Thinking about leaving Guam. Nah, bought a house!

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam. Nah, bought a hou
From: Naemanson
Date: 11 May 08 - 03:22 AM

At the request of many I have started a new thread, Settling in Guam. Please go there for more boring stories.

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam. Nah, bought a hou
From: Naemanson
Date: 11 May 08 - 02:56 AM

I'm back on line! The computer's fixed, we've finished moving into the new house, and we finally got the cable connected. We are in business again.

We really like this house. It's comfortable. The yard is large and that is rare in Guam. We are near the end of a dead end road, just beyond the end of the pavement. There is only one farmer who lives farther down from us. So it is quiet here.

There was a little trouble with the neighbor's dogs barking at us and annoying the cats but my slingshot soon ended that. Now the cats come and go as they please. The dogs spend their time on the other side of the houses. Neko finds endless pleasure in bringing lizards, geckos, and grasshoppers into the house so she can slowly murder them in air conditioned comfort. Wakana refuses to close the door firmly so the cats have found they only need to push on it and it opens for them. Sigh.

Neko is a very strange cat. She talks as she walks. She isn't asking for anything. She doesn't want to be held. There is no shortage of food in her life. She just meows continually... all night long... as she walks on us... when we're trying to sleep. I have thought of inviting the dogs back over for a game of tag with her. Neko doesn't want to sit with us on the couch, won't let us hold her for any length of time, and doesn't do any of the other things a cat likes to do with people. She loves to play with me but she plays too rough for me to risk my flesh and blood. I use a stick.

The Mama on the other hand follows Wakana around like a puppy. She goes out and comes in several times in the morning as we prepare for work but when we leave she insists on being outside for the day. She disappears into the brush and only comes out after the sun has set.

Neko runs in a panic to the door when she sees us getting ready to lock it. Being stuck outside for the day rates very low on her list of priorities.

I told Wakana that the cats treat her like a god. I don't rate with them. The best I can hope for is for them to see me as some kind of emergency backup god. I provide food when she isn't home and I open the doors for them. Other than that I am just in the way.

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam. Nah, bought a hou
From: Charley Noble
Date: 02 May 08 - 09:27 PM

Hey, Brett, school should be over in a few weeks.

Have you and Wakana given any thought to relaxing?

Not a bad concept after a major move, and major job shifts.

We do need some advance warning if you're planning to revisit Maine. The cottage is availabe in any month except August.

Kat Logan is celebrating her 50th birthday this weekend with a song party, and commemorating her engagement to a very mellow guitar/banjo player.

Cheerily.
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam. Nah, bought a house!
From: Naemanson
Date: 01 May 08 - 09:51 PM

Still no internet at home. I'm in the teacher's room at lunchtime. A group is talking at the table behind me.

We have finished the move at last... more or less. There are still some items outside. Got to get them moved out this weekend.

There's the bell. Gotta get to class.

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam. Nah, bought a house!
From: SINSULL
Date: 22 Apr 08 - 02:27 PM

Congratulatiions, Wakana and Brett! You're home now.
Love,
Mary

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam. Nah, bought a house!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 22 Apr 08 - 12:50 AM

My mother won't even entertain the idea. She doesn't mind the plane. She hates the heat, bugs, and snakes. It doesn't matter that we rarely see a snake, the cockroaches don't come into play because the geckoes (sp?) eat them when they are young, and we do have air conditioning. Sigh. She has always gone to visit my siblings when THEY bought new houses... Grumble. grumble, gripe, gripe.

My Mom felt the same way about Texas! What did I do to get her to finally come visit?

Had a baby. And then another. ;-D

SRS (slinks out of the room after catching up on the Guam news!)

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam. Nah, bought a hou
From: open mike
Date: 21 Apr 08 - 11:57 PM

Congrats. Happy house warming.
Glad you have an air conditioner.
My daughter is engaged to a Chimoro
and may come to the island some day.
His family is from Guam, and visits
occasionally. Know any of the Funes
clan over there?

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Charley Noble
Date: 21 Apr 08 - 10:17 PM

It does get better!

Cheerily,
Charley Noble, safe in Maine where nothing moves!

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Naemanson
Date: 21 Apr 08 - 06:23 PM

You are all welcome whenever you think you can make it. Just $2,000 and thirty hours on a jet and all this can be yours!

My dad says he'll come visit when he can go by train. The idea of being packed into a plane for all those hours seems to bother him.

My mother won't even entertain the idea. She doesn't mind the plane. She hates the heat, bugs, and snakes. It doesn't matter that we rarely see a snake, the cockroaches don't come into play because the geckoes (sp?) eat them when they are young, and we do have air conditioning. Sigh. She has always gone to visit my siblings when THEY bought new houses... Grumble. grumble, gripe, gripe.

Today they are supposed to deliver the refrigerator and stove.

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Amos
Date: 20 Apr 08 - 06:53 PM

WoahHOO!! Party at Brett's Retreat!! No classes Monday and the cops are boughten. Git down, brotha's -- a different kind of music piping out of these new digs...


A

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Barry Finn
Date: 20 Apr 08 - 09:42 AM

The title change is overdue.

We'll all be over for the party,,,,,,,,,after you're done moving in

Good Luck in the new home.

Barry

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Charley Noble
Date: 20 Apr 08 - 07:56 AM

Brett-

Maybe you should consider leaving behind that big crate of rocks that I packed for your shipping crate when you were departing from Maine.

Gee, I almost wish I could help you move but it's probably out of the question.

It will get better!

Cheerily,
Charley Noble, safe in Maine

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Roger the Skiffler
Date: 20 Apr 08 - 03:38 AM

Now you're definitely gonna have to change the thread title: Homeowner on Guam; Comfortably settled in Guam; Beating the Sub-Prime Market on Guam...


RtS
(I'll get me sunhat...)

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Naemanson
Date: 20 Apr 08 - 12:42 AM

It's Sunday afternoon and I am exhausted. God, I hope this doesn't go on much longer...

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: katlaughing
Date: 18 Apr 08 - 10:33 PM

Congratulations!!! Whoo-hoo, it's gonna be so much fun!!

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 18 Apr 08 - 08:41 PM

Hooray, have you packed the cats?

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Naemanson
Date: 18 Apr 08 - 05:20 PM

We bought a house!

Yesterday I got a call around lunchtime asking me if I could be at the bank later in the afternoon. At 4:00 we closed the deal and now we own an empty house with a nice big yard and lots of fruit trees.

Now comes the hard part. Moving all these boxes in there and opening them up.

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 18 Apr 08 - 12:42 PM

keep up the good work!

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Naemanson
Date: 17 Apr 08 - 03:57 PM

I'm working on it. My latest trick has been to ask them what they'll be doing in ten years. Most of them have no answer to that. When they admit they don't know I ask them how can they know now what they need and don't need from their high school education.

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 17 Apr 08 - 10:02 AM

hate something before you see/hear/eat/meet it & actually like it when you are forced to see/hear/eat/meet it!

what are you going to do next to stretch their comfortable little world?

sandra

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Naemanson
Date: 17 Apr 08 - 04:52 AM

We've been jerked around a lot in the last few weeks. It turns out the hold up was by the appraiser who took two weeks to look at the house and then never uploaded the appraisal to the VA so they could give the bank the thumbs up. Now we are running out of time and hope to close on the house tomorrow or Saturday. We are getting antsy. I'd like to get things moving if you'll pardon the pun.

Today I started showing my kids the stage play Sweeney Todd. They all agitated for the movie starring Johnny Dep but I squashed that. The purpose for watching the play is to get some experience with a big performance on a live stage. They don't need to see another movie.

Of course the play is a little rough. Keep in mind they cut an hour out of it, reduced the sexual side of it to a washed out depiction of a rape and tossed out all the bad language. The poor beggar woman in the movie just hangs around and has little to contribute. In the play she is always wandering on stage and quite often solicits the men in quite vulgar fashion. ("How'd ya like to split me muff, dear?") Consequently I required the kids to provide a permission slip from their parents. Those who didn't bring it in had to spend the class in the library. There was a frantic rush at the beginning of class with kids phoning parents to ask to have the slip or a note faxed in to the school.

They weren't all that hot to actually watch the play. After all, no Johnny Dep. However, the end of class caught them by surprise and they groaned about having to turn it off. They were getting into it. We had fun.

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Charley Noble
Date: 08 Apr 08 - 08:43 PM

Brett-

You will be encouraging some to move beyond the current expectations. And some of them may even thank you afterwards but that is even more rare.

A few will just be cruelly frustrated, and you'll remember them too.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Naemanson
Date: 08 Apr 08 - 01:59 AM

We got into a great discussion today. One of the kids quoted the time worn comment, "Why should we study this, I'll never use it."

Brett: What are you going to be doing in 10 years?

Kid: I want to be a radiologist.

That doesn't answer my question. What are you going to be doing in 10 years?

Kid: I don't know.

Brett: Then how do you know which subject you learn here will help you then?

Kid: Oh.

Brett: I use geometry and algebra all the time in my carpentry work.

Kid: I'm not going to be a carpenter.

Brett: How do you know that? You just told me that you don't know what you'll be doing in ten years. Suppose a carpentry job is all that's available?

At that point the kid conceded that maybe she might need some of this stuff after all.

Another conversation from today.

Kid: College is expensive.

Brett: There are ways to reduce the expense.

Kid: How?

Brett: You start with good grades.

Kid: Ugh!

Sigh, these kids have no interest. They are smart kids but they cannot be prodded into doing the work.

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: katlaughing
Date: 07 Apr 08 - 06:12 PM

W-e-l-l...maybe active reading, i.e. they act it out while reading the script?**bg** You are a GREAT teacher, Brett!

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Naemanson
Date: 07 Apr 08 - 05:02 PM

When we talked of myth and legend and the differences between them I had them think about the stories they grew up with in Guam. There are a number of stories that I call the Chief Stories, tales of great feats by various of the old chiefs of Guam. There is the tale of the first mermaid, Serena. There is the tale of the two lovers who leaped to their deaths rather than be separated.

We discussed these and a few others and tried to categorize them into either myth or legend. It was a fun class.

As for performance, well, let's just say I am going to have my hands full getting the kids to read the plays let alone memorize anything.

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: katlaughing
Date: 07 Apr 08 - 03:25 PM

Good one, Charley!

Brett, you should hop over onto the Accountability - Heave Ho thread. You've got us all beat, I think, in clearing out clutter! I actually threw two books away this past week. First time I think I've ever done that. Felt awful for a few minutes. I also ripped out some colour plates and illustrations from a couple of old ones nobody wanted. I am going to frame them for my grandson's bedroom.

Would the kids be interested in putting on their own production? What about West Side Story? Would they be able to relate to that one better do you think? What tales do they know of in their culture that might be like King Arthur, in myth etc, I mean, that they could track down through the generations? just some thoughts...you've probably already had the same ones.:-)

kat

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Charley Noble
Date: 07 Apr 08 - 09:01 AM

Brett-

After mulling over your post:

I'm wondering if there's any truth to the rumor that Merlin's cave was actually a self-storage unit for King Arthur and Queen Guinevere?

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Naemanson
Date: 07 Apr 08 - 04:16 AM

I spent the weekend putting things into boxes. I filled seven boxes with books to donate to the Notre Dame library. The arrival overwhelmed the librarian. I warned her that there were more on the way.

And... (I hope you are sitting down) I threw away a bunch of books too!

Today I ordered a dumpster for the house. They'll deliver it tomorrow. I have three bags of trash in my office. And you should not make the mistake to think they are trash bags.

You see, the local hardware store made a mistake. They either ordered, or had sent to them by mistake, a bunch of big paper bags to use for leaf disposal. Well, in Guam we do not have to worry about leaf disposal so they were selling them at $1.00 per bundle, 3 bags in a bundle. I bought 3 bundles. These things are huge, they stand on their own, and they are easy to move.

At school we were studying the legend of King Arthur. To cap it off we watched the latest movie about him so I have now seen that movie four times in the last two weeks. I think I've had enough of it.

I set a challenge for the kids. I told them to assume the movies was a 100% accurate picture of where Arthur came from. With that as the starting place I wanted them to imagine how that story became the legend we know today. Well, I thought it was a great assignment. But they didn't. They whined about not knowing the legend, about not being able to understand the assignment, about anything and everything without doing the assignment. Sigh. This generation is doomed.

Well, I guess I better fill some more boxes.

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Charley Noble
Date: 05 Apr 08 - 09:19 PM

Brett-

There's hope for Maine. The winter glaciers are melting, and little flowers are sticking their heads up through the mud and ice.

Great to have you back on line.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: katlaughing
Date: 05 Apr 08 - 04:37 PM

Welcome back!! Happy moving and thanks for checking in!

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 05 Apr 08 - 04:22 AM

welcome back!

cats loooove boxes - could be fun if you lose a cat & pile other boxes on top & ...

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Naemanson
Date: 05 Apr 08 - 02:56 AM

I'm definitely back! It cost $255 and took forever but I have computer back and it is fine. It's better than fine. I had the memory increased and added a second hard drive.

Cats are fine. Wakana is too. We are packing and preparing to move once we close on the house. The next two weeks will be pretty hectic. There is a lot to do.

You should see this place. We are not all that neat anyway but now every room has been reduced to footpaths and there are only two narrow places left on the couch in the living room. We are piling boxes there. The books shelves are emptying and the pile of boxes is growing. Neko, the younger cat, has a great time exploring the changed configuration in the house. Mama, of course, spends her days outdoors and only comes in to eat and sleep in the evening.

At school we are studying drama now. I will be showing them plays on video as well as having them read the required curriculum. They are pretty bored with the whole thing. They can't see how it affects their lives and they want nothing to do with the subject. I think I need a better idea.

One course of action is to explain that there are plenty of boring activities that seem to have no purpose in their futures. That will get me exactly nowhere. At fifteen kids don't care about their future. I need them to look at what they see everyday with a more critical eye.

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 25 Mar 08 - 05:31 AM

bummer. dead computers cost money (& time!)

sandra

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Charley Noble
Date: 24 Mar 08 - 09:50 PM

Oh dear! And we were hoping for an update on the chicken flock and the cat pack. We may have to fantasize.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: GUEST,Brett
Date: 24 Mar 08 - 06:23 PM

My announcement wass premature. Now my computer is totally dead and the computer in my classroom has followed suit. Sigh. Wish me luck.

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: katlaughing
Date: 24 Mar 08 - 01:49 PM

Great to hear from you, Brett! You've been missed.

Good luck on the house thing...the wheels may move slowly, but they do move, believe me. We went through the VA thingie, too.

All the best,

kat

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Charley Noble
Date: 24 Mar 08 - 08:08 AM

Brett-

Glad to have you back on the forum.

The sap is running here in Maine, and I'm not referring to political candidates.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Naemanson
Date: 24 Mar 08 - 12:23 AM

I'm back. The computer is still not 100% and the hard drive may collapse any minute now but I can use the Internet again.

We've been on our Easter break. We go back to school tomorrow. Ugh! It's our last quarter but in literature we will be studying drama and that should be fun. The book has Antigone and Julius Caesar in it. I'd like to show them some other plays as well but I don't know what the time frame will allow.

I heard something interesting on This American Life today. I was listening to it as a podcast. They had a show titled Testosterone. Part of the show was an interview with a man who had started out as a woman. He described his old self as a bull dyke feminist. Then he started the testosterone treatments and he suddenly realized why all men are jerks. He described all sorts of changes in his behavior and attitudes. It was a very educational show. Check it out.

We aren't any closer to getting into our new house. The VA needed my old case files because they couldn't confirm my qualifications. Of course a lot of my paperwork was burned in the fire but I managed to find my purchase documents for the house in Bath (Maine). The bank forwarded them to the VA and now we wait... and pack. The bank suggested we get a thirty day extension on our agreement with the sellers.

While driving home today I had a new experience. Just before I reached the ACE hardware store my driver's side rear tire blew out with a loud BANG! That was exciting. I pulled into the parking lot and changed the tire but the old one is shredded. I've had plenty of flats but never a blowout.

I'm hungry. It's 2:22 PM here and I haven't eaten since breakfast. Enjoy!

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Charley Noble
Date: 14 Mar 08 - 10:41 PM

Hopefully our hero's computer has recovered from its virus by now. Compared to what's been happening in the rest of the world, it would be refreshing to get an update on Guam.

Hey, little plants are beginning to poke up through the glacier here in Maine.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 07 Mar 08 - 08:15 AM

fingers crossed.

have you got help in battling this nasty virus?

sandra

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Naemanson
Date: 07 Mar 08 - 07:16 AM

I have been hit with a virus. My hard drive tells me it's full though it was only half full the other day. I cannot access it to see what is on it. I don't know if the computer can hold out.

Wish me luck.

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Naemanson
Date: 01 Mar 08 - 05:42 PM

My wife and I worked for Liberal Academy. It is a real school but not very good (since we left). They only teach Japanese and English as a Second Language. If your mother is looking for a decent education in English she should look at the English Language Institute at the University of Guam. That is where my wife learned most of her English.

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: GUEST,NY
Date: 29 Feb 08 - 10:18 AM

Hi-
I jumped in since this thread was hit on my goole.

I need some information about Guam's Liberal Academy where my mother is going to attend in March.
My father sent me email if the school really exists as he faced financial fraud case with the Japanese agency.

I skimmed a bit, but didn't go through all the history as it's very long.
If anyone could provide ANY information about this school, please post it. I'd highly appreciate your attention.

Thanks,
A

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 29 Feb 08 - 01:09 AM

I use Google Maps a lot & thought it was just me when I couldn't get any images of Guam apart from a dot in the ocean. I assume it's cos the military have a presence?

sandra

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Charley Noble
Date: 28 Feb 08 - 07:23 PM

Brett-

Why not make a large "X" on your roof just so we could be sure which house will be yours?

Oh, I forgot that the imagery for Goggle Earth is necessarily up to date in real time. Someday!

The imagery for our old farm on Georgetown Island is at least three years out of date. I haven't quite pinned it down by construction projects that I'm aware of.

Tomrrow night we're going to have subzero temperatures again. Light a candle for us while you are sipping your Singapore Slings.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Amos
Date: 28 Feb 08 - 04:11 PM

YEah, well, who would trust an old crow, anyway?


A

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Naemanson
Date: 28 Feb 08 - 03:35 PM

That large field is now planted with eggplant. And though we are 1.19 miles from the ocean as the Marianas Crow flies it is a much longer run by car.

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Amos
Date: 28 Feb 08 - 03:09 PM

ALthough Google Maps is useless for Guam, Google Earth has a fine aerial uiimage of your roof, just down from a large field and about 1.19 miles from the water's edge east of the house.

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: skarpi
Date: 28 Feb 08 - 02:38 PM

400

Subject: RE: Thinking about leaving Guam.
From: Barry Finn
Date: 28 Feb 08 - 02:36 PM

Ever see the horse at the circus that could count up to 10. The horse wasn't christan either.

Barry