Monday, October 13, 2008
Thanks Marilyn!
We received our first package in the mail last week from Jason's Mom! What a wonderful treat! It was full of books & DVD's...which were very welcome! And, it only took about 10 days to get here to our island from when it was sent! Not too bad, especially since it took us nearly 5 days to get here ourselves! Thank you Marilyn for your thoughtfulness! It was such a treat!
A Commodity
Drinking water has become this incredible commodity to me since we started living here...not necessarily a bad thing, just interesting how something that I took mostly little notice of, has now become a big priority.
Our water comes from the rain gutter on our roof to fill a 1000 gallon tank next to our house. Due to the many pine trees around the house, the water has a decidely "earthy" flavor to it. In order to get rid of that flavor (and also ensure the water is safe to drink), it goes through quite a process. We filter it through a cloth into large pots which then get boiled over an outdoor fire for 10 minutes. After it has cooled enough, it gets filtered through a cloth again, then when it's completely cool, it goes through a Brita filter and into our water bottles. Quite a process just for a drink of water!
We are SO thankful though for our abundant water. It rains frequently and we have not had to worry about running out of water since we arrived.
Our water comes from the rain gutter on our roof to fill a 1000 gallon tank next to our house. Due to the many pine trees around the house, the water has a decidely "earthy" flavor to it. In order to get rid of that flavor (and also ensure the water is safe to drink), it goes through quite a process. We filter it through a cloth into large pots which then get boiled over an outdoor fire for 10 minutes. After it has cooled enough, it gets filtered through a cloth again, then when it's completely cool, it goes through a Brita filter and into our water bottles. Quite a process just for a drink of water!
We are SO thankful though for our abundant water. It rains frequently and we have not had to worry about running out of water since we arrived.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Friday, October 3, 2008
Wasp nests
Last week, Jason & I scraped 315 wasp nests off the boards underneath our house ... and that was only HALF of the house! We still have a long ways to go on this project. Thankfully, most of the nests were abandoned or their owners were out looking for food while we worked, so at least we didn't have angry wasps after us :) I have to admit that creeping around on the rocks while staying low enough to the ground to fit between the earth and the house worked muscles that I didn't even know I had anymore! Maybe this should be a daily exercise routine?? Anyone want to join us??
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Sashimi, land crab & sea turtle
In the past 10 days, I've eaten all of the above ... all things I've never eaten before! Being a non-seafood eater is a challenge on an island and of course I always try everything.
After church last Sunday (our church has a congregation of 10 people, pretty fun), one of the deacons invited us over for sashimi ... I had to have Jason prep me for what to expect. Raw hunks of fish ... hmmmm, could be a challenge, but it was actually really good (something about the fish here & in Tonga ... they are REALLY good!).
Our island has thousands of land crabs and we stumbled across a few on the way home one night from town and decided to bag them. We threw them in a pot when we got home, having no idea how long you're supposed to cook something like this, but opted for 5 minutes. Seems to have been the right time as they turned our great! I only could handle a taste, but Jason said they were delicious.
And...this weekend we had the funeral of the high chief of our island to attend ... which ended up just being a huge day of food. They served us our meal in styrofoam to-go boxes which included: Fried fish, crab, chicken, pork and sea turtle...Turtle is not too bad (as long as I don't think about what I'm eating)!
Oh, sadly I won't be able to post photos until the next time we're in Koror (sometime next month) due to the terrible internet connection here :-( ... sorry, but trust me, it IS beautiful :)
After church last Sunday (our church has a congregation of 10 people, pretty fun), one of the deacons invited us over for sashimi ... I had to have Jason prep me for what to expect. Raw hunks of fish ... hmmmm, could be a challenge, but it was actually really good (something about the fish here & in Tonga ... they are REALLY good!).
Our island has thousands of land crabs and we stumbled across a few on the way home one night from town and decided to bag them. We threw them in a pot when we got home, having no idea how long you're supposed to cook something like this, but opted for 5 minutes. Seems to have been the right time as they turned our great! I only could handle a taste, but Jason said they were delicious.
And...this weekend we had the funeral of the high chief of our island to attend ... which ended up just being a huge day of food. They served us our meal in styrofoam to-go boxes which included: Fried fish, crab, chicken, pork and sea turtle...Turtle is not too bad (as long as I don't think about what I'm eating)!
Oh, sadly I won't be able to post photos until the next time we're in Koror (sometime next month) due to the terrible internet connection here :-( ... sorry, but trust me, it IS beautiful :)
Monday, September 8, 2008
Rustic?
We arrived to our new and very rustic home on Friday - we were SO happy to finally have gotten to our destination! It does feel as if it is at the edge of the world ... with the ocean before us and a dense jungle behind us. I love it though! It is an incredible, wonderful feeling!
Although that feeling hasn't worn off, it certainly gets tested :) ...
Our new home has canvas siding for walls, to get any light inside, they have to be rolled up which is a two person job (that we are slowly getting better at), whenever it rains or whenever we're going to leave or when it's time to go to bed, the sides need to be rolled down because it rains all the time and water will come into the house...we found out our very first night how important it is to be SURE the velcro is well-secured! After we'd been asleep for a couple hours, the wind was blowing so hard, that it blew one side open and then ripped the other side open as well. That was pretty startling!
It probably runs almost a tie with the fact that within 3 minutes of us turning out our solar powered lights that first night, we heard the rat trap/cage spring closed and then listened to a rat trying to gnaw its way out of the cage for the rest of the night!
Ahh...rustic living :)
Although that feeling hasn't worn off, it certainly gets tested :) ...
Our new home has canvas siding for walls, to get any light inside, they have to be rolled up which is a two person job (that we are slowly getting better at), whenever it rains or whenever we're going to leave or when it's time to go to bed, the sides need to be rolled down because it rains all the time and water will come into the house...we found out our very first night how important it is to be SURE the velcro is well-secured! After we'd been asleep for a couple hours, the wind was blowing so hard, that it blew one side open and then ripped the other side open as well. That was pretty startling!
It probably runs almost a tie with the fact that within 3 minutes of us turning out our solar powered lights that first night, we heard the rat trap/cage spring closed and then listened to a rat trying to gnaw its way out of the cage for the rest of the night!
Ahh...rustic living :)
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
The Rainbow's End
We have officially arrived in Palau! Woo-hoo! We departed Spokane Monday morning around 7 am and arrived here Wednesday at 3 pm. We even spend the night in Manila last night as our "connecting" flight didn't depart for over 12 hours!
Quite a journey, but most definitely worth it! Palau's tag line is "the rainbow's end," and that sums it up pretty good. It is beautiful here (as expected). Completely LUSH, with crazily shaped green hills everywhere and lots of beautiful water! It feels sort of like coming home in a way as the smells (burning trash and un-smogged cars) and sounds (roosters, honking horns) and the temperature (deliciously muggy) are very similar to Tonga. It is wonderful!
No pictures to go with this post, but I'm hoping to have some for you shortly ... we'll be in Koror, Palau for the next day or two, then taking the ferry to Angaur and our new home!
Quite a journey, but most definitely worth it! Palau's tag line is "the rainbow's end," and that sums it up pretty good. It is beautiful here (as expected). Completely LUSH, with crazily shaped green hills everywhere and lots of beautiful water! It feels sort of like coming home in a way as the smells (burning trash and un-smogged cars) and sounds (roosters, honking horns) and the temperature (deliciously muggy) are very similar to Tonga. It is wonderful!
No pictures to go with this post, but I'm hoping to have some for you shortly ... we'll be in Koror, Palau for the next day or two, then taking the ferry to Angaur and our new home!
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