We made it!

Well, here we are in Saipan and it is absolutely gorgeous! Clean, flowers everywhere...it makes me think of how Hawaii might have been about 30 years ago or so before it became way touristy. We went sightseeing for the past 2 days just to get a feel for the island and it is amazing! You can see Tinian when you are down at the south end of the island. I guess that when you want to go gambling, you just get on a ferry to Tinian...they have casinos over there. The flight from Guam was treacherous. Disclaimer: I HATE FLYING!!! Okay, now if I were to like flying, maybe it wouldn't have been so bad. It was a Continental plane, but it only held about 40 people. And it had propellers! Thank goodness it only took about 40 minutes.

The island is small (about 12.5 miles long and 5.5 miles wide and has a total land area of 46.5 square miles which is about the size of San Francisco), but doesn't seem crowded like Guam is. This is a pretty decent site to learn a bit more about the island. The guy seems to know what he is talking about since he lived here for about as long as I have been alive. The only thing that would be different is the price of gas. Regular unleaded is now $3.05/gallon as of yesterday. And I have no idea what a big mac costs over here but I bet it is more than $2.85. I think that it would be expensive to be an alcoholic here. A case of beer (cans) is $22. That seems a little higher than the States, but I am not sure how much since I don't really drink beer. Guess it is still cheaper than going out to the bar and paying for each beer. I did notice in the newspaper that the employment wage is a crying shame. Most jobs seem to start out at $3.05/hr. Now, for an electrical engineer you would get $7.05/hr and for a computer programmer, you would get $7.00/hr. Pathetic. I am considering going back to work as a nurse but certainly not if I am only going to get $7.00/hr. That's about what I made as a CNA 10 years ago!

The resort where we are staying, Aqua Resort Club Saipan, is absolutely gorgeous!! I highly recommend if you are ever on this partof the planet to check it out! All remodeled recently. Lush garden areas, great views, tropical decorating that isn't cheesy looking, free breakfast. And the staff is great! The bell boy that hauled our suitcases up 2 flights of stairs refused a tip!!! That was very strange to say the least.

Stitching
I haven't picked up a needle in a few days... :( I think that I might get some stitching time in today since it is pretty overcast and DH is at work. I have probably read about 5 back issues of Martha Stewart Living magazine. DH bought me a lot of them off ebay and had them sent here. I have to say that she rocks in the domestication department. Of course it helps to have zillions of peons working for you every single day. Too bad she doesn't need a peon in Western Pacific to contribute. :)

If I can sneak my camera in here (the business center of the hotel) and plug in my usb cord, then maybe I can upload some pictures we took of the island. Might not be able to though. There are always people in here.

Oh, one more interesting tidbit before I bore you to tears...supposedly, Saipan is the place where Amelia Earhart crashed and was taken as a POW by the Japanese during WWII. And eventually killed. My Dad has this whole theory on it and has read tons of stuff about Amelia. I told DH that if we have a baby while we are here and it is a girl, we should name her Amelia. He still wants to stick with Merial.

Now, I am going to see if my blogroll is working, or even if my sidebar shows up so I can catch up with everyone!

Peace
Missy