Here comes the rain

Pic 1-BBQ @ Tumon Bay
Pic 2-Veggie garden and the sunrise
Pic 3-Full moon @ sunrise
Pic 4-Crazy jungle spider (ya that's a full size sharpie)

Wow it has already been another week. Time flies when your having fun...or working way too much. Not that I don't like work, I'm just not used to these 11 and 12 hour days in the hot weather. Cant wait till the busy season is over and I can breathe. Maybe even have time to go to the beach.

The one nice thing is that the rain has started to fall on Guam. It makes the air a degree or two cooler. People tell me it rains all summer long into the fall season. Umm... I'm pretty sure they don't have a fall season. At least a fall like what I'm used to. Anyway, back on track, the rain here is like none I have ever seen before. Even having lived in Juneau, AK. One can litterally watch the rain come toward you like a curtain here. It is the weirdest weather related sight I have ever seen. I am used to a rain storm starting out small and building up to a downpour. No such thing here. I was walking to my dorm and I watched the pavement, in a perfect line, turn dark with moisture as the rain came toward me. I got absolutely drenched as I ran less than 150 feet. I'm no sprinter but I like to think I can run at an average speed. This rain was like someone turned on a waterfall and I had to run through several paces in it. CRAZY! And it is only going to get crazier.

The rain has turned everything greener than before. People have told me that everything has been very dry and brown. Being from the desert I didn't understand but now after only a few days of rain, everything on the island is waking up and growing like mad. The jungle is getting greener, the grass is getting greener, and the bugs are getting bigger and more of them. I was going to eat my dinner (leftover Subway turkey on wheat) on my balcony but when I opened the door I saw about a billion moths hovering around the lights on the building. I go out on the balcony almost every night and I have never seen bugs around the lights. My dinner plans quickly changed and I had a nice meal inside my room...hold the bugs.

Last night I went to a bbq with some friends and had a great time. We went to Tumon Bay, my first time to walk on the beach since I got here and I was able to walk in the water up to my knees. Still haven't swam at the beach! Maybe this weekend if I'm lucky. The bbq was great. I met some more very nice people and we had local style bbq ribs and chicken. I was unaware that bbqing here means someone is always working the grill and you just snack as you like. No huge plate of meat like how I bbq. We sat around for a few hours talking and eating great food fresh from the grill. I love it!

I feel like I am more familiar with my surroundings now after 3 weeks. I can actually find my way around the neighborhood like a big boy! Now, I'm going to be honest, I may not be the greatest driver in the world but the way people drive here makes me look like some 300 year old grandmother. They are nutz!!! No signaling, weaving in and out of traffic, and my boss told me "those signs are not speed limits. They are speed suggestions." I feel like I'm driving in the last lap of Nascar or something. I've been driving a government vehicle for work so I get even more paranoid because I don't want to total Guam Government property. To make it even worse, the rain came and the windshield wipers hadn't been replaced since 1870. I had about 2.5 square inches I could actually see through while I was going 50 in a 35 with ten cars riding my butt. Good times.

This weekend I'm going to try my hand at coconut crab hunting. Coconut crabs are nocturnal land crabs that eat crap off the jungle floor but their favorite meal is rotten coconut. Some local boys I met at the dorms are going to take me and show me how it's done. So far I know we need to collect about 40 brown coconuts for bait. We will pour the coconut juice on the ground and sharpen a small tree stump. The coconut will be impaled on the sharp stump and left for a few days to rot. A coconut will be left every 10 or 20 feet along a trail we make . We will set the traps Wednesday and then go back to check on Saturday night. The plan is to head out around dusk and setup camp. We will eat and fish until about 1 am. Then we will check the traps every hour after that for a few hours. I am excited to go and see how this is done and hopefully enjoy a great feast. I hope I don't loose a digit though. I heard coconut crabs can peel an entire coconut with their claws faster than most humans. I don't know if you have ever peeled a coconut with your fingers but if it were my only source of food, I think I'd be a gonner.

Jungle life has taught me a very important skill to have in life. Machete! I have never used a machete before but I have fallen in love with the action of swinging a rusty piece of steel and cutting down limbs with one swipe. The sound is music to my ears. It reminds me of the movie The Princess Bride and all the sword fighting they do. Its a great way to get out your frustrations too. The only bad part about it was after the first day of using a machete, I woke up and thought I was having a stroke. My neck, shoulder and back were sooooo sore. I guess I don't use a downward swinging motion too much in daily life. I'm used to it now but I could hardly move my arm and head the next day. I probably looked like a humpback or some sort of deformed-in-the-neck creature. I sure am glad that pain went away. And I sure cant wait to swing that machete.

Thats all I have for this week. Love you all!!!