Amazing Weekend in Palau

This past week i have been working with Eric Whipps. he is the son of Surangel Sr. and part owner/ Vice President of Surangel and Sons. he has had me trying to figure out their equipment lists. They really have no idea what equpiment they have, if it still works, if its been sold, what job its on. really no info. so i am trying to update the master equipment list and im going out to the sites taking pictures of the equipment, that way we have a record of what it is. its kinda tough though cuz most of the serial numbers and other information has been scratched off or is unidentifiable cuz its old or rusty, or its been painted over. so i have been busy with that. tomorrow i am supposed to go out with this guy and get some more pictures. hopefully i can figure out a system for the equipment.

So last friday night, me and tom went out to this bar thats really close to our house and i meet the Palauan peace corps people, they seemed really nice and we exchanged emails and will hopefully get together sometime. there were only 4 of them and they said that in total there were like 15 palau peace corps volunteers. but it was cool to trade stories for a little bit and tell how different out two situations were. i also meet this guy that knows how to kitesurf, he is from Chezch Republic and is named Jirka, which is really hard to pronounce, cuz its got some wierd sounds in it. but we trade info too. cuz i really want to learn how to kitesurf. so we got to talking over email and i ended up going with him and this girl Viviout to this private beach called Long Beach Garden, it was really out in the middle of no where but it was private and amazing. beautiful sand and water, really just picturesque of the perfect beach. But yeah it was me, Jirka, and then his friend ViVi, who is a Vietnamense American that was born in NB and then randomly got a job here 4 months ago. Cute little girl. so us three show up at this little private beach place. There was a guy named Toby and his Wife Chica. they were really friendly and let us just grab some spots on the beach for free and cooked us dinner and made us coffee and we shared some of our food. it was so cool, we just chilled there with them and learned about some palauan stories. We also had some "special" Mahogany tree. So, the whole reason for me to go with them to this beach is cuz Jirka let me use his kitesurfing equip and try it out. i didnt get on the board but i got the kite in the air and flew it for alittle bit. the harness didnt really fit me so it kept coming off. and let me tell you, i thought i was going to be able to just put that kite where ever i wanted it. and move it and do whatever i wanted with it. THAT WIND IS STRONG. it picked me up like a ragdoll and tttthhhhrrrrreeeewwwww(threw) me in the air and water. it was cool and scary. but mostly cool. the power of the wind was amazing to have hooked up to you. Jirka got some good waves and wind and musta rode for a few hours. I crashed the kite about 4 times but jirka was really pleased with how fast i was learning and was a great teacher and really helped me understand what was going on with the wind and the kite. there was this one time that got the kite into the "power zone" ( you can imagine what the power zone is, where the wind has the most strength and take the kite whereever it wants) but yeah i got it in the power zone which is where you would have the kite if you were riding the waves but i was standing there thinking, " oh crap this is going to be rough" and then i saw Jirka outta the corner of my eye, lunge after the harness and try to grab the it to help keep me down but it was too late, the power of the wind hit that kite and dragged me through the water. it was so cool. i mean it was like a calm before the storm and then all of a sudden, enormous power. But yeah we ended up staying the nite with Toby and Chica, we slept out under this little shelter it was really nice, open to the wind and the waves were crashing about 20 feet away from us, and just listening to that and chilling there was such the classic surfer/beach bum kinda thing. it was an amazing experience. although i couldnt help while i was sitting there in black next to this shack of a house that Toby and Chica live in, out in the boonies of palau. i was like wow this is the making of a horror movie, i was like a crazy young american traveler meets a guy at bar and then they go surfing down at this private beach and he is never heard from again. haha. but then i like Oh well. haha. actually at one point Jirka pulled out his diggaradoo (the australian pipe musical thing, its that thing that makes the BOOOOMMMMOOOOMMMMOMMM sound). and we were just sitting there in the dark. it was cool. Vivi just chilled the whole time and read some of some book and slept in the hammock. just soaking up some rays.

Ok so then i get back to the house on sunday around 2 pm on sunday (yesterday) and i have this note from tom, saying what he did for the weekend and that he and the family went out to the rock islands and then at the bottom its said, "oh yeah, we are judging a Philippians Beauty Pageant at 7pm." and im like oh crap what did tom get me into. i was dog tired from surfing and the whole beach experience and lack of sleep the night before on the beach. but i was like whatever lets do this thing. so me and tom were two judges for the Miss Valentine 2008 pageant. which is apparently a big competition. we went with Eric and Joy Whipps. Joy was Miss valentine 2005 or 2006 ( i cant remember). but it was really fun, we got our picture taken with the winner, which isnt the one i voted for, i actually didnt think the winner was that good. but she had the most fans in the crowd and also raised the most money, so she won. So then we were sitting there after the pageant and im like falling asleep standing up and my buddy JV ( a philippian worker at surangel and son's and also Joy whipps brother) is like, "hey we are going out!", so come on. and i tried to be like no no no, im tired, but he wouldnt have it. and im half scared cuz who knows where this guy is going to take us. SO!! on a sunday night after a weekend of surfing and judging philippian beauty pageants i am taken to a KTV lounge.......ok so for those of you who dont know what i KTV lounge is, which was me last night before i entered the bar. but it is a kinda karaoke/call-girls/bar lounge. it was quite interesting. but anyways Eric and Joy went with us and they bought drinks for us and the owner of the bar/lounge bought a bottle of really good scotch wiskey for tom. Today is tom's birthday(feb.11) so that was another reason we went out to the bar. but yeah basically you can buy girls drinks and then they come and sit with you and talk and basically keep you company. of course the more drinks you buy the more company you get. So Eric and Joy pay for the VIP room. so we got a room where you can dance, sing and basically do whatever. The room came with 6 shots of Tequila which were drank by our lovely lady friends(Gwen and Faith). ha. but we all drank alittle and danced and YUP...you guessed it, sang alittle karaoke. haha. we had Sweet Home Alabama and Hotel California blaring in VIP. Got some rap music and taught the girls how to grind american style. and just had a good time with the ladies. It was a good birthday present for tom and im glad i got to get in on it. Good times, Good times. needless to say me and tom were alittle late to work this morning but we had the bosses approval beforehand. its always nice to take the boss with you to the bar the night before, it really helps things the next morning. haha. But yeah so that was my amazing weekend. it really was a great little weekend.