So…the the other night I tried something called “Ube” which is pronounced “ oobay” for those of you who are laughing at such a word. So…apparently ube is like an Asian sweet-potato...but not. I also heard it was a type of bread...like a vegetable...and a type of rice. SO, needless to say ube ice cream is a pretty gnarly mystery food and has such a weird but amazing flavor.
It’s week three here in the sunny far-far east. I’m blamed for the rain here, apparently it’s because Filipinos find birthmarks on one’s behind as a sign of bad luck...so I’m now well aware that my birthmark is to blame for all my misfortunes…lol. But…last weekend we did go snorkeling at this ridiculously beautiful island off the coast called Managaha…(where Silvia and I had time to make 2 rap songs about Thai food to the beat of Milkshake) where we fed sharks hotdogs and they came a swimming…I went a screamin. We also saw sweet fish, huge blue star fish and bumped into an octopus! (Which our nature friendly friends left alone…after scaring it into coral)…which I later got a sweet gash on my knee from. It was pretty sweet. Battle scar. Remind me people back home to introduce you to an amazing Indo bread I ate at the street market this week…I will learn how to make its warm, sweet spongy goodness soon…and it will be earth shattering.
I’m getting pretty comfortable on this small island…being a local now has its advantages…and I’m also named the “Most impatient driver on Saipan…even more so than David.” I feel like that’s quite a title, I plan to live up to it. Got my first taste of Asian drifting up near Banzai Cliffs too... I found it pretty amusing.
My kids have given me quite a week, but they understood my drift when I made them write my class rules 20 times before lunch one day. Teacher win. Lots of crazy things have happened lately…it’s like every day is just full of pointless and very humorous events. I don’t think I’ve laughed this hard in a while. Today I had my kids demonstrate, in English, how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. This was hysterical because half had never made one, and the other half flung jelly and peanut butter all over their blindfolded and un-expecting partners.
SO, I sit here, another weekend upon me…soaking up the smell of my rice noodles cooking and listening to some old school Island music blaring from my crackly old boom box I found in the closet. Getting back to why the whole blog is called “Sweet Ube” …Just like poor Ube…not knowing what it is and yet enjoying the adventure of such an odd food, I compare it to my experience here so far…I’m completely in love with it here in Saipan, I haven’t regretted one day….but I still feel like I just don’t know what’s going on…what exactly I’m doing. But…that’s where I’m at.
I know I wrote earlier in a journal that I felt like God didn’t get on the plane with me to Saipan…that I felt like I was all kinds of floating by myself…but after this week it is apparent that I haven’t been alone for one second. I have had so many amazing things happen in 3 weeks…I’ve even actually learned a thing or two about myself…which is an accomplishment for me after this past year. I feel like me again out here… off to fix my sink that exploded on me while washing dishes…and my toilet as well…well, it didn’t explode but nothing duck tape and wire can’t fix.
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