Ua Pe le Paipa is a rather colorful phrase that Samoans use when the water is out. It literally means, the pipe is dead.

We haven't had water in Fagali'i since Sunday (it's Thursday now). It's a minor pain, but I don't mind much since bringing water in from the tank outside is one of the few things I have to do that makes me actually feel like a Peace Corps Volunteer. The only thing that I have a problem with is doing the laundry. I have a ton of dirty clothes.

Life here is generally easy, especially when compared to the lives of other volunteers around the world. When I read stories of volunteers in Mongolia, living in tents, having to light a fire first thing in the morning so they don't freeze, it makes me think that this experience, depsite it's challenges and problems, is not all the difficult. So it's nice to have to rough it now and again.

It's not really all that rough. We still have electricity. I can watch rented DVDs on my comptuer. I have a fan blowing in my face to keep me cool. I have a SONY CD player and about 100 discs. I have an oven and a stove with three working bruners. Nonstick pans. A more than adequate fridge. Life could be a whole lot worse.

The word is that the water is supposed to be coming back online sometime next week.