oh my!

I slept on the top of a banyan tree 30 meters high well above any other tree
I said good bye to very good friends
I packed, packed, packed
I did not remember moving was so time-consuming
But I am nearly there... Last day at work today, another run to the post office to mail stuff to a friend's house (I am sooo homeless! what country should I mail my stuff to?)... then cleaning, packing, donations... I am trying to leave with just a backpack, it is easier hitch hiking that way! ;-)
i guess my next update is going to be written on sunday on the plane... my first time free before EXCITEMENT in HAWAII! big island to start.
Diving with giant manta rays, and the camping under the stars on top a mountain to be ready for 2 days of paragliding! Then Alaska....

some other days...

Today I just feel like this. I want an hug. But tomorrow I am going to spoil myself at Gio's place. Italians, tropical rainforest, candles and cocunat oil.... And then explore a new place with Lucy. Few more hours...

Usually Jeremy is very good describing the absurdity or idiocrazy of Neverland (le mafuaga we also love it so much sometimes), but sometimes you are just not in the mood for it.

Lunch:

-“ok, so you pay $1 for the water, $1 for the juice, $4.50 for the sandwich, $6.00 for the burger…”. The waitress says as she looks blankly to me. Oh yes, she wants me to do the math: “so… I own you, let me see, $ 12.50, right?” “Right”, she says, taking the bills.

Paying a traffic ticket (the light of my truck was off one night):

“Did you fix the light”, the… I do not know what her job is… but you pay tickets to her… says.

“Yes, I did”. My proud answer (I changed it myself).

“is the car outside for me to check?”

“Yes”

“Uhmm.. is it hot outside?” (with a look like: "please tell me it is hot and that i should not go out for health reasons..")

“Well, yes, it is not like here in the A/C”.

“Yeah… It is ok (alas "I trust you, i won't go out to check on your truck..."). Just pay me the ticket… $10”. ($10 like anything else on this island: medicines? $10. Teeth work? $10. Doctor visit? $10. Blood analysis? $10.)

Paying bills:

No, actually, I cannot describe this. I still have to understand what happened there. I think most people all they know is that they need to be in the office sometimes in the day to enjoy the A/C. They have no idea of the kind of work they are doing. They all send you to see somebody else, unless you just stand there and say “No, thank, I will do it here, fa’mole mole”. Then explain step by step what they are supposed to do, where to click on the mouse…

10 more days... can’t wait to be homeless!

the new math

I never liked mathematics as much as now.
Today I did this math:

1

+
1

=
2

+
2

I am exchanging my values… I like the idea of owning very little, but being able to experience life to the fullest. I am coming back to me! It was about time! ;-)!!!

Today I just realized that my washing machine can keep me flying for a couple of days… I always looked at it as an ugly white mysterious thing that washes cloths, but not today…
Today, as I was selling it, my washing machine was flying in the sky like a helium balloon, hundreds of tiny ropes hanging from the sides holding up one of the chair from my living room… and happily I was sitting in it, flying, enjoying the best thermals ever on top of Canco hill. I never though that a washing machine could have such a power!

Add my bed to the formula, I have enough for 4 days in Hawaii diving on the reef with giant manta rays at sunset, food, gas, sleep, plane to move from island to island... WOW! why did it take me so long to do this math?

Everything around me is slowly moving into a new dimension, nothing feels so solid anymore… chairs and tables are bubbling away, changing consistency and shape… they may be transformed into a piece of plane ticket to Ecuador… who knows… exciting! less than 2 weeks to go!

I feel this way

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."
Mark Twain

Heroes, Treasure Hunters, Italians and Latinos

How could these past 5 days suddenly be so meaningful and inspiring?
Is it just I, or the island is changing?

Wednesday: diving.
There is really another world down there, so silent, peaceful, blue. Seeing a snail moving across a coral, or a lion fish standing on the reef takes you to another dimension.

(from http://www.followsabine.com/tvproject/uploaded_images/lion-fish-739346.jpg)

Thursday: I am a beautiful sexy hero.
Thursday I felt a hero. A beautiful sexy hero. The scientists from Ofu (Tom, Sea, Tylor and Carlo) needed a couple of instruments from Hawaii (since theirs broke) and I was able to get them in record time. Like in the Amaro Montenegro advertisement:

“The scientists were in difficulty. The thermoregulator in their wetlab broke and the corals where bleaching, one by one. Only a new thermoregular could save the experiment that would reveal so much about the corals genetics and resistance to climate warning. The closer new thermoregulator available was located thousands of kilomenters away in Hawaii, and the communication ways were very limited. “But I did it”. Through my doctor’s son (I meet the doctor in the morning, he was mentioning his son to me), I was able to get the new instrument to the scientists. Amaro Montenegro, sapore vero.”

Friday: fishermen and treasure hunters.
As I was at the airport picking up the thermoregulator and a couple of more things, I could not help but noticing a big oceanographers crew coming off the plane (you can recognize oceanographers at a distance, same way as you could recognize archeologists). I am curious about them, and –serendipity- one of the crew invites me on board after work.

But order, first there is lunch on Lui’s boat. The best food on island is served on these fishermen’s boat. A small San Diego “little Italy” crew is with us for lunch: Angelo is an American-italian (ok, I have to admit it now, such a thing can truly exist). He has never been in Italy in his life, but he is fluent in Genovese. Not even the people from Genova speak Genovese so well anymore. Italian took over the local languages a bit everywhere, contaminating them. But not in Little Italys abroad; I find this amazing. Lui and Angelo tell me fascinating stories of growing up in Little Italy in San Diego. I wanted to go there now and see the roads where they grow up with my own eyes, and see the shops they talk about. Little Italy changed, they say, but it still has a little bit of that flavor. I want to go there before Genovese would be forgotten or mixed there too. Am I like them? I left Italy 10 years ago, I have no home to go now that I am leaving the island. I am shipping my boxes to a friend in Oregon. Am I becoming some sort of “Italian-???world immigrant?????
Lui will be leaving during the night. I won’t be here when he comes back. But I am definitely going after his son again next time I am in Portland.
WOW, I am going to miss this happy crew!!!!

The oceanographers will be coming in and out American Samoa for the next 9 months. What???? A crew coming regularly in Samoa now that I leave? Bummer! There are 4 guys filming a video for National Geographic. There is a treasure hunter; he is the one with the shoulder-long blond hair in the recovery crew at the start of the Titanic movie. No, he is not the actor; he is the one the actor was impersonating. I talk a bit more with other crewmembers. I never meet oceanographers so vague about scientific work. Usually scientists would talk forever and ever about their projects, but this crew… nope… we are just doing some seafloor mapping. There are two kick-ass instruments from Wood Hole Oceanographic Institution, accompanied by 4 guys. It is a privately founded expedition (no close shoes policy enforced). Ladies and gentlemen, the treasure hunters landed in Neverland!

Saturday: Latin night
I cannot but think why this does not happen more often. It is wonderful; it makes this island a true home. Mabel and Maliuska (the minuscule Peruvian twins) prepared a traditional dinner on Juan’s boat. From 7:00pm to 11:00pm we hang out on the boat enjoying each other company. Ivo and his 15 years old cousin or with us too (Lui said something about Ivo, now I understand, he is truly gorgeous). I get seasick after few hours. It is embarrassing as the boat is armored in the safe quite Pago Pago Harbour.
We go to dance at Avaloni down town in Pago. I usually avoid going out, I am generally scared of guys, but with this crew I feel so protected. Once in a while, the DJ puts latin music and we regularly occupy the dancing floor. God I love it! Ivo is a great dancer. I think there are plenty of guys that know how to dance out there… in the world. I start thinking about spending April in Ecuador… The Police appear at the door. “Ops… hide Ivo’s cousin, he is underage! Where did they go?” The Policeman is dancing on the floor with a lady….
A guy I meet a while ago tells me that he heard I am leaving and “please, please, don’t go; really, please, don’t go”. Of course I melt, but I do want to go. I want to go to Ecuador and dance salsa and merengue EVERY night.

Really, what is happening to this island? Is it changing or it is just me?

Johnny walks in later in the night. I am so incredibly happy to see him, I was so afraid I would have to leave the island without having a chance to tell him good bye. Johnny, Lui, Juan… I felt like they always treated me like a daughter. Johnny tells me “Now, how can we approve the guy you are going out with, if you leave the island?”. I hug him. He is a great man.
I met Johnny about 2 years ago, maybe more. He passed on a “island-tour” by my house and I invited him for dinner. Good olive oil for him. He then introduced me to Lui. I met Juan randomly one night I went out for dinner with James Bond.
Maybe it is that they are Italians, or Latin… like me they laugh and enjoy the vino; like me they brake glasses with their hands while talking; they listen and share and teach me. God, I am going to miss these guys!!!
It 3:30 am when I finally go to bed.

Sunday: “La sera leoni, la mattina coglioni”
(“Like lions in the night, like stupids in the morning”).
The 2 weeks mark. Three more flights, on the forth one I will be leaving the island for (relatively) good. I spend the day packing, sleeping, studying, working on my video application…I want to see the Latin crew again, but I still have so much work. I wish last night would had never have ended. I want to dance more, being hold between strong arms, my eyes closed and my nostrils filled with perfume, feeling my partner’ body next to mine and follow his movements. There is nothing like a good merengue or a good salsa, and the effects do last for a while…

fish and bicycle?

As I am running through my stuff, I suddenly realized how many uncompleted things I will leave behind. Creams half used, books half read (I always read different books at the same time, depending on the mood), Italian goodies half eaten…

I got so many visits this month that I got enough chocolate to last 6 months (even though I have to admit I am hitting hard on my addiction these days).

I always like saving the good things for last… I think it is generally human nature.

But sometimes the end arrives earlier than you planned, and you realize you won’t have time to enjoy it all.

It happened to my parents. It happened to me too. When I was about 8, my mom prepared a mozzarella in carrozza (a kind of tastier, healthier, Italian version of cheese sandwich), my favorite dish. I left the cheese center as a last bite, so that my last bite would be the tastier of all, and I could walk away from the table with the higher degree of satisfaction. BUT, suddenly, my brother appeared behind my shoulders, grabbed it and ate it. Finished! Uma! The last tastier bit of mozzarella in carrozza was gone forever. I saved it last, and never had a chance to taste it. Worthless.

It was an eye opening experience, but even so, I still have the tendency of saving the best for the end.

Now I want to leave Carpe Diem, or to be more precise, the verse that come before that: “sapias, vina liques et spatio brevi spem longam reseces” “be smart, drink you wine (-Maria!!! Mil gracias por el vino Chianti!! Lo tome’ con amigos…uhmm… rico!!-), and rescale the hopes you had for a far away future with the ones that will happen soon”.

Moral of the story: I am trying to enjoy all I have at the best these days!

I am sick (uff… again) and today I took the day off to rest. I decided to pick up one of the half-read book, to see if I can finish it. It is called “Kiss my tiara”. It is a feministic book. We do not really have feminism in Italy, so I was curious to read about it. But sometime you need to know so much about American culture that I really get totally lost.

Can somebody please explain me what does this mean?

“A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle”. I really do not get it. It is not on wikipedia.

This book won’t make it off-island (although it has great phrases like “every time I break up with a boyfriend I think: this is one less jerk I may end up marrying!”).

Life is...

"Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans"Every morning, when I wake up, I feel very sad about leaving.

Every evening, when I go to bed, I feel very excited about my next adventure.
During the day, I am crossed by a rainbow of feelings, triggered by my six senses: the view of a flower, a dog… the smell of BBQ along the road or of the tuna canneries… the laughter of a group of people, an acid remark at work or a nice one…
Everything is at its extremes. It is either “I am going to miss this so much”, or “I can’t wait not to have to deal with this anymore”.

This week has been a good one. SnowDave came down from (now cold and dark) Alaska to get a full recharge of vitamin D and it is great to have a piece from the past here right now. I have been busy and sickish, so I did not have a chance to take him out walking, but he was still able to enjoy lots of peace and sleep.

The highlights for him were (alas “what to do here for a week, if you are visiting”):

• traditional umu at Tisa’s,
• snorkeling,
• coastal tour,
• hike to Mt. Alava,
• gnocchi night (29 of the month only)
• Palagi Olympics.

The highlights for me were (“what to do here for a week, if you live here”):

• 3 hours in the ER waiting room to get tetanus shot (then I entered in the room and I said that if they can give me the drugs, I could do the injection myself. That worked, because within 2 minutes I had my shot).
• Resignation letter
• More medicines for throat and ear pain
• Gnocchi night (the 29 of the month)
• Scuba diving
• Palagi Olympics

Lucy and I