Another Adventure

Today was a good day despite my being tired. The power at the apartments we live in went on and off all day as the electrician came and was working on the power grid as there was an explosion last week of a line that connects the school’s generator to the main power fuse box. Whenever the power goes out on the island the generator is supposed to kick on and the last time it did, there was an explosion that scorched the inside of the fuse box. Our fridge food may still be good or so we hope.
As is the tradition we ate food at our favorite sea side restaurant where there are dollar tacos on Saturday and ate with 4 other teachers. We then went back to the apartments where Kara went to a hotel to swim with the other female teachers. I on the other hand went with the school maintenance guy, Romel, to see how much it would cost to fix the 1998 Ford Contour Sport that Kara and I would like to buy from a lady at the church.
The car’s engine looks great for a Saipan car and it drives well. It is missing an alloy wheel (a spare is on it right now…), has a broken alternator (we charged the battery before going to the mechanic), and has a couple bald tires. According to Kelley Blue Book the car is worth $1950 in running condition. The Korean auto mechanic at told us that he could probably fix the alternator for $230 (which is awesome) and that the rest of the parts we would want to replace later would total about $450 (with the fixed alternator), which brings our asking price for the car down to $1500. This is a good price because the car could be paid off 5 months or less depending on how much we spend on groceries etc. I plan to make an offer to the owner soon, perhaps tomorrow at church if the lady is around... The only reason we want to buy a car is because you cannot do anything fun on the island without a means to get there. The experience of going to the mechanic was interesting because another fellow came in who was chewing Betel Nut (see google images after typing in Betel nut to see people with a nasty red mouth like I saw today) and was simply picking up a starter, but wanted to tell us about how good the mechanic was and that it is good that God puts limitations on us. He proceeded to talk about video poker and how when he plays it everything in his life goes poorly, but that it is good to have limitations. He left saying his name was Feliz Navidad to which Romel replied, “Merry Christmas,” we all had a good chuckle. The mechanic also told me about how after we replace/fix the alternator it would be good to get a new battery as car batteries on Saipan only last about 2 years compared to the normal five years in the states. He said that the sunlight and heat is so intense, especially during the dry season, that the acid in the car batteries boils and eventually evaporates. I don’t know if this is true, but the man has lived on the island for 27 years fixing cars and must know something about alternators and starters if that is all he fixes. I say all he fixes because that is all he does. On the floor of his store were hundreds of beat up alternators that he had pulled from other cars he’d fixed or junked cars and was using to Frankenstein new and used alternators.
In the afternoon I slept more and Kara colored in a coloring book next door. We all went out to eat together for dinner at a local restaurant that I would liken to a Perkins in the states. It was off the main road and hidden, but it was well painted in the inside and I imagine is very busy during the day. It had both Asian and American foods. Kara was delighted to have $5.00 grilled cheese sandwich. She then went to the golf range with the other teachers to hit a bag of golf balls. I stayed home as I have been really tired all day for some reason and made coffee and am now blogging, which helps me feel somewhat connected to the states. I have more to say but I will stop here and save more for tomorrow perhaps as it is ok to blog two days in a row.