Month: December 2015

With the free time I’ve had since going on Leave of Absence from work, I’ve gotten to help John with the project a lot more. Besides making the daily diets for the birds, I’ve started helping with fruit trials. Usually I get to depulp the fruit (which is basically getting all of the seeds out of the fruit and cleaning them off so we can plant them), making the dirt and seed trays that the seeds will planted in, and then planting the depulped seeds along with the seeds that the birds passed. I’ve also gotten to help with data entry and collection. Every couple of days, all of the seeds we’ve planted need to be surveyed to see if they have germinated or not. All of that data then needs to be entered into data sheets to be tracked over time. This can be pretty tedious work that requires a lot of time in the greenhouse and in Excel, but it is rewarding to see that the work from the trials is paying off when the seeds germinate!

As the year comes to an end, so does some of our friends time on Saipan. Two people from the team went home last week, and another will leave this weekend. We had a BBQ at the field house on Saturday to celebrate together before people left. It was a great time grilling, eating outside, and having a bonfire to end the night. It’s sad to say bye to friends as they leave, but we’re lucky to have gotten to know everyone here!

Sunday we went to Old Man by the Sea. This is a beach with a huge rock formation that looks like the face of an old man. The hike down to the beach was nice as we were surrounded by different types of trees and birds. Right when we got to the beach we saw the rock that looked like the old man! This beach is on the side of the island where there is no reef so the waves come crashing into the rocks. We stuck our feet in the water, but soon realized that it was full of jelly fish (which we also saw washed up onto the beach in piles) so we got out and just hung out on the rocks and enjoyed the view of the ocean and the sound of the waves.

Sunday night John and I went to the Italian restaurant for dinner. It was super cute and very delicious. We got a spinach and garlic pizza and linguini carbanara. Both were really good and we had leftovers for lunch that week. It was nice to have a little taste of home so far away.

It’s hard to believe that the holidays are upon us now. The time here really is flying by. Thanksgiving week came and went quicker than I thought possible. While we definitely missed celebrating with our families back home, this Thanksgiving was just as special, filled with friends, food, and fun!

To help prepare for the holiday, everyone chose a couple dishes they wanted to make to share with everyone for Thanksgiving dinner. I chose some pretty traditional Thanksgiving sides: Green Bean Casserole, Corn Pudding, Sweet Potatoes, and Crescent rolls. With the field house not having an oven, we had whoever needed to bake their dish over to our apartment so they could cook. It was a blast cooking together and preparing for the big dinner later that night. Everything went pretty smoothly with cooking (minus the 1 hour power outage right when we wanted to start baking! Classic Saipan). By 4pm though, everything was ready. We loaded all the dishes into the truck and headed over to the field house to meet the rest of the group for dinner. All of the food was delicious! We had everything from turkey and mashed potatoes, to vegan meatloaf and beat salad, to sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie. There was so much we had leftover for days!

 

The day after Thanksgiving, John and I went down to Garapan to walk around. We went in and out of a few shops. I got pretty excited when I saw them setting up Christmas trees already in the plaza! This is also a great opportunity to introduce you to Saipanda! He was already dressed up and ready for Christmas.

After getting ice cream at the I Love Saipan store, strolling through the fancy pants Galleria (high class mall) / Casino (we were very under dressed I might add), and finding some new sun glasses for John, we headed over to the American War Memorial. Right when we walked in, the park ranger greeted us and asked us if it was our first time at the museum. He was surprised to learn that it was, and we then continued to exchange stories of how we came to Saipan, how long we’re staying, and things we’ve done or places we’ve traveled to near by (side note – this might be one of my favorite things about living out here, learning others’ stories about why they came out here, what they are doing, and where they’ve traveled). The museum was extremely interesting. With exhibits describing the battles in the Pacific ocean in WWII, the route Americans took when they fought the Japanese for the island, and the impact the battle had on the local Chamorro people, we learned so much from the museum. At the end we got to view a short video that did a great job of summing up the build up and ensuing battle of Saipan. We then walked around the Memorial Park that had plaques with the names of the American soldiers and local Chamorros that perished during the battle.

On Saturday, a few of us got to visit what we voted to be the most beautiful place on Saipan, Forbidden Island. My description and pictures will definitely not do it justice in trying to portray the beauty of this place. During the hike down we stopped every few minutes because we were trying to capture the sights of the island as we got closer. When we got to the bottom, we hung out in some small tidal pools and enjoyed the waves crashing onto the rocks. In one spot there was a school of fish, each about the size of a hand, that we were swimming with and unsuccessfully trying to get a better look. It was a really great morning just relaxing in the water surrounded by the beauty of the small rock islands in front of us.

Our Thanksgiving week was not per usual, but it is definitely one we will remember for years to come. From celebrating the holiday with new friends, to experiencing the vast beauty of this small island lying in the tropical Pacific, we are truly thankful for this experience.