My holiday spirit

My wife and I met in Honolulu while attending college, united by our mutual love for coffee. Coffee is a magical substance allegedly discovered by goats. Myth or not, every time I see a goat i feel a little bit grateful. Speaking of grateful it is approaching Thanksgiving and i wanted to share with you some of the cultural differences my wife has expressed her gratitude for over the years of transitioning from Alaska to Palau. It is always difficult and isolating to change cultures, especially when one of the items on the list is the inability to get a good cup of coffee for under five dollars.

• That the postal service does a damn fine job getting things too and from Palau. Better late than never. This relates to getting the much cherished care packages (coffee) and books from Amazon.
• That is not a homelessness problem here, in fact I believe there are currently no homeless people in Palau.
• There is no McDonalds, Walmart or other large shopping center where one can get trampled in an over zealous attempt to purchase discount electronics on black friday.
• The dentist does not yell at her for having shamefully decayed teeth because almost everyone else there to have their teeth repaired has been chewing betel nut for decades.
• The taro patch is a wonderfully muddy crop to cultivate.
• Grandmothers say very bad hilarious swear words in Palauan.
• Her college training in the Japanese Language is actually pretty useful here. Just recently she helped a very distraught Japanese man buy pants. no, really.
• Palau is demilitarized and citizens are not able to carry firearms, hence no school shootings.
• Palau is a tolerant community and People are not generally beaten or shamed for homosexuality. 
• The variety of different excuses to eat coconut milk.
• That there is sea glass on many beaches in large quantities.
• That coconuts cost just over one dollar and do not come packaged in little things that resemble juice boxes bearing the mysterious 'gluten free' affirmation and costing upwards of four dollars. (Also, the brown ones available in the grocery stores in Alaska turn out not to be something good for drinking if you live within a thousand miles of an actual coconut tree.)
• The snail paced internet speed means that people still make eye contact instead of looking at sparkling electronic devices where they can instantly be connected to 20 different people all more interesting than the one standing before them. (We still love technology, but it is a tenuous relationship...) 
• Different varieties of bananas and learning that the banana tree itself must be fully cut down to harvest a bunch after a nine month wait.  
• Illegal dvds. Initially feeling the unamericaness of supporting such flagrant piracy wore off and after agonizing over a lack of movie theaters and the cost prohibitive Netflix option...... The 'no pants' required three dollar illegal copy of varying quality became a way of life. 
• The rock islands and the fantastic ability to get there by boat and find the secluded corners, before anyone else even wakes up.
• Palauan women and their amazing toughness. I have never even met one who needed drugs during childbirth. One day Mango (this is my wife) and I came home and my mother was complaining that her teeth were rotting, but she said she hated the dentist so she just reached in, gave a solid tug and through the rotten troublemaker out the window. 

I am just thankful for my lovely wife and daughters this thanksgiving. I am grateful that even while she rests, recovering from her tonsillectomy, that she has not forgotten the beauty she has found here in spite of her struggles. If you see someone who seems out of place please try to be kind and give them a chance to adjust, this is what I have learned from my own experience living in Hawaii and my wife's experience adjusting here.

Above all, happy thanksgiving and welcome to Palau!