Practicing my culture

Sometime in the last 20 years, locals in the CNMI came to understand conservation as a bunch of haoles telling indigenous people not to fish, not to feed their families, and not to practice their culture. They are mistaken. Conservation has always been an integral part of Micronesian culture.

I learned it from my father and I know these guys learned it from theirs.

Even so, times have changed. The definition of conservation has changed along with it.

Old habits and old technologies result in expected outcomes.

1000 years ago when a Chamorro went out to catch fish using the technology available to him at the time, he could safely assume that he wasn't destroying his resource. No new technology was going to be introduced to help him catch more fish and no huge influx of off-islanders would be coming to his home anytime soon (at least for another 500 years).

The only thing he needed to navigate his world were the stars, the waves, and the wind. He lived the way his grandparents lived and he could expect his grandchildren to live the same way.

Like I said, times have changed. We now have more people and new technologies.

When people use old habits combined with new technologies, unexpected outcomes occur.

Fish & Wildlife admits that SCUBA spearfishing nearly decimated our Napolean Wrasse population. I've also heard that gill nets in the 1990's wiped out the turtle population in the lagoon [unconfirmed, just hearsay, so don't jump down my throat, I was in Florida].

When these new technologies were introduced, they weren't introduced with the intent of destroying our resources. People just wanted to catch more fish, feed their families, and practice their culture.

In a previous post I told the story of my father eating one of the last mariana mallards.

I don't think he was purposely eating the last mallard. He was just practicing his culture, right? If you had asked him about the bird on the day he shot it, he would probably have told you that he knew where to find more.

I don't recount that story to try to paint my father in a bad light, I'm just using it to highlight my point. He had spent his whole life shooting and eating that bird and probably expected to spend the remainder of his whole life shooting and eating that bird.

Old habits (hunting every bird you see) combined with new technologies (better rifles than centuries past) led to extinction (the shelling of Saipan during World War II didn't help either).

Am I less Chamorro because I will never see a mariana mallard? Am I less Chamorro because I will never taste one? And is Saipan less Saipan because we no longer have bats and barely any coconut crabs? Do you see where I'm going with this?

If eating certain foods is part of our culture, then what does it say about our culture when we allow that food to go extinct?

******
Speaking of forming new habits, I came across this news item as I was surfing the Internet:

The tiny Pacific islands nation of Kiribati declared the world's largest marine protected area Thursday - a California-sized ocean wilderness that includes pristine reefs and eight coral atolls teeming with fish and birds.

Kiribati isn't even one of the Micronesian nations to sign the Micronesia Challenge, yet look what they just did. I highly recommend reading the whole article, but this is part of the article that I found to be of the most importance:

The plan does not come without costs. Some commercial fishing in the area will be restricted, meaning the Kiribati government will forego some revenue from foreign commercial fishing licenses.

Kiribati earned $33 million in 2001 from fishing licenses - the latest available figure.

The government stands to lose about $3 million of this revenue with the creation of the reserve, but is hoping to recoup some of the losses by boosting tourism, which now accounts for 20 percent of the gross domestic product. It has already applied to have the marine reserve listed as a World Heritage Site. [emphasis added]

The CNMI should start thinking like our brothers in Kiribati.

One Final Thought

In December 2005 I was in Saipan for my father's funeral. I returned to Japan on that New Year's Eve wondering if I would ever return to Saipan. Two years later I wonder if I'll ever leave.

******

I've come up with a few New Year's Resolutions/Goals. They are posted below. Check back with me in 12 months to measure my success.

1. The Saipan Blog will have at least 1000 regular readers per day
2. I will run more and drink less
3. I will start eating breakfast and drinking coffee at home
4. I will keep my apartment clean
5. I will visit Palau
6. I will South Korea
7. I will visit the family in Florida
8. I will fix up the house and yard in Fina Sisu
9. I will save some money

******

There will be a comet in the sky tonight. Don't know where, don't know when. I just know that it is called Comet 8P/Tuttle and that it hasn't been around for 13.6 years.

I found the jinja in the jungle

The Force is strong in Saipan. It can be difficult to feel, but when you are able to get away, able to find a place untouched by Google and MTV, you can feel it. You can call the feeling what you want, whether it be religious, spiritual, or even creepy, but you can still feel it. We've all felt it at some time in our lives, a connection to the past and to something greater than ourselves.

I have been back in Saipan for just over a year now. I joke that the planets aligned to bring me back to this island, but I feel that they did. The Force brought me to Saipan.

Returning to Saipan was never in my life plan. My mother escaped with her two kids from Saipan when I was three years old. After he divorced her, my father moved on and started a new family. My mother raised my brother, Alex, and me as a single parent. I received the occasional letter from my father, but I saw him no more than once every other year. I was raised as an American, visiting Saipan exactly five times during my childhood.

Even when I was about to graduate from college, no one was asking me what I was going to do when I returned to Saipan. I don't think anybody ever even considered me coming back.

In my final week of college, my father suffered a massive heart attack and was evacuated to a hospital in Honolulu. I flew to Honolulu to be with him, his wife, my four brothers, and my sister. I missed my college graduation so that I could be there with them. It was worth it though; it was the last, and only the second, time my father's six children were all together. I don't know if that will ever happen again.

When he stabilized, we brought him home so that he could die on Saipan. We didn't expect him to live long. I thought he was going to die on the plane, but he hung in there for five and half years. During that interval, I went back to America, earned another degree and continued on with my life.

Alex and I had an unspoken understanding that we would go back for his funeral and then we would probably never return to Saipan.

Well, that changed.

I made plans to visit Saipan in 2005. I was moving to Japan and before my job started there, my girlfriend at the time and I decided that we wanted to pay a visit to Saipan and my family. We were scheduled to arrive on December 17, 2005.

I moved to Japan on November 18, 2005. It was an exciting time; I was living in a new place and things were going very well.

Then my world was turned upside down.

On the morning of December 1, 2005, I woke up and opened up my laptop. I immediately started getting chat requests from Alex in Florida. I plugged in my camera, accepted the chat invitation and saw Alex bawling his eyes out. My father had died the night before.

Alex already had a ticket to Saipan. I told him I would meet him in the Narita airport.

Now, if my father had died at any other time, I would have purchased a ticket to Saipan, stayed for one week, buried him, and I would have left Saipan behind forever.

But he didn't die at any other time. He died 17 days before I was going to see him for the first time in five and a half years.

So instead of coming for one week, I came for one month. You can read the archives of this blog, but after burying him, I was able to rediscover Saipan. I was able to see Saipan for the first time as an adult. I was able to see the island through my own eyes.

Three months later I was living on Saipan for the first time since I was three years old.

And you know what I have discovered?

I belong here.

On Nicknames

One day my father was drunk or otherwise temporarily insane and came up with nicknames for his five boys. They were, from oldest to youngest, Taiger, Taipan, Taiphoon, Taicho, and Memong (I think Memong was born after the glorious renaming).

Thank God my father didn't get to name us.

You may have noticed that the names of the four older boys all begin with "Tai." I don't know why; they just do. In Chamorro, when someone's last name starts with "Tai," it means "no" or "without." For example, the last name Taitano means "no land." My father, "the champion of indigenous rights," would have been very well aware of that.

Therefore it follows that Alex is "No Pan" or maybe "No Bread," Abraham is "No Phoon" or perhaps "Landline Only," and Solomon is "No Cho" or in Japanese "not profitable."

What was he trying to say?

Oh yeah, I can't think of anything funny for Taiger. I'm accepting nominations.

While I've always hated mine, my younger brothers like there nicknames. Alex uses Taipan as his blogger moniker and I've been told that Abraham and Solomon use Taiphoon and Taicho. Memong has and always will be Memong. I don't think he's ever used Ramon.

Why did I get stuck with Taiger? Come on, your dentist calls you Taiger! No ten year old likes being called Taiger.

I would have preferred Rhino or Optimus Prime.

Oh well.

Then just for kicks, here are some of my other nicknames throughout the years:

Metroid or Nintendo: I was a huge dork in grade school and the other kids noticed. Maybe it was my subscription to Nintendo Power magazine or my Ninja Turtle collection?

OSB: This acronym stands for Old Sketchy Bastard. I was five years older than my girlfriend at the time and her friends thought I was old and sketchy.

Ange: Alex and my mother call me this. I hate it. I like my full name.

Rico: When I worked at Wolfgang Puck Cafe, a few of the servers started calling each other by Italian mafia names. Glauco was Vinnie, I was Rico, and I forget everyone else's name...or was it just Glauco and me who were using mafia names?

Dog Boy: An ex-girlfriend and her best friend called me this while we were dating. No comment.

Asshole: Not really a nickname, but I get called one often enough to merit its inclusion.

Old School

Yeah, that's right, he lost. I think to Froilan. Anybody care to confirm that?

His mistake? He should have run as a Jedi.

These pictures were taken by my cousin, the former Anna Camacho Villagomez (now she's Anna Villagomez Reyes). She visited the fam (even cousin Joe Seman was there!) in Winter Park, Florida over the weekend. Mom posted more pictures on her blog.

I guess Mom has held onto that newspaper clipping since she left Saipan in 1983. She's always surprising us with stuff that she has held onto since her Saipan days. A few years back she gave me this.

Bira Hǻo

Yesterday afternoon we met for the first time to discuss the creation of a foundation in honor of my late father, Justice Ramon G Villagomez. The foundation would encourage local students to go off island, get an education, and return to the CNMI to work in the law profession. That's what my father did and, although I work in the environmental field and not the legal field and left when I was 3 and not 18, that's kind of what I did, too.

Creating a non-profit foundation should be an interesting side story on this blog. Our next meeting is April 24. I'll update you as we progress.

...and Alex, I'll let you know how you can be involved.

Chamorro Funerals

Chamorro funerals are excruciating affairs. Tomorrow afternoon the body of Adam Quitugua Emul will come back to Saipan and on Tuesday his loved ones will bury him in our Veteran's Cemetary.

The funerals here are very different from the funerals back on the East Coast. Some of my readers out there will find it interesting the way we bury our dead in the Marianas, so I might do a little write up later this week...

In the meantime, here is a little video of my father's funeral that I pieced together a while back. It is made up of pictures that were taken on the day of my father's funeral on December 10, 2005.

The Funeral of Justice Ramon G Villagomez:

A year ago today...

...I buried my father.

I still have a copy of the last communication I ever had with him. It was an email that he sent me in the final weeks of my University of Richmond career:

Squeeze out 4 lemons into a bowl. Add twice as much soy sauce or keep tasting it until the mix is neither too sour nor too salty. Add a little red hot pepper or tobasco, if that's all you have, to make it a little hot. Add garlic powder. Cut up the octopus and mix them together. Let it sit for about an hour to let the octopus soak up the juice.

You can do the same with fresh fish or half cooked chicken or beef to make fish, chicken, or beef kelaguen.

We mailed you your Nintendo game a while ago. Did you get it?

I will be departing for my canoe trip tomorrow morning. I will be back around the 15th of April. Enjoy the kelaguen.

Love,
Dad

That's right, folks. The last thing my father ever shared with me was his Octopus Kelaguen recipe. The Nintendo game that he refers to is the Playstation that I forgot to take home with me when I visited Saipan for two weeks around Christmas time in 1999. Then there is, of course, the infamous canoe trip.

Today was a sad day, but at least I was able to spend it with friends. I knocked out a few hours of community service in the morning, spent the afternoon barbequing with people I love, and won my first soccer game of the season 3-1. I even managed to do a load of laundry.

This little note was one of the last things, if not the last thing, my father ever wrote. Just goes to show that you never know what life has in store for you.

Right now my life is good; I plan to use what remains of it well.

I hope you do the same.

I've got Saipan on the brain

I read the online version of both the Saipan Tribune and the Marianas Variety everyday; I guess I just like to keep up on my Saipan news. Hell, I even read stories about Saipan in the National papers.

I came across THIS column that talks about Dad while I was reading today's Saipan Tribune. Listening to other people's memories of my father has become a little hobby of mine. I'm constantly amazed that one person could have meant so many different things to so many different people. I can't wait to put it all together and publish my findings.

Here is just one more person's take on his life:

(I am reposting only the parts that discuss him. Click HERE to read the full article.)

...I was seated on a table with the late Justice Ramon Villagomez during the first foray I made to the Saipan Chamber of Commerce meetings. I did not know who he was but I recognized the name. I was impressed by the formidable presence of the man, is speech and demeanor. Were I to use the language of the medieval saints, he would have been characterized as one with charisma. He had a reputation of being straight-laced, stern, proper and ethnocentric. He turned out to be a very warm and welcoming person, and when he learned I was new on island, and had just assumed responsibility for the congregation gathered at Immanuel United Methodist Church, he offered his time and office should I have any questions at all about the Commonwealth and its people...

...Former Supreme Court Justice Villagomez sailed in one of the voyages between Satawal/Polowat and Saipan after he retired from the bench. Inexplicably, after
the voyage, the justice would succumb to a heart failure that would leave him in coma until the completion of his personal journey. His reputation of being a practical visionary in defense of the rights of persons of NMI descent allegedly led into the promulgation of the provision of the Covenant between the "Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands," in political union with and under the sovereignty of the United States of America, on land...

Octopus Kelaguen

This is the last thing I ever heard from my father:

Squeeze out 4 lemons into a bowl. Add twice as much soy sauce or keep tasting it until the mix is neither too sour nor too salty. Add a little red hot pepper or tobasco, if that's all you have, to make it a little hot. Add garlic powder. Cut up the octopus and mix them together. Let it sit for about an hour to let the octopus soak up the juice.

You can do the same with fresh fish or half cooked chicken or beef to make fish, chicken, or beef kelaguen.

We mailed you your Nintendo game a while ago. Did you get it?I will be departing for my canoe trip tomorrow morning. I will be back around the 15th of April. Enjoy the kelaguen.

Love,
Dad

He wrote me this email the night before he left for the traditional canoe trip which ended up causing him to fall ill, which led to a heart attack and, ultimately, death.

I honored him last night by making a bucket load of octopus kelaguen using some of the hot pepper found around his new castle at Obyan and octopus purchased at SATY for 400 Yen/tentacle. We washed it down with cold Asahi.

Dad's Katupak

My father gave this rock to my mother before I was born. He found it on his farm on Saipan when he was ten years old and gave it to her while she was still in college (I think). I've carried it around in my pocket for the last few days.

The inscription reads:

Ramon G Villagomez
Saipan
1949
Virgo
This rock is carved by my
ancestors & used as a
sling stone to kill animals
and people. It is called
Katupak
found at my father's
farm when I was ten years
old. This rock permits you
to enter any premise of my family
RGV

They make these for the tourists these days, but somehow I have a feeling that this one is real. I don't think they were making them in the seventies.

Marianas Variety Letter to the Editor by Mom

http://www.mvariety.com/editorialpage/editorial05.htm

In memory of Justice V.


I AM writing to ask that you publish my letter so that I may extend my condolences to the family of my former husband, Justice Ramon G. Villagomez.

Although I left Saipan in 1982, I have never forgotten the kindness and love the Lafet family showed to me and my two children, Angelo and Alexander O. Villagomez, and I carry these memories in my heart.

I am sorry that I was not able to come to the novena and funeral in person to express my condolences for your loss. My thoughts and prayers have been with you every day. I was very grateful that both Angelo and Alex were able to come to be with you at this difficult time, and they have told me how you have all welcomed them into the heart of your family. Thank you for your kindness to them. I know how much this would have meant to Ramon.


DONNA O’CONNOR (VILLAGOMEZ) FORD
Winter Park, Florida

Alex says goodbye

We went to Dad's grave this morning so that Alex could say goodbye to his father one last time.

Another article about Dad

http://www.mvariety.com/localpage/lnews24.htm

Senate resolution honors former Justice Villagomez

By Gemma Q. Casas
Variety News Staff

A SENATE joint resolution has been introduced honoring the late Justice Ramon G. Villagomez who passed away on Nov. 30 after spending years in a coma.

Sen. Pete P. Reyes, Ind.-Saipan, introduced S.J.R. 14-69, which also conveys the Legislature’s sincere condolences and sympathy to the family of Villagomez.

Known as a champion of indigenous culture and legal rights, Villagomez has been recognized for his numerous contributions promoting the interests of Chamorros and Carolinians.

Villagomez was also an active civic leader and was involved in the Boy Scouts of America.

“The late Honorable Justice Ramon Garrido Villagomez exhibited marked ability, deep interest and uniform attentiveness for the culture and tradition of the islands and took deliberate steps to make sure that they are passed on to future generations,” the resolution stated.
Reyes said the resolution is a fitting tribute to Villagomez’s memory.

The former justice, who was only 56 when he died, was born on Saipan and was educated in the U.S.

After obtaining his law degree in 1975, Villagomez was admitted to practice law in the then Trust Territory courts.

The following year, he was allowed to practice in the nation’s capital.

In subsequent years, he practiced law in the U.S. District Court of the Northern Marianas, the commonwealth trial court, Guam, the Federated States of Micronesia, Palau and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Villagomez practiced law in the private sector for many years.

In 1986, he was appointed associate judge of the local trial court and served in that capacity until 1989.

That year, he was named as one of the first of the three justices appointed to the CNMI Supreme Court where he served until his retirement in 1997.

Villagomez left behind his wife Angelina, their six children and numerous grandchildren

Saipan Tribune Letter to the Editor

http://www.saipantribune.com/newsstory.aspx?cat=15&newsID=53035

Farewell to Saipan's best ambassador

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

The Honorable Ramon G. Villagomez was the first Chamorro I ever met. It was in 1978, and I was flying to Saipan on the Continental island hopper, and we were stuck in Majuro waiting for a kidnapped child to be boarded on our flight for his eventual return to Alaska. I had been sitting with some Capitol Hill statesiders, who laughed at my naivete for wanting to settle on Saipan without a "prime" lucrative contract, which is the only way, according to them, a statesider would want to live on Saipan.

I remember saying that I still wanted to land on a Pacific island like Saipan, even though my survival depended on only a few dollars in my pocket and my wish to experience the island way of life.

I felt uncomfortable listening to some arrogant Trust Territory primers, and I eventually found a seat next to a quiet young man, who had watched me debate the Capitol Hill gang. I thought he was Spanish, but he proudly said that he was Chamorro. I asked where he lived, and he said that he lived on the island of Saipan. Thus began my education of Micronesia and my future adventure, and my current home of Saipan.

I could have never met a better ambassador for my island orientation. Former Justice Villagomez was returning home from law school, and he gave me limited, but wise insight into the island people that I was about to meet and come to love. I had been apprehensive about my decision to just up and leave California, and my friends thought I would last a few days before I would call and asked them for plane fare back to Los Angeles. But I figured that I could survive, even though I had just discovered that the minimum wage on Saipan was about 60 cents an hour!

Well, I have live the life that many a statesider could only dream of living, and I thank Justice Villagomez for being the introduction into my Saipan world. I have mingled with global people and I have traveled to foreign countries and met with leaders of several countries in my many jobs on Saipan. I have also worked in some of the most interesting jobs that a man would want to have, including my latest job in the Attorney General's Criminal Division.

Let me finalize my tribute to my friend with this somber note. In Justice Villagomez's last days as Chairman of the Board of Regents at the Northern Marianas College, I developed with his blessings the ultimate goals of my educational life, that is, I was able to plan and implement several vocational programs for the island residents that became a loves of my life. Unfortunately, Justice Villagomez fell ill, and with his departure from NMC's Board of Regents, our community college went into a fiasco of greed and the misdirected desires of self-interested people. I only hope that Justice Villagomez's vision will once again return to NMC. God bless you, my friend Ramon Villagomez, and may you rest in peace forever.

Dr. Jack Angello
Fina Sisu

The Day After Yesterday

The deed is done; Yesterday I buried my father. Chamorro funerals are the most excruciating experience that I have ever heard of. I'll explain what I mean once I have a chance to gather my thoughts and put them down on paper.

I slept for 13 hours last night. I fell asleep at 7 PM and didn't wake up until Abraham's baby started making a lot of noise around 8 AM. I can't remember the last time I slept so long. I felt well rested and relieved when I woke up. The painful part is over. I can go swimming now. All we have to do is finish up a few more days of praying.

News from Saipan

There really isn't much to report since my schedule for the week was really set out for me on the day I arrived.

Today is the day before the funeral. We have a very, very long day tomorrow. The procession to the church begins at 7 AM, once we are at the church we will have a viewing of the body for the public, and then the service begins at 11 AM. When the service is over, the five sons, of which I am the oldest, will carry the casket on our shoulders to the gravesite, which is adjacent to the cathedral. I have been told that we should expect many people to try to take the burden of carrying the casket away from us en route to the gravesite. I have never seen this, but I think the way it works is people try to take turns carrying the casket.

Tonight I think we are going to go the funeral home for a final private viewing. It will be our fifth viewing in as many days. I've stopped crying when I see him. I'll be ready for the burial tomorrow.

Saipan Tribune Article about Dad

http://www.saipantribune.com/newsstory.aspx?cat=1&newsID=52866

Flag at half-mast at House of Justice

By Ferdie Dela Torre
Reporter

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

Justices Miguel S. Demapan, John A. Manglona and Alexandro C. Castro have ordered to display the CNMI flag at half-mast in honor of the late Justice and Judge Ramon Garrido Villagomez.

Demapan, Manglona, and Castro directed that the CNMI flag at the House of Justice be flown at half-mast commencing last Friday and ending on Dec. 12.

The justices said this is in honor of the late justice's "valuable contribution to the Rule of Law in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands as an associate justice, justice pro tempore, and judge of the Commonwealth Judiciary."

Chief Justice Demapan also ordered the closure of the judiciary yesterday at 3pm so that the courts' staff may attend a prayer service for Villagomez at the Nuestra Senora dela Paz Memorial Chapel at the Cabrera Center in Garapan.

"Except those Superior Court staff who are involved in the on-going trial before Presiding Judge Robert Naraja, everyone is required to attend," said Demapan in a memorandum to the judges, justices and courts staff.

Villagomez, widely known in the local community as forefather of Article 12, passed away last Wednesday at 11:56pm at the Commonwealth Health Center. He was 56.

Villagomez had been in a comma since he suffered a massive heart attack in April 2000.

Villagomez was appointed and confirmed as judge for the Trial Court in Jan. 1986. In May 1989, he became one of the first three justices of the CNMI Supreme Court.

He retired from the high court on Dec. 6, 1997. Altogether he served in the courts for 12 years.

Villagomez organized the judiciary's pre-law program, sending a number of residents to U.S. mainland law schools. After his retirement, he became the president of the NMI BAR Association and established the high school mock trial program.

I think it is day 4

The days are beginning to blend into one another and I am having a hard time keeping what I have done straight. Yesterday we had 3 different services to attend. We went to church at 6 AM, had a prayer service hosted by the judiciary at 3:30, and then had our rosary at 7:30.

Today has us attending 4 different services. We had church at 6:00 AM and starting at 6:00 PM we are going to go to a Novena, the rosary, and then a prayer service for the family. We'll probably finish up around 9:00 - 9:30 PM.

The funeral and the burial are coming up very soon. Friday will be the end of the ninth day of prayer, we bury him on Saturday, and then we finish up with 9 more days of prayer. I'm not really sure what the beliefs are exactly, I know that Catholics believe that the body goes to purgatory for a while and then moves on to heaven after God hears all of the family's prayers. I'm just not sure if he is supposed to enter heaven on the day he is buried or on the last day of prayer. I'm going to look into it.

On a less serious note, I have been forbidden to touch the ocean until Dad is buried. I guess the Chamorro' believe that the spirits of the ocean will try to take me or something. So naturally, I went swimming by myself at Obyan Beach this afternoon. I'm sorry, I just don't believe in superstition.

I need to look into that.

A moment to breathe

Ah, Monday. It started just like any other Monday. I woke up at 5 AM and went to mass in Garapan at first light and then...

On second thought, it wasn't like any other Monday; It was more like I was living someone else's Monday.

After church we had breakfast at Shirley's again; We went there so that I could use the free wireless Internet (I needed to update my Daily Japan Pic!). I had pancakes and something called Chamorro sausage. I don't know what makes it Chamorro other than that it was spicy. I don't remember any stories about the ancient Chamorros eating sausage anyways.

When we returned back home it was time to start getting the house ready for people to come over next week. For nine days after the funeral, all those people that have been going to the church every night to pray the rosary are going to be coming to the house to pray. A lot of my cousins, aunts, uncles, and family friends are going to be coming. Emily is going to be introduced to my family a la My Big Fat Chamorro Wedding style.

I spent the morning putting a pile of wood on one side of the yard into a neater pile of wood on the other side of the yard, burning boxes of quaker oats snacks that were being used as pig food, and cleaning out all of the garbage in the old pala pala, which is the name for a Chamorro shelter used for cooking and hanging out. I was outside almost all day. I now have a certifiable Chamorro sunburn. Ouch!

I also went to the morgue and the funeral home with Angie and my brothers.

Deep breath.

I finally saw Dad. They did a really good job of fixing him up; He looks just like he did five years ago before his body started to atrophy. I never had to see him when he was at his sickest and therefore I will not have the image of my father's sick body haunting me for the rest of my life. I am thankful for that.

Anything beyond that is a little too personal. I don't mind talking about it in person; I just don't want to post it on the Internet for the whole world to see. You see, I want to talk about everything that I do in Saipan over the next month. I just don't want to talk about that.