Why Is Paradise So Green?

In all the stereotypical pictures of tropical paradise, everything is SO green! Ever wonder why? Watch the video.........you'll see.

The morning was bright and clear. I took my class out to the basketball court for recess and there wasn't even a hint of rain in the air. But by 2 p.m. it started to rain - and when I say "rain," I actually mean "pour." Since it's nearing rainy season, that's somewhat expected, but then it just continued to rain and every minute it rained harder than the minute before. There were no signs of it letting up anytime soon. By 3 o'clock we dismissed the students, and lucky for me, it was my day to supervise all of them after school. This was particularly challenging since the water started to flood into the lunchroom, tempting the kids to play in the puddles rather than sit and wait quietly for their parents to pick them up. In addition, we have a new procedure in which the parents have to "sign their child out" before they leave so we know that the right child goes with the right adult so that we are not held legally liable for a missing child. It makes things safe, but it's also a lot of work, especially when the heavens open up and release buckets of rain.... I found myself wading through ankle deep water to meet parents and get their signatures.


In the midst of all the chaos, one of my favorite 1st graders was trying to help me shut one of the doors and in the process, he slammed my fingers in the door. I don't mean my fingers got caught in the door as it was closing - I mean, my fingers were slammed in the door. My natural reaction was to be angry at him and want to punish him, but, knowing it was an accident, I held myself together and simply asked him (sternly) to sit down and stay there, while I rushed off to find some sort of relief for the pain in my fingers. Since we don't have a freezer or any form of ice, I just squeezed my fingers until the pain retreated.......one of my finger nails is now purple with a tinge of green behind it. Ouch! But later, he asked me about it and I showed him my fingers. I told him that I wasn't mad at him because I knew it was an accident, but he still apologized for it. Despite the painful, purple fingers, it was a beautiful moment.

Back to the rain - it was out of control! In all my time here in Saipan, I've never seen the sky release so much water in such a short amount of time! Behind the school, I watched as the playground turned into a huge puddle and then into a small pond. As the rain increased, the sand toys even began to float around the yard! In front of the school, I began to pray that our cars wouldn't begin to float around like the sand toys. The wheels were quickly beginning to disappear into deep puddles that stretched up and down the street for as far as I could see. Driving down the street took a little faith because you couldn't see where the potholes were and how deep it was. It was truly an incredible sight!

So if you didn't know before, now you know - paradise is so green because when it rains...it pours!