Jay and Hannah's Wedding, Day 2

September 4, 2011

Dance Instruction

To get ready for the first dance, a Samoan one, at the wedding reception a little instruction and practice was needed. Ladies went with Hannah who instructed the ladies on Samoan movements and how women are to be aloof, teasing them, but “not really” to notice the wild movements and yelling of the half-naked men gesticulating around them. Meanwhile Jay instructed the men that they were to be like roosters, crowing about and puffing out their feathers in hopes of attracting a hen or two.

More activities

Rugby

Softball

Jogging

The Wedding Ceremony

One of the reasons Jay and Hannah picked this camp was the hillside site high above a West Virginia lake where they would exchange their vows. As luck would have it, minutes before the ceremony was to begin, it began to rain. Hannah had a backup plan to have the ceremony in the same building as the reception. This proved to save the day; not as picturesque, but certainly drier. I had the honor to act as “officiate” for the ceremony, being both part Rabbi, representing Hannah’s side of the family, and part Faifea’u, Samoan minister, for Jay’s part of the family. The ceremony was conducted under a Huppah, ending with Jay stomping on a glass while everyone yells “Mazel Tov!”

The Huppah, messages were written to the couple on the cloth quilt

The wedding party is coming

Taking their vows

"Although I have no power vested in me, I now pronouce you man and wife"

Exiting processional

The Reception

At the reception there were toasts from the Maid of Honor, Kate Everett, Best Man, Sonny (Jay’s Samoan cousin from Seattle) along with the Mother and Father of the Bride. The fun started with the first dance as Hannah performed her graceful moves while Jay did his Samoan male part of wildly dancing around her. Then the others joined with a wild passion, not even hoped for during practice earlier in the day. We were all Samoans. The party had begun.

Note: Due to the unwritten rules of Peace Corps Volunteers many parts of the reception have been excluded.

Wedding cake top with cup cakes of sea colored frosting and tropical ingredients

Bride and Groom starting First Dance

Group 78 attendees
Front: Kate Everett, Mary Shuraleff, Hannah Goldman, Christian Heath, Erin Jenkins

Rear: Jacob Burney, Nick Shuraleff, Donna Barr, Justin Newnum

Peace Corps attendees

Front: Cale and Sara Reeves, Laura Hanks, Kate Everett, Hannah Goldman,Sally Briggs,Erin Jenkins, Eric Geer

Rear: Nick Shuraleff, Megan Veltrie, Jacob Burney, Donna Barr, Justin Newnum, Christian Heath, Stephanie Hue

Script of Wedding Ceremony (Written by Hannah and Jay)
Processional
Huppah with Uncle Steve, Mom, Dad, and Donna (due to illness did not hold Huppah)

Nick

6 members of the wedding party one at a time

Leiga

Hannah

Hannah circles Jay 3 times

Introduction

Nick: Beloved family of friends, we are gathered on this beautiful hillside to celebrate the marriage of Hannah and Jay. This is a joyous occasion when we get to witness the joining of two lives and two unique families. Jay and Hannah are dedicating their lives to each other and embarking on a lifelong adventure that will be exhilarating, enlightening and challenging. Fortunately, they have already shown they have all the tools needed for this journey: patience, mutual respect and the ability to find joy in every day. They will use these tools to face together whatever life throws their way, be it good times or hard times. To symbolize the sweetness of a life shared by loving spouses, Jay and Hannah will share a cup of wine.

Prayer over the wine by Jay

Jay: Baruch atah adonai elohainu melech haolam, borei pre hagafen.

Jay offers sip to Hannah, then Hannah offers sip to Jay

Nick's comments on couple

Introduction to vows

Nick: Marriage is a lifelong commitment to be celebrated, yet taken with care and reflection. A bride and groom speak aloud their promises to each other during their vows and will from then on, wear a reminder of those vows on their ring finger. Before Jay and Hannah make those vows, they have asked that you bless their union and their rings by warming them with your well wishes and your hands. When a ring reaches you please hold it just for a moment, and take the opportunity to make a silent wish or prayer for the couple. Then pass the ring on to the next person so that when returned, the rings are all the more precious for containing your love and support for their union.

Ring Warming

Vows/Rings (Each line is repeated by Hannah or Jay, Hannah first)

Nick: Please repeat after me

I, Hannah/Jay

Take you Jay/Hannah

To be my beloved husband/wife

To love and to cherish

To respect and to protect

All the days of my life

For richer and for poorer

In sickness and in health

And in all the times in between

I promise

To never stop laughing, singing or dancing

To always sleep naked

And to always be your equal and loving partner

Take this ring as a symbol of my everlasting love and devotion

Nick: Although I have no power vested in me by anyone, I now pronounce you husband and wife. Jay, you may kiss your bride! (Kiss)

Jay smashes glass and everyone yells “Mazel Tov!”

Recessional (bride and groom first)

Jay and Hannah’s Wedding, Day 1

September 3, 2011
Prologue

Leiga (Jay) and Hannah at my Samoan house (2009)

Hannah Goldman was a Peace Corps with Mary and my Peace Corps Group 78. At our Samoan training village of Manunu, Hannah saw Leiga (Jay) Iamanu as he performed on Sunday with the village’s church youth group in June, 2007. Attracted by Jay’s winning smile, and dance moves, Hannah wanted to meet him. As fate would have it, Jay likewise spotted Hannah as a person he would like to meet. Since Jay was living with the church’s pastor and “dating” even among Samoans is still in the developmental stage it took a kind fairy in the form of Peace Corps Volunteer, Donna Barr, who was also living with the pastor to suggest they meet. They did, and the rest was history.

Mary and I were met at Dulles Airport by another Peace Corps from our Group 78, Christian Heath, who had arrived a few hours earlier from Vietnam, flying through two sunrises to make it to the wedding on time. Jacob Burny, also from Group 78, picked us up as we headed to the hills of West Virginia, guided by Rachel, Jacob’s GPS friend.

The Wedding Venue

Jay and Hannah live in Pittsburgh, but the wedding took place at the summer camp, Camp Tall Timbers, in High View, West Virginia. The entire camp with all its facilities was needed to house and entertain the approximately 80 guests from around the country. As you might expect, a bell was rung to announce planned activities blocks. Sleeping arrangements were in cabins, meals of good, hearty summer camp style food.

Activities

Frisbee football

Fun in the pool Eric Geer trying for a 10 score belly flop

Sara Reeves with her much better camera than mine

Evening Program

The highlight of the evening program was a CD made of Jay’s family members in Samoa as each wished their son, brother, or relative best wishes and blessings from God along with invitation to bring his new wife back to their Samoan home. Even though everyone spoke in Samoan, the tears in their eyes spoke a language all could understand. The CD arrived the day before and Jay had not seen it before. Jay and Hannah talking about how they met and translating his family's messages Handing out gifts to wedding party

Peace Corps Attendees

Kate Everett, Donna Barr, Erin Jenkins, Justin and Anna Newnum, Jacob Burney, Christian Heath, Nick and Mary Shuraleff, Stephanie Hsu, Eric and Mrs. Geer, Laura Hanks and friend, Roco?, Meghan Veltri, Sally Briggs, Sara and Cale Reeves

Flocculation

September 1, 2011

Clear Extra Virgin Organic Coconut Oil as it usually appears in Samoa

Same oil undergoing flocculation in Minnesota

Extra virgin organic coconut oil is the main economic venture promoted by the NGO, Women in Business Development(WIBD), with whom I was associated during my Health Challenge project in Samoa. The oil is wonderful stuff used by Samoans for body massages and hair oil, some others for cooking, and exported to the Body Shop in the U.K. to make cosmetics. When the bottles of coconut oil I brought back turned from a crystal clear liquid to a white solid, I began to wonder why. This could be a serious problem.

A clue to the puzzle is on the label of a coconut massage oil I brought back from Samoa in 2009. It states the oil turns solid under 72 degrees F. It is also the reason why this massage oil has never been used by me in Minnesota and why my clear oil turned to a solid. These are conditions never experienced in Samoa.

My emails to WIBD about my observations have so not been replied. This may give you some idea of the conditions I experienced in Samoa.

Nick and the Kava Stick

August 30, 2011
To most people it looks like a stick of wood.

To Departments of Agriculture it may contain destructive insects in its which must be properly wrapped and certified pest-free before leaving Samoa.

To Customs Officials it is a drug (Piper methysicum, intoxicating pepper).

To missionaries it leads to sin and degradation.

To airline baggage handlers it is a pain in the butt.

To Samoans it is an important symbol of the Ava God, as the Peace Pipe is to American Indians.

To me it is one of the most important gifts I received in Samoa.

To the Chinese it is money worth trying to steal.

I really don't know the history behind this kava stick I was given by the village high chief during a Ava ceremony welcoming me to the Village of Tufulele before a health training session I was part of with the Ministry of Education, Sports, and Culture. I do know being offered the first cup of ava at the Ava ceremony means you are the honored person, or I have never seen one of the three sticks ever given to anyone else, or the fact that some of the ceremony was done in English for my benefit rather than in the highly formal spoken at village councils that even most Samoans do not understand. This is a very important piece of cellulose containing some great alkaloids.

So at the Honolulu airport baggage claim after customs, I set the kava stick against the wall along side of my luggage. A few moments later I see my stick moving off into the distance being carried by a well-dressed middle-aged Chinese woman. I run after the thief as she hurries away, grabbing the stick out of her hand. "What the hell?", I say to her. Since she probably does not speak English and I am too dumbfounded to say more, I just stand there in a dazed state as she disappears into the crowd.

Only a few billion people in the world understand the importance and significance of kava/ava, South Pacific islanders, China, and some Peace Corps. As for my kava stick, it needs to find a prominent spot in my Minneapolis house where it may hang until someone throws it into the fireplace on a cold winter's night and unexpectedly feels a sense of euphoria known to others for centuries.

Departing Thoughts

August 25, 2011

Was it worth it? I mean leaving my family to return to Samoa as a Peace Corps Response Volunteer.

For me, yes. For others, I guess you have to ask them.

What I wanted to do more than anything else was to significantly impact the way Samoans relate weight to health. Obesity is the “Elephant in the room”. It is so big as to be almost unrecognizable by those in the room and seemingly too big to tame. Yet, obesity is the reason why so many Samoans suffer from its effects of diabetes, hypertension, sleep disorders, gout, and joint problems. It saps the strength of this tiny and once vigorous nation.

Call it a gimmick or a stroke of understanding, but 5,000 pink vinyl wristbands, a Samoan BMI chart, and Biblical verses served as my entry into the Samoan mind. They served to demonstrate how a simple program, offering a simple message, and being demonstrated in a simple, yet Samoan way, can affect people’s behavior. The monster could be tackled, only if the “man in the mirror” cares to recognize the problem as his own.

It is now time to collect and analyze the data. A concluding report needs to be written and hopefully read. The data and report cannot convey the feeling of a woman who is having sex again or a person who feels better because a wristband can be slipped off a once chubby hand, or people walking, or drinking water, or taking the salt container off the table. Samoans, like anyone else in the world, want to look, feel, and be better.

What is next for me?

For the Peace Corps there is a report on ways volunteer teachers can provide some health education for children, parents, and teachers where none exists today, and to see if an organization would sponsor another Peace Corps Response Volunteer.

For my nascent efforts with the Ministry of Education, Sports, and Culture, their Sports for Development program and the Australian Sports Authority who are sponsoring that program, I have a sense of a continued relationship in the months ahead. Their combined resources are what are needed to affect real change.

Finally, it is off to a West Virginia mountain top camp, along with others who served with Mary and me, over Labor Day weekend to attend the wedding of Hannah Goldman and her Samoan fiancé, Jay. Then there is a trip to The Gambia in Africa next month to visit another Peace Corps Volunteer.

My Peace Corps luggage tag reads, “Life is calling. How far will you go?”

I wish I knew the answer.

I do know how lucky I am to have the opportunity to apply what few skills I possess and to have an understanding, supportive family.

Now it is time to start my 48 hour journey back home to those whom I love.

Dinner with Dale

August 24, 2011

Dale Withington is the Peace Corps Country Director in Samoa. He is also a former Peace Corps Volunteer in the Philippines and Country Director of Peace Corps in Micronesia. Probably his most noteworthy achievement is to marry, Lucy, whom he met while living in Indonesia. Besides being beautiful, Lucy is a great cook, and I love Indonesian food.

For my last dinner in Samoa, Dale invited me to join his other guests for one of Lucy’s “little meals”.

Dale Withington. Lucy, and family.
Lucy's meal.

Goodbye to Nick and Mary

August 22, 2011

The Nick and Mary I am talking about are the two children named after us. It is I who is saying the goodbye.

Sister Losa, nun and Kapeli's sister; Easter, Kapeli's daughter with her children, Malia and Nicholas at their new house in Moamoa, Apia.