Being Samoan

September 12, 2008

Being Samoan

Some of you came to ask me, what's Samoa?

Samoa is a country in the pacific ocean, about halfway between New Zealand and the USA. Samoa consists mainly of two islands total size 2,831 km² (Singapore is 707.1 km²). However, compared to us, they only have 220,000 people on both islands.

Go read more about Samoa, the country (Wiki)

I've not been to Samoa, but I've seen pictures. I think if there were a paradise on earth, it would be Samoa.

Pics from Samoa Tourism Authority Website

Anyway, that's beside the point. This is about "being Samoan" not Samoa, the country.

I first got to know about "Samoans" by watching wrestling. I saw Samoans as being the ultimate warriors (pun not intended).

There were the "Wild Samoans"

Then "Rikishi"

And now..."Umaga"

In real sports, Samoa have an awesome rugby team. I died when Samoa lost to Tonga in the 2007 Rugby world cup match.

It doesn't get more intense than this: the Samoan Haka

The reply Haka, from Tonga (in red)

The other two countries that do Haka are Fiji (another island country nearby), and New Zealand (which adopted the haka of the indigenous Maori people) In case you didn't know, the Haka -- or at least this type of Haka -- is a war ceremony. i.e. "you are going to die..."

Again, i digress...

Anyway, thanks to the media, my funny name, my size (back in primary and secondary school) and my bunch of crazy friends, I got called "Samoan".

Then i realized being Samoan was really cool. Everybody walked away. Nobody gave me trouble. It got even better when I learned to wrestle (Freestyle, not WWE).

That is, until I went to Los Angeles and called myself Samoan.

After that, I will only be Samoan in Singapore. Until the Samoans start migrating
here as well.

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