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!

We're Gonna Need a Bigger Boat

The first thing I learned about Palau was that it's known as the best location in the world for scuba diving. The coral reefs surrounding the islands provide for beautiful plant life, and the currents offer up some amazing shows of fish, tortoises, manta rays, and, yes, sharks.

The idea of scuba diving has always appealed to me, but I'd never done more than snorkeling before coming here. So I felt a little foolish moving here without my scuba certification, and without knowing whether I'd freak out if I went more than 3 feet under the water. But along with the best location for scuba diving come the best instructors, so I had a fantastic scuba cert experience, which I'll tell you all about now!

Normally scuba certification is a four-day process where the divers have one full day of classes, a day in the pool to learn basic scuba techniques, and two days completing the four required open water dives. But because we had a three-day weekend, my friends and I decided to condense it all. The classroom day went by slowly and was boring but informative. We learned all the ways you can maim yourself while diving, the physics of diving, and all about the equipment. And thousands of very specific terms for our equipment...which somehow have simply been replaced by "that thingy." Our instructor, Joe, patiently answered all of our questions, and tolerated our criticisms of the imprecise phrasing of the practice quizzes we took. He clearly has instructed other lawyers because he was unphased by our antics.

Our second day was more exciting. I was a bit tired after my friend's Ryan birthday celebration the night before. Ryan is the new counsel for the senate, and he requested Trivial Pursuit for his celebration. So an extremely competitive boys v. girls game of Trivial Pursuit ensued, making the 8:30 start on Sunday a little painful (FYI. I don't have cable or a TV, and my internet is slow. But I do have Trivial Pursuit. People I play trivia with, you've been warned). We started the day at a hotel pool near our training location at Sam's Tours. We learned how to correctly assemble our scuba gear, put it on, and swam around in the 5-foot pool, getting used to the strange but exhilarating feeling of breathing underwater. After lunch, we took a boat from Sam's Tours out to Pinchers' Lagoon, where we did our first open water dive, going 40 feet deep!

(Double OK!)

Even though we didn't see much beyond a few fish and coral, swimming at that depth was an amazing experience. Not that I wasn't nervous though. I positioned myself in our single-file line directly behind Joe. And I didn't let him get more than about two feet in front of me, for fear that I'd lose him or that if he wasn't uncomfortably close to me at all times, some sea creature would swallow me up. I was hoping that Ben and Alexis wouldn't see this...but they noticed my wimpiness. Apparently at one point Joe's fin hit me in the face because I was so close. Not to be deterred, I simply readjusted my mask and scurried right back to my spot immediately behind him.

But in my defense, there are many, MANY sea creatures here! On the second day--the three-dive day--we headed out to complete one more 40-foot dive and two 60-foot dives. As we were driving to the first dive, I gave myself a mental pep talk: "It'll be fine, the first dive will just be another 40-footer. We've done this before. No biggie." Of course, just as I'd built up my confidence, we pulled up to our first dive site.

Looks harmless, right? As the boat slowed, I found out that because our boat was driving more experienced divers in addition to my gang, we were doing our 60-foot dives first, both in Blue Corner.

Unlike seemingly everyone else on this island, I haven't yet memorized all the dive sites here. So I had to sheepishly ask what the story with Blue Corner is, and the only response I got was "It's where the sharks are." Not "Beautiful coral" or "It's a great beginners' spot." Nope. It's the favorite spot of the creatures who are so mysterious and feared that they get their own week on the Discovery Channel. Fantastic!

For those interested, here's a more in-depth overview of this dive site:

http://www.underwatercolours.com/palau/dives/bluecorner.html

Luckily, about 30 seconds after I found out where we were, Joe told us to put our gear on and get ready to head out, so I didn't have time to mull over an escape plan or feign injury. I just put all my gear on and hopped in. We descended to about 45 or 50 feet and swam through some coral. The first 35 minutes or so were incredibly peaceful. We saw quite a bit of sea life, and because it was a beautiful cloudless day, visibility was fantastic and the colors were incredibly vibrant.

Things got pretty exciting at the end of the dive, as we approached Blue Corner. Joe pointed ahead of us, and, sure enough, looming a few yards away...

Now, I knew I'd see some sharks, but the wild card was how I'd respond when I did. So I made sure to make "What to do when you first see a shark" part of my mental pep talk to myself. And, thankfully "Just keep breathing" worked like a charm. After a quick adrenaline shot, I calmed down, stared at him, and kept on following Joe. What I didn't give my pep talk about was seeing more than one at once. A few minutes later, when we saw 2 or 3 at once, on either side of us, I definitely got a little excited. Which leads me to a quick note on scuba diving. Beginner divers spend a lot of time trying to maintain neutral buoyancy in the water. Neutral buoyancy means that you're neither moving up or down in the water. This requires very consistent and smooth breathing, and knowing how to manipulate the scuba equipment. But ultimately consistent and smooth breathing, along with slow, smooth movements, are key. Well, that all went straight out the window when I realized that I had more than one shark to keep an eye on at a time. I simply stopped breathing, which caused me to start floating further away from Joe and closer to one of the sharks. Lesson learned. I'll be breathing slowly and consistently from now on.

(He won't phase me anymore.)

After a few minutes of shark gazing, we exited the dive. We lounged for about an hour on the boat, enjoying our lunches and repeating, without shame to the experienced divers nearby, "Whoaaaa...we saw sharks." After lunch, we drove a bit to enter Blue Corner for our second dive. And this dive was anything but peaceful from the start. We saw schools of fish, a group of sharks feeding, a reef shark sleeping on the ocean floor, to name just a few sites. It was completely out of this world. Everywhere we turned there was activity. Some of it closer to us than we may have realized at the time.

(Alexis, blissfully unaware of her swimming buddy)

(Me, giving up a thumbs up to scuba-diving and apparently the nearby shark, off to the left. Again, Mom & Dad, I'm sorry.)

After completing this dive, we finished up our certification dives with the 40-foot dive near a sunken seaplane. Sadly, I didn't get pictures of that dive, so I'll have to make sure to devote another blog post to the underwater wrecks of Palau.

Even though I talked quite a bit about the thrill of seeing sharks, the overall experience of my first day diving was magical. It felt amazing to experience breathing underwater, see the colorful coral, be literally surrounded by fish I'd never laid my eyes on before, and to have the privilege of being an observer of this other world. Overall, I have to give my first real scuba experience two very enthusiastic thumbs up!

(I styled my hair before this picture was taken...I can't imagine what happened.)

That's it for now! There'll be more pictures in the coming weeks.

Palau Law Blog (say that 5 times fast)

I got an email the other day saying that it's all well and good that I'm having a great time swimming and running around islands, but what about work?! Excellent point. Although my first few posts focused mainly on the fact that Palau is a beautiful tropical paradise, the real reason I'm here for the year is my job as court counsel (clerk) for the Supreme Court of Palau.

(My office! Proof that I'm gainfully employed, and not just braiding hair on a beach somewhere.)

The legal system here has quite a few similarities to the United States, but there are enough differences to make a quick explanation worthwhile. To those of you who are reading this blog solely for oceanic photography, here's one of me in my office that might suffice.

Turning back to the law, there are three courts currently functioning in Palau: the Court of Common Pleas, the Land Court, and the Supreme Court. The Court of Common Pleas handles minor criminal infractions, small claims, and some civil suits where the amount at issue is less than $10,000.00 (Palau thankfully uses the dollar!). The Land Court--which is unique to Palau due to shifts in land ownership prior to Palau's independence (which deserves and will get it's own interesting blog post)--operates to settle land ownership disputes. Finally, the Supreme Court functions as both a trial court and an appellate court. The Trial Division handles all of the cases filed where the Supreme Court would have original jurisdiction. The Court has original jurisdiction over cases involving the national or state governments, ambassadors or diplomats, public ministers and consuls, ships, shipping or sea issues, and serious civil and criminal cases. Additionally, the Supreme Court has jurisdiction over appeals from the Trial Division and the Land Court. So Palau's appeal process differs than that U.S. Whereas in the U.S. we have a system of trial, appellate, and supreme courts in our state and federal systems, Palau's Supreme Court serves as both the trial and appellate courts.

The Supreme Court consists of four justices. The Appellate Division handles appeals from the Trial Division or Land Court through panels of three justices. And to avoid having the same justice handle an appeal that made the trial division decision, the justice that handles the trial court case cannot serve on the panel of that case's appeal. Because conflicts arise among the justices, often appeals are handled by judges from Guam.

The Court Counsels' main job is to help the justices prepare for appellate oral arguments and draft opinions resolving the appeals. We also help out the justices with their trials on an ad hoc basis, and have some administrative duties. Right now, I'm finishing up my first appeal, have two others waiting for reviewing and drafting, and am helping one of the justices out with trial prep.

After two weeks of working as court counsel, and a year of clerking for a federal district court, here are a few differences and similarities I've noticed so far.

1. Westlaw is amazing.

Westlaw is a legal search engine. Like the U.S., Palau law is based on its statutes, rules, regulations, and case law. This results in a huge body of law that is organized into code books, case law reporters, and secondary resources that analyze the laws. Westlaw organizes these legal sources into searchable online databases--for a cost.

And it's worth every penny. When I was clerking, I was told never to worry about Westlaw bills. The answer to a research question was literally a few search terms away. At the Supreme Court, because internet is prohibitively expensive, the court counsel are limited to 16 hours of dial-up internet a month, and are encouraged to use Westlaw only to make sure the case law is still accurate.

So whereas a few months ago I would have ran a search for "criminal /p 60," and finished my research project in about five minutes, this week I spent over 4 hours pouring over hard copies of digests and secondary sources to find the same result. Not that I'm complaining. There's something satisfying about finding the right answer only using the books. It's simply made me realize how much more efficient I am with electronic searching.

To the folks at Westlaw, I salute you. (And will continue advertising if you donate free searching to the Court!)

2. Air conditioning is overrated.

In Palau the air conditioning units are placed at ceiling level, and you have to use remote controls to turn them on and off. It's a fun little game so far...except that in my office my remote actually doesn't work and there's a pliers/knob situation that requires standing on a chair for me to get it working. I can barely avoid falling on solid ground on a daily basis, so my solution is to simply go without air conditioning. I'm in Palau, I should be able to deal with a little bit of heat, right? Despite a little bit of discomfort, I've actually found that I work much better this way. Apparently 85 degrees is my productive temperature. This shouldn't come as a surprise to my Sidley or Hammond co-workers, who have found me working wearing a blanket, fleece, and gloves and using a space heater.

3. Bluebook is a Universal Language.

For the non-lawyers out there, I apologize, this is incredibly nerdy. The Bluebook is a citation manual that law students and lawyers use to cite to legal authority in a uniform manner. And I love it. It's shameful, but in law school I was voted most likely to have my Bluebook on me at any time. For good reason. I was/am guilty of being one of those people who enjoy fielding questions like "Where should I put the semi-colon?" where I can answer with, "Well, it depends...." And a few weeks ago I actually helped a friend with Blue Book exercises voluntarily.

Here, the Bluebook is emphasized and loved just as much as it is in the states. My trusty Bluebook is propped neatly against my Palau government textbook, and this makes me feel very much at home. I apologize again for even mentioning this. It will be the first and last time I [publicly] gush about the Bluebook.

4. Palauan is not a Universal Language.

Here are a few terms that I've had to familiarize myself with so far:

Eldecheduch: A traditional gathering held by relatives of a deceased individual for hte purpose of determining elbechiil, techel otungel, and ududir-ar-ngalek, if any. This is somewhat similar to an estate hearing.

Elbechiil: Palauan money awarded to the wife's family during eldecheduch.

Techel Otungel: Palauan money awarded to surviving wife during an eldecheduch. Techel literally translates to meat, and otungel translates to a woman's purse.

Ududir-ar-ngalek: Children's money. Money awarded for the children of the deceased during an eldecheduch.

Ocheraol: Traditional gathering wherein relatives contribute money to pay for one's house.

Now, I'm learning some Palauan phrases and plan to learn more throughout the year here, but it's definitely a challenge to learn more than "good morning" (ungil tutau) and "thanks" (sulang). What's interesting and challenging about the Palauan phrases I'm learning is that they are representative of Palau's unique culture.

For instance, if an eldecheduch takes place, then it means that the family has gathered and made decisions about how the deceased property is to be distributed. And the decisions made during that meeting stand. So an issue in some cases becomes whether this meeting took place, and whether it involved the proper members of the family. To explain these nuances, the litigants often need to call an expert witness to testify as to Palauan custom. Because many of the appeals deal with Land Court issues that rely heavily on Palauan custom, I'm hoping my understanding of both the language and culture will improve dramatically.

5. Everybody knows your name here too!

Working at the federal courthouse in Hammond was, and will continue to be, a huge treat. After just a few weeks working there, I'd gotten to know the security guards and court personnel well, and people couldn't be friendlier. In chambers, I worked with an amazing group of people, where we got along so well that we had lunch together every day in the conference room. A few of us, my judge included, actually ran the Chicago Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon in August. Not many clerks come into such a warm environment.

(Hi chambers! I'm still full from the going away party.)

That said, I've been incredibly pleased to learn that working for the Supreme Court here is much the same. When I flew into Palau, my two co-clerks met me at the airport and took me out for a beer my very first night. Then on my first day of work, Tanja, one of the chief justice's administrative workers, took me around to all the administrative offices to make sure I got my social security card, car registration, electricity and phone, and work permit. I would have been completely lost having to do it all on my own (especially because the buildings here don't have addresses, only small signs!). I have a phone number for the marshals, who I can call at any time if I need help. And to top it all off, this past Friday we were in the newspaper, on the second page of the Palau Horizon!

6. Dress Code

As I mentioned, the Hammond courthouse was incredibly comfortable and friendly. And my judge was nice enough to let us wear jeans any time there wasn't a court proceeding. So I come from a wonderfully casual environment to start with. But working in Palau requires a completely different kind of work attire . . . one that lets you function without sweating profusely. So I wear simple cotton skirts and shirts every day, and sandals. Yup. No heels, no close toe, no hose, just plain sandals. It's fantastic. Also, I was told that I shouldn't even bring a suit. No suits, you say? But I'm a lawyer! How am I supposed to let people know how important I am?!? Nope, no suits required. I did bring one just in case, but now that I'm here, I realize the anti-suit lobbyists were right. It's just too darn hot to wear a suit every day.

7. Security

I'd never felt safer than I did working in Hammond. I was surrounded by security officers, metal detectors, and silent alarms. Plus the Hammond courthouse looks like a fortress. However, I had to carefully choose where I stopped in the city of Hammond itself because it's a high crime area. Here in Palau, the Supreme Court doesn't have a main entrance, and the hallways are outside. But we do have the comfort of the marshals and the fact that possessing or owning guns are illegal in Palau. So even though it doesn't feel like I work in a fortress, the Supreme Court is a safe place to be in Palau.

Those are just a few of the observations I've made so far. Obviously there are significant differences when practicing law in another country that I haven't touched on, so if anyone has questions, feel free to ask!

I hope everyone is doing well. I'll tell everyone about my scuba experiences next (cue Jaws theme song).

Happy Belated Birthday Jesse, Happy Halloween, Go Pack, and welcome to the world to my new nephew Landon Dale Mrotek!