A couple’s special trip

By Elizabeth Ah-Hi 14 October 2017, 12:00AM

Sitting in the Sheraton Samoa Aggies Grey’s lobby is New Zealand couple, Anna and Mason. They are both trying to plan their day out. 

Mason was born in Samoa and migrated to New Zealand as a youngster with his family. However, this is Anna’s first time to Samoa to visit her partner Mason’s home country.

“Yeah so next week is a little family reunion with all my extended relatives from around the world. Yeah so I’m looking forward to that because there are heaps of them I don’t know probably half of them. But I’m very excited to meet them and get to know them,” laughs Mason.

“At first I was nervous about bringing my girlfriend for the first time here to Samoa because I’ll be seeing some of my cousins for the first time and also the lifestyle is very different here especially if you’re coming from New Zealand or Australia – there are massive differences.”

Mason continued: “The good thing about me and Anna is that we both have similarities with our values and stuff, we are both Catholic with our families being really religious and enjoy the simple things.”

Anna added, “… And yeah we both look Asian” the couple laughed.

Anna is Japanese but she tells Dear Tourist that she wasn’t nervous like her partner was about coming to Samoa, having been together with Mason for 6 years, she felt at home with his family.

“I was raised more Kiwi than in the Japanese tradition but still I can see that Island cultures of being respectful to your family and putting them first is very similar to Asian cultures. Just going off on what Mason told me about Samoa because I only have Fiji as a comparison, I expected to see a lot of villages. But it’s definitely hotter and more humid here than I thought.”

The couple plan to do some sightseeing before Mason’s family arrives on Sunday and they were both looking forward to seeing the rest of the families next Monday.

“Today we might head out to To Sua or Lalomanu and chill out there for a little bit and then come back here after. We definitely want to do some snorkeling,” said Mason. 

“The last time I came here was last year and for sure I always look forward to coming back whenever I can to chill.”

The couple plan to explore by themselves before Mason’s parents join them on Sunday to begin the reunion festivities next week.

By Elizabeth Ah-Hi 14 October 2017, 12:00AM
Samoa Observer

Upgrade to Premium

Subscribe to
Samoa Observer Online

Enjoy unlimited access to all our articles on any device + free trial to e-Edition. You can cancel anytime.

>