I can’t believe that I only have one week left on Guam! This month has zoomed by so quickly! The main reason is because I have been very busy helping the community, helping family, and meeting tons of people. Here’s the breakdown of my volunteerism since the time I got onto the beautiful island of Guahan (Chamorro for Guam). Each piece of service is listed sequentially.
Picked up trash at the beaches of Tumon Bay.
I pick up trash on average about four days per week. My goal is to pick up at least one bag, but often I pick up two or three giant bags. This has been inspiring because several people have stopped their morning run or walk just to help me!
Helped Rosario and Associates, Inc on land management reports.
Two to three days per week, I help type, edit and write land management reports.
These kids taught me Tao Tao Tano during my time volunteering at the two day celebration.
Volunteered during a Cultural Festival at Gef Pago.
I spent two full days helping register attendees, cleanthe grounds, manage the performances, and sell food during the Dinana Minagof celebration in Inarajan.
Painted Mural for the village of Yigo.
Spent four afternoons helping to transform a graffiti-covered wall with a beautiful mural.
Created a “Protect Our Land” Sign Campaign.
I’ve started writing to sponsors to create signs for the beaches that inspire stewardship around picking up trash and protecting the land. Hopefully, the materials will come together and the signs will be up before I leave! EEK!
I have also spent over 80 hours helping my family by decorating for a wedding, cleaning their homes and offices and giving massages!
If you have any questions about any of the service projects that I’ve been doing, please let me know.
If you ask any Chamorro the best time to visit Guam, they will say to come during a wedding or a funeral. The reason is the fiesta. Chamorros are great at gathering around a lot of food, good music, and a lot of family. My timing for my visit to Guam was impeccable because my cousin Megan was getting married. When I say cousin, I really mean my father’s cousin’s daughter.
The first thing I learned about my Chamorro heritage is that family is strong, no matter how distant. My Chamorro name is Flores Rosario from my Grandmother Rosaline Flores Rosario. I am from the village Hagatna and my Flores roots are from the Cabeza clan. In Guam, anybody who is older than you that you are close to is an auntie or uncle. Anybody who is a cousin of you, your parents, or your cousins, is your cousin (even if they are five times removed). In a grand wedding reception of five-hundred people and several days of decorating prior, I met tons of aunties, uncles and cousins who welcomed me with open arms and a kiss on the cheek.
The wedding was breathtaking. I was extremely proud of my culture when I saw the traditional Chamorro men blowing into the conch shells and giving the blessing in their native language. I was even more blown away when I saw the Tao Tao Tano dancers moving gracefully and powerfully, and singing loudly and harmonically. The videos below don’t do the performers justice, but I thought it may be nice to show you a glimpse. I was literally beaming with pride. There are similarities to other Polynesian and Micronesian dancers were distinctly and uniquely Chamorro.
Of course, the food is always central to a Chamorro fiesta. This wedding had amazing food, and such a wide spread. There were the traditional Chamorro staples like kellaguen, pancit, lumpia, laiing, tamales and Chamorro potato salad. There was also every type of meat you can imagine. I particularly like the steamboat (a roast beef the size of two human torsos), two full roasted pigs, the full crabs and the big platter of fish heads.
Congratulations Megan and Travis Parker! Best of wishes for a beautiful future!
Hafa Adai! I made it to Guam and have been enjoying exploring its crystal blue coasts, and experiencing the mixture of Asia, Micronesia, Polynesia and America. There are flea markets around the island on Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and my Uncle Dickey and Auntie Ging frequent the entire circuit. It’s been fun tagging along!
At these flea markets, you can find small garage sales, vendors with jewelry, soaps, t-shirts, orchids, and food. I’ve been surprised that traditional Micronesian jewelry differs so much from Hawaiian jewelry. They have very different shells here allowing for much bulkier carvings.
Of course, I’m attracted to the food. I’ve been disappointed in the volume of fruits and vegetables you can find, but that disappointment has been made up for by the beauty and diversity of what you can find. There are several things that I’m finding for sale here that I thought was inedible. Who knew you could eat the dragonfruit leaf, the hala nut or the breadfruit nut? I’ve also seen produce that vastly defies my idea of large. I’ve never seen such large papayas, banana flowers, or green beans!
Of course there are also the prepared food stations that are scrumptious! Chamorro food really is amazing . . . any kind of meat barbequed (adobo style), lumpia, fried banana donuts (banuelos), pancit and other noodley-goodness, and tapioca drinks. I hope you enjoy the pictures!
As most of you know, I am traveling this year on an extremely tight budget. So my response to a $500 discount to Guam is yes regardless of the extreme circumstances of the flight. In the name of “good economical sense,” I left Missouri at 7am Monday morning and arrived Guam at 4am on Thursday morning. I drove two hours to Tulsa, flew to Detroit, then to Japan, the Philippines, and finally to Guam. I’m sure most people would say I’m crazy, but the adventure was worth it.
I highly recommend getting a window seat on the thirteen hour flight from the U.S. Instead of flying over the Pacific, we flew north through Canada and then across the Arctic. The mountains and lakes of Canada are beautiful. The ice caps and glaciers of the Arctic are even more astounding. During this portion of the flight, I watched the sunset for six hours (literally). It was amazing!
By the time I got to Japan, I was adopted by a handful of Filipinas. On the flights, they taught me to say thank you, “Salamat po,” as well as exchange currency, barter with the locals, and get to and from the airport (I was staying in Manila for one day). They all decided that I was at extreme risk of being kidnapped or vicitmized as a white American female traveling alone, so they warned me very strongly to stay close to the hotel, let the hotel workers know where I was going if I left, and pay for a registered taxi.
Thank you Theresa for taking my to my hotel in the middle of the night! You are amazing!
Theresa, a Filipina living in Oklahoma is my godsend. Theresa’s family of thirteen decided to cram me and my backpack into their van to take me to the hotel instead of trying to find a taxi at midnight. I’m so glad that she took me under her wing, because the city of Manila and Makati was very foreign— filled with crazy traffic, weird road patterns, and lots of night-time goer-outers. I was way out of my element!
Because I hadn’t done research about Manila, and all of the aunties on the plane instilled a large dose of fear into me, I spent most of the night and day catching up on sleep. I ate breakfast in the hotel, watched the city from my balcony and then ventured about a block in every direction enamored with the colorful buildings, and the loud, unpredictable traffic. I was extremely visible everywhere I went. I got a lot of attention, especially from men, and I wasn’t sure how friendly or safe the attention was.
But, I am extremely glad that I stepped foot on the Philippines. I would love to do research and go back. I had no idea that it was such a big place filled with so many islands, many of which are pristine.
FYI: The weather was extremely humid and warm. Manila’s air is very polluted. Most people in Manila do not go to the beach since it is at least TWO hours away! (Who knew?) They recycle everything!
Picked up trash at the beaches of Tumon Bay.
