On the back of PIC activity schedules
Dear Mom,
Sent a fax to sister last week but the front desk never sent it to so I had to re-send it yesterday. I asked her if she’d pay my $98 car payment past December for the few months I’ll still be gone and she’d be using it. Faxing’s fun.
Last week I went to Bird Island and it was a perfect day weather wise. To get from the car to the beach we hiked down this boonie trail that was so muddy we had to make a human chain so we wouldn’t slip the whole way. Once on the beach we put our packs on our heads to walk through the water (chest deep at high tide) for 100 yards to get to the island. It’s much smaller than Managaha but it’s very tall from the rock formations. I walked around, took some great pictures and laid out in the sun. Some Japanese tourists made it through the water and when I was laying out, they wanted to take my picture. I felt like telling them that it was my day off so leave me alone. I didn’t though.
In a recent National Geographic article, there’s an article about a 1700 Spanish ship that’s wrecked off the coast of Saipan. Queen Mariana (hence the name of the Marianas Islands)sent ships off to claim this area as Spanish territory. The ship wrecked below the now standing golf course at the resort next to PIC. Can we say diving madmen with buried treasure fever? Everyone’s diving in hopes of finding something. We went today (I couldn’t actually dive because I have a cold and you can’t dive with sinus problems) and they didn’t find anything but they did say they whole area is ripped up from the excavation – a lot of damage to the coral reef…and the article said there was minimal environmental impact – bullshit.
Betel Nut (pronounced beetle nut) is found abundantly on the island. It is broken open by the teeth, filled with lime, wrapped in a pepper leaf and is chewed like chewing tobacco. You spit the first few times and then you swallow. The spit is blood red and stains indelibly. The locals all chew and there’s signs in public places saying “no betel nut chewing.” I tried it today – I got dizzy and high. I was told it’s a lot like a nicotine high. I think it’s got the same properties as nicotine since it’s addictive and a stimulant. You buy it in a store like a 7-11 over here. Totally legal. I don’t think I’ll be trying it again. Once is enough.
I know that my allergic reaction was serious. The rash is gone but my white spots are stubborn. I have stayed out of the water for a week now and will continue to do so until it’s gone. A supervisor told me she used selsun blue and it was gone in a week so that’s my next attempt. Yes, the water was how I hot the fungus in the first place – all that water aerobicizing will do it to you.
I’m bummed that the shell didn’t get to you in one piece. The white stuff I sent was once a tiny sand dollar. I’ll bring a whole one home for you. A Chamorro is the race of people who are indigenous to the islands here – there are also Carolinians and Trukese. The “capitol” of Saipan is Garapan. There are a lot of small communities here (they call them villages) One is called Capitol Hill and it’s where a lot of white and government people live.
I rent a bike from PIC to go shopping or to the bank. They’re old bikes – one speed and fat tires. The other day the chain came off on my way home. Most things I want to do in the day time are only a few miles away so I can ride a bike. If it’s farther or at night, we hitchhike (only with a guy, never alone), there are 2 people here with a car so we try to invite those people along. If it’s a day off and we want to go somewhere requiring 4-wheel drive, we rent a jeep. Lots-o-fun.
The Japanese tourists are very different from Japanese-Americans. We get middle/working class Japanese tourists since our prices are reasonable. The culture is so different. I think it does produce a different stature.
A shrew is like a rat with a long neck. Lots of disease and they like our beach and tennis areas. We have huge frogs here too. We say the frog says “ribbit-ribbit” and the Japanese guests say frogs say “getto-getto. The guests don’t tend to get manicures, hair styling, etc while they’re here but some of the Aussies do. We don’t have a salon here which is really stupid since we are a resort. I think I’ll put that in the suggestions box.
The island is catholic so I’m definitely in the “Christian” world for x-mas. The company party has a huge budget so it should be good.
Gotta shower – been writing letters at the pool all afternoon. Heart.
