Here Comes the Graduates

Ok so it is graduation time, and the district of Tafuna is representing. I learned today, if I plan on leaving the hotel I should leave before lunchtime! Boy oh boy there was traffic on the roads. Between the roaming dogs, which travel in packs and the pick up trucks full of Samoans, the roads were heavily congested.

High-schoolers and middle-schoolers are in the process of graduating. Thus, several families were out and about celebrating. Now let me tell you how they celebrate…they eat! Hahaha. I bet you already knew that. However, the restaurants have family package meals titled, “Happy Deluxe”, priced at $198 “Family Deluxe”, priced at $250, etc. In other words, this packaged meal can easily feed up to 20 people. Well, that is just how deep the families travel. I counted a group today it only had 9 members. I said, aaa that is a small family. When I ate with Deb on Tuesday at the Hong Kong House, there was a family of about 18 people. That did not include the little ones. Only during my family Thanksgivings are we maybe that deep, average 12 IF everyone is in attendance.

By the way, this island does not have traffic lights only a few stop signs here and there. However, it does have KFC, Pizza Hut and McDonalds! The roads make the potholes in Detroit to be merely speed bumps. The speed limit is 25MPH! Really! Do you know how hard it is for me to drive 25MPH? Check my record…However, when in Roman, do what?.... I just let my car cruise; I rarely touch the gas. At least everyone is courteous because with no traffic lights you could find yourself waiting for hours just to make a left/right turn. Well, you get allowed into the oncoming traffic.

So these young beautiful graduates wore candy leis, flower leis, and most of all they received huge balloons in the shape of hearts, stars and cool cartoon characters. Some families set up large tents with chairs so they could congregate, celebrate and eat. The high-school dropout rate is incredibly high. Could this be one of the reasons why they place so much emphasis on this? I am not sure. Perhaps, once again, the family simply celebrates their members' achievements. Things that make you say....HMMMMM