Iceland

Click here to see the slideshow of my recent trip to Iceland!

Rick Steves: Ten Ways Iceland Can Kill You

An Exhilarating Ride

A friend who co-owns a tour company on Tinian offered to take me back to Saipan by boat, something that I have always wanted to do. I have this photo of Grandpa riding a boat around Tinian on a reconnaissance mission during World War II:

The expression on his face doesn't reveal how incredible the ride is across the open sea (by the way, my friend was able to identify exactly where Grandpa was - the spot visible in the background is called "Drop Coke" because the soldiers apparently dumped a bunch of coca cola bottles there after the war and now scuba divers can go there to see them). My videos provide a little more insight... This was truly one of the most exhilarating experiences of my life. It was frightening, but in an exciting and adventurous way. 

After we passed the point of Tinian, the waves got much bigger - too big for me to hold the camera (and my beer). Sometimes the boat landed in such a way that the salt water drenched my face. 

I felt so alive.

Obyan Beach with the Doggos

Playing around with the GoPro a couple weeks ago:

• Video 1
• Video 2 (starts getting exciting right around the 3:00 mark; excitement stops shortly thereafter)

Sex(ual Harassment)-On-The-Beach

At the beach today, just sitting in the water with the dogs, beach "security guard" walks over. He's maybe in his late twenties and seems friendly enough, so we make small talk for a second, then this:

Him: Be careful out there. Are you here with someone?

Me: Yes [looking at my dogs]. We come here all the time. I don't swim by the reef anyway.

Him: I mean besides your dogs?

[I ignore the question, hoping he'll get the hint.]

Him: Where did you park?

Me: [Thinking maybe he has the authority to ask as part of his job] Over there - Why? Is that a problem?

Him: [Shrugs.] It's fine... You aren't here with anyone? Your husband or your fiancé?

Me: I'm here with my dogs. [In fact, there are only 3 other people on the beach, and they clearly are not with me.]

Him: Why isn't your husband or fiancé with you?

Me: I came here to be alone [hint hint] with my dogs.

Him: Do you have a husband or fiancé?

[I pause, just to let him sit in the awkwardness for a second.]

Me: That's a very personal question. 

Him: I was just wondering because... usually I see people here with their husbands and their dogs.

Me: Uh huh. 

Him: But you're just here alone, so I was just checking.

Me: Right. Well, clearly I'm fine.

Him: I guess you're just independent [smirking]. 

Me: Yeah... gotta go give them some water so... [walking away].

If you're a man reading this, you may not understand why it's worth a blog post. If you're a woman, on the other hand, you know. We deal with this shit all of our lives, on a weekly, sometimes daily basis. It's more than an annoyance too. It destroys the atmosphere because your guard has to go up. Why did he want to know where my car was parked? Is he going to try to follow me? Or will he be out there when I get to my car? 

Of course, I push those thoughts aside and try to enjoy the day, but I'm constantly looking over my shoulder, checking to see if he's watching me. Yeah, he's probably just an awkward guy. He's not local; maybe he grew up in a culture where men and women don't interact much until marriage, so he just doesn't know how to talk to women. I don't know. 

But one thing is certain: my marital status was none of his damned business. 

Pizza Delivery

Interesting aspect of #IslandLife: ordering pizza. We have a Pizza Hut, but last couple times I had a craving and called them, they were not accepting any more delivery orders for the night because the one driver had too many pizzas to deliver. 

When there is a driver available and you place your order, the next step of course would be providing your street address. But here, we do not have street addresses.  I'm told every street has a name, but no one really knows them. (We call our main roads "Beach Road," "Back Road," and "Middle Road.") So, without using any actual street names, you tell the Pizza Hut operator how to get to your street. And then you describe your house and maybe your car if it is parked outside, since there aren't any house numbers. Those directions are entered into their system (in full) for future orders. (When you get your receipt, your directions are printed out on it for the driver.) 

Island directions are a language in and of themselves, like "turn right on the gravel road after the mom-and-pop [store]," or, "left at the cemetery and keep going until you pass the chicken farm," or "back where the old McDonald's used to be [a decade or so ago]?"

Now I guess I'll return to reading the news while I wait for my pizza to arrive...

By Air and By Sea

By Air...

The flight from Saipan to Tinian takes less than ten minutes from takeoff to landing, so I recorded the whole thing.

...And By Sea

My friend Ike took me on an exhilarating ride on a small boat across the open sea from Tinian to Saipan.

Part 1 of 3

Part 2 of 3

Part 3 of 3

Beach Videos

My Favorite Beach on Tinian (on the Planet, actually)

Enjoying a Really Low Tide with the Dogs at Obyan Beach, Saipan

Lovely Obyan Beach, Saipan

Exploring Obyan Beach with the Dogs

Toads in a Hole

The most amazing thing happened tonight. It may not seem amazing to everyone; I'm not sure it would have seemed amazing to me before I moved to this island. But one of the pleasures of living in a tropical haven is enjoying all the natural surroundings: exotic plants, bright blue water, soft, pink coral sand, and, of course, the wildlife. 

Earlier this evening, the dogs and I saw our little toad who lives in the backyard with his mama. He was squatting right next to a baseball-sized hole in the yard (perhaps an old well or something?) and looked right at us before hopping directly into the hole. It seemed strange that an animal would instinctively do something so counterintuitive, but I guessed that he must know a way out that I couldn't see from above ground.

A few hours later, I was making a little fire out back and decided to look in the hole with my headlamp. In the bottom of the hole, maybe four feet down, was little toad. When he looked up at the light, however, I noticed another set of black eyes underneath him: his mama! She was stuck down there and he'd gone in after her!

I tried using sticks to help them out, but they seemed lethargic, resigned to their fate. I knew I could not let them die like that, but how do you get two big toads out of a little hole in the ground without hurting them?

Finally, I remembered that toads are amphibious (thank you, fourth grade science teacher), so I filled a bucket with water and returned to the hole. I was really scared as I poured the water on top of our little toad family - are they too dehydrated to swim? Is there enough room in the hole for mama to stretch her limbs? Would they drown before they had a chance to surface?

For a few seconds, I held my breath, waiting for a toad to pop out of the now-flooded hole, but nothing happened. An air bubble floated to the surface and I realized I had to do something fast; I grabbed the stick I'd been trying to fish them out with earlier and gently slid it down the murky well until I felt resistance. I jiggled it slightly, not really sure whether it was helping or hurting the situation, when suddenly two air bubbles floated to the surface, followed by little toad!

I was so happy when he jumped out of the water - I half expected him to gasp a big breath of air like a mammal would- but he just hopped away. Mama was still down below. I wasn't sure about her. She's an awfully fat toad, and I figured I'd have to somehow turn her sideways to get her swimming. Anyway, I had to try.

After jiggling the stick around for a few seconds, I actually felt her move a bit, and a couple air bubbles rose to the surface. I slid the stick down further and somehow managed to pull her up enough that she could extend her legs. Almost immediately, her big ole toad nose broke the surface of the water. Mama was free!

She hopped away into the night, toward the coconut tree stump where I'm sure little toad was waiting, and hoping.

Article in the Saipan Tribune

"Granddaughter of WWII Veteran Explores Missed Connections," Saipan Tribune, Dec. 4, 2015

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!