Square Pegs

Gecko Wars

Let me just start off this post by saying I have always been a gecko fan, and have even had a few geckos in the past as pets.  OK, now that I've gotten that out of the way, let me begin my Guam gecko rant. :-)

When we first arrived I got so giddy and excited every time I spotted a free roaming gecko at our hotel or in our new house.  Every time one would skitter across the ceiling or up a wall I'd try to grab my camera and take photo.  Well, after a few weeks of frequent gecko sightings, they started to lose some of their charm as I started finding their little carcases in all kinds of strange public places and around the house (including our bed sheets...EWWWWWW).  A couple weeks ago I also started noticing a baby gecko that would come into our room every night around 7:30pm and just hang out with us.  It didn't bother me until he started trying to get down into the bed just as we were turning out the lights.  My gecko fancy soon turned to frustration as I couldn't relax knowing he could drop down on my face at any minute or crawl all over me in my sleep.  When the sun sets the geckos are simply everywhere!  Last night I counted 16 geckos on the ceiling of our porch and carport, and while sitting at the Taco Bell drive through a couple weeks ago John and I watched a National Geographic worthy gecko brawl full of clicks, chirps, and awkward gecko battle maneuvers.

Even as I've been sitting here typing, our little daily visitor popped in from outside and is running laps around the ceiling at this very moment.  The geckos in the house really wouldn't bother me at all if they just wouldn't linger over the bed as we are trying to sleep.  I've even tried leaving little water and food dishes around the house filled with everything from tapioca pudding to fruit to entice them away from what seems to be prime real estate over our bed.  I've started sleeping with a flash light so that if I spy one coming down the wall towards the pillow, a quick flash of light usually send them scurrying back up the wall and away from where our heads are resting.  I know this is not an issue that will be resolved anytime soon, and I'm considering purchasing a bug net to hang over the bed just to keep any creepy crawlies from joining us while we sleep.  Maybe after some more time here on the island I'll have an easier time with all of the geckos, but for now I think I'm still in an adjustment period.

Madu Motorboat

As the weather seems to become increasingly hot and humid, our dog walks have gotten shorter and shorter in the interest of keeping the dogs from overheating.  I've taken Madu down to the water several times to cool off, and surprisingly enough, she doesn't seem to fully understand how to swim.  I decided to help her learn and give both the dogs the opportunity for some aquatic exercise.

I went online to my favorite e-pet store (PetEdge.com) and ordered both of the dogs canine life jackets.  We tested them out this weekend and I have to say the dogs were a hilarious sight, and even had a few spectators from the beach!  Gromit wasn't eager to get into the water, but once he was in, he treaded water like a pro and was quite interested in the small schools of fish darting around his feet.  Madu, on the the other hand, had a bit of trouble and took a couple big mouthfuls of sea water before she realized she needed to start kicking her back feet.  Once she realized the mobility this gave her she was  little motorboat zipping through the water like an otter!  She really is a water dog at heart!  John and I had our reef walkers on so we had a nice little reef walk all together in the bay.  Swimming quickly tired both the dogs out and so we took them for a walk to dry off and made it back to the car just in time to avoid a downpour courtesy of a passing storm cloud.

Pizza Snob

When I was a kid growing up in Oregon, Friday nights were usually pizza night.  What better way to kick off family weekends than communing over tasty, terrific pizza?  I would finish up my horseback riding lessons, my sister would arrive home from dance team practice, Dad would be coming home after a long week of dealing with delinquents at the middle school where he was an administrator, and Mom would do the honors of ordering pizza and supplying the fridge with our favorite sodas.  She knew our toppings of choice by heart; Canadian bacon and pineapple for Emily, pepperoni with extra cheese for me, and combo pizza for Dad.  The tradition kind of dropped off once we departed Oregon and moved to the California coast, but my love of pizza remained thanks to the firm pizza-loving roots I had established in childhood.  Then when John and I got married the pizza tradition was revived as we usually ordered pizza twice a month from Pizza Hut or Papa John's.

Although I'm a total veggie pizza lover now, I'm up for trying just about any new pizza at least once.  When John and I moved to Japan we realized we were really in uncharted pizza waters as we quickly discovered that staple toppings included squid, mayo, yellow corn, and Chef Boyardee-eqsue sauce.  I did try several types of Japanese style pizza, and as tasty and unique as they were, I found myself opting for homemade pizza more often than not. 

When we arrived on Guam, John was eager to reunite with his beloved Pizza Hut, but after 3 years of homemade pizzas made just the way you like it, somehow it wasn't the same as either of us remembered, not to mention pretty pricey!  I started wondering if I was becoming a pizza snob....

I think it is fair to say that I have officially become one of those peculiar, picky pizza eaters that can only be satisfied with the freshest toppings, minimal grease, and some delicious wine or imported beer to accompany it.  Although John is a die hard Pizza Hut fan, even he admitted he'd be willing to cut back to a few times a year, just to get his "fix", and instead eat homemade creations.  Now that we are in Guam and a wide array of new fresh toppings have made themselves available, I may have to give seafood pizza another try and attempt to incorporate some local veggies.  Hmm....  So readers, what is your favorite pizza topping?  Any good homemade pizza recipes out there???

A Week of Firsts

The past 7 days have been full of firsts for us on the island!  Last Saturday, July 12th, we went on our first boonie stomp and it was not an experience I will soon forget!  Our "stomp" was to follow the 1944 Marine invasion route that took us from the coast into the dense jungle and up rock face.  The hike was labeled difficult by the stomp leaders, and boy was it! 

The rain saturated ground and loose rock also made for lots of slips, trips, missteps, and tumbles along the way.  As you can see by the state of my shorts, I opted to slide down a few muddy hills on my rear since my legs were just begging for mercy after some really strenuous hiking and climbing. 

After climbing up to the top of the hills behind Asan Beach we then descended back down into the jungle areas again to reach Tony's Falls.  Several hikers lingered at the falls and swam in the pools but I was completely exhausted from the heat and humidity and just want to strip off my mud covered attire and take a nice cool shower at home.  Both John and I had several scrapes, bug bites, and bruises to show for our effort, but all in all it was a really memorable experience for us!

This past week John also started his classes at the Guam Purebred Jiujitsu Academy.  He's already completely crazy about his classes and talks about them every day.  His first night of grappling he came home with his gi completely soaked through with sweat, but a huge smile on his face.  Several of the school members are making a trip to Tokyo later this year  for a tournament so we are both considering a little trip up to Japan in a few months if our schedules permit.  It would be so great to go back and visit Japan!

Last night we drove to the southern-most village of the island and enjoyed our first fiesta!  One of our former Negishi neighbors is originally from Guam and she invited us to revel with her and her family as they celebrated her parent's 50th wedding anniversary.  It was a GREAT party!  As you can see, John quickly made friends and even got the opportunity to try some home brewed tuba wine (Guam's version of moonshine made from coconut sap)!  The food at the fiesta was absolutely amazing and we quickly learned about the local tradition of 'balutan' and were almost not allowed to leave without packing some food with us when it was time to depart.  This morning we got to extend the party a little bit by eating our tasty left overs.

   

It sprinkled on and off during the fiesta but no one seemed to mind the warm rain and even found that the additional humidity enticed some unconventional party-goers to join the mix!  There were also a fair share of boonie dogs that patrolled the perimeter looking for unattended plates and stray scraps, but even they seemed to be having a good time as they buddied up to soft hearted boonie dog sympathizers who stealthily tossed ribs bones and other tasty morsels their way.

Liberation Day is on Monday and the island will be all abuzz with the festivities and we hope to join in on some if we can.  The past week has been busy with island firsts and we hope to continue our out and about adventures!

What Happened?

It seems when it rains it pours...and I mean this figuratively and quite literally as we've been absolutely soaked the past couple weeks with massive amounts of tropical rain as part of the freshly arrived rainy season. 

The past couple weeks have been...interesting.  After being laid up with a broken toe for several days I was itching to get out of the house, so on July 2nd John and I made our first visit to the weekly Chamorro night market.  The market was full of wonderful smells and loads of tourists.  John was developing that tell-tale scratchy throat and sniffle, so we just ate some dinner, made a lap around the market, and then decided to call it a night.

Unfortunately, although the food smelled great, the particular vendor we opted to patronize may have been off their game since I found myself sticking close to the toilet shortly after, as my body purged the unsavory portions of my meal...

The next day John woke up with a full blown head cold of epic proportions.  I think his first underway with a new crew exposed him to a myriad of new germs and nasties that just overwhelmed his immune system and a left him sporting a snail trail of bogies through the house the subsequent week.

I tried my best to make lots of "get well soon" foods and take good care of him, but within 48 hours I was laid up with the same cold and just about useless.  The week that followed was something of a blur of Kleenex, Nyquil, thermometers, WoW PvP battlegrounds, and bed-ridden movie marathons. 

By the 10th we were back on our feet albeit still a bit mucus ridden.  About the time I was ready to head to the beach with the dogs, massive storm clouds rolled in and absolutely pelted us with monsoon-like rain.  The ground became so saturated that all of the soil dwelling bugs took flight and it was a spectacle of biblical plague proportions!  I tried to take a photo and you can make out some of the larger bugs, but the photo really doesn't do the sight justice!

On Saturday the 12th we were looking forward to our first "boonie stomp" and were keeping our fingers crossed the rain would let up, and fortunately it did!  The boonie stop itself was an experience like none other...but more about that in the next post.