Bucket list

It’s actually kind of ridiculous trying to keep a blog fully-updated. There’s always more I want to write about, and never enough time to actually put any of it down on paper… and then, of course, like waking from a dream and forgetting it entirely within thirty minutes, my memory becomes hazy. It gives me a newfound respect for David and Kevin of iddxblog.blogspot.com (newfound in the sense that I had never, prior, had any for them) – that they can update with any form of semi-regularity.

            It doesn’t help that the content filter at the hospital has decided that blogspot is one of many banned sites – it was not this way a week ago, but it seems that my blog has “too many words” (this literally seems to be the trouble) to allow access. Which is fine – it just means that I store up journal entries and upload them when I have a chance to get to PPR or an internet café and update from there. Since I have a queue of topics, there’s always more work to be done anyhow.

            For those who have asked, I’m hoping to get to work on shrinking the size of my pictures (taken at 8 megapixels and thus about 3 megs each) to a size more manageable for Palau’s internet to handle. I haven’t done it yet, but soon. Soon.

            As I near the halfway point (I leave 5 weeks from Tuesday), I have begun to compile a list of things I’d like to do before leaving. Many of these are culturally-related experiences: I’d like to go spear-fishing (Jodie, in particular, is EXTREMELY keen on this), I’d like to eat fruit bat (that’s right. Fruit bat. More on that in a sec). There’s a fair amount of diving I still want to do. I want to go to one of the “juicy bars” (more on that later). Some are more simple: I want to see Babeldaob and the capitol, I want to take the World War 2 tour on Peleliu and explore the island for myself, maybe find a trinket or something to bring back home. I want to see a monkey on Angaur. I want to finish my Advanced OWD course, and potentially a wreck-diving specialty course. I want to go to Kayangel (a trip I missed out on due to my need to be on Peleliu a couple weekends ago). I don’t know if I’ll get the chance to do all of these things, but we’ll see.

            Jodie has found multiple people who spear-fish – and has expressed her interest to all of them, without results. Still, it seems to be one of the things she’s most excited to do, and she only has 2.5 weeks left – so we’re hoping either Regis (random guy that works with Kristen), Nathan (the Presidential hopeful’s son), or Jirka will help make that happen. I originally was lukewarm on the idea, because it’s done free-diving (that is, you hold your breath, dive underwater, wait for a fish, shoot it, come back up), and I’m not known for my ability to hold my breath for extremely long periods of time. Still, I HAVE free-dived (free-dove?) to about 20-25’, and it’s possible to spear-fish at those depths (though the pros will free-dive to 50’, wait a minute, and –then- come back up… a maneuver I have nick-named ‘insanity.’)  So, if I get  a chance, I’m going to go. Besides, how often does a kid from Seattle get to go spear-fishing?

            The same goes for fruit bat. Fruit bat soup is, apparently, a delicacy in Palau. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that a ‘delicacy’ is something that would not be tolerated outside of a given culture. They are usually considered unpalatable or disgusting by visitors, but eaten in high quantities by the native populace. Fruit bat soup consits of an entire fruit bat, cooked whole, in some sort of broth. With the fur and wings and everything intact.

            And, as per my insatiable need to exert my dominance over nature, I’m going to eat one of those fuckers before I leave.

            The problem is that fruit bat soup is EXPENSIVE. It was $32 at the Chinese restaurant we went to, and I wasn’t able to find someone to split the cost and the bat with me (I’d eat the bat itself, but the $32 is kind of prohibitive). It was $25 at the Japanese restaurant we went to tonight – an improvement, but still a bit much, and still no takers. Jirka, apparently, has eaten fruit bat – but he usually hunts it himself with a group of Palauans, and thus pays no money. At the recent fair (more on that later), fruit bat was apparently available for $8, and I MISSED IT – I screamed in anguish when I got Vivi’s text message alerting me to its presence… but what could I do? That was the day I was going to go sailing! (More on that later, too). Still, fruit bat, like betelnut, is one of those things I’m going to try before I leave because where the hell else am I going to get to? Same philosophy that got me to eat raw snails (the trochas) will get me eating fruit bats. And spearfishing, perhaps, if an opportunity arises.