Saipan: What I like about you

Fairly often someone contacts me about the possibility of moving to Saipan, and wants to know about the good and bad of living here. Here’s my list of the good things.

1. It’s a tropical island. The weather is beautiful. The lows in the dead of winter are in the 80’s and maybe the upper 70’s. The water has incredible colors, and the island is small enough that you’re almost always within sight of the ocean. The vegetation is lush. Life is simple. It’s the sort of place people dream of retiring to. And we get to live here. Sometimes I’ll become acutely aware of the incredible beauty around me, and just laugh with glee.
2. The sense of community. More than anything else, relationships matter here. There is a strong sense of family and of community. Everyone knows everyone, and I think that results in an element of safety that doesn’t exist in many parts of the world. Sure, there is still crime, but my kids can be out playing in the neighborhood without me thinking about it. They can wander off in the grocery store, and I don’t panic. People look out for each other. There is no anonymity, so people tend to behave better and are accountable to a larger degree than in a large impersonal community. It’s not quite Mayberry, but it’s a rare day that I walk into a store and don’t stop to talk to a few people I know.
3. Diversity. Saipan is a mish-mash of people, cultures, languages, foods, and foibles. Because of the influx of contract workers over the years, there is such a broad mix of people, that almost everyone is a minority. Besides the indigenous Chamorro and Carolinian ethnicities, there are sizable populations of Filipino’s, Chinese, Koreans, Japanese, Thais, and Bangladeshis. There is a smattering of Indian and Nepalese, a few displaced Europeans, some white people, and a few African-Americans. On most days, there are two Jamaicans on the island. If you don’t like ethnic diversity, if you think you’re right and everyone else has something to learn from you, this isn’t the place for you. If you’re from America, you’ll experience what it’s like to be a minority, and it’ll make you a better person.
4. A Great Place for Kids. All that toxic stuff that influences the minds of children and youth is a far away. It’s still accessible, but it doesn’t infuse the society and the culture. TV is not ubiquitous. Most people have no idea what last week’s episode of America’s favorite sitcom was all about (or even what the favorite one is). The cultural icons don’t permeate our lives here. Kid’s grow up without many of the mental and emotional toxins of Western society.
5. Friends. If I lived in America, my friends would be limited to people in my professional or in my social class. Here, those boundaries don’t really exist. My friends are from all walks of life, ages, ethnicities and cultural backgrounds. Over the years, they’ve included park rangers, coast guard officers, teachers, lawyers, business people, government officials and cabinet members, houseworkers, gardeners, and people flipping switches at the utility.
6. You can do anything. For some reason, Saipan is a place of self-discovery. If you have an idea, all you have to do is pursue it. If you’ve ever dreamt of being something, in Saipan it’s likely possible. I arrived as an eye surgeon and Mara as a health information specialist. I don’t think I ever thought of doing much else besides that. But, in the fifteen years that we’ve been here, we have done all of the following just by virtue of will, effort, necessity or just simple desire. We opened an eye clinic and became business owners. We founded a non-profit school to educate our children. We have served as substitute teachers, school administrators, principals and PE coaches. I’ve become a newspaper columnist and published a book. I’m becoming a stand-up comic. I’ve acted in a community play and sang in a chorus. I’ve played co-ed soccer, and I’ve tried out for the CNMI Men’s National Team. Mara opened a lei business, imported flowers from Asia and became a part of the tourism industry. And this sort of pursuit of the diverse facets of the soul is fairly typical in Saipan. If you’ve ever had an interest in something, Saipan is the place to explore it. You’ll discover interest here you never knew you had.
7. Travel. Most people live and die without a passport. My kids have a gazillion entry stamps in theirs. In our years here, we’ve traveled to China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, Thailand, Australia, Singapore, Bali, Papua New Guinea, and the islands of Micronesia.
8. Casual Atmosphere. You’ll never see a suit on the island. Sometimes you’ll see a tie. You’ll find people in t-shirts and shorts at all occasions – weddings, funerals, at work, in meetings of any kind, in fancy restaurants. A corollary to the casual nature of the island is that there is very little emphasis on material possessions. There is no such thing as keeping up with the Jones’. It doesn’t much matter what you drive, where you live, or what the tags on your clothes say. The symbols of materialism take a back seat here.
9. Family first. This is a double-edged sword, but it has changed me for the better. Family is more important than work. It’s not a struggle to live your life under that premise here on Saipan. In America, you may want to, but the minute you try to take off work because your kids are sick, or because your sister needs help moving, or because you want to go fishing with your brother, you’ll not be taken seriously as a member of the workforce. Your career will head into a skid. Here, it’s the norm for people to miss work for any of these reasons, and it’s actually encouraged. Why not? We say that work is not the most important thing in the world, but why not live in a way that shows we mean it? That’s the way things are here, and I think it’s a more sane way of living. Of course, things do suffer in the workplace, which can be frustrating as an employer or a co-worker, but you just try to plan for it.

All of these combine to make Saipan home.

Getting My Bearings

Over the last six weeks or so, I've spent two weeks in Bali, a week in Guam, a week in Hawaii and a weekend in Australia. My head's been spinning a bit. I've sorted of felt like I've been floating, out of touch with my home and what is going on with my friends. I have one more short trip to take this month, and then I'll be staying put for a while. But I've been so disoriented that at times I haven't been aware of what month it is.

Hike to Old Man by the Sea

Once a month, the kids at Brilliant Star School (which is one of the greatest schools in the WORLD, right here on Saipan!), go on a Junior Hikers' Trek. Today, we headed off to Old Man by the Sea. While we were there, my friend Xavier told the story that his father told him. There is a legend that an old man was fishing at this beach, and cursed the ocean for not giving him any fish. The ocean reached up and plucked the man away, but left his image on this rock on the beach for all to see and remember to respect the sea.

The trail has some small ups and downs and can be muddy and slippery if it rains. Take water, snacks, sunscreen, a hat and clothes to get wet in if you want to wade in the water at the beach. It's not a good snorkling beach, so don't bother lugging snorkle or mask along. It's a kid friendly hike. A few toddlers under two made it, albeit they were carried most of the way. It takes about 30-45 minutes each way, from the road to the beach.

Down at the bottom of this post, there are directions (complete with satellite photos) of how to get to this hike.

The Lamar's going down the steep part. A rope is always there to help.

Through the thicket.

Arriving at Old Man by the Sea beach.

Michael looking like MacArthur wading ashore.

Cool water and great waves crashing on the reef. I love this island!

Today Nava learned that it's not a good idea to run in the rocky water without reef shoes. She got a pretty deep gash on her heel. She was a trooper hiking back out. But it was deep enough that we went straight to my office where I put three stitches into the wound (after cleaning out all the bits of rock and coral.) We managed to get it sewn together in about 15 minutes, with enough time left to get home and shower and run off to see Shrek the Third.

Beautiful rock formations at the beach.

Preparing to leave.

Rob leads the way out for the last ones to leave.

Arman takes home a piece of Styrofoam -- a prized souvenir for any six year-old boy.

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Directions to Old Man by the Sea

I think this is one of the coolest maps of the trail to Old Man by the Sea. I left the file "full size" so if you click on the image, you can get a nice detailed view of the map and satellite photo.

The trailhead for Old Man by the Sea is on Talafofo Road (the road to Kingfisher Gold Course from Capital Hill which starts next to Esco’s). The trail begins just after the Egigi Road intersection (misspelled on the map as Igigi) , and before the San Igancio Road intersection (not labeled on the map). The road widens a bit and there is room to park on the side.

As you get close, you'll see this "winding road" sign, which goes downhill.

Then as you start to come back uphill you'll see this telephone pole. The trailhead is past the telephone pole, near the farthest car.

Here is what the trail head looks like. It's an oft used trail, so it's usually pretty well worn and rarely gets overgrown. As is typical on Saipan, someone has left some markers hanging in the tree on the right, in this case, a water bottle and a pink shoe. If you're ever driving around Saipan and see something hanging from a tree by the side of the road, it is usually the start of a trail.

Oh, you mean, "How old is your daughter!"

Mara and I have a date night once a week. This week we went out to Giovanni’s for a nice dinner. We then drove down to “The Beans” to get some dessert, but they were already closed. Being so far south, we decided to head over to PIC and just walk around the resort. After a bit of a stroll, we headed into the gift shop to browse. We were holding up some swim suits that might fit our 8 year-old daughter. The sales person came over to help and said only two words: “How old?”. I looked at her, paused, pretended to be puzzled, and said “Forty-four.”

When multilingual communications offer the opportunity to cause confusion, take the opportunity. Even she laughed at my answer.