Last Day at Eco Camp Before School Starts

Dear Friends, Family, & Readers,

Since Kara has already written about Eco camp and our summer jobs I thought I would reflect somewhat poetically on our experience, since today is our last day at camp.
What is Eco Camp to me? It is the chance to make friends for a life time. It is a chance to explore the wilderness, be a kid, hit each other with towels, and say, “Hey, watch this!” Eco camp is a great experience for kids who need to be taken away from video games to learn what it means to truly play and interact socially with other kids. Throughout the camp I have been reminded of the kid inside of me that still wishes he could run as fast or play as hard as they do. It is a camp that has an immense diversity, like the island itself, ranging from Japanese, Korean, Palauan, Chamorro, Carolinian, Russian, etc. I know of very few places in the world where kids get the chance to interact with one another on a basic level and feel comfortable about it.
Eco Camp is run by Marianas Trekking, an outdoor tour company on the island, located at Marianas Resort. It was started by two guys Chris Nelson and a guy named Joe who used to work at one of the hotels on Saipan. Marianas Trekking has been doing Eco Camp for many years. This year has had somewhat smaller numbers than previous years, but that is o.k. From what some campers have told us the larger numbers of previous years left food out of the equation sometimes and there wasn’t enough to go around. Campers get the luxury of eating out of the all you can eat buffet at the Marianas Resort restaurant much to the chagrin of many tourists, but within an hour the campers are gone and all is peaceful and quiet. I say luxury because they serve a great assortment of food, which includes a nacho cheese fountain and chocolate fountain which are a big hit with the kids. Teaching portion sizes to young children, however, is difficult and kids have thrown up from eating too much food. They get all of this for the low price of about $5 per kid!
During the day campers play outdoor games such as clothespin tag, Uncle Dooger (a game Kara and I learned at Okoboji), kickball, etc. My favorite activity has been snorkeling/kayaking at the beach, and going on hikes/bike rides. We have been on trails like the Banadero Trail, the trail at Kalabera cave, & the Laderan Tangke Self-Guiding trail off of Radar Rd. in Marpi. I really enjoy such times with the kids and seeing their eyes open to the possibility of the outdoors. The pictures I have attached are of my time with the kids (but there were too many favorites for me to show all of them). I hope you enjoy! Sincerely, Grant

Picture Explanation:

1. Jake and I with campers on the Banadero Trail.
2. Me with one of my campers who was there for most of the camp's duration.
3. Jake a fellow teacher at school and co-worker at camp over the summer with a flower in his hair.
4. One of the Korean campers holding up a starfish.
5. Kara comforting a young Japanese girl having a rough first day (it got better after I gave her a piece of gum).
6. One of my crazy soccer playing campers.
7. A kid having fun in Saipan's 50 meter pool across the road from Marianas Trekking.



Saipan Time:

SonQuest Rainforest

Hi Everyone,
This past week: July 11-15th was probably the craziest weeks of being in Saipan I have had. Before I go into the details, I did intentionally put myself into this situation and by God's grace I made it through the week. That week I did Marianas Trekking, tutoring, and Vacation Bible School for church. Basically I was with kids from 9am-9pm every night. There were a few times that I was getting tired and needed to keep the energy up, but with a few prayers God made it happen.
The theme of this years VBS was SonQuest Rainforest. The entire church was decorated as a rainforest which was really neat for the kids.The Verse of the Week was John 3:16. Every night there was a challenge to the kids with some examples being: Get God's Love, Get Praying, Get Going.
During VBS I was the 1st and 2nd Grade Guide which meant that I was in charge of my group and needed to make sure they got to all of their stations on time and watched over their well-being. The one station I did get to lead was the Memory Verse station and this is where I made sure it was creative and fun for them to learn the memory verses and some examples of what I did was to create actions for the verses, make a giant puzzle, or put each word on the back of each kid and have them put themselves in order.
The other stations were: games, snacks, story time, crafts, and music. The kids had a great time and at this age they got into the music part full on and it was great to see them be so excited to sing about Jesus.
The first night I had 16 kids and for the rest of the week I had around 33 kids. It was a crazy time but I loved having them all and I had helpers from Tues- on to help with all the kids.
I really enjoyed experiencing this time with these kids and getting to know their personalities. Each night was jam-packed of activities so it was hard to get to know them all really well, but there were a few moments with a few kids that were really special where I got to learn more about them. I also liked being available if they had any questions about Jesus.
One of the God moments for me was when the kids were singing the song "Following Jesus" They sang with so much heart and they were all into it! It made me tear up and just think about what an impact they can make for Christ since they have learned so much about Him at a young age.
It was really cute at the closing program when one of the kids asked if we were going to our classroom for more activities and I told him that the week was over but he still wanted more VBS! It was also sweet when some of the kids said that they would miss me. They were beyond adorable, loud, and crazy but it was a lot of fun.
So Yes, it was the craziest week ever, I definitely missed Grant a lot, but I was glad to help out the church and get to meet some wonderful kids!

Cow Town

Dear Friends, Family, & Readers:
Here is another post of random things I enjoy doing on Saipan. This particular post is about a place on Saipan known to locals as “Cowtown.” It is a place in the jungle off of the Banzai cliff walking and bike trail that was supposedly owned by the late millionaire Larry Hillblom. Many rumors exist about Hillblom some true and some not so true. After doing some research here is what you need to know about Larry Hillblom. He was the founder of DHL which is the world’s largest courier service. They are the guys that drive the yellow vans that say DHL on them. The company portrait on their website, DHL.com, does not tell a person much about the company other than the fact that it has branched out over the years to include 4 unique service divisions ranging from IT services to shipping solutions.
The biggest thing to know about Hillblom is that he would stay on Saipan frequently and was a kind of a wild man who enjoyed the local women of Saipan. Over his time here he is purported to have fathered numerous children by local girls and women. Many of the women he had children by were very young because he was known to be fearful of disease. Sources say various things about Hillblom, but from what I can piece together is that regardless of how many children he truly had by various women the total currently is eight women have claimed to have had children by him and their children are entitled to a portion of his $650 million estate. From what I have read online he was a resident of California and because he did not write his children out of his will many have come forward claiming to be his progeny.
Larry Hillblom died in a plane crash on May 21, 1995 off the Anatahan coast. Anatahan is one of the most active volcanoes in the Mariana Islands chain and is located 75 miles north of Saipan.
These pictures are:
1. A building he supposedly owned, which is now falling apart and is full of spiders and wasps. Local rumors are that he would bring girls to this house.
2. The huge boat that is sitting on a rusted out boat trailer, which he probably owned.
3. A picture of what are known locally as “cooking bananas.” This picture was taken on the path that leads to an opening in the jungle below the dilapidated house. I don’t know if he planted them or if they grew naturally. Although cooking bananas are not very sweet many Filipinos on the island make various dishes with them, sometimes they are even eaten as a snack. I have had them in snack form, but I think I have been spoiled by the large Dole bananas we buy in the U.S.A.
4. Two of the pictures are of rusted out truck flatbeds that lie in the jungle being eaten by the salty rain water and creeping jungle vines.

Note: I’m not sure exactly why they call it cow town besides the fact that there is a shed behind the house that has some oil drums and gas containers etc. Some have told me that they used to have mini-rodeos at the location and it is possible as there is cow fencing at the location, but not sure who placed it there (As of yet I’m not convinced without further photo proof and articles online).


p.s. Future posts by me will be on the End of Eco Camp in two weeks and WWII stuff.

Time in Saipan:

4th of July in Saipan

Hi Everyone,
Grant and I just finished our 4th week of Camp and have been enjoying the kids and the adventure of being at camp. On Monday was the 4th of July and we did have to work which was a bummer, but the day went fast so it turned out ok in the end. After work we headed to our friends Chris and Joyce's house for a fun night of activities. We first ate a potluck dinner, played ping-pong, swam in the pool, and then played the card game of pond scum. We continually feel blessed that every holiday we have had great people here in Saipan to share it with. It just makes being here easier when you have people to share the States holidays with. My favorite part of the night was playing the game pond scum and after being the scum for 3 rounds getting to be the President for the rest of the night. It is a really fun game and if you want to learn just ask and I can tell you how to play.
Hope you enjoy the pictures!
Kara