Letter on pretty stationary
Dear Mom,
You really out-did yourself on my birthday box. Oh my gawd it was amazing! Your choice of clothes was great! I love the fabric, colors, and styles. The odds and ends of pepto bismol, sugar twin, and reading material was neat. Everyone is so jealous of me and my new threads.
Hash on the island does not mean drugs. Hash is a kind of activity. It’s sort of a human hare and hound game. Every Saturday there’s an organized hash – mostly whites although I’ve been told locals sometimes do it. There are 2 hares and the rest of us are hounds. The hares take us to a starting point and they get a 10 minute head start to set a trail that we hounds follow. The hares try not to get caught and the hounds’ goal is to catch the hare. The hares set the trail with four which give the hounds information. For example, if there’s a single splat of flour, it’s a trail, but if you come to 3 splats in a row, it means to go back to where there was an intersection because it was a false trail you’d have been following. At intersections, any of the other 3 directions could be true so some of the hounds scout it out. Anytime a hound finds a trail marker, they call out what it is so others can be going in the right direction – sort of our barking to each other. I waited to hash until the Saturday before my birthday as a present to myself. Two PIC people were hares and the trail started at a golf course on the beach of another resort. The trail took us along the golf course and then went and then went into the wilds of Saipan. We went over lava rock over cliffs above the ocean, then onto an overgrown car trail through the jungle, up on a hill where the runway lights are for the landing strip at the airport, around the airport, back into the jungle where the grass around us was shoulder high and you could barely see the trail. It ended at a beach where I dive and hares won…but not by much. There was beer and potato chips for all. (About half way through the run I was sweating so much – as everyone was – that there wasn’t a dry spot on my body or clothes!) I brought a change of clothes so I wouldn’t sit around for the rest of the evening in wet clothes. A campfire was built and there were drinking rituals for the hares, new people, and people who ran the hash for the last time. One of my bosses ran the hash so we went to his house and had spaghetti & baked garlic. As you’ve probably surmised, everyone by now was very drunk so walking across the street back to PIC was quite a chore. I never had so much fun! The next day my body hurt from running so much over rocky terrain. Saipan jungle is beautiful. I saw some beautiful flowers and black butterflies with purple/blue spots. I’m going again this week although I have 3 blisters on my feet!
I’m amazed by the vegetation here. There’s a lot of plants we have in our yard which says to me that CA really could be tropical if there was enough water. Another day when some of us were out and about, I discover that the majority of the wild vegetation was mimosa! Before that, I thought all the trees looked like mimosa but the fronds, pods looked slightly different. What I discovered was that this mimosa here has a white flower that looks slightly different as well. The mimosa must be the same genus but different species as our Montgomery Street mimosa. Others are amazed I know anything at all about plants. Girl Scouts did me well.
After I talked to you on my birthday, we took 3 clubmates to the airport for their departure. For dinner, my beau took me to the finest restaurant in Saipan which just opened. It rivaled any CA restaurant which was needed after 2 months of buffet food. I had a real bottle of wine with a cork and everything. You usually can’t get good wine here so Dave and I were totally jazzed at a bottle of Mondavi 1986 Cabernet. Taste buds were very happy. Before dinner we sat out on the deck and watched the sunset. The restaurant is a restored lighthouse from WWII that is up on a hill and overlooks the western side of the island. The sunset was spectacular and then we dined for hours. Boy did that feel good. I had an excellent birthday. I couldn’t have asked for anything better. Plus it didn’t rain.
8/1/90
Same letter
Well, I’ve already worn 2 swim suits for 2 different aerobic classes. They’re great for exercising.
I’m already considered a veteran clubmate so I’m teaching the new women the dances in the shows. It’s fun to teach the dances. The entertainment coordinator kinds runs things and I’m an unofficial assistant. Minus the supervisors, I’m the woman who’s been here the longest. Pretty scary. I’m probably next in line for a supervisor or administrative assistant position but we’ll see.
S****’s called a couple of times but I do not feel good about a reconciliation. Too angry. Although I can forgive, I made too many decisions or thought too many things while he didn’t want to be with me, that I’m not willing to change now that he wants to be back with me. I don’t like feeling like a yo-yo depending on what HE wants. I’d go back to Joe before I went back to S****. So the soap opera unravels.
Got the t-shirt and card, picture, comix, etc today. Thank you for EVERYTHING! Love you.
