Tofa Party

Yesterday there was a huge tofa party for two of my friends that are leaving the island (tofa is Samoan for 'goodbye'). The party was at a beach resort called Maliu Mai. Remember that this is American Samoa so the term "resort" is used pretty loosely. We don't have much tourism and we certainly don't have what the average person would call resorts. Here is Jenny (soon to be rejoining the real-world) me, and Deepa.
For many months now, I have been taking a Polynesian dance class. A group of my friends that are in the class together decided to perform a dance in honor of our friends who are moving. This was my first time performing so I was quite nervous. There were over 300 people at the party and many of them know me. It's much easier to embarrass yourself in front of strangers, but dancing in front of all those people I know was nerve-wrecking.
The dance is from the Cook Islands, but we call it "the yellow dress dance." The dresses were chosen by our dance teacher, who is from the Cook Islands. This dance has been around for awhile and it seems to be the one that most of the white women in the dance class end up learning and performing. We just don't think our teacher gets that yellow, especially blindingly bright yellow, doesn't look good with white skin. We now chose to learn dances in class based on what dress we could wear someday!
Anyways, the dance went fine. I had a few little "what am I doing up here?" moments, but we entertained the crowd and had a fun time. We've even been asked to perform at another upcoming event.
The party was a kid's dream! There was a bouncy castle and waterslide that get rented for many parties in American Samoa. Plus, there is a tide pool at Maliu Mai that made for some great jumping. I managed to get a good action shot of Emma!