The pool is open!

You're probably wondering why I haven't posted about diving. And the reason why is because...well...I've been diving. But it's high time that I write about the newest love of my life.

There are times when I tell you all about living in Palau that I try to downplay how great things are in comparison to living in the Midwest. I "complain" about the heat and humidity because I just don't want everyone in Milwaukee and Chicago to fashwash me next winter. I say that it's tough not having a lot of shopping choices here, but that's just my excuse to wear shorts and a t-shirt all the time. But diving...that's a completely different matter. To put it lightly, diving here is about a gazillion times better than swimming in Lake Michigan.

A little background about me will help you understand why. I grew up in Milwaukee and from an early age learned to swim, participated on the local swim team and water ballet (that's right), and eventually became a lifeguard throughout high school and college. Probably about 60% of my life was spent with wet/frozen hair.

The Schumaker family summer vacations only added to my water baby-ness. Every year we packed up the 15-seater Ford Econoline, a U-Haul, an endless assortment of water toys and gear, and headed Up North (aka northern Wisconsin). Everyone in my family knew how to swim, fish, waterski, and tube at about 2 years old. It was a blast, and it's pretty safe to say that we were comfortable in the lake.

The only problem with it was that once we were in a pool or lake, there wasn't much to look at. We preferred activities that kept our faces above water. It made sense. In a lake, where the bottom is rock and mud, you can't see anything. Even if we could see underwater, the fish...well, they're just downright ugly and scary. A family swim across the lake was never complete without someone yelling "A northern is biting my toes!" or "What did I just feel on my leg?!?" And for good reason, because these are the critters that were surrounding us...

Not very friendly, right?

Grrrrr......

And this one's just downright unattractive!

Here in Palau, it's a completely different story. I get to swim within mere feet of some of the most beautiful creatures I've ever seen. Forget about mud and rocks. Here we have some of the most amazing coral in the world...

(Big Drop off, referred to by Jaques Cousteau as one of the best dive walls in the world...not bad, right?)

After being underwater for about 5 minutes of my very first dive, I knew that I was hooked to the sport, and I've never been more comfortable or happy under water.

Sure, there are sharks, and sure, they can at times be as close as a few feet away, but there are literally millions of other sea creatures to keep the sharks well fed, and to keep new and excited divers like me immensely entertained. I've gotten about 30 dives in, and with 3 months left in Palau, I'm planning to use every opportunity I can to get underwater. For now, here's an overview of a few of my favorite fish, with some short anecdotes from my dive log of my close encounters with them.

Humphead Parrotfish

I don't really know why I love these guys so much, but I do. They're a little like the manatee--ugly and endearing. When I've been diving, I've seen them in a variety of sizes, from about a foot long, to as large as about 5 feet long and probably about 2 feet high. One of the popular dive sites here is near the island of Peleliu. It's a great place to dive because it is just off of what is called the Mariana Trech, which is the deepest portion of the Pacific Ocean, and apparently the world (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariana_Trench). As a result, these dive sites often include bigger fish and quick currents. I've been lucky enough to head out to these sites twice so far, and on both occasions I've seen a school of 5-7 huge humphead parrotfish. But these guys don't stick to deep areas. When Tom was here, we saw a school of them as well when we were snorkeling in about 15 feet of water!

Maml/Napoleon Fish

These guys have been labeled the national fish of Palau. They are also a really funny looking--I mean, how often do you see lips like that on a fish? Plus, they have huge eyes that follow you like a creepy portrait's eyes. For a long time the Napoleon was a favorite fish for Palauans to catch and eat, but its recently been banned to protect them.

I'm glad they're protected because they're a beautiful and interesting fish. One moment you see one swimming along incredibly peacefully, hanging out by diving and snorkeling boats hoping for scraps of food. They'll let us get within about 5 feet of them without batting a humungous eye. But then you head down 50 feet for a dive and you can see about 5 Napoleon fighting off reef sharks to feed on some fish. So I have to imagine that these guys are pretty crafty and resourceful. There is actually a story about an old, huge Napoleon who was friendly enough that snorkelers could feed him (her?) eggs out of their hands. Apparently one diver's piece of equipment resembled an egg, and the Napoleon swam up to her, chomped it right off, realized that it certainly wasn't an egg, and spit it out. I believe it because there have been times when we've fed whole rolls of sushi to Napoleon hanging around our dive boat, and they've been picky enough eaters to spit out the seaweed wrapping! I get to see these guys almost every time I go out diving, and because they're a rarity among other popular dive destinations, I really appreciate it.

Spotted Eagle Ray

The spotted eagle ray is another one of the venerated fish in Palau. I haven't seen them as often as I've seen the Napoleons or sharks, so it's exciting to catch a glimpse of one. Usually it just sits in one place, as though it's suspended by wire in one place. And I've been able to get pretty close to them when I've seen them...the ones I've seen at the dive sites (usually Blue Corner) have been small--only about a few feet wide, but apparently they can grow up to 30 feet wide!

Manta Ray

Mantas, on the other hand, are a completely different story size-wise. I can honestly say without a doubt that the times I've seen mantas have felt almost magical. They ones I've seen have been huge--sometimes up to 25 feet across--so they're the biggest type of creature I've seen so far.

To see mantas takes a little bit of planning because there are certain times of year when mantas simply aren't around Palau. And we don't see them along reef walls, which are the typical dive sites. Instead, they hang out near sandy bottoms, or "cleaning stations," where smaller fish swim through their gills to clean off parasites and dead skin. There are a number of dive spots here in Palau where you can spot them, the two I'v been to being German Channel and Devilfish City. So far I've been lucky enough to see them once while snorkeling and twice while diving. It's an amazing experience to see them while diving because these huge creatures gracefully appear out of no where and simply glide through the water with little or no movement. When we see them, we typically stop at a certain point during the dive and sit on the bottom, watching the mantas glide in a small circle nearby, sometimes as close as 10 feet away. And when it decides it wants to get away, one flap of its huge wings sends it flying away. To quote my incredibly articulate dive log...."WOW."

Sea Turtle

There's a reason why several of the pictures my nieces and nephews have sent me include a sea turtle. I just love these guys! They absolutely have the attitude of the Finding Nemo sea turtles...very cool and disinterested. While they're munching away on coral, they have no problem with me swimming as close as five feet away to say hi and just hang out. Knock on wood, but almost every time I dive I end up seeing one or two of these guys. It's gotten to the point where I feel guilty wearing tortoise shall sunglasses!

That's just a few of the big ticket items I get while diving here. There's more though--huge schools of colorful fish, World War II wrecks, and occasional dolphin sightings to name just a few. And the best part about diving here is that every single dive is different. So it goes without saying that I'll be taking every chance I can to "soak" it up!

Homer's Odyssey: The Prologue

It's come to my attention that I don't have enough postings. This is the first time in my life that someone's complained that I don't talk enough, so I'm happy to remedy this problem. I've decided to start a miniseries entitled "Homer's Odyssey: Island Girl's Vehicular Mishaps." As you may have noticed, several of my prior posts refer to car problems I've had from time to time here. Well, it's a result of me not being particularly savvy with cars, and because the car care/repair business here is just different. At this point I've accumulated enough entertaining stories that I'll share a few of them with you. Don't worry, I'll still tell you all about my under and above sea adventures here in Palau. But I've found that through my car problems, I've actually learned a lot about "real life" in Palau. Hopefully there stories will highlight that as much as my apparent inability to avoid weekly car debacles.

Prologue: The Old Lady

So far I've owned two cars in Palau. The first was the Old Lady, and the second was Homer. Homer's Odyssey would never have begun if it weren't for my brief stint as the Old Lady's owner.

I definitely miss the Old Lady. She was a 1990 white Toyota Mark II. The interior sported cute Hello Kitty stickers, an AM radio, a cute floral steering wheel cover, and air conditioning that worked. All in all, a pretty sweet situation.

She had her problems though. For one, she was over 20 years old, and for another, she was missing the guard protecting the undercarriage of the car.* As a result, every speed bump, driveway entrance, and pothole were extremely painful for both of us. I found myself coaching her out loud as we went over speed bumps. She also had a lot of trouble starting. I developed a routine of getting into the Old Lady, trying to start it, and then sitting and coaching her for about ten minutes at a time...."Please, Old Lady, I'm really hot and I need to get to work...just start!" And up until she died, it worked every time. We had a nice little system, the Old Lady and I.

But I pushed my luck. I should have known better than to fill her up with gas completely. It was just tempting fate. I put $50 of gas in her, and of course, she died the next day. After work, I headed up to the public pool to teach swim lessons with Veronica, and the Old Lady stopped running twice on my way to the pool. And the pool is about 1.5 miles from the courthouse. Somehow I managed to restart her both times by turning the key and immediately putting her in drive and slamming on the gas. Definitely a stop-gap to say the least. I made it to the pool, we taught swim lessons, and I headed out of the pool lot, just hoping to make it the 1/2 mile to my apartment where I could call a mechanic. Nope! The Old Lady puttered out on the side of the road, about 50 yards away from the pool. The sun had set, but the street lights weren't on, and I had no emergency or parking lights to help me out. What to do?

Turns out, there's an unwritten rule that Palauans just help each other out in these situations. Four Palauan guys that live in my neighborhood came over to my car without batting an eye or saying a word, and pushed my car to the side of the road. Out of nowhere came jumper cables and a second car. That didn't work, and so I got really worried about what I'd do with my car overnight. Not a problem! The guys had pushed the Old Lady to one of their houses, and they just told me not to worry about it and come get it whenever I could. Sweet! So I left it there, headed home, and most likely consumed a large quantity of ice cream.

The next day, after mooching rides from both Ben and Veronica, I called Surangel's Auto Shop--the only place I knew with a tow truck on hand. They picked me up from work and drove to my car. After another unsuccessful jump attempt, they towed her to their repair shop to see if there was any hope. Following a half hour of serious prayer, I learned that her engine was completely "seized up" and fixing it would cost over half of what I'd paid for her. No thanks! But I got lucky. A salesman from Surangel's knew a woman who had a car like mine with a working engine. All she needed was a decent car frame. She was willing to pay me $100 (minus the towing fee, of course). Given that my next best offer was $100 from the junk yard and I'd be responsible for towing it there, I decided to sell my Old Lady to the old lady. Sounds a little off right? But as you'll learn after a few more stories like this, swapping parts--even entire car frames--is par for the course. I like to think that somewhere on this island the Old Ladies are happy together!

After saying goodbye, I set out shopping to find my next victim. I didn't want to pay an arm and a leg, but I wanted something reliable, so I did some shopping around. Meaning I talked to 3 or 4 people and test drove one car. I heard from several people that the owner of a Mobile station's auto shop was reliable and sold cars. So I stopped by one afternoon, and saw him...Homer, a 1996 Honda Odyssey.

(Cue low-pitched whistles.)

I was immediately interested. Do I need a minivan? Absolutely not. Is 1996 pretty old? You bet. Did I really want to get the car buying process over with quickly and avoid paying over $2,000? Absolutely. Obviously, my impatience won out, after some confusing negotiations (Angie doesn't speak English particularly well, and I speak barely any Palauan) and an unconvincing attempt at playing hardball with Ben (I literally kicked the tires at one point), I drove Homer home. And that's where his Odyssey begins....

*This is the first of what will be countless errors in car lingo. I could look up all the proper terminology, but to get an accurate feel of my level of car knowledge, I feel complete honesty will be necessary.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Warning! This post has nothing to do with Palau!

It's my Mom's birthday today! She's a mother of 12, a grandmother of 12 (and counting!), and a mother-in-law of 5 (soon to be six!).

And she still looks good!

My family and I are incredibly lucky to have her around, and I'm sad that I'm missing out on celebrating her birthday with her. She's put so much effort into keeping in touch with me and making me feel at home is a very far away place. She shipped me a small Christmas tree and decorations that's perfect for my apartment and sent incredibly thoughtful gifts, she's taken a lot of time to talk over skype these past few months, and she's learned--and taught me--a lot about Palau.

Mom, I hope that you woke up this morning to breakfast in bed, got to take a break from unpacking the new house, and will be eating shrimp scampi tonight. I miss you!

Lombardi Comes Home! And I watched...

There are some aspects of living outside the U.S. that I'm happy to tolerate. No McDonald's for a year? No problem. I have a feeling that McGriddles will be there when I get back--quite possibly the same exact ones. No Target for a year? A little tougher, but I can handle going to two different stores for face wash and fruit. No movie theaters? Painful, but then I just remind myself of the sunrises and sunsets I get daily for free.

But no Super Bowl? The Island Girl does not abide.

That's why once Ben (a fellow Sconnie) and I found out via text that the Pack defeated da Bears,* we immediately filled out leave forms and declared Super Bowl Monday our one annual personal holiday.

I should explain. Two aspects of Palau living make watching a football game in real time almost a miracle. First, because of the time change, the game has to be in the late afternoon or early evening. Otherwise, to watch it in real time we need to wake up at three or five in the morning. Regardless, to watch an NFL Sunday game, you have to be willing to sacrifice part of your work day for the game. And vacation days don't grow on trees. Second, there is only one communications company here, the Palau National Communications Corporation. For reasons that are beyond me, PNCC doesn't show Fox sports. I don't know why--maybe Mr. Murdoch prefers the diving in Australia. I don't know. But instead of getting Fox football, we get cricket. Besides these two issues, sometimes the channels here simply don't show the games for no apparent reason.

Thankfully, ESPN got the Super Bowl, so all we had to do was use a vacation day and get there early! Ben and I weren't the only people excited for Super Bowl XLV. Ryan and Holly are Cal fans, so they were game for cheering for Aaron Rodgers. Scott, one of the peace corps guys here, was pumped to don green and cheer on the Pack as well. And a fellow attorney and long-time Palauan resident, Ron, was dead set on being front and center and the first to the bar on Monday morning. We decided to head to Kramers, the popular ex-pat bar with a reputation for throwing a great Super Bowl party.

Kramers was set to open at 7 am, but because we heard rumors that a bunch of coast guard guys were vying for all the good seats at Kramers, a few of us headed over at 6:30 in the morning and camped out to watch over two hours of pre-game bliss. I say "bliss" because Monday was the first time this year I've watched an NFL game in its entirety in real time. And I loved every minute of it. The bar had two projector screens, a huge flat screen, and a few other smaller flat screens. Kramers is located right on the ocean, so half of its walls are windows, and it looks like this--

Quite picturesque, right? Not on Super Bowl Monday! All that sun means too much heat and glare for a sports bar. So they blocked it out with garbage bags to maximize viewing--a display of both commitment and pure genius. I wouldn't normally publicly announce that I was happily sitting in a dark corner of a dark bar watching four to five TV screens with tears in my eyes on a Monday morning. But I did, and I was.

(Island Girl extremely happy)

The game was the game: Fantastic. I don't need to elaborate. I will say that I don't think anyone in Palau had ever heard the "GO PACK GO" cheer that fills Lambeau Field every 30 seconds during games. And after all our cheering, I'm sure they don't want to hear it every again. But the crowd was a lot of fun, they humored our cheering, and the "breakfast buffet" provided all the Super Bowl unhealthy goodness you could want. Overall, I'm incredibly proud to be a Cheesehead right now, and thrilled that we got to watch the win.

But now that it's over, I do have a few questions:

1. Have I been without cable, MTV, and/or new music for too long, or was the halftime show pretty good? That is, of course, setting aside Fergie's inability pull off Axl Rose's Snake.

2. How were the commercials? Because the game was showing the island version of ESPN, we had commercials for rugby games and cricket. There was some sort of sock puppet in one commercial, but we couldn't figure out if there was even a punch line. It was quite sad. Anything really good in the U.S.? Was Bud or Miller better? Did a Google commercial make you cry? I'm so curious and my internet takes too long to uphold youtube videos. Please share!

3. How was the Puppy Bowl? And the Kitty Halftime Show? Don't pretend every one of you didn't turn it on at least once...

Well, that's my report on the Super Bowl Palauan-style. It felt great to partake in one of the most American traditions, with a twist. I suppose now it's back to reality for me...

(Yawn)

*As an aside, a piece of advice. I'm a Badger, a Packer, and a Brewer. Since I left Chicago, the Badgers went to the Rose Bowl, and the Packers defeated the Bears and won the Super Bowl. Take advantage while I'm gone and start placing bets on the Brewers.

4-H Club of Palau

I love running. I wouldn't call myself an avid runner, and certainly not a fast one. I guess I just choose to run. It's an activity I hated in high school, but reluctantly got into in college after stopped playing organized sports and realized that I'd gained the Freshman Fifteen in about a week. Throughout college, law school, and my time in Chicago, running became part of my daily routine. Anyone that's spent time with me knows that if I don't get a morning run in, I'm a bear to be around, to say the least. And, living in the Midwest, I take it as a daily challenge to run in the rain, snow, and bitter cold. It's certainly not always fun, and my running outfits sometimes resemble his...

but for whatever reason, it's just how I like to start the day.

So it was only natural that once I got to Palau, I was excited to avoid running through a midwestern winter. I immediately threw on my running shoes and headed out the door. And less than 25 minutes later I was panting, sweating, and, well, waving the white flag. Running here is a whole different ballgame. I've realized through trial and significant error that gone are the days when I could run at any point during the day, when I considered myself a decent hill runner, and when rain didn't phase me.

But I think after being here for about four months now, I've gotten the hang of the Palau's 4H's of running--heat, humidity, hills, and heavy rain. And it's a good thing because there's a half marathon in April and I'll do anything for a free t-shirt!

As for the heat and humidity, because we're so close to the equator here, when the sun rises, it's quick! If I'm not done with my run by about 7 am, I may as well give up. By this point in the morning, the sun is beating down, adding to the humidity that simply never lets up. And so I have to run at either 5:30 or 6 am, or sometime after 5 pm. Even though I'm done with my weekday run by 6:45 am, I still show up at work at 7:30 sweating profusely and I don't feel normal until about 9. It's so bad that I've gotten into the routine of carrying around paper towels in my pocket to mop up the sweat. I can't believe I just admitted that.

As for the hills, it's rare to find stretches of flat road to run on. To make matters worse, my neighborhood is basically one big hill. Although it's true that it's not "uphill both ways," the end of my run is a combination of three different hills. I consider the combination of them my daily personal Everest...

Looking at these pictures now, the hills don't seem all that steep. But I swear they're tough! I have to deal with these bad boys at the end of every run. It wouldn't be that big of a deal, except for the fact that I always pass the same kid walking to school, some of my friends live nearby, trucks of workers wave as they drive by, and it's not uncommon for random people in stores to say "Hey, I see you running every day!" Panting and almost falling over aren't exactly my favorite ways of greeting people. But it's a necessary evil, especially because the half marathon route involves running through my neighborhood as well as three other large hills. It's not fast or pretty, but I'm trying!

Finally, the heavy rain. I've mentioned the rain here, but we basically get dumped on at a moment's notice. Like completely soaked after about a 10-foot walk. Which isn't really a bad thing because it's rare to have entire days filled with rain. Just half-hour deluges throughout the day. It breaks up the humidity (which is good for all the sweating!). But unfortunately it also breaks my camera (ironically, when I was trying to take photos for this blog post!), ipod, contact lenses, and sometimes it gets so strong that I can't see. I've adjusted to the onslaught by wearing a baseball cap, leaving all electronics behind, and simply accepting that sometimes when I run my shoes will get soaked and weigh about 10 pounds each.

Now, even though I'm griping a bit about getting used to the elements, running here is so much fun and unique that it's worth it beyond getting my morning fix.

For instance, I get to hang out with the neighborhood dogs. When I first started learning about daily life in Palau, the informational packet included a comment about neighborhood dogs, and there are plenty in mine. I've gotten to know most of them along my route. And that includes puppies...a whole litter of puppies. They were born about a month after I got here and I pass by them every morning. Often they chase me as I go by. It was painfully adorable. At least until they got fast enough to catch me. Now I it's just potentially painful for my ankles!

There are plenty of adult dogs too, some with owners, some without. And some are friendlier than others, but once these guys have gotten used to me, seeing me run by is just part of their daily routine. My personal favorite is "Lassie." I have no idea what this dog's name is and whether she's even a girl, but I pass her every day. She looks a little bit like a collie, she's regal in her own way, always in the same spot, and seems to preside proudly over her little section of the rode. Sadly, I lost my photo of her to the rained-out camera, but she's adorable. I like to think she likes me too. Here are photos of a few others...

(When I run over the causeway, these two guy are running too. Sometimes they get fancy and actually run on the cement guardrail, showing off their superior coordination.)

(This dog really doesn't like me. Note the picture taken from a distance. I don't have a nickname for him, but consider him my neighborhood nemesis because he always harasses me when I pass by, and I haven't yet been able to win him over with my charms. I stay on the other side of the street when I pass him. I'm not sure how I'll win him over, but I'm thinking bacon might be involved.)

Of course, another part of my run is the view, which I can never complain about. It's pretty easy to forget about the 4H's when I'm running along views like this. And every day it changes. Here are a few shots of my route...

(This is the beginning of my route...downhill!)

(This is the view from the causeway, which is the midpoint of my daily 3 mile run. It's a bridge that's about 1/2 a mile long connecting my island to Koror. I love it because it's flat and always has a cool breeze. You can see my apartment building--it's the white building on the right side of the photo.)

(The end of the run...not a bad spot to stop and stretch, right?)

Finally, I've been able to work on some Palauan phrases. Because everyone speaks English here, I'm ashamed to admit that most of the time I rely on that. When I run, however, I try my hardest to say Alii! (Hi!) or Ungil Tutau! (Good morning!) to the folks I see along my route. I see the same group of 10 or so people out almost every morning, so it's been a great way for me to feel at home.

At this point, I've got a few 8-9 mile runs under my belt, and the 4H's haven't gotten the better of me. I'm sure I'll get rained on and chased by a dog or two, but right now I'm feeling optimistic!