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!

Two Schu's in Palau

Visitor number two managed to come and go from Palau injury free! Tom definitely got a little bit more sunburned than expected, but that's not a surprise, given that Palau is 7 degrees north of the equator, and Wisconsin is, well, in Wisconsin. It was fantastic to have family in town, and it was a lot of fun to show him off to my friends and co-workers. And between having dinner with the CJ (the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court), and sitting a table away from the President of Palau at a restaurant, Tom got a little taste of how the wheels turn here. Unfortunately this is the only photo I have on my camera from his visit....

But rest assured, Tom hiked, swam, and floated all over this place!

On Tom's second day here, we went out on a boat and snorkeling tour of the Rock Islands. It was so much fun watching his reaction to the boat ride out into the ocean. A boat ride is never just a boat ride here. It's seeing almost sunken ships, riding over huge waves, and speeding between the rock islands. For our first stop in the islands, we ended up at Milky Way lagoon. This lagoon is unique because the silt coming off of the rock islands surrounding it creates a clay-like substance at the bottom of the lagoon that makes the water too thick to see through.

According to our guide, if you collect some of the clay and smooth it over your body, you immediately "lose ten years!" I'm not convinced that it's not just a way to get those silly tourists to cover themselves in mud, but Tom and I did it anyway. It was a lot of fun, despite the fact that we were both picking siltiness out of our hair for the rest of the day.

After Milky Way we got to check out a few nearby snorkeling sites. Tom got really lucky and saw 2 or 3 turtles, along with some beautiful coral and a pesky school of needle fish that didn't seem to want to leave us alone. And, of course, we saw some remora sleeping in a sandy patch...I was ready to protect Tom but luckily they didn't try to latch on. But that doesn't mean that we didn't have some close encounters at...

Shark City! After we stopped for lunch at a rock island with a beautiful sandy beach, our guide nonchalantly said, "OK guys, time to go see some sharks!" So we grabbed our snorkel gear and followed her to a spot about 30 feet away from the beach. And saw sharks we did! When we caught up with our guide, we were immediately surrounded by at least 20 reef and black tipped sharks. They were literally surrounding us and swimming back and forth at a pretty rapid (and a little too aggressive for my taste) rate. I wasn't used to seeing this type of action from sharks--usually they just swim right by me without any interest whatsoever. But this time they were more than curious about our snorkeling group. Tom seemed to be having a great time watching it though, so--being the tough Island Girl I claim to be--I pretended that everything was just peachy. After about 15 minutes of terror/excitement, our guide led us to our boat that was waiting nearby. It all made sense when our guide hopped on the boat, reached in the pocket of her board shorts, and pulled out a bag of tuna, commenting "It's illegal to actually feed the sharks, but they don't say anything about tempting them!" Awesome. But, like I said, Tom enjoyed it, so I wasn't complaining!

After all the sharks, we took a little time-off to view some giant clams at yet another nearby snorkel site. These guys get to be about 5 or 6 feet wide. Although we were tempted, Tom and I opted not to see what happens when one places one's hands or feet inside a giant clam's shell.

Finally, we made our way to the destination I'd been anticipating since I learned about Palau: Jellyfish Lake! I know I've mentioned this place before, but this saltwater lake was formed when certain rock islands connected thousands of years ago, leaving behind only very small fish and a species of jellyfish whose stingers eventually lost their bite for lack of need. This 100-foot deep lake houses literally millions of jellyfish, ranging from the size of a fingernail to the size of a volleyball. And those willing to pay a small fee to Koror State can hike through a rock island and go snorkeling through this freak of nature!

Thankfully, Tom is up for absolutely anything, and so we hiked the small trek up and down the rock island, and hopped right into the lake. We swam about 50 meters out through the murky water, and we both saw one jellyfish. Getting excited, I decided to snap a picture with our underwater camera. Bad decision because that was our last shot. After swimming another 50 yards, we were literally surrounded by millions of the jellyfish. I didn't get to document it, but it looks something like this:

And it feels...well, it's tough to describe. The best I can say is that it's somewhat like you're swimming through kooshballs covered in superball material. Surreal and a lot of fun. While we were swimming around, all I could hear was Tom laughing through his snorkel. Apparently some of our fellow snorkelers didn't like it, but we had a blast!

When we eventually listened to our guides plea for us to get out and head back to the boat, two funny things happened:

1. Our guide had been paddling alongside our group the whole time rather than snorkeling. I just figured that it was because she had a better view of where the jellyfish were. But when Tom and I got out of the lake, we overheard her asking the Koror state employees where "Snappy" was. After some prodding, she told us that Snappy is a four-foot baby crocodile that had recently made jellyfish lake his home. She said that they've been unable to remove the elusive Snappy, but that we shouldn't worry, the only times he's bothered snorkelers was when he glided on top of a guide's boogie board. Oh, great! At least it'll be a friendly crocodile that approaches me in a murky lake!

2. Apparently I'd forgotten to tell Tom that the jellyfish don't actually sting you. He said that he "figured it out" by touching them once he was surrounded. Another point for adventurousness Tom!

Tom and I were completely wiped out after the Rock Islands tour, so he took it easy the next couple of days while I worked, hanging out on my porch and at PPR. We headed up to Babaldaob a few days later and went on the Jungle River Cruise, where we spotted a six foot long crocodile, held a baby croc, and let a huge fruit bat perch on our hands. In Palau fruit bat soup is considered one of the local foods that everyone must try, but after holding one of these ugly guys, I'm just going to forget they exist. Tom and I agreed that they're just gross.

Finally, on Tom's last day here, Tom, Holly, and I drove up to Babeldaob again and hiked to the waterfall in Ngardmau. I've been to this waterfall once before--it's the biggest waterfall in Palau. Tom had a great time hiking through the jungle, standing under the waterfall, and enjoying his first coconut at the end of the hike!

All in all, it was a pretty great trip! But of course, Tom experienced the daily grind that living in Palau means. My power steering broke down, and I had to fix it mid-week. Tom had to drive through Palau rush hour, which, although only about a half mile long, proves to be pretty aggravating when there are no stop signs and plenty of bottlenecks. We got a flat tire one night after I finished work, and once we fixed the tire, my car wouldn't start. Because it was after 5 pm, no nearby auto shops were open, and we were stuck. Thankfully, a crafty man helped us out by switching out my car battery for his, following us back to my apartment, promptly switching the batteries back, and driving away. But Tom was a great sport about the whole thing, as long as he got a few Red Roosters afterwards.

The WORST part about his visit (and my biggest complaint about Palau) is that we didn't get to watch the Packers win, and Tom was stuck checking the score every 30 seconds. For some reason that's just beyond me, we don't get FOX sports here. It's not that I miss that annoying robot mascot, it's just that I don't want to watch cricket (shown on ESPN all the time here!) when my Packers are on the road to the Superbowl! But thankfully one of the bars here will be having a Super Bowl party on February 7, a few other Packer fans and myself will be there at 7 am to bang on the drum!!!

GO PACK GO!!!!!

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Visiting Palau

Jesse came out to Palau for the entirety of his winter break. Because he was my first visitor, I wanted to make everything about his trip absolutely perfect. So I planned the details of his scuba certification, stocked up on foods he likes, baked up Christmas cookies and decorated my apartment, and made plans for all the fun activities Palau has to offer. But his visit turned out to be a great example of life in Palau--breathtaking and beautiful one moment, and a huge challenge the next. He eventually made it back to Chicago in one piece, and I'm crossing my fingers that he'll be back again!

Here's the break-down of his visit, Eastwood-style:

GOOD!

Rainbows!

Jesse woke up on his first morning in Palau to an absolutely perfect rainbow sitting right outside my apartment!

Christmas!

We had a fantastic Christmas Eve together. We talked to our families over skype, opened some presents, and my personal favorite, listened to my family's recitation of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas. It may or may not have made me cry.

And, despite the letdown, we received some great gear for watching the Rose Bowl!

And for dinner we went to PPR, and enjoyed a ridiculously huge buffet dinner oceanside.

Scuba and Snorkeling!

Jesse got scuba certified during his first week here, completing multiple open water dives, and fending off sea creatures with aplomb (see "UGLY" below). Also, having fallen in love with the beautiful beach at PPR, Jesse and I spent a lot of time exploring the coral, chasing the fish, and floating in the calm and warm Pacific. We spent many evenings with sunsets like this...

Not too shabby, right?

Island Food!

Of course, a visit to a tropical island would be incomplete without lots of seafood and tropical fruits. To put it lightly, Jesse consumed many, many coconuts. He added shredded coconut to his cereal, ate coconut cookies, made sandwiches with coconut jam, drank coconut water, and of course, cracked into at least three coconuts with a hammer and knife, drinking the water and spooning out the meat.

I know what you're thinking. This, PLUS getting to hang out with me?!? That just sounds too good to be true. You're absolutely right...

BAD

Longest trip EVER.

It took him 55 hours to get here from Chicago, involving a 14-hour flight, an overnight stay in Japan, and 8 hours to kill in Guam. The Guam airport is basically a long hallway with a few overpriced boutiques. I'm not sure how he did it without going insane.

Hospital field trip.

Palau is beautiful and remote, meaning sometimes the water isn't safe and the restaurant standards aren't as high as in the U.S. Translation? Jesse and I spent Christmas day in the hospital after he was struck down with a mean bout of food poisoning (see GOOD! above). I guess we were just having too much fun! Fortunately for everyone reading this, I don't have any pictures of our 12 hour experience at the hospital. Suffice it to say that Jesse's an adaptable guy and I will be learning how to insert an IV properly before we travel to India in a few months. The silver lining of his being couch-bound the next 3-4 days was that we watched the entire HBO series Pacific and several of the Christmas movies my family sent.

Bumpy roads.

Speaking of beautiful and remote, once Jesse was up and running again, we decided to take Homer (my Honda Odyssey) up to Babeldaob, Palau's biggest island. With a full tank of gas and a map, we set out to see the capital, stone monoliths, and North Beach. But apparently having a map and reading it are two different things, because we ended up off the main road and on a rocky, stony, hilly, and broken down road for about two hours. Robert Frost doesn't know what he's talking about. Or he just hasn't been off the compact road in Palau in my car. We eventually made our way to the main road, but not before losing the power steering, damaging the brakes, and getting caught in the mud.

UGLY!

Remora'd.

I mentioned earlier that Jesse got scuba certified. Before he headed out, we chatted a little about the diving experience here. I told him that from everything that I've experienced and heard, all the fish just ignore you and swim on by. It's like they know they're a part of a show for you to sit back and enjoy. Being the novice that I am, of course I hadn't a clue about remoras. To those of you who haven't been attacked by a remora, these guys are the fish that attach themselves to sharks for feeding. They look like a two-foot long shark, but instead of a dorsal fin, they have a suction.

Gross.

Well, during Jesse's last open water dive, apparently he resembled a shark because a remora swam up his diving vest and tried to attach itself to him. He successfully pulled it out of his vest, but the remora, not to be deterred, immediately swam up his shorts! Thankfully his instructor noticed, came over, and swatted it away before it could attach itself. I could devote an entire blog post to all the jokes I could tell about his close encounter...

Bananagrams.

Jesse cheats. I'm a sore loser. I'm pretty sure our "discussions" during our games ruined some sunbathers' afternoons at PPR. It wasn't pretty.

Shockingly enough, despite the Bad and the Ugly, Jesse was still smiling the day he left!

My little brother Tom is coming in town this weekend. Although everything that could go wrong didn't go wrong, I'm prepared with plenty of clean water, gatorade, rice, and saltines. Not so sure about what to do about remoras though...

Finding Normalcy

Life here is an interesting combination of a ridiculous amount of action and calm. For instance, a few weeks ago, my friends and I spent a Saturday hiking through rivers and Temple of Doom-like jungle scenes, to sit under waterfalls and view monoliths:

(To get to the Ngardmau Waterfall, Palau's largest waterfall, we had to hike along this river. It posed a challenge for me and my chacos, but we made it, with only one near-fall, which is thankfully undocumented.)

(During our hike, the trail follows the tracks created for the bauxite mining that took place during the Japanese colonial times. We waited for a little cart to take a ride down to the waterfall, and then realized we weren't at the Epcot Center.)

(Ngardmau Waterfall, http://www.ngardmau.com/index.php?section=nature, is Palau's largest waterfall at 100 feet high. It's located in the State of Ngardmau, which is on the island of Babeldaob, north of Koror, where I live. The waterfall is a gorgeous site, and because it's gentle, we got a chance to wade out and sit underneath the falls!)

(Climbing through mud and hiking in the heat for about an hour were quickly forgotten after getting a massage, compliments of the waterfall!)

(The Stone Monoliths are located in northern Babeldaob. The myth is that the gods were creating a meeting place, called a Bai, at night. The gods turned to stone when the sun came up earlier than they expected. Needless to say, they're worth a visit. We decided to make this angry-faced monolith a little girlier.)

And if we're not climbing through the jungle or scuba diving, we'll spend a lazy Sunday snorkeling, sunning, reading, and swimming at the Palau Pacific Resort (PPR).

But then Monday evening rolls around, the work day ends at 4:30, I've already worked out, and I wonder what to do with my time. So lately I've been seeking out ways to find a normal routine to remind myself that even though every weekend is like a vacation, Palau life is actually pretty normal. Here are a few things I've been up to lately...

1. Chatting.

I thought I'd feel a bit guilty coming to Palau armed with English and a few random Spanish words remaining from high school. But here my ability to occasionally form a proper sentence is actually useful! I've started meeting with an extremely bright and sweet Korean woman, helping her with her conversational English. After learning that she was teaching herself grammar and didn't want to learn anything technical from me, I got a lot less nervous about how I would explain the crazy conjungations commonplace to our language. Instead I'm feeling guilty that she'll most likely adopt my Wisconsin accent and colloquialisms. Then again, who doesn't like the sound of a nice girl asking for a "Plastic baaaag" in the grocery store?

2. Teaching swimming

From the ages of 16 to 22, every summer was spent lifeguarding, teaching swim lessons, and coaching synchronized swimming (yes, I'm proudly admitting that). And I had a blast doing it. The kids were fun, the people I taught with were enthusiastic, and we got to play in the pool all summer long. Sadly, my teaching certification has long since expired, and apparently once one graduates from college and grad school, one is expected to work during the day. Even in the summer.

Lucky for me, here in Palau, it's warm enough to teach lessons outside after work, and they really don't care if you're a certified instructor. All you need to do is volunteer! So for the past several weeks Veronica and I have been teaching a small group of 5 to 7 year olds swim lessons! We've had a blast playing Red Light Green Light, Duck Duck Goose, Tag, and learned a few skills here and there. It's been a great way to end the day and to get to know some of the kids in the community. And to all my former FPMP colleagues, Freddy the Fish has made his appearance!

3. Cooking

Sadly, while I've been living in Chicago I've learned to love the restaurants a little bit too much. It got to the point that where I didn't go out to eat, I wouldn't have a clue what to do in my apartment and often ended up with crackers and hummus or cereal. I've been dating Jesse since the end of May, and all I've done is chop vegetables at his directions and mess up an order of pancakes. But I have picked out plenty of good restaurants for us!

Now that restaurant choices are somewhat limited, I've started enjoying cooking. I'm hosting brunches, looking up recipes, and baking all sorts of desserts. Whereas before I got here I was just showing up to family events with a frozen Lou Malnati's pizza, now I'm hosting brunches where I make strata. Strata!

And this weekend I got together with some girlfriends to bake Christmas cookies. This is one of my favorite holiday traditions, and I'm thrilled to have some fun ladies to cook, chatter, listen to Christmas music, and watch Christmas movies with. It might be eighty degrees outside, but it'll feel like a traditional Christmas!

4. Basketball...?

I just agreed to play on the Palau women's basketball team. I'm 5'4" and was cut from the team my junior year of high school. And my only experience playing basketball for the past ten years is losing to my siblings in games of high contact lightening. So you'd think I'd run screaming away from the courts. But this team is a great way to meet people, it's low pressure, and apparently I can't resist the chance to publicly embarrass myself. I'll keep you posted on how it goes.

So those are my attempts at normalcy in a place where my weekends are anything but!

I hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving, and that you're all enjoying the holiday season! I'm sure you're all wondering what the holidays are like here. In a word, they're BRIGHT--this place gives Clark Griswold a run for his money. Describing it doesn't do it justice though-- I'll be posting photos of the sensory overload that is downtown Koror very shortly!

Silver & Gold, and Sensory Overload

As I mentioned, this place does NOT skimp on Christmas decorations. I don't think there's an official competition between the stores and resorts, but it sure seems like they're trying to one-up each other. A description doesn't do it justice. Here's some photos:

Right next door to the courthouse, you can get some holiday cheer and a ginormous snow globe at the Rock Island Cafe.

Surangel's light display is on each side of it's building. My camera could only get part of it.

Not to be outdone, WCTC took a more firework-ish approach. You can't tell from the picture, but these things are flashing and twinkling like crazy. And it just gets more festive indoors...

These two greet you as you enter Surangel's. I guess it wouldn't be Christmas without a creepy full length Santa statue!

And this is my favorite display, compliments of WCTC. If I could post a video of this, I would...it moves and plays Christmas music. I've had to curb the amount of groceries I buy because otherwise I can't get through the hallway. And I couldn't fit the whole thing in one picture...

Hmmm....what's missing??

Of course! Santa see-sawing with his reindeer! And, last but not least...

This guy is probably about 20 feet tall...they had to put scaffolding around it to decorate it properly. It blocked the traffic through the hallway of the grocery store for about a week.

Given all these decorations, it's physically impossible to avoid the holiday spirit. Not that I needed any help. I've been listening to Christmas music since the day after Thanksgiving (that's nothing--my sisters start in on the holiday tunes on November 1). And, as I mentioned, I had a cookie baking party with my friends Alexis, Holly, Sarah, and Veronica. We made some islandy sangria, listened to some Christmas tunes, and whipped up some cookies.

Sarah and Alexis getting creative with icing.

Holly and Veronica happily toiling away in the kitchen.

And, of course, my Mom made sure that my apartment was stocked with a tree and stockings!

Thanks Mom/Santa for the tree, decorations, and presents!

I must have been pretty good this year because I get my first Christmas present early! Jesse is arriving here in Palau this Sunday morning at 1:00 a.m. My parents asked me if I'd be picking him up from the airport, and after a lot of consideration, I figure it's the least I can do for the guy who wakes up early to skype, sends me coffee and DVDs, and travels halfway across the world to see me! He's here through January 2, so we have big plans to scuba dive, snorkel, sit on the beach, attempt to play soccer, and one-up each other in trivia. If I had to gauge my excitement on a scale of 1 to 10, I'd say I'm at a 17.48 right now!

Even though we're thrilled to see each other and hang out in paradise, we'll miss our families and friends. Have a fantastic Christmas and New Year everyone!

Midwesterner's Guide to Palau Living

I've been here for about a month now, so I can say with no confidence whatsoever that I'm the authority on all things Palau. But I've survived so far, so for you Midwesterners out there, here are a few tips on adjusting to life in the middle of the Pacific on the equator.

1. Perspiration.

Living in Chicago, one of the biggest challenges is adjusting to the changing weather. We have to dress for the crazy wind, snow, sleet, rain, and occasionally heat. So I've learned how to handle the July/August weather without too much difficulty. Wear flip flops on the train, carry a water bottle, wear lighter clothes and sunglasses, chew on ice while blow drying my hair, run with sunglasses or a hat and take water breaks. The basic survival techniques.

Here, all of those tricks have gone out the window. My flip flops feel like they're melting all the time, my water bottle doesn't stay cold, my clothes aren't light enough to avoid the heat, I can't even fathom standing under the stream of hot air from a blow dryer, and running past 8:30 a.m. in the sun is, in my opinion, asking to faint on the side of the road. Not that I'm complaining. I'm absolutely loving this heat. But it's taken a bit of time for me to adjust. Here are a few things I've changed:

-No more makeup. It's way too heavy and uncomfortable. When I have worn it, it's all ended up on my chin within about five minutes of application.

-No blow drying or hair product ever.

-Combining running and swimming. If on a weekend morning I haven't made it out of my apartment before 8:30 a.m., I have learned to make a pit stop at the nearby pool. So I run for about a half hour, jump in the pool and swim some laps, and run/walk home. By the time I'm home, I'm completely dry and sweating profusely again. It's not perfect, but I definitely prefer it to heatstroke!

2. Getting Around

No one walks around here! Having lived in Madison and Chicago, I've come to appreciate walking long distances on a pretty regular basis. Because Koror, the state that I live in here in Palau, is so small, I expected that I'd get to know the area by walking around. I quickly learned that driving is the much preferred means of transportation because of the heat and constantly strong sun.

(I took this during a ten minute walk at lunch, before which one of my co-clerks told me that if I got tired she'd pick me up)

The cars here range from pick-up trucks that look like Tonka trucks to fancy beamers. And for the most part, looks certainly don't play a big role. At least that's the case for my car. Homer, my Honda Odyssey (yes, that's a minivan, and no, I do not have any kids), may not be the sharpest car on the road, but he gets me around!

In addition to the difference in the looks/style department, cars operate on the road here differently. Homer, like most cars here, has a steering wheel on the right side of the car, which is strange because we still drive on the right here. This quirk has definitely thrown me off. Adding even more confusion, most cars operate under kilometers per hour while the speed limit signs are all in miles per hour. Luckily my longest car trip around town is about 2 miles, and so far the guestimate approach to checking my speed has worked out.

The one adjustment to driving that I LOVE is the parking situation here. Basically there is no rhyme or reason to parking. If your car can fit and you're not in the middle of the road, consider it a spot for as long as you want. My car broke down on the side of the road and I left it pulled off to the side for well over a day. If this was Chicago, my car would have been ticketed about 3 times, booted, towed, and they would have put a lien on my firstborn child. In Palau? It's no biggie at all.

3. Food.

To be honest, this adjustment hasn't been nearly as difficult as I'd anticipated. I was told before coming here that things like alcohol and dairy products would be quite difficult to come by. To most Wisconsinites ("sconnies"), this would be a complete dealbreaker. Not for me! I'm a bit unique in that I don't crave milk. So that hasn't been a problem. But, like most Sconnies, I do enjoy a good beer. Not a problem either. There's a Palau brew, plenty of Asahi, and yup, Miller products a plenty here! Sadly, wine and liquor will be a special occasion this year, but with a lunch like this...

I can't complain!

The only aspect of food shopping here that's been different is that there are three different grocery stores along the main road that I frequent for different reasons. Surangel's is usually my first stop. This place always has almond milk and fantastic produce, but not my tea or granola bars. The WCTC is across the street, and it has both of these items, but then if I need any sort of bread or bakery products, I have to hop in my car and drive down to the Payless Market (nope, they don't sell shoes). In addition to the baked goods, Payless has great spices, but definitely DO NOT buy produce there. It's just not as fresh. So learning the matrix of food shopping takes a little time. In contrast, I've learned very quickly that the food here is expensive! I'm somewhat accustomed to Chicago prices, but I consider $20 for a large bag of dried mangos to be a bit excessive. They tell me they're the "World's Best Tasting Mangos," and I love them, but I'm still kicking myself for buy them [twice].

As for restaurants, I've got two words for you. Poke Shashimi. I'm not going to elaborate. Just visit me and start eating. Amazing. It's like butter. I still have many Palauan dishes to sample, so I'll fill everyone in on the local fair as I try them out. I'm especially excited for coconut crab!

4. Daylight

Every fall for as long as I can remember, I dread the shrinking sunlight. Every morning, I get a little bit sadder as my run becomes darker and chillier. Here, besides the constant warmth, the length of daylight stays the same year round. So that means that I'm up with the sun at about 5:30,

and watch the sun set every night at about 5:45 or 6.

Although I'm sure I'll start to miss the change of seasons and reason to bundle up, right now I'm loving the fact that my day will always start with the sunrise.

Have a very Happy Thanksgiving! Believe it or not, this is my first Thanksgiving spent away from home. I'm not sure how I'll cope without my Mom's stuffing, but I won't mind not getting roughed up by my younger sisters during the family football game!

Take care!