Lots of News

1. Our bounty of fruits!
2. Fresh papaya SOOOOOO GOOD
3. Last nights side dish to accompany chicken and fresh egg plant stir fry. im pretty domesticated nowdays.
4.Bananas. I just think theyre cool
5. Joey's new car (that I get to drive for now)


I has been a long time once again since I have posted anything on this blog. I have been very very busy with life that I keep putting this off. I have a few spare minutes right now so I figure I would let you all know whats been happening since the last post.

I guess the biggest news is that I finally bought a car!!! Its a 2005 Hyundai Tucson. I bought it from a guy who bought it from the bank. He must have gotten it for a really great price because he sold it to me for 5600 and the blue book is about 8500. Im pretty happy with it. I want to get a tune up so I know there are no major problems but I think it will be a great car for Joey and I over the next two years.

Still no luck with an apartment but I do have an appointment to look at a few tomorrow morning. I hope I can get into a place soon since Joey will be here in about a month. I need to start getting stuff ready for her. So far I only have a few small things (Iron, kitchen stuff, crap like that) but no bed, couch, table. We might have to go local style and sit on the floor. I actually dont mind sitting on the floor. Many of the Micronesians I have as friends sit on the floor when they hang out. Its not uncomfortable and everyone can sit in a circle and see and hear everyone else.

One thing that I still havent fully grasped is that most of the time the men will hang out with the men and the women and kids will have their separate group. I usually find myself going back and forth between the groups. Not to hit on the women...I know better. I come from a society where everyone is part of the same group and we all hang out together. I dont think I will ever get used to it but so far nobody has said anything to me. I think they know I grew up in a different culture so they accept it. And the little micronesian kids a really cute. They are pretty shy but if you mess with them enough they really open up and they have the greatest smiles. Its fun to play with little kids that dont know any english but they still understand what im saying.

My newest enemy is red ants. I hate those things so bad. I have been bitten twice in the past week on the same foot and both times it got so swollen that my slipper barely fit over my foot. My feet are fat to begin with (one nickname I acquired is ten-pound-toe...thanks Jaclyn). I dont need any more girth on my feet. The ant bite hurts really bad like a burning/stinging feeling. Then a few hours later the bite area is really tender, swollen, itchy and red. I had one ant get stuck between the webbing of my slipper and my foot and bite me twice. Then when I kicked the slipper off, the ant got stuck between two of my toes and bit me again. All I did was walk from my class to my car. I have no idea how an ant ended up on my foot but I really hated it.

So far my classes are really interesting. Its a lot of information coming in at one time but as long as I stay on top of it, I think I should do fine. Im getting to know more people in my classes and making more friends. I really like meeting people in my classes because they have the same interests as me and we can work together in groups to study. I have found that the best way to learn is to teach each other. It really helps to not only learn the subject but then to explain it to someone else.

I haven't been fishing in a while. No time. But two or three weeks ago I went out on a boat with my friend tony and some of his friends. We did a lot of snorleing and spear fishing. We ended up with a pretty good pile of reef fish but the biggest catch was a 4 foot moray eel. Tony shot it with his spear and it took both of us to get it out. Im not sure why he shot it...I wouldnt want to shoot one. But he shot it anyway and for him to get his spear back, we had to get this monster eel out of its hole. He called me over for help but I didnt know what he shot. I thought he said he shot an octopus (I had just seen two right before this). I saw his spear was stuck into something in a hole. At first it looked like a big octopus so I just stuck my hand deep into this hole and tugged as hard as I could on this big tube of muscle. Then I saw a mouth bigger than my fist with dozens of crooked needle-like teeth. Being the intelectual that I am, I removed my hand from the hole and did not stick it back in there. I told tony "thats not an octopus...thats an eel!!!!!" He says "I know, thats why I shot it" The only thing I could thing of was 'why would you shoot that?!?'
Anyway long story short, the eel finally was weak enough to come out of its hole. So now we have a four foot eel squirming around and trying to swim away but its still connected to the spear. Now this spear is only 2 feet long MAX. Holding the spear on the opposite end of the eel still leaves two feet of eel to wrap around your wrist and squirm around your body. Humans arent the most graceful people under water but I probably looked like I was going to fall apart. I hated every inch of that stupid eel touching my skin. They are now share the top of my list with snakes. YUCK!!! We finally got it into the boat and in the cooler. It was the nastiest fish I have ever see. I asked tony what he was going to do with it and he replied "your coming over to my place for dinner tonight and were going to eat it" UMMM YAA RIIIGHTTT!!! I had no desire to eat that devil-of-a-fish and thankfully I didnt have to. That night I had chicken. But it was a good day spent with great friends. Like every good day so far.

I have been thinking a lot about utah and all the produce right now. What I would give to have some fresh tomatoes, corn, peaches, squash, and all that good stuff. I can only dream about the day when I get to have some again. One great thing about being an employee of the University of Guam's Agriculture department is that I get to go to the research farms around the island and help myself to all kinds of different fruit. We went monday to two of the farms and came back with avocado, star fruit, all kinds of citrus, and several kinds of fruits that I have no idea what the names are but they are awesome. It is hard to describe the taste of these fruits other than tropical. there is a light, clean, tropical flavor to these fruits that I cant get enough of. it really is a great place.