Hafa Adai!!

"Hafa Adai" = "half-a-day" (I get so excited when I say it because it reminds me of having half days at school as a kid, and those were the best. Oh, it's a half'aday!! Wouldn't usually throw the 'a' in there, but I did so it related better to the comparison... which I might've just ruined by explaining, like when you have to explain a joke, or over-explain an explanation...)
-------------------------------------------------------
That's Guam's way of saying "Hello!" and I find myself saying it in upwards of 127 times a day. There's a 20 to 5 rule here - at 20 feet you make eye contact with the guest(s) and smile, and at five feet you give a greeting whether it be "Hafa adai" or if you know which country they're from, that greeting (do not under any circumstances assume where a guest is from, because you're probably wrong and it will offend them - I haven't done it, and I won't, but it's just something to know). Speaking of, I really need to brush up on my Korean questions/phrases.

This place is unreal; magically beautiful. I feel like I'm living in a dream. I'm getting paid to smile and sit/play/swim in the sun. Currently training and being overwhelmed with a bevy of information from each different area of the resort: waterpark (comprised of three different pools: slide; games - with a tug of war, roller log thing, bball and volleyball nets; and main - there's a water walk that's insanely hard for adults, you have these hardish foam pieces stringed together across the length of the pool and you have to run back and forth without falling off), racquet center (indoor racquetball and squash courts, indoor/outdoor tennis, indoor badminton, outdoor volleyball and bball courts, an archery range - I taught a lesson to a group of Taiwanese guests today, "Oh, xie xie!" and a ropes course), marine center (the beach: snorkeling, windsurfing, outrigger, sailing, sea kayaking, swimming...), scuba center (swim-thru aquarium, lap pool, and 20ft deep pool to get instructions on scuba diving), Kids' Club, and some other stuff I'm probably forgetting... there's also putt-putt golf and a trampoline that you get harnessed into and you can do flips and jump oh-so high that you touch the sky-sky-sky. Basically, it's awesome.

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, I haven't had that much time to myself. It's so strange to be sharing a room again, though I feel insanely lucky with my roommate, Sarah - she's super chill and really fun and easy to get along with, and she's 26 which is great because I feel like there are a lot of younger kids here who like to party all the time, and I'm just too old for that on the daily. A basic day is waking up around 6:30 or 7a to get a run in, or just get to bfast early and/or have time to catch people on chat/Skype (I'm 16 hours ahead of Chicago - 16!! That's insane. Is that right? 16!?!? And then 18 in front of my Cali friend - ooosh!!!), and then starting work and after work there's yoga and then dinner and maybe some game with the other people (last night we played an intense game of Walley Ball - like volleyball but it's in the racquetball court and you use the walls: awesome!) or talking/hanging out and then bed and then do it again. Although today I didn't start until 1pm and I went to yoga and did a tiny bit of Skyping and emailing before lunch and work. All in all, I'm still adjusting.

Swimming in the ocean is awesome because it's that crystal clear blue pool water, and it's really relaxing and waveless - because of being in a bay, the waves break really far out... I think because of all the coral, too? The only bad thing is that there are these giant sea slugs all over the floor. They're not murderously alien or anything, but they're just creepy to come down on after doing somersaults or coming into a handstand, or something.

I'm glad I have a calendar on my desk, otherwise I wouldn't know what day it is as they're already melting into one another. I need to do a better job of managing my own time and finding respite from this place, but I figure that will come in time, especially once training is through and I have my own schedule, but you can't really go through life saying, "Oh, I'll find time for this once that is finished." As the wise John once said, "life is what happens when you're busy making other plans." So I really need to work on making each day its very best.

This has nothing to do with anything, I just like it quite a lot, and maybe you'll think it's pretty neat, too: