Retrospective 1: Scene from the Plane

Day 11: A Good Day in HNL; On My Way Home

Well, unless I come up with some retrospective to post in the next couple of days, this will be the last thing I put up. Waikiki was amazing today--warm weather, bright sun, cool water, warm sand, all good. Spent a big chunk of the day recovering from the near-sleepless night on Hawaiian Air #277. Overall, it was a beautiful end to a beautiful journey.

Day 10: Heading Back to Honolulu

Well, the end to a great trip has come. We're heading out to Honolulu tonight, and I'll be back in Houston by noon on Tuesday. Good times.

Overnight flight from Pago Pago to Honolulu. I barely slept an hour on that flight. Got another overnighter tonight, from HNL to IAH. Def going to be tired when I arrive at school Tuesday morning.

Day 9: Scenes from Snorkeling and Hanging Out at Tisa's Beach

Perfect day at the beach. We started out thinking that I would see lots of new sights around the island. Soon, however, we all realized that we were pretty worn out and ready to just chill. So we made one stop, back at Tisa's (where we had a umu feast earlier in the week), and it was all we needed. The sand was soft, the sun was warm, the sea was full of life and beauty. (No kidding, we must have seen more than 100 species of fish while snorkeling the reef.) An absolutely perfect postlude to our week on the island.

We'll head back for the mainland tomorrow night. It's been an incredible trip, but I miss the kid and the wife quite a lot after 10 days away, so I'll be ready to head back when it's time.

Day 9: Last Full Day, At Tisa's Beach

Day 8: Birthday Singing in Samoan

Day 8: Tupa'i: Manuia lou aso fanau!

The Chief's 60th birthday party was a good time. A long time (4 hours), but a good time. Met some very interesting people, like Pete, who is the Acting Director of the Dept. of Agriculture on the island (and who, in the '90's, almost singlehandedly saved the Island staple Taro from a deadly bacteria), his wife Dona who is a Deputy Director in the Dept. of Education. Then, there was Lawrence and Jane French. Larence is well into his 70's now, but has led a very interesting life (30+ years of which they have lived in Samoa). A standout story about Lawrence is when he and his 2 sons took a small sailboat on the open Pacific from the Hawaiian Islands to the Samoan Islands (about 2400 miles). Leasi's wife hosted the party. She is a director at the local community college. The entire guest list read like this, and I heard many interesting voices and heard great stories. Happy Birthday, Chief.

Day 8: Painter Wears a Skirt

According to my son, who asked my wife this week, "When is Daddy going to wear a skirt?", I wore a "skirt" to the Chief's birthday party on Friday night. It's actually called a lava lava, and truthfully it was pretty comfortable. Shorts underneath are recommended.

Fa'a Painter: Deconstruction is What I Do

Day 8: HIgh School Visits: Pix from Samoana H. S.

Somaona students head to lunch.







An English III class plays charade/pictionary Jeopardy with SAT vocab words.









Art students have decorated some of the outside walls with their mascot (the sharks) and a mural featuring traditional Samoan symbols and figures.