All Things[-ish] Guam

This post is inspired by questions posed to me by my best friend, Lisa Marie (that’s right! I’m friends with the King’s daughter; no big deal; she’s famous):

Some questions about Guam: Are there coconuts? Have you eaten one? Do you still have to stand outside and work if it's raining? Are the water slides better than, worse than, or equal to those at Oceans of Fun?

Yes, there are coconuts here on Guam. I eat many, all the time. One of my favorite shifts is the Coconut Show at the Cultural Hut because it’s really chill and I get to eat and drink coconuts for basically three hours, though sometimes it’s really busy and I have to help pass out cups or take pictures with/for the families and drunk ajashis. It’s best to drink the young, green ones, and you can eat their slimy, white meat, too; they’re crazy hard to get into though, and you’ll need a machete. (Also the knowledge on how to use said machete, probably.) The old, brown ones are also good to eat, and that’s the coconut most people think of, but the water in it is usually not as tasty; these guys are also difficult to get into as you have to tear through the husk before you can even attempt to crack the coconut. (You’re going to need some rocks and small, hard hunting knives to get into these guys. And muscles. Patience, too.) You make coconut milk by pressing the shavings of the old ones. How ‘bout that?! So much coconut knowledge! Unfortunately, the show is only on Saturday afternoons, and I’m not always scheduled for it; sometimes I have to run over on my “Off Chair” rotation at the Water Park to have a chat, and chug a [green] coconut, otherwise I have to figure out who’s working it and have them bring me some drink for later, or coconut candy. Coconut candy!! It’s coconut shavings, lil’ bit of young coconut water, and brown sugar all cooked together on a pan. I prefer the plain, fresh stuff, but let’s face it, I’m not going to be picky when it comes to coconuts. On the way back from my Garage Clean-up shift (we’re scheduled for it every now again, this was my first time and I sweated a lot when I was raking up trash in the sun. Wearing clothes outside, during the day, while working is a strange thing to me now apparently) I stopped and chatted with two Grounds Maintenance guys, Pastor and Hyepin, to see what they planned on doing with the load of young coconuts in their golf cart. I walked away with a freshly cut drink and an extra coconut left for me by the greenhouse area that I just now remembered…

[I'm sitting bottom-left in the Cultural Hut, this is my first show and I'm sitting with the kiddies from the club. That's Jor in the Polynesian print; she's a middle school English teacher and she works every Saturday. See the green coconuts next to Jor? They're delicious!]

[Back in November, on my first day off. I'm in the back acting like a weirdo, and that's Bobby trying to figure out the best way to husk that coconut. Answer: with your bare hands. He's coconut crazy these days; has a machete on his balcony, and this whole system rigged up to open 'em easily and then turn the nuts into cups/bowls, incense holders and wall sconces.]

[Cement cinder block, or coconut opener?]

[This is 'Team November', otherwise known as Sarah, Ryann, me, Lindsay 'photographer', and Bobby, also known as my training group. This was on the same day as the above picture - at Ritidian Beach (my favorite place on Guam) - and before we knew that the brown ones aren't the best to drink.]

Mangoes on the other hand, you cannot get whenever you want, as they’re seasonal. “Seasonal?” you ask as you maybe throw your hands in the air, “But it’s a tropical island! I don’t understand!” Despite what you may think, Guam has two seasons; the Rainy Season and the Windy Season. We are currently living in the Windy Season, though it sure seems like the Rainy Season right now with it raining a lot all day and really raining – pouring – for longer than five minutes per time. Yeah, I guess it’s pretty windy, too, so that in combination with the no sun and the pelt-y rain leads me into LM’s second section of questioning. Yes. I work in the rain. Sometimes that work could be in the Racquet Center, clothed behind a counter, indoors (kind of), or it could be on-chair in the Water Park while sitting at the Main Pool rotation that might as well be a crow’s nest on a pirate ship in terms of there being nothing to block your sight, or in this case – the wind. Rotations at the Water Park are only 30 minutes, but those minutes can really drag by, and 70 degrees might not seem that cold of wet conditions, but when you’re elevated into the wind and wearing only a bathing suit, I dare you to say you’re not cold with your teeth chattering and your lips turning blue as the icicles begin to form on your hair. 

Third question section: slides at Oceans of Fun. Oceans of Fun is a water park attached to an amusement park, Worlds of Fun, in Kansas City, Missouri. I have not been to said attractions since I was 13. For shame, I know. From what I remember, Oceans of Fun has us beat in the expansive park department, and probably variety, too. We have five waterslides, and that’s a stretch as three of those are baby-baby slides that slide of the Slide Pool and into the Main Pool. The two main slides are windy and fast, with the longer one being the fastest and also the rotation known as “Mountain” in the WP. The smaller one is awesome in terms of turns, but it’s so short, and also a palm tree branch once fell onto a little girl’s head as she was riding it – she cried and was scared, but she was okay… after a while. The main-main slide is fun, but kind of scary. I didn’t think so at first cause I always ride it belly-face first which is the way the sign tells you not to ride (probably because you can make yourself flip out at the end), but the back-feet first way the sign indicates for you to ride is way scarier. I used to really love working Mountain because I would always make friends and give them ways on how to improve their slide ride; sideways, back-backwards-head first, belly-backwards-feet first, wrapped in a burrito-head first, wrapped in a burrito-feet first. Then I started doing all of them, like the burrito-head first and I decided it was best to let the sign do the talking as I tried to rub the pain out of my head.

We also have slides in the Splash Pool, in the Swim-Through rotation. That’s the cold kids pool I was talking about in posts before. There are two-three slides; a double blue bump slide with a mini-pool, and a red tunnel one that has one curve. Oceans of Fun might beat us in the slide area, but I'm pretty sure we win what with having the real ocean and all.

So, that’s that for you. I hope you all feel a little bit better versed in the workings of the world on Guam, my job, and coconuts.

Perpetual Summer

Yo, yo, yo!

So I've been thinking about it, and by the time I get back to the States it will be the beginning of summertime, and I'll have been living in Summer Land for a year(!). I kind of miss seasons, but then I hear about snow closing things and breaking things and killing people, and I turn and look outside at the palm trees and I decide I don't miss it so much. (I'm not trying to rub it in, seriously - I'll be back for next year's frigidity and it's really weird here because every day feels exactly the same; some days it rains for a little bit and is occasionally cloudy only during that time. Though last week it was pretty rainy and gray, and windy, and that made 70 feel really cold - especially up on a chair exposed in a bathing suit.)

Anyway, here's a picture of me in the sunny summer weather, "working" at the Swim-Through Aquarium. The rotation is referred to as "Rock" and I'm candidly captured waving to a group of guests in life vests, snorkel masks, no cotton, make-up or sun cream, who I may or may not have to "rescue" - usually somewhere in the area to the left of me because it gets deep there. (The Splash Pool is in this rotation and it's pretty awesome going there after sitting Laps and Kids' [Pools] for 30 minutes each because you run around and play with the kids. Actually we're supposed to stand in between the two slides to monitor, but sometimes guest interaction trumps duty and the pool is super cold so it's best to run around and keep warm because every time I decide to step out of the water, whether it be for a drink of water or to escape the shallow ice bath, a manager walks by, "Kate. I really need you to stand in the water between the slides. The kids are counting on you. Thanks." They don't really get all after school special (the kids' parents are always with them, too, either in the water or videotaping from the side) like that and they're really just a captain or supervisor, but still it happens and I think c'mon! one second.) Also behind me is my home away from home, also the tallest building on island, also where I did yoga on the [out of service, pretty sure never used] heli-pad the other night - whoa.

PS - I won "BEST SMILE OF THE MONTH" for December, and you'd think that'd be awesome, and it kind of is, but instead of giving me a bag of mangoes or money, I get an extra [un-paid] day off. I will use this day, believe you me, but - ahhh, well, beggars can't be choosers.

(And sorry I haven't been keeping you updated, or posting more [read: any] pictures from my travels; I've been working 55+ hours a week and I'm a bit tired... Everyday feels like however many shifts you work, so an "All Day Eve", or 8:30a-10p feels like three days as you have an AM, PM and the EVE shift. It's slightly maddening though mostly confusing, especially when I see a guest and I say "HEY!" as if it's been a long time since we've seen one another. A super love-hate relationship as it's nice to be busy and have so many guest to meet and laugh with, and the money is fun, but sleep is pretty wonderful too, as is some semblance of an off-property personal life that you're not exhausted or too worn out to partake in. Next week should slow down a bit and I can't wait to ramble to you more about everything. STAY WARM AND HAPPY!!!!)

2011! - and don't forget it when dating important - or any - documents; think. Robots. Daily Life. It all started with the Roomba. (Please note that I'm shaking my head in all seriousness right now. Terminators weren't no lies; Arnold's not the governor anymore, and he might not be bored for so long. 2011.)

SHARK ATTACK!!!!!

I understand how the first JAWS scared me as a child, especially watching it before hitting the Jersey Shore's LBI (when I was five - parents will argue this fact, but in my memory it was watching JAWS or going to bed at 7pm, obviously I wasn't going to bed early), but to retain the fear of sharks in any body of water - to this day - from bathtubs to swimming pools is beyond me. Given the way my memory works, I don't believe I had seen JAWS 3 before the original and therefore hadn't seen it before going to Sea World when I was four, but I was still the child who ran and screamed, trying to claw my way against the current of the moving walkway to get to higher ground in the tunnel walkway aquarium. Active imagination or pure paranoia, I'm not sure.

Like I said, to this day I'm letting my imagination get the better of me. No longer do I envision my bathtub's bottom giving way and dropping me off in the open sea infested with sharks, but I still see shark vision of my kicking legs when I'm in the ocean - no matter the depth - or cleaning out the algae of the swim through aquarium here on property. It's pretty terrifying to tell you the truth. I know it's completely impossible, but there's this twinge of fear that draws out adrenaline and it's like whoa.

Being frightened of sharks here in Guam seems pretty legit. Granted I live in a bay, but there's been cases of sharks swimming through rivers - hello!? Have you ever seen Discovery Channel's SHARK WEEK? Sharks in rivers!! It happened in New Jersey. Close to the Hudson. Back when people in America wore swimming costumes (that's what the British call them). The made for TV movie was something like "Blood in the River Water" or "Watch Out!: Sharks in the River" something like that...it was awesomely re-enacted and they used real sharks to keep it life-like.

Anyway, I wrote the above like a month ago (and also just now), and I'm happy to report that I've since managed my fear of sharks in the swim through aquarium and pool water. Granted I'm still a tad bit nervous when I start going out further in the bay where I work, but I know I should be okay as long as I have sand underneath me or attractive blonde kids in a sailboat close by.

How Did I Get Here?

Letting the days go by. I just love this song. I hope the life you are currently leading is one that you are enjoying. Every day is a new beginning. Make it yours. And everyday I do try to think this to myself:

"And now I want to tell you about my late Uncle Alex. He was my father’s kid brother, a childless graduate of Harvard who was an honest life insurance salesman in Indianapolis. He was well-read and wise. And his principal complaint about other human beings was that they so seldom noticed it when they were happy. So when we were drinking lemonade under an apple tree in the summer, say, and talking lazily about this and that, almost buzzing like honeybees, Uncle Alex would suddenly interrupt the agreeable blather to exclaim, 'If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is.' So I do the same now, and so do my kids and grandkids. And I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, ''If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is.''

If it wasn't for my brother Alex, who knows when I would've discovered Kurt Vonnegut, and if it wasn't for him and Edward Albee, who knows when I would've discovered my love of the written word.

Just random things to share. Love. Your. Life. It might be the only one you have - depending on who you talk to. Make the most of everything. Carpe diem. 

MOON

It’s the third day of the new year!! HAPPY! HAPPY! HAPPY NEW YEAR!! 2011 (it's the year of robots!!) seems so far ahead in the future, and considering how I spent it in Guam, where America's day begins, that's no real big surprise. 

I’ve been meaning to write this post – amongst others – for a while now. About a month ago – a month!? Already!? – I “watched” (was also hanging out with friends with no attention spans for movies) Moon, starring Sam Rockwell and Sam Rockwell (who does a GREAT job!! and I love that he loves Sci-Fi). It was pretty incredible – the parts that I caught, at least. My only qualm with the movie was its poor soundtrack, which I found a bit appalling considering that the director’s father is David Bowie. Hello! Your father and space are pretty much synonymous and a bunch of bleeps and bloops is all you came up with to score the piece? Slightly disappointing, but again, the music wasn’t the only aspect of the movie, and the story held up on its own – as in any other Sci-Fi movie, you must give into the suspension of disbelief and take everything as it’s presented (a friend of mine was having a troubled time trying to grasp at certain concepts of the film). Completely unrelated in terms of Papa Bowie, but I also kept waiting for a giant fetus floating through space; a monolith; and a psychotic computer, but it was a no-go on all three fronts. Anyway, so yes, it is an enjoyable, exciting and gasp-able movie, but that’s not why I’m telling you about it.

Watching Moon hit a chord close to home for me in that Sam Rockwell’s character has been stationed on the moon for the past two years and 50 weeks, alone. His only contact with the world he knew has been through sporadic webcam transmissions – not even live feeds; he’s watched his daughter grow from being a bump in his wife’s belly to walking and talking, and not surprisingly, he feels disconnected and nervous about finally going home.

Now, I know I’m not on the moon. And as alien as Asia (and now the South Pacific – what?! Where am I!? We’ll get to the speck of an island nation: Guam in a post or a few) can seem from time to time, I am surrounded by people. Lots and lots of people. But at the same time, they’re not my people, or at least they weren’t at first. Home sometimes feels a million miles away, and being a day ahead, I might as well be on the moon. I’m told that everyone at home owns flat screen televisions and touch phones, burned all their books, and children as young as seven are flying hovercrafts. And according to "Glee" my life-long dream of life as a musical has come true, the proof is in the streets of America. Right? The only contact I’ve had with loved ones is through the second-hand communication of Skype and the like, making it hard to imagine those voices and images as the real life people that I hugged and loved in person at one time or another. Granted that’s not completely true as my mother came to visit me in Korea in July (bless her for that, otherwise who knows if I would’ve had the strength to embark on this current journey, to which she replies, “I guess I shouldn’t have come then!”); I randomly ran into an old buddy from college in Chiang Mai, Thailand (SMALL WORLD!!!); I met up with a dear old friend from my hometown, in Goa, India, and I just had two friends who I used to work with/live near come visit me from Korea. Seeing them and knowing that they’re real, and that people I know and love do exist out there somewhere is a comforting feeling, but oh-so strange to have them be a day away – literally.

Again, I’m reminded of this song:

"Abroad" Evripidis and his Tragedies

I have mixed feelings about actually returning back to the States. Writing that gave me a slap of anxiety. I’m trying to work on staying in the present and being mindful of the moments as I’m in them, but there are times when my mind races backwards past India, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, the Philippines, Japan, China, and Korea (I spent time in eight countries in 2010!! Whoa! I never could’ve imagined in my wildest dreams) to Chicago, Missouri, New Jersey and my memories of the people, faces and spaces of those places and everywhere in between those great big shining seas. And after never having been abroad before, I wonder (read: worry) about how I’m going to process everything upon my return. But I suppose we’ll just get to that then. The idea of a 9-5 never really appealed to me, especially now, and the prospect of picking up and leaving everyone and everything again to find some semblance of happiness (career-wise, life-wise) in travel and exploration is a bit frightening. Again, we’ll get to that when we get there. (You see what I’m dealing with everyday? But then I look out at the sea and take a deep breath and say a “thank you” for being happy, healthy and where I am, and I hope you feel the same way about where you are in life, because as my yoga instructor Lissa always says, “Wherever you are, that is where you’re meant to be.” Take it in. Enjoy it all. Life will change, and that’s a fact.)

You should go watch Moon now to see what I’m talking about.

Happy New Year! I love you. I miss you. I can’t wait to smile at you in PERSON, and touch your face and say, “My! How time has changed you… [for the better].”