When You Don't Have an Underwater Camera

You know the water is clear when you get really great pictures of underwater creatures out of the water! 

This area is known for the blue star fish...

Another popular creatures, the moray eel  (For the record, I hate eels!  I find them creepier than snakes.)

And when I was in the water, I met a crazed parrot fish. I'm walking out in to the water (not quite waist deep) when something hit my let.  I jumped, startled, and then continued my journey.  Thud. Again! I look down and I'm a standoff with a fish.  I try to take step forward. Thud.  He just runs straight into me.  I take a step back, the fish relaxes. I try to go forward...thud. The fish just kept swimming around and around this specific area as if it was guarding something, and I wasn't allowed to cross.  (I'm guessing maybe it had laid eggs?)  If I tried to cross, it would "attack." I found it rather amusing and perhaps tortured the creature a bit more than I needed to by acting like I was going to cross. But just in case his best fried was a shark, I decided to go another way. 

Nikko Hotel

Another favorite spot of mine is Nikko Hotel.  Back when I was rich I had a membership at this hotel.  (Oh maybe that was "Back when it was $100/year, I had a membership at the hotel." I think it's in the the thousands now, so by saying I had a membership at the hotel, I sound rich!  And by membership, it meant I could use the pool.)

A trip to Guam is never complete without at least a day at the Nikko.  Sadly, I wasn't able to use my normal "sneaking in to hotel pool" skills because Nikko now requires the guests to have a bracelet to swim.  (How rude!) So I had to be a law-abiding citizen and use their beach chairs instead.  😂  (Actually, I'm not sure that's legit either, BUT no one was using them. Therefore, I wasn't keeping any hotel guests from the honor.)

Here are the Top 5 Reasons I love the place so much! 

They have a great table for me to do my Bible study without getting sandy...

And the view of the pool and gardens are amazing. (Even when you can't get in. Sigh.)

There are great hiking trails around the cliff line...

And a really marvelous view at the top of the trails...

See those four empty chairs in the middle? That's where I spent my time

And then a pretty good view from one of those beach chairs! :) 

Ritidian Beach

 With VBS underway, I felt like I was able to escape a bit and enjoy the beach.  So let's just start out big and go to Ritidian Beach! On the way to the beach, I noticed really tall fences and many construction projects.  It turns out the "military buildup" this island has been talking about for years is finally starting to happen. The Marines are coming!

Ritidian Beach is at Ritidian Point which is the northern most tip of Guam.  It is owned by the US Fish and Wildlife Service.  It's known for the most amazing view heading down to the beach, the white sand beaches, and butterflies.  You can also find some ancient cave markings as well.  

For a platypus, Perry doesn't really spend a lot of time in the water.
He kept Shan company

So beautiful!

Perry takes selfies too.

So clear.

There black spots are butterflies--it's just a really bad picture. :/ 

I don't go to this beach nearly enough because "it's so far"...and it's kind of remote and I generally use a little sense and don't go to those beaches alone.  But it is absolutely gorgeous.  (And you can see the island of Rota!)

Perry Calls a Workday

 After a grueling 25 minute flight between Saipan and Guam (hey--when you hate to fly, they're all grueling!), we got IMMEDIATELY to work decorating for VBS.  Over the years, it's generally been a small team decorating.  Just Perry and me.  (Except when I had Ashley with me---or I would call Ben and beg for help--or force Pastor Rex and Tisoy to help me during their days.)  But this year--we had a huge team of youth helping.  It was a blast, and we finished in seven hours.  SEVEN HOURS!  I should have them helping every year!

Like in all the worlds I reside, the drums still distract people from the task at hand...

So you just have to say, "I need you to go make a train to fit in that tunnel."  Then all the boys go lock themselves in a room (and only come out to get very strange supplies).  Though I did get one picture of the work in progress...

But they really did great work...

And we ended up with a wonderfully decorated stage and Sunday School Building! (Somehow, I didn't get pictures of most of the building. Oops.)

Community

I love Saipan because of the community.  People talk to each other. People are willing to make friends outside of their set groups.  People share meals with one another.  Though my little town of Francis does have a sense of community, I don't really get that outside of the Cedar Grove/Francis/Denny boundaries.  When I first moved back to Oklahoma, my pastor and his wife understood community. They were a wonderful transition for me from the islands.  

As I was waiting in the Guam airport to go to Saipan, my friend sent me a message asking if I could move their car (they live in Saipan) because their lawn guy needed to mow. We chatted for a bit. She asked if I had any friends left in Saipan.  I told I knew some people, but most of my "have-adventures-with" friends were off island. But I wasn't worried because I always make friends.  And sure enough,  I connected with old friends, and I made friends. I had adventures! (And didn't have nearly enough time for my adventures!)

My friends Donald and Malou moved to Saipan not long after I did.  Their boys were in my first youth group.  They had moved from Chuuk, so we had mutual friends already.  When their son graduated boot camp in Oklahoma, I was able to go greet him and help bring some "home" to his celebration.  This family was one of the main reasons I needed to get to Saipan this year. They left island just two days after this picture and will be moving to the mainland.  You will hardly meet a finer couple than these two! (Be praying that they find jobs in the US and have an easy transition.)

I was also able to reconnect with my friend Jill. She introduced me to my crazy card making/paper-crafting that I do.  Jill also owns Saipan Snaps--a company that makes yummy ginger snap cookies.  Not only did we get together one night to craft, but she left me a goodie bag at one of their stores with three different kinds of cookies! (And I made a new crafting friend that night!)

Not only did I reconnect with old friends, I made new friends.  Alison and her husband Nate and their three kids recently moved back to Saipan.  Alison previously taught at the same school I taught at in Saipan (but after me).  Though I had heard about the family, I had never met them.  They should be on island for a while, so I look forward to future adventures.  But while I was on island we attended the Pacific Games, beach, Taste of the Marianas, and Mt. Tapochau together. She also makes a great smoothie that I got to enjoy at her home!

Alison and I also made another friend, Tricia. She too is a teacher in Saipan.  (She has also taught other exciting places like S. Korea and Africa!) Tricia joined us for ladies day out (Thai buffet) and was on my flight back from Saipan to Guam. So we got extra hang out time!  (I meant to take a picture with her, and then didn't catch her again in the airport after we got our luggage.)

I am so thankful for Saipan community. I'm so thankful that I always feel like I'm at home there, and it is so hard to leave. 

Mt. Tapochau and Taste

My friend Alison invited me on a Mt Tapochau viewing with her and her kids followed by Taste of the Marianas.  (Last time I went up Tapochau, the road was so bad I said never again.  But our friend had actually gone up the night before in her car, so we figured we could make it the SUV--granted, I was still a bit skeptical.) 

Mt Tapochau is the highest peak in Saipan. When at the top you can see the entire island.  It was also very significant during WWII.  Sadly it had just been raining, so we did get any really great pictures of the view.  But the "air conditioning" was wonderful. It's so windy up there it's like it dropped 20 degrees. (Well, at least 3 degrees anyway.)

Perry got a few selfies in...

And because my view was a little crummy, here's what you can see....

After Tapochau, we headed down to the last night of Taste of the Marianas.  I enjoyed some fish tacos.  In one of the bands performing, Alison pointed out the uke player was the uke teacher at her school. The she said his name.....he was a first grader when I taught there. Yep. I'm old. 

And then maybe a few pictures of some things you don't see every day:
 

Signs advertising Sizzling Squid

A roasting pig over coals

A platypus with a roasting pig over coals

Sunset Beach BBQ

We were at the beach.

We saw the sunset.

But as for BBQ...it was island style BBQ. Hotdogs. 

I went around doing my thing...kidnapping kids and teens and hauling them off to play games, have adventures, eat food, and maybe draw a little closer to Jesus along the way.  Some years back we had done a sunset beach swim and cookout at Pau Pau Beach.  When I was giving the teens some options of what they would like to do, that came up.  Which was great for me--I'm always up to sunset and swimming on the beach!