Guam

So in the midst of all of these weekend getaways and time of being principal, I got sick (aww). Just a virus and a cough. But something else was happening: I was losing my vision. I was not able to see correctly, and that was a huge problem. It got really bad that I couldn’t really read anything any more. Action needed to be taken. So, with the help of the JVI insurance plan, they got me a ticket to Guam (about an hour and a half flight away), leaving last Saturday, the 11th, and arriving back at Chuuk yesterday, the 17th. A week away in Guam. I was excited, but I was really hoping to get everything fixed right away. I would rather have been fine than miss a week of school, which is a big deal, cause I had to plan very specific lesson plans for all my classes for the next 5 days. Anyway, I had a nice flight to Guam and got picked up by Br. Juan, this really nice Palauan Jesuit who I met in the Marshalls last summer. Really friendly and helpful.

Here are some brief thoughts on my week stay at Guam.

Guam is basically America. I think one of its slogans is ctually “Where America’s Day Begins.” It had many stores, paved roads, multiple laned highways, McDonalds, shopping malls, power on all of the time, ESPN, everything. I expected this. Now, maybe the experience was affected by the fact that I was still a bit sick, or that I couldn’t really see so I had a head ache and my vision was distorted. All in all, the experience was a bit weird, surreal, and it was definitely a preview for the culture shock I will receive in June.

First couple of things I noticed: walking down the sleek, modern, air-conditioned terminal in the airport, I noticed how freezing it was. Also, the huge, lit-up signs for perfume advertisements alone probably cost more than the school budget.

I definitely clutched to my car seat tighter than usual when Br. Juan was driving normally down a paved road at 50 miles per hour. Passing by objects, especially multiple cars in the other lane, also going at that speed, for some reason, freaked me out.

That night he ordered Pizza Hut. I went with him to pick it up. The niceness and cleanliness and smell and design and rushed, impersonal atmosphere that embodied the inside of that store, and of any fast food store, literally made me confused and a bit speechless. It was weird. Every time someone hands us food here in Chuuk we usually greet everyone first and sit down and chat for a bit. The idea of just getting handed over our dinner so quickly was strange. It shouldn’t be, but it was.

I was literally shaking in a supermarket one day because it was so cold. I mean so cold. The physical adaptation to this humid climate has certainly affected me. I looked like a fool trying to walk because I was shaking so much. I couldn’t get near the frozen food isle. I had to stand outside in the sun for a few minutes to feel better.

Speaking of the supermarket, I was overwhelmed, seriously, walking down the isle. They had EVERYTHING! Even after the fourth day in Guam, I was thinking of things to bring back for everyone to enjoy. I brought back nothing. I had no idea what to get. There were too many things to get! I probably looked stupid, slowly walking down the isles in complete awe and wonder as if I entered a really cool exhibit in a museum or something like that.

I watched a football game on ESPN. I was filled with this different kind of happiness that I haven’t felt in a long time. It made me miss crowds and cheering and tailgating and getting together to root for a team and getting snacks and pizza to watch a TV.

I probably knew this before, but I don’t think there was ONE commercial on TV that made any sense to me. (In order to eat this cereal, all these kids need to climb that building to fight the bad guys?! What???)

Just seeing what the females were wearing wherever I went – especially the time I went for a walk in the mall – made me feel like I was in a naughty movie or something.

It’s these little things that caught me off guard, slowed me down, made me do double takes, and just made everything around me seem … so weird. It’s still really hard to put it in words. They are asking me what Guam was like, and I say it was “nice.” It was: the comfort, all the things that were available, the things to do and places to go! I certainly got a lot of rest, and I think a week away from school and Xavier and the students helped out a lot. And maybe the culture shock didn’t hit me that hard because 1) I was still basically in Micronesia and 2) I knew I was there for only a week and would be going back, and 3) I was sick and not really able to see, so I just stayed put in the Jesuit house for most of the time. But I know it will hit me and hit me hard when I get back. I try not to think about it though.

In the end, I just needed new glasses. My eyes were fine.

Very, very surreal, is all I have to say.

3 more weeks of classes, then finals, then Christmas break!