This 'n That

This week's highlights included: 1) Discovering our stuff still hasn't been shipped from the mainland, (2) enjoying our tonwhome in Dededo (pic living room/kitchen), (3) a joint service on Sunday with all three Guam churches. The pic shows the diversity of ages and ethnic mix. We were at St. Andrew's on the Philippine Sea at Agat, a lovely village, and gateway to the South, the less developed and more enticing part of the Island for us.

On Sunday after church we stopped at Micronesia Divers' Assn. and bought snorkels, masks, boots and fins. You need boots to protect your feet from the coral. One mask Jane tried on made her look like Mrs. Darth Vader, but we bought more conventional materials that we hope to try out soon. Our plan is to move into SCUBA classes later in the fall.

School starts at St. John's August 8 and this week Ben will be participating in some pre-school events with faculty and staff. Enrollment is above 550 and that makes everyone happy.

Gas is now $3.49 a gallon for regular. Good thing we don't have far to drive!

Liberation Day

The pictures depict the 63rd anniversary of Guam's liberation which took 5 days beginning July 21, 1944. Guamanians are very proud of their military service, and one can understand when one learns of the history of their 3 1/2 year occupation. The Chamorros were a peaceful, gentle people and had been enjoying increased prosperity while the U.S. governed Guam and kept it as a foothold in the western Pacific. Then, after Pearl Harbor the U.S. withdrew and evacuated most of the Americans, leaving the Chamorros to defend the island. Japan invaded and occupied Guam as part of its imperial expansion. The Chamorrans hoped desperately the U.S. would come back, and when it did they were overjoyed, and liberated from a brutal existence. A song, sung here at Liberation tells it all: "Sam, Sam, my dear Uncle Sam, thanks for coming back to Guam."

In the pics you'll see Jane talking with LeAnn, who offered us a spot with her extended family to watch the 3-hour parade. Families rent space on Marine Drive, camp overnight, and cook and enjoy the parade. You'll also see that food is a big part of the event! The military (Marine Band from Okinawa) started the parade, and there were all branches of the military represented. Several floats depict the story of Guam's liberation, and life today. The floats with woven palm and helaconia (ginger) are real foliage.

It rained, which everyone agrees is a good sign, for part of the parade, but it didn't dampen the fun.

Hafa Adai from Guam

Ben and Jane

Some issues and the Beach

Guam is often billed as "Paradise" but like most places it has issues. Since we've been here, the local government ("GovGuam") has been facing huge deficits and possible furloughs (reduced hours) for most employees. Now, GovGuam is funded by a rebate from the U.S. Federal Income Tax, that all Guam citizens pay as well. Well, lo and behold, last week a $21 million dollar windfall showed up and all pending furloughs were canceled!

One big issue for Guam is trash (as it is for all island communities). Hawai'i is already shipping some to the U.S. mainland, and Guam has a dump that needs to be closed. So, what to do on an island where the only recycling is cardboard and aluminum? We decided to start using canvas bags for shopping and are ordering some biodegradable garbage bags. Plastic, it seems, never truly decays. It just breaks down into small bits that get ingested by animals and marine life, and that is serious anyplace, but especially around here. And, when we eat seafood, guess what we ingest? So, wherever we can cut plastic use, we shall. A bottle bill is also pending, but the military uses half the plastic bottles sold on Guam, so they have to cooperate. We'll see.

Friday evening we went to watch the sunset on Gun beach, a small cozy place at the end of the strip of resort hotels. There is a picture attached of that evening's effort, for which God gets credit.

Saturday Jane attended a 4-hour workshop on windbreaks and fruit trees. People do farm and harvest here though on a smaller scale than in the Midwest. One of the demos shows how to plant--hole same depth, twice the width, spread rots, mulch, hold mulch down with palm leaves; pretty much like mainland with different plant names. We toured two farms and saw damage to sweetcorn from Man-Yi's winds here before the storm reached cyclone/typhoon strength.

We also read in this morning's Pacific Daily News (http://guampdn.com) about the dramatic rescue of 13 Chinese sailors whose boat sank 350 miles NW of here last week in winds from Typhoon Man-Yi that is now battering Japan. So, no, it's not paradise for all, but still a lovely place to live. Oh, it's time for a swim in the pool!

Man-Yi

It started as a tropical depression SE of Guam and slowly developed as Guam got three days of wind and rain. With some damage to trees and power outages, the storm has now passed into the western reaches of the Pacific and is headed toward Japan. What's troubling is that this was a minimal tropical storm on Guam, but we still had loss of stop lights at major intersections, power surges and outages. So, now we're wondering what a real storm would do to this Island? And for our friends to the Northwest, our prayers as Man-Yi has now become a typhoon. Here's an update from the U.S. Navy weather forecast.

"July 10 (Bloomberg) -- Man-Yi strengthened into a typhoon in the Pacific Ocean west of Guam and is forecast to gain in force as it heads for southwestern Japan, according to the latest advisory from the U.S. Navy.

The eye of Man-Yi, the fourth named storm of this year's western Pacific cyclone season, was located 806 kilometers (501 miles) west of Dededo on Guam at 3 p.m. Tokyo time today, the U.S. Navy Joint Typhoon Warning Center said."

Meanwhile, here on Guam, we are again having sunny skies and mild breezes. But we'll be glad when our battery lanterns arrive with our shipment from the mainland.

A July 4 on Guam

The big day in Guam is Liberation Day, July 21. However, yesterday was a holiday, and we enjoyed some activities with our friends, Larry and Laurie. Pics are

1) Ben Discovers Guam (well, it is a small Island!)

2) Jane, Larry and Laurie at Ft. Soledad, near Umatac on the south end of Guam, near where Magellan is said to have landed.

3) View of the bay from Ft. Soledad

4) Haffa Canoe Monument at Merizo (legend that two rival chieftains fought over which way to paddle, split their canoe in two)

We hope you had a great 4th on the Mainland.

Ben and Jane

A Marianas Weather Forecast

Western north Pacific between equator and 25N from 130e to 180. A monsoon trough stretches from 6N 130E to a weak circulation cenetered near 3N 141E. Scattered showers and a few thunderstorms associated with the trough and circulation can be found between the equator and 7N from 130E to 140E and between the equator and 10N from 140E to 150E. This area covers portions of Palau and Chuuke state. Trade-wind convergence is producing scattered showers 150 miles either side of a line that stretches from 10N 158E to the equator and 167E between the equator and 5N from portions of the Marshall Islands. A shear line stretches from 25N 153E to 19N 144E to 20N 132E. Scattered showers were occuring along and 100 miles north of the boundary. Low-level convergence combined with favorable upper-level winds is generating scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms northeast of Wake Island between 20N and 25N from 166E to 175E. (If you got this far, you can see we lack geographic locations like Texas, or New England and have to use latitude and longitude. Guam is located roughly 13N and 144E - Ben)