Last Days on Guam

Typhoon Season:

We survived many Typhoons that were headed right for us, they all skirted by. Usually pelting us with some the monsoon tails, pelting us with strong wind and rain. We lived with the Typhoon shutters up for most of our last Typhoon season on Guam.

Rhianon's Job:

I taught middle school science my first year, art my second and did not teach at the school for a third year, as we were scheduled to possibly move in the fall. So, I worked as a ceramics instructor part time at a Historic Inalajan. It was great to stay connected with students as well as be creative with clay.

Preparing to Move:

We received orders in November, sorted and lightened our load throughout December, spent the holidays with our Chamorro family, and packed out our house the first week of January. Leaving six bags of the possible items we would need for the next 6 months. Our plans were to vacation in January to Palau and Australia, travel back to the states, Michigan, Chicago, Florida and then on to San Diego.

Saying Goodbye:

One of the hardest parts of having a job that takes you around the world is falling in love with the people along the way, (who really become family) and then having to say goodbye. Leaving always tears apart and leaves behind pieces of our hearts. We will miss our peeps in Guam immensely and look forward to returning someday!

Typhoon Choi-Wan (15W)

The typhoon is headed for just north of one of our neighbor islands, Saipan. We have power and currently sunshine, but expect to get a lot of rain and wind. Thanks for tuning in. You can keep on storm watch here.

Tropical Storm Headed Right For Us

I know it has been forever since I have posted... Power is out island-wide, I am with Heath at the Naval Hospital, (running on generators) they restrict which sites we can access (no personal email, facebook, etc.) so I will communicate here for now.

There is currently a tropical depression just east of us, headed straight toward Saipan and Tinian, about 100 miles North of us. Right now they say that it could turn into a Typhoon in the next 12-24 hours, just as it hits our island chain. Here on Guam and the fourth of the Mariana islands, Rota, will be under tropical sorm conditions, very strong winds and heavy rain. If the cyclone stays on the projected path, we should expect the worst winds on the west side of the island. (we live on the east coast)

We will still need to be typhoon ready as these storms seem to have minds of thier own. We have a lot to do to be storm ready. Besides putting up the typhoon shutters we need to bring in everything from outside. Being that there is currently no power, we will be unable to wash the laundry and make ice, but worse, we will be unable to gas our cars, mine is on empty (oooopps!) What we will need to do is prepare for power to be out possibly for months, so stock up on food and ice, and tons, I mean TONS of water. Clean out the trash cans and fill them with water. We will need water for the toilets and oh man, can you imagine showering out of a bucket or out in the rain? I am expecting the markets to be packed and shelves empty. I do not know what the phone situation will be like, currently my cell phone and land lines work. We will see after tomorrow evening. Am I missing anything? Maybe I should google typhoon readiness.

What this means for Heath and I, he has to report to the hospital and ride out the storm here until the storm is over. He will then be released, by those who ride out the storm at home, and be available to help me clean up any damage done and strewn debris. I probably could stay with someone durring the storm, but I think I would like to be home, towels in hand and muscles ready to prop up furniture if needed, all by candle light... I know you want to join me.

I am unsure if I will be able to update anytime soon. I will let Heath know he can access this site here and maybe he can give an update durring or after the storm if they still have internet. Otherwise, track our adventure along with us at: http://www.goes.noaa.gov/guam/guamloops/guamircolor.html

For more information google guam weather, the first link is the best. If links above don't work go to www.goes.noaa.gov click on satellite along the side and then something like color loop for the best picture of the storm... black inside spinning red is the worst. Pray for us... I am kinda giddy with adrenalin and a bit excited... is that bad?

Sledding on Guam

It is true, we are jealous of all you all who get to play in the snow. But guess what, we make our own fun here too! So there! Bet you all will be jealous of us now. :)

After church our friends hooked us up with this extreme grassy/snorkel/kayaking adventure. Hope you enjoy it as much as we did! The boys sledding are way cutter than us, but us ladies sled with the best of them. My favorite is hearing the boys talk about the benefits of our sledding "gear."

(Hope this is more interesting to some of you than wood floors... uh um... Lisa...
But while we are at it here is the video for those of you who are interested in the installing of our new floors and the finished floors)

New Year, New Floors

While the economy is bad and prices are low, and we have amazing tenants in CA we really want to keep, and we could write off our plane ticket home (and more) if we stopped in CA to check on our Condo... we decided to redo our flooring. We had them take out the cracking tile and nasty carpet and put in pergo wood flooring. I think it looks amazing! Our tenants took the pics so I thought I would share them with you all here! I love it!

Our cute little kitchen
The main living space





The Lovely Stairs!

Skydive Surprise

Do I have the coolest wife or what?!

I couldn't have been more surprised with my wifes planning... from scamming with my boss to get out early on a Friday, to dressin up all pretty and pink, to throwing me off by setting up a picnic with a view under a huge tree, my wife planned one of the coolest surprises ever. When she first told me we were going to jump out of a plane it took her the entire drive to convince me we were actually jumping out of a plane that day. In less than an hour later we arrived, had a 5 minute safety briefing, climbed into our gear and we were off enjoying the flight of our lives!

It was an anniversary I will never forget.

Happy Suprise Heath... I love you!
Cheers to 5 more adventurous years!

Art Goodies

Hey Everyone! It is almost 2 am and I can't sleep, so thought I would get this out there in hopes that my brain will slow down a little bit.

There is a huge possibility that I will be teaching art this year (things can change up until the minute I begin though) So, I want to be prepared for either art or science.

I have not checked out the art supplies (the Attorney General has condemned the art room so it is currently under construction) but I heard there is not much at all and there is definitely no $$ (I mean I still might not have air condition!) So, I am planning on starting from scratch. I can attempt to collect a small supply fee from the students so that will help. But if anyone has anything laying around and would like to donate it, I would be glad to take it off your hands and promise it will go to great use.

Right now I am in search of art prints (from famous artists or time periods... ex. Monet or Surrealism, etc.) If anyone has old calendars or posters, or finds any on clearance, please let me know! I have in the past focused on:

• Early Art: Primitive, Folk, Medieval, Gothic, Renaissance. Realism, Impressionism

• 20th Century: Cubism, Fauvism, Abstract, Surrealism, Non-Objective, Pop Art

As far as supplies, I usually try to teach with a variety of mediums (tempera and watercolor paint, chalk, oil pastels, colored pencil, marker, drawing pencils, colored paper, anything 3-D)

So, there it is. If anyone has anything or knows where I would be able to order it for a good price let me know (oh yeah, everything is expensive out in town.) Thanks so much.

Missing you all,
Rhianon

9 New Posts

I am playing catch up this summer vacation...
Enjoy some of the highlights from the past few months below.

What's the Catch?

Spear Fishing... at night... believe it!

This IS Heath and Chase we are talking about.

Heath, Chase and our friend Phil went fishing the other night and came home with this... not exactly dinner.

Guam has had a huge problem with Brown Tree Snakes, they are an exotic species that hitched a ride over on a plane and have no predators here so are a problem all over the island and have sadly wiped out most of the bird species and who knows what else (just not the chickens.)

He is really over 6ft long!

I really wanted to keep it... I mean look how beautiful it is!


But if it were to ever get loose and back out in the jungle, I would not be helping out the biodiversity of Guam now would I!?

Last night just Heath and Chase went out and this is what Chase got... wow!
It is a Parrot Fish... isn't it beautiful!



Can't wait to eat him... they are really delicious!
They have also seen sea turtles and huge blow fish... and tons more, that is all they tell me.

Caving on Nimitz Hill

(Rhianon, Phil, Chase, Heath)
We had a blast! I can't get over how much fun this was!

We can't wait to check out more caves here!

Naval Hospital Birthday

We don't have many pics of us lately... so here are a few from the ball.

Livin' the Life!

While Micheal was here, he and Heath and our downstairs housemate, Phil, decided to cut down an old coconut tree and hang a lovely hammock! It seems just too good to be true!

Truly Living the Life!

Party in the Front Yard

Our friends daughter, Marina, was having her first holy communion so we hosted it in our front yard.

The guys carried down the tent from the Mayors house. There was tons of food, the kids (this includes Heath) had a blast in the bounce house.

Such a sweet and beautiful girl!

Making of Our Surfboard:Part 1

At new moon (less bugs to infest the wood) Heath goes out to harvest as much usable Pago wood as possible. It then sits on our porch to dry before he strips it of the bark and shaves off the curves. It then comes inside the house so it does not mold or get bugs. There is still tons of harvesting to do!

Tasha's Visit

My new friend Tasha came out for a vacation... had a great time and I talked her ear off... I didn't realize how much I needed to talk to someone from back home about life here. She was a huge blessing! Thanks for making the trip Tasha!

Cocos Crossing

On May 25, we joined 136 people from all over the world for the International Coco's Crossing Swim Race. We took a ferry over to Coco's island and swam home. The swim was 2.5 forever miles and the water was choppy but clear... We all were able to finish the race in under 2 hours with no major problems, just a lot of choking on the waves. Our pic of "team drown" is below.

Chris (Heath's coworker) 1:17, Rhianon 1:28, Heath 1:17, Michael (Heath's brother)1:08 and our friend Phil 1:37.

That is Cocos from Guam... forever away!

Spring Break

Nina and I had fun my first day of break!
We climbed and picked breadfruit from the huge tree, this was not an easy task. We were planning on making it for family dinner. We then picked Calamancies (shown below... I made juice.. it is kinda like lemon/tangerine juice) We also checked out many other things in her wonderful garden of a yard, makes our yard look pretty lame.
After a productive morning we refreshed ourselves in the shade... ahhh

Calamanci Juice from Nina's tree

Caribou are icons on Guam

Diving at Fish Eye

Heath surfing at Boat Basin ... too dangerous for me
(notice our statue of liberty in the background)

Out for sushi