Back in the States

It's been about two weeks since I left Saipan. What do I miss? What don't I miss! Oh wait... cockroaches. Seriously though, other than the termites that started swarming the last week I was there, and the nasty handle to the garbage room door that I was always terrified to open, I miss it all. I miss the kids. Hugs unlimited! Little children running up and grabbing my hand and smiling from ear to ear because they have new shoes and want me to see the way they light up. That is all the sappy-ness I care to share. The more I write the more I feel like crying... anyways.

I had never flown so far by myself before. Saipan to Guam, Guam to Hawaii, Hawaii to Seattle, Seattle to Walla Walla. True to my way of doing things, I was terrified of the trip beforehand. That passed when I made it through TSA and was sitting at my departure gate. The minute I hopped on the first plane I sat back and let myself enjoy the journey. Around 24 hours later I was walking across the tarmac to the Walla Walla Airport Terminal. I looked at the windows and swallowed my disappointed - I didn't see any faces peering out looking for me. "Mom is probably waiting further inside" I thought. I wished that Laura would be able to meet me. She was taking a test down in Portland and couldn't drive up till that evening to see me. Then I opened the terminal doors and took in a sight that didn't sink in for a full minute. Laura was standing in front of me. She was waiting for me at the airport. Laura was standing there by my Mom and a group of friends who were all wearing flower leis and holding a welcome home banner. Talk. About. Surprised.

Talk about blessed. It was the biggest blessing to be welcomed home by friends. The people who came that afternoon to greet me probably aren't aware of just how much they helped me adjust to being home. Remind a returning student missionary that they have friends back home and you have helped them in the best way you can.

I had two days to adjust to being home and on that third morning, Friday morning, my family packed up all our things into boxes and moved across town to a little house in a quiet neighborhood. I love it. We call it the Cherry Cottage. I'm sitting here in the Cherry Cottage right now. Sitting and thinking. Sometimes I like to sit and look around and think of how different home is from my apartment on the third floor of the Transamerica Corporation Apartments in San Jose, Saipan. I like to think about what the staff of the elementary school would be doing at this time of the day. Other times I sit here and think of how busy my life is going to be this Autumn. We like our busy lives here, don't we? We like to make other peoples lives just as busy as ours are. Oh well. I remember what that is like. 10 months don't change a person so much that they forget how to jump back into their pond at home... thank goodness.

The point of this post is to let you all know that I am doing well. I have learned an immeasurable number of things this year and I cannot be more grateful for the experience if I tried. Thank you everyone for reading my adventures and keeping in touch with me on this rather remarkable adventure.

Until the next,

Faith Hoyt

Lost In My Mind

Ten months on Saipan. My mission year is almost over. I started counting down the days till departure about a week ago. I was encouraged not to do that until there was only a week or so left.  Only five days now. How do you spend your last week on a tropical paradise? It's going to be so hard to say good bye to everyone. This place has become home and these people have become like family to me.

The Head and the Heart said it well, I am lost in my mind. I keep reminding myself to document all that I can and to let the people here know how much they mean to me. I sit in my chair in the office and watch the time speed by in fast forward.

I've packed my suitcase! 49.9 lbs. Cutting it close but I don't mind selling my second suitcase because if there is one thing I have learned from being here it is that I don't need so much stuff.. I've learned a whole lot more than that though.

Tonight is the Child Development Center End of the Year program. Tomorrow is my last day of work and the last time I get to see the faces of all these kids! 150 kids I've learned the names of and watched grow this year. They are precious children and I have been blessed getting to work with them this year.

This Means War

Every year for a couple years now, the Saipan SDA School hosts a "penny war." This fundraiser beings in January and ends in May. Classes compete against each other to raise the most pennies, and the winning class wins a class trip to Pacific Island Club for the day.

Nothing gets a school excited about fundraising more than penny wars! One dollar bills = 100 pennies. Last year our penny wars caused a shortage of pennies at all the banks on Saipan, so our students are using more dollar bills now. Silver change (quarters, dimes, nickels), can be put in other classes jars to "minus" them, or deduct from their points.

It was my first time organizing something like this, and together with Jean Goris and Virle Gayatin (fellow office staff) we managed to set up a pretty nice looking penny war. Our banks for the pennies were large 5 gallon water jugs. I labeled each one to each class and we set them up on a large wooden shelf in the office. Every morning before 8am and every afternoon around 3pm students poured into the office to contribute their savings to this momentous event. One class (5th and 6th) took the lead by selling cookies and other baked goods to the other classes after school. Students from the other classes tried to resist, but Chase and Bekah Shireman's snickerdoodles are pretty good.

At the end of this exciting fundraiser our school had raised close to $2,700 in pennies, nickles, dimes, quarters and dollar bills. The money is going towards a gate for the entrance and exit of the school.

Tinian

                                   

Remember the Sabbath

I have to share a neat experience I had last week with one of the students I tutor at Dream Academy. Kevin is one of the kids I tutor, he is in the 6th grade and attends Mt. Caramel, a Catholic school here on Saipan. I have never talked about anything religious with Kevin, although we have discussed having good character, working hard, being honest etc. We had been working on spelling vocabulary and studying for a test he had coming up, but after a half hour he didn't want to focus so he began asking me questions. He brought up Mayweather and Pacquiao and their recent fight, telling me that he should have bet and won a lot of money. I like to tease Kevin and tell him its not too late to become a Gecko (the SDA school's mascot), but that day rather than telling me how much better the Knights are than the Geckos, Kevin simply said "I don't like SDA. You keep the wrong Sabbath."

I told Kevin that the bible actually says that Saturday was the day God established as the Sabbath and that the Catholic Church changed the day of worship from Saturday to Sunday.
"No, that's not right because how can they change the day, God chose that day!" was his response.
I didn't have a bible with me but thankfully Kevin had his phone so we could look things up. "Exodus 20:8. Look it up."
We had a short debate about whether or not it was the third or fourth commandment.
 "I am going to win and prove to you that Sunday is the Sabbath and then you will owe me $5! Do you have $5? Ok lets bet."
(I didn't. Wouldn't be fair.)
Kevin found the verse and read it.
"Ok Kevin, now look at your calendar on your phone. What is the first day on there? What is the seventh?"

I could see wheels turning fast. It didn't add up. Where was the proof? He had been so certain it was there in the bible. He was a bit distant after that and jokingly said that it wasn't fair that I was debating with a 6th grader. To be honest, it was a little painful to watch Kevin, who believed something so firmly, begin to realize that there may be no truth to it. Its not easy realizing that you have believed the wrong thing.

My hope for Kevin is that he will begin to look for the answers. I can't be sure of where he will go from here or if he will even explore the Sabbath further, but I am excited to have had the opportunity to have this conversation with him.

One Week in Taiwan

The first leg of our flight was from Saipan to South Korea. Departure time: 1:30am. I groaned a little when I first saw my itinerary. No sleep! It was impossible. I tried to rest from 7pm to 11pm but I was too excited about flying. I was packed and ready to go days before. As a sponsor for the 8th grade class, I had been responsible for helping them fund-raise over $4,000 for this trip. To accompany the students, all I needed to do was help chaperone and pay for my own plane ticket and food for the week. The whole trip cost me just a little under $900, and I was able to pay for the whole thing by saving a little from my monthly pay-checks and tutoring on the side (a lot of tutoring, but it was so worth it). I got to spend a week in Taiwan for pennies. I still can't believe how lucky I am.

The flight from Saipan to South Korea was around 4 hours long. By the time we arrived it was around 7am. The South Korean International Airport is perhaps the coolest airport terminal in the world. For those who have longer layovers, they have free tours from the airport to local tourist attractions. There is a large cultural center inside the terminal (right across from Starbucks) where you can make authentic Korean crafts. During our first layover our group painted wooden magnets, and on the way back we made a large copy of a Korean Magpie with a mold and ink. Magpies mean "good                                                               news" in Korea, and a Raven apparently means the opposite.

By the time we left the airport in Korea (headed for Japan) I was exhausted. I had been up since 6am the day before and wouldn't be able to sleep for another 8 hours. During every flight we were given meals. I wasn't too excited about airplane food, until I saw the feast they set before us. Thank you Asiana Airlines! It was great. We landed in Japan around 1pm. In Japan we had a short layover and then hopped on board a "Hello Kitty" airplane for Taiwan. We had Hello Kitty pillows, Hello Kitty screens on the tv in front of our seats, Hello Kitty silver ware, Hello Kitty boarding passes, Hello Kitty... you get the picture.

Taiwan was a sight for sore eyes. (Literally. My eyelids felt heavy like lead from being up so long). The group I was with stopped for a quick pic by a Welcome to Taiwan sign and then hopped into a taxi. We drove 1 hour into the city of Taipei, and there we found our hotel. Mai Hotel, Taipei. Three stars. Plushy soft beds with down comforters and pillows... I was asleep in two seconds. My bed in Saipan is like a board with fabric on it, so the extra comfort made our hotel feel like the Ritz Carlton.

Day 1) The next morning we had breakfast in the hotel. Rice, egg & seaweed soup, white bread with strawberry jelly. First whole day in Taipei and we decided to make the most of it by packing in all sorts of fun tours and trips to local attractions. First we headed to the Taipei 101 tower, the fourth tallest building in the world with the fastest elevator. We rode up to the observation deck and saw a 360 degree view of the city. We also saw their "wind damper", a large round steel ball that is around 660 tons and keeps the tower from falling over in the wind. After that we headed to the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial. We watched the changing of the guards, a ceremony of sorts that takes the guards about 20+ minutes to complete. After that we headed back to the Taipei 101 tower to eat in their food court.
The information center at the Taipei 101 tower was where I met up with Roy, a friend of mine from high school who took a three hour train ride to be able to see me while I was in Taiwan. Our next adventure of the day was at the National Palace Museum. We weren't allowed to take pictures while inside the museum, but I did take one of the outside. The building was massive, and so was the collection of jade, porcelain, stone and steel artifacts. They also had a large collection of ancient Mandarin writings, cook ware, coral statues and other household things from dynasties long ago. It was really neat to see such an extensive collection of history. After the museum we ate dinner and then headed "home." I have never fallen asleep so fast.



Day 2) Another night at Mai Hotel & breakfast the next morning. Rice, egg & seaweed soup, noodles, white bread with strawberry jelly. We woke up early and headed to church. The Adventist church is right behind the Adventist hospital. After church we took the 8th graders to the Taipei Zoo. Somewhere in the Taipei zoo filmmakers shot scenes for the movie "Life of Pi." I never got to see where they shot those scenes because the zoo was so large we couldn't even sprint through half of it in a day. What we did get to see was pretty special. Koalas, Pandas, Malayan Tapirs... The kids got to see their first hippo and elephant in person... come to think of it I think that was also the first time I'd seen a live hippo. After the zoo we went back to the hotel and rested up for a couple hours. Our next adventure began around 7pm. We took the MRT to the Shilin Night Market and spent the evening running around looking at all the neat souvenirs and trying to dodge the smell of stinky tofu that food vendors were selling.

Day 3) Rice, egg & seaweed soup, white bread with strawberry jelly. Also our day staying at the Mai Hotel in Taipei. We made it to the gondolas before the rest of the crowd did, and bought tickets. Our ride to the top of the mountains bordering the city was breath-takingly beautiful. At the top we walked around for several minutes, but because we were on a tight schedule, we did not get to participate in any of the tea ceremonies. Next time. :) We headed back down the mountain, picked our things up at the hotel, and made our way to a train that would take us down to the city of Hualien. Four hours later we arrived in the city of Hualien and found the place we were to stay. As it turns out, the manager hadn't reserved the correct number of rooms. After figuring out that slight conundrum we talked two blocks down the street to stay at a different hotel. We weren't up to much that night so we found the closest restaurant (Pizza Hut!) and ate dinner.

Day 4) The next day we awoke bright and early to catch two taxis that would take us on a tour of the Taroko Gorge National Park. We had a great time. The gorge was beautiful. We stopped at many vistas along the way, one of which had a trail that led to a temple tucked into the mountain. At another stop during the tour the drivers gave us all hard hats to wear, and directed us to walk along a path than ran parallel to the road. The path went under some large rock overhangs (apparently what the hard hats were for). At the end of the tour we headed back to the hotel, ate dinner, and then called it a night.

Day 5) More trains! We took another train to the city of Kaohsiung and arrived in the early afternoon. After settling in to our hotel rooms we made our way around town and eventually ended up at the British Consulate. We toured the grounds for an hour or two, and then surprised the kids with a trip to an amusement park on top of 9 story mall in Kaohsiung. I opted out of the Ferris wheel so I could take videos and ride one of the brown panda scooter things. If it went faster than 3 inches an hour it would have been fun, but hey, make the most of everything right? It was nice and slow so my friends could take embarrassing photos. *Crushed it.

Coach Goris takes a selfie

Day 6) The next morning we packed up and got ready to take our last train ride. This train was the HSR, a high speed train that would take us back to Taipei. I got a bit mixed up with kilometers and miles per hour - its 180mph and 290k/h. Forgive me Grandma, didn't mean to make you worry so much! When we got back into Taipei we had just enough time to run to the local hot springs. After that we had one last grand shopping spree at the Shilin Street Market. Considering I haven't gone shopping for anything other than food in 8 months, it was a grand ole time.

Day 7) Early morning flights! Our group (we called ourselves the fantastic four) left Taiwan at 1pm and arrived back in Saipan at 1:45am the next day. It was a long, busy, and amazing week.

Thus far...

Thus far I haven't shared any negative experiences about my time here. The truth is, there are so few they haven't been worth sharing with the rest of you good people. I love Saipan, I love working at the school, and I love being a part of this uniquely diverse community. It wasn't until today, standing in front of the cashier of San Jose Mart and $14.00 of produce/household cleaning supplies, did it begin to dawn on me that the cultural differences between me and the people here have had caused misunderstandings.

At 1pm this afternoon our school's office closed the shutters, locked the doors, and sat back in our chairs to soak in the beginning of the weekend. My co-workers at the school had kindly accepted my plea to drive me home so I wouldn't have to wait an hour for my roommate to finish her work. On our way we stopped by San Jose Mart to pick up a few things. It was to be a quick shopping trip. Jean and Dany got what they needed and I scrambled to remember what was on my shopping list as I put whatever good looking produce I found into my basket. 

At the counter I added everything up in my head. I needed $10 worth of stuff so that I could use my card, the only form of payment I had on me. As the Filipino gal at the register scanned my items, I noticed that one of the things I bought was waaaay more expensive than the sticker on the shelf had said. I declined to buy the over priced item. Now I had a problem. I was just a hair under the $10 mark. Knowing that my roommate and I were out bleach, I ran to the isle with cleaning products and quickly weighted out my options. I grabbed a bottle of Lysol and ran back. The cashier rang it up. "Six dollars! For that tiny bottle? The price tag on the shelf said three..." 

At this point I began to get frustrated. You'd think seven months of living here would have taught be to just roll with it, but every time I shop, I manage to forget that accurate sticker prices in the grocery stores on this island are a grossly overlooked thing. I ran back, grabbed a six dollar bottle of bleach that was double the size, deciding that if I was going to spend that much, I might as well get my moneys worth. The bleach rang up as only three dollars. How ironic. At this point I had asked them to void two items and add one additional item, and right before discovering the last of the pricing mix up's, the cashier had gone ahead and charged my credit card. Now the girl had to void the transaction and re-charge my card, a process that took almost ten minutes. All this time I stood there, my patience waning away to nothing and my attitude increasingly negative, the cashier didn't look up at me or give me any explanation as to why they were making me sign a whole pile of receipts or where they had taken my credit card for almost ten minutes. I walked out of San Jose feeling frustrated and confused.

Back at home I began to think about the whole thing from the cashiers perspective. Regular day, regular customer. Only, she's American, and she's not happy about the sticker prices being wrong on some of her items. With a relatively small staff it is hard to keep up with accurate sticker prices. The high turnover rate of merchandise doesn't make keeping up with it easy either. She is getting frustrated and I don't want to make her feel more so.. better to give her space. 

I don't know if these are the exact reasons she had, but I am sure it was something along these lines. When it comes to the cultural differences between the Filipino people on Saipan and Americans, one of our misunderstandings is over the non-confrontational approach embedded into Filipino culture. I have seen it demonstrated by so many of my friends here. Confrontations seem to be avoided at all cost, and if they do happen, they are very subtle. I didn't get any explanation from the cashier because she didn't want to upset me. Her natural response was to be passive and indirect. My natural response to the situation was to demand answers. When I saw the way she was behaving and didn't think as to why, I began to think even more negatively. "People could steal my credit card information. My friends are waiting on me and this is wasting their time and mine! Her answers are so vague, and she isn't giving me any eye contact. Rude?"

I am embarrassed to admit it, but this is the frame of mind I walked out of that grocery store with. Saipan is so similar to the states in certain aspects. I wasn't aware that I had expectations that were setting me up for a reality check. Frustration, confusion, and all simply because I didn't take the time to understand the facts about living here or where this girl was coming from.

On my next trip to San Jose Mart I plan on being more careful to check the prices and careful to not come across like a crazy American girl. Then again, perhaps she understood where I was coming from. :)