July Journal

Rainbow over Saipan: If you click on this photo to see it full size you should be able to make out the second bow as well. (Photo taken, Sunday, July 20, 2008 during the ferry ride back from Managaha)

It seems the summertime flies by just as fast on Saipan as it does when we are on the Mainland. The beginning of summer vacation six weeks ago feels like yesterday and a life time ago. And now it's drawing to a close. On Sunday, Babs and I will celebrate our 11th wedding anniversary with a "babymoon" at the Marianas Resort (home of our favorite spa, the Mandi). Monday afternoon when we get home will be devoted to the last of the house projects we hope to finish this summer. Tuesday I'll be at the school working all day long and Wednesday morning, my vacation is effectively over when I fly to Hawaii for principal's meetings (where I'll be representing Barbara) and teacher's orientatation where I'll meet next year's batch of teachers. And when I return on August 7, there will only be a week left till school begins.

Below, just a couple of the great memories of a summer well-spent in Saipan. Indeed, these are days we'll remember:


Last Day of Summer School, July 3, 2008: Here's Babs with our three summer high school English students. For our final day, after taking their last grammar exam and discussing Leo Tolstoy's "Family Happiness", Babs and I took the girls to the Mandi Asian Spa to celebrate the end of their summer classes.


The view from the Mandi. Notice how low the tide was. Even with the reef above water, it's still beautiful.

Vacation Bible School: Amy Foote, our pre-school director and Andrea Stafford, a church member organized a VBS program this year at our church. The VBS ran from July 7 to July 11. I helped out by having some former, current, and perhaps future members of REAL Christian Theater perform a skit each night. The skit you see above is a REAL classic called "His Strength, Our Journey" which we perfomed on the final night of VBS. I also pitched with the kindergarten classes and told a LOT of stories! (In photo from L to R: "M", "Little Sister", "J.I.", Me, "Harry" and "J".

Amy's Birthday! Our super-talented pre-school director and dear friend Amy Foote celebrated her birthday on July 12. Carol organized a murder mystery game for her party and it was lots of fun. We all had to come "in character" and throughout the evening we had to try to figure out "whodunit." Unfortunately, I totally forgot to take pictures (which is a shame because Carol looked pretty funny in her costume as the Frenchman "Bo Jalais"--she had a beret and little mustache and everything). But I did get this lovely shot of the birthday girl!

This past Sunday, July 20, was a classic "Saipan Day" where we took full advantage of the delights of living on a tropical island paradise. First, Megan and I headed out to do some Scuba diving with our diving friends, Mark and Tammy James. Mark took the pictures you see below--thanks Mark!


Doing "Okay"

Under the Sea

Megan smiles for the camera


Swimming with the fishes

After diving we went home for about an hour and then took off for Managaha Island. Babs and I, along with Megan, John, Carol, and her youngest kids spent the afternoon under the sun and in the sea. That night John and I went to see The Dark Knight at our multiplex which reopened in May. All in all, a full and fun day!


Saipan as seen from Managaha Island

Carol's son and his friend show off their masculinity

Babs and Elijah

Carol and her daughter, "Little Sister", on the ferry ride back from Managaha

Megan and JohnMo

The dock at Managaha




On Thursday, July 24, we celebrated Fredo Paez's 18th birthday. He and a couple dozen of his closest friends spent the afternoon at World Resort, then met at a nearby park for a pizza and soda supper. Babs and I hosted the "afterparty"--taking Fredo, his little brother, Carol, and a friend of Fredo's out for ice cream at The Big Dipper, Saipan's only ice cream shop.


Fredo and his friend enjoy their ice cream.

Fredo's Birthday After Party at Big Dipper: (Clockwise from left) Me, Babs, Carol, Fredo, and friend.

You'll notice a blue binder in my lap in the picture above. That brings us to the next photo:


Brad and Sheri. Who are these people you ask? Not Brad and Sheri. . .actually I don't know who these people are. This was the picture that that was placed as a "sample photo" by the manufacturers of a wallet I purchased a few years ago. Brad and Sheri are two characters in a novel I've been working on and I used this photo as the basis of a description of their wedding photo. In my minds, eye Brad and Sheri looked something like these two. At any rate, this past Wednesday, I finally finished the first draft of my novel, which I've been working on for the last four years. I spent several hours every day this summer toiling away on this book. The blue notebook you saw in the previous picture was my first hard copy of the book which I was reading through for the first time. If my novel gets published, eventually all of you will know who Brad and Sheri are.

Malou and Family: The Long Walk

3 Amigas: Carol, Malou, & Babs

Some of the people who came to see Malou and her kids off.

About ten days ago, on Wednesday, July 16, 2008, Malou Villegas Bautista and her three boys took the Long Walk and left Saipan for the very last time. Of course we expected after 31 years in Saipan there might be a few people at the airport to send Malou off, but what we didn't count on was the added impact of her having three teen-aged sons. Their friends showed up in droves to say goodbye and wish them a safe journey. It was a beautiful gathering with a lot of laughter and tears, and of course, plenty of hugs.

By this time The Bautistas should be settling into their new home in New Zealand. This blog is for their family and for all who know and love them. We miss you!


Malou with her eldest, Rene.

Malou's second-eldest, EJ, on the right, with a friend. I've known both of these boys for years. I was the sponsor of EJ's 8th grade class and the coach of his championship basketball team. Both boys spent a year or two in REAL Christian Theater as well.

Malou's youngest son with his girlfriend. How sweet!

Some of the people who are missing Malou right now: "Little Sister", Carol, Lori Cerna, John Moreno, and Babs with Malou in the middle in white.

Malou with family and friend.


I though Malou might appreciate this snippet of the prayer Pastor prayed for her family before they left.


Usually the Long Walk is reserved for teachers at the SDA School, but there are certain special individuals that are given that honor as well. Malou and her family are among them. So this is is their Long Walk. (And it is loooong. . .just over 3 minutes of video).

Dinner Date

Saipan Sunset

Last weekend Babs and I decided to play tourists for a change and booked a dinner date on a "Saipan Sunset Cruise." We joined a passel of Japanese, Korean, and Russian tourists for a sunset saunter up and down the western coast of Saipan while enjoying a buffet dinner.

The ride was smooth (much to my relief--I was worried we'd both be queasy), the food adequate, the iced tea (and water for Babs) bottomless, the music loud and enthusiastic (much more so than one might expect for a sunset cruise), but the view was what made the night. In a word: spectacular.


Our boat

The dining area on the lower deck: We didn't spend much time here except for when we were eating. Part of it was due to the musical stylings of this fellow below. He's remarkably talented with a seemingly bottomless songbook of musical styles and artists from Elvis to the Beatles to Neil Diamond (He also had a repertoire of Korean, Japanese, and Chinese songs as well). He literally seemed to be able to take any request from the audience and play it on the spot. But he was also extremely loud! The volume was full tilt all evening and we could hear him just fine from the upper deck where we spent most of our time. Plus the view was much better there.



Looking back on Saipan not long after we cast off. This, by the way, is how Saipan looks when we do the "tank swim." I've never been able to take a photo since my camera isn't waterproof, but this is what we look back on when we're sitting out on that rusted World War II-era tank just offshore. Lovely, isn't it.

Babs enjoying the ride. The boat in the distance behind her is called, appropriately, Stars and Stripes.

Another view of Saipan. The girls in the foreground are cultural dancers waiting to do their show on the lower deck a little later in the cruise.

An incidental rainbow.

Sea, Sky, and Land. . .the three ingredients that make Saipan the beautiful place it is.

Looking west

Another view of our island home from the top deck of the boat.

Babs aglow: Whether it's from the sunset behind her or the pregnancy is debatable--that's she gorgeous is unquestionable.

I thought this cultural dancer chatting on his cell phone was an interesting juxtaposition--though not as ironic as you might think. These are not the ordinary clothes of the people who live here, and undoubtedly he'll change back into jeans and t-shirt in a few minutes.

The last golden rays of the sunset as we pull back into port.

Moonrise captured in the parking lot at the docks at the end of our dinner date.

We've had a number of special dinners lately. I already blogged about our dinner party with my former students. We also had our friends Russ & Kanae Quinn over for dinner this past week. You can read and see pictures here on their blog, as I totally forgot to take pictures while they were here. This past Tuesday, I met up with some more, slightly younger, former students for supper at Spicy Thai. I have a tradition of treating my former students to dinner when they graduate from high school. One of the dinner guests has just graduated and another (one of Malou's sons) is moving to New Zealand next week and so I won't be able to take him to dinner when he graduates next year. Again, I forgot the camera but we had a great time feasting on Thai food and sharing memories of their school days at SDA.

Fourth of July--Island Style

Sailors from a U.S. Navy ship in port and the high school ROTC team.


Video clip of the Saipan Liberation Day Parade, Friday, July 4, 2008

For the first time since 1999 Babs and I were here on Saipan for Independence Day. Last time we were housesitting for some friends who owned a beautiful home perched on the slopes of Mt. Tapochau. We spent the whole day up there getting ready to host a big Fourth of July party that evening.

This year though we decided to go out to the Liberation Day parade. Here in Saipan, Liberation Day coincides with Independence Day and commemorates the "liberation" of Saipan by American soldiers during World War II. (I would argue that it wasn't a true "liberation" as the Japanese did not forcibly take over Saipan as they did Guam. It was more of the Americans forcibly taking Saipan from the Japanese with the local people kind of caught in the middle. . but I digress). Liberation Day is a big deal here in the CNMI. We have a carnvival that runs for about a month prior to July 4 and we even have a Liberation Day Queen. The climax is July 4 and one of the key events is the Liberation Day parade.

We'd been told it would be hot and crowded, and it was. But it was also fun to be sharing in this tradition with our little community.

The cultural diversity of Saipan--Filipinos, Chinese, Koreans, U.S. Mainlanders, Indians and of course the Chamorro and Carolinians-- was on display,not just in the parade. . . .



. . . but in the parade watchers lining the road as well. We all sat together, broiling in the Marianas sun with our umbrellas and lawn chairs and ice chests, enjoying the spectacle and celebrating together.


Babs and I didn't stay for the whole parade--the heat finally got to us--but we stayed long enough to see our very own SDA Church Pathfinder club strut their stuff. . .

They looked sharp with snappy moves that they sure didn't have back when I was in Pathfinders!


I imagine next summer we'll be back to our regular sojourns to the Mainland so I don't know if we'll celebrate another Fourth of July in Saipan, but I'm glad it we got to do it this year.




A short video of the Indian Association at the Saipan Liberation Day Parade

Guess Who's Back?

"Harry" Returns to Saipan!

It wouldn't be summer without "Harry" right? Last summer, "Harry" moved to the U.S. Mainland and this summer he is back! He's taller and he's sporting a serious head of hair, but other than that he's the same 'ol guy we've come to know and love. He'll be here in Saipan for the summer before moving to Guam where he'll be living now.






Many of our former teachers talk about coming back to Saipan; few actually do. This past weekend, another former teacher joined those elite ranks--Heidi Stahlnecker (now Heidi Loveland) returned to Saipan for her honeymoon! Heidi taught at the preschool during the 2005-2006 school year. She took some time out from enjoying the romance of Saipan with her new husband to come to church and catch up with old friends. It was so nice to see her again!

Congrats on your marriage, Heidi and Kevin, and I hope your life together brings you much happiness (and another visit back out to Saipan!)


The Lovebirds: Heidi (Stahlnecker) and Kevin Loveland.

All Grown Up

Kids No Longer--these young adults are out to change the world! From left to right: Derek, Isa, Myla (with Shoko's baby girl), Me, Shoko, and Jimmy.(Myla and Derek's son was sleeping in his stroller).


One of the greatest rewards for Babs and me of having been here in Saipan for the past ten years has been watching our students grow up. The kids I first taught in seventh and eighth grade, as well as our first class of freshman in the year 2000, are all grown up now. Some of them even have kids of their own!

This past Sunday evening, Babs and I invited some of these former kids-turned-young-adults over for dinner. There was Shoko Harada who was in seventh grade when we first moved to Saipan. She was in my first 7/8 class. She now works as a supervisor in the leather section at our upscale DFS mall in Garapan, and she's the mother to a brand-new baby girl. Jimmy Arriola and his sister Isa also joined us. Jimmy was my student for only one year, as part of our first class of freshman, but he continued to be a part of our school family after that as a student director for REAL Christian Theater. He's now working on his masters degree at the University of Hawaii and intends to return to Saipan to serve the local community. Isa is two years younger than Jimmy and also attended our school for one year at the same time as Jimmy, though she also continued to stay connected to us through REAL. She's attending Brown University and majoring in Anthropology. Finally, there were our students-turned-friends Derek and Myla. Derek and Myla have been a pretty regular part of our lives and have made good friends among our teachers who are--gasp--pretty close to them in age. Myla, who was my student for four years at SDA , now works at the World Resort while Derek works for Pacific Digital Media. They are both parents to a son, who is about to turn one in August.

It was so amazing to sit and eat and talk with these kids and realize that they were no longer kids--they were adults, and we talked no longer as teachers and students but as peers and equals. In fact as Jimmy and Isa talked eloquently and intelligently about their passion for their island home, and their desire to return here and help make a difference here; as Shoko explained to us soon-to-be parents the in's and out's of giving birth; as Myla talked about the experience of being a mom, I found I learned a lot from them. They're all so smart, so talented, and so accomplished. I couldn't be prouder and I consider myself fortunate to have had a part to play in their formative years.

It was a fun and inspiring evening and it made me glad all over again that I have the greatest job in the world, and with that the added blessing of being able to see my students all grown up.

Still, not everything had changed. "I can't help it. I still call you, Mr. Maycock," Myla said. And you know what? That's okay with me. In the sense of my love and care for them, my desire for them to excel and be happy and love and be loved and know God, I am--and always will be--their teacher, Mr. Maycock.



Check out our "new" dining room table. Actually we got it from Carol Paez, and our good friend Manny Serrano painstakingly refinished and stained it for us. Those of you that remember the old wobbly table with the backless, basically-broken chairs will recognize this as a great improvement. Manny finished the dining set just in time for our visitors this past Sunday evening.

We gather around the table for some good food (penne rustica, eggplant parmesan, a Greek salad, and French bread with olive dip, courtesy of Babs) and grown-up conversation.

The End of An Era: Malou

Malou Bautista

This past Saturday night we headed up to Mark and Tammy's lovely home once again. It seems like this has become the standard jumping off point for folks before they leave Saipan and fly away.

This time we were there for Malou Bautista. (You may recall that she is my "sensei" on the Managaha kitchen team. Everything I know about camp cooking I learned from her). Though she's not a student or a teacher,she is an institution around here, a regular and reliable part of our lives with her cheerful smile and gleeful laugh. Malou's been in Saipan for over twenty years and most of that time she has been a faithful employee of the SDA Clinic. We've known her and her kids since we came to Saipan. All of her kids have been long-time students at our school. Both of her older boys were my students for years and her youngest son was my student last year as well. Even after her kids left our school, Malou continued to be an active part of our school family--helping keep our school sparkling clean and helping out with the aforementioned Managaha camping trips. She's also been active part of our church since she was baptized a few years after we moved to Saipan. Every time I see Malou at church, I'm blessed by her kind heart and genuine spirit.

Saipan has been home to Malou and her family for a long time, but at long last it's time for them to move on. Malou's husband, Arnel, got a great job in New Zealand last year and now the rest of the family will be joining him there. They leave in just two weeks, on July16. It's a great opportunity for them and New Zealand is a way cool place to live (both literally and figuratively, especially since they'll be arriving in the dead of winter). But we will miss Malou and her family greatly and I know they'll miss us too.

As for next year's Managaha kitchen? I don't know what I'm going to do. . .but I guess I'm on my own. I'll try to make you proud, Malou!


Mike Stafford (our newest dentist at the SDA Clinic) Ernie Lacorte (a friend and parent of three of our students), Malou and me indulge in karaoke with joyful abandon. The mic was hot that night! I think my favorite, was when a whole group of us sang "Listen to the Rhythm of the Falling Rain."