theflipflopblog

Sapain Zoo

2010-03-15T07:41:00.000-05:00

We had to check it out... Little zoo with some exotic and not-so-exotic animals.

Emu and a turkey.

Sweet little Sugar Bat. Endangered species. They liked to lick our fingers and nibble (gently).

A lion here....and some piglets there.

If this cute monkey likes you, he'll groom you. :)

And the wildest animals of all: Taotaomona (a.k.a. homo sapiens). Shown here grooming Isra.

Outnumbered!

2010-03-11T08:21:00.000-06:00

Here's a quick shot of a tired dad. When people figure out Norah is a girl, here and the States, they usually say, "Oh, you can try again." So it was nice to be told that in Korean culture having three daughters is considered to be be extremely lucky. We agree most days. However, Isra says they can date at 21 and pay for their own weddings. ;-)

One Fish, Two Fish...

2010-03-10T22:38:00.000-06:00

Red fish, blue fish! Some more snorkeling shots for you. Visibility was great at Wing Beach last weekend and we happened to be there at low tide. We saw a lot of bigger than usual fish and fish we've never seen before. Check out the fish in the anemone! Very cute - some sort of Clown Fish playing peek-a-boo. It would peek out, get a little brave and swim out and then swim back in. :-) We also got some good shots this time of an Urchin and one type of Sea Cucumber.

Island Dancers

2010-03-05T17:31:00.000-06:00

Here's a few shots Amelia took of the dancers during street market. The dancers and dances vary depending on which group is performing. We think this is a Tahitian dance.

Tsunami?

2010-03-04T08:10:00.000-06:00

When we were planning this trip we talked about various worries of traveling with little ones. Some understandable and realistic, some just far-fetched and crazy. Some friends were worried about air travel, some were worried about illness or accidents - as a mom, my fears tend to lean toward the far-fetched and crazy... So for me it was fear of a tsunami! Remember the story of the woman on the beach with her kids when a tsunami hit? I do. Anyway, I asked around once we got here and learned that this island is safe from tsunamis. Each layer of coral reef breaks a large wave off from the bottom so that by the time it reaches shore it's pretty small. That's what they said...and then one morning we found a slip of paper under our door with a tsunami warning! Huh? However it all ended up being pretty anti climatic. The Emergency Management Office had issued a watch the night before and then upgraded it to a warning for a tsunami to hit the island by 1p.m. and then canceled the whole thing by 10:30 in the morning. So, what do you do? We went to the beach to check it out. I guess it's kind of like going outside to watch the tornado in Iowa.

Managaha Island

2010-02-23T07:33:00.000-06:00

Last Saturday we took a trip with a couple of friends to Managaha Island. This is a tiny island off the Western coast of Saipan. Rrreally tiny - easily walked around the entire island in about 15 minutes. Managaha is covered with mango and coconut trees and all edges are covered in white sand. This is an excellent place to snorkel because the water is crystal clear, there are a lot of WWII wreckages still submerged, plus the fish are protected here so they're very abundant and tame.

In the photos you'll see a statue and grave on the island that is a tribute to Chief Aghurubw. This is the Chief that led the Carolinians to Saipan from the Caroline Islands. The Carolinians are known for their navigation skills using the stars, sun, moon, clouds and water to navigate. Some of the photos show shots of wreckage under water - check out the Japanese Zero. The Zero is about half way to the island. This photo shows how clear the water is - the plane sits about 20 - 30 feet under water. We all (exept Norah!) jumped out of the boat to swim around and look at the Zero. Okay, to all the grandparents reading this - don't worry, the water is so salty it's very hard to not float and this is not a shark area! The other shots are us on the way out to the island. Brent and Brian work with Isra and have been a lot of fun for the girls - more good dads. Next time we'll have to get a shot of Isra! He was behind the camera this time.

恭禧發財

2010-02-18T22:31:00.000-06:00

"Gong xi fa cái! Hóng bao ná lái"! or in Cantonese style...Gong Hey Fat Choy!
Roughly: "Congratulations and be prosperous, now give me a red envelope!"

It's been a busy week here. The Lunar New Year fell on Valentine's Day for the first time in 77 years so we had to switch locations quickly over last weekend to make room for the many (better paying) visitors ;-) and then move back. We're so glad we're here to see this celebration. Amazing! This is the biggest celebration of the year. Chinese New Year is also called Spring Festival, which is a 15-day celebration that ends with the Lantern Festival and is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. The holiday means new life which brings new hope and new happiness. :-)

In the first photo the girls show their hong bao (red envelopes) they recieved. Typically the kids receive a lot of hong bao filled with at least 5 dollars but hopefully the red hundred bill! We were told that kids could receive around $2000 each Lunar New Year! To celebrate a little more, we peeled and ate mandarin oranges, ate some fish for lunch and left a little on the plate (to signify abundance in the New Year)... however we didn't do much house cleaning or get haircuts.

The next photos show the Lion Dance. There are many different stories about why the Lion Dance is performed but it seems most of the traditions have to do with warding off evil and welcoming good things, including prosperity. In Saipan the Lion Dance Troupe travels from shop to shop for two days. The two lions dance and play fight to reach the lettuce hanging from the ceiling all while loud cymbals and drums are played. Lettuce is used because the Chinese word for lettuce sounds like money. The lion has to shred the lettuce and tucked inside is an envelope with money. The long string of red firecrackers are lit at the end of the dance to ward off evil spirits. Super loud!!! The last photo shows the shredded lettuce and paper from the firecrackers - they look like rose petals scattered on the ground and for more luck they shouldn't be swept up.

At the end of the day we could smell oranges and gunpowder in the air. :-)

Mt. Tapochao

2010-02-11T00:07:00.000-06:00

One thing we haven't talked about much in our blog is the war history on this Island. The Battle of Saipan was a very important point in WWII history. We'll try to touch on a few of the sites of the battle in the next few blogs. This entry is about Mt. Tapochau....I've seen Mt. Tapochao spelled three different ways now: Tapochau, Tapotchau and Tapochao. I believe the Marines took the East and West coasts first and then worked their way North through the island having to get past Mt. Tapochau before ending at Suicide and Banzai Cliff. Here are some shots from the top of Mt. Tapochau, including the signs describing the battle.

Got SPAM?

2010-02-08T05:56:00.000-06:00

Okay, so it's really hard to find fresh milk here...or if you do find it it's very pricey. However, if it's SPAM you want we've got it! SPAM is big in this area and started at the end of WWII with leftover soldier rations going to the locals. In fact, Hawaii, Guam and Saipan have the only McDonald's with SPAM on the menu. Did you know there were nine varieties of SPAM? Here's a few shots we thought you'd enjoy. :-) SPAM: so good it can cause a crime spree!

Coffee Talk

2010-02-03T05:44:00.002-06:00

As some of you know, I've been having a lot of trouble finding a good cup of coffee since arriving in Saipan. So, I was very happy to hear about a coffee plantation on the island! Our new friend Alan introduced us to Chuck, owner of Mariana's coffee. The girls and I took a great field trip to meet Chuck, hike through the jungle (on a nice path) and check out his coffee operation on the slopes of Mt. Tapochao. And (YEA!) discover a great cup of coffee! Here are a few shots of Chuck, the jungle path, the coffee trees, beans ready to roast and the view on the way to Chuck's.

Saipan Skies

2010-01-29T08:03:00.000-06:00

Okay, so we didn't take a lot of photos of rainy days but here is a small collection of some gorgeous skies over Saipan. What do you see in the first two cloud photos? The photo of both girls in the sunset was from Friday night. Sending some warmth and sunshine your way. We hope you enjoy!

Picnic continued...

2010-01-24T05:11:00.002-06:00

So, we went to our two favorite stops on our way to Wing Beach for a picnic. However, Amelia found some fresh papaya and coconut near the beach! :-) The picnic pictured clockwise starting at nine o'clock is: Titiyas (sort of a sweet tortilla made with coconut juice), apigigi (tapioca and coconut cooked in banana leaf - another photo of it unwrapped as well), salted red skin peanuts roasted with slivers of garlic, makupa (mountain apples - crisp and tart - they hang down like bells from a tree. They're called Jambu Merah in Indonesia.), wrapped chicken kelaguin, bananas and a bag of sweet potato chips.

Wing Beach is our favorite beach so far. It's so natural and beautiful and we usually have the place to ourselves. Here the girls spend time doing some of their favorite things. Amelia - embracing the sea, Elise - collecting little treasures and Norah - catching some rays and rest in Mom's arms!

Shopping for a picnic...

2010-01-21T21:16:00.003-06:00

We've had around 10 days of very windy, cloudy and rainy, rainy, rainy days so we thought we'd take advantage of the nice weather on Thursday and have a beach picnic. We shopped at our two favorite stores on the way to the beach. The first one is Marg's Kitchen. The woman holding Norah is Rita Cabrera. The kids will be playing with her niece's kids later this week. In another blog we'll have to share some of the clapping games Amelia and Elise have learned playing with some other local kids. I especially get a kick out of Rock, Paper, Scissors Saipan Style. :-)

Marg's Kitchen is a great place to get sweets and meals at a very reasonable price. We especially like the homemade lemonade (limes I think). A very tall icy glass for only 65 cents. The girls like the brownies for dessert and I really like the bread pudding. A super large block for under a dollar. For meals we like chicken kelaguin and tamales gisu...both have spanish and pacific islander influences.

Our next stop was the Saipan Fresh Market. There are lots of markets like this but we seem to end up at this one a lot. This is where the girls like to get fresh coconuts and bananas. For a dollar you get to drink the juice out of the coconut then they'll use a long hatchet type knife to crack the coconut in two pieces and scrape the inside with a scraping tool, then you get to eat the soft, jelly coconut. There's a photo here of local ginger. They said that this is used to make teas and other drinks. Either way, both local and regular ginger sells for around $1.50/pound. Much better price than at home! The purplish thing is a banana flower or heart. I was told this is very tough and needs to be sliced thinly and cooked a long time. The girls are seen holding a local mango and jackfruit. Next blog entry we'll talk about the picnic! :-)

Norah!

2010-01-18T01:21:00.000-06:00

Norah is growing up fast! She's been very interested in food for the last few weeks and has even sampled a few things. She LOVES watermelon and coconut juice the best so far. Here is a photo of her latest achievement. She has been doing the "gorilla sit" for about a week now. Here she is about 10 seconds before she face flopped to the bed. :-)

Tooth Fairy in Saipan!

2010-01-17T06:24:00.000-06:00

Saturday at breakfast Elise lost her first tooth!!! Yea!!! That tooth had been hanging by a thread for a few days. And it was perfect timing because in the book we've been reading, Junie B. Jones Toothless Wonder, Junie just lost her tooth, too! So, it was very exciting Sunday morning to learn that yes, the tooth fairy does come to Saipan. :-)

...a little side note. Saturday night, Brent, our friend from Guam told Elise that when he was a little boy the tooth fairy would leave $100 under his pillow. Luckily the tooth fairy does not leave $100 under the pillows in Saipan (at least not our pillows). Brent, we can't wait to tell your little boy that story when he gets bigger. ;-)

Street Market Scenes

2010-01-15T05:20:00.002-06:00

We thought you might enjoy some more shots of Garapan Steet Market. We decided to get dessert this time. Delicious! We had the Ginatang Bilo Bilo (in the big metal pot). The description is tropical fruits in coconut. Here's a link that shows a good photo and a recipe. http://www.nibbledish.com/people/berks2click/recipes/ginataang-bilo-bilo-filipino In the family photo Norah is looking pretty unhappy....she wanted some coconut juice! :-)

The Girls!

2010-01-13T05:49:00.000-06:00

So, we've had a request for some updated pictures of the girls! Never a problem. :-) Here's a few shots of us having some fun around Garapan. Norah is just about 4 1/2 months (can you believe it???), Amelia just turned 9 and Elise is 6(and 3/4) and about to lose her first tooth! We're wondering what the tooth fairy brings in Saipan. We hope you enjoy these. We especially like the ones of Norah in her first Bob Marley shirt, Amelia under water and Elise snuggling with her little sister at night. Have a great Wednesday, Iowa!

Saipan Real Estate 101

2010-01-10T07:43:00.000-06:00

There is a huge difference in the ends of the housing spectrum in Saipan. We're not sure if this is due to lack of pride in ownership. (Currently land can only be owned by descendants of the Northern Mariana Islands - Chomorro or Carolinian - this is only about 22 percent of the population.) Or if a large part of the problem is due to the immigration of foreign contract labor workers under the previous Commonwealth Northern Mariana Island immigration laws. These people can't own the land and cannot afford decent housing so often live in makeshift barracks - made from shipping containers and tin roofed, dirt floored shacks. Minimum wage in Saipan is around $4.50/hour. The reason Isra is working here is because of the Federalization of the immigration laws. This means that the federal immigration laws are now being applied and will hopefully eliminate the problems that come from human trafficking. Here's one link for more info on the problems created under the old laws. Sorry for this reality check! We'll have more upbeat news next time.
http://akaka.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=speeches.home&month=3&year=1998&release_id=1298

Garapan Street Market

2010-01-07T06:45:00.000-06:00

We are staying in Garapan, Saipan which is one of many villages on the island. Every Thursday night there is a street market where local food is sold at pretty reasonable prices. (It about killed me to pay almost $10 at the grocery store today for a pound of strawberries! Groceries are very expensive.) Anyway, the street market is a great way to get a good meal and try something new. Lots of different types of food are offered - sort of representing the various groups of people on the island. Just a few include Filipinos, Chinese, Koreans, Japanese, and my favorite groups: the Chamorros and Carolinians. Chamorros were probably the original people of the island with Carolinians not too far behind. They tend to use lots of coconut in many dishes or spicy peppers. We definitely ate too much and washed it down with lots of coconut juice!

I'll post a bunch of photos here of the market. I tried to take photos of the signs with the ingredients listed. This will help give you a taste of the Chamorro language as well. Let me know if it's too hard to see and I'll try to type it out.

Sorry to hear about your blizzard Sioux City! We're trying to send some warmth your way. :-)

Amelia Earhart

2010-01-06T05:57:00.000-06:00

Today we went to the Old Japanese Jail. There is a theory that Amelia Earhart and her navigator were captured by Japanese soldiers during WWII and held prisoner here for espionage. There are two different cell buildings. One building has many cells and was thought to be used for male prisoners. The other building has four cells and was most likely used for female prisoners. Some believe that Amelia Earhart lived out her final days in the cell shown before dying of dysentery. When we visited we saw a sort of shrine that other visitors had left. Amelia (not Earhart :-) and Elise are standing looking into the cell that was believed to be Amelia Earhart's. Above the doorway was a crucifix (with pilot goggles) and a melted candle and in the doorway someone had left flowers, a coconut and a note that read: "A.E. You may be gone but you are not forgotten."

wave, wave, big wave blog

2010-01-05T18:14:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I went to the beach with Amelia and Mom (and Norah). The water was too strong for me because the coral was being moved and it hit my feet. So I beach combed with my mom. Then we went to a calm beach and then I went swimming with Amelia but it was too stinky.
Love, Elise

funky restaurant

2010-01-05T17:47:00.000-06:00

Dear Everyone,
Yesterday night we all went to a restaurant that you can sit on the floor. There are mats on the ground but they are not very comfortable.

Santa brought my sister, mom, and me some snorkeling gear. So now we are going snorkeling with Monaka. If you are wondering who Monaka is, she is one of my dad's friend's wife.

(To be continued.)
But any way!
Love, one of your family members or friends or classmates and of course students,
Amelia

Small World...

2010-01-05T06:01:00.000-06:00

We've been meeting a lot of friendly people on our trip. The other day we met Tatoshi and her little girl Kadodi. (guessing on the spellings :-) They were visiting from Japan. When I told Tatoshi we were from Iowa she said, "Oh! I love Iowa!" Apparently she had gone to YMCA camp near Dyersville and remembered the baseball diamond in the corn field. Her daughter is three and is now learning English. Kadodi loved meeting Norah especially.

Today we met Joe Kani. His wife is originally from Oregon and both are retired teachers. Also, they live part time in Indonesia. Talk about a small world! Joe was getting ready to fish for White Snapper with his spear in this photo with Amelia. The water was very rough today though so he decided to swim instead.

going coconuts

2010-01-04T05:39:00.000-06:00

Here are Amelia and Elise going coconuts! They generally climb almost anything anyway but they really wanted to get a young coconut out of the tree. They really like to drink the juice straight out of the green coconuts. I'll try to get a shot of that next time they have one. And no, they didn't get to the top of the tree...not sure how well our health insurance plan works here.

Food for thought...

2010-01-03T08:13:00.000-06:00

Saipan is made up of many, many different cultural groups. We'll try to go into that in a later blog. However, right now there are a lot of Japanese and Russian tourists. The restaurants and grocery stores seem to cater mostly to the Japanese tastes. So...we thought we'd share some of our recent dining experiences. :-) Breakfast is the most interesting one for us so far. This might explain the health and longevity of many Japanese. The picture of the plate shows a variety of vegetables, fish and lean meats with rice porridge (okayu) in the bowl topped with chicken, spring onions and pickled vegetables. Miso is also commonly served. But Amelia did find something she really likes and I refuse to buy at home. Maybe it's not so bad when I can't read the nutritional values...

The next photos are especially for my sushi lovin' friend (and you know who you are! ;-) How about some spam sushi? Not sure how popular that really is. The sushi shots were taken at an inexpensive grocery store we've been using.
Hmm, need to go check out some desserts next! :-)

Snorkeling at Wing Beach & Obyan

2010-01-02T05:37:00.002-06:00

Jan. 1 & 2

We've done a lot of exploring while Isra has New Year's Day and the weekend off. Wing Beach is toward the Northern tip of Saipan and Obyan Beach is toward the Southern tip. Both are beautiful beaches with lots of sea glass, coral and shells washed up on shore. The endangered Green Sea Turtle uses both areas as nesting grounds. We did see some tiny turtle tracks in the sand today at Obyan Beach. :-) We hope you enjoy some of our snorkeling shots!

Happy New Year!

2009-12-31T17:51:00.000-06:00

Fireworks over the Phillipine sea. A little preview of New Year's Eve!

December 31st - daytime

2009-12-31T09:43:00.002-06:00

Yes, completely worth the plane ride. Our actual travel time was 27 hours - with the longest flight nearly 12 hours - but we crossed the International Date Line so we're here two days later....didn't arrive until the wee hours of New Year's Eve. What a beautiful island! We are on the East side of the island with the Phillipine Sea. Very calm waters as there is a coral reef off the shore and lots of sandbars far into the sea so that you can walk out a long way. Apparently the other side of the island is surrounded by the Pacific Ocean and has the deepest spot in the world!

We left on Amelia's birthday so we're having a late celebration today. :-) Here's a big shout out to another one of our favorite birthday girls: "Happy birthday, Hazel!!!"

December 29th - December 31st

2009-12-31T09:12:00.009-06:00

Here's a few shots from the plane. The girls were real troopers. Really no complaints just a few, "How many more hours?" We think that view from the window is somewhere over Alaska. So gorgeous! We flew via Minneapolis, Tokyo and then Saipan. A HUGE thank you to Maria Saulsbury! Not only a 4:45a.m. wake up call...but a show-up call to make sure the snow plows hadn't blocked us in our drive PLUS all the help at the airport. Thank you, Maria! :-)

2009-12-29T01:01:00.001-06:00

December 26, 2009

So, we were scheduled to fly in the wee hours tomorrow morning but Mother Nature had other plans! The first photo is from our upstairs window. Somewhere under that snow is our car. Time to start digging. Norah looks cold yet adorable while Mom doesn't win in fashion awards! :-)

Icicles

2009-12-26T22:52:00.001-06:00

Hi everyone! I hope you had a good Christmas and Hanukkah. I wanted to show you this big icicle that my Granddad and I found. It's bigger than me! Your friend, Elise

Zeus

2009-12-23T20:32:00.000-06:00

December 19, 2009
Dear everyone,

I'm in the car with: Norah, Elise, Mom and Zeus, my dog. We are going to my Grandmom and Granddad's house to drop Zeus off. We are going to stay for two days. Zeus ate my gingerbread house so when we get there we are going to make another house.

Norah has been crying and she's driving me CRAZY!!!! If you're wondering why I wrote this it's because it's part of going to Saipan. Because we couldn't leave Zeus home. Elise can't breathe because Zeus has bad breath. This is what I said to him: you need a tic tac or something 'cause your breath stinks! That's what I said.

Can you help me think of things I could do on the plane?

Love one of your students and friends, Amelia T. H-H