This Week's TIS (This is Saipan!) Moments

-We have 3 days off the first two weeks in November, but none of them are on a Monday or Friday.  (For example, next Tuesday is Election Day and next Thursday is Commonwealth Day)  While a Tuesday and two Thursdays off are appreciated, a three day weekend sure would be nice…

-One of my students, detailing his trip to Little League World Series, said one of the most amazing moments was when the team bus got on the highway for the first time.  All the kids were flipping out, because the biggest roads in Saipan are four lanes (only one, really) and the maximum speed limit is 40 mph on the island.  The bus driver didn’t understand the big deal, which made it even better!

-Today, during a Math Department Meeting, we were discussing Math Court.  The first meet is in a few weeks at Kagman High School.  The Advisor informed us, "It's just so far.  So, many of our students don't attend."  From Marianas High School to Kagman High School is probably at most 10 miles, but I guess when you live on a 60 square mile island, distance is all relative!

-Dad emailed us about Cornelia, GA being featured in the latest edition of Time.  We went to the only bookstore on the island to try and buy it on Monday.  "Our weekly magazines don't come in until Wednesday.  Sorry." 

-From our friend Daniel Stafford..."As part of a neighborhood political rally in support of one of the candidates for the NMI delegate to the U.S. House of Reps, my neighbors set up a cockfighting ring in their back yard.  I'm not in Kansas anymore."

Top Chef: Saipan

So, I'm not much of a cook.  Let me re-phrase, I wasn't much of a cook before moving to Saipan.  When you're on a budget (a real one), you begin to figure out how to do things that save money.  Necessity is after all the mother of invention.  Cooking has become one of those necessities for us.  And, turns out, I actually enjoy it.  Funny!  We decided to have Brian and Colleen over to our tiny abode for a home-cooked meal.  Colleen has done this many a times for us, and we wanted to return the favor.  I was so nervous about cooking for a professional chef!  Okay, so she's not professional, but she did take culinary school classes, and she's a phenomenal chef!  So, what do I decide to do, but roast an entire chicken.  That's right, an entire chicken.  I went to the store, bought fresh vegetables and a fresh bird, and got to work.  I removed the gizzard, seasoned it as the recipe indicated, adding a little of my own personality, and stuck it all in the oven.  It's not that hard reading, following directions, and enjoying the fruits of one's labor!  We had a wonderful evening of great food, fantastic conversation, and enjoying the company of two incredible people.  I think roasted chicken with veggies will now become my signature dish!

Seriously, Elizabeth, you made this?!  Yes!!!  Those of you who know me well know that this is a major accomplishment! Just email me if you want me to cater your next posh party!!!

Brian got "iced" right when he got to our house!

"The Bard" (his nickname from the Tinian trip) taking his "ice"

Helping a good cause through legalized gambling

Last Saturday night, Elizabeth and I attended the biggest social event of the year on the island, Club 200.  While tickets were $100 each, they promised the chance at 50 different prizes during the night, including a grand prize of $15,000.  We didn’t win, but enjoyed an evening of unlimited food and drink, prominent people demonstrating an astonishing amount of alcohol-induced awkwardness, and general good times with most of our friends from the CNMI.  To support the theme of "Swinging Sixties Saipan Stype," costumes from the 60s were encouraged.  Good times!  The great news was, even though we didn’t win the $15,000, one of our friends did.  Congrats to Becca (and Jason) who are great teachers (Becca), soccer coaches (both), and people (both for sure!).  A heck of a lot of money was raised for the Red Cross.  Our landlord, Uncle Jerry Facey, is on the board and does a great deal of work for the Red Cross.  This was such a fun event!  Enjoy the pics...

Pre-Party at Stafford's. Scuba Steve and Daniel going as twins and Brian going as a post-Nam hippie.

How cool (and huge) was the cake?!

Tons of tents were set-up with really cool decorations.  The food was delicious!  Daniel sat in the VIP tent with his company at the same table as the Governor of Saipan.  Tough life that kid has!

Our friends Glenn and Tina with Colleen and Brian.

Brian, Joey (another post-Nam hippie), our friend Aileen (an attorney who fights for the protection of our reefs), our friend Micah (a teacher at Hopwood Junior High School), and our friend Jen (former resident of our beautiful home and clerk of the court)

Dashing couple and Facey Farm residents, Jordan (an attorney) and Liz (local news anchor)

Our friend Shelli (an attorney on island), our friend Amanda (who had one of the cutest costumes of the evening), Elizabeth and Colleen (by far the hottest red heads on Saipan!)

Best Couple Friends in Saipan.  Make Love NOT War!

Colleen went all out on the accessories.  She looks like a true star of the 60s!

Good Times!!!

“And he’s Fun Size too” – Colleen O’Laughlin

Two nights ago, we had our first little mishap with our island car, a completely blown tire on the way home from soccer practice – Joey/running-Liz.   

We were both exhausted and in no mood to change a tire.  Enter our saviors – Brian, Colleen, and Manny. 

In a search to find a reliable mechanic on this island, we’ve received many recommendations from many friends (all with caveats like – “he’s a little shady”, “he’s a little too thorough”, “he sold ____ a  lemon”, and “he specializes in Toyotas, but only older ones before all that computer stuff”).  We can assuredly say that one of these came through in a big way the other night.  Brian called Manny and he showed up at 7pm, went out to get us a new tire (buying it from "Bo Bo Tire Shop," no joke!), changed the tire, and made sure everything ran well.  And, as Colleen so eloquently put, he’s a “Fun Size” (i.e. small) spider monkey of a man who can get himself underneath a car and change a tire at superhuman speeds.  Here’s to you, Manny!  You’re a lifesaver.

Before Manny actually arrived, Colleen and Brian had offered to let us have their spare tire.  You see, our car didn't come with a spare, a tire iron, or a jack.  Things we didn't exactly "check" on before we took to the road.  Word to the wise: always do this, young people!  So, in an effort to expedite the process and change the tire as quickly as possible when Manny was to arrive with his jack, Elizabeth used all of her strength to loosen the nuts on the tire.  Brian captured the moments on film...

We had many locals stop to offer help.  We felt very loved!  When Manny arrived, we realized that we couldn't use Colleen's and Brian's spare, so he left to go buy us a tire...from Bo Bo Tire Shop.  To make the most of our time, Elizabeth decided to "fix" our windshield wiper.  Because our car was built in 1992 and only has lived on Saipan, it has been exposed to a bit of salt causing a bit of rust.  The other night, when we were taking some cheerleaders home after a game, the passenger side windshield wiper completely fell off.  Elizabeth decided she was going to tape it back on using electrical tape.  Who needs working windshield wipers during the rainy season?  We'll keep you posted on how well her "fix" is doing...

Good as new!

Fall in the Tropics

The last couple of weeks have been quite an eventful one on our speck in the Pacific Ocean.  The first big typhoon of the season fortunately missed us, but wreaked havoc on the Phillipines.  Our hearts and prayers go out to those affected there.  On a more upbeat note, Elizabeth’s cheerleading has been flying along.  The girls are improving rapidly, and the teams really appreciate them being out there.  She’s had requests to attend volleyball and baseball games as well, and will be making that happen this week.  I’ve thoroughly packed my schedule with soccer, soccer and more soccer, which has been one of the absolute highlights of being here.  The culture is tremendously active, and for the first time in our marriage we’ve found treating our bodies well to be the routine more than the exception.  This week alone I have a men’s league game on Sunday, Co-ed game on Monday, training with u-18 boys team on Tuesday/Thursday (a humbling experience, at least from a fitness perspective), and coaching my u-14 boys team on Wednesday.  In the meantime, Liz and I have found time to do a trivia night, go snorkeling at a spectacular coral formation known as “Ice Cream” (plans for this Saturday--will definitely post pictures of that!), and take a jog or two on the 4.3 KM path right along the beach (it starts right across from our school).

Fall weather is in full effect here.  Temps have dropped from 87 to 85 and there’s a little less rain.  By the way, as I was telling our friend Thomas yesterday at Co-ed Soccer, you can roughly equate the temperatures on Saipan to home in the following manner – 87 degrees – 100 degrees at home, hot, sticky (Summer), 86 degrees – 80 degrees at home – warm, less sticky (Late Spring, Early Fall), 85 degrees – 60 degrees back home – nice, cool, breezy (Fall, Spring), 84 degrees – 40 degrees – frigid, chilly, 83 degrees – 20 degrees – bundle up, it’s freezing out (Winter).  Who says we don’t have seasons here?  We have both decided that "glistening profusely" is a way of life!

Good times (now with some pics)

Ahhh, Tinian.  We met before, but I think you went by a different name (Was it “Vegas”?).  An amazing surreal weekend on so many levels.  A quick rundown of the weekend’s events:  Driving mopeds on the runways that the Enola Gay and Box Car took off from to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki (The busiest airport in the world in late 1944/1945, but now completely desolate – we were the only ones there at noon on a gorgeous Saturday)

 (this is the actual runway...)

playing no-holds barred pool basketball as the only other resort patrons (a couple of middle-aged Chinese couples) looked on quizzically, watched Tiberius (one of our good friends here) get epically soaked and “iced” (think Smirnoff) while wearing red shorts that would only meet dress code in Eastern Europe

ate pizza and drank Mai Tais while a Christening took place right outside (complete with luau-style roasted pigs and the one year old guest of honor in a tuxedo), set up a five dollar a hand six man blackjack table at 8pm on Saturday night (then watched our dealer promptly reverse our good fortune about an hour later by pulling 4 blackjacks out of 6 hands), and generally wreaked havoc on both our morals and bodies for a 24 hour stretch that could only happen one place..part Vegas, part Survivor, part Sandals…100% good times…I miss you already Tinian.

Forbidden Island

A couple of weeks ago, we hiked to Forbidden Island with Colleen and Brian and our friends Katilin and Tiberius.  It is one of the most difficult hikes on the island but well worth the struggle!   

The locals say it is called forbidden for a reason, and when we told our students of our hike, they were genuinely concerned for our well-being.  Some tourists, and also some locals, have been washed to watery deaths at sea while they were swimming at Forbidden.  According to local lore, Forbidden also is haunted by ghosts.  We were unaware of any of this before our hike!

Put all of this aside, and trust us, that Forbidden Island is one of the most beautiful places we have ever seen.  The water is crystal clear; the grass is a luscious green; and the vistas are truly breath-taking.   

We swam with the fishes, watched the crabs scurry across the rocks, floated on our backs, and climbed high on coral rock to jump carelessly into the water.  Any visitor who comes to Saipan will definitely be taken to Forbidden Island!

Progress Report Night

On Thursday, we had an early release day for our students.  School ended at 1:00, and parents and students were to return to campus from 4:00-7:00pm to pick-up their mid-quarter progress reports.  First of all, I cannot believe we have been teaching almost five weeks, and secondly, who would have ever thought of having parents come to school to pick-up progress reports, not report cards, but progress reports?  Joey and I were expecting around 10 of our parents and students to show up…wrong!  Probably, about 40% of my students with their parents came to pick-up their progress reports.  If we thought we loved the students, we are definitely in love with their parents!   So gracious, so supportive, so welcoming…  It is absolutely wonderful to work in a place where education is truly valued, and educators are truly appreciated.  Families see education as a way to a better life.  They want to learn, and they crave the chance to expand their horizons. 

I teach two students who are dating and recently became proud parents.  Their son was born on October 11.  The mother was at school the Friday before giving birth on Tuesday.  The students did not have school on Monday and Tuesday, or I’m sure she would have been in class when her water broke.  The father was at school on Wednesday ready to learn.  I asked him if he was tired, and he said, “Yes, Miss, but education is more important than my being tired.”  (Footnote: as we pulled up to school today, Tuesday, we saw the mother back at school.  She had her first child a week ago and is already back at school!)

Saipan isn’t a perfect place by a long shot.  It definitely has its problems.  However, with this type of attitude in teenagers, I can’t help but think the future is bright.