our first winter in the tropics

I’d intended to do Saipan updates more frequently (besides what I post on instagram). In fact, I’ve had “six month Saipan update” on my Kojo post list for… well, for the last three months. Haha! How about a nine month update instead?

Overall, we are doing really well! This little season has been a complete 180 from our life in Denver. But, honestly, we were kind of needing a reset button from our frenzied schedule, and Saipan has been just that.

I touched on this in my last update (and probably will in every single Saipan post)- living in this place has a list of huge, gigantic bonuses. It also has some hilariously frustrating quirks and drawbacks (ok, sometimes they are not that hilarious, they’re only frustrating). And there just isn’t that much middle ground.

Things About Saipan That Make Me Nuts-

-access (or lack thereof). Every shopping trip (and dinner!) is an adventure in substitutions. Winging it in cooking is not my strong suit (but I am getting better- there is no other option).

-the lack of efficiency. Every day tasks and errands just take so many steps and so many trips and so much time! For example, it took me three days and seven stops to get Burke and Piper ID cards. For a girl who loves organization and multi tasking, this place is an efficiency nightmare.

-missing our people. This doesn’t make me nuts, just sad. A seventeen hour time difference is so hard to work around. Also, $2000 plane tickets are the worst.

Things About Saipan That I Could Do for the Rest of Forever-

-Winter in the tropics. I used to dread February with everything in me. Here, though, December through February is absolutely idyllic (maybe March too? I’ll let you know when the most perfect weather in the whole world ends). It’s like living in one of the beach screensavers that I used to gaze at from January until March. Can you say lucky?

-Family time. We have less commitments. Adam works less. My work rarely cuts into family time (I can work while Pi is at preschool or after the kids are in bed). I can’t even really put into words how great this season has been for the four of us.
-Nature. We used to live in one of the most gorgeous landscapes EVER, but we rarely had enough open space in our crazy-town-life to get out and enjoy the mountains. The chance to spend our weekends hiking and snorkeling and beaching and pool-ing has been blissful. We didn’t even know how much we needed this, but we did (and you can bet that we’ll be prioritizing family time outside when we move home).

Winter here is definitely my favorite Saipan season so far!