A Sunday afternoon hike through the... JUNGLE.

We have become great friends and hiking buddies with a man named David. David has lived here on the island for about 16 years and sadly will be moving back to the states in October. But before he left he wanted to take anyone who was willing on some amazing hikes. This way he would be able to revisit all the amazing things on the island one last time, but also to show us new Howlies all the amazing and hidden spots to go... this was our first hike... 

2 miles long in the jungle.

We came across an old bomb from WWII just lying next to some rocks, as you can tell mark was pretty excited =).

This is our hiking group for the day... Mark, Me, Jackie, Jake, Joel, David, and John another man from church! Look at that sweat on us!
 

We even came across a star fruit tree... so we took some home =). 

Our New Ride and First Back Road Trip.

So after being apartment locked because of having no car, we finally decided we had to give in to buying a car... so after test driving a few, we obviously picked the most islandy one you could get... rust spots, etc... but needless to say it runs great and has been a blast to use in the last few weeks. It has taken us places we couldn't get to by foot or car.... 

Hang Loose! 

One of our first places we went was Tank beach... i felt like i was in a picture of Hawaii, but this was so much cooler! It also had amazing shells all over it!

The First Week of School.

Well we are already starting our third week of school, but the last two weeks have defiantly had it's ups and downs. All in all, i think Mark and I both are enjoying teaching at Saipan Community School very much and love all of our students. I have had my moments of wanting to send them all the to the office, but I think the rough patch it almost over.. they are very cute though =)... Here are some photos of my class.... 3rd graders...

In the classroom. 

Some of the boys on the playground... i have 13 boys and 4 girls... 

Me and my class on the beach right behind the school. 

After the first day of school the Van dams and Sawyers felt it was good time for us to go and relax a little and take some time off from thinking about school... So we hit up a resort just down the road from us for half priced drinks and appetizers... the Pacific Island Club... 

Jake and Jackie...

Us. 

Acting like third graders =)

And a normal photo op pose around the island by tourists... This is one of my favorites =). 

Please continue to pray for the staff and students at SCS... we have had a great start to the year and would love for it to continue this way! 

Arn't my students cute?

All in One Weekend...

On our first whole weekend of the island, Sandy, The pastors wife and kindergarten teacher was wonderful enough to offer us her car to go and tour the island... needless to say we took her up on it and enjoyed the islands beautiful surroundings... 

The grotto is a big giant cave with water inside of it along with other caves that lead out into the ocean... some of the best diving and snorkling takes place here in the crystal blue waters....

The grotto from up above...

The blue waters of the grotto, i actually took this picture!

Next was our hike to Bird island... I took a fall on the hike down, but it was well worth it. There are also hermit crabs on every single beach... they arnt as exciting now that we see them all the time =). 

Bird Island, this is a bird sanctuary... you arnt allowed on it, but you are allowed on the beach next to it. 

Mark and I at Bird Island.

The snorkle kings, Mark and jake.

Suicide Cliff... This is where hundereds of islanders commited suicide, along with throwing their young ones off the cliff right before WWII. They would rather die then be on island when the americans came.. they thought we were going to eat them. 

View from the top of Suicide. 

A view of Downtown Saipan, Also known as Garapan.

My Favorite Flower. 

Managaha Island, only 3 miles off of the shore of Saipan, no one lives there but some of the best snorkling goes on there.. there are even little sharks swimming around. I cant wait. 

Jake, Jackie, and Mark in our nice island car . 

A Banana Tree!

Coconuts!

Needless to say, we are enjoying ourselves =)

Signing off until next time!

Week Before School Began...

Well the week before school began, we were constantly in our classrooms, organizing, going through, and making them our own. We both still are not completely done with all we would like to do to make them our own, but as time goes on i hope we will get there. 

Front Wall in Marks Classroom. 

Back Wall of Marks Classroom.

Mark in his Corner... 

Also the Friday night before school began, Bobby or Mr. Winkfield our principle invited the entire staff at to their home for dinner and fun. We even celebrated summer birthdays. 

from left to right: Fellie (elementary teachers assistant),Me, Joel (PE), Terry (4th Grade), Sandy (Kindergarten) and Tammie (5th Grade).

Enjoying dinner on the patio. Mark, Me, Terry and Bobby.

The front of my classroom. 

Back of my classroom. 

Me in my corner.... 

Thursday Night Marketss.

Hey There! So it must be my computer that wont let me upload photos to our blog, so until i can figure it our i will throw pictures of my flash drive and do it on another computer =). So for a few days i am going to try and catch you up. 

Here are some photos from the weekly Thursday night market that Saipan has in their downtown. There is entertainment and crafts for sale, but mostly it consists of food. We tend to hit it up every thursday night... You get 6 choices, egg rolls, pork, rice, noodles, veggies, etc for only$5.00! It is a great deal and there is always left overs! 

Mark & Jake enjoying their 6 choices for $5.00

Partial View of the market. 

Saipanda!

Saipanda!

Still here.

Hey There!

Just wanted to let you know we are still alive. We are having issues with our blog still. I cant get it to upload pictures... so if you have any suggestions on what to do, please let me know =).

We are almost into our 2nd week of school already, and are feeling it.... we are exhausted... today (saturday) we didnt do much, which has been nice. Mark and i wanted some time just the two of us, so we played tourist downtown and walked through some shops, and then drove around through some neighborhoods to see what the homes looked like, etc. Now we are at home enjoying a nice relaxing evening.

All is well here in this neck of the world... once again, any suggestions on how to fix this blog issue would be wonderful.

we hope all is well..

Oh and i you can and want, please sign up for SKYPE... it is a free service on the internet, just google it. If you have a web cam we can see eachother and talk for free, and if you dont have a web cam it is just like a free telephone call, but over the internet. We talked with marks family today and got to see the golden wheat fields, our new niece and what they were having for dinner =) So sign up!

Our skype names are:
Mark_a_sawyer (when he is online at school)
Brittany_e_sawyer (when i am online at school)
markandbrittanysawyer (when we are home).

Love,
B