North Korea is ruining my stay here.

When I decided to move to Guam to attend the University on exchange, I never considered the possibility that North Korea would ramp on their insane rhetoric of constant threats and actually put my safety and life in danger.

All the times, making fun of North Korea, watching Team America: World Police and laughing at the expense of the Supreme Majesty Grand Leader, His Royal Highness who according to the Onion News consistently wins the North Korean lottery and is a fantastic golfer..ok that was Kim Jong Ill....whatever.  

This is a distressing period of my life, while everything else is moving forward and people continue about daily routines, we are warned to have emergency kits prepared and available and to be ready for when the war comes to our coast.

Children in schools are practicing emergency drills.  Residents are buying food and water supplies.  We had to meet with our representative from Homeland Security so that the students in the dorms were aware of the emergency action plan that has been put into place.

It always seems so lighthearted, these talks of wars and bombs.  When you live in the Midwest it seems life a faraway story that will never reach you or affect you.  Maybe you worry about the citizens of the countries that have been threatened, maybe you don't and maybe when it comes down to it, you are just to selfish to give a damn.  In the event of an attack, we have no where to go.  We can not leave the island and seek shelter elsewhere, we will be stuck here.  Hoping that North Korea will not follow through with their words, that the actions of a child dictator are simply that, the actions of a child.  My life and the life of the people I care about in my new home are truly affected by these recent rumblings.  We are reassured daily that North Korea doesn't have the capabilities, doesn't have the technology...and then we are told they do, but its not reliable, SO NO BIG DEAL FOLKS!  Carry on with your business, nothing to see here.

There is something to see and its terrifying and scary and it fills me with constant dread.  I worry hourly that the news will hit that the weapons are in place, that I will hear the emergency alarms and that within moments, I will be hopeful that I will not die.  Sometimes I feel like I am overreacting to the news, feeding into the fear mongering that is the news and her allies, the sell of the sensational.  How do you not give into the fear and the worry?  How do you go on with your day, regular and mundane activities, and not fret over the words of war?  How do you?  

Maybe if people read this, they will think.. oh Janessa, you are just being you.. a drama queen and blowing a situation way out of proportion.  Maybe.. I don't know.  I tried to make light of the situation until yesterday when I received the email saying we had to meet with Homeland Security and then it hit.. what if this actually happens? What if.. that is the question that everyone is asking and we don't have an answer.