Rainy Day

Sorry for not having posted in a while, but I’ve been getting ready for my first trial.

I arrived on the island four weeks ago today.  As I write this it is Friday, August 16.  I arrived in a horizontal rain storm.  It’s been raining like that all day today.  Sheets of rain coming down, being blown by the wind.  It is mesmerizing to watch.  And, at first, it was fun to drive in.  But rain is serious business here.  American Samoa is one giant lava rock.  Grass and forest form the thinnest veneer on top of the rock.  Rock does not absorb water, so, it all has to run off to somewhere.  That somewhere is the streets.  The few drains are utterly inadequate to handle that much water, so it pools at low points on the streets, in places sometimes 6 to 8 inches deep.  It is scary to drive through and if you are going more than 5 miles an hour, you are driving way too fast.  Plus the pools cover the numerous potholes, and you don’t want to be driving over potholes too fast.  The streets here, at least the secondary streets, play hell with a car’s suspension.  I thought water might start coming in under the car door.  And this is the dry season!

My co-worker, Mat, has acquired himself a motor scooter and he rode home from work in that rain.  He showed on his calf where the water came up to in the 8 inch deep pool.  He said he was scared his scooter was going to conk out.

I was out in the weather because I have had the use of a car this week, and have badly needed to get some things done.  One of the lawyers in my office is off-island – something about a cruise through the islands outlying Fiji.  She’ll be back the 19^th.  My apartment hasn’t been cleaned to my satisfaction so I had to get supplies for that.  I got my first check, the reimbursement for my moving expenses, and I wanted to open a bank account.  I wanted to get home internet service so I could be more active, but that didn’t work out.  I also wanted to find a Laundromat where I could drop my laundry in the morning and pick it up in the afternoon.  So, I was out in the rain.  But, only for a little while.  I got the cleaning supplies and dropped by the bank.  But the streets were just in too bad a condition to do any traveling.  I could have gotten this stuff done earlier in the week had I not been in trial all week.  When you’re in trial nothing else gets done.

Two major banks serve the island:  The Bank of Hawaii and ANZ.  The ‘A’ there stands for Australia and ‘NZ’ means New Zealand.  The ANZ Bank charges me $6.00 to use their ATM to make a withdrawal from my Royston bank account.  The Bank of Hawaii charges $2.25.  So I was already partial to the Bank of Hawaii.  But, the Bank of Hawaii plans to close next March, and they’re not taking any new accounts.  So, I went to ANZ to open an account.  Harrumph.  They only do that kind of business by appointment and I could only get an appointment for September 4 at the earliest.  Well ANZ it is. At least I can say that I’ve engaged in international banking.  In any event, I couldn’t deposit my check and they wouldn’t cash it, even had I wanted them to, which I don’t because I don’t want to have that kind of money laying around.    Maybe international banking isn’t for me.  The upshot of that is I can’t pay my American Samoan Bar admission – they only take a check - and I couldn’t sign up for the home internet, because I live off my money from Royston, and don’t want to spend that. 

I had taken the day off today because, one, I had the car, and two I’ve been in my first trial down here all week, and needed a break.  But I decided perhaps it was best I just stay home and write some blog entries.  But, eventually I’ll get it all set up.  Fa’ a Samoa.  Just roll with it.  Tomorrow I will give the apartment some deep cleaning.  (It’s still raining.)

Next:  My First Trial in the High Court of American Samoa.