There is no single word that describes what it’s like to be a high school teacher. If I were forced to choose just one, though - I would say interesting, because it’s a word that encompasses everything I’m not used to. I’m confused about how I feel being a teacher, because each day I am intimidated by the fact that I may not be doing a good job - that I may not be what my students need. Being a first year teacher has been more than challenging, and learning new material and figuring out how to present it to a class that has never seen science as the ‘fun’ subject is overwhelming. I see the students who are absorbing what I’m teaching them, and who are using my knowledge and the help I have to offer to heart, they are clear in my vision, but I also see the students who aren’t. Each class period, I can’t help but be disheartened by the students who are careless. I’m trying to understand what the reason for this attitude is, and for many it’s clear – it’s the language barrier or it’s the peer pressure of high school and being a tough guy. Even with this in mind, it’s still hard to accommodate to that, and it’s difficult to serve students with lessons how each of them need it, because they all use their brains in different ways. Some days I have insights into what I can change – like when I see the students who sleep through class finally engage when I work with them independently, and that feels good. On another note, teaching is interesting because of the random things that happen when I least expect them. Sometimes these are funny, sometimes they’re stressful, and sometimes they’re frustrating. The first thing that will come to mind when I think of funny stuff will be when I blew a snot rocket in class. I was laughing at a student who was attempting to teach the class and I just so happened to have a stuffy nose that day. With my laugh came out a ginormous blob of snot that flew into my hand. At least I was teaching about outer space that day, so it was fitting. Stressful situations occur often as well – especially when I’m asked what religion I am and am handed a book of Mormon in response, or made fun of for being the ‘palagi’ teacher and being talked about by my students in Samoan. And then there are the frustrations – issues with administration and DOE and their expectations, times when students come in to tell me they think that a scratch can cause breast cancer and wounds can be cured with cigarettes, and criticisms from other educators that are not constructive. Finally, teaching is interesting because it’s unexpectedly rewarding. Last week, as we were learning about oceans, where they came from, and earth’s start, some of my students brought up the issue of evolution, and asked me what I thought about it. While it’s a subject that I know I have to tread cautiously in, especially in such a religious community, it’s incredible to see students who are questioning things in life and making their own observations on things. Another student came up to me and asked me if Donald Trump’s new presidency would affect his chances of going to school in the states, or if it would affect how he would be treated if he did. As an adolescent, it’s easy to retain information and disregard having an opinion, because we’ve been told that ours is not important for so long, so when I see my students asking me things I didn’t ask them to think about, I want to jump for joy. It’s rewarding too, because my students can confide in me. There are many situations that some have come to me with situations that I don’t have a powerful response to, but listening and showing comfort has always seemed to help. I know that I can’t change the lives of all my students like I would want to, but I can already see some inspiration being passed on. Science is cool, so is being a good person, and I hope my students at least learn that.
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It’s mid-November and homesickness is starting to kick in. Being away from family and friends is difficult, but having a community of close friends helps immensely. But it’s the seasons and comfort of the holidays in New England that I miss the most. I miss the leaves changing colors, the crisp mornings that cause the first shivers of the year, even the changing of Starbucks cups to their controversial holiday design. I miss picking my favorite mutsu apple from its tree, and I’m already starting to miss Christmas lights covered in snow and aggressive Christmas advertisements at the mall. I’ll miss the political arguments that happen on Christmas, and Thanksgiving – Polish edition. I won’t be able to ice-skate in the public garden, or cry that my hands are freezing when I make snowballs. I won’t attempt to go snowboarding a few days before Christmas, or try to Instagram the perfect icy sunset. I really will miss seeing my breath, and slipping on black ice and bruising my tailbone. I appreciate the palm trees and the ocean and island life, but cold weather, know that I’ll miss you and all that’s come with you (even ice storms and power outages).
If anyone could send me some snow, that’d be much appreciated. Sugas and soles! Talofa! While I'd like to say that life has been hectic over here in AmSam, that wouldn't be a total truth. School has been filled with endless work, but laziness has also been one of my biggest vices. It has become really easy to spend Saturday laying in bed, catching up on sleep, hunger, and social media. Slowly but surely, though, we're creating adventure, and the experiences are becoming hilarious and irreplaceable.
Probably the most significant thing I've done in the last week is attend a service at a Mormon church. This sounds crazy, especially to me, since this is the last thing I ever thought I would find myself doing. Living by the motto of trying everything once, though, this was bound to happen in a country with such religious prevalence. I am not the most religious person in the world, I would put myself at the bottom of that spectrum, questioning everything and very skeptical of it all. I expected my visit to the mormon church to be filled with my internal anger and frustration and people endlessly trying to convert me. Surprisingly, it was not that. It was actually kind of normal. The service started out a bit weird, and I definitely noticed some things that would make me mad if I dwelled on them, but just being there and telling myself that people are different, it went well! Things got weird when one of the speakers started crying and then again when I awkwardly said that I would not stay for the 2 hour Sunday school, but hey it worked out. I can probably definitely say that I won't be going back, but I respect the different perspective of others and am firm in mine ('you do you'). In other news, Praxis tutoring has started! Starting just two weeks ago, Johannah and I have decided to spend our Saturday mornings tutoring for the writing section of the Praxis (the standardized test for teachers). These classes are part of the DOE of American Samoa's initiative to try to have most of their teachers be certified, since now, less than half are. This is a slightly alarming statistic, but hopefully with time and more programs like this tutoring one, things can start to change. It's so refreshing to tutor students who actually want to learn (who are also other teachers, which is weird). It feels different to be answering genuine questions and having stimulating conversations about back and forth. It also feels great to share my knowledge and have an impact on the community we are working for. What sucks is having to study for standardized tests on a Saturday morning, and so I give the teachers so much credit for actually coming to class. The worst thing that's happened all week has been finding a centipede in my house. First of all, let me say that the centipedes here are apparently a terrible bug to get in a scuffle with. Even their feet crawling on you irritates your skin greatly, and their bite causes intense pain. I AM SO SCARED OF THEM. I was hoping I'd get away with never seeing one. As if I don't have enough troubles with my house to begin with (too many bugs, too hot, nonfunctioning oven, cold water, broken screens, but beautiful residents at least <3), we found one of them! Let me set the scene - last week, I got home one night, scared because my roommate was sleeping over another house and I was all alone. I'm scared of the dark, so I was just trying to breath and get over my fear, and it worked! I fell asleep calmly and woke up rested. When I went to the bathroom in the morning I saw a black thing in my bedroom doorway. Thinking it was a hair elastic, I just stepped over it. When I got back from the bathroom though, I noticed it had FEET. Then I got closer and noticed it had A LOT of feet. FML it was a centipede. I tried to step on it (with shoes on don't worry) but I just kind of freaked out, and I cried. So I got my earth and space science text book and slammed it down on it and twisted it around for about a minute to ensure it was dead. I left that book there for a full day because I didn't want to look at the dead devil. Now, I probably have a whole family of centipedes looking for vengeance. If I die by centipede attack - mom and dad, I love you. At least my kids thought it was funny when I gave them an example of how not to use their textbook. (Okay, I'm being dramatic, but my fears are real!) On the other hand, the happiest moment of my entire month has been getting a CSA box. CSA stands for community supported agriculture, so buying a CSA box is a way of purchasing fresh veggies and fruits from a regional farmer. A program called 'SuperStar Produce' does this every week, distributing $20 boxes with LOADS of goodies, and also DELICIOUS plates of food for a great dinner! I'd been waiting long for this CSA box to enter into my life, and I finally got it last week. Johannah and I decided to split the box, which was a fantastic idea since even half seems to be too much for me for a week (too much food is never a bad thing, though). In the box, we got: niu (baby coconuts), sweet potatoes, baby eggplants, egg mangoes, LOCAL AVOCADOS (zomg), star fruit, pickles, limes, bananas (tons of bananas), hot peppers, papaya, abiu (an interesting fruit that's like a caramel flavored pineapple), and pumpkins (hello fall?)!! If you're not sold yet on how amazing this is, we also got a plate of delicious smoked fish on salad with homemade dressing, local corn and sunflower seeds with corn bread croutons. HEAVEN. To make this even better, the pickup of the box is always a party - filled with people equally as excited about the box, drinking moonshine and having a good time. So let me change 'HEAVEN' to 'HEAVEN x 10'. It's weird to think about life right now - living on a really small island, really REALLY far from home, with people I've only known for not even 3 months, doing something I've never done before and don't know too much about (though I'm learned a lot really quickly), and dealing with an environment that's the opposite of everything I know. Yeah, it's definitely weird. But it's the little things that have made all the difference. Picking up a CSA box, hugging my 'inner circle', drinking a cup of the dunkin donuts coffee that I splurged too much on, eating coconut ice cream from a local ice cream shop, putting in headphones and drifting away to my spotify playlist, or watching Elf (which I've shamelessly done twice) - it's these things that keep me grounded. I'm kind of confused where life is taking me, but I do know that I'm getting somewhere somehow. It's also weird to think about where I'll be next year at this time, but I try not to dwell on that. I'm focusing on the now and forgetting about the rest because if I don't do that, I'm gonna cause myself a lot of stress (didn't even mean for that to rhyme lolz). Just some pictures, because pictures are cool.
Culture shock - noun; the feeling of disorientation experienced by someone who is suddenly subjected to an unfamiliar culture, way of life, or set of attitudes. Culture shock (familiar) - when World Teach volunteers freak out about coming to American Samoa because they don't know how to tie their lava-lava and mispronounce the word 'tulou', but are coming to appreciate the beautiful country, generous people, and unique customs that has become their home. I came to American Samoa with little expectations. I read my WorldTeach handbook and looked up some interesting facts about the country I would spend the next year in (mostly just listened to my mom tell me stuff), but I purposely spent little time reading blogs and doing much else. For some reason, I thought that coming into this experience knowing little, and adapting to things as they came, would be the best way to go about my adjustment to Samoan Culture. I'm still unsure if this was the right way, but one thing I do know is that for most of us volunteers, this experience is different than we ever imagined it would be, and each day brings new, exciting, and sometimes frustrating challenges. In the past few weeks, we've learned how beautiful the culture we live in is, and how difficult it is to explain our experience without experiencing it for oneself. I'll try to relay some examples of what I mean, but know that experiences are different for everyone; what some people find unusual, others have found commonplace, but here's what I have been intrigued by so far: 1. Respect: Samoa is by far one of the most respectful cultures I've ever had the pleasure to live in. From the custom of never standing and eating, to always saying excuse me when passing in front of someone, every common practice is done with regard. At first, it seemed tedious to keep track of when and how to act respectfully, but after some time (and lots of practice), it's starting to become natural (almost). With lots to remember, though, it’s stressful to think of messing a situation up – of wearing a skirt too short (above knee length), or of eating at the wrong time, but the most important thing I’ve learned to remember is the kindness and acceptance of Samoans. It’s the respect of culture and attempting to understand the customs that’s the most important, and mistakes are bound to happen. So when my lava lava (a Samoan skirt tied around the waist) falls off, I embrace it, smile, and try to tie it a bit better next time. 2. On that note....Kindness. Have you ever been to place where hitchhiking is the norm?! If it’s something you want to experience, come on over the American Samoa. Countless times, random cars have pulled over to my friends and I to ask if we needed a ride anywhere. This simple gesture explains the kindness of Samoans, which is always apparent. Being in a culture so different than my own, it’s comforting to be welcomed so open-heartedly and with such warm smiles. 3. Volleyball skill. ‘Polynesian Volleyball Players’ should never be messed with. If you ask most people in AmSam if they play volleyball, they’d probably say no, then proceed to pick up a ball and school you. Playing volleyball is just a way of life. Pick up games happen every day, and backyard rules are the only rules. Johannah and I continue to be brushed off when we ask to join an intramural team, probably because our skills would be embarrassing. Maybe if I practice enough some of the talent will brush off on me so I can finally fulfill my dreams of being a professional volleyball player (laugh-out-loud). 4. Environment: in such a beautiful place, it’s obvious that some of the favorite past times in American Samoa are swimming and hanging out at the beach. On a free day, or even after work, people of all ages crowd the water and fry up barbecues on the sand. While the ocean and island is appreciated so much, it’s also worth noticing the way the environment is regarded. Signs saying ‘Keep American Samoa Beautiful’ line the road to remind Samoans to keep their litter in the trash, but plastic usage is abundant and recycling is not a thing. It’s interesting to see where priorities lie, and curious to wonder about when the practices may catch up with the community. Regardless, we live in the most beautiful place ever. Sorry not sorry. 5. Buses: Random but really important to talk about. BUSES HERE ROCK. Step into the road, wave down a bus, and walk onto a magical world. Most likely, you’ll be on a colorful converted truck, with wooden seats, maybe some boas and beads, possibly a tv that’s showing a Korean Drama, Bollywood film, or WWE fight. Without fail, you’ll always jam out to reggae-samoan remixes of your favorite songs, or of classics you didn’t think could be remixed (like ‘My Heart Will Go On’, for instance). They turn in every which direction, dropping people off wherever they need to go, no specific route, and absolutely no schedule. It’s an experience, for sure. Just hope you don’t catch a bus driving tuna workers back from the cannery… Sorry for the rambling but, for the 800th time, this country is amazing. Different than I expected and challenging, but enlightening and fun all the same. #visitamericansamoa2016 The work weeks are long and the days seem endless, but when it finally hits the weekend, I breath a sigh of relief and get ready for another adventure. While teaching teenagers is awesome, and school is a good place, nothing beats the sunburns I've been getting on Saturday and the inevitable wrinkly fingers that happen after we've been swimming all weekend.
We've finally started getting out and venturing to places we've never been and crossing items off the bucket list. Last weekend, for instance, started off with watching the sunrise from the 'tramway' point in a village called utulei. The tramway is just as it sounds, an abandoned tramway that has a creepy old, rusty cable car and a lookout point that has a perfect view of the water. The sunrise brought up deep conversation (and not so deep discussions about coffee) and once it finally hit, it was breathtaking. I'm still trying to decide what's better - sunrise or sunset, but this day definitely gave some points to sunrises (lmk if you have any arguments for one or the other). Our next stop was the market place, where we ate pancakes and koko rice. I know you're thinking that pancakes are delicious, but just wait until you come to AmSam and taste these. The Samoans' version of pancakes are fried dough balls, which can't really be beat! Koko rice, on the other hand, is probably something you've never had, but should!! It's a cream with rice and koko samoa, the country's delicious local chocolate. After acquiring food babies, we made our way to the beach, where we celebrated 'coastal week' in support of a healthy coast here in American Samoa. It's here that we got our gnarly sunburns, attempted to long boat, and I rode a jetski for the first time! To finish it off well, although I was not allowed to go in the blow up slides at the celebration, I did win a Samoa bracelet that I will cherish forever (except I've already lost it). Like most Saturday nights here, a few of us spent it in McDonalds, crying that the ice cream machine was broken but happy with our mcnugget meal. To tie the weekend together, after lesson planning as best we could, with a new hilarious friend (Teejay), I drank my first ever milkshake. This one was special, as it was made by a guy with a jerry curl and accompanied by gushers. Weekend = success. The fact that we had to go back to work = yikes. In Samoan, Sole is the word for 'dude'. It's pretty quickly become my favorite and most used word - along side 'seki' which means awesome (obviously) in the Samoan language, and I have amazing new friends and welcoming people to thank for that. The past three weeks have gone by incredibly fast, but also incredibly slow. Each day drags on, but the weekends comes and goes in the blink of an eye. After passing through the initial 'I'm a teacher' shock, the job has become more challenging. Students are getting more comfortable; testing my behavior policies, losing motivation, and getting more and more angsty. As a perfectionist, myself, it's been hard to try to keep track of everything. When I want everything to go as planned, that's when things go awry. These are things I'm learning to deal with though, and I've found that the trick to going with the flow is to flow with confidence. This is just another stepping stone in the path towards adapting to this new life - it's all gonna be seki :) The most important thing that's kept a huge smile on my face in these past weeks is the relationships that have grown. It's so exciting to meet a friend you click with right away - it's a relief when they tell you they love the same ice cream flavor, and an even bigger relief when you realize you feel comfortable belting out "All I Want for Christmas" in their car, even though you can't sing and it's only September....these are besties! Basically, this post is cheesy and I'd just like take this moment and give a shout out to all the soles who have made this adaptation to island life come with ease. You rock, don't know what I'd do without you! Stay cool...hags WE SURVIVED DAY ONE as teachers. What?! It is so crazy to believe that my job title now is 'high school science teacher', I feel like I was JUST on the other side of the classroom, falling in love with science, falling asleep in class, and getting started on the journey to get me here, so that happened fast. Let me take this moment to commend and appreciate all the teachers in the world. I never realized how hard this job is, but I have already caught a glimpse of how many challenges it will bring this year. The other high school teachers, those from American Samoa, say that being in this environment is even different than teaching in the states. Here in American Samoa, the teachers wear every hat and fill every job. We are teachers, counselors, advisors, friends, nurses, custodians, and the list goes on. Yesterday, one of my students had a severe nosebleed and I momentarily panicked when the students told me their was no nurse and that I should call the Emergency Medical Service (aka the ambulance). But I took a deep breath, put on the hat of school nurse, and helped my student make his way to the counselor and handle his nosebleed. What a rush. This also happened to throw me off for my next period, my worst period, 1st period. That's how life works, I guess. I was so calm, collected, and ready to manage my toughest class, and then something unpredictable threw me off my game. I'm expecting a lot of that this year. So far, it's been especially hard teaching kids whose names I can't pronounce at all. The name Matainafuala'au, for example, does NOT roll easily off the tongue. Then there's the student whose name is Taei, and he's still convinced I'm saying his name wrong. I've repeated his explanation 'Ta - ayyy' at least 10 times, and I'm still getting something wrong. Clearly, my Samoan language skills are coming along really well (jokes). Shelby, the other world teacher at Tafuna High School, and I have a much different experience than the other volunteers. We are the only high school teachers in the program this year (on the main island, at least). While our roommates talk about cute students bringing them mangoes, we talk about the boys and girls going through their most angsty years. It's an exciting time of their lives to be a part of, I really feel that the messages we convey in our teaching and in who we are will have an effect on some of our students. I've started off the year asking my students what they want to do after high school, since their juniors, and should be starting to think about this. Most of them answer that they want to join the army, or that they want to go to college, both of which are really exciting. Others say they want to find a job and provide for their family or play football, also good goals. I'm trying to teach them that all of these goals require for them to put in their best effort, and that's what I'm expecting of them this year. I'm slightly surprised by the amount of students whose english is still poor. Some of my roommate's fourth graders speak with similar english skill as my students, but that'll be another challenge. Since English was my second language, and I've taught in ESL classes, I let the students know that I'm here to help them, and they shouldn't be scared of the things they don't know, just open to learn (holla at rule #3 - come prepared with yours brain). I have yet to go over what we'll be covering this year in Earth and Space Science, and I'm really expecting to learn a lot myself. Today I learned that earth was just narrowly missed by an asteroid this weekend that probably would've killed us all if it came a little bit closer? That's insane!! This year is going to be fun. There's so much more to explain about what it's like to be teaching in American Samoa, but I have yet to wrap my brain around a lot of them. Right now, all I can think of is that I cannot WAIT for the weekend. It might be a 4 day weekend to celebrate labor day (because they obviously can't have festivities on Monday they're scheduling them for Friday and canceling school). That would be sick. Our plans are to hike the tallest mountain on this island, to go to the market on friday night for some yummy food, to play volleyball and hopefully do lots of swimming, and to get our dance on at ice breakers (oh yeah, and probably prepare lesson plans for next week...maybe...jk). Also on an a completely unrelated-to-school note, I can now play THREE songs on the ukelele, and one of them is somewhere over the rainbow, sooooo look out for my debut album, dropping soon :) Until next time!! PS - the reason for the title of this post - the bell never rings on time...'island time' means any time in schools, so I just blabber on and on until the chime to tell us to go to lunch. TL;DR - Teachers rock. Orientation is now officially over :( Today was the last day that all us World Teach volunteers were together for one last teaching session. Tomorrow, our last Manu'a volunteers will fly to the secluded island, which boasts one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. Us on the main island probably won't see them until Christmas. With school starting Monday, we're finally starting our (semi) real life here on the island. I"ve finally found out the subject I'll be teaching, and it's 11th Grade Earth and Space Science! Maybe I'll pass on my secret dream of becoming an astronaut to a few young Samoans. My classroom is already painted a vibrant yellow , thanks to the World Teacher from last year, but it is filled with rat poop and dust, so I've still got some cleaning to do. All of my desks are broken, so I'll be fixing them with duct tape until we (maybe) get a new set. Worse, today I tried to mop the floor but I think I just made it more dirty...woops. Besides being introduced to our classrooms and our subjects, I also got to meet members of the Tafuna High School staff this morning at a workshop. Each of the teachers seem dedicated to their jobs but funny and don't take themselves too seriously. We touched on the importance of making sure every student is learning, in whatever way he or she does best, and the value of recognizing the issues present in the classroom. I've heard horror stories about the attitude problems in high schools in American Samoa, Tafuna High School in particular. I was told to be firm and not put up with bullshit, and to make sure my students know that from day 1, so this weekend I will be practicing and mastering my stern face. Next door to me is an older teacher from India who will be teaching Marine Science, and who has been teaching here for 10 years. I'm hoping I can use her for expertise and learn from her methods. The school that I'll be teaching at, Tafuna High School, is the biggest high school in American Samoa and, like any large school, is an extremely proud and successful one. The football program is an important aspect of the school (Go Warriors), and even better, we have a pretty great Volleyball team! I talked to the coach, Lydia, today about getting involved with the girls volleyball team, and she encouraged me to try to help out and be an administrator and travel with them. Pretty coincidentally, Lydia completed her undergrad at Yale, and that's where she learned to play volleyball. What are the odds that two people who both went to school in Connecticut (years and years apart) play volleyball in American Samoa together?? It's become a common thing, though, to realize these coincidences. It's actually unbelievable how small the world gets once you travel as far as you can go. Sure this island is small and similarities are bound to arise, but we're in the middle of the pacific ocean! I didn't even know where this place was a few months ago!! Yet here I am, finding comfort in the fact that my roommate is from NH and will also miss snow just as much as I will. For now I'll get back to cleaning the classroom, and attempting to get things ready for the first day of school. Fa Felicia! AHH MOSQUITOS. Here’s a list of some of the diseases that can be transferred by mosquitos here in American Samoa: Dengue, Chikunguya, Zika, Elephantitis. YIKES. If you’re a hypochondriac, like me, this sounds terrifying. Luckily, being informed helps out, and some of those fears go away (but I still think I’m bound to get Zika), so let me share some knowledge with you! First of all, it’s interesting to note that mosquitoes aren’t attracted everyone equally. There are a lot of factors that might make some people more susceptible to bug bites, like blood type. People with type O blood (like me, ugh) are on average bitten twice as many times as those with Type A, and Type B’s lie somewhere in the middle. This could explain why I’m always a big walking mosquito bite. Other factors like metabolism, what color you’re wearing, breathing, and drinking beer could also influence how often you get bit by mosquitoes, so be careful where you breath! On to illnesses - the first disease, and the most common one you can get here is Dengue Fever. As it sounds, it’s a nasty disease that causes a high fever, headaches, vomiting, and joint pain. It’s usually not fatal though, and just boils down to feeling crappy for a few weeks. The disease is spread by an Aedes mosquito, mostly A. aegypti. The most effective treatment is simply to stay hydrated and take anti-inflammatories if needed. As Karim told us when he came in to speak – “If you can drink water, you will survive, just keep drinking. If you can’t drink water, you’re going to die, go to the hospital.” Next comes Chikunguya. What a funky name for a scary disease! The chikunguya virus causes a fever for a little under a week, but then joint pain that lasts a few days, to weeks, even months. The disease is spread by the same type of mosquito, Aedes. There’s no treatment, besides managing the pain and staying hydrated. Luckily, American Samoa isn’t having an outbreak at the moment, which is when you should be worried. The watch is at level 1 – practicing usual precautions. Up next, we have our star disease at the moment, ZIKA! Zika has been causing uproar all over the world since it’s spreading quickly, and is still a pretty mysterious disease. The warning from my travel physician was to protect myself from mosquito bites, as it’s the mosquitos that pick up Zika from hosts that spread it, but that it can also spread as a sexually transmitted disease. The main issue with Zika is the issues involved in pregnancies. While Zika can cause fever, headaches, and normal symptoms of flu, if you are pregnant, it can cause some severe birth defects in your child. The symptoms vary based on regions of the world, which is because of the strand of the virus that is spread. Some doctors warn to not get pregnant for a few years after traveling to an infected country, while my doctor only suggested a few months. That’s proof that the distributed information on the disease is so different. Even scarier, new studies are being conducted every day, pointing to the impact Zika may have on the adult brain. Needless to say, it’s a frightening disease because of the uncertainty that it brings. It has been around briefly, so its long-term impacts are unknown. Key advice for traveling in American Samoa: don’t help spread Zika, where bugspray and use condoms. Finally, the last scary word on that list was ELEPHANTITIS. When I heard this uttered by our director, my jaw dropped, it sounds terrifying! I pictured myself swelling up and prancing around this island like a big ole’ sweaty elephant, yikes! Don’t panic, though, this elephantitis is not the one you’re thinking of. Sure, it would still suck, but it’s a little less daunting when you understand it. I don’t know about you, but when I think elephantitis, I think of elephant man, or the genetic disorder, called Proteus Syndrome. TERRIFYING! This is not that. The elephantitis you can get here on the island is Lymphatic filariasis, which often has no symptoms. It is spread by parasitic worms, which is spread by mosquitoes. The worms damage your lymphatic system and those who get symptoms develop elephantiasis, including swelling in arms, legs, and genitals. It’s not too common, so we shouldn’t worry (I hope). So, there you have it! Don’t be afraid of mosquitoes, just wear lots of deet bug spray and cover your legs with a lava-lava! |
AuthorThe only way to find yourself is to get lost (and eat a lot of ice cream). Archives
January 2017
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