Home Sweet Home

My biggest concern prior to my arrival on the island was finding a home. I had searched extensively online, contacted every local realtor, and followed up on every lead from my contacts here to no avail. The problem was twofold. First, a casino has been buying up property in preparation for its new building. Second, typhoon Soudelor had destroyed many homes and apartment buildings in late August, so those residents had taken up nearly all the available rental property. When I arrived here, two of my new colleagues were kind enough to take me house-hunting, but the only places we found were either too small, too expensive, or did not allow dogs. 

One night, while I was eating dinner at the Japanese restaurant at the Himawari Hotel, I met two men originally from the mainland who had been living on the island for many years. One of the men said he may know of a house that's available and said he would email me the land lady's contact info. Sure enough, I received an email the next day telling me to call "Darlene" about her house in Dan Dan village.

My colleague took me to see the house and meet Darlene the next day and I felt at home immediately, regarding both the house and the landlady. 

Darlene lives in California, but she is originally from Saipan and lived here for a decade. We bonded right away and agreed to the lease terms. And now I have a wonderful, spacious house on a hill with coconut trees, 

tropical flowers,

And many Papaya plants!

On a clear day, I can see the island of Tinian as well as one of the smaller islands:

My house has a huge kitchen (maybe ill actually try cooking occasionally?):

It is an open floor plan, with a large living room, dining area, and sitting room.

There are three spacious bedrooms and two bathrooms, so visitors welcome!

Here are pictures of the back of the house and the dogs enjoying themselves:

I guess the typhoon brought all these seashells to my yard. There are tons of them laying around!

My landlady's sister-in-law sold me a twin mattress set, but that's about all I have right now in terms of furniture. Apparently some of my furniture is on the island, but I don't know when they're delivering it.

One of the most fascinating things about living here is that there are no residential (or business) addresses! None! Only a few streets have names, and people usually do not refer to them by their actual names. The main three roads are Beach Road, Middle Road, and Back Road. Everyone has a post office box to receive mail, but if you need to tell someone where you live, you have to draw a map. When I opened my checking account at the local bank, the banker pulled out a map book so I could show him where my house was (I didn't do a very good job of that...). I got a pizza from Pizza Hut last night and noticed that they deliver. That would not be an easy job here.

My first "real" week of work begins tomorrow and I'm so excited! I spent some time at the office and court last week, but most of the time I was running around trying to get all my affairs in order. I will post more about my job in the near future.

I'm reading a great book about the WW2 campaign in the pacific. It's volume II of a trilogy by Ian Toll. This volume is called The Conquering Tide: War in the Pacific Islands, 1942-1944. I'm really enjoying it. 

Thanks for stopping by!