Joel: So, a lot of Americans we know about Hawaii and Samoa is fairly close to Hawaii, right? So is the culture similar? Do you know about Hawaii?

Patricia: I have family in Hawaii actually and from seeing them and hearing about their way oflife, I think it's a bit different. Perhaps the traditional life, way of life in Hawaii like 50 years ago probably is the same as our life now but I think we're more on a cultural basis as I said earlier.

Joel: OK, and is that because Hawaii has much more tourism and so they've advanced more?

Patricia: I don't think it's based on the tourism. I think it's based on the multicultural idea in it. In Hawaii itself, I mean it consists of so many cultures, so many ethnicities and Hawaii itself, like the original people are not really Hawaiians. I mean, theyr'e supposed to be from another area. If you.. this has actually.. this all goes back to history. It's a historical point that the migration, the original people of Hawaii. They were the last, I think they were perhaps the last settled, after them it was us and then New Zealand, so their people were also mixed so their tradition, there're different cultures that they inherited as they were navigating around the world created a certain culture that is very complex, very mutlicultural I think it's very different in Hawaii and Samoa.

Joel: So what are the popular sports and popular hobbies and pastimes in Samoa?

Patricia: Rugby.

Joel: Rugby, really? What, even on the American side?

Patricia: Football.

Joel: American football or soccer?

Patricia: Yeah, both.

Joel: Yeah, a lot of big people so maybe they are good at American football and rugby. And what about triditional dance? I know Hawaii has like hula dance. Do you guys have something distinct like that?

Patricia: We have the taualunga. It's called taualunga.

Joel: Taualunga.

Patricia: Taualunga. Hawaii is a bit different because they have, the hula is done by many people. For us, our traditional dance which is called the taualung, is usually done by one individual. The girl is supposed to be the daughter of a chief and she's known as a Taupo.

Joel: Taupo is the daughter of a chief. OK

Patricia: The daughter of a chief and she will be the only individual to be dancing and all the other people will be sitting around her cheering and singing songs while she's dancing. This individual the taupo is supposed to be, well you can consider her a princess of the village. She will hold the most highest title. she will also be the person who is most cared about. She will usually be the first person to eat. Her brothers are supposed to take care of her, sort of stuff, like all these sort of everyday life is put into the dance. It's like appreciation value and the importance of being a female and how culture should be respected in this way because this individual is pure, sort of.

Joel: Oh, that sounds really interesting. I'm going to have to go and see that some time. It usually happens like in the evening. I imagine like tiki torches and things like that but maybe that's a stereotype.

Patricia: Usually, it happens in the evening but nowadays with tourism and all we usually have it in the afternoon, morning, it depends on the event. If we have, say a festival or something and important event, we usually have these taualungas.

Joel: All right. Wow, that's fascinating