Topic Title: Moving to the Northern Mariana Islands

Author walt23

Date Posted: 9/6/2009 6:19 PM

Even though this message is a few years old, the interest from nomads, vagabonders or simply the rat-race weary who are considering moving to Saipan is still relevant. As the founder of a series of Saipan-related websites, I'd like to invite anyone reading this thread now (it is now Sept 7, 2009) to a few of these

www.SaipanLiving.com
www.welovesaipan.com
www.DestinationSaipan.com and
www.BestofSaipan.com

Anyone interested in asking questions may contact [email protected] (check out the site first to see if your questions have already been answered.)

Author lmmack

Date Posted: 1/16/2002 10:11 PM

Joaquina,

I grew up on Saipan but left there in 1990. Rota and Saipan are two entirely different places. Saipan is a very big town compared to Rota, but where you choose to live depends on what you are looking for. This is a beautiful place but definitely one in the midst of change, massive development, and the consequent influences that the islands probably could have done without…

The primary business on Saipan is tourism and most of the tourists are Asian. Korean language skills will come in handy, as will Japanese. Hotel and hospitality industry jobs are probably what you will find there still. There is also the recent influx of foreign manufacturing facilities. The workers in these facilities are typically Filipino, Korean, and from the outer islands. There may be language teaching opportunities in these businesses, but I don't have any first-hand experience. (These facilities are also recently famous as U.S. sweatshops so it's a good idea to do some research.)

There are a couple of pretty good schools, so you might look into that if you are interested in teaching. I went to Mount Carmel, the island's Catholic school. My brother attended a small private school called Saipan Community School (http://spncomm.org/).

There are still a number of "expats" there, although their situations vary. Many are retired people looking for a tax shelter. Others work for the government in some capacity, since Saipan is a U.S. Commonwealth. Some are just folks looking for an adventure.

There are a couple of web sites you might check out:
http://www.saipan.com
http://www.cnmi-guide.com/
http://www.tribune.co.mp/
http://www.visit-marianas.com/
http://net.saipan.com/personal/vanlanen/info/index.htm

Anyway, my information is somewhat outdated but I would be happy to share more with you if you are interested. You are welcome to give me a call (831-476-8818 -- I live in Santa Cruz, California now) or send me an email at [email protected].

Best of luck!
Laurie Mack

Author lmmack

Date Posted: 1/16/2002 10:04 PM

Joaquina,

I grew up on Saipan but left there in 1990. Rota and Saipan are two entirely different places. Saipan is a very big town compared to Rota, but where you choose to live depends on what you are looking for. This is a beautiful place but definitely one in the midst of change, massive development, and the consequent influences that the islands probably could have done without…

The primary business on Saipan is tourism and most of the tourists are Asian. Korean language skills will come in handy, as will Japanese. Hotel and hospitality industry jobs are probably what you will find there still. There is also the recent influx of foreign manufacturing facilities. The workers in these facilities are typically Filipino, Korean, and from the outer islands. There may be language teaching opportunities in these businesses, but I don't have any first-hand experience. (These facilities are also recently famous as U.S. sweatshops so it's a good idea to do some research.)

There are a couple of pretty good schools, so you might look into that if you are interested in teaching. I went to Mount Carmel, the island's Catholic school. My brother attended a small private school called Saipan Community School (http://spncomm.org/).

There are still a number of "expats" there, although their situations vary. Many are retired people looking for a tax shelter. Others work for the government in some capacity, since Saipan is a U.S. Commonwealth. Some are just folks looking for an adventure.

There are a couple of web sites you might check out:
http://www.saipan.com
http://www.cnmi-guide.com/
http://www.tribune.co.mp/
http://www.visit-marianas.com/
http://net.saipan.com/personal/vanlanen/info/index.htm

Anyway, my information is somewhat outdated but I would be happy to share more with you if you are interested. You are welcome to give me a call (831-476-8818 -- I live in Santa Cruz, California now) or send me an email at [email protected].

Best of luck!
Laurie Mack