Tidbits

- I had a gecko in my apartment the other night. I haven't seen many bugs in my place so far, but the gecko was hanging out on one of my walls. He wasn't bothering me, so I let him be. Maybe I'll save something on my car insurance.

- They love their acronyms here. The biggest resort "Palau Pacific Resort" is simply known as PPR. The next biggest "Palau Royal Resort" is PRR. Anything with Palau in the title is invariably shortened into an acronym which after you figure out the acronym makes things easier, but a first it takes time to figure out where and what people are talking about.

- There are no commercials on tv. There are commercial breaks, but they only advertise future programing on the channel. The cable tv is a total monopoly controlled by PNCC and they don't run ads. It would seem like no ads would be great, but what happens is you end up watching the same programming commercials again and again and it gets rather tedious.

- Monday was the observance of Independence Day and they had a fireworks show at the bridge connecting Koror and Babeldaob. (Locals call it the K-B Bridge, but officially its name is the Japanese Friendship Bridge because Japan paid for the bridge). The bridge is visible from the roof of my apartment, so I got to watch the show from home. I've seen better shows in the states, but for Palau it was a good show and you cant bet the price.

- I received the remainder of my boxes and I am happy to report that everything made it here safely. I also have been receiving other mail, including items from my mother, grandmother, and aunts.