About a Boy

"How can it be time for Senior pictures already?" I asked myself recently. How did 17 years slip like sand through my hands?

This grown boy looks like he is shipping out to sea, and I couldn't help but mist over just thinking about that reality happening soon.
These are Trevor's dress blues for JROTC. He is cadet of the month, and we thought we'd capture it for Senior photos because we don't have a letterman's jacket (do they get letterman jackets in the tropics?)

These are my stealth photos I took over the photographer's shoulder or behind a bush. Trevor was cooperative fir the most part but a bit irked that he had to pose like it was a model shoot. The Japanese tourists standing around watching him contributed to Trevor's discomfort level.

Isn't the little white chapel in the background so scenic?
Trevor had to change out in public so he was wearing Under Armor bike tights under his clothes. His stripping in public didn't help the crowds dissipate.
Here he is wondering if he can leap over the limestone wall and just swim away.

This weekend they also had the Football Awards Ceremony for the new 2010 IIAG Guam High Panthers at Gab Gab beach. The coach was lamenting the fact that he didn't get to have Trevor "a real athlete" for more than 1 year.
Now they are recruiting Trevor to play Rugby, (I am cringing because the AF Academy passes over young men who have sports injuries.) I worried about football injuries with pads-- yikes, just thinking about Trevor getting smashed by a 250 lb Chamorro boys, without wearing any pads wakes me up at night.

And finally this was the first wrestling match of the season. Trevor had to wrestle last years All-Island Champ Chris Aguon from "FD" Father Duenas. Despite the refs being inexperienced, and impartial to FD (they were both graduates of FD and actually coached the FD kids wrestling beneath them on the mat) Trevor won this round.

Trevor hurt his rotator cuff because the ref wouldn't call this horrible 1 minute of hyper extension of Trevor's shoulder. Our coach was yelling to stop, but the FD ref ignored him. These are the moments where that "Mother lion" instinct kicks in, and I wanted to go down and mangle the perps playing dirty and inflicting pain. Steve just patted me and told me to calm down as Trevor is not a little boy anymore. No matter how grown a man can get---they will still remain boys to their mothers.

Confucius say...

I confess, I like for things to be tidy with neat ends. Rarely can I make, beg or coerce people or places, myself included, to be neat and perfect. I have accepted the fact that life is terribly messy and, as science confirms, everything flows from order to chaos but most days I have a hard time living it. I came across a Confucius quote the other day that said:

"Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it."

And I got to thinking about the truth that there is a form of beauty in the chaos and disarray in life. I have passed this pretty Chinese park on island a million times, and yesterday the big statue of Confucius caught my eye. I followed a split second decision to stop. Now, I was busy and had errands to run and this particular park is next to impossible to get out of because of the blind curve in the road and the relentless traffic. But, suddenly it became important in my mind to stop at this park.

Confucius's, or Kong Qiu, father died when he was three, and he lived with his mother in poverty until she died of illness and overwork when Confucius was 17. From that chaos of his early beginning, Confucius went on to spend his life promoting a great, harmonious and humanistic society willing to live by the golden rule "Do unto others..." or in his words: "Never impose on others what you would not chose for yourself."

As I walked into the park, I thought about his quote, "everything has beauty,"
and I thought, 'anyone could see that this park has beauty, order and symmetry.'

Anyone could see that at first glance. You didn't have to dig deep to find it.

So, I sat on the bench and specifically looked around for something not pretty. As humans, we are good at finding things that are out of synch and not perfect. A moments glance revealed graffiti, overgrown grass and disrepair, like the horn missing on the carabao,

over abundant power wires, faded paint, mildew on the sidewalk,

and jungle overtaking the path. These are the things that people see when they come to Guam. For this reason, many people from the States hate it here.

Then I took the line from Confucius "not everyone sees [beauty]" and tried to look around to find the beauty in rough or unrecognizable form-- basically everything that is not neat and tidy. And after a while, like those fuzzy pictures that you stare at long enough, beautiful things came into focus from the third eye, the underused part of the brain. I could see the oval globes of the lamp post in the fence design.

I could see repeating rectangular patterns that pleased the eye.

I could see the ocean kiss the sky above the overgrowth.

I could see in focus a small glimpse of what Confucius was saying. Beauty is not in the apparent, tidy and perfect...

But in accepting that which is (mess, yuck and all) and looking bigger.

Like all eye opening experiences, it is the practical application that counts.... the hardest part for me. This will always be the ongoing quest for life.... seeing beauty in mountains of sweat soaked laundry, sagging age-spotted skin, bad grades, dented fenders, cockroaches on clean linen. Once I get that mastered, I will work on another Confucianism "And remember, no matter where you go, there you are."

New form of fear for Halloween

Celebrating Halloween when your kids turn into teenagers becomes a strange animal. The kids were busy with activities, and to my dismay no one was around to attend Trunk or Treat at church, carve a pumpkin or make a single cookie. (Not having our household goods contributed to this as well.) It just felt bizarre and scary that my kids are growing up and putting away childhood activities. At least Natalie's friend had a party and she did Trick or Treat on base with her friend MacKenzie. Natalie was a cute pirate. Next year she will be a Freshman in High School, and I hope she still wants to dress up to celebrate Halloween.So, in an attempt to make a new tradition for Halloween, we went to Jeff's Pirates Cove in Talofofo (the southern end of the island) to have lamb pitas and burgers.
At least Jeff still likes to dress up....

And there was a "scary" Halloweenish skull on the ceiling behind their heads and branded on the burgers.

This was as close as I got the boys to getting "dressed up," by posing by pirates. Notice no one is smiling here ('cept me behind the camera). Natalie refused to pose in her pirate costume and ran away. Sigh.
At least I got a grin when I said if they would just smile once, I wouldn't take any more pictures.
Next year for Halloween, Trevor will be at the AF Academy. I don't know if they even pause to celebrate in any shape or form. Maybe to celebrate he will be cleaning the latrines with a toothbrush or putrid trash cans with a Brillo pad --something really spooky and gross. It made me a bit sad to think this was an end of one of the chapters of the book of his childhood. Oh the scary things we mothers have to deal with-- (SCREAM heard here!)

Well that depends....

Frequently we get asked if anything is DIFFERENT now on Guam, or if everything is exactly the same as when we left 4 years ago. To that question, the answer can only be: "it depends....."

Well, the sky is still a vibrant blue when it is not raining.

And thankfully you can still see the ocean when driving down the main road, Marine Corps Drive, while heading North and South.

But.... there is a lot of new construction underway to hold the estimated 30,000 new Marines and dependents that will move on island over the next few years.

However, there are still the friendly campaign "wavers" who stand on every street corner for months before the elections waving pompoms, clapping and drawing attention to their candidate of choice or more likely family member, since it is a small island. And we still find the billboards littering every inch of the roadways begging for our vote for Governor and Senators. (We voted today for Calvo and Tenorio for Gov/Lt. Gov. If by some strange turn of events Gutierrez and Aguon win, Steve is determined this time to put old Carl in jail for his theft of government funds.)

Another unfortunate new change is that the traffic has increased dramatically.
Yes, I can take a photo while driving because, well, I am not driving, but sitting in congestive traffic. Besides the highest speed limit is 35 mph. (Italian women can smoke, talk on the phone and shift gears while going much faster than that.)
Many side roads have construction underway and this makes Marine Dr. a nightmare most days. I spend a lot of time on the roads taxing kids to sports and activities and this bumper to bumper gets old. (But again as irritating as this is, it will never be as bad as traffic in Italy!)

We were hoping to see all renewable energy solar panels when we returned, but the Piti Power plant is still up and running with the nasty brown haze above it. But the good news is that the brown haze means there is power on island.
Years ago it wasn't uncommon to have days and nights without power.
Well, I came home a few days ago to find that there was no power. Currently we live on the 11th floor.
So, as in years passed, when there was no power after earthquakes, typhoons, or brown tree snakes shorting out power lines, I hoofed my way up stairs.
Living here always makes me grateful for the small things--like power and water and elevators.

We still have a few beggars in wheelchairs that ask for money for medicine or expensive treatments off island. The Asians living here are very hardworking and would never ask for handouts. And the Chamorros are very tight knit families and always share everything they have with each other, so it is either emergencies or drugs that make them go to the community. (In Italy the gypsies and beggars are everywhere, so it is nice not to have to deal with their panhandling here.)

Am I happy living here? I could answer "it depends..." Many people from the mainland I talk to say "it depends" on any given day if they are happy here. But for me, while there are many things I miss about Rome, I still think "Guam is Good", and I love living here with all the good and bad, the same and the different all rolled into one.

Living LARGE on a small island

If you walked under this arch into Ypao Park (as the locals call it) this past weekend, you could get a glimpse of Guam before the Germans, Spaniards, Japanese or even American's showed up, as well as life on the outer islands of Micronesia.
The yearly Micronesian Island Fair promotes pride and a true taste of culture past and present.
Under this beautiful Flame tree or Poinciana, next to the bamboo fence is a scaled down model of an ancient Chamorro village.
This is a Guma Malitau, or women's hut. It is erected to honor and respect the mother and family caregiver. The mother could go here for privacy or invite other women here to converse. I have to admit I really like this idea. Every modern day home usually contains a "man cave" with a tv and computer, but the ancients had it figured out that the mom needs a space of her own, besides the bathroom, to think her own thoughts without the children arguing underfoot, without dishes or laundry, and be able to just talk with other woman.
Now this hut is the kitchen or the Guma Fina'tinas. This is where the MEN would prepare and cook food on a small open fire. This is still very popular on Guam today. Only the hut is now a patio where the men grill all kinds of BBQ. Again the ancients were smart.... the men did the cooking everyday!
Gotta love the stone chair for the men to sit on. Guess the kitchen was their man-cave where they played with fire.

This tattooed guy in the loin cloth is Ko' San Nicolas. He prepared a whole pig and fish that he soaked in sweet tuba (fermented sap from a young coconut tree). He seasoned the meat and wrapped it in banana leaves along with breadfruit (starchy green fruit that grows on a tree here on Guam) and other root vegetables like taro (the potato of the tropics).
In his cooking pit he had volcanic rock that he had heated from burning wood. He put banana stumps over the rock, leaves and medicinal ferns, the wrapped pig & fish, and more leaves. After a few hours, the moist, fragrant steamed veggies and meat was ready.

This hut is the Guma Chahan- another sort of kitchen. In front there is a version of a latte stone- the rock foundation of ancient huts to elevate them from the ground and a mortar and pestle made from flat volcanic rock.

Closeup of the latte stone and clam shell. The giant shells were used as serving dishes for food like kelaguens (chopped fish or chicken cooked with citrus juices)
The mortar and pestle was used to grind roots, mash breadfruit (kon), hull rice and pound nuts to paralyze fish (so they could catch and eat them) as well as mix & grind herbs for medicine.

This is the largest hut called the Guma Inetnon used for social gatherings and meetings.

This cute little hut is the Guma Manha or coconut house--the smallest structure in the village. It is really enjoyable to see the men husk the coconut in 2 moves by hitting it on a sharp stick and pulling down the fibrous sides like husking corn. There is a sweet spot to hit or it won't open up.
They can grate the coconut in about 30 seconds by sitting on a small hair with a sharp end.

Finally this is the Guma Guinaha or museum house. This is where they store the artifacts and important objects of ancestors. These shells were tied to Ifit wood by hibiscus tree rope to make a hatchet like knife to carve out tree trunks to make outrigger boats and canoes.

Also in this hut is the jewelry worn by the village chiefs and the women. The red spondylus mollusks were rare and were either strung for necklaces or used as money called alas. The Chief's necklace, the white half moon, called a sinahi in Chamorro, is made from clam shell. There are also bone picks that were used for function and ornamentation for the hair.
Outside the huts was this cute carabao or water buffalo who was grazing. The Carabao is sorta an icon on Guam. They have these statues all over the island. The carabao was used for plowing and hauling goods in a wooden cart--now they are just used as tourist attractions.

The Micronesia island fair also had some great cultural dances from all the outer islands.
These palm frond bedazzled dancers were from Pohnpei. They did a version of a moonlight dance which is rare because normally the men and woman do not dance together. It is only performed on a full moon with permission by the village chief.

These dancers are also from Pohnpei. They did a stick dance with these small pieces of smooth wood in their hands that they tapped on a board.
These dancers are from the Guam Natibu Dance Academy. There has been a movement in recent years for the Chamorros of Guam to regain their culture. When the Spaniards and Japanese came through, they killed off a lot of the native men with either disease, work camps or by mass executions. They forced their culture on the Chamorros and would not let them speak their native tongue. So much of the Chamorro dance now is a mixture of Micronesian dance infused with Hawaiian hula. (Though many natives say that dance was never part of their tradition, just chanting. So, Southern High School had students do this thunderous chant to open the festival and it was amazing to hear.)
Here are the Chamorro dancers showing the Micronesian influence...

and here you can see the Hawaiian influence in the dress and delicate hand movements.
Whether it is native or not, it is fun to watch.
It was an enjoyable eclectic day: hearing music from Fiji, chants from Yap, eating fish tacos and pancit from the Philippines along with indigenous fare like black tapiaoca, seeing weaving demonstrations and reading about traditional feasting and marriages from the Marshall islands and Polynesia and Melanesian handicrafts and walking in the botanical gardens under the cool banyan trees bedecked with chinese lanterns. I loved the Palauan storyboards, Pohnpei black pearls, seeing master carver Robert Taitano, who carved our entertainment center 7 years ago, still alive and working. Guam for all its foreignness is truly a slice of America--the melting pot of all nations. Gotta love America, we take the best and celebrate it, and make it our own.
If you need a vacation in the dead of winter just around the corner--think about visiting us on our little island with tropical breezes. I am sure we can find a hammock for you to sleep on.