Rob's Log - A Peace Corp Blog: November 2011

Made it to Guam. Made it there bright and early Friday morning. We had some time, as the Spelling Bee was not until Saturday morning. The flight was uneventful and we were picked up at the airport by a member of Tsun’s extended family. They were nice enough to wake up at the crack of dawn and take Tsun and me to breakfast at McDonald’s. After sharing an Egg McMuffin we continue on to his family’s house and spent some time with the family. In the afternoon they drop us off at our hotel and we check in. We made plans for dinner with his family and they were to pick us up at the hotel that night- it gave us a chance to get cleaned up, rest, and prepare for the Spelling Bee in the morning.

Then comes a change of plans. Earthquake in Japan and tsunami warnings go out all over the Pacific. The streets to the hotel are closed, and we are instructed by local authorities to go back to our room at the hotel and wait for the waves. We were not too worried, as we felt that being on the 15^th floor of the Guam Mariott, we’d be safe. Before we barricaded ourselves in our hotel room, we went on the search for something to eat, since the dinner plans from earlier had to be cancelled. We work our way down the street in the tourist area to find all the restaurants either closed or in the process of closing. The only thing that is open is a souvenir shop that also happens to sell snacks. The place is packed to the gills with tourists buying water, chips, snacks, etc. We pick out some chips, beef jerky, apples, and some muffins and make our way back to our hotel and sit on the balcony and wait for the waves. Luckily for everyone, the waves didn’t come and Guam was spared from any damaging waves.

So the next morning we are well rested and ready for the Spelling Bee. We make our way down to the convention hall at the Mariott and check in and do some last minute practicing of words. Tsun did phenomenal- he made it to the fourth round and was in the top half of the contestants there. He had a small group of fans there cheering for him, we were all very proud. After the Spelling Bee, another extended family member found us and insisted on taking us to dinner.

With all the Spelling Bee business complete, we had one full day to play around. We went to the Micronesia Mall and I got the chance to introduce an important part of my culture to Tsun- TacoBell, Sabarro, Subway, KFC, and ColdStone. Isn’t America great? We also spent a few hours at the arcade and riding the bumper cars and indoor roller coaster in the mall. I was very thankful that Tsun had such a great group of family members that took care of us while we were in Guam. They really made the trip a great success.