Sea Cucumbers and Chamorro Village

Today we went to the Chamorro Village, its basically just a place where you can buy lots of cheap shit and food on a stick.  I ate BBQ chicken on a stick and a deep fried banana on a stick.  It was everything I had hoped it would be....on a stick.

I also bought myself a $3 fan because I sweat, constantly.  I am probably sweating right now and don't even know it.  I will probably look like a stupid tourist but I am so brown and ambiguously ethnic looking that I will probably just look like a stupid local.  Apparently there is still somewhat of a caste system here and the browner you are the more poor you are assumed to be...so basically I can't win anywhere in any land.

ShiAnn and I went to the beach and while walking along the shore I spotted a strange gooey looking creature that turned out to be a sea cucmber that had been washed ashore.  ShiAnn touched it and didn't die, so that was good, her hand also did not fall off.  I was afraid to touch it so I rolled it down the shore using a water bottle but the sea cucumber apparently forget that it was a sea cucmber and would not attach itself to any of the rocks and instead continued rolling up the shore like a big blobby mess who refused to do anything with his life.  Eventually ShiAnn waded out and picked it up where it immediately fell into a sad looking U shape as water escaped from its tiny little water hole.  In sea cucmber world, this is a good thing, it means its still alive and ingesting water.  ShiAnn declared that it felt pretty dead and then gently tossed the sea cucumber out to sea.  Hopefully the lazy bastard finally remembered that it is a sea ceature and attached itself to SOMETHING.  About five minutes later we found a baby sea cucmber that was washed up on some steps that lead out into the ocean, so we took some pictures and then tossed it into the sea.

Baby sea cucmbers are adorable.

I held a monitor lizard and a coconut crab today.  Those who look at I Fucking Love Science's FaceBook page may remember the coconut crab and how huge and terrifying it is.  It is huge and terrifying in real life.

 Just your average day in Guam.

Being a Chamorro chief is a tough life.

Yesterday we went to Mata'Pang beach.  It was named after a Chamorro chief from the village of Tumon, which is where the beach is located.  Apparently, Mata'Pang killed a couple of Catholic priests and then had his head thrown into waters off the coast of Hagåtña.  So...thats nice I guess.

The tide was high when we got there, and there were riptides pulling us out past the buoys.  One word of advice, when you can't touch the ocean floor and you are in a riptide, just don't be there. Its a bad idea.  Constant floating away from the safety of the sand is a little awkward.  We played an intense game of monkey in the middle and I tackled Alex.  I inhaled seawater and that was not fun and it burned. A lot.

I rode in the bed of a pickup truck, which is legal in Guam as long as you are over the age of 18.  It was only sort of terrifying but also really fun. 

We took obligatory vacation photos even though we are not really on vacation.  Feet in the sand and Janessa and Alex forever...except the tide did not give us enough time to let the world know that Janessa and Alex are actually for forever.

I'm trying to actually look up and know the names of all the places we go to so that I can learn some Chamorro history.  Because history is fun.

 Roland asked if his eyes were closed while we took a picture and I said "I don't know, your eyes always look closed"...so he opened his eyes as wide as he could.  Also, I am not a racist.  Later while riding in the back of a truck, he asked me..."why don't you like riding in the bed of a truck? Don't minorities like doing that?"  Touché

I'm on a boat.

I haven't had much fun the last few days because I am not on vacation and I had to go to class.  Apparently you should not miss your first day of class.  I did not.  I made it to all of my classes on time because I am a responsible young woman.

The earliest I have class is at 9:30am, so I woke up early to eat and took my bowl of cereal into the kitchen.  Upon entering said kitchen, I was immediately accosted by the cleaning lady who told me "you go downstairs".  Because yes, I pay to live here and utilize the upstairs kitchen but sure, I will talk ALL of my kitchen items and food downstairs to eat a freaking bowl of cereal that will take me less time to eat than it would to gather all of my crap.  Apparently this cleaning lady refused to let one of the other NSE students onto the second floor to get her belongings so she could go to class.  I will stage a coup against this cleaning lady if she yells at me again.

I went to see the move Mama, and it was scary.  I did not cry, but there was a lot of arm squeezing and frightened screams and jumping.  Alex, ShiAnn, and I were brave though, we made it through the movie with the confidence that is gleaned from eating delicious movie theater candy and the knowledge that beach time awaited us.  Beach time was awesome.  We saw a guy canoeing and the boat was neat so I asked if we could go for a ride and he obliged.  I was on a boat, in the ocean you guys! I small tiny paddle boat made by hand from the guy paddling me out to sea.  I swear I was not afraid because I have been on a boat in the ocean before.  It rained a wee bit, but nothing too bad, but it was a little chilly and windy, and yes, being from Minnesota I understand the irony behind me saying that it is chilly when it is 76 degrees outside.  Don't judge me.

The other day we want to a beach on the Navy base, and it was just this tiny little place that had caves carved out from the water and you could walk between them and go to a different side of the beach. I didn't really take any pictures because I probably would have dropped my phone while trying to take the pictures.  I started my wilderness and adventure education class and someone told me I reminded them of Dina from Jersey Shore, I mean whatever.  I have a better nose than that lady but I am probably as obnoxious and grating as she is.  Less drunk for sure.

If you have read this whole blog, than I shall reward you with photos of me on the ocean and at beaches in warm  tropical weather while the most of you are at home freezing and wishing for deaths cold embrace to leave you the fuck alone.

That concludes the boat story I guess.

Misunderstandings and a Sense of Ownership.

Today we set out on an adventure.  Our adventure was slightly delayed by the need to talk to one's boyfriend, and check Facebook, and check email, and well.. check everything.  We eventually headed out to eat some delicious island food....at Denny's.  I had tapa and eggs with fried rice and someone better make me some tapa upon my arrival, cause damn, that tapa is delicious.

After Denny's, we headed out cliff side and toured the Governor's mansion, apparently the Governor was unavailable and could not join us for our non-commissioned tour.  Today it was windy, and by windy I mean gale force winds.  I am fairly certain that standing on the rock ledges was not a good idea because if one were to slip,  you would die.  There would be certain death.

It rained for the majority of the day, which was fine...the wind was the most frightening part.  I didn't expect to want to climb so many rocks and ledges and stairs, but I did and I did it like a champ.  Examples of the views I experienced by climbing my fat ass up some rocks and stairs that were not attached to the ground:

After using what amounts to "real stairs" to climb up and see this glorious view, we then made our way to a different inlet that had a  tiny little bridge and a rock path that led to a large cliff face that could be climbed using these stairs.

It was only about 6 1/2 feet off the ground, so we used the rock face to free climb up and then walked around on some random concrete structures that happened to be on top. Once on top of the rock, you were about 100 feet up and looking down at the surf breaking on the rocks below. 

 The top picture is the pooled water that locals use as a place to swim and it has a little platform that people can jump off of, the second is the water that rushes the rocks after the waves come in and the third is the rocks and reef that break  the water in between the ocean and the pool.

The best part of the day was going to Umatac Bay and riding the water buffalo.  I don't have any pictures of myself on the water buffalo, but lets just say it was less than classy because I was begging the guy to take me back away from the cliff edge because it was TERRIFYING.

This is how close he brings you to the edge and when you are riding up it looks like it is just a straight drop down.  TERRIFYING.  Here is me hugging the water buffalo.

That was basically my entire afternoon.  I spent the rest of the day trying to convince locals to cook dinner for myself and my dorm mates.  It was not successful at all. 
 

 

Hafa Adai and Welcome to Guam.

Today we went to Hagåtña and went shopping at Ross..its like a strip mall and it is full of little shops and kiosks.  Joan (NSE coordinator) showed me the Hello Kitty shop... I basically died and went to heaven.  We also stopped at Wendy's because I love a good frosty and there was a frozen yogurt shop, it had an interesting selection of flavors like lychee fruit with blueberry and blood orange.  

I will definitely need to go there go again.

Speaking of food, grocery shopping is quite the ordeal.  Fruit and vegetables are super expensive.  For one thing of organic strawberries it is about $7 dollars and a half a gallon of locally produced milk is about $5.  I have officially entered fat camp.  If I don't come back about 50 lbs lighter, I am not coming back.  I will fake an illness and force an emergency landing in Hawaii and I will never return to the mainland.  I sweat all the time.  Constantly.  Constant glistening.  I am one degree increase away from being miserable, but nothing beats waking up to sunlight, blue skies and palm trees right outside your balcony.

Islanders seem....well.. stand offish.  I don't think they like mainlanders coming here and probably acting like tourists which is basically what we are.  We walked to the marina yesterday and explored some of the cliffs and the ocean and every time we tell someone that is an islander they usually say "thats not a swimming beach...." and kind of look at us like we are complete morons.  I feel judged constantly by the islanders, like everything we do is totally moronic.  When we were at the marina, there were plenty of people coming and going.  A kid was learning to surf, dudes were boogie boarding and kids were climbing bluffs and jumping into the water.  It was an adventure, and isn't that why I am here?

Some of the students are very annoyed that we have a communal space for internet access, but I guess this is forcing me to meet people and go explore the island rather than sitting in my room all day long and watching tv or trolling Facebook.... I don't even like Facebook that much.

I miss Baby Levi like mad, I even brought a framed photo of him.  I will be beyond excited to come back home.  Four months is just long enough to have fun and miss everyone and then come home without being sad because I was away for too long. 
I was informed that Baby Levi has finally relented and now loves Bela Blue again and my mother found them sleeping all curled up together.  Adorable, and I wasn't there too take a picture..so unfortunate.

The island has a lot of stray dogs, and I had contacted GAIN (Guam Animals in Need) about volunteering and Joan has said that she will help us pick a day of the week to go volunteer with them and drive us there.  I am very excited about this opportunity.  I am also going to try to get a job with the disability services and help tutor and take notes for students.  You  get paid per hour, not much, but it would be extra cash on hand.