At First Glance- American Samoa

We made it to American Samoa!

Talofa!

We are on day two and I thought I would share some my first impressions.

Weather Reality

I never knew what hot and humid was until coming here! I heard that it would be like this, I just didn’t understand what that actually meant. If I’m not sitting right in front of a fan or in water, I’m sweating. And its winter… I’m glad that we will get to ease into the summer weather. Plus, I expected more sun. While the sun comes out everyday, its also very cloudy.

Our House Is Not Water Proof

This morning as the daily rain was pouring down, I noticed water streaming down one of the walls, so much that I had to move the furniture toward the middle of the room. It looks like that part of the floor and wall are going to stay nice and clean, getting wiped up everyday.

The People Here Are So Nice and Friendly

Its not an exaggeration! We have had dinner with a family that we just met. We were offered the use of a neighbor’s car, just hours after they met us. Everyone waves and says “Hi.” Yesterday when we went down to see the ocean, a Samoan woman came over to tell us that we couldn’t be there but it was hard to understand what she was saying because she was saying it in such a nice way ?

Food Prices

I went to the grocery store yesterday and, while most things are reasonable, some things are unbelievable. Grapes are $4/lb. Some of the boxes of cereal are $12/box. Dairy and fresh produce, in general, are more expensive here. Coming from Idaho, where the cost of food is relatively low, this was a surprise. I kept wanting to snap photos of everything because it was so unbelievable!

Termites

I keep finding piles of “sawdust” under and inside of all of our wooden furniture. I have never lived in a place that had termites. If you have any suggestions on how to get rid of them, I would really appreciate it!

There is so much more than that but I’m going to call that good for today.

Before we moved here, we had a really hard time finding information on what it was like to live here, specially cost comparisons. So I’ll be posting random points of interest from time to time.

And just in case you have not heard, I love it here! In spite of it’s flaws, I couldn’t be happier that we decided to make this move.

Tofa!