12/24/07
At midnight as Christmas Day begins, Mary’s once a week Air New Zealand flight leaves for the U.S. and a two week visit to see our children. She arrives 9:00 pm Christmas Day. There are three other Peace Corps Volunteers joining her on her leg to Los Angles. During her limited stay she is trying to use her time for our family. If she didn’t tell you she was coming, please don’t feel slighted. Triaging her time is hard. I thought it too soon to return after all the hardships of adjusting to life in Samoa. I also didn’t want to miss Christmas and New Years in Samoa.
The reaction by our host family to Mary leaving without me was unexpected. They had a hard time understanding why she was traveling alone and without me. They wanted to arrange a large gathering of relatives to escort her to the airport. It is what Samoans do. Mary did explain that in our culture it was permitted for a woman to travel alone. But one never knows what is lost in translation.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment