15 Things About Saipan

As most know, I just arrived back in the states a few days ago from living in Saipan. It has been a crazy whirl of chaos coming back and I am finally able to start processing these past two months. As a way to process, I started making a list of the funny and unique things about Saipan. Now, whether I will miss these are not, I will leave up to you to figure out. 

1. Waking up and not putting any makeup on.

2. Planning your day around a trip to the beach.

3. Learning to cook food not using water, an oven, or a microwave.

4. Understanding it is better to not know what you are eating than to know.

5. The constant feel of sand on your feet, sand in the apartment, and sand in your bed.

6. My curly hair looking better after swimming in the salt water than taking a shower.

7. The constant damp feeling that the humidity brings to life and to any type of "dry" food.

8. Making coffee the night before to be reheated all day long because the coffee maker took hours to brew.

9. The fact that everything closes at 8pm on Saipan unless you like Poker.

10. Island Time: Usually at least 30 minutes late.

11. Going for a run with an incredible view of the ocean.

12. My ever constant search to kill the 4 roosters that managed to crow at every hour of the day BUT sunrise.

13. Watching sunsets from the rooftop.

14. The constant smiles and hugs from my second graders and also their constant question of when I will come back to teach them.

15. The adventures and unexpected that would come daily in our lives. From power outages, to typhoons, to flat tires, to random hikes, I will miss most the uncertainty of each day.