South Pacific Games 2007!!

This has, by far, been the best week/two weeks in Samoa! The South Pacific Games are currently running, and I’ve gotten to be involved in a lot of different activities. There are 22 South Pacific countries (Tonga, New Caledonia, Niue, Palau, Fiji, etc.) and 33 different sports (rugby, Taekwondo, swimming, outrigger canoe, track and field, soccer, etc.) and I have never seen so much diversity in Apia! There are all sorts of incredibly fit athletes and coaches wandering the streets all day and night, and I have had a great time meeting people from all across the region!

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I had been helping to coach the National Samoan swim team for the past 2 months, and for the swimming competition, I was able to be an Official, as well. My close PCV friends, Sefa, Texas, Jame and Sita and I all worked as timekeepers for the swimming competition, which ran every day last week, Monday through Saturday. Semi finals were in the morning, and finals were in the evening, so we spent about 5-6 hours at the pool admiring all the very fit swimmers and thoroughly enjoying every minute! There was a wide range in ability in the swimmers. American Samoa’s team had no pool, so all the swimmers had been training in the ocean. Tokelau’s one swimmer had been training in the lagoon of her tiny atoll. The swimmer from the Federated States of Micronesia had been training in a river 2 hours from her house. On the other end of the spectrum was New Caledonia, which as a French territory, has plenty of funding and coaching. They completely dominated the races, with the exception of an Olympian from Fiji, Caroline Pickering, and an Olympian from Papua New Guinea, Ryan Pini. I think I heard the national anthem of France at least 25 times last week, which was more than enough.

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The finale of swimming was on Monday, as about 25 of the swimmers took part in the Open Water race, held in the ocean during a wind and rainstorm. Jame, Sefa and I, along with other officials, got to sit in kayaks and paddle the 5k course as safety officials. This was so much fun, although I was completely soaked by the end of it. Of course, Olivier Saminadin from New Caledonia won by quite a bit. Several swimmers had to pull out early. 5k is a bit over 3 miles, which is an intense swim. Olivier won at about 1 hour 5 minutes, and I believe the last swimmer came in a little more than half an hour later.

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Last weekend was an incredible time, as many of the athletes were out on the town- the bars are open until 3 am for these two weeks (usually they close at 12) so there is a lot of activity going on. On Saturday night we had the final swimming party, which was heaps of fun- we had a BBQ, and all the swimmers, coaches and officials danced (traditional dances from their respective countries as well as palagi style dancing) and hung out all evening. Afterwards, Sefa and I and a few other volunteers hung out with several swimmers, judo team members, and table tennis players from New Caledonia. It was really surreal- they had brought Pastis (that liquorice flavored beverage) and we drank that, while listening to a big flurry of French around us. Not what I expected when I joined the Peace Corps!!

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I’ve also been volunteering at the Media Centre, writing news stories and athlete profiles, as well as uploading content to the website (samoa2007.ws) which has been interesting. I’ve gotten to know media from Papua New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand, Guam, Micronesia, and more. I love how diverse Apia has become, if only for a short while- I’ve been out watching sports and socializing every day (on top of work) and am sure that I will collapse in an exhausted heap come Sunday!

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Aside from all this- life is great! I am enjoying my experience, I feel prepared for the next year and know that it will be insanely busy and productive. I am studying for my GRE’s, applying to graduate schools, and still studying Samoan, although I don’t anticipate using it after my PC experience. I feel like I’ve come really far in the past 16 months, and I’m looking forward to the last 11 months.