Introduction
The entire series Oceania: The Underwater City is written from Allie’s perspective. Everything is seen from her eyes and tinted by her own beliefs and worldviews. When she first sees the city of Oceania, it’s through the eyes of a Land Dweller. In Terra Sea Merge, we hardly get to interact with or read about Samantha, someone who has become a major character in both Allie’s Return and Shark Station. So, for this blog post, I wanted to switch things up and tell a bit of the story from Samantha’s point of view. In the book, we only get a small glimpse of what she’s experiencing on land in her part of the exchange program. So to go with the theme of switching things up, this post will be told from an Oceanian’s viewpoint on the Land Dweller world. It focuses on Samantha’s first entry into what she calls her “land log.” It’s essentially a diary, but she doesn’t want to call it that. Keep reading below to find out what Samantha thinks of our world.
Land Log: Day 1
Saturday, August 9th,
2279
I once learned that
sailors of old would keep a daily log of their adventures on the high seas.
Okay, maybe it was just the captains and it was a daily log of weather, events,
and other important occurrences upon a ship, but I think it’s a good idea to keep
my own log of my daily adventures in the Above World. I’m calling it my Land
Log. So for this first entry, I will detail what has occurred since we landed
on Guam.
We first arrived at a port
which I can’t remember the exact name of. I was so overwhelmed by the people
who greeted us at the dock and all the gifts and welcome we received. Everyone
here is so nice and welcoming. They’ve given us big smiles and warm words of
welcome. They started by taking us to a huge feast being presented in our honor.
A few of the typical Land Dweller foods I recognized like pizza, hot dogs,
hamburgers, and salads. Others were different foods local to the Guamanian
region such as (which I of course had to ask the names of) kelaguen, kadon
pika, and red rice. Regardless of how anything looked, I tried everything and
felt so full by the end of the feast that I felt like my stomach would burst
wide open. It was worth it though, everything tasted absolutely delicious.
Afterward, we were taken
to the capital of the island, Hagåtña. There I met my host family, which
consists of a married couple and their twelve-year-old daughter. She’s already
asked me a million questions; throwing them out at a mile a minute until her
parents told her to calm down and take a breath. I didn’t mind though, I loved
answering her questions and knew I’d soon be asking her several of my own. When
I arrived at their home, I realized that here on the island, it was very common
for people to have individual houses of their own. It was weird to see and even
weirder to go from the outdoors straight into a home without having to walk
through a corridor or take an elevator. It was nice and I kind of wish we had
homes like that in Oceania, no matter how impractical it might be.
After they gave me time
to settle in, we joined the other host families and my fellow exchange students
and went shopping at the local supermarket—a place I remember hearing about
last time I was on land. It’s basically one store that has everything. My host
family was nice enough to allow me to pick out foods I liked to enjoy while
there. However, I was confused by signs that said “organic” on them for fruits
and vegetables. This greatly confused me because for something to be organic it
has to have carbon in it—which every living thing has. I asked and discovered that
it is food grown without any pesticides or genetic engineering. Odd.
When we’d completed
shopping, I had time to once again gather with my fellow exchange students. They
seem to be adjusting just as well as I am. Most of them are looking to me for
guidance because they know I’ve been here before, but there isn’t much I can
counsel them on. Allie, Devon, Max, and I spent most of our time at Talia’s
house if we weren’t at the hospital. I hadn’t gotten to experience that
much of Guam the first time. The last time, it took some getting used to seeing
the different clothing styles of the Land Dwellers. But now that we’ve been
given clothes like them, I have to say wearing such short shorts feels kind of
awkward. At the same time, I’m a little grateful for it because it is hot
here…very hot compared to Oceania. I’d forgotten about that.
Next week, we will attend
high school just like the regular Guamanian students. I’m so excited that I can
hardly wait. Unlike most of the world, the islands of Oceania weren’t hit as
hard during the Second Great Plague. Governor Atao ensured that every citizen infected
with the plague had been given the cure well before we arrived. The island is
essentially a safe haven away from the plague, which is good news for us
because we won’t have to wear any personal protective equipment while in the
school. We’ll get to experience everything just as it should be. We haven’t
been given our class schedules yet, so I don’t know what kind of courses I
should expect. Based on what Allie’s told me, schools on land are much easier
than in Oceania, but I hope they aren’t too easy. I do like a challenge. But
then again, maybe it’ll be a good thing if they’re super easy. It’ll give me
more time to explore this amazing, wonderful new world I’ve found myself in.
Well, this log has gotten long enough. I’ll have to
resume with my musings and thoughts next time.
You’ve reached the end of the blog post for this week. The next
blog post will be released next month. I hope you enjoyed reading this
blog post and if you have any comments, you can leave them here on my blog or
email me directly at elizataye@gmail.com.
As always, I love hearing from my readers.
