When we first moved to Guam we
made a conscious effort to go and play tourist on the island as often as we
could. Initially it was more like an extended vacation. We really wanted to be
happy here and the beautiful sights eased the distance. The last few months we
have been in a slump. We bought a car on Craigslist and were scammed. We took
it to a repair shop that kept it for two months, and were scammed again. We are
currently driving a car that literally has the head gasket glued together. We
poured a lot of money into this car and not wanting to waste another dime on
our Guam bomb have been without a consistent reliable vehicle. A few kind
people lent us a loaner for a while, but there were weekends we were stuck at
home. January rolled around and we were broke. Glenn was on winter break and only
receives paychecks on the months he works, so it was tight. We were happy to
spend days swimming at the pool in our complex. We kept saying how lucky we
were to be swimming in January. Life in Guam has really surreal moments and the
year around swimming weather is a perk, especially when you have a baby who is
a natural born bubble guppy in the water. We discovered the video store across
the street rents three movies for $5! We binge watched TV shows on Netflix and
spent more time with the characters from Chuck than actual real people. We were
living life on the cheap and kind of stopped exploring the island. The last
month we have started to emerge from our shells again and have been able to
enjoy some fun family outings. Here are a few of my favorite moments recently.
Our Valentines Day dinner date
turned out to be very memorable and kept us laughing the whole time. We ate at
a new place called Tapenade and didn’t know any reviews or anything at all
prior to walking in the door. We asked the hostess what it meant and she said
it was a serving for two. The menu looked delicious so we ordered a few things with
the plan to share. I asked for a strawberry lemonade to drink which wasn’t on
the menu. The bartender said he could whip it up no problem. We watched as he
sliced strawberries, juiced lemons, shook it all around and created his
masterpiece. Since there were no refills on this creation I savored and drank
slowly. Throughout the entire meal the bartender kept walking over and adding
to my drink. He dropped in diced orange and apple and garnished with extra fruit.
He just couldn’t stop! When the food came it was delicious, but turns out
Tapenade means a taste for two. We had two skewers and split between the two of
us it was three bites of meat each. We ordered two other dishes and joked about
hitting up the Wendy’s in the parking lot on our way home. Neither of us had
ever eaten at one of those tiny bite size portion restaurants before. It made
for a memorable dinner and the food honestly was fantastic.
Last Monday Glenn had a
surprise day off work that we weren’t expecting. Guam literally called a
Holiday out of nowhere and schools were closed. One of our favorite places on
the island is a place called Tumon. This is the capital of everything touristy
on the island. You have the best shopping, restaurants, resorts, and therefore
the best beaches. We spent the first part of our day wandering around the
stores and waiting out the buckets of rain that were pouring down outside. We
ate lunch at California Pizza Kitchen. To some it’s just pizza. To me anything
that I enjoy in the states and can still enjoy on this island feels like a
little piece of home. Once we finished the weather was all cleared up and we were
planning on swimming in the ocean. When we walked down to the beach we were
warned about jellyfish. Being the cautious Momma that I am I chose not to risk
going in the water with my baby. Glenn however thought he could dodge any
jellyfish that he saw, put on a snorkel and mask, and proceeded with caution
out into the water. He was back on the beach five minutes later after getting
stung. Lesson learned we chose to take a casual walk along the beach taking
pictures. Immediately we noticed the beach was littered with these Pacific
Men-Of-War, dozens and dozens of them just washed on shore. They are a bright
royal blue and look like chewed up spat out pieces of bubble gum with a giant
clear bubble stuck to them and a single long tentacle. Unlike anything I have
ever seen before at the Monterey Bay Aquarium that I visited many timed during
my childhood. We came upon a catamaran that was a perfect posing my baby
moment. We saw this triangular glass home that had a wedding going on in that
exact moment. This little beach walk was my favorite part of the day. I experience
a lot of emotions in Guam, some good and some not. This day I was grateful that
we will have so many cute family photos on the beach because of our time here.
I feel like each time we go out
on a Guam exploration I think that’s the most scenic place on the entire
island. Seriously though I really think this hike we went on to Tarzan Waterfalls
last Friday was my favorite so far. We have talked about hiking pretty much
every weekend, and up until now have only done one very small very short hike
down to a place called Haputo Beach. Tarzan Falls was a 3 mile roundtrip hike
and perfectly baby friendly. The trail was so wide and kept opening up to these
gorgeous scenic views of the island. It was absolutely impossible to get lost
because even when the trail split off it always converged back into one. The
weather that morning was spectacular and we had a nice little breeze. There
were some muddy patches and one place we had to do a little bum scoot down a
crazy steep slippery hill but that’s the reality of nature. I can’t say enough
good things about this hike and this day. The funniest part was this group of
Japanese tourists that were taking an ATV tour down to the waterfall and as
they kept stopping to navigate we kept catching back up with them while walking.
They were shameless about photographing our beautiful baby. When we were down
at the waterfall one of them just randomly put his arm around Glenn and Deliah
to take a picture with them. I feel like wherever we go our white baby is such
a novelty and we’re constantly getting compliments on her beauty, her gorgeous
eyes and curly locks of hair. People can rave about my baby all they want, this
Momma eats it up. The waterfall was spectacular. Who doesn’t love a waterfall?!
The water was so refreshing to jump in but was a little cool for Deliah’s
liking so we didn’t stay in too long. Deliah got real worn out hiking and being
so photogenic that she slept the entire hike back. All in all it was great
family day and I was feeling very lucky by our surroundings.
Not every day in Guam is all
rainbows and unicorns and waterfalls. Those days it’s effortless to see the
magic in my day and the unique experiences that Guam has brought us. Whenever I’m
out of the house and we’re trying something new and exploring the island that’s
when my mood is at its best. The most challenging aspect of living here is the
feelings of loneliness that can creep up on you. I have never struggled as much
socially and felt like it was so difficult to make friends as it has been here.
Some days I am perfectly content at home tending to my Mommy and Wife
responsibilities. After too many days without venturing outside those walls I
start to get bored. I love spending my days with Deliah but I think about how
awesome it would have been to have Deliah while we lived in North Carolina. There
are a lot of young moms in our previous ward who supported each other and were
excellent about keeping a playgroup going. They always invited me even without
a baby, but now that I have a baby I see how crucial those groups are to both
baby and Mommy. I love showing off Deliah and her new tricks on Skype, but it’s
not the same. I’m already looking forward to being back in California and
having games nights, and people over for dinner, and meeting friends at the
park with their kids. We really do lead a pretty good life and have exceptional
options for fun weekend outings but I do wish Guam wasn’t in such a stupid location
on the Globe.
A walk along the beach in Tumon. March 3, 2014
A hike to Tarzan Falls. March 7, 2014
No comments:
Post a Comment