams of Togiola/Faoa and Utu/Nua. I can't say much about the candidates since I have only been here a few months but their foot soldiers were out in force on election day.


An Utu supporter fraternizing with a Togiola supporter...scandalous.


One of my favorite candidates this season has been Fagatogo Steve. He is running for a county representative position and his signs have been up since I arrived on the island. Fagatogo is the village where the court is located so I have seen a lot of Steve propaganda. He also has a big blue truck that drives around with a giant "Fagatogo Steve" decal on it. In the States it'd be like a candidate calling himself Pasadena Jerry.


After months of anticipation I finally met Steve outside the court. He's the dude in the middle. Steve thought we were newspaper reporters and seemed genuinely disappointed when he found out we were just non-voting palagis. However, he did offer us one of the free lunches that he was giving out to his supporters.

Sad postscript: Steve lost.

Halloween in the tropics

A couple of photos from last week's Halloween party at the Harty house. Co-clerk and I had safari suits made for ourselves that week so instead of going as a ghost or pirate, we just took the suits out for a spin. Why have a safari suit made for oneself? After seeing the picture, it begs the question: why not have a safari suit made?

Below: a haunted fale
Only in Samoa will somebody bring a live bat to a Halloween party.

Hanging out at the pirate party

The bat after too many Vailimas.

Photos the old fashioned way

Last month my digital camera went the way of the Dodo after the Vatia camping trip. Not sure what happened but I think the little guy succumbed to the humidity. I have since gotten a new digital camera but for a week or two, I only had a Holga camera to take pictures. I had to rig the camera to use 35mm film because there is only one place to develop photos on the island and that's the only film they can handle. Although not sharp photos, I think they have a cool vintage feel to them and are worthy of posting. Above are some kids outside of Tisa's Barefoot Bar and below are some boats at the Yacht Club.


Below is a shot from the Miss South Pacific Pageant parade. I believe this is Miss Tonga. Notable about this picture (besides the fact she rides a paper mache turtle atop a pickup truck) is the man on the left. He is allegedly the second tallest man in the world and also the spokesman for the local cell phone company.


Another yachty shot.


Beach and the Governor's mansion in the distance


Local bus


Coming soon...a very spooky Samoan Halloween.