Saipan

Golfer’s paradise

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There are two prices for a lot of things on Saipan. The advertised price is the tourist price but locals know to ask for the promo or local price. The difference is sometimes quite substantial. For example, the posted price for a round of golf on the spectacular oceanside course at Lao Lao Bay is $180 per person. That includes cart rental. The local price is $40. That’s right, $40! That’s less than 25% of the tourist price!

Since we’re not here as tourists but we aren’t long term residents, we don’t really fit into either category. Some places have happily given us the local rate but when I called to make a tee time at Lao Lao this morning, I was told that we’d only be given the local price if we could produce a Saipan driver’s license as ID. Of course, we don’t have such a thing. In the past, Dave and Helen Ann took their summer volunteers down to the Department of Motor Vehicles to get a local license as soon as they arrived on the island. That was back when a license cost $15. Now, they’re $40 which might still be worth it but you’re also required to turn in your previous license. Obviously, we’re not going to do that when we’re only here for a couple of months.

I explained our unusual situation to the girl who answered the telephone at Lao Lao Bay. Since she didn’t know what to do with me, she transferred the call to her supervisor who told me that, unfortunately, since we don’t have Saipan licenses we’d have to pay the tourist rate. When I told her that we couldn’t afford to do that and explained that we’re seniors living on a pension and working as volunteer missionaries, she offered to talk to the club manager to see if he would be willing to offer us a discount. She called back a few minutes later to tell us that we could golf at the local rate and when we arrived at the course, we were told that the offer is good for the remainder of our stay! It probably helped that tourism, the island’s main industry, is way down right now and the courses are far from busy.

Our round actually cost us $70 each because we also had to rent clubs but that we can afford. It’s actually an amazing price given the fact that the course is absolutely gorgeous, immaculately kept and was designed by none other than Greg Norman, one of my favourite golfers of all time!

Even allowing ourselves a few mulligans, our scores were a little high but we’ll chalk that up to an unfamiliar course and the fact that we hadn’t golfed for a whole month. With hole descriptions like “out of bounds runs along the left side and there’s jungle on the right”, “you will hit your tee shot from an elevated tee box over the jungle to a green which is protected by jungle on the right, jungle to the rear and the cliff line on your left” and “from a cliff line tee box, you hit your tee shot over the crashing and thunderous ocean waves to a green which is also perched upon the cliff” I’m pretty proud to say that I only lost one ball! My tee box was practically suspended in space on a narrow peninsula jutting out over the crashing waves below. It was spectacular but while I’ve come a long way toward conquering my lifelong fear of heights, my swing was far from relaxed! The ball careened off the opposing cliff face and bounced out into the brilliant blue ocean.

Our round of golf even included a brief history lesson. Alongside one of the fairways sits a rusted out US Army M5A1 “General Stuart” Light Tank that was knocked out of action by Japanese anti tank fire on June 25, 1944 during the battle for Saipan. It was uncovered in the late 1980’s during an archeological survey that was conducted prior to the development of Lao Lao Bay Golf Resort and has the distinction of being the only tank of it’s kind in the Mariana Islands that still sits in its original combat position. They just built the golf course around it!

And then there’s one more photo for those of you who, like me, love Engrish, the bizarre use of the English language that is prevalent in some parts of the world. This one tickled my funny bone when I stopped to use a bathroom on the course. Needless to say, the bathrooms are a little classier than the blue plastic portables on our home course in Sedgewick!

When all else fails…

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You know the old saying “When all else fails, read the instructions.”  After today’s experience, we might say “When all else fails, pay close attention to the instructions!”

Hiking to the Old Man By the Sea was on our list of things to do but we weren’t sure how to get there. We’d been up the right road but hadn’t seen any signs or indications that there was a trail in the area. When we saw Brian at the street market on Thursday evening, we asked him about it. He’d hiked to the Dry Grotto with us so we thought he might know the way. That’s easy, he told us; someone hung a pair of yellow shorts on a tree to mark the way! When he and his wife, Rachel, heard that we’d already hiked to Forbidden Island, they assured us that the Old Man hike was much shorter and easier.

When this morning’s rain turned to sunshine, we decided to try the hike this afternoon. Just to be sure we knew where we were going, I decided to check the atlas. It showed San Ignacio Drive leading to the shore close to the Old Man By the Sea so I kept that in mind and off we went. We passed the yellow shorts and sure enough, there was San Ignacio Drive just a short distance up the road. San Ignacio Drive is a rather pretentious name for what was little more than a path! We were glad we’d taken the vehicle with 4 wheel drive!

At the end of the road, we came to a clearing, parked the vehicle and began to look for the trailhead. There was nothing obvious but we found what we thought might be the trail and followed it. Almost immediately, we could hear the thunderous sound of waves crashing far below us and we soon came to the edge of a precipice. This is what we saw:

We skirted along the edge of the drop off and continued to follow what we hoped was our trail. Soon it began to descend steeply. Richard went ahead to see if this really was the right way while I stood on top of the world, or so it seemed, and enjoyed the spectacular view.

I was pretty sure that the little beach at the right was where we wanted to be but could we get there from here? Richard returned and said that he thought this was probably the trail so we began our climb down steep rugged rock. Could this really be the way? It certainly wasn’t easier than the hike to Forbidden Island. On we went, though. Soon we could see what I was sure was the back side of the Old Man. There he is, the hump in the centre of the picture.

Unfortunately, though our destination was now clearly in sight, we came to the edge of a cliff and had to admit that we definitely weren’t on the right trail. Feeling a bit discouraged but also glad that we’d seen the amazing sights along the way, we returned to the vehicle thinking that perhaps we’d have to call Brian and see if he’d come with us next time.

As we headed back up San Ignacio Drive toward the main road, a thought struck me. What if we weren’t supposed to be on San Ignacio at all? What if the trail actually started right where the yellow shorts were hanging? Sure enough, when we got back to that spot, there was another vehicle parked at the side of the road and close inspection revealed an easy path leading into the bush! It couldn’t be seen from a vehicle passing by but it was there!

There were even ropes to help us up and down a few steep slippery spots.

When we emerged from the jungle, there he was, the Old Man By the Sea silently surveying his domain!

What an amazing formation!

The little beach was strewn with litter; everything from toothbrushes to toys! Shoes without partners were abundant. These weren’t things left behind by careless hikers but had washed up on shore after riding the waves from who knows where.

As we explored, we even found this and took a photo for Nathan, our cave loving son. Like most of the caves on the island, it isn’t very deep but it’s probably provided shelter for more than one unlucky hiker caught in a storm.

I could have stayed a long time watching the waves crash against the shore but soon it was time to go. After all, it gets dark early on Saipan and it wouldn’t be a good idea to be caught out on the trail after sundown.

There’s still at least one more hike we want to do while we’re on the island. I hope that one’s not as difficult to find and if we have to ask for directions, we’d better follow them more carefully!

All steamed up

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When you step out of an air conditioned car back home in Alberta, your glasses don’t steam up! That’s one of the things I’m still not quite used to.

You really only need two words to describe Saipan’s weather; hot and humid! Saipan holds the Guiness World Record for the most consistent temperature year round. So how consistent is it? Well, I just looked up the weather forecast for the next 7 days and every single day says “with a high near 87” and every single night, “with a low around 78”! Now that’s consistent! Those are Fahrenheit temperatures, of course. Saipan is, after all, an American territory. For those of us who think in Celsius, that’s a daytime temperature of 31 and a night time temperature of 26. The numbers don’t sound all that extreme but when you add the very high humidity, believe me it’s hot! And it’s not just like this in the summer, it’s like this all the time! Imagine twelve months of summer. Never having to own a coat. I know there are lots of places where this is true but it’s still difficult for this Canadian girl to get her head around!

Saipan does have two seasons, the rainy season from July to November and the dry season from December to June. I don’t imagine that the dry season is all that dry, however. If it was, we wouldn’t be surrounded by such lush tropical growth. When I learned that we’d be here at the beginning of the rainy season, I visualized day after day of gloomy grey skies and never ending rain. It hasn’t been like that at all. It may rain several times a day and when it does it’s literally like someone turned on a tap but it rarely lasts more than a few minutes and in between, it’s often sunny!

The past couple of days have been different, however; more like what I imagined. This is also typhoon season and Typhoon Ma-on passed by approximately 300 miles north of here. I suspect that that’s had a lot to do with the blustery weather we’re experiencing right now. The sun didn’t shine at all yesterday and every once in awhile the wind picked up and howled through the palm trees surrounding the property. Whenever that happened, it also poured rain. The power went off several times but each outage only lasted a few minutes. The internet was also off from time to time. Conditions gradually calmed as the day went by and I’m hoping that things will be back to normal soon. In the meantime, we’ve enjoyed the slightly cooler temperature that the storm brought with it. It’s all relative though. My glasses still steam up when we get out of the car!

There are air conditioners in every room throughout this big house but it would cost a fortune to run them all so we only air condition the bedroom at night. Each room is also equipped with at least one ceiling fan and by keeping the windows open and the air moving, we can keep the house reasonably comfortable most of the time.

In addition to Ma-on there’s also a tropical depression about 600 miles west of here that could develop into another typhoon. It’s moving in our direction but it’s expected to turn northward within the next 24 hours and should miss us by a wide margin. If not, we’ll be prepared. We’ve learned to use two typhoon tracking websites to keep an eye on things. There are boards stacked beside the house and brackets around each window to hold them in place. Those will go up first if one of these big storms threatens to come close. If a typhoon does hit, we could also be without power and water for a day or two. We drink bottled water and always have a supply on hand but we’d need to fill the 3 bathtubs with water for washing and flushing. There’s no worry about us going hungry either. In addition to the electric stove in the kitchen, there’s also a gas range in the sun porch so we’d even be able to cook. I guess we’d start by eating up whatever’s in the fridge as that sure wouldn’t last long in this hot, humid climate!

Island girl

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Following Augustine is not a fashion blog but once in awhile I have to depart from the norm and I know that at least one of my regular readers is a fashion blogger so this one’s for you, Nini.

Before Helen Ann left the island, she had to drop something off at a tiny dressmaking shop called Sea Shell Pink. One look at that cute name and the items in the window and I knew that I had to go in and look around. The first thing that caught my eye was one of the cotton skirts that are popular here. I’d already decided that I’d be interested in buying one if I found one that I liked and oh, did I like this one! When I tried it on, it fit like it had been made for me. It cost a little more than the mass produced ones that are sold in the touristy stores but the fabric and the workmanship are much better and it’s one of a kind.

 

It looks a little greyer in the photos than it really is. It’s actually more of a khaki green.

 

 

 

 

 

The flower in my hair is a plumeria. They grow on trees all over the island. The fragrant blooms last a day or two then fall to the ground. It’s quite common for a woman to pick one up and tuck it over her ear where she can enjoy it’s heavenly scent until it wilts a few hours later. There are three tiny plumeria trees alongside the driveway here and though they’re only about waist high, they have provided me with quite a few blooms.

 

 

If I really wanted to be an island girl, however, perhaps I’d have to add a couple of coconut shells to my wardrobe! I saw some of these in a shop today for only $6.95 but I think I’ll pass! They’re actually only worn by the traditional dancers.

Hike to Forbidden Island

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Yesterday’s long walk was a good warm up for this morning’s hike to Forbidden Island. Hiking in Saipan’s high heat and humidity can be pretty draining but it’s well worth it. The views are so spectacular!

Forbidden Island from the viewpoint

The sign at the trailhead, a short distance from the viewpoint, called this a strenuous hike and said that it would take 45 minutes in each direction. It was a fairly steep climb down through the bushes, across a ridge and down a dry watercourse but the only reason it actually took us 45 minutes is because we stopped so often to enjoy the views and take pictures. I’m super glad that I bought a brand new pair of Merrell walking/hiking shoes just before we left Canada and brought them with me. They’re really comfortable and I feel as sure footed as a mountain goat wearing them.

 

   

Woohoo! We made it!

When we got to the bottom, the tide was out and we enjoyed exploring the tidal pools. They were full of all sorts of sea life including lots of tiny vibrant blue fish.

  

Richard found some stepping stones and crossed over to the island. I told him that if the tide came in and he was stranded, I’d come back for him tomorrow! I took my shoes, socks and pants off and went wading in one of the larger pools but I didn’t let him take any pictures of that!

Can you see him?

We even saw a hoodoo.

Eventually, it was time to climb back up to the top. Though we had to stop from time to time to catch our breath and the sweat was dripping off us by the time we got there, it only took us about 25 minutes! Boy, were we happy to climb into an air conditioned car when we got there!

Our first weekend

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With our first week on our own here drawing to a close and our first busy weekend of ministry behind us there’s no question that the Lord is with us!

The big church van rumbled up the driveway shortly after one o’clock on Saturday afternoon and ten energetic children piled out. The eleventh arrived a few minutes later with her mom who is a leader. Mr. Richard started them off with a game of ball tag. Next we sang some actions songs before dividing into younger and older groups for their Bible lesson. I had the older group and Amor, the younger. They’ve been using children’s Bible quizzing material to study 1 Samuel and boy, do these kids know their scripture! This week was a review of their lesson entitled A Good King Goes Bad from 1 Samuel 15. Can you name the king of the Amalekites? They can. Do you know why God rejected Saul as king? They do.

Following the lesson came their favourite part of the afternoon; the snack! There’s no question that some of these kids are hungry. We suspect that the food we provide is one of the main reasons that some of them come. During the school year, they eat breakfast and lunch at school but that’s not available to them over the summer. They quickly devoured the ham and cheese sandwiches and chocolate chip cookies and topped them off with pink lemonade.

Yesterday, we had 24 children, teens and adults for Sunday School. Richard taught the adult class, I taught the teens and local women, Malou and Amor taught the children. Again, Richard picked up many of the kids with the van which is a very vital part of the ministry here. Without it, most of the kids wouldn’t get here as it’s too far for them to walk and very few of them attend with their parents. We’re hoping that we might get some of the parents out for a family fun afternoon later in the month and for the Vacation Bible School wind-up next month.

   

There were 25 of us for yesterday’s church service. The open porch across the front of the house serves as our sanctuary as well as a Sunday School room (above). Though the house has a formal dining room, we also eat our meals out on the porch so it definitely serves many purposes.

What would worship be without music? Neither of us plays an instrument but our many years in the classroom taught us the art of being flexible and making do, skills that we’re quickly learning transfer well to the mission field! We sang along with hymns and choruses on CDs which worked just fine. We also watched a short video clip about what the church has been doing in Haiti since the devastating earthquake hit there early last year and Richard preached a message from 1 John entitled “Believe”.

Afterward, when Richard had delivered the children to their respective homes and everyone else had left, it was time for us to kick back and indulge in a little R&R. I hadn’t been off the property for a couple of days and though it’s spacious, I was beginning to feel a little claustrophobic so we decided to walk part of the beach path that skirts along the lagoon on the west side of the island. Other than my two walks up and down the steep driveway with the dog each day, we haven’t been doing a lot of walking since we’ve been here and it felt very good to stretch our legs. We figure we must have walked at least 4 miles.

   

Senior citizen? I think not!

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I absolutely love being retired and all the wonderful opportunities it affords us and when I’m at home during the summer months, I enjoy seniors golf on Wednesday mornings but I certainly don’t consider myself a senior citizen! I’m very happy to take advantage of senior’s discounts whenever they’re available though.

I’ve carried a bright green and yellow Humpty’s card in my wallet for the past couple of years. It entitles “mature customers” of 55 years and over to 10% off all regularly priced meals. Every Tuesday, the discount doubles to 20%. Humpty’s calls its cardholders the Emerald 55 Club and that title appears discreetly on the front of the card. Not so with my brand new Joeten discount card!

Joeten is a family owned retail company which has been doing business here on the island of Saipan for over 60 years. Everywhere we go, we see Joeten… Joeten supermarkets, Joeten One Stop Shopping, Joeten Motors. J.C. Tenorio Enterprises (Joeten) even owns a Costco! The warehouse store operated as Price Costco from Dec. 1994 to Dec. 2009 when the trademark name expired and the name was changed to Joeten Superstore. Ownership and the licensing agreement stayed the same, however, and it’s still clearly a Costco carrying merchandise from the US including Costco’s Kirkland brand products. The only difference between Costco here and Costco elsewhere, other than the name, is the fact that it doesn’t require a membership.

When we exited the store on one of our first visits, we were asked if we were seniors and told how to go about getting Joeten seniors cards so that we wouldn’t have to show our ID every time we went through the till. Off we went to the office at the Joeten One Stop Shopping Center to get our Hafa Adai cards. Hafa adai (pronounced half a day) is a native Chamorro greeting which is used much the same way that aloha is used on the Hawaiian islands. Like Joeten, it’s seen everywhere including on license plates. Unlike Humpty’s Emerald 55 cards, Hafa Adai cards do not announce our senior status discreetly. Instead, SENIOR CITIZEN appears in bold red print on the front of the card!

Will that audacious pronouncement keep the card hidden in my wallet? Definitely not! It’s worth 5% off any regularly priced grocery item and 10% off other merchandise including anything we buy at any Ace Hardware, also Joeten holdings. Not only will it benefit our pocketbook but it will also assist the church that we’re here to serve as the discount applies to everything we purchase whether it be for our own use or the church’s. That definitely appeals to our frugal nature even if it does mean admitting that we’re a little long of tooth!

Garapan Street Market

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I know where I’m going to be having supper every Thursday for the next month and a half. The Garapan Street Market is held every Thursday evening from 5:00 to 9:00. Many local restaurants have booths offering five selections (sometimes six) for just five dollars. There are Thai, Chamorro, Japanese, Chinese and Korean restaurants all offering a bewildering array of delicious looking dishes. Why cook when you have all these choices for such a great price? There are also several booths that sell smoothies. I discovered that a mango peach smoothie with coconut milk makes a great dessert!

In addition to food, the market features inexpensive locally made jewelry, artwork and knick-knacks and at 6 o’clock, the entertainment begins. Last week we stayed to watch the traditional dancers but this week we left the market after eating dinner and went for massages; 20 minute foot massages followed by 40 minutes of full body bliss. Ah, life is good!

Mission or vacation?

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Looking at what I’ve blogged about so far and the pictures that I’ve posted on Facebook, one could easily assume that we’re here on vacation. There have certainly been many vacation like moments during our first week as we’ve been easing gradually into our real reason for being here on the island of Saipan; missions.

We’re here to fill in for Dave and Helen Ann Bucher while they return to the mainland to spend their summer vacation visiting family and friends but they aren’t actually leaving us on our own until July 4th. In addition to pastoring Living Hope Church of the Nazarene, Dave and Helen Ann are both school teachers. We haven’t actually met Dave yet as he’s been in Nebraska this past week with a school group and will be back this evening. In his absence, we’ve been hanging out with Helen Ann and learning the ropes.

So, other than sightseeing, swimming and hiking, what else have we been doing? What does summer ministry coverage actually look like?

Taking care of the house and the property…

The house, which also doubles as the church, is located on a large property in the middle of the jungle where everything grows at an amazing rate. Richard has been busy mowing and mowing and mowing some more! The grass at the bottom of the drive, which hasn’t been cut since before Dave and Helen Ann moved in in February, is taller than me! I don’t know if Richard will try to tackle that but, in addition to keeping the field in front of the house groomed, he’s been working on reclaiming areas around the edge of the property where the grass was taking over. At the moment, he’s up on the roof with a power washer cleaning off algae, something else that grows rapidly in hot, humid places. I discovered how slippery it is when I took a rather ungraceful fall on the cement the other day. Fortunately, I wasn’t hurt and he has since cleaned that off too.

There isn’t much housework for me to do because the Filipino housekeeper comes once a week. What a luxury! I could easily do the work myself but that would rob her of much needed income so I won’t.

Taking care of the pets…

My day begins with a walk to the end of the driveway with Fiona, the resident dog. It’s about a quarter mile round trip down the very steep hill and back up again. I’d happily walk further with her but the jungle grows up to the edge of the road we’re on and there’s enough traffic that walking on the pavement wouldn’t be safe so we’re confined to the property. I walk her again in the evening.  In addition to making sure Fiona has food and water, I put out food for the little cat that creeps out of the undergrowth to eat. We eat most of our meals on the patio and when the cat stole Helen Ann’s omelet at breakfast one morning, we learned not to leave food unguarded! At the end of the patio there’s an aviary that houses 15 to 20 colourful parakeets. Though I feed and water them each day, I haven’t been able to get an accurate count as they’re forever flitting about or hiding in their nesting boxes.

Loving the people… 

Of course, our main purpose for being here isn’t housesitting or pet sitting. Dave and Helen Ann could easily hire locals to take care of those tasks. We’re primarily here to provide ministry coverage while they’re away. When we first read the assignment description, we were delighted to see that our #1 task would be loving the people! That we knew we could do!

When Dave and Helen Ann leave, we’ll be in charge on Sunday mornings. Richard will teach the adult Sunday School class and bring the morning message. I’ll teach the teen class and assist him with the service. There are also two children’s classes taught by locals, Amor and Malou.

Children are a very big part of the Living Hope ministry. The church has a large van that picks them up for Sunday School as well as mid-week Kids Club. Mr. Richard, as the children call him, has already learned the route and knows most of the children by name. We’ve both been busy the past couple of afternoons helping with a special pre-teen program and on Friday and Saturday, we’ll be involved in a similar program for the teens. Later in the summer, we’ll be doing a week long Vacation Bible School.

Part of all the children’s activities is providing a snack. Many of these children come from very poor homes where they may not get a lot to eat. During the school year, they’re fed breakfast and lunch at school so the Kids Club snack is just that, a snack, but during the summer we want to make sure that we feed them something more substantial. One of my tasks for the pre-teen program was preparing a meal for them. On Monday, we had tacos, rice and beans. Yesterday, we served corn dogs, macaroni and cheese, salad and then finished the day with root beer floats.

            

How could we not love them?

Hike to Dry Grotto

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We hiked to Dry Grotto this morning, a formation somewhat similar to the better known Grotto that we swam in on Sunday. It was an easy hike through the jungle and then along a cliff edge overlooking the ocean. We were able to look across the water to Tinian, the island that the  Enola Gay took off from carrying the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945.

   

Soon we reached the Grotto and climbed down inside. Surrounded by fascinating coral and rock formations, we stood inside in an open window looking out over the ocean.

   

   

The island of Saipan is dotted with World War II relics. On our way back out of the cave, we noticed a small pile of rusty unexploded hand grenades. Definitely a look but don’t touch experience!