Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

If you want proof that it actually DOES snow in Guam..... Check out my friend Brad's blog by clicking on the link on the left. I hope to see it for myself soon but right now I will live vicariously through Brad.

R.I.P

Two things died this week.... my camera and a small tree next to my apartment. I am thinking about holding a small memorial service, although technically I don't know that the tree is actually dead. It might just be severly crippled. My camera just died of old age and normal wear and tear..... but the tree met it's demise when I backed over it with the van. Actually I like to think of it as creative landscaping..... The tree was not meant to be in that spot. :o)

And you thought Bankers' hours were good

The other day Peter tried to get me a copy of the police report of the tire slashing incident but they would only give him one for the school vehicles. So today on my day off I drove to the police station to get my report. Unfortunately they are open from 7:30am - 1:30pm in the Records and ID division of the police department, and I didn't get there until 2:30pm.

This must be an O-O-G.....

Random Thoughts

• One of the things I don't like about Guam is the dirt. It seems like sweeping needs to take place every day. Even when you take your shoes off and leave them at the door (which is done in most homes here) lots of dirt still finds it way into your inside spaces. The worse of the worst is the red dirt. Yes, red. It gets on your shoes, your clothes, every where really and worse there is no way to get it out of the laundry. Sheesh.... Maybe I will mail it to my mom and see if she can get it out. She can get out just about any stain. Sometimes of course that means washing it 1000 times.....but there is no one who can get stains out like my mom.
• Slippers aren't just for bedtime here. Actually flip flops are referred to as slippers here. No one from Micronesia uses the term flip flops. Actually I hardly wear anything else any more..... there just seems to be no point. Because of all the dirt, shoes get ruined rather quickly.... so slippers it is.
• Only 3 more weeks left in the semester. It is hard to believe. Time flies so quickly.
• I need to figure out what book I am going to use for my class quickly. I am looking forward to teaching in the spring but I can't imagine being busier than I already am. Yikes.
• Over Christmas break I hope to get the opportunity to go to Yap for a week. It is a small island group between Guam and Palau. Students are doing a missions trip there and although I can not go the whole time, it will be a fun opportunity to see from where some of the students come.
• Also over Christmas break, I hope to take classes to get certified in diving. Some people with sinus problems have trouble with the pressure. So we'll see where we go. I certainly want to give it a try since they say Guam is one of the best places to get certified.

Peter and Phil to the rescue

After a fun Thanksgiving week, we awoke to find 10 tires flattened on 5 of the school vehicles and my car. Unfortunately we believe this is an "inside" job although we have no proof yet on who actually did it. The police came and took a report and interviewed the students. He did not take any fingerprints though. (Maybe I watch a little too much TV)....

Fortunately our maintenance team takes our servant leader motto to heart, and Peter and Phil removed all the flat tires, loaded them in the back of the old pickup, had them fixed, and replaced them all before the end of the day. I am sure they probably had different plans for their Saturdays but they are real troopers and faithful servants. Thanks guys!

Two Lover's Point

On Friday night a group of us went to one of the most famous tourist spots on the island, Two Lover's point. You may remember from my blog that I have been there before. This time I timed the trip to go for sunset. It really was a spectacular sunset. It was a good time had by all.... well except for Ned and a few students in his car. Apparently he ended up following the wrong white van and never made it to the point. Oops. :o)

Shark's Hole/ Lost Pond

On Friday after Thanksgiving, we went on another hike. This one was along the beach. We hiked to an area called "Shark's Hole" which has deeper water. Some of the students reported seeing a baby shark but usually there are no sharks because big sharks can not swim past the reef. A smaller group of us hiked through the jungle a bit to a small fresh water pond called Lost Pond. Apparently there used to be a rope swing but the tree is no longer standing. We went for a quick dip anyway before it was time to head back to the cars.

Thanksgiving

Although it was not the same as being at home with my family.... we had the traditional Thanksgiving dinner with many of the staff, faculty, and students.

Besides cooking this beautiful turkey you see pictured here :o) (Donated by someone else)..... I added my family traditions of Potato Filling and Candied Sweet Potatoes (really Yams).

We also had a nice service to start of the day with music by Brad & Cheryl Boydston and Ned Farnsworth. Our Dean of Men and his wife sang a song for us.... And Bill Wood gave us the history of Thanksgiving.

It was a good day all in all. I was very thankful.

It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Actually the decorations started going up right after Halloween..... Here are some of the decorations in downtown Tumon. As you can see Santa is coming on a sailboat. It feel weird and almost wrong considering it is still in the 80's.

The Life

Often on Island there is double standard. One price for locals and one for tourists. This is true on a lot of the tourist attractions and restaraunts. Some of the hotels here also offer "local" memberships to their pools. This a picture of the pool I joined for $80 for the year. This price also included 2 free lunch coupons, and use of their tennis and putting facilities. It has a huge and fun waterslide as well and happens to be located right on the beach. I hope to go there at least on my days off for some time to get some good exercise since I love to swim. It is always fun to find things that seem bargin priced here on the island since for the most part everything is expensive.

Looking for Tarzan

One morning Laura (the assistant dean of women) and I took 3 students on a hike. We had planned to go to a place called Tarzan falls. We got to the right trail head but there are 2 hikes from the same trail head. One to Tarzan Falls and one to Tarzan swim hole. Neither trail is very clearly marked. So off we went. It was a beautiful morning, but being rainy season yet the trails were very muddy at places. Unfortunately some how we took a path that actually put us in the middle of the Tarzan River rather than at the Falls or the swim hole. The students walked down river and found the swim hole. Laura and I followed. We all returned safely from there. So even though we did not get to see the Falls, we still had fun and enjoyed our time together and the beauty of God's creation.

Island Tours

Here are some pictures of some of the students who were on one or both of my two island tours. For many of the students when they get to school, it is their first time on Guam. We had a bunch of fun driving around the south part of the Island seeing different sites including Fort Soledad, Latte Stone park, Agat Beach Park, Mt. LamLam, Coco's Island, and many other sites.

It is nice to have time to do more fun things with the students during Thanksgiving break.

Pure Joy

During free time on Sunday afternoon at our retreat and another time during the week on an Island tour some of us stoped at the pools at Inarahan. These pools are salt water tidal pools. This one about 15 - 20 feet deep.

When we started swimming only about half the group decided to do so....but people found it hard to resist getting in when they saw how much fun we were all having.

The diving board does not look too high but it is a bit intimidating when you get up there. I thought I was over my fear of heights until I got up there. But in the end it was a blast. I think that everyone who went in had fun. In fact I suspect that some that went on the Island tour went strictly to go swimming again in the pools at Inarahan.

Hiking to Ge'Dao's Cave

Ge' Dao was the Chammaro chief of the south part of the Islands. Legend says that he was the strongest man in the world and could crush coconuts with his bare hands.

Near the village of Inarahan (which by the way I have a terrible time pronouncing)..... is a cave with some primative looking drawings. (I don't think anyone actually authenicated them).... But this cave has become known as Ge'Dao's cave.

During free time of the Spiritual Emphasis weekend and on one of my island tours we visited this cave. It certainly is a pretty view.

Happy Thanksgiving

It is 8am on Thanksgiving morning. I just stuck the turkey in the oven. Today we are having a big Thanksgiving celebration with a short service of Thanksgiving and then a somewhat traditional Thanksgiving meal. I have a lot to do to get ready, but I just wanted to take time to wish you all a happy Thanksgiving.

I also wanted to take time to appologize for not blogging a bit more this week. There is so much to blog about but this week has been extra busy so I have had no time to blog. The students are off from classes and so I have scheduled a number of fun trips throughout the week. Some of the students have never been to Guam before they got to school so one of the things that I have been offering is Island Tours. I have tons of great pictures and will be posting some soon. Some of us went hiking (on which I had fun but injured my knee) Then some went to do the tourist thing in downtown Tumon. A daily trip to the video store is almost a must. On Friday there will be another hike and a trip to one of the most popular tourist sites, Two Lover's Point.

Then on Saturday things start to get back into a more normal schedule with a basketball game and the University Outreach Team 2nd Bar-b-que.

I am having a great time with the students doing fun things.

Spiritual Emphasis Weekend

This past weekend we packed every one up and shuttled them down south to Rios Beach for Spiritual Emphasis Weekend. We camped over night and returned Sunday late after noon.

Over all every one seemed to have a good time. Three speakers, including Brad Boydston, a professor and fellow blogger, Dave Owen, our illustrious President, and Paul Castillo, a navy chaplin, shared messages which had the general theme - "Don't Waste Your Life".

Overall the weekend went really well and every one seemed to have fun. 2 problems - One student got bitten in the middle of the night by a Brown Tree Snake - or that is the best explanation that we came up with to explain the marks on her arm.

Second problem - the chocolate for the smores was missing. :o(

Land of Promise

Rainbows always remind me of the story of Noah. In the end of the story after the water cleared out - God provided a rainbow as a symbol that "God keeps His Promises".

Rainbows happen often here in Guam. Here I captured part of one. Actually with this rainbow I saw the entire arch.... I had never seen one that full before.

I was excited that it was bright enough to see on the picture.

Vietnam War Memorial

This little pavillion is part of the Vietnam Vets War Memorial in memory of all the Guamanians which died in Vietnam. The other picture is the view. This was an absolutely gorgeous view and a peaceful spot. I decided to stay awhile and I spent some time reading my bible and praying before moving on.

Can you say "Tourist Trap"?

This week on my day off I did some touring by myself around the island. Hopefully on Thanksgiving week --- I will be taking some of the students on Island Tours.

One place they have asked about was Talafofo Falls. (There are several really nice waterfalls on Guam.) Talafofo Falls also claims to have a replica of the cave used by the Japenese War Hero, Yokoi. He is a Japenese Soldiers from World War 2 who hid in a cave in the woods in Guam until the 1970's when some Guamanian Farmers finally discovered him approximately 28 years after the war had ended.

You get to the parking lot and ride a cable car down the the falls. There is supposed to be a monorail but it was tiny and cheaply made and had fallen off it's tracks. You could only see the openning to the cave. There also was supposed to be other amusement rides, a ghost house, and ostriches but nothing really seemed to be in working order. There was a little museum with murals which depicted the history of Guam and the war which was interesting. It is really sad actually that they almost have destroyed the beauty of the place. Besides that it is not cheap to get into the place.

Children's Day

Every year the Principals of Teaching Class hosts a "Children's Day" where local children are invited to participate in games, skits, crafts, songs, and lunch. On November 11th - approximately 75 children came to campus and our students shared with them the Wordless Book. They also shared skits about how sometimes telephones don't work right, but God's telephone is always working and so we can always talk to him. The day ended with lunch. Although I only went in and out of the room during the morning, everyone seemed to be having fun and it was considered quite a success.