In the Land of Women: Babe, you're not lost

I scanned an abridged version of Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus and happened upon a section that talks about how a woman tends to withdraw if she doesn't feel good about herself. There is a natural cycle for women, what the author calls the wave that is centered on their ability to give to other people. The wave is said to be stable if a woman feels full of love and energy to give to others. If they continue to give to others and if they don't receive the same amount of love and attention returned to them, then their wave begins to intensify and grow until it eventually crashes. A woman then feels that she has nothing else to give to those in her life. This is when she needs the love of those around her (including herself of course) so that she can come out of the bottom of the wave (per se). Once she is restored by this support (and self love) she is able to again climb to the top of the wave, and once again have love and energy to give.

It was a surprise to know that one of the things that impressed you about me was that I didn’t seem to be held down by the conventions of the world. Honestly, I was late in figuring out that I’ve spent a whole lot of time and effort trying to improve myself. I kept wondering what was wrong with me and how I should change myself in order to make my life work. Then there it was: There was nothing wrong with me, and there was a whole lot of wrongs that I was taught about myself, and how life should be.

Guess what? There’s nothing wrong with you neither. In fact, I think you’re perfect the way you are. This is just a reminder:

'Cause you are not alone

I'm always there with you

And we'll get lost together

Until the light comes pouring through

It's when you feel like you're done

And the darkness has won

Babe, you're not lost

When your world's crashing down

And you can't bear the cross

I said, babe, you're not lost

(from Michael Buble's song Lost)

Take care of yourself. Ti napu.

The Beachcomber

Tagged!

I've been bad.

I've been tagged.

I haven't answered.

I will soon.

I hope you're patient.

I've got I-itis.

Ti napu.


The Beachcomber

Native Medicine Symposium

I had the honor of attending the Inetnon Amot Natibu/Ammwelil Safeyal Faluwasch also known as the Native Medicine Symposium held at the Man'amko Center on August 9, 2008. I've always wanted to learn more about traditional healing methods of the Chamorros and Carolinians. I was glad that this event was put together for free by passionate people who understand the value of passing traditional knowledge on to the current generation (even if they are not local) so that the healing arts do not disappear in time.

The student volunteers at the registration table who are hopefully going to retain this part of their culture.

Some medicinal plants brought as examples courtesy of the CNMI Forestry Division.

Cousins, Laurina Flores Boyer and Manny Flores Borja. Laurina is a Registered Nurse and Señot Borja is the ANA Project Director who helped put the symposium together.

Piper guahamense or Wild piper is often added to medicinal mixtures. It is aromatic and fleshy. It's funny because my sister, brother and I used to make play medicine with this same piper many years ago in the Philippines when we were kids. The Chamorros call this Papulun aniti or the "pepper leaf of the supernatural spirit." Some may argue with me and say that aniti means the devil but I believe this to be a word change that the Catholic clergy made many years ago.

A sample of Lulujut (Maytenus thompsonii) an important ingredient in many local medicines. The young leaves have an attractive pink tinge.

Some samples of seeds, stems, roots and leaves that are used as local medicine.

At first, there was a panel discussion with Chief Lino Olopai, Señora Manglona, Señot Donald Flores, si Señot Kapileo yan Senadot Maria T. Pangelinan.
Si Señot Rafael Rangamar, Dr. Daniel C. Lamar, yan si Señora Manglona. It was an interesting panel especially since it included Dr. Lamar, a Western educated and licensed physician who before going into medical school studied herbology. He was emotional at one point talking about plants being alive and part of our spiritual world and how it was his mother that introduced him to herbal medicine. National treasures: Our traditional healers; suruhanus yan suruhanas of Saipan, Tinian and Rota.

Dr. Lamar brought some Centella asiatica which he said is used for the promotion of healthy skin, anti-wrinkle, for enhancing mental acuity and staving off memory deterioration as well as improving blood flow by strengthening blood vessels and controlling varicose veins.

This is a relative of the sunflower and daisy that Dr. Lamar brought along from his house. The leaves are velvety and had a pleasant odor when crushed. Known as Sambong (Blumea balsamifera) in the Philippines and it is a antiurolithiasis (against kidney and gallbladderstones) and a diuretic used to aid the treatment of kidney disorders. The Sambong leaves can also be used to treat colds and mild hypertension.

Si Señora Liz Rechebei, Uncles Ben Borja and Donald Flores sharing plant lore and a merriment.

My good friend and father figure, Refaluwasch chief and traditional navigator, si Señot Lino Olopai. Laurina Boyer is smiling beautifully at the back.

Si Señot Rafael Rangamar, Lino's cousin and a Refaluwasch (Carolinian) medicine man. He spoke in his native tongue and he kept laughing as he recounted stories of midwifery and pointed at a few family members (like his wife and daughter) in the audience who were delivered traditionally. I enjoyed his jolly demeanor.

Si Señora Manglona, a suruhana from Rota explaining the use and efficacy of Åmot Sågue’ .

Åmot Sågue’ or medicine for post surgical pain presentation board.

This is the presentation board for Åmot Tabatdiyo or medicine for headaches and nosebleeds.

This is the presentation board for Åmot Makpong Patgon or medicine for children with urinary problems. Our Rotanese suruhana said that this mixture can even get rid of the strong ammonia-like smell of the urine.

My very first local medicinal brew and the programme. The brew is a concoction for general good health and for cleansing the insides. It tasted like warm Oolong tea.

Hey, there's Ellen's mom, Jeanne (third from the left). She was selling some of her artworks at the fair.

The captive audience listening about planting and conservation.

A presentation by Señora Calvo on Åmot Mahulat and showing some of the ingredients .

Here's Señora Toves preparing medicine for congestion. She said that the traditional herbs worked better than over the counter expectorants and decongestants.

The table was shaking too much so the pounding had to be moved to the floor. She used a stone mortar and a pestle made from an Ifit (Intsia bijuga) stump. Ifit is the State Tree of Guahan and is a very dense local hardwood. Dr. Lamar was the brave volunteer that took a few drops of the concoction up the nostrils.

It looks like a few people had to hold him down in this picture but they were actually just helping him from slipping off the chair since he needed to almost lie down for the mixture to go down his nasopharynx cavity.

Of course, Dr. Lamar had to get a phone call from the hospital in the middle of the whole demonstration.

The crowd laughed all the way through the demonstration. Doc said that it did not sting as much as he thought it would and that it felt good. They gave a few small bags of the decongestant mix and it smelled so strong that I almost felt dizzy from the aroma.

Too bad my camera didn't get a good after picture of Dr. Lamar. As you can see he was doing all right after the experience.

This is the presentation board for Åmot Mahulat or medicine for sore mouth/tongue/throat.

Si Señot Kapileo reminded us that there is a lot of secrecy when it comes to traditional healing since in the past, enemies could render medicines useless, ineffective or can even manipulate them to be harmful. This is one of the reasons why healers prefer not to plant herbs near their houses and just keep the knowledge of where to find the necessary plants in the jungles. A book of traditional medicine was passed on to him from Chuuk and he says that his successor has to not only be able to read Chuukese but also be able to prove their worth as a useful member of the community.

Our traditional healers from Tinian. The speaker here, "Dr. Gurak" told us that he heals with energy/spirituality and not herbs.

Si Señot Joe "Dr. Gurak" Cruz. He told the men he had real good medicine for us specifically and to speak to him in private after the presentations if we wanted to learn more.

Many thanks to the organizers and presenters for sharing your knowledge with me. I will continue to promote the natural heritage of the Commonwealth in order to uphold the local traditions and knowledge.

Ti napu.

The Beachcomber

Coccoloba: The Sea Grapes

I've been watching the Sea grapes (Coccoloba uvifera) at Micro Beach, Saipan for a few weeks now and finally, some of the fruits have ripened. The trees are pretty tall and we didn't have a ladder nor a long stick to harvest the fruits, so Laurina and I resorted to picking the good ones from the grassy ground below. Don't they look appetizing? Sea grapes are plum-like in taste, sweet and a little tart, although there really isn't a lot of flesh in between the rough edible skin and the seed. It's a nice snack though when you're on the go boonie stomping or beachcombing. There are still a lot of fruit clusters that are in the process of ripening.. Try some, but if you're picking the fruits from the ground, you'll have to contend with the ants and give the fruits a quick rinse in fresh water. It was Laurina's first time trying them and she quickly became a fan.

Here are some unripe fruits. Uvifera is Latin for "bearing clusters of grapes" and they actually do look like grapes hanging from the trees. I read somewhere that people actually make wine out of sea grapes in the Caribbean Islands (a traditional Christmas drink) and others like to make jam since they are high in pectin (a gelling ingredient). It is supposedly one of the first beach plants Christopher Columbus encountered in that region.

The trees can grow up to 15 M (50 ft) and the leaves are leathery and attractive. Can you see the red veins of the round leaf? The Coccoloba's leaves turn red to brown as they mature making them a favorite subject for painters. Terry Denson has beautiful watercolors here. Sea grapes also inspire poetry and you can read the famous poem by 1992 Nobel Laureate in Literature Derek Walcott's poem by the same name here. In Bev's Scattered Thoughts, she writes about how she will soon change the title and layout of her blog. Denson's poem mentions the sea-wanderer, and I thought how perfect that name would be for me if and when I finally leave my beloved islands for a new place away from the waters of the deep blue sea.
Here's a picture of an early flower cluster from a small tree on top of the Forbidden Island look out in March. The trees were shrub-like and maybe too young still to fruit since the flowers were withered when I went back to the spot in July.

Ti napu.

The Beachcomber (and the future Sea-wanderer)

Of Emotions and Language

I’ve just finished watching Autumn Hearts (Emotional Arithmetic in Canada) on DVD. Luckily, amidst all the power outages on Saipan these days, some of us can still rely on laptops with DVD players and a barely two-hour battery charge.

This film is about a reunion of three people who were imprisoned in the Drancy internment camp by the the Nazis during World War II, and it explores how that experience decades later still affected their lives presently. I could not resist the powerhouse of a cast that included Susan Sarandon, Max von Sydow, Christopher Plummer and Gabriel Byrne. The gathering in the movie takes place in a soggy farm in Quebec during a beautiful Canadian Fall.

The great Max von Sydow and the always beautiful Susan Sarandon

Allow me to share two things that I took from the film that won’t spoil it for anyone who may want to watch it. One, the theme of being with someone with emotional damage really hit close home for me as I recalled a similar relationship I had with someone with a troubled past. When the damage surfaced and when it started affecting our lives, we had to seek professional intervention. This is why I am a big fan of counseling and psychotherapy. This experience was one of the most difficult and life changing passage in my personal story. There aren't any books nor movies or speeches that can truly prepare a person for this type of struggle especially when the onset is unannounced or without warning. Of course, I do not wish this challenging experience on anyone but when you are at your wits end and when the situation makes you wonder if counselling is needed, consider it seriously. A good therapist or counselor is sometimes the intervention that one needs in order to start increasing a personal sense of well being and reducing the effects of a damaging experience.

Secondly, a scene in the movie reinforced to me how beautiful language is and how important it is to teach children how to appreciate language. I think I read somewhere that language development begins before birth and continues to be a major part of the child's development for the first three years of life. This translates to roughly gaining about 900–1,000 words at the age of three which will make up most of the words that we know as adults.

Von Sydow, Roy Dupius as Benjamin Winters and Dakota Goyo as Timmy, Benjamin's son

In one scene, Christopher Plummer’s character dismisses his 6 year-old grandson, Timmy (played by Dakota Goyo) with, “If you are here to inquire about a visit to our friends the frogs, the time is not good.” Timmy sighs loudly and it cracked me up! How many of us speak like this to the children around us? I truly believe that we can best help a child develop good language by including the child in our conversations and believe that they have the capacity to learn and understand.

Have a happy Monday, all. May you find emotional balance and see the beauty in language.

Ti napu.

The Beachcomber

Forbidden Island: There & back again

For the second time this month, I found myself taking some friends (no Hobbits) to Forbidden Island. Rosita wanted to show JP and her cousin, Lino the hidden pool there, and asked if I could lead hike. I asked Laurina and DJ to come and join us, since I haven’t taken them along in an excursion for quite some time now.

The hike almost got cancelled because the day started out quite rainy and there was some worry about the hike being too muddy. I was glad that I was able to convince the group that we can go slowly and that getting dirty on the hike was part of the fun anyway.

Rosita looked a little worried about the muddy trail.

Good thing she had her trusty walking stick! You have to go cut through some sword grass in the sabana to get to the islet.
Happy hikers: Rosita and Laurina
Then you go through a bit of secondary forest. It was pretty muddy and slippery. I thought for a second that maybe I shouldn't be so gung ho or determined the next time it's this rainy.

The hike was nice since the sun wasn’t too intense but we did need to be careful not to slip on the muddy ground. We had to make a few stops just to scrub the mud off the soles of our shoes on roots and rocks along the way. The trail was slowly getting overgrown by the foliage again. Time to bring a machete! DJ actually did most of the leading since this is his fourth time on the hike. I was glad to be at the back this time around, taking my time to look at things and to take a few pictures.

The pretty and fragrant Sumac or Aidia cochinchinnsis

Wild passionfuit or Passiflora suberosa
Dizzying heights

Can you see the fringing reefs? There she is!
There was enough walking sticks picked up on the trail between Laurina and Rosita for an entire cadre of hikers.

Looks quite treacherous!

Easy! Carefull!

Plenty rocks, nei!
Pretty sandstones in the dirt
Our constant seashore companion: Princess Naupaka, the Half-flower.

You can see two types of Screw Pines here: Pandanus tectorius in the foreground with the slimmer, longer leaves, and P. dubious in the background with the wider, shorter leaves. The Chamorros call these Kafu and Pahong respectively. There will be a quiz later.
Lantana camara or Wild sage. It is a pretty flowering shrub with an interesting odor.
We found some Dodder or what the Hawaiians call Kauna'oa growing in the sabana or grassland
Can you see the small white flowers of this parasitic plant?
I blogged earlier about the Hawaiian island of Lanai's official lei made of orange Kauna'oa

I made DJ a quick mwarmwar with Kauna'oa and Lantana .

I asked him to look like a matao: a Chamorro chieftain.

We made it! Laurina, JP, DJ, Lino and Rosita.

JP on location
Nice outcropping where you can see different layers of earth
I see you!

A Polished nerite (Nerita polita)

Some Plicate nerite (Nerita plicata).

These shells are bright yellow inside and can crawl pretty fast.

Are you all ready to go to the hidden pool?

Looking straight down to the opening of the cave

Lino squeezing in the narrow passage

C'mon, Rosita! I'll catch you if you fall!
JP, the avid photographer

The last time I was at the pool, I was a bit disappointed because the water was so low. We trekked out at about 2 P.M. thinking that the high tide would be upon us in an hour to insure enough water in the pool. Man, I’ve never seen that pool so low! It looks like the surf affects how much water there is more so than the tide itself. Oh, well. DJ and I jumped in the stagnant water anyway, and shared the time with the a few flagtail fishes and a lone sea cucumber.

An hour or two later, it was time to climb back out

Tanke Beach, Kagman

After Forbidden Island, I wanted to see Tanke Beach to maximize our time in Kagman. It gave DJ, Lauire and I the perfect opportunity to beachcomb a little for some neat critters. There are usually lots of marine debris on this beach since it faces the Pacific Ocean in the east. All sorts of trash washes up here from all over the Pacfic Rim.
Here's a curious sole with oysters growing in the little spaces or pockets.

A closer look after carefully taking out a few reveals some Isognomonidae, or Tree oysters. The beautiful inside is nacreous or pearly. The ancient Chamorros fashioned fish hooks out of these shells.

Plenty trash, nei!

A little hermit crab in a nice Fine-net Peristernia (Peristernia nassatula)

There are enough signs at Tanke Beach saying that it is a Marine Protected Area, yet we saw this guy obviously fishing there.

Goose barnacles (Lepas sp.) that were still alive attached to an old water jug.

Ti napu.

The Beachcomber