While I’ve definitely contributed to the blog posts, in some ways I feel like this is my intro to “blogging”, a pastime that is quite new to me, and one I’ve admittedly criticized in the past (oh, the irony)…Saipan has been a fantastic experience for us, thanks mostly to abundant natural beauty and great people (friends and the kids we teach). However, as Elizabeth’s last post can attest, we’ve truly started to miss home a little bit more recently. Maybe it’s the lack of fall weather here, maybe it’s the lack of football on Friday nights, or maybe it’s just the numerous relationships we formed over our 5 years teaching in the “Sham”. Getting involved with familiar activities (soccer, cheerleading) in a far off land has made us appreciate those we’ve left behind in Georgia. We have been following some of our athletes/friends exploits with pride (Evan, Lauren and Ebie in college soccer, the competition cheerleaders at HCHS, and all our coaching friends/former students with Raider football), while trying to throw ourselves into coaching here like we did at home. I’m loving coaching a u-14 boys team that represents all that is good about Saipan (skilled, diverse, hard-working, and great attitudes everywhere), while Elizabeth is thriving with a new group of “her girls and guys” (begging them to call her “Coach” and not “MIISSSS”).
This weekend a guys trip to Tinian (a island just three miles south of us, and also a part of the CNMI) is on the horizon, where both the sublime (the actual atomic bomb loading pits and takeoff runway from the missions to Hiroshima and Nagasaki) and the ridiculous (The Tinian Dynasty Casino) are in store. All travel on the island will be by moped, and ridiculous costumes are being planned (need I say more?). I only hope the Stanford Cardinal bounce back as well this weekend as I plan to. Remember, you can’t spell suck without USC….While I engage in Tinian stress relief, Elizabeth and Colleen will be occupied with girls’ weekend activities (massages, movies, and lounging), giving our much needed long weekend (thanks Columbus!) a nice twist.
This week’s TIS (This is Saipan) shout out goes to the CNMI legislature, who has now has taken over 190 days to come up with a balanced budget (and counting). Our government has been shutdown except for essential services (police, fire, etc.) for 9 days now, affecting over 600 of our 1500 students (whose parents, as non-essential government employees, don’t get paid during the shutdown), and putting a general cloud over the otherwise beautiful scenery here. We’ve come together as a school to try and address some of the issues in play (like putting students temporarily on free and reduced lunch), but it’s still been quite a frustrating experience for everyone here.
It’s been great to hear about exploits of friends at home. Please keep the emails coming our way. Thanks for everyone’s support. We wish you were all here with us!
I'm assuming this is Joey? Interesting that you're going to Tinian. Talked to a man in Aug who is in his 90s. He was at Pearl Harbor and was one of the 1st Marines on the flight line to shoot at a Japanese plane and, strange as it seems, he was on Tinian when the bombs were dropped and had just shot a man coming out of a tunnel right before he heard about the bomb. Theoretically, he could have fired the 1st and the last shot of WWII. He's written a little book about all of his experiences. He was literally at all major battles in the Pacific Theater of WWII. I'm sorry you guys are feeling homesick. Most days, most of us here would be glad to join you in Saipan! It wouldn't be pretty, but a bunch of 40 year old cheerleaders and football players might be fun! Take in every second and enjoy the experience. The SHAM has been here since the 1800s and isn't going anywhere! It'll all be here when you return. God bless!
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