The supporters are pretty interesting too.  People are amazingly loyal and vocal about their choices.  Most people have their candidates number displayed somewhere on their vehicle…and not in a temporary way…so I’m not sure what the plan is once the election is over.  And all this week there were groups of people standing on the side of the road holding signs and trying to encourage voters to pick number 23 or number 11 or whatever their candidate number is.  It’s kind of neat because there is no secrecy about who your candidate is here.  It is a very common thing to discuss.  Right now they are down to two Presidential candidates, so you only have a choice between Presidential ticket #1 or #2, but in Koror there are nearly 40 people running for 13 Senate spots…and each voter gets to vote for 13 different candidates on election day.  I was a little surprised there were so many choices and that they elect so many people…especially since there are less than 13, 000 people in Koror, but then I remembered how much they love government and law around here and it all kind of made sense.

I don’t have a candidate preference even if I did get to vote, but it’s definitely been fun to watch.

Things are going pretty good so far.  A friend from back home told me that the first few days are the hardest and she was definitely right about that.  By the second or third night I was trying to figure out how I could afford to hop on a plane and fly back home…I was even attempting to devise a plan to get my old job back.   But now I’m starting to settle in and I’ve actually started working and teaching classes, and I’m starting to think that I’m really going to enjoy Palau.

As far as my classes go, I have great students who are really interested in learning.  In one class we’re going to create a program, develop it, and actually put it into action.  They were excited about the idea and had all kinds of great ideas for programs we could do.  I think either for this class or maybe as a side project we might develop a program to teach people the basics of using the computer.  My students are really concerned that people don’t know enough about the computer to do their work.  A lot of people have to ask others to send or receive emails or format word documents, and the computer is still such a scary thing that people don’t want to experiment for fear of breaking something.  So hopefully we can figure out a way to help with that.  They also mentioned that many people believe everything they read on the Internet.  One of my students said she had a coworker that found a picture of a man photoshoped to look like he was part pig, and everyone in the office was amazed and wondered how that happened to the guy.  When she suggested that it might not be real, they were like why would it be on the Internet if it wasn’t real.  So maybe we can work on that part too.  

Anywho, my new house is nice and so much bigger than I expected it to be.  It’s part of a bigger house that they’ve broken down into apartments, and mine is on the bottom, which is kind of the basement from the front of the house and the first floor from the side of the house.  There are two pretty big bedrooms, a full kitchen, a sitting area, and of course a bathroom.  I thought at first that I didn’t have hot water, but it turns out that many people turn off the breaker switch to the hot water heater and then flip it on just before they need it.  I thought I would need it more often, but I pretty much just use it when I wash dishes.  I’ve found that cool showers are actually kind of nice and refreshing since it is so warm and humid here. 

I also thought I didn’t have any coconut trees at my house, but yesterday I heard a really loud crash on the tin roof of the groundskeeper’s house and I looked out to see what the heck it was, and there’s a coconut tree right behind the roof.  Unfortunately, the coconut fell on the side that slopes into the neighbors’ backyard, but maybe some will fall my way!   At the farmers market (which they have all week during pay day week) they have coconuts with straws.  They were sold out by the time we got there, so I haven’t gotten to try one yet, but I saw some people with them and they seemed to be enjoying them quite a bit.  I did get a fresh local pineapple though…it was seriously bigger than my head and was heavier than any pineapple I’ve ever picked up!  It was unbeliavably delicious and lasted me for nearly a week!  Not bad for $2.  I also have a mango tree and a banana tree in my yard, and I’m going to plant my pineapple top in a pot outside. The ladies at work thought it was soooooo funny because the new librarian and I thought that pineapples grew on trees…kind of like coconuts.  It turns out they grow out of the middle of a little bush thing, and if you plant the pineapple top it will grow this little bush and you’ll have another pineapple.  I think that is maybe the most amazingly wonderful thing I’ve EVER heard about!!

The local fruits and veggies are really delicious.  Other than soursop there’s not much that I hadn’t seen before, but especially the fruit is just so much bigger and better.  At Yano’s local food market there was a lemon about the size of a football!

After reading that stuff online, I thought maybe there would be fruitbats at the grocery store or at the restaurants, but I haven’t seen any yet (living or dead).  Most of the restaurants are pretty western and the most “different” thing I’ve had a chance to try was sushimi (I think that’s what it was called), which is thinly sliced raw fresh fish, and it is different fish depeding on what they have that day.  It was surprisingly good, especially with the sauce.

I’ve also been surprised by how easy it is to get most anything you might need here.  There are two pretty big grocery and department store combos, Surangel’s and WCTC.  They don’t always have a huge selection, but they do seem to have most anything you might need.  I even found the Mexican food isle, which consists of refried beans, taco shells, and salsa.  As far as clothes go, they’re pretty expensive at the store, but there are several seamstresses around town that make custom made dresses for only $15 plus the cost of fabric!  I thought that was kind of cool, so maybe I can get a couple dresses made while I’m here. 

As far as the island goes, Koror is about 4 miles long and there is a main street that goes from one end to the other, and there is a little strip in the middle with most of the stores and businesses and the college.  Most of the restaurants and touristy things seem to be all on the other end of the island.  Koror is amazingly beautiful when you look out away from the city, but the city itself isn’t so well maintained.  I was kind of surprised about that since they’re trying to make it more of a tourist destination.  But the views of the ocean are amazing, and I think that is why most people come here!  I live about a 5 minutes walk from Sunset Park on T Dock, which is supposedly the best place on the island to watch the sunset.  I’ve heard it is even more impressive during the full moon.  Since we’re so close to the equator, they say the moon looks like it is much bigger than the sun.  That should be pretty cool to see! 

This Wednesday (October 1st) was the 14th Independence Day for Palau.  So the new librarian and I went to check out the festivities.  They have a big bridge here that connects two of the islands, the Japan Friendship Bridge, and they had the celebration under the bridge.  There were boat races and rowing team races which were pretty fun to watch.  There were also booths with different things for sale…mostly it was food and little toys for kids, but the PCC faculty were also selling under garments, which I thought was kind of cute.  I didn’t get to see any of them, so I’m not sure if they were special edition Independence Day undies or just the regular kind, but I thought that was kind of cool either way.

Well, I guess that’s enough rambling for this post. 

So my last official day in ABQ is September 12th.  I’m so stinking sad to leave.  The only part that makes it better is knowing that I’m headed to a tropical island.  But I definitely hope my path brings me back this way someday.

Oh, and I have to say.  If ever you are planning a move to another country, it helps if all of your friends are librarians.   They’re finding all kinds of crazy information for me, so I definitely feel ready to head out on this journey.  So thanks to all of you!