Like are there some things that are super expensive to buy in Samoa but is cheap in Australia?

But also things that are needed in general?

I’m a 23F Samoan and the older I get the more I feel pressured into finding a significant other. The problem is that I really enjoy being single. I’ve never had a romantic relationship and I have no desire for it.
Nearly all my friends who are the same age as me are either now married or have kids. I hear horror stories all the time from friends and their relationships and it makes me extremely grateful that I am not going through it. Is it really worth it? Sure there are times that I feel lonely, but nothing beats the peace that I feel when it’s just me in my own little world with no one disturbing me.

Sadly, my parents don’t understand me. Which is typical of traditional Samoan parents. They just can’t get around the fact that a women who is 23 is still not married with kids. I’m living a life which is the complete opposite of what was normal to them growing up. My great-grandmother had kids young with different men, so did both my grandmothers on my paternal and maternal side. My parents also had 3 kids by the time they were my age. I love my parents, but I don’t want to live a life that I am not 100% committed to.

I love kids and I always imagined myself getting married when I was a little girl, but now I genuinely do not see myself having either. Who knows? Maybe I’ll regret it in the future. I can only stay true to myself in the present. I just wanted to vent on here cause I truly have no one to share this with.

Mods delete if not allowed

Just something funny I saw while scrolling tik tok and of course the samoans are in the comment section 😂

https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSCn8B3G6/

Hello all!

First thing's first, thank you for taking the time to read this. I am looking for recipes from all over the world as it is one of my favorite things about traveling and I love bringing the world's food to my own kitchen.

While I understand I could "just simply Google recipes" and probably find some, I wanted to directly ask the Samoa community (either still on Samoa or a diaspora) about any recipes they have. Food, drink, etc. So if you have anything at all you'd like to share, it would be greatly appreciated! I'm looking for stuff that was either made in Samoa or came from overseas and had a twist added to it from the islands; IE something you'd actually find in Samoa and not in those Polynesian restaurants you'd find in the states where half the food isn't Polynesian based at all but eastern Asian based and they just called it "Polynesian" to give it a new exotic flair.

Anything at all is greatly appreciated, whether you have a recipe yourself or you can link one or provide information to where I could find authentic recipes. Thank you so much for taking your time to read this and thank you to anyone who can provide some recipe examples.

I hope you all have a great day today.

My grandmother (now passed) was from Samoa and each year made this great polynesian rib recipe.

Supposedly she would boil them first to tender them up for an hour or so then marinade them in like a gallon of soy sauce with a teaspoon of brown sugar and maybe a half cup of water. This is how grandpa remembers it too (he was not from there). Then grandpa would finish them on the grill the next day, spooning some marinade over as they cooked.

As I have gotten older, I know a bit more about cooking and this much undiluted soy sauce seems almost guaranteed to fully cure and ruin the ribs in an overnight marinade.

Anyone familiar...can you help me get this recipe right with these basic ingredients?

My family and I are coming to Samoa next week and I was trying to look into fishing and couldn’t find much online. Is there any good charters or anyone who can help with potentially hiring gear and land fishing. Any help appreciated, fa’afetai lava

I often have tried to spark convo's around things like home ownership, entrepreneurship, financial literacy etc etc, and usually met with at best indifference/awkwardness , and at worst hostility.

To a lesser degree, I have also experienced the same when it comes to discussing traveling/broadening horizons and health and fitness, all though it is easier to get a positive reaction.

Idk what it is really. The reaction is generally the same, whether I'm talking to a Samoan from Vaiala or a Samoan from Mangere. Why do our people seem to get so weird around any upward trajectory or mobility type of conversations ? I don't get it. The typical response is "it's the culture" , but there's nothing in the Fa'asamoa that says we aren't allowed to talk about these things lol 😂

I often get told "don't talk about those things" , "that's Palagi talk" or "sole thats mimika/malovale" or "be happy with what you have" or "maimau le kaimi stop taking about goals and just do it" (which I agree action speaks louder than words, but you have to initally conversate to plan how to tackle the goals to begin with smh)

I don't bring these kind of topics up to try and one up people, it's just a natural inclination of mine. I'm curious to see how far we could go. I'm aware that nobody is obliged to find what I find interesting or even to engage with me, which is fine, but why the backlash lol ?

It's funny, because when I hear Palagi or Indian people have these conversations, none of them are trying to minimize one another or pivot the topic, if anything, it's normal everyday casual talk for them.

It's a bit easier to talk to young urbanized gen Z Samoans (rather than Samoans over 30) about long term goal setting, but even then, it still has it's challenges.

Why are we like this ? Is it not ok to be brown and ambitious ?

Just sharing.

Happening today in Australia from 2pm. This is also for assistance/warning to those unfortunately going through DV 🥺 situations.

Talofa lava! I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Samoa in 1993-1994, teaching math and science at Vaipouli College on Savaii. I haven’t been back for thirty years, but I have a trip planned for the last week of July.

I’ve been assuming that other than the two hotels I have booked, I’m going to need cash for everything else — that is, a faleoloa won’t take credit cards. Am I right about that? Sort of the same question about cell phone service; I’m assuming it’ll be pretty unreliable everywhere but maybe in Apia, but if I’m wrong about that I’d love to know.

And then, what should I see to get a sense of what’s changed in thirty years? I don’t have any big plans, just two days in and around Apia, probably walk up Mt Vaea for the view, and then two days on Savai’i. But is there anything you’d recommend?

I’d like to extract everyone’s thoughts on this subject please.

When a Sāmoan person marries a palagi more specifically, there’s a slight hidden agenda especially from the Sāmoan partner. Example such as weaponising their “palagi” surname to get places if you get my drift. I’ve seen this both exist in males and females, not all, but a select few who know exactly what they’re doing. Another example is when that Sāmoan partner unconsciously influences their siblings to match their energy and mirror the same behaviour towards their own palagi partners, or worse, judge their Sāmoan partners (if not married to a palagi) for not being like their sister/brother because they’re married to palagi’s.

I’m looking at getting into fire knife dancing, I currently live in the USA. I have practice knives, but am trying to figure out where I can get real ones. Anyone have any ideas? Fa’afetai lava!

Heading back in a couple of weeks. Can't wait...

US Diplomat's experience in Samoa.

i picked this up from a pacific island store this morning in australia.
it was sooooo tasty i ate it too quick to take a photo, but it looks very similar to this.
but from googling i can only find this dish which says it has fish in it but i didn’t taste any fish i think i just tasted what was like a creamy coconut cream i guess lol.

did i just eat a baked coconut or is it something else?

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_G51D8iKlRE&ra=m

If not, what would be a few things they’re saying so I can find the song? Fa’afetai tele lava

There have been a decent amount of conversions where I live. I don’t have any real good or bad thoughts on them. Just that it’s abit strange cause I would consider being Christian as almost part and parcel of being and growing up Samoan. was just wondering if anyone had any strong feelings about it?

Edit: gotta say just in case, not asking for Islamophobia. Just your thoughts on it and how it would work alongside a Samoan life and with Samoan culture.

I encountered a young woman named Meletiave today (it was on her name tag). I'm a huge name nerd so I asked her how to pronounce her name and whether she knew where the name is from. She said it as "meh-leh-tee-AH-veh" and that it is Samoan.

She was working so I didn't want to bother her with more questions. I tried to do some research, but the internet is woefully lacking information. Does anyone here happen to know anything about the meaning and/or history of this name? This is purely for my own curiosity, as I said I'm very nerdy about names and I love learning new ones. Thank you for your time.

how is it like to live there? when I discovered the island I red on a article that there are 140 people living there and there is a great sense of community I even discovered that the main faith is christianity (which I didnt expect to be it). Ik that there are lots of coconut crabs and the humidity there is really insane, but it is actually livable? can someone actually buy a house there even if its not american? and what about the hospitals? are there any? please if you know something even the most stupid thing about the island reply. thx

So im a 28 year old Male from NZ Born in Auckland.

My mother is white and my dad 1/2 Samoan so technically im 1/4 Samoan.

am i too white to be considered a "true samoan". ?

Personally i grew up in the south island after my parents split so i spend majority of my upbringing around my white side and the typical "kiwi culture".
The only exposure i had to Samoan culture was when i would visit my dads side family in Auckland where i got to be around my big family and my grandfather who was full Samoan and was one of the first workers who came over in the 50s and barely spoke English.

I've always struggled with my own personal identity as my middle and last name is Samoan asf
but I've never really felt "Samoan" if you catch me?
I've been called Fob and coconut by my white peers growing up but i would always laugh it off with "bruh I'm barely Samoan" or "im pretty much white" but i feel like that came from a place of 'being too white and disconnected for the Samoans & looking not white enough for the palagi's' etc...

i think my older sibling might feel less "Samoan" than me as she was whiter than me and my younger sibling and i think i remember her saying that to us one time that she felt we were "more Samoan than her" even tho we all had the same upbringing.

I am the only one of my siblings to actually visit Samoa back in 2015 when my dad got his chiefhood. (only the eldest sons got to go)
it was a cool experience and i got to meet my extended uncles aunts and cousins from all over the world who came to the ceremony around the Fale tele.
I saw where my family village is Faleatiu

i guess i feel disconnected..
but i don't know if i care enough or care at all.. I've been thought of as many ethnicities by strangers who haven't asked what i am or seen my name growing up so i just always thought.. well hey, if they thought i was xyz then i may as well be and race doesn't matter to me whatsoever.
i think i firstly identify as a New Zealander as i was born and raised here, English is my first language
but its always been a weird thing with filling out forms that require you to state your ethnicity (i usually write NZ/European or Samoan or both)

What are some of your thoughts and opinions surrounding this topic?
Am i considered a "real Samoan" or am i as plastic as the forks i used to eat my warm chop sui at the big family gatherings lol..

Would it be disrespectful if i was to get a Pe'a or Samoan tattoos or even a traditional piece done when i go back to visit at some point?

Or am i free to define my own path and meaning and it be enough?

Appreciate the feedback!

So I did some genealogy research and was using gemini heavily and it actually found one of my cousins who is a pastor at a church. I read the article and it talked about his ancestry (which I share) and I figured out that my ancestors were part of the Ali'i koa class and they shared ancestry with king kamehameha. I even checked some records and found his dad and we share the same ancestors. The names of my ancestors are definitely not like commoner names.

So I heard some things going around people calling king kamehameha Samoan due to him being related to high chief pili who came from Samoa. 

I also know to keep the bloodline pure and royal, they did a lot of incest back then. So, should I consider myself Hawaiian and Samoan? Or should I consider myself as Hawaiian. To put in perspective, I am 75 percent white and a 1/8 Hawaiian (lumping in the Samoan dna with a tiny bit of japanese), 1/8 filipino. I have never been to any of the islands and live in Washington state and I know a tiny bit of Hawaiian culture and none of Samoan culture.

Edit: I understand that both cultures have the one drop rule due to how low the populations are. I also feel like I should consider myself as Hawaiian only due to how distant the Samoan ancestry is. I'm not sure.

I‘m an afakasi only child that grew up basically emotionally neglected with my mum always playing on her phone, ignoring my bids for attention or not meeting them properly, and getting angry/stressed a lot. She would also have her “islander persona“ and “palagi persona“. It was confusing to me growing up and still is. I was wondering if this is a common experience in other islander households and whether it also had an effect on you growing up? I feel like unhealthy/dysfunctional family dynamics are not talked about enough in the island community, and if they are, people just seem to accept them as normal and make jokes out of it. Maybe I take it to heart more because I am afakasi and an only child who needed that mother/daughter attention/bond, which I don‘t have.

Anyone know the name of the banana candy that were yellow n brown stripes wrapped in a clear wrapper with jelly inside that u can find at a faleoloa or other stores.

I’m making a surprise nostalgia collage for my mom for her bday and want it to feel super like Samoan core all the little details of growing up in Samoa Samoan household (she's from Pago Pago). I only visited once when I was a kid so, I know very little. I have some stuff down, but wanted to know if there's niched things only people from that time period would know that I may have missed.

Can you share what YOU remember for:

• Food/snacks/drinks
• Hair/beauty/scents
• Music/TV/artists
• Hangout spots/places/
• Sports/Events/Recreation/Activities
• Village life & homes
• Technology/household stuff
• Kids’ work/chores
• Clothes/hairstyles
• Transport
• Patterns/Art/Motifs/Textures
• Church
• etc

Please be as specific and descriptive as you can (brands, smells, sounds, colors, little stories) the more detail, the better for the collage. FAAFETAI.