I've been there once, for a day. People were friendly enough but not that much to see and I'd not consider it a great destination for an extended stay!
If that gal can move like that in a horizontal position, I'll bet her husband/boyfriend has his chiropractor on speed dial. I was in USAF basic training in 1967 with a bunch of guys from American Samoa. They were chocolate brown, about "4 feet nothing" tall, and built like a fireplug. Those guys were as tough as a $2.00 steak. All of us were members of "Project 100,000" which was a special program for people who either didn't meet the physical or police record standards for normal enlistment. My training flight also included some incredibly fat couch potatoes and some damyankee gangbangers with a police record a mile long. The washout rate was pretty steep. My "disqualifying" factor was a reckless driving and speeding history going back several years. At least I never got caught with a tanker loaded with Tennessee moonshine whiskey.
I flew to Hawaii to expedite the unloading of a barge load of lumber/beams in 1972. Met the barge at the port area, got it tied up and fired up the onboard pedestal crane and began removing hatch covers. A big Cadillac pulled up on the dock honking the horn, and 4 huge brown guys too well dressed to be lonshoremen, got out. giving me the hand across the throat signal, shut er down. I went down to talk to them...they informed me in funny English, You stop now, boy...longshore union job. Foolishly I replied, where the hell are they then? We are paying 400 bucks an hour sitting at this dock. Hateful glares...you stop now. I got the message. I walked to the Harbormasters office, complained and was told for safety reasons the best thing to do was fly back to the mainland. I smarted off, ah Hawaiian hospitality. He said no, those are Samoan tough boys, go home, don't get sideways with them.
They were chocolate brown, about "4 feet nothing" tall, and built like a fireplug.
I haven't known any of them personally, but guys from AS have occasionally attended mainland colleges on football scholarships. They're BIG, mainly playing as linemen.
You’d like The Cook Islands or Fiji much better. Sailed a small boat through there a few years ago. If Fiji you need to get away from the Nadi area. Cook Islands are really great but not very busy so you’d need to entertain yourselves. All three speak english, Fiji and Cook Islands are also safer than American Samoa.
had a friend stationed there for awhile. Said the diving was great. But he'd not go back to live.
Worked with two fellas. Sal and F. Former was Father in Law to latter. both rather strong. FIL especially so. Would watch him put one 100lb sack of flour on one shoulder, flip another up onto his other, then carry them 50' or so to the mixer at the bakery. Picked up a dude about 180 lb and stuck him against the wall when the other dude started an altercation with him. Last altercation the dude started. Both of those guys extremely nice folks until you gave them grief. FIL was a clan leader sort, lots of stuff ran thru him.
Generally speaking, I'd have them as friends rather than the other option.
Apparently it's a very Catholic island. Sunday is a very quiet day. Per capita, men from AS volunteer for the US military service in very high numbers.
Got in a fight with one in HS. I was holding my own until about three ‘bruddus’ jumped in to help him out. Got some cracked ribs out of it for my efforts. These days they might kill you.
Little known history trivia fact. Kanakas (Pacific Islanders from everywhere) were a pretty significant labor force on the west coast from the get go. They were highly regarded as seamen, about twice as powerful as the average hand, some say they had incredible upper body strength from generations of paddling sea going canoes. They were scattered all over the west coast at the time the gold rush started in 1849. Some became successful miners in there own right. Many place names bear testimony to this day. For many years the local Injun tribes denied being a product of Kanaka and Chinese blood. Old photographs from historical mining archives were denied as authentic, but even the most casual look shows the pureblood Injuns in the 1850's as a diminutive people, and as the years progressed the photos showed the Polynesian genes. Huge barrel like torsos and heavy musculature in the Kanaka mold, in the case of the Chinese blood, still diminutive people but with pronounced slant eyes and epicanthic fold appeared. Then along came affordable genetic testing...oops, so much for pure Injun blood.
They were chocolate brown, about "4 feet nothing" tall, and built like a fireplug.
I haven't known any of them personally, but guys from AS have occasionally attended mainland colleges on football scholarships. They're BIG, mainly playing as linemen.
Rugby is a very big thing down there, at least in Fiji and Tonga. That would be a battle of the titans! Lots of huge guys in Tonga, truly fill a doorway huge! Samoa, not far from American Samoa, is also an interesting place with lots of very friendly people and decent beaches.