Today Sam and I participated in a "Mormon Helping Hands" service project. Stake members got up early (that is, the white folks got up early and the Samoans and other natives showed up an hour later) to pick up trash at Ke'ehi lagoon park. We can't complain because the Samoans brought the food.
Our ward is made up of Hickam and Pearl Harbor members, so we don't have much "Polynesian flare". However the rest of the stake is made up Hawaiians and Samoans, so the service project was a great chance to interact more naturally with the "kama 'aina" or natives. A little something about Samoans: if it ever came down to a fist fight, they could totally beat me up. They are bulky and squat. Thankfully, they were very nice, very hospitable and took kindly to white mainlanders like me and Sam, who butted right in, ate their food and tried to speak Samoan (I'm exaggerating a little- we didn't eat ALL their food).
So, some observations:
- All of the men sat in one group and all of the women sat in another group. I'm not sure if that's a cultural thing or just how it turned out.
- Even though they brought all of the food, they filled up large to go boxes with food and fed all of the white folks first. They brought us napkins, refilled our drinks, and brought around trays with sweet breads. When I tried to help by passing out the drinks they looked at me funny and told me to sit down and eat my food- lovingly of course. Silly haole.
- They know how to eat. I felt like a missionary who's expected to eat everything or I'll offend someone. Lucky for me, I liked everything they offered. Also lucky for me, they handed out to go boxes so I could take my meal home.
- I need to get a lava-lava. It's a sarong wrap and men and women wear them, either alone, with jeans, or with shorts. They look cool and breezy.
The food:
- Imagine this: Freshly mashed pineapple and pineapple juice mixed with sweet milk and ice. I'm drooling thinking about it! I had three glasses of this stuff, it was sooooooo good. Not overly sweet. Very refreshing.
- Taro donuts. I grabbed what looked like a chocolate donut, only to bite into it and eat a purple sweet bread. Nope, it's not dyed, its made from Taro root. I had some of this stuff at the luau. It's very yummy when prepared as a mashed potato.
- Hot Chocolate rice. Boil the rice like normal, then add hot chocolate mix and a banana leaf- at least I think it was a banana leaf. It was something weird and unexpected. It tasted like hot chocolate but had something extra to it.
- Gravy dumpling: They called it a gravy, but it's not salty or savory like a gravy. It made me think of a sweet Thai sauce, thick and dark poured over dense biscuits. It had a nice ginger flavor to it.
- Fried pancake: It's just like it sounds. They drop pancake batter into a frier so that it looks more like a biscuit. I think they add more sugar to the batter because it tasted sweeter than normal pancake batter. I first thought it was fried chicken (think Chinese style fried chicken), but there's nothing inside it. You eat it plain without any sauce.
- Plantains dipped in a creamy sweet sauce. The sauce almost looked like mayonnaise, and there may have been some in it, but it was sweet. Maybe they used coconut milk. Either way it was sweet, but because they used plantains it wasn't too sweet. I really enjoyed it.
- Thick custard pies: really thick custard in pie filling.
- Gelatinous noodles mixed with veggies (but not ones I easily recognized), with meat chopped up fine. It had a nice ginger taste and reminded me of Chinese food.
We had a great time. It was just the cultural experience I've been itching for- not hokey or cliche. Some women told me to come over to their home and live like a Samoan. I said I'd love to, but I'd probably gain 50 pounds.
Our word of the day was Fa'afetai (thank you)!!
And Mahalo to you!
Hey guys just wanted to say we've been loving keeping up with you and your adventures through your blog! Such a great idea! We are hoping you get your car soon and that u keep posting :) love you!
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