Tidbits

- The pronunciation of my last name is a constant stumbling block for Palauans. To be fair, most Americans don't do much better. The intriguing aspect is the difference between how Americans and Palauans approach it. Americans will not hesitate to attempt to pronounce it and will usually do it badly with all sorts of errors like adding an "r" or dropping the "f". To the contrary, Palauans will look at the spelling of my name and instead of guessing they ask me how to pronounce it. It is remarkable because I rarely get asked in the states, but Palauans always ask first. Mostly likely it is because of the Palauan language in which "ch" is silent and they are confused at how to pronounce Schimpf. I do find it a bit ironic that a people whose language consists of many words with consonants haphazardly strung together can't manage a name with many consonants haphazardly strung together. I guess it is fair they have difficulty with my name because my pronunciation of Palauan words is just as bad.

- Lots of political intrigue lately in the Legislature. In March the President of the Senate, Johnny Reklai, died in fluke spear fishing accident. The official cause of death was drowning as he apparently got himself wrapped up in his fishing line and couldn't resurface (although they also think he may of had a heart attack or something similar that prevented him from surfacing). He was well liked and respected and the death came as a shock. His death also caused problems in the nine member Senate because he was a member of the five man majority group. Now the Senate is evenly divided four versus four. When one of the former minority left the island on business, the former majority called a vote for a new president and voted 4-3 to appoint one of the former majority Joshua Koshiba. However, the Constitution specifically states the senate president can only be elected by a majority of the members and with eight current members that means five votes. The former minority filed an action in the Supreme Court and we found that the election was invalid. They have called a truce for now because last week the Senate unanimously elected one of the former minority as the new president. That could all change in a few weeks with the special election to replace Reklai. Not to be outdone, the House of Delegates also changed their leadership a few weeks ago.

- I met a BBC film crew filming a nature documentary about the marine life in the Pacific. I believe the show will be called "Pacific Abyss" or something similar because they are using robot technology to film new species 3,000 feet below the surface. They are also spending time filming the natural wonders of Palau such as Jellyfish Lake and turtles. The documentary will air in the states on the Discovery Channel sometime in the future, so keep your eyes open.