Commuting

With these two jobs I'm working, I'be been doing a bit of commuting. The internet job, Gamenet, is just down the street from Jakobe's I usually walk. But to get to the UnderWater World in Tumon it takes me about an hour. Wow! An hour, but the internet says Guam is only 30 miles long at it's longest! Do you ride around in a big loop around the island, then go to work? Well, I bike to work. I've ridden the route three times now. On the first day of work I got rained on! I was soaked head to toe, well not toe, my GoreTex lined NorthFace shoes kept my feet dry! They still do when I'm working at UnderWater world, shielded from water, bleach, fish guts, you name it my toes are dry as a bone! I think It's about 10 miles to Tumon where UnderWater World is located. It shouldn't take me an hour, but my best is 45 minutes. The hills are bigger than I'm used to coming from biking in MS! The hills aren't all that bad, but with a 25 knot head wind AND a killer hill it's tough. It seems like every way I turn on this tropical paradise I'm biking directly into the wind!!
So there you have it, I wake up at 6:30am, leave the house by 7am for work at 8am. Then I leave UWW at 4:00pm, bike home to be at the internet cafe for 6:00pm. Midnight I sleep then do it all over again!
I can't complain though, I'm living on GUAM! Not many people in the States actually know where Guam is or even that every person born here is an American citizen, the currency is American Dollars, or that there is a Home Depot on island!

Underwater World is going to be great, today I got to dive in the main tank, 800,000 gallons, six species of shark probably four different species of rays. I rearranged the coral and fixed a spot on the underlayment. Spent over two hours in the water this morning and loved every minute of it!

Grass Skirt dance

This is a video of the girls doing the grass skirt dancing (not sure of the proper Chamorro name). They're pretty good. Sorry for the people walking in front, they wouldn't let us stand to watch!

Japanese Festival

It's been quite a while since my last post. Time is different here on Guam. Maybe it's just living on a tropical island in the middle of the Pacific, but it's hard to keep track of the days, the months when the weather is a constant 85 degrees. I'm going to try to be more disciplined and update new pictures regularly. I'm going to set one day a week as my update day. Later that might turn into twice a week. I'm going to be taking lots of pictures in the coming weeks because I had my wonderful parents ship my digital SLR out to me!! Expect them to be of higher quality as well.

In the past week or so: I got a job, well TWO jobs! The first one is at an 'internet cafe' just around the corner from Jakobe's house. The owner is Korean and hilarious! I basically sit at the front desk and let people on the computers. I call it a cafe, but there's no food, just computers. The second job, well, It's at the aquarium, Underwater World! I am a "Husbandry Assistant/Diver". At first I wasn't sure if I'd have the job because I told them I'd be leaving the island in Feb/March for Katie's wedding but they allowed me to work anyhow! Yesterday was my first day and it's going to be a lot of fun. I prepped fish food (actually high quality seafood) and fed most of the small exhibits around the aquarium. I also helped with the surface feed of the large tank. I was feeding the two huge sea turtles! I'll be diving by the latest Sat in the main tank with the sharks, rays, etc. I'm pumped!

These pictures are from the annual Japanese Festival here on Guam.



Jakobe loves taking pictures of me for some reason. I hate it!


Everyone loves a little grass skirt action!!



I don't remember the point of these, but it was a house a group of people were carrying around chanting, whistle blowing and dancing. There is a point and it is a big deal, they walked all around the festival parade style.



These next photos are of sashimi grade tuna being cut. They gave away the entire fish as a raffle prize!




A sunset I caught alone on a secluded beach down toward the south end of the island. Ohh the Island Life!!