The Pearl of Saipan: Managaha

Middle School Kids aboard the Jambalaya setting sail for Managaha!

Matt, Michael and Elizabeth taught classes on Managaha.

It has been more than a week since I posted last. We have had the honor of hosting Matt's parents in Saipan for the last ten days. It was wonderful to have them here. We had non-stop fun and the boys already miss them terribly. While they were here they stayed 3 days at a resort which was fun for the boys since they got to play at the water park. Then they stayed with us for a few days and got to experience the real life in Saipan (ants, cockroaches, roosters and all!) They were always troopers and never complained. Boy, did I get lucky when I married into the Seeliger family. Their final days on the island were spent with the Whispering Palms School on a little island reserve called Managaha: The Pearl of Saipan. It was an amazing event. The amount of planning and effort it took to pull it off was incredible. It will be an experience my family will never forget. Kierik and Matt and Michael left on Wednesday morning on the Jambalaya ferry boat along with the rest of the 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students to get camp set up for the rest of the school. Alice and I along with Kaden and Sylvie, joined the rest of the school the following day. We all stayed until Saturday evening. Each day the kids started the morning with a Korean exercise routine lead by the 8th grade students. Then they started their classes. These ranged from lecture style classes under the shelters on coral reef protection and Carolinian history to Native dance classes under the enormous and spirited Banyan tree. Matt and Michael led the archery lessons and I taught a sign language class. They also had fun classes that included a treasure hunt, making native necklaces and other jewelry, and yoga. There was also plenty of free time before the evening activities. The evenings were spent sitting around a large campfire singing along to guitar and Ukulele music, watching the kids perform skits, get awards and perform dances. Both Kierik and Kaden placed third in their classes for archery and were the youngest kids in their classes. There was much celebrating this success.

Little Sylvie was officially indoctrinated into the Seeliger family as this was her first, of what promises to be many, nights in a tent. She was fabulous! She slept like a champ! It must have been the ocean waves crashing just out side the tent or the cool ocean breezes that drifted through. Perhaps it was all the playing she did during her waking hours. She was like a rock star on Managaha. Everywhere she went she had a swarm of little kids following her singing phrases like "Awwwwww, she's soooooo cuuuute. Can I hold here? Wanna sing a song Sylvie? etc. etc." See the photo above of her sitting on the picnic table with the 8 girls gathered around her. Kaden made the beautiful orchid headdress for her and I. We both loved them! Matt and I even got to go night snorkeling, while Michael and Alice watched little Sylvie sleep. We saw lots of eels, crabs the size of dinner plates but the sharks we had seen cruising the pier earlier in the day were nowhere to be found.


Kaden and his friends during the sand sculpture class. They built a Hermit crab empire complete with passageways, castles, villages and dungeons. It was so cool.

Kierik practicing the Carolinian traditional stick dance. Managaha is the burial site of the last great chief of the Carolinian people.

Kaden receiving his archery medal at the award ceremony campfire.