The Suri (yeah, that one...)

First Darryl Hannah and now Tom Cruise? Yes, apparently Palau is the place you run to when you are a crazy scientologist and don’t want to be disturbed because you are hiding on a boat with your gay lover. Ok, so no one actually saw his gay lover, but we did see a shirtless guy in a cowboy hat getting off the dingy and onto the Suri, the name of Tom’s yacht. So Tom was here for about a week after new years, without Katie and Suri. I didn’t see him or anything, but I heard he was actually quite nice. Anyway, we are so almost famous here by association.

In much more interesting news, I went sailing last weekend and finally made it to Kayangel, Palau’s northernmost island. It’s a tiny island, with no roads or cars, just cute little paths made of sand. They are known for their amaaaaazing lemons and bananas. We were showered with both by the kind people that live there (see picture). We spent the night on one of the small islands next to Kayangel, called Ngerbalas (I’m spelling that wrong). We built a big bonfire and cooked the fish Jirka had caught on the way there. Spanish mackerel makes delicious sashimi also. The following day he caught five more mackerel just trolling behind the sailboat. Two were twenty pounds, and again, delicious. Dad, you will be happy to hear that I actually filleted one of those mackerel. AND ate it raw!
This past weekend we celebrated my birthday! I’ve always wanted a summer birthday so that I could do fun outdoorsy stuff, and this year temporarily gave me that chance. We took a speed boat out to a very cute beach for the day. Some of my completely wonderful girlfriends choreographed and performed an amazing water ballet in my honor. Most of the day we just spent floating in the water and eating. It was fabulous. The nighttime celebration went as my birthdays typically do: I got drunk, forced my friends to sing karaoke (Joel, that was an amazing rendition of “can’t take my eyes off of you”) and danced a LOT. Oh, I also go serenaded by the mamasan at the karaoke bar with “loosen up my buttons,” which was a first. Totally rad.