Samoan by birth, American by choice.  Proud to be both!

Born in Samoa within sight, sound and smell of the Pacific Ocean but I can’t swim to save my life and  I really don’t care for the beach all that much.  However, I love sea food and will eat just about every edible thing from the ocean.

When I was a young girl in Samoa, I devoured every Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys and Famous Five book in our tiny school library and dreamt of one day becoming a real live Nancy Drew.  Obviously that didn’t pan out but I am pretty good at figuring out who did it halfway through the movie.

Educated in Samoa, New Zealand and the United States, became a teacher like my parents. Unlike my parents who retired as educators, I soon found out that dealing with other people’s teenagers wasn’t my thing so I enrolled in graduate school.  Now I’m happy to say that I don’t dread going to work most days.

I live in the States with hubby and our mostly lovable sons at the foot of a mountain near a military base in a state that is actually a desert.  We’re a military family. I actually don’t mind military life as after 2 or 3 years I’m ready for new faces and places but the boys don’t like it so much.  Ok, they don’t like it at all.

I started this blog in 2007.  That was the year I home-schooled our boys and needed something to do while they did whatever I made them do. And, as a former English teacher, I had dreams of writing the great Samoan novel but someone has already beat me to that. A couple of years and two military moves later my blog became my poor abandoned blog.  Resurrected it in 2011, changed the name from Daughters of Samoa to A Samoan Woman and figured that the chances of a nutcase actually stalking me was pretty slim so I finally posted a real profile picture.

While not a typical mommy blog, I do write about life experiences from the perspective of a Samoan woman who embraces the conveniences and privileges of a modern woman yet still cherishes her heritage, the fa’a Samoa - the Samoan way of life.   I plan for 2 posts a week but you know what they say about best laid plans and all…Ia Manuia!