Back to Samoa

"Angry Samoans - Back from Samoa" by willemalink is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

Not the album, that was Back from Samoa. I've never known why Metal Mike Saunders named his band The Angry Samoans, but it's only slightly weird that I started my adult life playing in a band that did a cover of "You Stupid Asshole" by the Angry Samoans, and now I work in Samoa, where people seem pretty chill. The only reason I mention any of that is because the album title jumped into my brain when I wrote this title, and in a former life I was a punk rock music journalist, musician, and music distribution salesperson. Honestly, it trickles into my mind and throughout my thinking about anthropology all the time

This first post from the field will probably be short because we just got here. And it should be titled, "hold your temper" or something like that. A big part of doing "fieldwork" is simply being in the field for extended periods and seeing how one handles it and also how one's colleagues handle it. I always assumed all anthropologists are pretty chill because we'd have to be to handle all the bullshit, right? Nope. Lots of anthropologists I know get pretty bunched up when shit gets hard or inconvenient, just like other disciplines. I may be one of them. I think it was good to have had Grant Pethel with me so I didn't blow a gasket.

Our very first flight out of Birmingham ended up getting delayed over an hour. So in Houston, we asked about our connection. The United worker told me Air New Zealand were holding the flight for us so hurry over. We barely missed a Skytram and had to wait 90 minutes, which ended up costing us. We ran from the Skytram to the gate, but they said they said they'd held it 10 minutes for us but just let push away from the gate. I noted that it was only 1 minute after the scheduled departure time. They said, well, we were ready early and then waited 10 minutes. Here is where I about lost my shit. Grant said, "well, thank you for your help" in a tone that sounded genuine, and I thought, I can't not be angry, but I can't give in that quickly. So I glowered. Pretty sure someone is pissed off at the poor airline people every 5 minutes.

The person who helped us figure out what to do next didn't think we'd be able to get to Samoa for several days because he couldn't find another connection into Samoa that was open. Finally, he found one the next day that took us via San Francisco, Brisbane, Australia, then Apia. So they put us up in a hotel. The first one they'd overbooked, so we had to go back to United to have them rebook our hotel. The hotel was clearly where people came to have major drug and hooker parties, as it was rocking, but my room was fine. The Lyft driver who picked us up the next day told us it was the highest crime rate neighborhood in Houston, and she was covered by jailhouse style tats, so I consider her credible.

We were told that we'd have to go back and pick up our bags, then check them back in with us. But when we arrived, everyone told us they'd be routed to our new destination. We checked on this repeatedly. Everyone but the first guy assured us they'd be routed to our new destination. Guess what? After a decidedly uncomfortable redeye from San Fran to Brisbane, another 4 hour layer, then another 5 hour flight to Samoa, the bags had not been rerouted. However, if they weren't rerouted, they should have beat us to Samoa, but where were they? (That mystery will not be solved in this post)

​Usually I pack a spare set of clothes in my travel bag, but I never use them, so I got lazy this time. Fortunately, I was mindful to keep my toiletries, medications, and charging devices and cords with me. So we'd been wearing the same clothes since Tuesday and were told it might take a few days before our suitcases arrive. I'm not sure why, since they should have either arrived before us or be sent over on one of the daily New Zealand flights to Samoa. But, again, the theme here should be not getting angry. It does no good. It doesn't motivate people to help you, regardless of how justified you are. That first first set of people I glowered at deserved that shit because they'd made the choice to push to the plane away when we were clearly on a late domestic flight and had tried running all the way there. I don't regret that one. But I'm glad Grant's presence checked me because it embarrasses me to lose my temper.

I should also know to bring more cash. Samoa is a cash country. However, universities want us to use their purchasing cards so we don't have to spend money out of our own accounts, but they have so many rules and policies on those cards that they're their own personal hell. I get cut off and put in p-card jail regularly. Then they make me take an online class on how to use a p-card after getting cut off several times. It's super infantilizing and difficult to navigate. I met a family a few years ago through AirBnB that have built several places, and are great at taking care of folks while they're here. They drive us around on errands and help us connect with whatever we need. So they found us a good car rental deal, but we get there and their credit card machine is broken. So I go all over town trying to get cash withdraws on my p-card and personal cards to get this car at this low price. I ended up taking cash out on all of my own cards and pushing them to their limits because the p-card doesn't allow me to withdraw any cash. I couldn't get enough, but the rental place decided to give me the low rate and let us take the car away. We are supposed to return Monday with the balance, and we have to go to the Land Authority to get temporary drivers' licenses. In the meantime, well, don't look...

Now we at least have a car, so we can get some shit done. We go to the water store and get a big container of water because we need to purchase potable water in Samoa. The AirBnB has been fixed up since last time I stayed here. It has wifi now, though I have to be at the other end of the place to use it. We have a house phone we can use too. And we have AC in our rooms, which is kind of a big deal. We also have a refrigerator and share a washing machine with the other apartments in this building, but they still haven't installed a stove/oven or microwave, so cooking is a bit dicey. It's all electric skillet and water kettle action in there.

Right before or after that we went and got a phone and phone number. I finally committed after avoiding this big expense for several years. I had to drop $500 tala to get an Android and Samoan phone number. But at least I now have internet access wherever I go.

Still soaking in our own juices, so we went to Ross to get some clothes, while we wait for our suitcases. Ross is not the department store in the States I was expecting (I was wondering, why does Samoa have a Ross when our hosts told us?) but their local secondhand store. I love thrifting, so this was kind of cool except that it wasn't. It was not a particularly impressive thrift store, and for the basic shit we need, it's not really what I had in mind. Nevertheless, we each got a couple pair of shorts, a couple shirts, and--gulp--a couple pair of boxer shorts. But, I have to be admit my bourgeois sensibilities make it hard for me to wear used underwear. So we popped over to one of the thousands of vaguely named Chinese stores around here and got some flip flops and underwear. I had to look up the underwear conversion--apparently, we subtract three sizes of New Zealand clothes to compare to US sizes. The more you know. We should've bought flip flops for $2 tala downtown at Frankie's Plaza, but I was irritated that they didn't have anything else, so we left that good deal behind and ended up buying the exact same flip-flops with Samoa designs for $25 tala! Grr.

And in doing this shopping, my credit cards kept getting declined, so I'm using roaming charges all over the place to call these banks to find out what the fuck. My main bank put me down as traveling in American Samoa, so they were declining charges from Samoa.

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