Like this:

Our first week in Saipan has been a very rewarding experience, lightly punctuated with a few frustrations and one or two brief instances of home sickness.  But the longer we stay, the more we understand why people spend their whole lives here, it is unbeleivably beautiful not to mention full of a diverse cast of friendly islanders who keep life exciting!

We arrived on July 25th at 1:30AM, a full 24-hours from ourdeparture in Pasco, WA.  The flight took us through Seattle and Tokyo.  In the Tokyo airport we rented a mini-hotel room complete with mini-twin beds and a shower!  After the long flight across the Pacific it was time and money well spent.  But I digress.  Upon our arrival to the Saipan airport we were greeted by several of the teachers/staff from Saipan Community School.  They had a big welcome banner and presented us with a mwar-mwar a traditional island headdress.

We were then taken to our new apartment on the campus of SCS. The apartment was fully furnished and the staff had brought up the boxes of household supplies we had shipped in advance. The staff bid us another warm welcome and “good night”. We fussed with a few of the boxes, but gradually the desire for sleep trumped everything and we drifted off into a hard, deep sleep.

The next day Terry took us around the Island. We did some grocery shopping at Costco (yes, there’s a Costco here without the annual membership fee) and a few other places. She then drove us out to a few of the better known sights including The Last Command Post, Banzai Cliffs, Bird Island and the Grotto (a cave connected to the ocean by a series of tunnels and a very popular destination for scuba divers.) Our first observation was that the humidity and heat combined make the weather very intense sometimes, especially for us coming from cooler and dryer climates. Over time your body learns to adjust and just sweats all the time! It’s the most efficient and natural cooling process! Albeit a bit smelly at the end of the day.

On Sunday we attended church at Saipan Community Church which sits at the heart of the school campus. We received a very warm welcome from the pastors and the church members. We had lunch after church services at Wild Bills BBQ. Afterwards we joined some of our new friends at the Sugar Dock a popular place for boaters and swimmers.

We went out to dinner later – it was $1 taco night at this little restaurant right on the beach (can’t recall the name right now) but it gave us a beautiful view of the ocean and the setting sun. On the horizon merchant Marine vessels could be seen keeping the island secured and supplied with emergency rations should the need ever present itself. We finished the evening with cold drinks at the Pacific Island Club and watched the sun go down in spectacular fashion. What an amazing day!

Monday saw us finally unpacking all of our boxes. That night we had dinner with Jake, Jakie and Terry and watched “Cool Runnings” together! Tuesday we did some more shopping (thanks again Terry!), got our drivers licenses(!) and went to the airport to great Bobby and Debbie Winkfield who were just returning to the island after several weeks. The staff greeted them warmly and were very glad to have them home!

Advertisement