Hi all,
It's been a bit since I've last posted. Part of that is getting into the groove of island life, some of it is waiting for stories to finalize, and some of it is not posting stories that are awesome but not blog appropriate.
Anyway, while many of you are in wintery, snowy environments, it's still an average of 84 degrees here on Guam. Listening to Trans-Siberian Orchestra made me miss ice skating, hot chocolate, and bundling up a little, but on the whole, I recognize I should not be complaining about about celebrating the holidays in shorts and sandals.
I celebrated Christmas like this:
On the Sunday before Christmas, some of our friends rented a catamaran (don't call it a boat, it gets fussy about that) for an afternoon. For 30 bones apiece, 40 of their friends could cruise around the Philippines Sea for 4 hrs, eating and drinking their fill of whatever they brought aboard. At some point, the boat stops for people to snorkel, swim, or do Air Jordan poses jumping off the bow while a friend below takes pictures on a new waterproof camera from below (thanks Dad, Mom, and TJ for the gift).
Christmas Eve was a laid back affair of watching The Big Lebowski, drinking white russians, and trying to contain myself from quoting the whole movie as it was playing. On Christmas day, we had tentatively invited people over to our house, giving the very wide open time frame of 10 in the morning to sometime in the evening. One guy actually did show up at 10am when only one of us was up and about. Smartly, he retreated for the time and made his official entrance later in the afternoon. After family skype sessions were completed, we cooked a 26lb ham, which, for anyone who knows me and my love of ham, knows that that's all I ever really want for Christmas.
Eventually, we gathered a crew of roommates, past and present, and friends (pictured above) for a fantastic afternoon/evening of good eating, watching an amazingly inappropriate Christmas movie in "Ted," and playing an impromptu game of circle of kings before calling it a night. For anyone curious, my two actual roommates are James, the massive guy (coming in at a cool 6'9") with the massive W on his chest, and Patty, the girl in the green directly to James' right. Also notice in this picture of our living room the picture frame hung on the wall with no actual pictures in it (it is not a picture of a brick wall). We left it there to be ironic.
New Years is just around the corner, although closer for me than any of you. So, here's wishing all of you a happy 20-13 from the future!
Fun Guam fact of the day: "Hafa adai" (pronounced hafa day) means 'hello' in Guam's native language--Chamorro. It is THE ubiquitous phrase heard everywhere on the island, from the airport, to people on the telephone, to official Government correspondence, to the radio DJ checking in with his traffic guy. However, the low point of this phrase has got to be in one of the local commercials before movies, where a bunch of people ask each other (and the audience) in a really loud volume, "Hafa Adai Guam. How much do you weigh?"to promote weight loss. The irony of this commercial is that most of the people asking are overweight themselves. Sadly, this irony does not quell the awfulness of this commercial, which easily reaches #1 on the annoying top 40 list.
-More to come-
It's been a bit since I've last posted. Part of that is getting into the groove of island life, some of it is waiting for stories to finalize, and some of it is not posting stories that are awesome but not blog appropriate.
Anyway, while many of you are in wintery, snowy environments, it's still an average of 84 degrees here on Guam. Listening to Trans-Siberian Orchestra made me miss ice skating, hot chocolate, and bundling up a little, but on the whole, I recognize I should not be complaining about about celebrating the holidays in shorts and sandals.
I celebrated Christmas like this:
On the Sunday before Christmas, some of our friends rented a catamaran (don't call it a boat, it gets fussy about that) for an afternoon. For 30 bones apiece, 40 of their friends could cruise around the Philippines Sea for 4 hrs, eating and drinking their fill of whatever they brought aboard. At some point, the boat stops for people to snorkel, swim, or do Air Jordan poses jumping off the bow while a friend below takes pictures on a new waterproof camera from below (thanks Dad, Mom, and TJ for the gift).
Christmas Eve was a laid back affair of watching The Big Lebowski, drinking white russians, and trying to contain myself from quoting the whole movie as it was playing. On Christmas day, we had tentatively invited people over to our house, giving the very wide open time frame of 10 in the morning to sometime in the evening. One guy actually did show up at 10am when only one of us was up and about. Smartly, he retreated for the time and made his official entrance later in the afternoon. After family skype sessions were completed, we cooked a 26lb ham, which, for anyone who knows me and my love of ham, knows that that's all I ever really want for Christmas.
New Years is just around the corner, although closer for me than any of you. So, here's wishing all of you a happy 20-13 from the future!
Fun Guam fact of the day: "Hafa adai" (pronounced hafa day) means 'hello' in Guam's native language--Chamorro. It is THE ubiquitous phrase heard everywhere on the island, from the airport, to people on the telephone, to official Government correspondence, to the radio DJ checking in with his traffic guy. However, the low point of this phrase has got to be in one of the local commercials before movies, where a bunch of people ask each other (and the audience) in a really loud volume, "Hafa Adai Guam. How much do you weigh?"to promote weight loss. The irony of this commercial is that most of the people asking are overweight themselves. Sadly, this irony does not quell the awfulness of this commercial, which easily reaches #1 on the annoying top 40 list.
-More to come-
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