Adventures in Palau

Last week was spring break! As much as I love teaching, we were all very ready for a break.  So Saturday evening I packed my bags and headed to the airport for the midnight flight to Palau.  Palau is only about 250 miles away from Yap.  We are about the same distance from the equator so the temperature is just about the same; boiling hot.  That is where the similarities stop though.  Palau is quite a bit larger, much more modern, and has a myriad of different animals.  I was shocked to see a "city".  To me it seemed quite large compared to Yap with paved and painted roads, light up store signs and screens, busy streets, and gas stations! Going home is sure going to be a shock.  The student missionary girls apartments are right in the middle of town next to the elementary/middle school.  Anyways, I arrived in Palau at midnight and Chelsea attacked me as I walked out of customs! It was so nice to finally be able to talk again!  Sunday we toured the rock islands.  Our first stop was the milky way.  The sand their is ridiculously white and it makes the water look all.. well milky.  It is supposed to be made out of some sort of mineral and be good for your skin so of course we covered ourselves in it.  Next we went snorkeling.  The snorkeling was different there.  The fish seemed a lot larger and their were more kinds, that might have been because we were farther out then we usually snorkel in Yap.  After lunch at a pretty beach we headed to jellyfish lake; by far the best part of the trip.  In one of the rock islands there is a lake full of jellyfish that cannot sting you.  Somehow the water got cut off from the ocean and over the years, the jellyfish stingers became less sensitive.  Long story short it is an entire lake full of millions of jellyfish that can't sting you! It was amazing to float there with jellyfish all around me all different sizes.  Our last stop was a place known as paradise.  It's a snorkeling spot where the fish literally swarm around you.  some were as long as half of my arm!  Hundreds of fish swarm around you, particularly if you have food.  They will eat straight out of your hand!  I felt a little claustrophobic with them all swarming around me! It was really neat to see them up so close though.  The rest of the week I spent with Chelsea and the other student missionaries.  I sat in on her classes, sang with her adorable kids, spoke at their chapel, went out to eat, and enjoyed an amazing massage. The week went by way too fast!  I'm back in Yap now and school as back in session.  We are busy as ever preparing for a pathfinder camp out this week.  Here goes the last 8 weeks!