Sunday, February 28, 2010

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.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Random Photos

Descriptions of the photos in order:
Playing at the beach with our friends: Eugene, Felix, Daniel and Kaden







Cooking with Sylvie!












Happy Valentine's Day!

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

The Golden Toad




Kaden was thrilled to have found this "exotic" toad today. He was keen on the Golden flecks on the

side and the golden color of its eyes. His friends were not as thrilled as he was but they played along.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

In Honor of Friends

So yesterday I had the bright idea that the boys needed to get their hair cut against their wishes. We went to a recommended place only to find it closed. So we went to the place next door called Mr. Suave. The result?
Terrible haircuts: $7.00 each.
Hats to cover up terrible hiarcuts: $25 each. New friends who are happy to hang out with you regardless of what your hair looks like: priceless.

This is a photo of the boy's new friends Daniel and Felix. Although they agree that Kierik's hair looks ..."bad" they said they like him anyway. The boys all attend the same small private school, love to play soccer together, and are having fun teaching each other new games. They are from Korea and the share a love of a good Kung Fu movie, which is what they are watching in this photo. Little Daniel fell asleep early on. Glad to know he feels so at home at our house. Their mom and dad hosted us on Saturday night for some amazing Korean food. They are so kind and very generous people. Kim (the dad) introduced Matt to the Korean drink that tastes a lot like a Gin and Tonic. We had a really nice time and feel so lucky because they only live 2 houses away from us. This is one of the benefits of living on such a small island.

We are so lucky to have such dedicated friends on this island. Tyce has offered to go watch cage fighting with Matt this Friday and has agreed to rally some friends so he doesn't have to go it alone. Angie does not LOVE diving and yet she has gone with us twice. This photo is of Angie being kissed by a red snapper! Thanks Angie for allowing my family this incredible experience and for continuously being a good sport!

This photo is in honor of my dear friend Heidi and Sylvie's first friend Willah who have generously shared many many adorable outfits with us. This little green skirt is one of them. Sylvie and I picked dozens of flowers and she very carefully stuck them through these little holes in the skirt until she was completely adorned with flowers. Ahhhh to finally have my little girl - smile. Many of the flowers had fallen out by the time I thought of snapping this picture. We can't wait to get back and play at the Firefly with Heidi and Willah!


Mom, I want to give you a shout out publicly on this blog for two major accomplishments in one day. Congratulations for learning how to Skype and for posting a comment on my Blog! You have now successfully entered the 21st century and I for one am happy you have arrived!


Thursday, February 4, 2010

Serenity Now!




Well good and bad news from Saipan. Matt's back went out yesterday. He can not think of anything that he did that could have caused it. He just woke up from our crappy bed and it was super sore. We tried calling the one and only chiropractor listed in the phone book at 7:30 am and then tred her cell phoone. No answer. We then tried those two numbers every 15 minutes consecutively until 8:30. The reasons for our persistence? 1. He was in severe pain. 2. We had a dive scheduled for 9:30 - smile. Anyway, when we finally did get a hold of the chiropractor she really couldn't bebothered to come to her office before 10:00. Then we went driving to find this other chiropractic office that we drive by every morning. He was available but made Matt feel worse rather than better. Anyway, we dove anyway. What a trooper. I have uploaded a few photos from my dive. Unfortunately they just don't do them justice. It was an absolutely amazing dive! I saw, among many other things, scorpian fish, coronet fish, and YES I saw and swam with both a sea turtle and an eagle ray with about a 6 foot wing span. It was one of the most surreal experiences of my life. I was squealing with excitment until my mask flooded because I was smiling too big. Then I tried to maintain my composure a bit more. Matt and I are supposed to dive again tomorrow. We will have to see how Matt is feeling. Until then...