Sometimes I still can’t believe I live here.
I’ve learned a lot while I’ve been living in Saipan for the last 12 weeks. (Has it really been that long already?) One thing that has been very apparent the last month has been that in Saipan things melt. Things you might not even imagine melting, will melt. Things that you know are going to melt will melt but at an alarmingly fast rate. High heat and humidity do a number on many things.
So for your reading enjoyment here’s a list of things Saipan will most assuredly melt.
1. You
Yep, I think this is obvious, but some days are dang hot and being outside is hot and crazy sweaty. There does come a point where you just can’t sweat any more though and after this many weeks being hot and sweaty has become a way of life. Some days are more tolerable, but I’ve grown accustomed to it. I’ve gotten so use to it in fact that after it rains and it’s cool (you know like 80 degrees) I’m thinking, “Well I could wear long sleeves to walk to the gas station for ice cream tonight.” or “Hey I like this flannel and if I roll the sleeves up it’ll be fine.”
2. Ice Cream
This is also a fairly obvious one, but it’s a weekly struggle. We typically walk to the Shell station just up the road for ice cream. The walk is maybe five minutes, but you can bet that before we get back the ice cream you just bought will be melting on your hand if you haven’t eaten enough of it yet. Still even with the melting it’s totally worth it.
3. Jack-o-lanterns
We were SOOO excited when we found pumpkins at Joeten (the grocery story) because some of us desperately miss fall and all fall related things. We walked to the store picked out the perfect pumpkin. Paid way too much for a pumpkin, but justified it since it would be our only fall activity this year. Carried said pumpkins in our backpacks back home and carved them. We baked some delicious pumpkin seeds. Then we set our completed jack-o-lanterns outside our apartments to adorn the doors and add a festive pop to life. In the span of about two days they were all rotten black, and oozing gross pumpkin nastiness. We bagged them up and they found their final resting place in the dumpster So much for that. Still totally worth it for the fun, and the seeds!
Ewww that’s gross.
4. Cotton Candy
I’m not even kidding. I didn’t know cotton candy melted! Guess you learn something new all the time. We went with the college kids to the night market in Garapan a few weeks ago. It’s a lot of fun. Live music on stage, vendors with food, and vendors selling stuff. When we spotted a booth selling cotton candy it was a good moment. Both Dani and I love cotton candy. It was only $1 so we were all for it. We bought our cotton candy and soon realized it was dripping. Yes it was so hot that the cotton candy was dripping down our hands. Needless to say we ate it fast to keep it from being a total mess of sugary stickiness all over us. It was still worth it even if it did melt
I’m sure there are other things that Saipan melts that I’ve yet to discover, but for now this is my list. I hope you enjoyed this somewhat silly, yet informative blog.
