Samoan Language Week
Samoan Language Week Recount
June 8th May by Ken P
On Friday June 4th 2021 it was full of sad and happy surprises. The sad surprise was Miss Haslem’s last day and the happy surprise was the Umu. An Umu is a way of cooking food above the ground. An Umu consists of four layers which are Volcanic Rocks (First Layer and also where the food is placed), Foil (Second Layer that covers the food), Banana Leaves (Third Layer), & Newspaper (Top Layer). It was very smokey but it didn’t smell like a bonfire. It smelled fresh and not stinky like how you would burn other things.
Before the very exciting umu happened we had Room 6’s learning assembly which was at the hall. After the assembly we went back to class. When we came across the Umu, we saw Ayla & Aden’s Parents, Joseph’s Parents, Damian’s Mum, Koloa’s Nana, And Sierra’s Grandma and Grandad when they were preparing the umu.
We had morning tea. During Morning Tea I went up to the Umu because Mr T was giving out coconut, I took some and after the bell rang, Mr Tyrell came up to our classroom and asked us if we wanted to go to watch the umu of how it was being prepared. When we got there it was very smokey, but luckily it didn’t smell like a bonfire which would obviously make our clothes stink. Anyways, we saw that they started removing the first layer which was a lot, then after we saw the banana leaves I thought it was just normal tree leaves but then Sierra told me it was banana leaves.
It was super smokey but the layers on top of the umu weren’t even hot, the only hot bit was the burning rocks at the bottom. So it was being removed. There were way more banana leaves than the newspaper, I saw the next layer which was the foil wrapping the food. There were only a few pieces until I saw the food, I finally saw the food there was lots and lots, Most of them were wrapped in foil. They put all the food inside the baskets but the foil was getting hotter, Mr T burned himself trying to put foiled food inside the basket. So they all wore gloves at this point of time.
Anyways, after we went back to class we went on as usual.
Before the start of lunch we went to the pole then we sang a song while the flag of samoa was raised. I wasn’t doing anything but looking since I didn’t know what to sing, anyways I couldn't see the flag properly since the sun but the song was a beautiful samoa national anthem
After the bell rang we all went to the hall to get some food in our tummies. We sat down on the floor then the teachers made us stand up then lineup so we could get food. It was very long. Room 6 Came first then Room 5, then Room 4, then Room 2. When I was near the serving end they gave me a fork & a plate. I got a lot of fish, some then a bread loaf which looked like a taco. As I sat down right next to Ethan. I got some more fish since it was delicious. The fish tasted like paradise. But about the bread loaf, uh I didn’t like it much so I ate ¾ then I placed it in the bin.
The food in a rating out of 10 for me atleast would be 8/10 since I like the taste but I don’t like the filling in the bread. Anyways let us move on to what happened at lunch time.
The bell rang right after I ate but Mr Tyrell said we had an extended lunch time because of the umu. It was very unfortunate that happened since I wanted to present my migration work to Miss Haslem on her last day. Lunch went very well, Then that is my recount on Last day of samoan language week and also the first time I ever ate samoan food.
Definitely a positive experience :D
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