I am going to tell you right now that this is going to be a long post. When you go to Guam for Thanksgiving break, many things happen. So, as always, feel free to read or skim. Or find something more interesting to read, like a phone book or the nutrition label on a cereal box.

Pre-adventure information:

When I came to Saipan, I decided that I should travel to as many places as possible, but I would prefer to have a travel buddy. This is why I was very excited when my new neighbor Danielle Sue moved in. I met her for just a few minutes the night she came in. The next day I said to her ‘Let’s go to Guam.’ She said ‘Ok.’ Then I knew that we could be friends.

Then, another good thing happened called Andrea Lynne moved in to another one of the apartments. Andrea also likes to travel and so now I have two travel buddies.

So, with my two travel buddies, I began planning a trip to Guam. Before I left for Saipan, a lady from my church told me that she has a great aunt living on Guam and said that the great aunt would love to get in contact with me if I were ever going to Guam. I, of course, said yes and got the email address.

 

We emailed back and forth and she said that we could stay with her and that she would show us around the island.

Adventure #1: Customs

Our first adventure happened before we even left the airport.

We had to go through customs. I walked up  to the counter and handed the lady my customs form. She looked it over and noticed that I had not filled in any address for where we would be staying on Guam.

She said ‘where will you be staying?’

I said ‘at the house of a lady whose great niece goes to my church back home.’

She raised her eyebrows, said ‘what is her address?’ and pushed the form back over to me.

I said ‘I have no idea.’ and pushed it back to her.

She said ‘what is her name?’ and pushed it back to me.

I wrote down ‘Marilyn’ and pushed it back to her.

She looked slightly confused and exasperated and said ‘All you know is that her first name is Marilyn?’

I said ‘Correct.’

Then I remembered that she had sent me her phone number so I wrote that down too. Eventually, we were able to call Marilyn and get her address and the lady at customs let us through.

Adventure #2: The Night Market

We got to Guam at around 3:30 or 4:00 on Wednesday afternoon. That night we went to a farmer’s market. We walked around for a while looking at all the booths and eating some deliscious food that we bought.

While walking around, we saw a sign that said

Marilyn explained that a karibao is a type of water buffalo from the Philippines that also lives on Guam.

She asked if we would like to ride one. The others were not too keen on the idea, but I could not let this opportunity pass me by.

I got in line with the rest of the 6 year olds, paid my $3.00, and got my official karabao stamp.

I have to say, it was very exciting. I was having a hard time waiting in line and almost lost it when the 2 kids in front of me decided that they needed individual rides instead of riding together.

Finally it was my turn. I climbed on up. It was very exhilarating. I think that karabao may have broken 0.02 miles per hour at one point.

Adventure #3: Thanksgiving

The next morning, we went to church with Marilyn. After church was Thanksgiving lunch. It was excellent and I may have eaten half of the food there.

After lunch, Marilyn took us around part of the island. We mostly saw the tourist part of the island on Thursday.

We finished the day off drinking chi tea at one of the resorts and then walking down the beach.

Adventure #5: The rest of the island

On Friday, Marilyn took us to explore the other side of the island. We got to see a lot of beautiful scenery, historical parks, a waterfall, and UNDERWATER WORLD!

Underwater World is an aquarium that has a quarter mile long glass tunnel that you can walk through and see fish swimming all around.

Adventure #6: Guam:Launchpad to Hollywood

Marilyn was not my only contact on Guam. There is also a kid (Ethan) that I used to go to church with who lives there now. I asked him what kind of things we should do on Guam. He said we should hike and told  us about a group that meets to hike every Saturday morning.

We met Ethan at the starting point for the hike. While we were waiting to get started, we noticed that there were some guys there with cameras. They seemed to be filming two guys who were wandering around.

I was hoping to get on the news or something so I immediately put on my best movie star face and began auditioning. Only, no one knew I was auditioning. That is how good of an actress I am I guess.

Eventually a guy from the Guam Visitor’s Bureau walked over to us. He explained that the two guys being filmed are famous in Korea. One is a singer and the other is an actor. They were in the middle of filming a Korean reality tv show.

Then, the best thing of my life happened. He said ‘we are going  on a different hike than everyone else and we need some extras to hike with us. Would you guys be willing to hike with us and be a part of the filming?’

Are you kidding me? What kind of a question is that? Of course we would.

So, off we went. We hiked up the mountain with two famous Koreans and many cameramen.

The two celebrities were very nice. They asked all about our lives and gave us food.

Also, I asked the singer one if he was going to sing to us. He certainly did. He sang us a song right on the top of Mt. Lamlam. He also said that he would be our tour guide when we go to Korea in the spring.

The people from the Guam Visitor’s Bureau told us they would send us a link to the show when it is done. We will see what turns up. Who knows, maybe this is where I get my big break in the acting biz. Or maybe it is a scam. Either way, it was a fun day.

Adventure #7: Marbo Cave

Being a movie star is exhausting so we thought we could probably use a cool down. Ethan took us to a place called Marbo Cave. It is an awesome cave that has big pools of cool, clear, freshwater that you can swim in.

Adventure #8: Making Smokey proud

On the way back from the cave, we saw a fire in the median of the road. We slammed on the breaks, jumped out of the back of the truck, and dumped our water bottles on the blaze. We got most of the flames out with our water, and stomped the rest out with our shoes. Only Andrea, Dani, Ethan, and Sarah can prevent wildfires.

Post-Adventure Reflections

While I still love Saipan more than Guam (it is smaller, less busy, and a little more laid back), I give Guam a 5 star rating.

I would also recommend being a Korean tv star (you get free chex mix!). Next time you are watching Korean reality shows, keep an eye out for us. I will try to post the link sometime, but, disclaimer: I have no idea what the show is really about.