Hi, I'm Ketut, this is my brother Wayan, and this is my other brother Wayan

As a last hurrah before leaving this rock, and to celebrate our Baby O news and my 30th birthday, we put our air miles to work and boarded several planes en route to Bali!  And by several planes, I mean Saipan to Seoul to Bangkok to Singapore to Bali.  Then Bali to Singapore to Tokyo to Guam to Saipan.  Yikes.  We showed up to the airport mentally prepared for a long and exhausting 27 hour trip, but were handed first class lounge passes and tickets to Seoul.  Without asking questions about how this came to be, we boarded the plane through the separate first class ramp, put on our complementary slippers, wiped our brows with lavender-infused hot towels, and immediately got accustomed to first class travel.  Once in Seoul, we crossed our fingers on the way to the transfer desk and Bam!  Another round of lounge passes and first class seats to Bangkok - this became the reoccurring theme as our entire trip, to our surprise, was first class.  A perfect way to the start the trip, especially with a pregnant lady on board!  And for the record, Thai Airways first class is by far the best airline of all time, complete with seats that recline down completely into a bed.  

We even got to hang out with a Korean pop star who was en route from Seoul to Bangkok for a concert.  Before knowing who he was, we knew something was off about this guy the whole flight - people whispering and staring.  It all made sense when we landed and other passengers and stewardesses began to take pictures with him and have autographs signed.

Singapore - my good friend Mike Philipps lives and teaches in Singapore right now - unfortunately he was in the states when we had a stopover there.  Philipps told us our best bet was to stay in Little India at a hostel - I don't know why we didn't question that idea right from the start.  Little India in Singapore is exactly what you'd expect - loud, crowded, and smelly.  And a hostel in Little India, specifically an Australian hostel, is exactly what you'd think - loud, crowded, and smelly.  We were actually semi-looking forward to staying in a hostel again, the last time either of us did was when we first met and traveled in Europe in 2002.  Those fond memories were quickly replaced with the realization of a shared bathroom, 20 year old drunk Aussies, and an open bunk bed room (thank God we had the sole private room just off the bunk bed room).  

The Prince of Wales hostel on the left with the dog poster

Bali - one of the most culturally and spiritually unique places in the world.  As an introductory note, Bali is incredible but might not be the best spot for a pregnant lady in her first trimester - a lot of smells, spices, the infamous "Bali Belly" (think Montezuma's revenge).  For whatever reason, we weren't aware of these things until after the fact - but Colleen made it through with flying colors; in fact, I was the one who fell victim to the Bali Belly.  But that's beside the point.

I've seen the movie Eat Pray Love twice on airplanes now.  Colleen has seen it more times than that, and has listened to the audiotape of it too.  If you don't know about Eat Pray Love, it is a middle-aged divorced woman's search for self in Italy, India, and finally Bali.  The movie stars Julia Roberts and was filmed largely in Bali - specifically Ubud, which was our first destination.  I assumed we'd see a handful of "Gillies" as we came to call them (after the book's author Elizabeth Gilbert), as in single (or divorced) white, Oprah book-clubbing women in their 40s-50s strolling around the streets of Bali.  I had no idea half of the people we'd see in Ubud would be Gillies, all in loose fitting Balinese linen gear.  One man's response to the Gillie outbreak...

Ubud is the cultural center of Bali.  The quaint town is situated in central Bali among picturesque rice paddies and surrounding villages.  The Balinese people are incredibly friendly, very spiritual, and very traditional.  We learned early on that Balinese people - both men and women - only have 4 names, based on birth order.  Wayan is what you name your oldest child, Made is second, Nyoman, and finally Ketut.  If you have a fifth child, you begin again with Wayan!  That's just the start of the unique cultural rules the Balinese live by.  Every home (they are more like compounds) must have certain buildings in certain areas of the property, including a temple. 

The temple at our homestay

Grandpa

Our homestay in Ubud

Another daily ritual, offerings placed outside of every home and building.  You would see hundreds of these offerings every day, often accompanied by burning incense (which didn't help Colleen's cause); so many that at times you couldn't help but step on them on the sidewalk.  Each offering is very intricately made, often with flowers and food.  The whole process must take up hours of each person's day.

We got to Bali the same week that school was let out for summer break.  This meant kids were everywhere, playing soccer and flying kites.  It was like taking a step back in time seeing hundreds kids running around everyday, the sky littered with kites.  Easily one of our favorite things about the trip. 

  

The highest concentration of Gillies in Bali was easily at the Yoga Barn in Ubud.

Another incredible traditional cultural Balinese experience were evening shows performed at various temples around Ubud.  The shows are put on by members of the neighborhood that belong to the particular temple.

The men's show - this is the temple (and men) from the neighborhood where we stayed.

Fire dance - those are coconuts

The fire dancer - notice the black feet

The women's show at another temple

Monkey Forest Sanctuary

Probably the best part of the entire trip was a bike tour through the countryside starting at the base of the largest volcano in Bali - Mount Batur - and ending back in Ubud.  We biked through rice paddy fields and little villages, stopping to meet folks celebrating the birthday of a temple, and biking past a wedding (Colleen wanted to ditch the tour to attend the wedding).  We also stopped at an organic coffee farm - and by organic I mean the coffee is produced by feeding a "civet" (like a cat) the coffee beans and recollecting the coffee beans from the civet's poop.  The civet's digestive tract adds enzymes or amino acids (something scientific), which makes the coffee less bitter.  Apparently, this coffee is some of the most expensive and rare in the world....wasn't my favorite.

Rice paddies

Mount Batur

Enjoying cat poop coffee with our new German friend Volker

Offerings for a temple birthday celebration

Banyon Tree

We left the rice paddies and the Gillies in Ubud and headed for the flashier oceanfront village of Seminyak.  Thank God we had a really comfy room in Seminyak, because we stayed in bed sick one whole day while we were there.  In fact, I'm happy to announce Seminyak made Colleen a true tennis fan who watched nonstop Wimbledon during our Bali Belly days.

We made it out to the beach too.  The kite flying that we came to know and love in Ubud - they love their kites on the beach too.

I also learned how to surf in Bali - which is pretty sweet.  Thankfully, there are no pictures of me surfing, but this is the aftermath.

But best of all, I got to celebrate my 30th birthday on the beach in Bali with my favorite girl in the world.  It was an incredible trip, a great celebration, and an unforgettable final chapter for this year in Saipan.

Guess What?!

You guessed it, I got a job photographing ads for EPT!  But more importantly, Colleen's having a baby!  We couldn't be more excited/anxious/a bit frantic/relieved/thrilled/blessed.  I hope now you'll be able to forgive us for our delinquent blogging...it's been a little busy around here these days!  Colleen is 14 weeks along, and she and Baby O are happy and healthy and enjoying a Waupaca summer as we speak.  Baby O is set to make his/her big debut on February 3rd - which conveniently just so happens to be Colleen's 30th birthday! 

So, what have the past couple months been like with this news?  We found out on June 2nd (June 1st in the states...which happens to also be my mom's birthday!)  We were instantly overjoyed and surprised with the news.  I came home from work and found Colleen already at home.  As we made dinner I asked Colleen if she wanted a glass of wine, at which point she went to the freezer and pulled out a bottle of N/A champagne (the kind you'd toast on New Year's Eve as a kid).  Forever oblivious, I looked at her and said "What, are you pregnant?"  Colleen just looked at me until it registered, and then the celebrating began!

Before finding out, we had been agonizing over the decision whether to stay in Saipan another year, head to another distant land, or head back to the states.  Baby O came along and made that decision for us real quick, as we obviously want to be near family and friends now that we're starting our little family.  Colleen being out of school for the summer, we decided to take a one-last-hurrah trip to Bali to celebrate (blog coming...) and then sent Colleen packing for Wisconsin to settle back in to life at home.  I'm in Saipan until August 18 to finish out my contract and generally attempt to figure out what we're going to do and where we're going to go when I move back!  Yikes!  The plan is to end up in Madison, Milwaukee, or Chicago, but we'll see which opportunities present themselves (first).

We are so blessed to have such a supportive family and great friends in Wisconsin, Nebraska, Texas, Oregon, Illinois, Saipan, etc., so we're certain everything will fall into place soon.  Thanks to everyone for all the well wishes we've received so far.  We're looking forward to seeing you all soon.  On to the next big adventure!  

R.I.P. Blue Bomber: 9/24/2010 to 5/20/2011

We are here today with tears in our eyes and sadness in our hearts to bid farewell to Blue Bomber.  Although Blue was very sick almost the entire time we knew it, and seemed to cheat death on several occasions, we still are saddened and shocked at its untimely passing.  Blue was a great friend, the type of friend who will stick by you and support you when you feel alone.  The type of friend who made you laugh (when it refused to start), made you cry (when it refused to start), made you think (why the %^&^ won't you start?).  Blue always kept us on our toes, and for that we are forever grateful.

Blue's passing was sudden.  After months and months of worrisome noises, unhealthy leakage, and severe shakes, the transmission finally gave out once and for all.  I remember when I heard the news I simply could not believe it.  Let us all remember though that this is not a time for grieving, but instead a time to celebrate a life well lived.  How Blue made us laugh and touched our lives.  This is not a moment to shed tears, but a moment to be thankful that we have known Blue.  As Blue drives off into the sunset, its memory will live on with us forever.

As a special note, we are pleased to announce that Blue was an organ donor, so his parts will be used to help countless other junky island beaters.

The War of the Limes

Odd blog title you say?  Well, that just may be the phrase which best describes the 12-day Manion/Oestreich extravaganza... but I’ll get to that later. 

It goes without saying that we were overjoyed to enjoy the long-awaited company of my parents for two whole weeks, but even more of a treat that Jeff and Beth decided to brave the adventure as well.  We had anticipated the trip for many weeks and having an organized husband, we made sure every single detail was planned out for their Tuesday evening arrival time… too bad they arrived a day earlier than expected!  Thank God for my dear sister Kelly calling to check up on her little sister 30 minutes before they landed because if she hadn’t, our four esteemed guests would’ve been waiting at the airport for 24 hours and we would’ve been fast asleep.  The Manion in me still lives on!!  I will never be “O’Laughlin organized”.  Anyway, we made it to the airport nearly in time - only 5 minutes late thank you very much! 

                                                            

Thanks to Jim O's January visit, we pretty much had the trip laid out before they arrived. We knew we had to hit the ground running so as to not let the jet lag set in.  So the next morning we all piled in Old Blue and it was on!  

We started at the top..... Mt. Topotchao to be exact....

... and then immediately forced Wild Willy to get his monies worth out of that new knee!  Look at that form! 

While the men oo'ed and ah'ed over the course, the women clearly took the game more seriously.

Although there was no bubbling river near-by, Beth and Jeff managed to teach our friends the Waupaca artform of 'happy hour in the water'... everyone caught on quite quickly.

....next we celebrated Beth's birthday in true Saipan style - brunch at the Hyatt complete with the Saipan-famous Hyatt tropical band...

...Beth's birthday party then made it's way to the famous and beautiful grotto swimming hole where the ladies braved the water...

... and ended at Joey and Elizabeth's house for a fresh fish birthday dinner!  Beth agreed it was the perfect way to spend her 40th birthday.

So back to the War of the Limes.... most of you may know that the Mariana Islands may as well be considered living war museum... and if you didn't know that, you certainly know that Bill and Jeff are the biggest war history buffs around. Well needless to say the men of the trip made it their mission to see each and every piece of "war sh*t" on the island, disovered and undiscovered.  We started the war tour on the island of Tinian....

... you have seen pictures of this island in previous posts. Anytime you see huge hilarious scooters, think Tinian.

A moment of silence and awe at the infamous attomic bomb pits.

...however the awe of Runway Able didn't stop us from participating in a friendly scooter race!

... mom and me pretending we led the group into the middle of nowhere to admire the jungle scenery. Dad didn't buy it...surprise surprise!  "Oh isn't it just beautiful Beth!"  "Sure Betty,  now where are we going?"

The whole gang on the Sunset Dinner Cruise!  Afterall, why pass up an all-you-can drink price!



...and while par-taking in the great drink special...it's never a party until the we make ourselves the center of attention!

...The Korean tourists on the cruise did not know what to do with her.... then again, neither did we :)

...however at Godfather's (Jim O's favorite Saipan hang-out) we fit right in!
 

***Sidenote: Limes are extremely hard to come by on Saipan. There are plenty of citrus fruits, but none of them are true limes. What good is a nightly vodka drink without a lime?! If there is a will (which there definitely was) there is a way. Beth somehow walked out of Godfather's with a bag of limes! We were saved!!!!

Here is mom in her element... my students had never seen, much less heard of a storyteller!  Needless to say, it was one of my favorite days of their trip.

Way to write that trip off mom!

And for Jeff and Dad's viewing pleasure!! I mean for YOUR viewing pleasure...a montage of "war sh*t".

We enjoyed an awesome outdoor dinner party at Jerry and Irene Facey's house.  Jerry is our new landlord and served as "war tour guide extraordinare" for the week.

Thanks again Jerry!

Being on a tropical island and all, we made sure our visitors got their fill of sun and sand!  Once we tanned those bright Wisconsin white bodies of theirs, it was easier to take them in public without scaring the locals.

Speaking of scaring the locals... we made sure to do just that while making fools of ourselves out and about in Garapan! You can see Dad was especially excited about this.

It's not a complete tropical vacation for the men without a deep-sea fishing excursion!

While Brian put on his best show to keep up with the pros... he spent most of the day in the boat's 'head'. Next time I don't think he'll pass on the Dramamine...  note the white coloring in his face.

He was DYING to get off the boat right about then!  Maybe next time honey!



 

They certainly caught their monies worth!

We've often talked about the Pre-Positioned Navy ships off the coast of Saipan, well to top off an awesome trip, a friend of ours pulled some strings and got us a tour of one!  The women weren't particularly looking forward to this, however, it proved to be an awesome tour.... perhaps it was the cute Navy Captain....

And for the last evening on island, Brian and I were treated to a fantastic meal at our favorite restaurant. We laughed and laughed and ate and ate and drank and drank

....the perfect way to say goodbye!

Mom, Dad, Jeff, Beth.... we can't thank you enough for making the long trip out here.  I think we accomplished just about everything there is to do here.  We discovered new "war sh*t" AND we found limes - success!  With only 2 short weeks to spend together throughout an entire year it was important to make the most of every day, hour and moment, and I think we did just that!  Saipan can never be the same with the mark you left on it!  Looking forward to seeing you... "whenever" :)