Crazy Aunt Ruth

There are times in your life when you regret that you didn't know someone better before they passed on.  You find out things after their death that make you see them in a whole different light and make you regret some of the thoughts that you had and actions that you took while you were alive.

A few weeks ago my grandfather's sister passed away.  We all knew her as the crazy eccentric aunt that always wanted to do something to your feet - or make you try a nasty herb if you didn't feel well.  We never knew what she was going to say or do or wear that might embarrass us or make others think the rest of us might possibly be as loopy as she was....here are some examples:

1. My best crazy memory of Aunt Ruth was when we went to the Nashville airport (she lived in Texas at the time) and she disembarked holding a twig with a strange caterpillar on it - I can only imagine what the person who rode next to her was thinking....I can remember walking a few steps behind them hoping that no one thought I was with them (I was a teenager at the time)
2. She was a reflexologist and believed that all nerve ending in your body came down to your foot, so you could rub a certain place on your foot and it would help your back pain (or whatever ailed you).  She also put all of her savings into a machine that pulled all the impurities of your body out through your feet.  She traveled around doing this for people and never charged them for it. 
3. She wore the ugliest shoes and clothes and sometimes forgot to take baths.  I can remember her showing up for family events and someone asking - "What is she wearing?" - like what she had on depended on whether or not we would claim her.
4. Once while in Texas, a thief broke into her house and held her at gun point.  He shot her and it grazed her head.  She began singing.  
5. While living in Georgia, she took a total stranger with a drug addiction in to live with her while he could get on his feet - we all expected that it was a matter of time before he took everything she owned of value and possibly even did bodily harm to her to feed his addiction.
6. She kept asking me for fertilized eggs even after I told her that my rooster had died.  She had a true love of animals and kept goats and drank their milk and made cheese from it.  She even had a deer whose mother had been killed by a car and fed it until it was grown.  It would still come to her and her only.

I hate funerals - I do not do well at them at all - especially ones on this side of the family.  You see, I was extremely close to my grandfather and seeing his brothers that look so much like him just kills me.  However, my cousin Kim talked me in to going after convincing me that no one else was going to be there and every one needs someone at their funeral.  So we went.  Much to our surprise, the place was packed.  There was standing room only in the chapel.  I heard so many people talk about how wonderful she was and all the good she had done.  I never knew these things....are you sure we were at the right place?

So now as Paul Harvey would say - "is the rest of the story":

1. She stepped off that plane to visit my dying grandfather.  The caterpillar was a rare variety and she brought it just for him to see - hoping to cheer him up and take his mind off cancer for just a while. 
2. Reflexology was her mission - it is how she served people and through it brought many to Christ.  She had a soft voice and talked while she massaged your feet and totally relaxed you.  She never charged for this service and was in fact on her way to do this for someone on the day she had her car wreck.  Some spas charge big amounts to "detoxify" you.
3. Aunt Ruth was never worried about what others thought of her - her mind was always on how she could help others and her own needs took a back seat to the needs of others.  She never put herself first.
4. The song she started singing was a hymn.  She also asked for God to forgive the man who shot her.  I suppose this is why he ran away instead of finishing her off.
5. Again - she put the needs of others before herself.  That's why she took the guy in.  He never (that we know of) stole from her or hurt her.  She won an award earlier this year for work that she did with those who had substance addictions.
6. This one I can't explain - maybe she was hard of hearing.....I do think that some of my love of animals came from her.  I wouldn't be able to leave a baby deer alone in the world without it's mama either.  But I am afraid that is the only way I am like Aunt Ruth.

Aunt Ruth had just gotten a brand new Cadillac - friends say that she loved that car.  She had also just gotten a brand new set of teeth.  I am sure she was buried with her new teeth - to bad she couldn't have been buried in the Cadillac.

Don't read the outer signs when people do strange things.  Always look inside.  There are many in this world that aren't like you and me and it's not our place to judge - the greatest commandment is LOVE.

Murder, Mayhem and Madness

I HATE haunted houses - when I was a teenager, I went to one of those haunted houses that pop up around Halloween, with my church youth group.  I have never been back to another.  I do not like people to touch me or jump out at me - that is, people that I do not know from Adam.  So I was a little hesitant to go on a ghost walk - until the advertisement promised that there would be no tricks and no one would jump out to scare me.  I figured they would surely rig something so you would feel like you got the most for your money.  However, curiosity won out and we went on a ghost walk in Gatlinburg last Thursday night while on vacation.

At the risk of sounding like I may need to be committed,   I am going to tell you all about what happened.  You can see the pictures on Facebook - they wouldn't look so great here because they come out too small - and even on FB, they are not as good as the originals on my computer.

We started out by walking up behind the restrooms in The Village.  There is a little paved road there - who knew that a graveyard was there?!  I never knew.  But first - it was a full moon - so we had to see something right?  I am open to the possibility that spirits or souls stay on this earth after death.  We know that the Bible talks of a "waiting area" for judgement day, but we also know that some came back to visit and we don't know exactly WHEN they go there.   We hear about "walking into the light" so maybe some souls don't go to the light for a while after death.


Our guide was waiting for us right in front of the cemetary.  He was a great story teller - we were all fascinated.  I had no idea that such a small town could have such horrible deaths.  I learned a couple of things as well.  Way back when - around the 1800's or so, there was a disease that made people LOOK dead, but they really weren't.  So there was a real danger of being buried alive.  To keep this from happening, they would put a pipe with a string in it that went down inside the coffin.  At the top was a bell.  If you happened not to be dead, you could pull on the string that rang the bell and hope that someone was close by to hear and then hope that you didn't suffocate while they dug you out.  That is where we get the term "Saved by the Bell".  Also, there had to be someone to hang around the graveyard at night - just in case one of those bells rang - hence "Graveyard Shift".  Of course then you had the problem if you were the ringer that the watchman might be too scared to get help and think that a ghost was ringing the bell.  I also learned that 3:00 AM is called the bewitching hour because it was the exact opposite of 3:00 PM - the time that Jesus died.  Supposedly if you hang out around graveyards and other ghostly places, you will always see something at 3:00 AM.  I didn't try that....

The most exciting thing to me was the fact that I got an EMF (electro magnetic field) detector.  Supposedly ghosts use energy from nature to move around.  When that energy is collected together it forms an EMF field.  Imagine my surprise when I found out that these are actually used and not just made to detect ghosts with.  Ours were very simple - no numbers - just Safe, Caution and Danger.  If yours went to caution or danger, you might be in the presence of a ghost.  HOWEVER, look around you first.  If you are standing under a street lamp or close to one of those electricity boxes, it will go off.  I tested mine a bit first - mine never turned yellow under the street lamps and I had to get right up next to a transformer box for it to change.  So this told me that you had to be in close proximity for it to work.

After talking in the cemetery a bit, we started walking.  He took us over close to "Fort Fun".  There is a parking lot and big wall there covered with ivy.  There used to be a pizza parlor there.  It went out of business because they couldn't keep employees - they would all quit after a few hours because of the strange things that happened.  He also said that only those who lived in town could park their cars there now - strange things happened to outsider's cars....

Moving on, we went through an alley - that I would have never stepped in had I not been led there - into the back parking lot of one of the older hotels where they were building something.  This particular hotel was the scene of a very brutal, bloody double murder.  Now this is where the EMF detector started lighting up - both mine and Daniel's.  Of course that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up - added to the fact that it was DARK - no street lamps - just the lights from the hotel and they were not very close.  So I started snapping pictures - one time - and one time only - I pushed down on the button to the half way point (those of you who have digital cameras know what I am talking about) and in the screen, there was the shadow of a man with a sort of engineer's hat on.  I totally freaked out and snapped - but nothing was in the picture when I went back.  It gives me goose bumps now because I still see that image in my head.  When I went back to the picture - on close examination, there was an orb - and this orb had a face.   This was the only time that I felt funny - like I was close to a ghost - that goosebumpee feeling - you know?

We then moved on to the hotel beside the Haunted Mansion.  This was the scene of two children playing in an open window - one fell inside and hit his head and the other fell out the window - both died.  Many people have reported seeing a young girl playing in the water and others have recording the sounds of children playing in the stairwells there.  I had some orbs in the pictures of the hotel.

Next, we turned around and looked at the space needle.  Here was a horrible death of a worker who fell on top of the elevator, while it was full of people. (Beware this gets gross)  His body was caught in the gears and torn up.  The elevator gets stuck and his blood runs down the sides of the GLASS elevator.  I got some mist in that picture.  But the story alone makes you have nightmares and the guide of course embellished the story.


We headed back to the cemetery after this where our guide told us the sad story of Lydia.  Lydia was in love and engaged to get married.  She had already bought her beautiful wedding dress.  Her fiance (whose name I have forgotten) had to make a business trip to Knoxville.  The wedding day came and he had not returned.  Lydia was convinced she had been stood up at the alter.  She put on her wedding dress and hung herself.   She can be seen walking through the cemetery in her wedding dress, on the left side looking for her fiance.  The sad thing was that it was later found out that he had been attacked by a mountain lion on the road home and killed.

So on to my pictures - I snapped more than 100 pics that night.  Looking through them on my camera didn't show anything - EXCEPT the strange black blob at the haunted fountain.  I was very disappointed.  I didn't have my camera cord with me, so I was unable to download them until I got home.  Once home, I went into ghostbuster mode.  I looked at every single picture and did find some orbs - which by the way - orbs are seen most often because that is an easy shape to manifest into (don't know how someone figured that one out).  BUT they are also the easiest to explain away as dust or insects, so orb pictures are common.  I did see on one of my "ghost" shows that I enjoy watching, that insects usually appear as a "rod" shape instead of a circle and of course experts can tell the difference between a dust orb and a spirit orb.  Nevertheless,  I have orbs in some of my pictures and some are impressive - especially the one with a face. I also got a couple of pictures with a ghostly mist in them as well.  So all in all I was pleased.  They were taken with a very unimpressive camera, one that is just a point and click digital camera and only enhanced by using the "auto correct" function on my windows computer.  I don't own photoshop.  I didn't add or take away.  Everything above happened including the man.  I had a BLAST!  And I am ready to do it again.

I highly recommend the Ghost Walk in Gatlinburg.  It was worth the money!  The whole family - including Scooter - had a great time!

Warning - Contains Mild Insanity

Disclaimer - I was asked to post this blog - it really is a true story and one more little memory of my month in Guam - really - I promise it's true.  Things like this always happen to me....brace yourself....you may laugh too much.

I don't know if any of you reading this have ever traveled internationally through the Atlanta airport - if so then you know what I am talking about...if not .....don't.  I hate the Atlanta airport - I believe I have mentioned this before.  It is too crowded and too big.

Last Sunday - I traveled for 23 hours to get home.  Fours hours from Guam to Tokyo - then waiting in Narita airport and then almost 14 hours from Tokyo to Guam.  I spent my time watching movies that I wouldn't pay to see.  Seriously, I had my own little TV set and I watched movies the entire time.....I only fell asleep during one movie and I fell asleep after it started and woke up before it ended.  I watched movies right up until they made me put away my TV...(this is important to know for later)  So needless to say, when I disembarked, I was running on adrenaline and just wanted to get home.  Robbie and Daniel were waiting for me already.  I needed to be out of airports.

When you deplane on an international flight in Atlanta, you must claim your luggage.  Let me remind you that I had two GIANT bags plus a carry on plus a backpack.  I will pack so much better next time.....ANYWAY - you walk out of the baggage claim area and around a corner only to find out that you have to GIVE THEM BACK YOUR LUGGAGE AND GO THROUGH SECURITY AGAIN - and yes that is even if you are leaving the airport and not changing flights.  By the way - just an FYI  - if you are getting back on a plane, you have to get your luggage and recheck it.  So this just infuriates me.  I just want to leave - I need to leave - I need to sleep and I need a bath.  Pulling one's own luggage off the carousel makes one sweat - especially when one has one WAY over the weight limit piece of luggage.

So I am standing in a really long line thinking of all the airports that I will use the next time I fly internationally,  when it occurs to me that I took out all of my liquids out of the little ziploc during the flight and they want them BACK in the little ziploc - so while I am trying to keep moving forward, I am going through everything trying to get things back in order.  I just need to go home  - I don't need to go through security........

It's my turn.  I take my shoes off - put all my stuff on the conveyor belt - including taking out my computer - empty my pockets....etc.  And once again, I am chosen for the full body scan.  Step into the tube - hold your arms up - get xrayed.  I am sure we are all going to get cancer from these full body scans at the airport - I have now officially had my fair share of full body scans.  Luckily I am not so young - it will take a while for the cancer to grow.  I should be good.

Next, step up to a rubber pad and put your feet on the little feet painted on the pad.  Wait for your scan results......and wait.....and wait.....and wait.  Then I see the man standing in front of me wave someone over.

An African-American woman who is TWICE my height gets right in front of me and says....(wait for it)......................."I am going to need to touch your breasts.  Are you in any pain?"  ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?!?!?!?!?!  Yeah - she wasn't kidding.  It then occurs to me that since I watched movies until the very end....I had already put my stuff in the overhead bins.....and so I put my ipod head set.........................IN MY BRA.  Yep - I had a cute little wire with two little things on the end of it show up on my full body scan.  I hurriedly pull them out - smiling.....and say "Oops - totally forgot about these."  She then replies, "I have to do it anyway."  Did you read the part about there being a long line and that the Atlanta airport has tons of people in it?  Well they were all staring at the lady who was packing bombs in her boobs.

Thinking back, I wonder if I should have told her that I was in pain.......

I am pretty sure that you have a lovely picture in your head at this point - so I won't go into to any more detail - but it happened....I have a couple thousand witnesses.

Saying Goodbye

Tears came to my eyes when I pulled in to my hotel drive for the last time today.  There was no sun at all today and that fit my mood.  I spent the morning and early afternoon driving all the way around the island one more time and taking a few more pictures.

As you drive around the southern end of the island, open your car window -  someone is always at the beach barbecuing something.  You can smell the warm salt air mixed the the smell of plumeria - Bath and Body Works does NOT have this smell perfected :).  I can't even describe it - but it's even better than roses.

I saw many Caribou (Water Buffalo) and even one with two dogs on top of it - I would have stopped to take a picture but they wanted to wash the car - so I kept going.  Almost every beach in the south had a family get together.  They are so friendly that they probably would have asked me to eat with them had I stopped.

My memories:
The look on Alice's face when I told her there was no ocean in Tennessee - "You don't have an ocean?!!!"

Ray Ray - transferring a call then running from his office to mine to tell me it was for me.

The flowers

The food

Sunrise outside my hotel window every morning

The computer operators - who started my world journey of food

Learning about the war

The Chamorro Culture

The rainbows - almost daily

Tomorrow, I will click my heels together three times and 23 hours later I will be home.

So I say goodbye to the Land of Rainbows, Spam Island, Land of Butterflies,  Tano Y Chamorro, Guahan,  GUAM....I hope that I will be back someday.

Chocolate Houses and Latte Stones

My time is coming to an end here in Guam and I have mixed feelings.  I am ready to get home and see my family but know that I will most likely never be back and I have made good friends here that I will miss!

This past weekend, I did more sightseeing - I find that I think I have seen all there is to see and then I look on the internet and see that I still haven't seen it all!  My biggest regret is that since I am alone, there are some hikes that I haven't gone on  - or boonie stomps as they say here.  Yes I realize that my hike the first weekend was a bad idea - but I wanted to see those bomb holes!!!  I am very lucky that I didn't fall or turn my ankle....yada yada yada......Anywho - Saturday I went to the Chamorro Cultural village named Gef Pa'go.  There are advantages to being a lone tourist and not being with a group - I got my very own guide!  I learned how the ancient Chamorros extracted salt from sea water - they use a bamboo fire and the water evaporates and leaves the salt at the bottom.  Then the salt is put in the sun to bleach and turn nice and white.  It's amazing to see how they got what they needed - things that we   

take for granted - like salt!  I was also shown how to make coconut candy - and got the recipe!  It is fresh coconut, sugar, and corn starch - the sugar is caramelized then it's all mixed together and made into little balls and it is delicious!

A sweet man named Frank showed me how to make a rope from a hibiscus plant - all with the same tools that the Chamorros used.  Three twisted fibers were woven together by using a crank and a deer antler to keep them straight.  I have to stop and tell a funny about Frank.  While we were making our rope, I told him that I had been enjoying Chamorro food - when he heard that he asked me if I was a Miss or a Mrs.   I asked him why?  He said "Because I have a nephew in Tennessee that needs a Mrs.!!!   Sorry Frank....The lady below was weaving palm leaves to make baskets, hats and other things.  She made  three fish and two
little birds just for me - I am concerned about the birds making it home ok - they are "3D" while the fish are flat.  AND since I was getting the VIP treatment, we walked around the village of Inarahan and I got to see the historical house there.

After visiting with the people at Gef Pa'go, I went on down the road to find the Inharahan pool.    This is a "swimming hole" used by the locals.  It is really beautiful there.  It is an enclosed pool fed by fresh water and ocean water.  It is enclosed by reefs - the reefs act as a filter and the water stays clear and clean.  There are many little fish there and one local assured me that no sharks could get through....don't know if he was kidding or not!!!  However, there are warnings not to go beyond...and there have been shark attacks reported here - but I am not going to test the theory of where the sharks are.  The water is deep in the pool and it gives it a beautiful color. 

I am amazed at the beauty of Guam.  I seem to find treasures every time I go out.  The Inarahan Pool was definitely worth seeing.

It was lunchtime by now and the southern end of Guam does not boast any "chain" restaurants.  I stopped at little Vietnamese restaurant - what I would describe as a "hole in the wall" restaurant (they usually have the best food).  I had Kudu and Loompia - translated - soup and egg rolls.  The loompia here is wonderful!   You take a piece of romaine lettuce in your hand, add some rice noodles, then add bean sprouts and basil.  Then you lay the egg roll on top of that and roll it up in the lettuce....YUMMO!  After lunch I took a break and rested under a palm tree and read a while.

I can't even begin to tell you how wonderful that was - just to relax and read with a slight breeze....and the ocean....aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh.

Break's over - still stuff to see!  I headed back to the capital city of Hagatna - right across from where I am working - I have seen it everyday, but have never gotten over to see what it was all about.  Now I was headed back in time again - long before the world wars - to a time of pirates and conquistadors - to the time when the Spaniards ruled Guam.  Hagatna or Agana (same place - Agana is the ancient name) has always been the capital.  Right across from the building where I have been working is the Plaza de Espanza.  It is the site where the Governor's Palace used to be and the ruins are still there.  Surprisingly (especially with all the Typhoons and earthquakes) there is a gate of three arches still standing.

The terrace of the palace is still there as well, but as you can see, it is falling apart.

What interested me the most was that there was a gazebo type structure that was called The Chocolate House.  The Spaniards LOVED hot chocolate and would retire to the chocolate house in the evenings to drink it.  It is hard to imagine in this heat that anyone would want HOT chocolate!!!

Right across the street is the Latte Stone city park.  The latte (pronounced lat' ee)stones are the symbol of Chamorro culture and are somewhat of a mystery.  They have been likened to the strange statues on Easter Island.  They believe that they were used as a base for their houses.  I spoke to my guide at Gef Pa'go about them.  She told me that they are all over the jungles in Guam.  The Chamorro are very respectful of their ancient relatives.  If they come across a latte stone or a rock where a latte stone was cut from, they leave immediately.  It is not good to disturb the ancient ones.  They know that when they find these, that an ancient was there and may still be there.  How did the ancient Chamorros make

these stones and how did they get one on top of the other?  Who knows?  Probably they used the same techniques as those that carved the statues on Easter Island or the ones that made the pyramids.

The latte stone park also boasted more dark Japanese caves!!  And you know me - I was too chicken to go in because of the gates.  (I am pretty sure that ghosts will lock me in), so again I stepped in and did the flash picture - you know, just to check for any ghosts of Japanese soldiers.......

I have one more Saturday here to explore.  Believe it or not, there are still a couple of things that I haven't seen.  I will drive back around the southern end of the island again.  I have to drink it all in just one more time.

I will leave you with my favorite picture of the day.  I think I may frame this one.  It is the path from the chocolate house to the garden house at the govenor's palace..

"The average tourist wants to go to places where there are no tourists." Sam Ewing

On Guam, I have noticed that there are not many tourists who venture out on their own - well that is somewhat of an understatement.  So far, I am the ONLY tourist that has chosen to be my own tour guide.  Everybody else rides the big tour buses.  I just don't like to crowd in with a bunch of people that I can't understand what they are saying.  Sunday, I decided to venture out to Talofofo falls.  It is inland away from the ocean.

They don't believe much in signs on Guam - not sure why, but that is just the way it is.  I have a map out of a magazine that was in my hotel room.  It only shows the major roads - which is mainly the one that goes around the island and the two that cut through the island.  When I decide what attraction I am going to, I just have to hope for the best.  The map does have little dots of where the attractions are and some landmarks.

Back to Telefofo Falls.  I use the cut across the island road (I say that because I have no idea what the name of it is) but on the map I know I am on the right road because it is beside the Pizza Hut and Taco Bell.  (Food is very important here - they have the restaurants marked on the map).  I travel across and arrive at the village of Talofofo - well one would think that the waterfall named Talofofo would be close to the village, but one would be wrong if they thought that - but one wasted a lot of time before they figured that out.  I have become intimate with the village of Talofofo because I drove up and down every street looking for something that looked like a waterfall.  By this time I am lost, so my best bet is to drive toward the ocean.  I get lucky and wind up back on the main go around the island road.  So I decided to drive up and down it a bit looking for a sign or something to the falls.  Finally I give up and decide to do something else.  So I head back around the tip of the island and MILES away from Talofofo is a sign.....Take a good look sister because it's the only sign you are going to get....

YAY - an actual sign with a arrow - it just doesn't get any better than this!  So I turned.....and drove and drove and there was construction lots of it - deep holes in the road.....dirt road and then ROAD CLOSED - yeah another sign.  There was a road to the left - so I turned and drove and drove and drove and drove - think I'm kidding? - see below:

LITERALLY - this the road to nowhere - I don't know how many miles I drove but it was a long way - I was determined to see this waterfall.  This is the only fresh water waterfall that is easily accessible without hiking.  But I finally gave up - turned around sad that I wouldn't see this waterfall.  I got back to where the turn off was....and lo and behold another car came and went AROUND the road closed sign.  Well if they could do it, so could I - VOILA - not far from the "Road Closed Sign" - Talofofo Falls Park.  I was the only person there - but while I was paying my $20 entrance fee, a tour bus full of Japanese drives up.  I hurriedly go to the gondola hoping to beat the lines.  They seat me in an entirely enclosed Gondola with NO AIR HOLES - oh, so THAT'S what the little hand fans tied to the window are for....the guys LEAVES me in the
gondola - Are you kidding me? - I am thinking about banging on the door and asking for oxygen when he opens it and puts a Japanese family in with me.  I just smile - I am sure they are wondering why I look like I just went swimming - and so we head down over the jungle to the falls.  It was well worth it though.  As you are going down you get the full picture of all the falls - there are four - stair stepped down the hillside.  Only two are accessible to you once you are at the bottom.  Below is one of them.  They really were beautiful.

You can also hike to Yokoi's cave from here - it's not far - on a paved walk through the jungle.  Here is a picture of the opening of the cave that he lived in for 28 years - I mentioned him in another blog, so won't go into much detail here and there are more pics on Facebook.

The funniest thing that happened though was on my way back to the waterfall on the cave trail, I met the family that had ridden in the gondola with me - The mother just started talking a blue streak to me in Japanese.  I have no idea what she was trying to say to me, so I just put my hand on her arm and nodded my head and said I don't speak Japanese - so she said "Have a nice day" - I said "Arigato"(I really wanted to say "Sank U".... but I walked away because I was just about to bust out laughing.  I will never know what she wanted to tell me.

I left Talofofo Falls and headed back around the southern end of the island and went to Fort Soledad.  This is an old Spanish fort that defended the village of Umatac from pirates.  Magellan also landed here in the 1500's.  Below are some pictures of the Fort.

And I have to say that below is my favorite picture of the fort- it was taken from the lookout building above - looking out the window over Umatac Bay:

 I suppose you have heard enough from me today - but I had to share the best picture - Sunday night, right at sunset - there was a rainbow right outside my hotel room - So enjoy the rainbow - it almost looks like a painting to me.  I will talk to you later!

Kristi

Shake Rattle and Roll

Saturday night at 9:17 Guam had the worst earthquake in my history.  I remember the earthquake that we had a few years ago  in the early morning, but I never really felt it - slept right through it.

I was actually in the process of publishing my last blog post - sitting at the desk in my hotel room at the computer.  The first sensation that I had was my body swaying backwards and forwards.  My brain, however, thought that I was dizzy - it didn't realize that my body was actually swaying - which looking back, I am thinking that the whole hotel was most likely swaying.  I am on the top floor - stupid me asked for a high ocean view....What was I thinking?!  Anyway, after swaying, the rumbling started.  I jumped up from my chair and went to the sliding doors (probably shouldn't have done that) but it was first instinct to see what was happening outside - all the cars on the road were stopped.  I then went across the floor - it was difficult to walk - it felt like you were in one of those crazy houses (anybody remember Angle Inn at Opryland?) where the floor tilts one way and you are tilted another and things will roll uphill (which brings to mind a shout out to my Lipscomb friends - Gravity Hill!!!)- so I just sat down on the floor.  I would estimate that the whole thing lasted about a minute but the worst was maybe 30 seconds.  Turns out it was a 5.2 and I was about 30 miles from the epicenter.

I have to be honest with you - it scared the living daylights out of me - I really thought that I would be sitting on a pile of rubble - MY shaking took much longer to stop.

Barbecue Chamorro Style!

If you think Guam is a sleepy little island - you are mistaken.  Last night I drove down the other half of Tumon beach and was surprised to see a strip that rivaled Rodeo Drive (and I have been there - I am not kidding!)  There was every designer that you can think of AND a Tiffany's!  I couldn't believe it - I mean Guam has better shopping that Chattanooga!  Nashville even!  I may try to go back and get some pictures, but not sure that I want to - it also rivals downtown Gatlinburg on a Friday night before a Vols game.

I am an honorary Chamorro now.  You know how everyone in Hawaii calls each other cousin?  Well it's kind of like that here - everyone is family.  I have been taken in by a Chamorro family and last night I was invited to a family barbeque.  These people are prolific!  I was told that it would just be their immediate family - but there was close to thirty people there!  And they had more food than we have at Thanksgiving - take a look at this:

I felt like Andrew Zimmern on Bizarre Foods - they made me try at least a bite of everything (well there was one thing that just wouldn't get past my lips).  No Chamorro feast would be complete without the rice - but right behind that is breadfruit - it is what they use for starch - it is bland, but accepts seasoning well, so it tasted a little like potatoes - and had the same consistency.  Next is Chamorro sausage (the red stuff on the left) then steak on the right followed by chicken, sea bake (crab, shrimp, fish with seasoning cheese and panko on top).  Next was stuffed crabs (the picture below) and shrimp pancetta.  Scroll down and I will tell you about the last picture.

This is where I get to the bizarre foods - directly above is spinach in coconut milk - not too bad.  To the right is Shrimp Kelaguen - not too bad either - but VERY spicy.  In the middle we have Fish Kelaguen...bad - look close....do you see the little fish eyeballs?  Yeah...that just wouldn't go down...couldn't get past the fish looking at me.  And then last behind that is pork - cooked in it's own blood.  I tried that - it was actually pretty good and the breadfruit complemented it nicely. (Did I just write that?- I sound like I am trying out for a food network job).  All in all it was a fun and interesting evening.  You can see more of my Chamorro family on Facebook.

Today (Saturday) I spent the morning working on a problem at work....but after that decided to drive a little again and went to two more of the War in the Pacific Parks (three more to go) and the Marines Pacific War Museum.  We find ourselves back in 1944 of July.  The Japanese knew the Americans were coming and had planned Banzai attacks (no they didn't hit them with tiny little trees).  A Banzai attack is similar to a Kamikaze attack except that it is a suicidal run without an airplane.  The Japanese were stationed here (see left)- looking out over the beach watching for the Americans.  Once the Marines landed the Banzai soldiers charged - very few survived and there was blood all the way to the beach that day.  These attacks were used by the Japanese army as a last resort but if they didn't die, they killed themselves to avoid being taken prisoner - this was considered honorable.  I wonder how many couldn't bring themselves to actually committing suicide.  Back to the present.....

I headed on up the mountain to the next War in the Pacific park - Fonte Plateau - where the Japanese had a communications headquarters and a rock quarry.  It was the site of another bitter, bloody battle.  I would like to take you back to 1944 again - but I don't have any more details beside what I wrote above.  HOWEVER - it was somewhat interesting in the present day.  When you pull up to this park, there is one sign - it's the usual War in the Pacific

sign telling you that you could be blown up by un-
exploded ammo, call 911, etc. - but that was all.  There is a mowed lawn and two doors in the hill side - I am assuming that is where the communications base was.  One door was locked with a padlock, and the other was open, but the padlock was on the door.  Now to preface what I am about to tell you - I am an AVID fan of the ghost hunter type shows.  I stay up and watch the all night Halloween shows where they are watching for ghosts and I watch the ghost hunter shows on SciFi and the Travel channel....(I also watch all the UFO and Area 51 shows, but that is a close encounter from another blog.) Well this place looks EXACTLY like a place ghost hunters should come.  I mean seriously - where else would be better except where the ghosts of thousands of Japanese and American soldiers would be?  Again I tell
myself that I am never coming this way again - I should see what's in there.  So I walk up to the open door and prepare to enter - it is freaky deaky dark in there - but I walk on in thinking that there is probably a light down the tunnel....nope - none.  At this point it occurs to me that a ghost or human for that matter could close that door and lock me in....so I decide that it would be best to probably stay within sight of the door.  I think back to the TV shows and remember that one of the things they do to see ghosts is just take pictures with their flash in the dark - so that's what I did.  Do you see any ghosts in the picture?  I have to tell you that I was freaked out by this place - I don't know what was on in the tunnel or if it stopped in the room where I was flashing - I have no idea what was in door number two.  I decided it was time to leave....

The other two pics are on facebook, but I am wondering what that white stuff is towards the top.  Seriously, I couldn't see ANYTHING - I just flashed the three pictures and left -I was feeling mighty uncomfortable in there.

My hubby and two brother in laws would be happy to know that I stopped at the Pacific War Museum which is totally dedicated to the Marines.  This is in an aluminum building that was a Marine barracks up until 1992.  There were lots of memorabilia from the Marines and many WW2 vehicles.  I have plenty of pictures on facebook (I know I keep saying that but it takes a while to download them to the blog and most of you are friends on FB anyway).  But there was one display that was very interesting.  Do you remember the episode of Gilligan's Island where the Japanese soldier thinks the war is still going on and has been hiding out on the island?  Well that episode should be dedicated to this man - Shoichi Yokoi - because he was that man.  He and two others found a cave to hide in during the attack in 1941 deep in the jungle.  The other two eventually died but he actually stayed in the cave until some locals found him in 1972!!! He lived in that tiny cave for almost 30 years.  I am going to try and go to the cave next weekend.  It is up around Talofofo falls and I really want to get there - or maybe tomorrow.  So that's all for tonight - you are waking up and I am headed to bed.  Saturday is over for me but just beginning for you....so have a great weekend!


Kristi

Working Hard and Eating Too Much

Sorry I haven't blogged in a while - I have been crazy busy with work and exhausted when I get back to my hotel.  Also, I had no idea that I had such a following!  Thanks for reading!

There isn't much new to tell since my last blog.  Sunday, I went to church, then was pretty lazy the rest of the day.  I did have to go out and see a movie just to get out of the hotel.  Dinner that night was popcorn.

Church was good - one thing nice about being a member of the Church of Christ is that  you have family wherever you go - and this church was no different (I am sure other denominations are the same, but COC is all I have ever known).   I was welcomed with open arms and with disappointment that I was only her temporarily.  For Sunday School, there was only about 10 people and for church, there was about 50.  But it was a nice normal traditional service and we sang oldies but goodies from Hymns of Faith and Praise. 

Did I mention that these people like to eat?  I have had gifts of some sort of food every day -- including a grocery sack full of star fruit (they call them star apples here).  Apparently they grow wild here in most people's yard - and they are HUGE - the size of my hand.  I told them that they are ridiculously expensive on the mainland.  I feel like Andrew Zimmern on Bizarre Food - I have eaten so many things that I have never had before - however, I have NOT eaten any bugs or worms.  But Monday night, I had had all the weird food that I could stand and just stopped and got some good ole KFC.  YUMMY.

Tonight I am going to the Chamorro market, but unfortunately left my camera at the hotel - guess that means that I will have to go back next week.  I will tell you of my adventures there later.

Hope you are all having a good week!

Kristi

Ghosts

Beware - this is going to be a long post because I have had an absolutely incredible day - I loved the people the first day I went to work here - and after today I am in love with this tiny dot in the Pacific Ocean.

I started out the day thinking that I would go to all the War in the Pacific parks (there are seven) but after going to two, I just drove and took pictures - I will go to more later.

My first stop was Asan Beach.  Last night I watched a newsreel about this fierce battle and I was hooked, I wanted to see these places.  So take yourself back to July of 1944 - setting - Guam.  The Japanese had taken over the island - this was an important island because of it's central positioning in the Pacific Ocean.  The Chamorro (natives of Guam) were either in Japanese concentration camps or hiding out in the mountains in fear.  The Spanish American War had left the island of Guam to the Americans but in 1931, the president demilitarized the island and left just a small number of Marines there.  In 1941,  Japan sent a massive strike force to take the island.  Now back to 1944 - the US made plans for operation Stevedore and to take back the island, but somehow the Japanese found out - they reinforced the possible landing sites and mountains but made one critical mistake.  They put the bulk of their forces at the beach in Tumon (where my hotel is).  The US chose Asan as their first strike.  On July 21, the US made their move - Marines hit Asan beach first.  It had to be a hard way to come in - the water here is lined with lava rocks - not an easy landing - on top of that - it's HOT here and steamy humid.  Close to the water, you can feel the tradewinds, but once in the jungle, you can't feel anything.  Now back to the present.  Asan is a popular tourist beach and it was very noisy today - but the luckily I suppose the Japanese don't enjoy visiting the site of one of their worst defeats in history - so i pretty much had the war stuff to myself.

This picture was taken from the beach - see all the rocks - they are everywhere - and they are rough and sharp - probably why the Japanese didn't expect them to land here.  However - they still had the beach covered and did not make it easy for the marines.  I really wanted to see some of the bomb holes - so I decided to take one of the trails into the jungle.  (At the point, Robbie is thinking how stupid his wife is to go hiking alone with weak ankles - and truthfully, I was thinking the same thing - but more about being alone in the jungle than turning my ankle - but I may never be back - I had to go)  So literally I went into the jungle.

I wasn't thinking too much about it being uphill, but let me tell you it got hot - and really looking at this picture - that is probably more of what the marines had to trek through instead of the nice mowed lawn back at the beach.  As I moved up the hill, it got quiet - I had the trail completely to myself.  It also got progressively hotter and miserable.  I got to a clearing and cooled off a bit with the breeze.  Once I was up the hill and not huffing and puffing, I began to really enjoy this.  I stopped and realized that I was surrounded by butterflies - they were everywhere!  Not like those pictures you see on TV - but one time I saw seven all at once above my head.  I kept hearing noises in the bushes and prayed it wasn't the brown snakes (they say that there are millions here- not kidding) and I was beginning to wonder if I was going to see the bomb holes.  Unfortunately, they don't believe too much in putting signs up here.  I was on my own.  I happened to look to my right and see a concrete slab and wondered what it was -  I walked over and looked down and was rewarded with this:
It looked a little creepy and a lot snakey, but I went in.

I finally saw what I came for.  Bomb holes and a place where the Japanese were stationed with their guns.  The picture below is where the Japanese used concrete to create a place for the gunners - they crouched down and placed their guns on the concrete ledge.  The white wood that you see is where it's been reinforced for preservation.  It looks like in the back that it was hit by mortar fire.  I am just guessing though - it could just be crumbling from age.

Below is one of the bomb holes - Since I didn't have a sign to tell me, I am assuming that by bomb hole, they mean it's where a bomb from the US hit.  Some of the signs back at the beach said that it was still possible to find unexploded bomb and such - that's a lovely thought to a girl all alone in the jungle...

As I moved on down the trail, I realized that I was getting back to the ocean - to my surprise, I had discovered my own little beach.  I was all alone in the world - just me and the tiny little crabs that were everywhere.  And I do mean everywhere - if 

it wasn't a crab, it was a lizard - but I was thankful that it wasn't a snake - especially the brown kind.  Two pictures of my little private beach are below.   I stayed here for a long time - for a couple of reasons - one it was hot in the jungle and this let me catch some of the breezes and cool off a bit before I started back and two it was just so peaceful.  I have NEVER had a beach to myself.  The beaches I have been to have always been crowded - this to me was a truly magical moment.  As I sat on a rock on my beach, I closed my eyes and tried to imagine that day in July in 1944.

I tried to imagine this beauty with blood everywhere from Americans and Japanese and the sound of mortar fire and machine guns and airplanes.  Shouts and screams......and then I heard it.....my mind came immediately back to the present because the sound I had just heard was the high pitched whine of a mosquito in my ear!  Shoot!  I had watched enough TV to know that there are ALWAYS mosquitoes in the jungle!  No bug spray with me - time to retreat.

Back onto the highway to the next beach.  Agat beach.  Back to 1944 - Once Asan was taken it was time for the next wave to move in- a group of Marines and Army were next.  Their orders were to move in on Agat beach and take the mountain and the peninsula close by.  This was a very strategic battle because taking the peninsula gave the US control of the harbor and air field.  The Japanese were ready for this battle though.  This was an easier landing for the troops - no rocks like the beach at Asan.  Not only was there a stronghold on the beach plus numerous pillboxes and blockhouses in the water just off the beach, but there were also over 20 large guns used by the Japenese.  Two are on display on the beach.

According to the internet (there actually was a sign for this, but it was ruined), this first gun was a machine cannon that was used to fire on the battleships.  The other gun directly above was an anti aircraft machine gun.  This picture is taken from where the Japanese soldier would have been standing in 1944.  It felt kind of creepy to be standing there - like the ghost of the Japanese soldier was there with me - seriously.  Below is a picture of a pillbox from the outside - there was a lookout on the top of the pillbox.

This picture shows one of the block houses.  It's hard to see but there are small square holes for men to stick their guns out of.  There were actually Japanese men in the water in these concrete squares.  Definitely NOT the place to be stationed - there was no retreating from one of these.

Time to leave the ghosts - I was tired from my hike and decided to drive awhile.  The scenery was absolutely amazing.  One minute you were driving up a mountain - then you would round a curve and the scenery would open up to an incredible view.  Below are some of my pics.

Bear Rock - can you see it?

Wanna Ride?  And the answer to the burning question in your mind - yes that woman did get up on this beast - I chose to spare her dignity and not take a picture.

There are many more pictures on facebook - I didn't put them all here.  It's time to take a shower and relax.  It's the end of a perfect day.  Tomorrow church and more sights or maybe I will just sit on the beach and read - I meant to do some of that today - but was overcome with sightseeing!

Good Night - or Good Morning to you ;)

Kristi