FB Friends and Saipan Purchases

As I have mentioned before, I am completely addicted to a couple of people on Saipan who keeps blogs.  If I had to pick, I would say Grant and Kara's (Saipan : Teaching, Living & Recreation) is my favorite.  They are very thorough in their reviews and descriptions of life on the island.  Jason "friended" Grant on Facebook at some point (I think a long time ago) and has been telling me I need to look through his photos to see more of the island and also get some more glimpses of the apartments. 

I spent some time this morning doing just that.  The apartments are a decent size- when you walk in the front door, you are in the kitchen then the dining room then the living room- all open to each other, sort of loft-style.  One one side of the apartment (I think it differs from unit to unit), there are 2 bedrooms with the bathroom inbetween.  We have been told our room will have a double bed and Emilia's room will have a twin bed.  The bathrooms have a shower, but no tub.  (I am not exactly looking forward to this with Emilia..the girl who HATES water in her face.  Any suggestions in this area would be greatly appreciated!!  Otherwise I am going to track down a big rubbermaid tub and use it as a makeshift tub for her.  Haha!)

He had also started asking Grant a few questions here and there about what we can expect, what is different than the mainland, what to bring/not bring, etc.  Grant has been Super graciously to always answer his questions and gives great detail.  Even his wife, Kara recently messaged Jason to tell him that I was welcome to message her with any additional questions.  I just sent her a friend request this morning and once she confirms, I have a list of questions ready for her! (O:

In addition to all their kindness and willingness to help us prepare for this move, they are selling us many items that they did not want to ship back to the States!  Grant put together a very detailed list of the items (as well as the tips and tricks for working the blender, toaster, etc.  Love it!) with very reasonable prices.  I cannot tell you how thankful I am to have these worries lifted.  Things like 2 oscillating fans (now Jason will just have to find one, because I will probably hog BOTH of these, haha!), microwave, toaster, coffee maker (J will be glad!), beach chairs, cups, plates, bowls, silverware, baking dishes, blender, laundry basket and a cupcake pan (Emilia and I LOVE cupcakes and muffins--seriously, I'm super stoked about this one!!).  The list has a bunch more on it, but I didn't want to go line by line.  Do you really care that much?? ;-)  Our budget for shipping items isn't huge and this will cut down on a LOT of those expenses for us.  Yay yay yay!!  I love God's provisions in this area!  I think it works out well for Grant and Kara as well because they don't have to sell items off one at a time- we just told them we will take it ALL!

I have also been thinking through the few things I would like to ask Kara...I'm going to list them so I don't forget.

1.  What types of meals do you eat regularly?  Do you eat most meals at home, or do you go out?  What items are better to purchase at the market vs the store?  How do the prices on staple food items (milk, sugar, rice, noodles, bread, peanut butter, etc.) on Saipan compare to the mainland?  (Would it be possible for Grant to do another great review based on this area of topics??  Haha!)

2.  Are there any items (personal, home related, etc.) that you brought that you think you could have gone without.  Any you wish you would have brought?

3.  (This is a pretty superficial question, but I'm going to ask it all the same!)  I noticed in Grant's photos that you started out with shorter hair and it looks like you've grown it out while you were there.  I currently have pretty long hair and have been going back and forth about cutting it short before we move.  Do you have any thoughts about that?  It looks to me like most girls just wear a ponytail, with the exception of Rachel- how can she keep all that pretty hair down so much?  She has to be hot!  I am guessing the humidity is so high that even if I had short hair, it would never keep any styling...I am just curious what your experience with this was.

4.  Are there any other Saipan bloggers out there?

Those are the ones I have come up with so far.  If you were moving to Saipan, what would YOU want to ask?