If I were in Saipan, living there, enjoying the quiet life, I would be having a regular coffee date with Claud. In this shot you will notice the thing that has the most local people held in it's clutch... betelnut. In case you are ever in Micronesia and you want to look like a local here is what you do: Crack the nut between your teeth. Put the white lime powder (no this has no relation to the fruit) into the empty hole inside the nut. Put in some tobacco or part of a cigarette (not the filter). Wrap it in a leaf.
Chew and enjoy the feeling of your head spinning around and your drool going everywhere while your mouth turns numb and red. Yum! Usually the girls make me chew it once while I am here. Watching me chew really makes them laugh! But this year I managed to avoid that delightful treat. I managed to make them laugh at me in so many other ways!
I left Claud and picked up Sue from work with a bag full of Himaware sushi! OK, no more pictures of that...trust me that it was KILLER! and no Dee, you are right...it was not cooked Midwest style...just raw and delicious!
While I was at Himaware I was checking out these pieces of wood that were for sale and I could not figure out what they were. I turned to the man standing next to me in line and asked him what they were and when I looked up I realized I was standing next to JACKIE CHAN! Dumbstruck I left my camera in my purse as he was taking the sticks and showing me how they worked and even making that HA HA noise and how getting them for Riley and Chris would be a bad idea. I told Sue, "If it was not Jackie Chan let the Lord take my eyes!" I told Karen and she said, "Alana, I can show you 5 Jackie Chan look alikes by the end of the day!" Humf. I guess there are some mysteries that will forever go unexplained.
In the mean while, the Lord has not taken my vision and so I think I am right!
Then I returned Sue to her employer and Claud picked me up. We went to Dolphin Wholesale where I taught her about my love for bad English translation of common Chinese and Korean phrases.
It did not matter where we spent the rest of our day shopping, I was constantly distracted by really bad English. My favorite line of the day was, "Coffee is mostly used for drinking."
I am sure Claud will never be able to shop for Chinese plastic items the same way again.
Then we went to the high school where we picked up her daughter Leodine and her cousin Naqueenie.
Oh, yea, they are really beautiful girls.
We also picked up our new friend and Marc and Mel's old friend, Maya. After dropping Queenie we went to Lau Lau beach for shell picking. We also did some crab racing which Maya had never seen and which really made her laugh.
After dropping Maya home we went to dinner at Korean Barbecue. Wow! Delicious.
I'm not going to pretend that I was counting points!
Then we went to the Garapan Street Market. There is a lovely pedestrian mall in the heart of Garapan which the government is trying to make a family friendly place. This means that a bunch of cops sit around chewing betelnut while the strippers stay out of their windows for the night. When the market closes they come back out.
On our way home we went through the heart of residential Garapan by accident, kind of, and I learned about the other secret life of people in Saipan. The windows of Claud's car are heavily tinted (as most peoples are) and as we slowed down to go over speed bumps prostitutes would come over to the car... Of course in my imagination, it was like seeing a zombie movie and I found it to be so humorous that I needed to capture it on film. God wasn't happy with this decision and quickly made my camera battery dead. I was having some repentant-ish thoughts about it, like, "I'm sorry, I know these are souls suffering...it's just...well...so...funny... the zombie thing in my mind..." It was not enough to get the camera working again.
But I will say that the next day I was stopped by this crew on the street corner in that exact same neighborhood and the preacher asked about my relationship with God and I couldn't control myself, "You know," I said, "You really aren't here at the right time of day...if you come out here at like maybe 9 tonight, they will be FLOCKING to you!" He knew what I was getting at, but, such is Saipan culture...why deal with something if you know that if you ignore it long enough the jungle will reclaim it eventually. I mean, they ignored the enslavement of the garment factory workers and now look! Poof! They've all vanished! Look at LaFiesta Mall...it's nearly gone...
The next day Gary took me to LauLau Bay to do some golfing.
It was good. I love golfing with Gary because he really doesn't take score keeping too seriously. He also likes the garden stroll aspect of it and didn't make a peep about my needing to stop in for a cold drink at the new Tea House. (They've gotten rid of the cute Filipino girls driving drinks around in carts and have a nice new tea room. No, I don't think they will let you go there if you are not golfing. And that is a shame.)
And in pure Alana style; what did I photograph with zeal because I couldn't believe it? This toilet flushing mechanism. It even comes with a massaging feature. I love Asia! It's still so surreal!
That evening we hung out at the house. Karen and I snuck out to do some shopping and I got her hooked on finding badly written English. She too will never be able to by Chinese plastic objects the same way again.
See, if we were in Saipan my kids would be getting good at climbing trees just like Colin.
These are two great dogs; PauPau and Buddy. Buddy has only three legs, but will still chase the car at full speed down the road.
I went to the post office to try to mail a coconut to Marina (yes, it is still illegal). While I was at it I made friends with the guy who worked behind the counter. "Girl!" He said as if I had just hiked the mountain to ask him to grant my wish, "You MUST go to Moonlight Fashion on Beach Road in CK! You MUST! That is THE place to find yourself a new purse on island. Well, I mean, unless you want to spend $800 at the Duty Free. She's got everything!"
I picked up Karen for lunch (yes, at Himaware) and I explained to her that we had a mission...knock off designer handbag shopping! She was in awe of my finding my knock off guru right at her very own post office!
We walked in the door at the Moonlight and there to my left was an entire wall loaded with slippers and stripper shoes! Had we been in an accident on the way and were we now in Chinese tacky shopping heaven? No, it was real! So I put on the black pair while Karen stood by laughing. Amazingly comfortable for being 9 inches high.
Then the sales girl turned and pointed to these totally amazing boots! Sadly, these amazing boots would not zip over my thick German farm girl calf. Karen was willing to model them for me. Does she not have the totally smoking hot legs for these boots! So, I am laughing and ogling her and the sales girl says to me in broken Chinese, "Yes, you buy the boots."
I said, "Are you joking? When would I wear those boots? (grocery) shopping?"
She said, "No, you go out at night!"
I said, "You ARE joking."
She said, "Yes, you go out at night, not her so much (pointing at Karen) but you, you go out and little bit drinky drinky." She is making a cup motion with her hands and wagging her eyebrows at me and I started LAUGHING!
I said, "OK, no boots, but I will get the shoes."
Laughing at all the shoes really took away from the hilarity of the purse shopping, but as you will notice from the above picture, I did get a fabulous new LV backpack. Karen got herself some Coach (handbag and wallet). It was fabulous. I showed Gary the pictures of Karen in the boots and he did not recognize her! Then once he did he just said, "Wow!" How could he not? She is smoking hot!
That night I was invited to watch my last sunset with the Folta's. Ah! Fabulous. It is my plan to visit them all in Alaska this summer.
Then I went to Claud's where we sat in the aircon and tried to smash every last thought into our final minutes together. This is the first chance I've ever had to hang out, let alone photograph her husband/partner Paul. It was another touching and fun visit.
That next morning at 3 am Gary drove me to the airport. I was fully loaded and there was no way that my bags weighed less than 50 pounds....but this is Saipan and somehow the scales were light.
Claudine and Leodine came to the airport to say good-bye. It is so interesting to me. The entire time I was on island I kept saying to myself, "When I come back..." as if I was going to go back soon. Saying good-bye to my Carolinian sister made me realize I was not coming back soon, and my soul is gripped. My mom always says, "I have to go back to Illinois. I have to touch my land, my place." I never really got what she meant. On this trip to Saipan I got what she means.
During my flight to Hawaii, I took the time to really reflect on what old friendships are about. The kind of friendships that aren't so much about the day to day contact and are more about the spiritual connection.
I can not express how much it meant to take so much of Karen's time from her family so that I could have her to myself, pick her brain, hear about her experiences that are helping her grow and evolve. Her children are amazing and beautiful. Her husband has a playful soul. The week with them was a blessing.
Claud, Sue...That you keep taking me under your wings and sharing your lives with me is a tremendous honor. Thank you!
And then I was in Hawaii...
I was able to spend an entire morning with Resihna, on the beach in Waikiki. I still envy her car free walking big city on a beach life. Jedrick, her boyfriend, took us out to dinner, and the minute the meal was through we were blasting back to the apartment to get me on my flight.
I'm home now, catching up with everything and everybody. They survived...but not well...
And really, for a Mom, isn't that the perfect way to leave it?
Onward!
Falcom waiting for Marina after his haircut
Second, I went to Valda's house where I found her preparing for her trip to Africa (she left last night). She had done the unusual and painted her own toenails, and the horror! Fortunately I had lugged my polish to her house and I did her nails just right. A person should not go to Africa with a bad manicure! HA! Have a great trip Valda, we are all jealous!
Fourth, I took my mother to Two Sisters for a cup of coffee and to share a Roulaud. This beauty had carmelized onions, walnuts, and feta cheese. WOW! Check out my super snazzy fingernails... The McNeil kids LOVE them. It is unusual for us rural gals to have such fantastic nails, so for the kids it is really a walk on the wild side.
Fifth, I picked up Falcom and he got his first haircut in well over a year. His new look is not too short. It is VERY Jonas Brothers Chic. 
Vince doesn't get the reference, but pick up a Teen Beat Mag and you will see what I mean.
Marina also decided she needed a haircut and Jerami gave her the cute girl trim without upsetting her Daddy. Very sweet!
Sixth, I went to movie night at McNeil School where we watched the penguins in Madagascar 2 and then sat in the hallway with my girlfriends and painted more fingernails. By this time I had inhaled so much polish fumes from the day that I really gave myself a head rush and I am seriously reconsidering my next job as a manicurist.
Marina and I had lunch yesterday while I was helping prepare the kids for next weeks "McNeil Canyon Talent Show"! This is Marina eating blood-orange. Marina took pictures of the acts. Sorry, most pictures were too dark to post. I have really enjoyed my time working with the kids.
Falcom and Marina spent the night with Mema and got spoiled. Then went to church. They had killer snowball fights.
Willie went to the Valentine's Dance with his friend Johnny and then spent the night at Johnny's. Willie had a very good time at the dance. There was some teenage drama, but nothing over the top. Lots of dancing.
Irene always has the best Mayo! Thanks Irene! 
Regular Thursday with Claudine 
