Mandi Asian Spa-pa

(Note: Spa-pa is how the word "spa" sounds on the commercial that use to air when I lived in Saipan. Of course, the commercial was in Japanese, so maybe they were saying something different.)

One of my all time favorite spots on the island of Saipan is the Mandi Asian Spa-pa.  The first time I visited was during the summer of 2003.  The Filipino ladies took my Youth in Mission team.  When I lived on the island, I did my best to visit about once a month.  It's beautiful during the day and at night.  It is a great place to watch the sunset.  Then at night, the torches are lit and one can sit in all the hot tubs and not die of heat.  When I moved to Guam, I visited Saipan frequently since most of my closest friends lived there (and my brother's friend worked for the airlines that services Guam/Rota/Saipan...and I was the only person he knew that would use his passes, so I got to travel for free).  Usually each visit to Saipan resulted in a trip to the spa-pa.  And now, over the summers I still manage to make my way over there.

This year, I took Perry for a trip to the Spa-pa.  However, I don't think the old Japanese man quite understood why I was taking a photo shoot with a stuffed animal!

Driving Around

Perry continued his driving lessons so I could take pictures of the view.  How can one drive when the view is just so beautiful?
 

The view just never gets old

I never get tired of the Saipan and Guam ocean views.  The colors are so amazing, and sadly I cannot fully capture it...

Search for the Coconut Crab

Last Thursday morning, my friend Ben showed up at the house.  I was starting to feel pretty terrible at this point and was contemplating if I was going to squeeze in one more adventure before I crashed. Ben answered that question because he needed a picture with a Coconut Crab.  (His girlfriend wanted a picture, so we were up to the challenge.)  He asked me where I thought we should go, and after discussing some options we thought the easiest route would be to sneak in to the cultural center before it opens and take a picture of one in a cage. But, if that failed, we would be close to the Gun Beach cliff line and surely we could follow that for a while and spot one.

Upon our arrival, it appears that the cultural center was not only closed...it had been closed for quite some time. So, Gun Beach cliff line hike it was.  Of course, that means...pics with guns! (Big gun)

There are two ways around the cliff line--in the water or across the actual cliff.  The cliff is easier because it has a "no trespassing" path that I've been taking for years.  It is suppose to be for tourists, but....

Once we are on the other side of the cliff, we are now on FiFi beach (aka...beach where I was robbed some years back...taking my camera, and towel, and Ben's car keys URGH)

As we walked along the beach we looked high and low, far and wide for a sign of a coconut crab.

We looked VERY high (like on this cliff)


And even higher (like in this cliff line cave).

Perry & Ben in a cave

But the closest we ever got was this hermit crab.


We decided that we at least had the pictures to prove we went looking for a coconut crab and that was the important part.

VBS Program

They say all good things must come to end. Well, with Guam VBS we end with a bang. I wish I would have had a picture of the congregation because we had a packed house!  Of course, we lure them in with cute kids on the stage and a potluck to follow.



Since I spent the second half of VBS most unaware of the world around me, I'm not exactly sure how many we had each night or my worker counts. I know my van drivers left 1 1/2 hours before VBS kicked off so they we could get them all picked up.  Everyone (except the three of us that were dying) seemed to have a really good time.  I love it because I get to reconnect with friends, kids, families, and island culture.

Guam Flu

I got the Guam Flu.  (According to most islanders, any sickness is the "flu".)  It's fairly potent because...
1) I haven't been swimming in TWO days
2) I never made it out of a bed/couch until VBS tonight.
3) I have found myself freezing without the air con on.  This has never happened before!

My poor VBS workers are dropping like flies as well, so I'm not alone in this.  Also, according to islanders, it was because we were caught in the rain the other night.  But myth busters said that wasn't true, so I say it is just a virus making its rounds.

You probably think, "You have Perry. He'll take care of you."  Perry's a lousy nurse. :)  Adventures is more his calling.  (And we DO have adventures to share...but they'll have to wait until I'm up for putting pics on my computer.)

There are pros to this.  The snack ladies at VBS gave me an extra homemade chocolate chip cookie tonight. Then they made sure I had all the extra watermelon.  Today's diet consisted of apple, mango, watermelon, chocolate chip cookies.  I would say that's living right!

VBS Object Lesson #2

Last night we needed high winds to go along with the Bible story. Tonight, we needed healing.  Our lesson was about Naaman and how God has the power to heal.

I figured, "might as well get hurt so I can have some healing."  We were all lined up outside ready to march in by our groups.  I go through the door first and somehow catch my leg on a chair.  While trying not to completely fall on the floor, I end up stepping on my ankle with my other foot, and then falling into another chair.  A few cuts, bruises, a twisted ankle, and a couple of carpet burns later, I guess I'll heal.

Japanese Tourist Day!

Today I decided to play tourist.  But not just any tourist--Japanese tourist.  Laura's idea of touring an island would be to drive around the entire thing, visit the historical sites, pop into a local restaurant for lunch, and hit the beach.  However, a Japanese tourist is known for one thing--shopping!  (And by me playing Japanese tourist, I mean "looking" instead of "shopping.")

After a lovely breakfast of leftover SPAM friend rice (I really love that stuff more than I should), Perry and I headed out for a tourist day.  Our first stop was the largest K-Mart in the world.  K-mart has some great souvenirs that are typically cheaper than the average tourist store (except ABC).  After a nice time at K-mart, we decided to go to Guam Premium Outlets (GPO).  My real reason for going to GPO was to get some Dole Whip in honor of my mother's birthday, but since I was playing tourist I might as well go in all the stores.  I found a pair of $4 sunglasses at Ross.  I was hesitant to even look, because usually you wait in line 30min-1hr to check out. (Last time I was there, I waited for 45 minutes).  However, today's line was record short, and I really needed sunglasses since I lost mine about two weeks ago in a lazy river (the not-so-lazy section).   Perry and I had to kill a few minutes until the ice cream store opened so we could get our Dole Whip.  It was amazing. (And I had it all for you, mom! Happy Birthday.)

Since I just happened to be traveling with my swimming suit and beach towel, Perry and I thought we'd go to a good swimming pool/beach today because that is what a Japanese Tourist would do.  Hilton it was.  BEAUTIFUL!  Here are a few pics of our swimming view.



After I declared that it was too hot, we decided to continue our shopping spree in the high-end Guam shopping, DFS.  I assume a real Japanese tourist would go to buy Prada or Tiffany or Chanel or all these brands that I really don't know.  Laura playing the role of a Japanese tourist goes for the samples! You can sample the coffee, and chocolate, and chocolate covered macadamia nuts, and all the cookies.  It was great fun. :)

The VBS Flood

Tonight's VBS Bible story was about when God speaks to Elijah during his 40-day trek to Mount Sinai.  Instead of God appearing in a mighty wind, earthquake or fire, God presented himself in a gentle whisper.  I guess God thought we needed a good demonstration of the mighty wind part of the story because he sent a STORM!

Guam and Saipan have been in a really bad drought...which is strange for a couple of islands where it rains every day.  It has hardly rained any since I have arrived and everything is so brown.  I was talking to a man tonight that said he hasn't had to mow (well..."bushcut") his yard in six weeks!  Today was mostly cloudy with a few showers here and there.  About the time we started the van run, it started showering.  Before VBS started you could hear thunder and see lightening. (This is always very exciting because it doesn't happen much...and lightening freaks everyone out.)

When we started our rotations, things went CRAZY.  Pouring rain...high winds...I was pretty sure our snack tent was going to come down.  We moved all the tables to the middle, but eventually, when the water outside starting rising under the tent, we had to give up and go inside and share the kitchen with snacks and crafts.

Here we are trying to move all the tables to the middle (before the water started rising).



I had to sneak through a classroom to avoid getting drenched.  Here's a peak at one of the groups hearing about Elijah.


I knew we needed the rain, but I really didn't want the van drivers dropping off kids in that kind of weather. Thankfully, right before VBS closed, the wind and rain stopped.  I learned from a few of the parents that were picking up their kids that several roads had flooded.  Crazy night! (It was almost like being in OK.)

VBS Kick Off, Year 11

It's my 11th year for Guam VBS.  I believe anyone who makes it past year 10 is allowed to retire.  Here I'm the decorator, the organizer, the purchaser, the opening person, the closing person, the music girl, the sound guy, the kid video lady, the registration person....so exhausting.  And I'm pretty sure I'm going to run another van route tomorrow night because it was almost 1 1/2 hours getting them all home tonight.

Here's Perry at the Base Camp of Mt. Everest.  (Or Mt. LamLam, which we say here in Guahan.)


VBS Snacks on the islands consist of either egg salad or tuna salad sandwich, a cup of soup (usually corn soup or noodle in coconut milk soup), a donut, and a cup of Tang.



And here we are waiting on vans about 45 minutes after VBS closed.

Catch the Wave, Guam

Another great youth retreat in Guam.  It was the 10th Catch the Wave (CTW) in Guam.  I don't think they realized the big anniversary. We had the themes of CTW of Hope, CTW of Faith, and CTW of Truth.  We stayed a hotel we had never been to before, down in the tourist area.   It had a great view of the ocean.  Here are me and some of the gals that I've known since they were little girls with a great back drop...


We try to get as close to the "church camp" environment as we can, so we stay in condos that we deem as the dorms and bring cooks.  Our cooks were awesome! (And in case you're wondering, the SPAM ran out way before the bacon.)


We try to have one big event outside of our retreat location.  This year was Jamaican Grill. (Ya, mon.)


Of course, youth everywhere must have ice cream...


We had a great time of lessons, small groups, prayer, swimming, and FREEZING.  There isn't a lot of air con out here, so put us in a hotel with it and it was almost unbearable.  Here's Perry and I trying to keep warm.
  
It was a wonderful few days with the young people.  Perhaps there will be more pictures when I get them from some of the teens.

35 MPH?

I've been teaching Perry how to drive.

I'm not really a speeder when it comes to driving. When I'm feeling wild and reckless, I set my cruise at 2mph over the speed limit. There have been a few exceptions. There was the one time in college when I was between Stillwater and Tulsa on the turnpike and a tornado was heading my way.  I went fast.  Very fast.  And so did everyone else.

The biggest exception to my no speeding is Guam.  This is a divided highway with two lanes going each direction, yet the speed limit is 35mph. WWWWWHHHHHHYYYYY?


I didn't realize how much I speed until I did the math.  I looked down and was going a bit over 60mph...25mph over the speed limit.  Yikes! (Oh, and Perry likes to speed too.)

Fly Over

Perry and I went swimming today.  It was a beautiful day up until I set foot out of the van and it started to rain. However, this was absolutely perfect, because Asian tourists melt in the rain.  The least hint of rain and they bolt to the nearest covering.  This meant that I had the entire water source (mostly) to myself.

After many, many, many laps I made it out of the water to dry off and read a bit. (The rain had stopped and had left things windy and "cool"...if "cool" is such a thing in this heat.)  Suddenly, a loud roar was taking place above me.  I look up just in time to watch three airforce fighter jets do a fly over in formation. (I assume they were Air Force; the could have been Navy.  I assume they were fighter jets. Do the military fly anything else super fast and in formation? I also know they were not B2s. I'm familiar with that aircraft as I nearly ran off a cliff more than once watching them fly over.  They seemed to always do their flying at the exact time I got off work...at the exact time I was driving down a cliff.  I'm lucky to be alive, you know.)

Anyway, it was so awesome.  I thought I was back with the Byng Band at Garden of the Gods when we got buzzed by those jets.  About the time the shock wore off, here they came again.

There is only one explanation for the second fly over. Some pilot saw me swimming, thought I was cute, and wanted a second glance. (Or they wondered why a grown woman was swimming with a stuffed platypus.)

No time...

Perry and I have many adventures to share, but I'm too tired.  For this weekend, I have four youth sermons (with powerpoints, worksheets, music sets, and devotions), a Sunday sermon, and VBS decorations to finish.

So instead of our spa adventure (the Old Japanese man didn't understand me taking pictures of a stuffed animal at various locations at the spa) or our lazy river adventure, I leave you with....

the summer of more braids has kicked off!

A Rough 24 or Eat More Beef

I should have known things in Guam were going to start out rough when it took 10 minutes to locate the three keys needed to bust in the parsonage.  I was pretty sure it was going to be a third year of  a breaking and entering blog.  However, since the last time I busted in, I secured the windows so people couldn't break in and the church put bars over the other windows.  Eventually, I found all the right keys and while working on the locks, a giant roach ran across my foot.  It was a sign of doom.  (Did I mention it smelled really, really, really awful?)

It was nearly 1am before I made it to bed.  However, my back hurt so bad I couldn't get comfortable enough to sleep.  (The light in this dark blog of the day is that I have the master bedroom this summer instead of my roach room.  That bed has a really good mattress, unlike Guam's second worst mattress that is on my bed in the roach room.  Guam's first worst mattress was the one I had when I first moved here.)  It was well after 2am until I dozed off.

As the sun started coming up a bit before 6am, the chickens let me know it.  Then the house behind me just have gotten a very noisy dog since my last stay.  Dog and chickens do not make for sound sleep.

Work needed to be done though, so I scurried off to the Post Office to see if Chris (the postmaster) had my boxes.  When I walked out the door of the parsonage I remembered....the smell....

I got to the Dededo post office, and Chris greeted me.  I asked if he had two packages for me.  Chris, being the good post master knowing everyone's business, knew my mom had sent me something (which were a few of the missing VBS books I ordered).  However, the giant box of clearanced crafts and decorations from Oriental Trading had not arrived.  Nooooooooooooooo!

I got back to the parsonage.  Ugh...that smell.  I did a little poking around, and it didn't take me long to find a dead cat. The country girl has no idea what city folks due when they come across a dead animal.  I decided I didn't care about that and went to see if I could track my package.  I discovered that Oriental Trading didn't even ship it until 9 days after I ordered it.  I discovered that it should have arrived last week.  I discovered that it is somewhere over the ocean.  (I later learned tonight a ship arrives only once a week with mail.  That person thinks it is on Thursday.)

I decided to go search for some of my own decorations.  I head to The Dungeon which is a costume/party store.  I decided after a while that either I missed it or it moved. I turned around and pulled in to where I thought it use to be and there was a sign that they had moved.  It took me several sweeps of a very busy road to find the new location. They had all sorts of great stuff that I could have used in the previous 10 VBSs.  But nothing relevant for this one.  Next best thing, I head to a Filipino dollar store and buy a punch of plastic table cloths. You can do anything with those.

I get back to the parsonage to realize that dead cat is gone. Wait, wrong.  It was moved to right under the house window!!! I had a choice to make.  Die of heat. Die of bad smell.  I was really going to have to do something about this dead cat.  But first...swimming.

I found my way to a pool. (It's best not to ask where or how I got in.)  I did a bunch of laps and then got out to dry off.  It had become a bit cloudy and was cool, so I fell asleep. This never happens. (You can tell I'm tired.)  About 4pm, I get back to the parsonage to see the yard covered in chickens.  Ugh, that smell.

I decide to go see if I could make something out of those table cloths I bought, and come back to eat some supper.  Ugh, that smell. And lots of chickens. But wait...there is considerably less cat than earlier.  Are the chickens eating the dead cat?  Ewwwww....

After some more decorating, I come back to the house for water break.  Sure enough, the chickens are eating the cat.  There's only a leg left.

So...the moral of the story is.  Eat more beef.  Don't eat chicken. Chickens eat dead cats.  

Stuck in a Freezer

Okay, I wasn't actually stuck in a freezer. It was an airport.  Let me just start from the beginning.

It was time for Perry and me to hop over to Guam for a few weeks.  With a youth retreat kicking off this weekend and VBS next week, there was work to be done!  I'd been watching flights for a few days and knew Monday was "the" day to get to Guam.  I decided on the 6:00pm flight so my ride wouldn't have to stay up late for me. Getting on that flight was a bit iffy, but if I didn't make it, the next flight (9:50pm) was wide open.

After going through TSA, I entered the main portion of the airport and nearly gasped  Someone (between the last five million times I've been through Saipan and this time) either 1) decided to start using the air con 2) fixed the air con or 3) purchased a new aircon. WOW, it was COLD!  I was not prepared for this since, typically, I am very hot in the Saipan airport.  I had wet hair, which made things worse.  I had on a short sleeve shirt, a knee length skirt, and sandals.  Sadly, the normal boy scout of flying was caught unprepared.  At the last minute, I decided to check one of my carry-ons. (I'm not guaranteed a seat, but I can check two, 70lb bags!)  And in that now checked carry-on was my jacket.

Since they would probably be boarding in an hour, I wasn't too concerned. I could managed.  Plus, I had television (CNN-Asia) for the first time since I left Oklahoma so I could catch up on the news.

Of course, the one time I'm freezing, the incoming plane would be about 30 minutes late.  Finally, they started calling people to get to the boarding area.  I made my way closer in case I got a boarding pass.  Eventually, a guy came over..."Miss Smith?"  (Just because I was the only white girl in the building, he assumed I was "Smith"?)  Who cares....I had a boarded pass. Seat 1C.

I went to sit in the boarding area, and realized after a few minutes something wasn't right.  Why aren't we boarding???

An airline representative announced there was a mechanical issue and the flight would be delayed 3hrs 50mins. I HAD TO SPEND ANOTHER 4 HOURS IN THIS FREEZER! I WAS GOING TO DIE! (There was also concern that they wouldn't get the plane fixed and instead fly only one flight to Guam that night...in which case I was doomed.)

I was trying to gather information whether they would indeed fly two planes or whether they would only fly one.  (Our flight was rescheduled for the same time as the next flight, so it seemed a bit doubtful they were flying two planes.)  No one had a definite answer, so suffer I must.  While gathering no information, I overheard a French lady saying she'd rather the plane be fixed then crash in the ocean. (Really? She had to say that?)  I decided to leave the boarding area to try to find a warmer spot in the airport.  But everywhere I went the French Lady was there too.  She saw the pilots come through and began drilling them about the issue, so I found a means of escape and bolted to the other side of the airport.  Fear not, the Crazy French Lady found me.

Since many passengers were missing a connecting flight, they brought up snacks while they could process food vouchers for everyone (well, everyone except me).  I couldn't believe it when the guy came to me, "Miss Smith, though we can't give you a food voucher, you are welcome to have a snack." I was shocked!  I actually got a bottle of water and a can of Pringles!  (The crazy French lady decided she was going to save her can of Pringles as a souvenir.)

The cold continued to build.  So while Crazy French Lady was off spending her $10 food voucher  at the one "cafe" in the airport, I worked on a way to stay warm.

I shoved part of my legs in my backpack and then used my neck pillow to cover the exposed section of my leg.  I scooted my Bible out to cover any remaining skin not covered.

Then I saw this guy. I considered mugging him for his coat...


Well, they did fly both planes. (It was a radio issue in case you were wondering).  I ended up making it to Guam about 11pm and was in the house about 11:30pm.

And so you have a face to go with the Crazy French Lady...here she is...

Welcome to Micronesia

You know you're in Micronesia when...
1) Your luggage gets bumped off a flight to make room for 14 coolers of fish.
2) The power continuously goes off.
3) You're wondering if you'll ever have dry clothes again from all the sweat.
4) It is perfectly normal to drive a car where you have to roll down the window to open the door from the outside. (But the window rolly-down-thingy is broken, so you actually have to get it off the floor and hold it with one hand, while cranking it with the other hand.)
5) You're okay with the lizards being in the house. They eat the ants.
6) You're the fastest driver on island. (Speed limit is 35...so slow.)
7) You get up and go to bed with the sun.
8) It is perfectly acceptable to eat a bag of dried mangoes for supper.
9) You realize it has been 9 days since you fixed you're hair....and there is no end of that pattern in sight.
10) You're so happy because the beaches, spa, and flowers are just so beautiful!

Maui, Day 4

This was my final day on Maui.  We decided to go to Mars.  Or Haliaka-la-la-la-la-la-la-la Volcano.  Also known as Haliaka-ha-ha-ha Volcano (Remember, that is the traditional "Laura" word, not the traditional Hawaiian name.)

10,000 feet we went

I saw the thermometer hit 58 degrees in tropical Hawaii!

My last evening was spent back in La-hiney for the beach and for more Dole Whip.

Maui, Day 3

Some call it the Road to Hana.  I call it the Road to Rotten Mangoes.  Whatever the name, it is full of gorgeous sites and really steep cliff lines that I'm not sure any car should be driving on.  But at least they warn you that it is dangerous.


Beautiful sites!





This was our chosen swimming hole for the day.  (You see the tip top of the rock cliff thingy in the middle of the water....people jump off that.  But not me because I'm heeding the sign I saw at the beginning of the day. And because mom told me to be careful.)

We ended the evening with dinner on the golf course.

Maui, Day 2

The second morning on Maui consisted of more Hawaiian coffee.  Then Ashley took us for  a drive along the country side.  Along this drive we found the Maui County Fair and 4-H Livestock Show. This made me very happy because all things 4-H makes me happy.


I also found me a couple of boyfriends along the drive...


I questioned for a bit if I was in OK or Hawaii with all the cows...


But then you see flowers and realize it is definitely Hawaii.


That evening we went out to people watch on Baldheaded Beach.


Followed by a trip to Buttcheek Beach to watch the turtles come in.