Fun Packed Weekend.

As weekends go this one was quite fun..well we try to make every weekend fun but this was one of those special ones that you tuck away in ur memory vault and bring it out when occassion warrants it. Friday 28th we finally got our stipends for the month. (Mombusho has not been holding out on us I guess they just wanted to have all of us new/old students receive it at the same time***raised eyebrow.) It has been a long dry spell (we received our last one 22nd March) but luckily we have been quite good at stretching the odd buck.

Elsa and Lynette sharing a Kodack Moment

So of course after all the expenses were sorted out ( a few adjustments had to be made as the monthly allowance has decreased from 175,000 yen to a 172,000)we concentrated on our preparations for "The Freshmen Party".

: Mental note it was 180,000 yen when I arrived in the Spring of 2003, by the fall semester of the same year they informed us it was going to be decreased to a 175,000 and now it has dropped again huummm!!..) As mentioned in an earlier entry every Friday night my family and I attend this Bible Study at the Kamegawa Kuominkan. A Professor from the Philippines Dr Francisco Fellizar and his wife Dr Nectarinia have become our surrogate parents, helping us not only with our spiritual growth but also love and guidance as we go through our studies.

Elsa and Erlika from Indonesia goofin' around.

At the begining of every academic year we try to host a little welcome party for the new students. To let them know that there is a support group willing to help those who are homesick. Those who are open to a new outlook on life, willing to make new friends and be part of a bigger family.

Also its a contact base for those who are already Christians who want to find a church they can go to here in Beppu. We had one last year and the turn out was really good but this time was even better.It was great that many who were interested in learning about the Bible and Christianity were able to make it though the scrumptious dinner was also a great pull factor (We Samoans are not the only ones who know how to work a free dinner invitation..lol!)

Elsa with sis Martina (Tonga) & Parcillah (Kenya)

The music was great, worship time was outta this world and as I have said before.. diner was fantabulous (oggay just made that one up)We got to meet many of the first year students, Elsa made her rounds and coveted alot of goodies from here and there and I just praised the Lord for a wonderful gathering.

We sang "Happy Birthday" for Erlyn who turned 21 the day before. Tim from Oita entertained us with his version of Stand by Me.
Jenny and Ata put on a special number, P.Town reprezent!!!The Jenny and Linny combination worked its magic again, Jinggo and the boyz were awesome and we all had a really good time.
Praise the Lord.
Saturday morning: 29th April

- Malolo cleaned our house mi n my lazy a** wuz still sleepin'
- Jenny and Tu'u went to judge some English Speech Competition for Kumon
- Lisa was supposed to have her class with her student.
- Ata picked up Felise and Shiori and we all headed down to our next favourite place..Karaoke @ UtaUdo.
- Maro, Felise n Ata played pool.
- Shiori, Elsa n I went to the karaoke room and did our thang..
- Ata, and her other ALT friends Nikki and Kevin joined us for the last hour.
- We all went to Oita-City to Don Quixote's ooh lalalala..This place has all 'em goodies that we miss like Real MnM's, Doritos, Honey Roasted Peanuts, Tim Tams etc..


Came home and the kids had their party next door.
Jen picked up Ron and Michael,
Kilika and Tina who were in Oita also joined.
Mitch was studying so he could not make it. Goodo boyo!!
Elsa n I watched "Old School" by the Laughing Samoans. Tofinga is really funny..
Malolo joined the party and as usual brought along his weird sense of humor..

Sunday morning 30th April :
6:30 am did my dishes went back to sleep and missed out on church dang.. my bad.
1:00 morning (note the sarcasm hehehe) finally arrived
2:00 pm Ata and Malolo went shopping came back and fixed ludin (lunch/dinner)I think were gonna need to update the new Windows Thesaurus har har...
Tin Tin and Ata made salad, Malolo made us fried chicken and soup. I called Koizumi and sent down juice n ice cream (jokes)
Felise n Shiori came around 4:00pm still plenty of food to go around.
We spent most of the day eating..eatiiiing and eeaaaaaating..
So what constitutes a great weekend : for me.. its great food, great fun..great company.. and an excellent line up of tv shows har har.
Hope yours was just as eventful. Laterzzz

The Month of May.

The upcoming month is a very special one for me, given that almost half of my family, some of my dear friends as well as myself was born around that time of year.
Oh..oh and I almost forgot "MOTHER'S DAY!" ..yipeee aay yay

Anyways on with the list :
May 2 : Viliami Uasike Latu
May 3 : my cousin Siline Halanetau Tofilau's baby girl Rebecca. 3yrs old
May 9 : my baby sister Natasha Puao Esera Lutu 27.
May 10 : Debarjo(Dave)22, Martina Navratilova Fungavai (Tonga) 21
May 11 : cousin Mua Halanetau Setu's eldest daughter Virieta, 21
May 12 : cousin Mua's youngest son Alesana , brother Indra Singawinata from Indonesia
May 13 : brother Semisi.
May 17 : Queen Tupe ruler of the Lolesaiga Realm.
May 18 : big sister Puaina Pfeiffer
May 19 : niece Eleline.
May 20 : nephew Hans Lafi.
May 21 : niece Elenoa Gloria.
May 26 : Icha from Indonesia.
May 23 : Aunty Vii Alesana Halanetau.
May 29 : my husband Malolo Aumua.
May 30 : brother Alesana.

For all of you May'ans here's a Birthday Thought from me to You:
My apologies to anyone I may have left out. One thing we have to enjoy about getting older is the fact that you are fast approaching the time you will lose your hair, teeth, hearing, eye sight, good looks and memory..

Funny how we ask God to give us good heath and keep us safe and then complain about getting older. It's like we want to continue living we just don't want to grow old or older in my case hee..hee.. But anyways this month apart from the birthdays I am in charge of leading our Friday Family Fellowship. I was introduced to it by my niece Line and Edna back during Christmas of 2003 and I have been attending ever since. It has become a very important part of my life and it is a real joy being with everyone worshiping and praising God. In many ways it has helped me with my spiritual growth as well the many personal changes I was going through. I also will be extremely busy as I only have May and June to finish up all my other papers hopefully get the green light from my supervisor to go home. If not then it will be a working summer for me to wrap up everything. I procrastinate too much. This bad habit will one day come back n bite me on da u know what. So I have to kick it and soon. So people if I am not around for sometime I am trying to tie up all 'em loose ends but you know since I am now addicted to blogging there's no tellin' when I will pop up again. Till then fellow bloggers. Keep on bloggin' away...

Student Life:

There are many positive aspects of student life, first of all nobody really expects you to help out with the big family faalavelave's (family crises) back home. Nobody expects you to send money home regimently and even better nobody questions where your money goes.

So where did my go?
I remember when I was an undergrad student in Australia. Townsville, Queensland to be exact,... yep home of the lame North Queensland Cowboys ( maybe they are better by now I don't know) anyways on with the story we would get like $640.00AUD a fortnight and that back then was pretty big (it was helluva lot more than what some degree holders were making back home in Samoa)

Still for the life of me, I can not recall where my money went. I did not smoke (still don't), stopped drinking (when most normal people perhaps just started), wasn't into drugs (couldn't afford them *jokes*) so, it was a toss up between the movies, renting out videos & playstation games, food, soda's, maccas, KFC, new books, shoes, CD's and phone..phone and more phone bills.
My flatmate at the time Miss Tine Faasili (now married to Ben from the Cook Islands) and I would survive on cereal for a couple of days till we get our money. We receive our stipends every second Friday and usually it is in the bank by 12:00 midnight. Sometimes Tine and I would walk to Maccas around 11:30 pm by the time we reach the ATM our money would be in and we would gleefully take some out and walk straight into McD's for a yummy cheese burger. (By this time you could almost hear my tummy grumble out a Thank You)

Well after that, I figured the next time (If I would be so fortunate to procure another scholarship) I would be able to budget my money as I'd be older, hopefully wiser (ummm..not..) uh huh wishful thinking.. My first year here in Japan that would be 2003, three times I found myself living on coins and scrounging for every bit of food I could find in my cupboard. Nydia, Koyu and I would empty our piggy banks together and count all we could find and figure out what we could buy that would last us till our allowance comes in. We'd empty all our drawers, check all the pockets in our pants, jackets, tshirts.
One time Nydia found one can of pisupo (corned beef) on top of her shelf n that made our day. We also scavenged from the cupboards of our other mates and set up a "Save Nydia, Koyu & Tupe Fund." (that was so hilarious) One time we divested Mitch of all his meat, potatoes, rice anything edible we could find. We learned to live on small morsels of food without complaining. We figured out how to make a meal from scratch. Learned to go without soda,smokes,chips n chocolates for almost a week and refrained from making overseas phone calls.All the while not losing a single pound which was quite baffling!! We had gotten so good at living on almost nothing we could have gone on the Survivor Show and wiped the floor clean with all 'em contestants.
Now it is a little better, still not making any savings but we are comfortable. My husband has baito (part time work) which has really helped. He has offered to pay for mine and baby's airfares home when the time comes so we are thankful. I use my stipend to pay for our bills and food and other stuff.

Student life is as exciting as it is a struggle financially and otherwise. I just hope that it pays off and that I will be able to find a good job that can provide for the needs of my family. I am eagerly awaiting the day I am able to spare that one cent which I will happily deposit into my starving savings account. But until then I will gladly live on rice and soy sauce should I ever get into another financial jam again..lol..if not I can always turn in these two and claim my reward. (Jokes)





Well folks should you, want to rid yourself of any extra cash my postal account is ready and waiting ha!ha!