Getting into the swing of things

Palau is incredible. I keep having “Is this really happening? Am I really in Palau?” moments. I’m not sure I’ll ever believe it.

The dig site is so amazing. I can’t even describe it. It’s like Jurassic Park meets Indiana Jones. Right on the beach of this island, with caves and jungles all around. There are bats that fly above us in and out of the caves. And giant, creepy spiders. It’s just surreal.

The dig site

Jungle plants

I had major “is this really happening?” moment today when a bird flew into a spider web and got caught. It was absolutely crazy. It struggled for a bit, then realized it couldn’t escape. The spider didn’t even seem interested in it at all. So we interfered with nature and took a stick and knocked the bird out of the web, so hopefully it flew away.

Spider vs bird

The dig is going really well. I had a big find! While excavating I found a fish hook made out of shell- the first fish hook that’s ever been found at this site! Also, I found a shell tool on the beach. It was a shell that had been worked into a cutting or scraping instrument. It was pretty cool.

The dock and beach at the site

We had our first lecture here last night. I almost forgot that I’m taking classes here. I’m getting credit for two classes- Pacific Island Archaeology and an Independent Study, since I already received credit for Fundamentals of Archaeological Research while I was in Nevis. But Dr. Fitzpatrick lectured on the basics of the Pacific and archaeology of the region. It’s so immense and incredibly vast, I can’t imagine how people colonized these islands thousands of years ago. I’m already learning a lot- it’s a great experience.

For Palau being under US control for so long, I’m shocked that it’s not more Americanized. There’s not a single fast food restaurant here. Or a traffic light. Or any big name stores or restaurant chains. Most signs, store names, and other things are in English. Nearly everyone speaks it. Palauans are really friendly.

The one really different thing I’ve noticed about Palau is so minor, but so weird to me. When we’re at restaurants in a group, they don’t bring everyone’s food out at once. They bring it out when it’s ready. Then you’re supposed to start eating when you have your food, not wait for everyone. So when a large group of us were out to dinner, almost everyone had finished eating before two people even got their food. It’s so minor, but it’s really different. I hadn’t thought of that as an aspect of culture that varies around the world, but apparently it does.