JANUARY 12-14

Local ID

Walking path

Part of settling in is getting all the bureaucracy out of the way - getting the apartment lease signed, getting local ID - and getting the routines down. Like getting the walking routine figured out. There is a paved path right next to the water. Up at 5:30 for two cups of wake-up coffee, giving the sky a chance to lighten a bit and then down to the path at 6:30 for a 45-minute walk. What a treat!

Pre-positioned ship viewed from the walking path

It's not hard at all to keep THAT routine up!

The picture with the ship in it shows one of the five pre-positioned ships that are stationed just outside of the reef. Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maritime_prepositioning_ship for more information.

Three kinds of fruit growing just outside our door are bananas, papayas and jackfruit.

We went down by the walking path at sunset and captured these two great pix:

Someone is ecstatic!

Sorry about this one, but I couldn't help myself. this is in response to Karl Oakes' post of a thermometer at 0 degrees C. in Greece.







The only critter we've seen (besides a few biting red ants on my feet and a rat scurrying across the road) are the geckos - this shot is him on a side wall, but they can just as easily walk on the ceiling.

Being here is easy to get used to. So far the weather has been fluctuating between about 77-83 with a healthy breeze. On the morning of the 14th, I think it got down to about 74. This prompted Sara to get out the hoodie for morning java!

Sara Stickland on a "cool" Saipan morning (maybe 74 degrees)

HAFA ADAI !!

Pronounced half-a-day and means Hello and Welcome