Why Did I Bring All This Stuff?

Sunday morning was devoted to packing and in the course of going through my belongings I realized I brought way too much stuff. I should have stuck to the old axiom of leaving everything behind before moving to a small island in the Pacific. Having someone else pay to ship my stuff here gave me too much freedom to send unnecessary stuff. The most laughable thing that I brought was blankets. Oops.

Some of the first items to go were a few things that I sold to people at the court. Every year they have three court counsel having moving sales and well before my departure date I was getting questions about if I would be selling some of my things. The most popular query was about my DVD player, which I was happy with but I decided to sell it to avoid shipping it. I also sold a few smaller items that will be easily replaceable when I get home like a collapsable chair, a toaster, and my tent.

A year ago when I was deciding what to bring to Palau, there was many items I brought to use for the year and then dispose of either in the garbage or by giving it away. Some items like two pairs of running shoes I had used for hiking in Babeldaob and frisbee were literally falling apart and are now consigned to the garbage heap. I gave away a lot of books and a few old things that while still functioning were no longer worth shipping home.

Tired of packing, I met up with Carmen and James in the afternoon and took them out to PPR to show them around. They filled out a membership application and then we grabbed a chair at the tables by the pool. They were still adjusting to the time change, but they were awake and had plenty of questions about life in Palau. Erin and Ben later joined us after a day of diving. Only one short year ago I was in their position asking my predecessors all the same questions, so I now got to see the flip side and play the role of the grizzled veteran.

On Monday morning I continued packing, but I soon decided to head out to PPR. I ran into Emily and Maggie and pulled up a chair next to them. It was an interesting people watching show with Japanese professional wrestlers in town for an exhibition horsing around in the pool and a scandalously clad woman that had everyone staring in disbelief. It was a beautiful sunny weather and a great beach day. Monday night I had dinner with Carmen and James at Palm Bay Bistro and they loved the fish. I got home in time to head up to my roof to watch the Independence Day fire works at the bridge.

Even though my departure from Palau wasn't until Friday, my apartment lease ended Tuesday. After the fireworks on Monday I still had packing ahead of me. I got three more boxes packed and luckily I wasn't up too late. Tuesday morning was a lot of steady organizing and finding all my stuff in the nooks and crannies. I was staying the rest of the week with Erin and Ben so I didn't have to have everything ready to ship yet, but I needed to make sure I had everything out of the apartment. Just after noon I had everything ready to go and filled my little car to the brim. I did a final sweep with the manager and I handed over the keys. I took my belongings over to Erin and Ben's house and then went to close my power and phone/internet accounts.

With that finally finished, I headed off to play frisbee for the last time. We had a good turnout and I had an excellent game. Motivated by my last game, I had a stellar night where I made a bunch of diving grabs. It was exceptionally fun and I felt as if I couldn't drop the disc. I definitely went out on a high note. Frisbee has been a wonderful part of my Palauan experience because I met a lot of great people who became my friends, it got me into shape, and it was just good old fashioned fun.

For dinner that evening I went with Carmen and James to introduce them to Kramer's. They are adjusting well to Palau and I anticipate they will have an excellent year. It has been a treat showing them my usual haunts and passing on my knowledge. It reminded me that a little bit of me will remain in Palau even once I leave. In order to leave though, I had to finish packing. Now, why did I bring all this stuff?