Interesting Things Around Town

Before I get too far into the interesting things around town. Here is what I get around town in. My 1997 Nissan Pathfinder. Considering what some cars look like - my vehicle for the year it is - is in rather good shape. I needed to replace the shocks and now I can see why they tend to go bad here. There are still several roads that are unpaved and when the rain comes these roads develop rather "large" potholes".

As I've mentioned to mom and dad I live

to the right of the car - up the stairs. No I have not yet taken photos of the "flat" but I will. I think I have mentioned that my landlord lives on the bottom and have their own entrance and I live on the top floor. 

Still trying to figure this thing out. Just like trying to remember what time it is in the US and the fact that I'm a full 12 hours at least ahead of everyone. 

Okay back to what I was talking about. 

As I believe everyone knows this island is only 5 miles wide and 15 miles long. The average speed limit is 40 MPH. So why on earth would you want this kind of car here. Not like you can really open it up and really enjoy its speed. 

As I'm sure most know what the island was most famous for at 1 time was "illegal" making of clothes. The clothes were made here but not of American cloth. Still the manufactures put on the clothes "made in USA". This 1 sweat shop is about 1/2 blocks from my house. 1 of these days I want to go inside and take some more photos. So stand-by for more. Here are a couple from the road. 

 

Back in the late 80s or early 90s the Japanese tourism was huge here. But between price gouging that the island is known for and the Japanese economy this Mall was left abandoned almost as soon as it was built. To bad too because it looks like it would have been a nice 1 and a source of income for the island. Between the Japanese having to pull businesses out of the island and the closing of the sweat shops this island has gone down the tubes nearly - economically. Plus the still bad accounting and business management of the island govt. 

As a matter of fact mostly probably 2 more hotels will be closing down in the next year. 

Believe it or not - the island has started to recycle. Here is 1 such bin - but apparently there is the "main" site which I haven't been to. When I got close to the bin I noticed that it was for bottles and plastics and nothing for paper. 

Hope you have enjoyed the little tour of around town. 

My cats are now officially out of quarantine. They did 30 days at the quarantine facility and then 90 days "house arrest" at home. So the 4 months of quarantine was over August 24. Next weekend (Labor Day) I will be going to Guam. So more pictures later. 

Ok - Last 1 of Today - Flowers of the Island

I had thought I got all the same flowers but apparently I was better than that. Not sure what kind of flowers they are but they are awfully pretty and for whatever reason they caught my fancy.

Enjoy. 1 of the flowers is from the Flame Tree that is originally from Japan. Not sure when they were transplanted here but they are all over the island. Mostly they are along Beach Road. But you can find them just about anywhere on the island.

When the Flame Trees are in full bloom - they are quite pretty really. They have a festival each year celebrating the Flame Tree. The weekend it was ending I had just moved here so I didn't make it. I will be here next year for it so stay tuned.

I'm not sure what tree this is but it is 1 of the trees that is on my landlord's property. At the request of family members I was going to try to get pictures of the "flat"/"apartment" I'm living in but it rained for most of the day. And when the sun did come out I was involved in a book. I suppose I could look this tree up on line but I haven't so if anyone could tell me what this tree is....????

This is a Noni fruit tree. Apparently the fruit is very bitter. It is supposed to be some sort of home remedy. Anyway, a person here told me you put it in a big jar, let it drip (on it's own) into this jar. When you want some of it, you put water in a glass along with some sugar and drink it. There is supposed to be some of this fruit in Memorial Park which is across the street from the cafe I'm sitting in.

Some flowers on the island.

Enjoy. Since the Cafe's Internet is faster than mine at the house - I guess I will have to do my Blog here. It is much less painful.

Have a great rest of the weekend everyone. It is time for me to get going to meet the person I'm having dinner with.

Gwen

Make a Wish Foundation

About a month ago - I guess by now - Make a Wish Foundation had a Sand Castle Making contest on the beach of the "Hyatt". I'm not sure how the participants became participants but each group is a business on Saipan. 1 was a radio station, the junior college, probably a bank (though I'm not sure) and a few other large businesses.

As you know Make a Foundation supports children who have diseases. This year the foundation raised money to send a child and her family on an all expense paid trip for 1 week to Disney World in Fl.

Here are some Sand Castles that the "adults" made by playing in the sand. Ok - so there's going to be more than a few.....

I still haven't learned that I need the cursor at the end of the picture to put the next picture in line. Good Grief.....

I believe this 1 actually started crumbling about 10 minutes before the contestants had to stop making the sand castles. Someone made a comment on how they were getting "greedy". Who knows, but there was some serious rushing to correct the part that feel apart.

There were 3 Sponge Bob Square Pants entries. I believe I have 2 of them.

This was the Junior College entry.

Dogs best friend.

I think this was the winner. If it wasn't the winner - it was the runner up. I believe......

1 of the judges is a "Sand Castle" world champion from Australia. While he was walking around looking at the entries he made his own sand castle.

Actually quite impressive.

Hope you enjoyed the show....

Nippa Huts and War Items

1 of my friends - she is so silly - she asked me if there were people who still ran around in grass skirts. I saw this hut that I thought fit her question.

I found this hut in 1 of my walks. In the same walk I also came across a Japanese "fox hole".

I was surprised to see this so close to the beach. The other 1s I've seen have been at the airport or more in the park that is to the "right of the Hyatt". Yes, I know like that is going to mean anything. This was further up the beach by the big Catholic Church.

Actually the church I've been going to isn't too far from this church. Up not even 1 block and to the right. The road right here is Beach Road. Some of this road is right on the water and some of it - like this spot is about maybe a block from the water.

I do try to walk different parts of the beaches here. Just to see what you can see. I haven't walked any new parts of the beach lately. That is another thing I need to do. Where the Japanese/Korean War Memorials are - there are several hotels on the beach.

I will share the Memorials in another Blog spot. I have some more pictures to get before I share them.

Gwen

A Few More Bugs

For those of you who are fans of bugs on the island - I'm sorry to say - I only have 2 more pictures of bugs. I have seen some interesting looking butterflies but they always tend to be flying around or I'm not at the ready with my camera. Sorry about that. I have been doing much better with the flowers of the island. Though looking at my photos it seems that the same flowers capture my attention each time.

Ok - a little side stepping.

Here are the 3 pictures and yes, I know, 1 is not necessarily a bug.... But it is wildlife of the island. I do believe they should be easily identifiable.

My Birthday

I guess before I catch people up on what is going on - I should mention today is a very special day for me.

Yeap!! as 1 of my friends has told me - I've hit the 50 crowd age.

I have heard from many and thank you all for the well wishes. It is greatly appreciated.

I have taken a stance this weekend that I was going to do no cleaning because it was my birthday weekend. And I have pretty much kept to that. (I did a little sweeping on Saturday.)

Saturday morning I got up and made waffles with my waffle maker. Gluten Free waffles to boot. They were good. After the 1st batch I adjusted the tempt control and added a bit more batter. They didn't spread like I was thinking they would. I bought some more books, got some cards that I need to send out....and drove around the island taking more pictures. Those will come later.

I got home took a nap - yes, even here I enjoy my nap times. Pepper likes to nap with me. Most of the time she starts by sitting on my chest and then goes to the cushions on top of the couch. Simba usually joins us too.

Sunday - I went to church. They sang happy birthday which embarrassed me. Not sure why but it did. Did my grocery shopping and made a gluten free pasta salad for dinner.

Today I talked with Nancy my oldest sister, then went out and had a hair treatment and a manicure/pedicure. I'm now sitting in my favorite cafe reading e-mail and working on my blog. Which I know is long overdue. A friend I have made here called and wished me a happy birthday. Amazing her memory. I think I could remember things like that back in the day. Now I have to write everything down or I forget.

Later I will go out to dinner.

So all-in-all a great weekend and nice ending to this momentous day.

Attached is the up to date and current picture. Today right off the presses. I'm not sure if you can tell or not but for whatever reason hairstylists like to straighten my hair. My hair is anything but straight. So I get to sport a new due for 1 day.

Gwen

Gwen

Sorry It's Been So Long

I know that it has been a while since I have put something on my Blog. I'm rather close to the main road and they just happen to be widening it. So what do you think comes with widening the road - yeap you guessed power outages. And tonight it was the TV and Internet that was out. The power has been on for the last 3 days but I'm suspicious and there will be more power outages. So each day I get up and unplug the TV and turn off the surge protector and unplug it.

I will add a photo for you though.  You should be looking at a double rainbow. I've seen a couple of them since I've been here.

Hopefully all the miscellaneous outages will end soon and I can go back to some regular blogging.

Gwen