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BS: Settling in Guam
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Subject: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 11 May 08 - 03:21 AM At the request of many and the silence of others I have started a new thread. Once more we boldly go into the tropics for a look at life near the equator. Here is the last thread. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 11 May 08 - 03:53 AM I followed the link from the old thread in eager anticipation & there's nothing new here to read! yet |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 11 May 08 - 09:14 AM Well, Sandra, what do you expect when it's a whole new world? Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 11 May 08 - 09:30 AM tales of exploration |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 11 May 08 - 01:17 PM I am wondering what will happen when Neko meets "Corridus" (reference to hamster adventure thread of that name). And are there any chickens and chicklets in the neighboring bush? Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 12 May 08 - 05:08 AM There is one family of chickens here. They are nothing like the ones we had back in the old house. These are truly wild and we will not bother to start feeding them. We have two weeks of classes and two days of finals and the school year is over at ND. Wakana gets out of school a few days earlier than I do. My car is in the shop. The driver's seat fell through the floor boards a few months ago but I braced it back into place with a 2 by 4. I wasn't going to bother fixing it but then the transmission linkage jammed up and it had to go into the shop anyway. So they're fixing both problems and a few other minor bits too. Our mountain apple tree has lots of fruit on it. I need to pick some and try them out. The fruit is very small (about 1 1/2 inches long) and shaped like a bell. Wakana gave a bunch of guavas to a friend of ours so I haven't tried them yet. Our mango tree has no blossoms so we do not expect any fruit this year. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Roger the Skiffler Date: 12 May 08 - 08:15 AM Brett, that car sounds like Geo Washington's axe! Any original parts left? ATB RtS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Riginslinger Date: 12 May 08 - 10:38 PM I was in Guam in the year 2000. We were supposed to be engaged in the environmental clean-up of an old Air Force Base. But pretty early on, we uncovered a WWII Japanese bunker that had been hastily built out of un-reinforced concrete. It was immediately delcared to have historic significance, and the job was put on hold for a matter of months. The company sent me to Idaho before they'd determined what to do with the thing, then the company went broke and I never did find out what happened. A bunch of guys I'd been working with got stranded there. But, being in Idaho, I figured I could walk back to California, if I had to. I never did find out what happened to the folks that got left there either. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 13 May 08 - 07:25 AM Yeah, but Idaho is much colder. My poor sophomore students are going to be disappointed. We had a field trip to Mount Carmel for their annual carnival on Friday. We learned today the carnival was canceled so they have to be in classes! Poor sad kids. As a result I have 5 classes left with my Monday-Wednesday-Friday blocks and 3 classes with my Tuesday-Thursday blocks. Then two days of final exams and we are done. Last class is on the 23rd and exams are on the 26th and 27th. Grades have to be in by the 30th. Payday is tomorrow and then another on June 1 and then 2 months without pay! Of course that will give us time to work on getting this house in order. My car is almost ready. They had a junker they could use to cut parts off of. The linkage is fixed and tomorrow the rest of the car should be done. There is only a small portion of the original car that has been replaced so far. I expect a lot more will need replacing in the future. I could wind up with my grandfather's ax after all. I went to the university to check on summer courses that I could take to add to my master degree program but they aren't giving any. I'll have to wait until fall. Now I need to find the gang who are working to certify former teachers. I need to take a few courses to get re-certified. Actually I don't NEED to but I want to. The school claims all its teachers are certified and I don't like making liars out of them. Here's something interesting that happened in my composition class (Junior Class). The kids were begging to watch a movie but I told them I didn't know of any movie that related to composition. They did. Freedom Writers. We watched the movie and then I told them we had to have a project to make it a fully educational experience. They came up with the anonymous journal entry. They would email a journal entry to me about something that had a profound affect on them. I would distribute the entries without names, only numbers, and the students would read them out loud. It worked pretty good and we got some truly interesting entries. I was amazed at how emotionally traumatized some of these kids are. One girl was a pretty difficult child she admitted. The height of her foolishness was when she pretended to be sick so she could stay home. Her mother came home at lunchtime and caught her in bed with her boyfriend. What followed was a terrible scene. Now a year has passed and the mother hasn't spoken to her since. The kid insisted on reading this one herself. She was in tears about halfway through it. Later I met with her in the library. There I can have quiet talks with the kids and still be seen in public. I explained to her that many mothers and daughters have difficulties but that time can cure the wounds. I also told her not to connect having sex with what her mother is doing. I told her they were separate issues and she should not feel bad about having sex. I did try to reinforce the idea that she should not get pregnant or get an STD. I suggested that she check out the Midwest Teen Sex Show for age appropriate sex education and help. She seemed to be a little happier after that. This job is very interesting... and challenging. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 13 May 08 - 07:29 AM Oh! I forgot one of the more interesting thing that have happened lately on the island. A couple of weeks ago some workmen out at the Agana water treatment plant found a skunk wandering around. Guam does not have skunks. Apparently it got into a crate of equipment being shipped out to the island. It was captured, de-scented, and now has a home in the Guam zoo. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 13 May 08 - 08:05 PM Brett and Wakana- Have you made any fall visit plans to the States? I'll probably be going to Getaway this year. If you're in Maine and it's not freezing, you're welcome to stay at the family cottage for a week or so. Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 14 May 08 - 06:51 AM At this point I am planning to visit my parents in July. It will be my only chance to see Sabra as Kelli will be there too. Unfortunately I will have little or no money for fun jaunts around New England. As for the Getaway, remember that we are teachers. We cannot leave the island in October. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 17 May 08 - 12:44 AM Wakana is finished with school. I am so jealous. On Monday and Tuesday she has to proctor the final exams and she needs to get her grades in a few days later but she no longer has to stand in front of kids and try to control them. Controlling the kids has become more difficult lately. We are at the end of the year and they are practically vibrating in place. I come home at the end of the day even more exhausted than usual. I have one more week of classes and then finals and grades and I am done too. But this is the weekend and I am not going anywhere today. I have changed the locks on the front doors, changed the shower head in the smaller bathroom, replaced the aerator in the other bathroom sink, and cleaned some of the junk out of the living room. Now I will get busy on my finals. The character of this place is very different from the house in Santa Rita. There we were surrounded by jungle. The ground was always damp and soft. The lot was small and the views from all the windows were limited by the growth though we could see the ocean from the bedroom window. I used to roll over in bed and raise my head to look at it. Now our house stands on open ground. There is a lot of jungle growth but it isn't near the house. We have sunshine blazing down on us most of the day. Yet, with the carport we have shade and a breeze to help keep us cool. We love it here. My computer is temporarily set up in the living room. Looking out the window I see the big mountain apple tree that hides half the house. It is vital shade in the closing hour of the day because the setting sun sweeps the carport and makes it too hot to handle. If the tree weren't there that sunlight would be flooding the living room too. Ugh. The plan is to trim underneath the tree so we can sit in its shade and see the back yard but not so much that the sun can get to the windows. By the way, I recounted and we have three mango trees on our lot. The cousin of the previous owners stopped by today and left us a spare key. He told me the mango trees were carabao mangoes. That is a fruit native to the Philippines. It apparently has a great flavor. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Stilly River Sage Date: 17 May 08 - 02:30 AM Brett, The need to take classes can easily be fulfilled these days through distance education. Many fine universities have such programs. We've had one for years at the University of Texas at Arlignton, where I work. Google search on "university distance education programs". Here is the UTA program. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 17 May 08 - 10:53 AM Love that you are still painting mind pix for us, still, Brett. Your new place sounds really intriguing and lovely. Good for you for talking so kindly to your student about her mom and sex. I am sure she will always remember that and be grateful. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 17 May 08 - 11:05 AM another day in paradise! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 21 May 08 - 04:09 PM Wow! That's all I can say. Well, maybe I could say more. Yesterday we went to Wakana's favorite restaurant, Hoa Mai. It is a little dive in the Agat Shopping Center. They know us very well. We walk in, ask for our usual, and they bring us chicken penang and honey walnut shrimp with fresh lumpia on the side. And a quart of iced tea. As we topped the hill on the Cross Island Road and the Philippine Sea appeared before us we saw a sight we've never seen before. It had been cloudy all day. Now as the sun sank low it lit up the clouds on the horizon. The air was dry and so very clear. The horizon was a straight line bisecting the gray sea and the neon sky. There were no obstructions except for a rain squall to the southwest. Through a miracle it seemed as if the horizon was higher than we were and that the sea would soon come washing over us. The sea was absolutely flat. We couldn't see the sun itself. It was lost behind a curtain of cloud but its light was all around us. The clouds to the west of us were lit up from behind in a blaze of orange and pink and gold. To the south there were white clouds like mountains reaching up with their bases hidden from us. There were dark clouds behind them for a backdrop which made for a very dramatic display. We drove to the beach and stood on the sand looking at the sunset. It was hard to speak in the face of such beauty. Off to the left of us were two or three boats way out. There outlines were so clear that it seemed as if we could make out every detail though they were but tiny toys on the face of the sea. One made its way north passing in front of the grand display. We could even see the rooster tail rising behind her. We spoke quietly in the face of such grandeur. It was a sight I will not soon forget. (I want to assure the public that two cats were pampered in the creation of this blog.) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 21 May 08 - 08:51 PM another magical description of Another Day in paradise. sandra (keep pampering those cats) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 21 May 08 - 10:43 PM Happen to have a camera handy? What a grand and beautiful thing to witness! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 22 May 08 - 05:08 AM A camera in my hands could not have done the scene justice. In addition to its beauty it was too huge to fit into a camera. Besides, we didn't have one with us. Today was the last day with my sixth and seventh block students. They were my favorite two classes. Tomorrow will be the last day of classes. On Tuesday and Wednesday we will administer the final exams. Then we finish up grades, strip out the classrooms and head home for the summer. I spoke with the vice principal today about the end of the year. One thing I asked for was some of the resource materials so I can refine my lesson plans over the summer. She explained that I could not do that because next year I might not be teaching English Literature next year. My job will depend on where they need me based on the available skills. I might end up teaching history after all. Well, I've got some serious grading to get through. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 22 May 08 - 05:14 AM Oh, and the post script about the cats was a parody of the disclaimer at the end of movies and TV programs that no animals were injured. No animals are ever injured in the production of these posts but the cats are often pampered. Speaking of cats, Mama Kitty has changed considerably since we moved to Talofofo. In Santa Rita she was a half wild boonie cat. She went out in the morning and didn't come back in until evening. It was difficult to keep her indoors during the day. Now she is indifferent towards being outside. She enjoys lying around the house. She also enjoys being outdoors. When Wakana's home Mama follows her around. When Wakana sits on the couch Mama Kitty stations herself at the other end. This is new behavior. Mama never shared the couch with anyone in the old house. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 25 May 08 - 08:47 PM Wakana has been very busy outdoors. She has been trimming the trees all around the house. Consequently our house is surrounded with large piles of tree branches and raked up leaves. We've got our work cut out for us moving all of that into the burning circle. But the trees look pretty good. And we have a lot more room around and under them. We have the AC turned off today. Windows are open. Not too hot. Airing out the house and enjoying the outdoor smells makes a nice change. It's been rainy all morning. There are lots of clouds up there and they occasionally leak on us. Earlier we had a lot of thunder but we saw no lightning. All in all a very nice day. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: SINSULL Date: 25 May 08 - 10:55 PM AC? Living in luxury, are we? Will we see you in July? August 2 is the Maritime Festival. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Stilly River Sage Date: 26 May 08 - 12:56 AM Are there any photos of all of this? I understand about the sunset, you're better off looking at it and remembering it than depending on a lens and film or a few pixels. But the house and yard and school and environs? I haven't kept up with all of the threads--once I get behind reading and they get long I usually give up. But maybe links have been posted that someone can point me to? SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 31 May 08 - 02:38 AM Did I ever tell you that Wakana used to live in the Sahara Forest? What's that? You say it's the Sahara Desert? Well, it is NOW! We bought a house with lots of trees and ground. The trees needed trimming (in her opinion) and the ground needed mowing. I should have known what to expect. The first time she saw this place she looked like a dog eying a piece of steak. Since we moved in she has been looking at the trees and considering and then she started trimming, and trimming, and trimming... This morning we burned three pickup loads of limbs and leaves. The pile of ashes is still smoldering out there. She is delighted. As we worked she was picking out other limbs to take down. Sigh. I am all finished with classes. I just need to finish up some paperwork and clean the junk out of my room and I am done for the summer. I am going back in the fall but the school wouldn't commit to what I would be teaching. The world history teacher is cutting back to part time and the U. S. History and Government teacher is leaving. That would seem to open up an opportunity in the social studies department. Unfortunately the English Department is losing the department head so there will be an opening for some one in Literature and Composition. I have no idea what August will bring to me. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 31 May 08 - 05:13 AM less trees |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 31 May 08 - 01:25 PM Sandra, as a professional English teacher I am required to point out that you use the word 'less' when you cannot count the subject. Thus you would have less water, not fewer water. When you can count the subject then you use the word 'Fewer'. Sorry to be a PITA. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: maeve Date: 31 May 08 - 02:00 PM Less Trees: Noun; now extinct. Once known as the native tree of the Saharan Forest Region, the Less Tree was the major source for fuel, fruit, and fertility medicinals. At the height of the Saharan Forest deforestation of the late 1990s, there were 20 Less Trees left standing... More or less. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 31 May 08 - 05:20 PM I saw a flea heave a tree, Fie, man, fie! I saw a flea heave a tree, Who's the fool now? I saw a flea heave a tree, Twenty leagues out to sea! Thou has well drunken And who's the fool now? Ax me no questions And I'll tell you no lies! Is Wakana planning to trim off all the tree limbs? Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 31 May 08 - 08:31 PM As near as I can figure she will. It seems the only good tree in her view is a stick pointing at the clouds. I did persuade her not to take off a branch that would have left a huge hole in the foliage. Others will not be so lucky. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 03 Jun 08 - 08:24 PM In a little while I will be going out to buy the tickets for my trip to Maine. I will arrive at the Portland Jetport on July 4 at 3:32 PM. I leave from the Portland Jetport on July 29 at 7:50 AM. This will be a minimal money trip. I will probably settle at my parents' house and stay there. I'd like to make a trip south at some point and meet with my friends there but that will need some careful scheduling. Sins, are you planning a song circle for July? Charlie, what's on the agenda for Roll & Go? Any chance of a Mudcat Mini-gathering somewhere in Maine so I can meet some of the members I've never met? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 03 Jun 08 - 10:01 PM Is your new grandbaby coming across the pond to meet you? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Roger the Skiffler Date: 04 Jun 08 - 09:04 AM I understand traditional English gardens are never finished while you can still stuff something else in; Japanese gardens are never finished while you can still take sonething else out. RtS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 04 Jun 08 - 07:21 PM The whole purpose of the trip is to meet the grandbaby. If not for her I'd stay in Guam rather than take that hellacious trip to the east coast. Besides, while Wakana is trapped here on the island I feel it is too selfish of me to take any trips. But I gotta meet that kid before she gets too old. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Amos Date: 04 Jun 08 - 09:13 PM Ya know, Brett, for little extra you could schedule it in Spetember and make the Getaway...probably get a free ride down and back with someone or other... THink about it. A |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 04 Jun 08 - 10:20 PM Brett: Here's a link to Roll & Go's website with our current schedule: click here for website There are a couple of concerts planned and the cottage may be vacant in part of July. There's also the 3rd Saturday shanty sing at the Press Room, 3:30 to 7:30 PM. I suppose we could all come up to Houlton instead. Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 04 Jun 08 - 10:27 PM Amos, teachers can't take off during the school year. At least not for that long of a trip!:-) Good! I am glad you get to see her. Wish Wakana could go with you! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 07 Jun 08 - 06:15 PM Wakana and I took a walk this morning to get a better feel for the neighborhood... and to get some exercise. We wandered down San Nicolas Lane. There are some lovely homes in there. Lots of mango and coconut trees. And lots of dogs faithfully, and loudly, guarding their homes. When you walk here you have to be careful to carry a stick of some sort to protect yourself. I carried my cane. I needed it for myself by the time we started back. This damned knee... We have been judicious in our use of electricity. Our bill this month was under $200. Unfortunately they tacked on a "fuel surcharge" of almost $400! Grumble, grumble, gripe, gripe. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Amos Date: 07 Jun 08 - 07:40 PM Oh, yeah, sorry. I keep thinking of you as retired! ;>) A |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 09 Jun 08 - 10:58 AM Today our previous neighbor, Dave, and the former landlord's son, Anthony, came by. They woke us out of our afternoon nap (vacations are wonderful). The previous owner of this place left behind a few things including a large chain link cage and a composter. I have no use for either of them (the materials, not the men). I had offered the cage and the composter to them. They brought with them a riding lawn mower that Dave had picked up somewhere and repaired for us. Unfortunately their timing was rather poor. By the time we got the mower unloaded from the trailer and put the mower deck back on it the sun was setting and they had no time to work freeing the cage from the vegetation. It has been there long enough for the trees to grow inside it. They needed a chainsaw to get it free. Anthony and Dave want those two items because they want to make methane to run a generator and get themselves off the grid. Anthony wants the composter because it will help him with some project he has in mind. Anthony is still in college and has been studying agriculture. He worked on a compost project with one of his professors and is all worked up over composting as being the wave of the future. The composter has been sitting long enough that its support framework rotted away and it fell over sometime after we moved in. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: kendall Date: 10 Jun 08 - 09:04 AM Brett, the reason your students get jumpy this time of year is maybe because they don't get any snow days. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Amos Date: 10 Jun 08 - 09:58 PM "Subject: RE: News From Guam From: Naemanson - PM Date: 15 Feb 04 - 08:41 PM Well, Nick and Carmela's party was a big success. Lots of people, lots of food, laughter and beer. They were celebrating five birthdays. The festivities started at 1:00 and there were hula dancers to entertain at 3:00. When I came out of my half of the duplex I found my front yard full of people. I filled a plate and joined in the fun. I sat with the old men, the patriarchs, and talked of Guam and the world, solving all the problems, as I watched the rest of the people. there were little kids and their parents and grandparents. There was an inflated jumping pad out in the field next to the house. A few of the older kids were tossing a football in the street. At 3:00 the hula entertainment began. It is a dance company located here on the island. Their instructor is from Hawaii but they do dances from all over the Pacific. It was odd seeing those little girls, the oldest couldn't have been more that 14, doing the sensual dances from Tahiti. It just didn't seem to fit. But they were graceful and beautiful and very good. There were some movements I didn't think possible for a human body. After the entertainment I retreated into my house and left the party to the locals. It isn't good for me to be in the company of women these days. I start to think about the benefits of a relationship and I don't want to go there again. I forgot to mention something funny that happened the other night when we were working on the cardboard canoe. we had stopped for supper and I was talking to the host's two kids, 7 and 9. I was obviously the oldest person in the room so I decided to have fun with them. I told them I was the oldest person on earth and had them try to guess my age. We got up to 100 and I was still saying "Nope, older!" Finally they began to ask for the anser so I told them I was older than their dad. That was easy to see. So I told them I was so old that when I was young I had only black and white TV. That didn't impress them. So I told them that I was so old that there were no computers when I was born. The older boy's eye got big and he said, "That's even before the pilgrims!"" Subject: RE: News From Guam From: Naemanson - PM Date: 31 Mar 04 - 06:44 AM Wow! This place continues to amaze me. Last Saturday I met two amazing and interesting people. One is a racing sailboat captain. He works for a very rich man who has a deep and abiding interest in racing sailboats. His employer owns 5 boats, 40', 50', 75', 90', and a 115'. Al's job is to coordinate the 9 permanent crew members and keep them trained to a fine point for winning races. They are based in Hong Kong but he doesn't like living in Hong Kong so he lives in Guam and does most of his work by remote link. He is currently rebuilding a damaged catamaran and building a power trimaran to use to explore the Pacific islands and to carry mail and cargo between them. The other person is a Japanese woman who is attending language classes (English) at UOG. She is a carpenter in Japan with a shop and all her own tools. Those of you familiar with the chauvinist society in Japan should realize how unusual this is. She was extremely interested in the carving on the canoe parts working her way in close to help as best she could. Unfortunately she had to leave before she could get her hands on an adze and do some cutting. One funny thing happened. When I saw my middle sister two weeks ago she gave me a T-shirt she had decorated with Japanese characters. She told me it meant "wisdom". At the canoe Wakana saw the characters and asked me if it was the name of my girlfriend. While one reading of the kanji is "wisdom", or "smart head" as Wakana put it, the other interpretation is "pretty girl" and is used as a girl's name in Japan. My sister got quite a laugh out of that. You know, adventures come in all shapes and sizes. ..." Kinda pins down the before and beginnin', don't it? A |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 11 Jun 08 - 07:05 PM Yep! Thanks for posting that. This morning Wakana and I set up a breakfast nook in the carport. When we moved in there was a glass table out there. The base was wobbly and we didn't like it but we hadn't done anything with it yet. Today we cleaned it up and set it where we usually sit to drink our morning coffee. I have an old desk that I got at a Government auction. The lot I bought included three desks and a wooden rolling stand. I took one of the desks and the stand into school and put them in my classroom. One desk could not be salvaged and the other had one end torn off. Yesterday I fixed that desk and this morning we set it up in the carport as an outdoor office. I doubt we'll use it much. The humidity makes the papers difficult to work with. Today we are headed into town. We have a number of errands to run and Wakana has a doctor's appointment with a neurologist. Her neck is giving her trouble again. We also need to check the mail (I'm expecting ink for my printer) and get Wakana a new pair of glasses. She needs bifocals (or, as she calls them, bifocus). I guess I better get to work. We acquired a canopy frame with this house and we want to set it up to give some shade to the office wall. I am also going to install the typhoon shutters on the room we use for storage in an effort to keep it cooler. Oh! I forgot to mention something. The other day we took the cats to the vet. Neko has some kind of infection on her back feet. The vet's husband is an Australian named Brett. We had a bit of a chat about the difficulties of carrying that name. He4 commented that it was fairly common in Oz but here he gets all kinds of mispronunciations. This is something I've had to deal with all my life but it's new to him. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 14 Jun 08 - 12:11 AM It's been a busy couple of days. Wakana went to the neurologist who told her she has a pinched nerve. He sentenced her to do no work that would involve pushing or lifting more than 20 pounds. So today I had to mow the lawn... But we are getting some things done and that's OK because I don't have any money to do anything else. Today is the 14th and in a little more than two weeks I'll be heading for Maine to meet the little squab my daughter done birthed. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 18 Jun 08 - 04:49 AM Very busy in the last couple of days. I downloaded all the Guam threads and sorted through them leaving only my comments. That pared it down from 925 pages to 354. I also constructed a photo album showing the things we've done since we got married. I took both to Copy Express and for $40 I got them printed out. We stuffed them into the envelope and sent it off to the jerks, uh, idiots, uh, the, uh, fine upstanding citizens of the Department of Homeland Security. (Why do I remember the Soviet Union when I say the name of that department?) Anyway, we sent it off by express mail and soon they will have proof that we are a married couple. If any of you would like to have the same proof I can email the album. It is a word document, about 48.3K. It looks pretty good if I do say so. Last night I broke a tooth. Today I had to sit in the Dentist's office for a few hours as a walk-in patient. Finally got a temporary patch on it but I will need a crown ($1000!) That's got to wait a while. We were in the mall yesterday for Wakana to buy new glasses. We wandered by a store that we've always enjoyed and found they were having a going out of business sale with everything going for up to 80% off! Some pretty cool stuff too. We spent $40 in there buying presents for me to take home. Wakana has a little extra money so she wants to replace the window air conditioning unit here in the office with a brand new energy efficient split unit. They are supposed to install it on Friday. Once they do that we will be able to work in here without sweat bands and heat stroke. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 18 Jun 08 - 06:16 AM lucky you - a crown for $1000, mine will cost 2-3 times that. how long do you have to wait to get an answer from Homeland Security? or don't they say. sandra |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 19 Jun 08 - 11:08 AM Well, back in May of 2007 they said we'd have an answer in 4 to 6 weeks... God only knows how long they'll take with this package. We haven't had any trash removed for a month now. I finally called the Department of Public Works to ask why. The answer was that we had not registered with them for pickup. I've been on this island for over four years now and this is the first I've heard of registering with DPW. Last night we discussed what we wanted to accomplish today. I woke at 5:00 AM and went out to the living room. I wasn't awake yet so I went back to bed. I woke up around 8:00 AM and found Wakana asleep on the couch. I made coffee and drank a cup and ate a bagel and an orange. I wandered around for a bit and then went back to bed. Woke up around noon. Wakana and I talked about how disinterested we were in any activity at all. I worked on a photo album I need to put together for my trip home and then found Wakana on the bed. I joined her and we spent the afternoon in blissful luxurious inactivity. We agreed that we like vacations. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 19 Jun 08 - 11:54 PM Today they installed out new Carrier Alpha Plus 9,000 BTU split unit air conditioner in our office. However the day has been so cool that we have our windows open and do not need the A/C. But we will, I know it, we will. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 20 Jun 08 - 07:46 AM cool air! what a treat in a hot humid place, I have enough trouble with Sydney's humidity, I couldn't cope with your equatorial humidity. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 20 Jun 08 - 07:00 PM Well, cool is relative. I'm sure my family would consider themselves as suffering in these temperatures. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 21 Jun 08 - 03:57 AM I mean my family back in Maine, of course. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 24 Jun 08 - 06:54 PM Here is something I would like to talk about. I've been thinking about it lately. For those of you who have known me for a long time you know I've been through some tough times. I have been down in the depths of depression and I've seen no hope of happiness in the future. I just want you all to know I am extremely happy here. Wakana is very happy also. And so are the cats. Every day I wake up groggy and stumble into the kitchen for my coffee but I never wake up angry or sad. I never wake up dreading the prospect of another day. Life has turned around for me and now I am on the rainbow highway. No potholes or detours. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Ebbie Date: 24 Jun 08 - 06:57 PM That comes through very clearly, Brett. I suspcet you have no idea how many people in reading your missives share in your joy. Thank you. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 24 Jun 08 - 08:04 PM Exactly what Ebbie said and it IS a joy that you have shared it with us. Makes m'heart glow with gratitude, darlin'.:-) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Amos Date: 24 Jun 08 - 08:59 PM Delighted to have read it from your own hand, Brett!! A |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 24 Jun 08 - 09:24 PM Brett- Well, we were kind of reading that in between the lines but I'm glad that you realize that too. Looking forward to your planned visit to Maine. When will you be in our area, and how may we best accommodate you? Boiled lobsters? Music? Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 25 Jun 08 - 05:31 AM you deserve the best, Brett |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 25 Jun 08 - 06:58 AM Thanks, all. Charley, I fly into Portland on July 4 at 3:32 PM and fly out on July 29 at 7:50 AM. Some time in between would be fine for a visit. Lobsters sound great but I will be traveling on minimum funding. Music sounds great too. Will Mary be having a music weekend while I'm there? Also, I need to find a Mercedes dealer. I need to buy a few minor parts that I cannot get here. Here is the plan, such as it is. I will spend a few days at my sister's house. At some point while I'm there I will meet the little squab my daughter brought into the world. Then I will go up to New Limerick to stay with my parents. I have a few chores to do for them and a building project to do for the squab. (Aren't grandfathers supposed to build toys for their grandkids?) I also need to repair my canoe so I can sell it. My brother will be arriving a few days before I am scheduled to leave so that time cannot be used for anything else. Other than that I am free and available. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 25 Jun 08 - 12:57 PM Brett- Check your PM's but from what you're saying it looks as if somewhere in the last two weeks would be the best option for us seeing you, and entertaining you in the style you are accustomed to. Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Amos Date: 25 Jun 08 - 01:18 PM BRett: Squab?? SQUAB?? Don't let on that's what you call her if you want to leave your daughter's presence under your own steam. A |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 25 Jun 08 - 08:39 PM Squab is one of the many things we call babies in our family. We also use Grundoon. I used to use Monkey-Nose until the kids were old enough to protest. I then changed it to Primate-Proboscis. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 25 Jun 08 - 08:54 PM & how long did that last? Several decades ago 2 colleagues used to call their new baby Smelly-bum, I hope this child grew up into a fine citizen, & not a person who needed extensive therapy! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 25 Jun 08 - 08:58 PM Well, I used to call the older daughter my Kelli-smelly-belly but that was dropped very early under her vigorous protests. Using it today results in a bruise to the upper arm and an energetic one sided conversation. I hope she doesn't see this post. I will still receive the bruise. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Amos Date: 25 Jun 08 - 10:32 PM I had a similar transition, in which i learned not to say, "Know what I mean, Jellybean??" She really hated being called a jelybean. A |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: GUEST,Kelli Date: 26 Jun 08 - 03:14 AM You bet your darn tootin' you're gonna get a bruisin'. But I call Sabra 'honeybutt' and then I carefully explain that is wishful thinking on my part and honey doesn't really come out of her butt....far from it in fact. Oh and Dad, you might want to make sure you've got some Stan Rogers songs floating around your head. We sing them to her a lot, 'Giant' in particular can stop her in mid scream. See you soon! Kelli |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 26 Jun 08 - 07:01 AM Uh-oh! My daughter did see this. Noooooo! I'm doomed. I guess I better warm up my guitar and try to remember some of those songs. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 01 Jul 08 - 04:01 PM Yesterday was yard work day. I mowed the lawn with the riding mower while Wakana trimmed the more difficult to reach areas. Believe me, I offered to let her run the rider but she refused. After the mowing she burned more fronds from the betelnut trees and some boxes. I set up a rack to store the kayaks on and covered them with a tarp. Betelnut trees are very messy. Not only do they drop their nuts (MY mind is clean! Keep yours out of the gutter!) but they also drop their fronds. Consequently you are always having to clean up out there to keep it looking good. Our mountain apple trees were bearing when we moved in. After a few weeks the branches were bare of fruit and I assumed there was some mysterious season and we were out of it. Yesterday I looked at the tree by the carport and realized it was once more covered in little apples. The farmer stopped by yesterday to point out that the fruit on our soursap tree had almost reached ripeness. Imagine a fruit that looks like a green pine cone. You break it open to reveal a whitish gooey sweet tasting core full of huge black seeds. All the edible fruit is attached to the seeds so you take a mouthful of the fruit and then spit out the seeds just like a watermelon. Unlike a watermelon the seeds are huge while the fruit in skimpy. Wakana brought in four guavas yesterday and we cut them open.They weren't ripe yet and tasted like raw vegetables. Today more yard work is on the agenda. We need to replant a plumeria tree and the calamansi tree that I gave her as a wedding present. Wakana got herself a little part-time job for the summer. She will be a tour guide for Underwater World. The public aquarium is starting up a series of behind-the-scene tours. She took the job at the request of a friend who works there. It should be fun but she won't make enough to pay for her gas. I hope she likes it. It certainly will keep her occupied while I'm gone. I leave in two more days. Laundry today and packing tonight. Sigh. I really want to go meet my grandbaby but I really don't want to leave my wonderful little piece of heaven. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 01 Jul 08 - 10:35 PM Oh, my brother tried for years to grow a plumeria as a houseplant. He will be so jealous to hear of yours! Don't they make beads out of betelnuts? Or is it some kind of juice or natural makeup I've read about? Anyway, it sounds lovely, regardless, esp. after seeing all of the pix you sent...I can see why it feels like heaven! That grandbaby is going to create her own little heaven for you, though, just wait 'til you hold her.:-) Have fun and post when you can, okay? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 02 Jul 08 - 06:35 AM Betelnut is husked, quartered, and chewed. You know a real hardcore chewer when you see them set it up with lime (i.e., powdered limestone) and tobacco wrapped in a pepper leaf. It makes your mouth fill up with saliva and you have to keep spitting. The spit marks are red splatters on the ground. Apparently it gives the chewers a high similar to drinking too much caffeine. I don't get it. I tried it twice and got nothing out of it either time. I know how I'll feel once I hold Sabra. If I'm lucky I will not cry. I'm just not looking forward to 30 hours in the airplanes. Grumble, grumble, gripe, gripe. Kat now is the only one of you all to have the official Try-To-Keep-Wakana-In-The-USA photo album. For those of you in OZ you might try to get together with her if you really want to see the pictures. Charlie and Judy will get a look at it and the larger one I'm building for friends and family. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 02 Jul 08 - 10:10 AM Brett- We're looking forward to a viewing toward the end of your Maine revisit. Don't expect your luggage to arrive with you in Portland, unless it's all stuffed into your tiny tiny carry-on. Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: curmudgeon Date: 02 Jul 08 - 10:25 AM The July shanty session will be on the 19th if you're in the neighborhood. It would be grand to see you again - Tom |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 02 Jul 08 - 11:32 AM 30 hours...oof! Be sure to move around a bit and keep your circulation going...that's a long time.:-) I'd be happy to share by email if anyone wants to PM me, with your permission, Brett. Bon Voyage! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 02 Jul 08 - 07:48 PM That last post of mine was an error. I commented on Kat being able to share the pix with Catters in OZ. At that point I was thinking of Sandra from Sydney. Don't know why I made that error. Sorry Kat. You're welcome to share the album with any of the Mudcats here. I can only email it in small increments. If you can send it in large pieces then feel free. I'd like to know who is getting a copy though. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 02 Jul 08 - 09:48 PM No problem, Brett. Not long to go now, eh? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 03 Jul 08 - 09:12 AM I wouldn't mind seeing a pic or 2! Maybe Kat could post some of them on the Mudcat MyOperea site? sandra |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 05 Jul 08 - 03:32 PM Careful what you wish for, Sandra. You might get it. Kat, if you want to throw the pictures up on some Mudact site it would be fine with me. Or we could wait till I get home. Meaning, of course, that I am now in Maine. I am jet lagged, and cold but I am here. I didn't remember the cold. I got off the plane in my sandals and shorts and stepped into 72 degree weather. And then my sister complained of the heat and ran the air conditioner all the way to her house! It was 27 hours from bed to my arrival at her house. But I had a great breakthrough on the trip. I finally achieved the ability to sleep on a plane. It may have had something to do with getting only two hours sleep before leaving. Other than that the flight was long, boring, and uncomfortable. But I got here and the air smells so good and the house is an old cape smelling of wood smoke and homey coziness. I miss Waakana though. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: curmudgeon Date: 05 Jul 08 - 04:12 PM Welcome back, BretReally hope we get to see you while you're "in the neighborhood" but have a great visit anyway - Tom |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 05 Jul 08 - 04:24 PM Brett- Welcome back to Maine and be sure to enjoy this weekend's weather before we get next week's monsoon. The ticks and mosquitos have been eagerly awaiting your return as well. Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 05 Jul 08 - 04:28 PM Give me a day or two and put some of them up, Brett, Sandra. We can always add more from your trip when you get back, Brett.:-) How's the granddaughter???!!! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Amos Date: 05 Jul 08 - 04:58 PM Welcome, Brett! Be sure to drive over 80 on the Maine 'Pike just for auld lang syne!! :D A |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 06 Jul 08 - 10:35 AM I actually got a local call from Brett last evening. I'm convinced that he's actually resident in Maine. But maybe he's been here all the time, imagining his Pacific paradise for the benefit of himself and the rest of us, his "Port o' Dreams." Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 06 Jul 08 - 11:01 AM yah! more pics to look at sometime soon thanks for your work, Kat sandra |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 06 Jul 08 - 09:53 PM Okay, folks, I've got seven pix up so far. Take a gander and look at Brett's bee-you-tee-full bride! Click Here. Thanks for sharing, Brett & Wakana!! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 07 Jul 08 - 06:17 AM ta, again eagerly awaiting the the kimono wedding pics, so everyone can see the beautiful bride in her exquisite ancestral wedding kimono. sandra |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: SINSULL Date: 07 Jul 08 - 08:43 AM Brett's in Maine? How did I miss this? I would have been happy to meet you at the airport! No Wakana? Damn! It's been too long. SINS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 07 Jul 08 - 12:26 PM Well, you have to blame Homeland Security for Wakana's absence. Apparently Japanese are sneaking into our country and posing a threat to our way of life. I have arranged to meet up with Charley and Judy and go down to the Press Room on the 19th. That will be my one chance to get to see my old friends and neighbors. I'll bring the photo album. Thank you, Kat for putting those up. I've tried several times in the past and cannot ever get back into whichever site I was using. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 07 Jul 08 - 12:34 PM Oops, hit the button way too fast. Yesterday I met Sabra. She is the most beautiful baby I have ever seen. She looks like one of those babies you might see in an old illustrated book with longish hair (for a six month old baby), bright blue eyes, and pale porcelin skin. And, of course, this is a completely unbiased opinion. I will send Kat a picture to add to that site. It was great to see Kelli again. She looks great and seems very happy. We spent the day playing with Sabra and talking and enjoying the beautiful summer day in Maine. Sabra proved to be as stubborn as her mother when it comes to taking a nap. My sister insisted that babies need to have a decent nap so she took her upstairs and sat and rocked her and lay with her on the bed and finally got the kid to sleep. And she slept for over an hour! It was hard to say goodbye when she had to leave though the house sure seemed peaceful without the baby in it. I had forgotten... What a munchkin. Twenty pounds of love and kicking feet. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Amos Date: 07 Jul 08 - 01:33 PM :>D |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 07 Jul 08 - 01:43 PM Ah, I just got home and saw the picture of Sabra and she is an absolute doll! I emailed for permission to put her picture up then read your note here, so I will go that right now. I'll get more of the other photos up in the next day or two, also, no problem.:-) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 07 Jul 08 - 02:33 PM She is SO cute! It's really too bad Wakana can't be there..."stoopid guvernment!" Anyway, I had a little more time than I thought, so there are a few new pix including Sabra with Gramps HERE. Thanks, again for sharing, Brett! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 07 Jul 08 - 09:02 PM ta, once again lovely pic of baby (& granpa looks good, too) sandra |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 07 Jul 08 - 09:51 PM Well, gee, gee, well... Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 10 Jul 08 - 06:27 PM Well, it has been a busy few days. Jet lag is kicking my butt. I am tired all the time and cannot sleep at night. It's really upsetting my plans for building the gift for Sabra, Kelli, and Luke. I heard from Wakana today. She has an appointment to meet with the immigration service on July 21. We might be close to a resolution on her green card. I also heard from the school. They want me to teach five American Literature classes and one U. S. History class next year. Two classes to develop lesson plans for! Ugh! But I will be working with the same batch of kids as last year. That gives me a leg up, I guess. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 10 Jul 08 - 07:12 PM Brett- Six classes with two preparations is certainly a full plate for any teacher. I did that in the Peace Corps. Funny, though, I never wake up with nightmares about that experience, unlike my recurring nightmares about taking college exams. Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 11 Jul 08 - 08:58 PM It's funny but I think I see a change in the local area from my last visit. I get the feeling that people are living on the edge and worried about it. Summer camps are mostly empty. There are fewer cars and trucks on the road. And I think that change is caused by the high fuel prices. People here are hit by gasoline prices and then by the cost of heating oil. The guy my father gets his firewood from has none left. He will still deliver but it will be green and won't burn well. Fortunately Dad has some left over in the woodshed. That stuff is well seasoned. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 11 Jul 08 - 10:07 PM Brett- That may be why the ECONOMY IS ISSUE NUMBER 1 in our Presidential Election. Don't forget to vote , if you can in Guam. Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 14 Jul 08 - 03:09 PM Kelli, Luke, and Sabra arrived yesterday. My mother has ceased to have any function other than baby talk. She is very funny. Of course we now have four generations represented in this house. Greatgrandparents, grandfather, mother, and baby. How cool is that? Work is progressing on the boat shaped baby cradle. Dad and I have been making the pieces. Now we are ready to put it together. It's been a fun project and it's been great to work with Dad on it. I really miss Wakana. I was looking through the photo album a few minutes ago and felt quite homesick. Strange to feel that while sitting in my ancestral home. Back when I was a kid my grandmother had a set of Scientific American from 1871. I used to enjoy looking through them when we visited her. I thought they'd been lost when she had to leave her old house but it turns out my father has them. The articles are fun to read. One states with great authority that the breechloading rifle will never be as accurate as the muzzleloader. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: ClaireBear Date: 14 Jul 08 - 03:53 PM What a beautiful project! and what a swell granddad you are to do it. The boat-shaped cradle in the film The Secret of Roan Inish was a lovely thing. If yours is anything like that one, I am very jealous of your granddaughter! When I was tiny, I slept in a cradle my paternal grandfather (who had died long before I was born) had made for my eldest sister. He was a German house carpenter, not a fine woodworker, so my cradle was a plain slope-sided plywood box, stained with redwood stain and decorated only with rounded, raised ends. When my own son was born, I brought it out of retirement and painted it with scenes of the Avebury stone circle (where I had prayed successfully for his conception). Although it's plain, I know that he will use it for his own children someday -- and as beautiful as I imagine yours is going to be, I'm sure your granddaughter and her children will, too. One question: Will it have outriggers? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 16 Jul 08 - 02:02 PM LOL! No outriggers. The boat cradle is a copy of a dory. Right now we are letting the glue dry on the port side. Then we havee to glue up the starboard side. We broke two side pieces trying to get the right curve on it. Still not sure how I will get to Portsmouth this weekend. My daughter is leaving here on Saturday so I might ride down with them and take a bus back. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 16 Jul 08 - 02:34 PM Brett- You could always catch a ride back to Richmond with us from Portsmouth. And then catch a bus from Bath on Sunday or when ever to Houlton or where ever. So we shouldn't be expecting you on Friday? Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 17 Jul 08 - 11:51 PM I'll be there Friday afternoon. I still have to glue up the other side of the rocking yacht and do some laundry. And I have to find an ATM. Look for me late on Friday. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 18 Jul 08 - 08:43 AM Brett- OK, we'll be expecting you in Richmond, late Friday afternoon. Guess we better shovel out the office! Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 19 Jul 08 - 10:17 AM I slept at Charley's house last night. This afternoon I will be at the Press Room with the whole gang. Tomorrow it's down to Georgetown to see Charley and Alison sing. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 19 Jul 08 - 11:24 AM That's Georgetown, Maine, a small island about 30 minutes from here, connected to the mainland by two sets of bridges (at last count). Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: SINSULL Date: 19 Jul 08 - 09:58 PM Does Wakana ever check in here? Brett looks great. But you are missed, lady. Mary |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 20 Jul 08 - 10:33 PM I'm sorry Mary but she doesn't even check her email. For anyone who believes in the stereotype of Japanese being all caught up on technology you need to get to know my wife. I was driving north today after going to the Press Room last night and I got so homesick for her. I intend to call her in a few minutes. Great weekend. It was so nice to see so many of my old friends. By the way, five years ago when I was first headed to Guam I went to the Press Room for my "last" time. There was a woman there, hell of a musician, who thought my talk of Guam was a joke. When I left and wished everyone goodbye she tumbled to the idea that it was no joke. Last night was the first time I've seen her since then and she was amazed to realize I was the "Guam guy". I've had quite a few chuckles over that incident five years ago. Last night I told her I'd see her again in another five years. We've gotta stop meeting like that. I think her husband is getting suspicious. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 22 Jul 08 - 09:40 AM Here's something I forgot to mention. In my first phone call with Wakana she complained that our machete wasn't sharp. It seems the cats located a snake in the yard and the machete wasn't sharp enough to sever it's head. She had to beat it to death with the backside of the blade. She is one wonderful woman. The machete is a very cheap blade. I have never had any success sharpening it. Crummy steel. Dad is sending a machete to her in my luggage. It's actually a cane knife he confiscated back when he was on the Border Patrol boat out of Miami in the mid 1960s. He has rigged it up wioth a very nice sheath and gave it a pretty grip. The rocking yacht is coming along nicely. We glued the second set of gunnel strips today. I think all we have left is to fasten it to the rockers and then we paint it. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 22 Jul 08 - 09:56 AM Brett- And are you planning to strap on the machete when you fly back, or include it within your checked luggage? I'm sure the security folks will be impressed with your father's craftsmanship. Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 22 Jul 08 - 09:57 AM machete in the luggage? makes ya wonder what the x-ray folks at customs think as they look at luggage. 20 years ago Oz Customs admitted to a friend they didn't often see china doll's heads or doll-sized mangles in handbags. (for the younger readers of this thread, mangles were large gadgets with 2 rollers used to remove water from washing in the days before washing machines!) Recently I went interstate for a conference - Needlework Tools collector's Society - & members had things like 18th & 19th century scissors in their luggage. I carried an antique sewing basket in my hand luggage & put it's sewing needles & pins & pearl-handled tools (awl, pen knife, buttonhook etc) in my luggage along with my knitting stuff (bamboo needles, scissors, sewing needles) & manicure set. sandra |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 23 Jul 08 - 07:25 PM You think that's bad? I am also taking a rifle home with me. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 23 Jul 08 - 10:55 PM Why not a cannon while you're at it? Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 24 Jul 08 - 11:24 AM idle thoughts late at night - I wonder what is the most unusual item seen in a suitcase sandra |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: SINSULL Date: 24 Jul 08 - 11:37 AM I transported a box of sonar paper used for finding fish. It was in a large suitcase which I carried on. Eight cylinders which looked like batteries in the scanner. I was surrounded by armed security people in an instant. Had a hell of a job getting that suitcase packed again. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Amos Date: 24 Jul 08 - 01:24 PM SHoulda put little dolly heads on 'em!! :D Good like with the air transport hoolihan, there, Brett. A |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 24 Jul 08 - 06:56 PM I don't think Dad would let the cannon go yet. And I don't have room for it in Guam. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 24 Jul 08 - 07:05 PM Charley's fence charger arrived today. I'm looking forward to giving it to our next door farmer. The paint is starting to go on the rocking yacht. It's looking pretty good. My brother is due to arrive in about an hour. He's bringing his girlfriend with him. She is currently the talk of the family. My mother kept asking me for my opinion of what is going on in his life and she wouldn't believe me when I told her it was his life and my opinions had nothing to do with anything. I have no intentiion of judging him or his decisions. I doubt I could have done any better if I was in his place. My parents have a list of chores for us to do. They want us to research small heaters for the living room. We have to replace a window with a rotted frame. There are a number of roof leaks in various roofs that need repair. The lower half of the house needs paint. And my mother is mining my brain for help in running her computer. Sigh... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 24 Jul 08 - 07:20 PM Brett- I do hope you test out the electric fence charger in the time-honored fashion, which only farm boys would be aware of. Cheerily, Charley Noble, been there, done that! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: SINSULL Date: 24 Jul 08 - 07:34 PM Brett, When you're done with Mom's HoneyDo list, come visit me. Mary |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 26 Jul 08 - 10:54 AM Ah Mary, I wish I could. On the brighter side for Wakana's fans she is talking about us coming to Maine next year. Make your plans accordingly. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 28 Jul 08 - 05:50 PM The time has been too short. I am at my sister's house and will be on the plane at 8:00 AM tomorrow morning beginning the torture, uh, flight back to Guam. I can't wait to see Wakana. A few days ago she and I talked and she was feeling low because she'd become the focus of some gossip in the Japanese community. I guess some of our acquaintances, the ones she doesn't like, have been talking about her. They seem to think she is 'eccentric'. I had to remind her of the members of that community who liked her and respected her. I reminded her that the ones who are talking about her are the ones she does not respect. I think she's feeling better but I wish I'd been there when she needed me. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 28 Jul 08 - 06:29 PM Brett- It was great to see you again, and swap a few songs. I'm sure you're not looking forward to the long road home, but there will be a warm welcome awaiting you. Give our best wishes to Wakana. Cheerily, Charlie and Judy |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 31 Jul 08 - 07:12 AM I'm home again. And feeling exhausted. The flights home were all nightmares except for the last 3 1/2 hours. I arrived last night about 1:00 AM and spent too long getting through immigration and customs because of the rifle. I don't know if I mentioned it before but my father once gave me a WWII Japanese Model 99 Arisaka 7.7 mm rifle complete with bayonet. I am loaning it to the War in the Pacific Museum they just reopened here on Guam. The inspector had never had to deal with a weapon coming into Guam that wasn't for personal use. I slept most of the day and still feel tired. It's 9:00 PM and I just want to go back to bed. But I got off my butt long enough to go up to the school to get my texts for my new classes. It turns out I will not be teaching history after all. I am scheduled for five U. S. Literature classes and one composition class. Not so bad. I've already taught comp so I will have some idea of how to do that. I'm going back to bed. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 31 Jul 08 - 08:48 AM Happy to hear that you and your "WW II Japanese Model 99 Arisaka 7.7 mm rifle complete with bayonet" got safely back to Guam and through Customs. I shudder to think what your father may donate to the Museum the next time you're here for a visit. A small atomic bomb, perhaps? Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: SINSULL Date: 31 Jul 08 - 12:46 PM Wakana's eccentric and that is a problem??? Wonder what those mean old gossips would make of most of the women here. Miss Wakana, Honest - it is better that they are gossiping about you rather than about some poor soul without a loving husband and friends who respect her to step in and make it right. What they see as "eccentric" I see as beautifully special, loving, generous, beautiful, and a little foolish...after all you did marry Brett. Come back to Maine and Jacqui and I will help develop your eccentric side with a foray into the Christmas Tree Shop. Eccentric? I wonder if it has anything to do with all the crap we stuck in your suitcase post-Getaway? LOL Much love, Mary |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 02 Aug 08 - 04:48 PM From our point of view (i.e., non-Japanese, Wakana is not eccentric in any way. However, from the point of view of a traditional Japanese she is a very strange person indeed. She does not wear make-up nor does she concern herself with jewelry or name brands. She lets the sun turn her skin dark. She does not act like a servant to her husband. She smiles a lot. She might benefit from a trip to the Christmas Tree shop with you two. However, you might be in for some surprises yourselves. As for the items tucked away in the luggage it would appear that homeland security took steps to preserve western civilization by removing them and carting them off for proper disposal. I have recovered somewhat. I was able to mow the lawn yesterday. Of course I destroyed the hood over the motor on the riding mower in the process. Now I have to figure out how to fix it. As for the next school year they have relented a bit. I still have five American Literature classes. Instead of U. S. History they assigned me to composition again. I guess they figured I didn't need to put too much into preparation on that one. It only leaves me one prep period, the last one on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. That works for me. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 04 Aug 08 - 02:50 AM What a bureaucratic song and dance I witnessed today. I brought my rifle from Maine to Guam so I could lend it to the War in the Pacific Museum. I innocently packed it up as required by the airlines, checked it as luggage, collected it in Guam, and went through customs with it. At no point did I try to hide what it was nor did I make any false statements. Customs told me to get it registered at the police station. I innocently took it in today and asked to have it registered. Sigh. First I have to get a firearms permit. That will cost upwards of $80 and take several weeks to process. Then I get to register the rifle and that will cost another $40. Only then can I take it to the museum. And the police are holding the rifle ('confiscated' is the word they used) until this farce is all acted out. I'd be pissed off except that the guy working in the armory was such a nice fellow. I learned today what 'Taimanglo' means. It is the name of our street. In Chamorro 'tai-' means 'no' and '-manglo' means 'wind' or 'breeze'. I already knew what 'tai-' meant as it is a popular prefix for quite a few names on the island. There is also 'Taitano' which translates to 'no land'. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 04 Aug 08 - 06:08 AM & when you no longer have a rifle can you get a refund of your permit & registration? Did you ask if the Museum authorities have to get a permit after you hand it over? Surely someone would have thought of this or they're losing zillions of $$$$'s revenue! Imagine the number of weapons in a War Museum!! sandra |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 04 Aug 08 - 10:08 AM Brett- It's a good thing that the rifle was not loaded. It wasn't loaded, was it? "No good deed will go unpunished!" That's my proposed slogan for the Customs Service. I still remember the customs office in Addis Ababa which refused to release my mother's Christmas fruit cake without the payment of a substantial fee. It's probably still there nesting on the shelf, as good as the day it was baked. Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 09 Aug 08 - 03:40 AM We are winding up our lovely vacation. I've been going in to the school to prepare my classroom and attend mandatory meetings in how to push the message of Catholicism. I'm working hard at the first and barely staying awake at the second. At Mass yesterday (our initial Mass giving us a blessing for the year to come) I noticed we are down to three non-Catholics, me and the two Japanese teachers. The student counselor doesn't pay any more attention to the Mass than I do (i.e., kneeling and praying and all) but I believe he is Catholic. His wife is deeply into it. But I have the text and a curriculum map and I am getting into the planning for the classes. This year I will NOT use the crummy textbook for the Composition classes. I will make up handouts for the kids to work from. That will help keep from losing books though it would be no loss if we lost all of them. Wakana is working on her classes. This year they have new books at her recommendation. They really needed them. The old books were soft cover and falling apart. Plus, according to her, they are poorly organized. This morning at breakfast we saw a strange cat out by the treeline. Mama Cat saw it too. She headed out there as fast as she could waddle. By the time she got there the other cat had vanished so she waddled back to show that she had driven off the intruder. Wakana watched her and once more promised to put her on a diet but she also acknowledged that she is just too softhearted to restrict their food intake. Nekko is fit and well. She spends hours out prowling the property. Unfortunately she then has to come in and find us to tell us all about it. If we are asleep then she has to wake us up so we can listen to her. If I was Wakana I would get pretty tired of it but she just coos and talks to the cat and tells her she is wonderful. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 10 Aug 08 - 07:04 AM Today I learned that the Festival of the Pacific Arts will be held in Guam in 2016. Why not plan a visit then and see the festival and visit us at the same time? Plenty of time to save up for the trip. I spoke with my parents this morning. My brother is visiting. When I was there he and I went out to gather information on pellet stoves. For those who don't know a pellet burns little pellets of compressed sawdust. You buy it in a 40 pound bag. One pallet costs $250 and carries a ton of the pellets. To feed the stove all you have to do is open the top and dump in the pellets. My brother bought a stove for them and had it installed. they used it the other night and it did a nice job of keeping the house warm. It burned all night. When they opened the hopper in the morning they could not see and appreciable consumption of pellets. I'm hoping this will get them through the winter and help lower their heating costs. Tomorrow I have to report to work by 7:45 AM! My vacation is over! There will be no kids in the school then but the Freshmen arrive on Tuesday for orientation. The sophomores come in the day after that and then the Juniors. Senior on Friday. My busy day will be on Thursday with the Juniors. Until then I will work on my lesson plans and my room. I need to get it in order for opening day next Monday. Of course, there is an up side to the resumption of school. My paychecks begin to flow again! Yippee! It's been two months since our last payday and things have been a little skimpy around here. Fortunately I have my retirement pay and the teeny little disability check to get us through the months. And it will be good to see the kids again. I intend to remind them that they are a year older and consequently they have a little more maturity to draw upon... and they can handle more complicated work! Oh! My mother told me about an evil trick my brother plays on his kids (he teaches also). He'll walk into class eating a Pop-Tart (a toaster pastry). He'll look at the kids and say, "I'm eating a Pop-Tart but I didn't bring enough for you. But! I do have a pop quiz for you!" He also does the same thing with a soda (pop) and I think he has a jack-in-the-box too. I love it. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 13 Aug 08 - 11:13 PM Here I am, a happy guy. Why? Because the horribly busy year I saw stretched out before me has resolved itself into a better picture all around. While I was home in Maine they told me I would be teaching English III and Composition and that I would only have one free block. Then I arrived here (I'm at school) the other day and they told me they could not give me the composition class. That gave me two free blocks, Block 4 and Block 7. Today I learned that my actual free blocks will be Block 3 and Block 5. Block 3 was the huge headache block because it comes right after lunch when everyone is still buzzing from having an hour off. I am a happy guy. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 13 Aug 08 - 11:25 PM Good!! Now, you have me wondering if it would be cheaper to buy pellets for the stove for cat litter instead of the way we buy it now. Might be cheaper! Sounds like the same stuff...little pellets of pine, break down into sawdust.:-) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 14 Aug 08 - 07:05 AM The other day as I stepped out of my classroom I was ambushed by a group of students. They were all seniors. They wanted me to become coach of the Academic Challenge Bowl team. We sat in my room and talked about it. There are five of them. I made a deal with them. If they each recruit one or two underclassmen I will be the coach. So there I am, a coach. We will have an organizational meeting next week. We will begin fund raising for the trip to the nationals in Orlando next June. They only had one request for fund raising. No car washes. I know we will gel pretty well. One of them noticed a Dalek I have on a shelf in the corner of the room. She too is a Dr. Who fan. Then one of them asked about Talk-Like-A-Pirate day and I was able to tell them the date. They were very pleased. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 14 Aug 08 - 09:06 AM Brett- Maybe a few "pirate cruises" with the sailing canoe could assist with the fundraising effort. Arrgggh! Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 21 Aug 08 - 06:40 AM It's over! It's finally over! Today we got Wakana's green card in the mail! She can travel to visit her parents, my parents, the islands, etc. She is a legal resident alien for the next ten years. Hmm, ten years. Maybe we should start the renewal paperwork.... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: maeve Date: 21 Aug 08 - 07:18 AM Congratulations from the Grand Old State of Maine, Wakana and Brett! maeve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 21 Aug 08 - 09:58 AM Who-Hoo!! Congratulations!!Now, you can really say "I married an alien!" **bg** |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 21 Aug 08 - 10:50 AM yah! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Ebbie Date: 21 Aug 08 - 11:56 AM Congratulations! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Barry Finn Date: 21 Aug 08 - 12:42 PM That's good news Brett, congrats to both of you Barry |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: The Barden of England Date: 21 Aug 08 - 01:43 PM Finally - - - Congratulations. So pleased for you both. John Barden |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 21 Aug 08 - 01:45 PM Hard work pays off! Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 24 Aug 08 - 04:45 AM Poor Wakana has had another new experience. Yesterday, on her way home from work, Wakana made a rolling stop at the last stop sign before getting home. A cop saw her and stopped her. She couldn't believe he was running his lights for her. At least he didn't have to use the siren. He walked up to her window and asked for her license, registration, and insurance papers. She fumbled them out. He asked her where she was going and she explained, in a tiny, terrified voice that she was going home. He asked her where she worked and in that same tiny voice she responded, "Father Duenas". He let her go with a warning. She was so scared by the incident that she couldn't sit still all evening. Today we went out and she counted to three at every stop sign. She also makes a point to wear her seatbelt and make me wear mine. When she saw the lights she had pulled the belt over her shoulder but had not fastened it. She won't be stopped again! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Ebbie Date: 24 Aug 08 - 11:51 AM Poor Wakana. Just another of those &@*^%#! learning experiences, huh. I've had my share of them. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 24 Aug 08 - 05:08 PM As Bat Goddess taught me: AFGO = Another Fucking Growth Opportunity (Apologies for the F word if it offends Wakana.:-) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 26 Aug 08 - 07:21 AM I love Wakana. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 30 Aug 08 - 02:45 AM It's the weekend. Wakana and I are like zombies. I went to my class this morning and came home tired. I slept until 2:00 when Wakana went out to her last day on the job at Underwater World. I've been trying to coordinate some lesson planning but my mind won't focus. The reason I am so tired is that this week was "Spirit Week" at ND. On Monday the kids had to wear the color of their division. The Juniors were wearing green. On Tuesday it was mix and match/crazy hair day. Then we had Blast From The Past day where each division wore clothes from a different past time. And there was Superhero/Supervillain/Cartoon Character day. And last but not least there was the I Love ND day where the kids wore signs and other paraphernalia to advertise their feelings for ND. In the midst of this I had my classes outside on Thursday and Friday to better demonstrate how stories made up a huge part of the oral tradition. We met on the "Holy Grass" where the school has a covered table and benches. The kids were to tell stories from Guam's body of myths and legends, stories from their 'manamko' (elders), or stories from their own past. It worked out pretty well. The kids had a good time and I worked my butt off trying to keep them from wandering off and keep them on task. I heard lots of variations on popular stories. I heard tales of the taotaomona (a sort of forest spirit), the duendas (another spirit creature) and ghosts from around the island. It was pretty cool. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 30 Aug 08 - 10:29 AM Life out there doesn't seem boring! Thanks for the update. Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 30 Aug 08 - 11:28 AM You are a GREAT teacher, Brett!! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 02 Sep 08 - 10:23 PM Garsh, thanks. I'm just doing the best I can. Poor Wakana was laid up with a cold over the weekend. She was pretty miserable. She's feeling much better now. I've been teasing her about the cats. She keeps saying they are kawai-i (cute). I tell her that they are kowai (scary). |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 03 Sep 08 - 08:20 AM Brett- Sound like great names for a pair of kittens! Tilahun and Tejitu (our cats) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 04 Sep 08 - 05:11 AM Wakana has a new game to play. It may not have escaped your notice but it is election year.While Guam residents cannot vote in the national elections we do have a series of races going on here. Every afternoon you can see crowds of people out waving at cars, holding up signs, chanting slogans, etc. Wakana being a resident alien cannot vote. Nonetheless, whenever she sees a group of politician supporters waving at cars by the road she beeps her horn and waves and gives the thumbs up and let's them know she's on their side. It doesn't matter if it is someone running for the territorial senate, power commission, or even dogcatcher, she is quick with her support. As she drives away she laughs hysterically, eyes already looking for another group. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 04 Sep 08 - 05:41 AM innocent merriment! how long does it take for a resident alien to become a citizen? Or can a resident alien live forever under that category? sandra |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 05 Sep 08 - 06:31 AM I'm not sure she wants to give up her Japanese citizenship. We haven't talked about it. Besides, she can live in the USA indefinitely. She just has to renew the card every ten years. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 05 Sep 08 - 10:41 AM Resident Alien is similar to our Permanent resident. sandra |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 15 Sep 08 - 09:50 AM It's been a while since I checked in. We've been very busy. And we've been having car problems. My car's brake system died a while ago and I only just got it back this weekend. The mechanic allowed me to pay with a postdated check. Paydays are on the first and the fifteenth of the month. This afternoon Wakana's car died and her mechanic says it might be the transmission! Ouch! She had to rent a car because she has to go to the university at lunch time and she cannot drive my car (it's a standard transmission). After that trauma I took her to Ruby Tuesdays where we indulged ourselves with a $60 steak dinner. It's been a long time since we've spent that kind of money in a restaurant. She has been planning to buy a new car but hasn't saved enough money to go that route. Now she has to go for a used car and even that might be tough to get. She's disappointed. She was looking forward to car shopping. She doesn't realize that she'll still get to go and the "new" car she buys will be just as much fun as a really new car. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 15 Sep 08 - 07:47 PM back in the olden days when I had a car, it was a used car, 13 years old & vetted by my father who was a mechanic. A friend bought a new car (aka lemon) - it cost lots more than mine & mine was better! have fun car hunting. sandra |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: SINSULL Date: 16 Sep 08 - 07:26 PM I never owned a used car until I left my outside sales job. I have had far fewer problems with my "Pre-Owned" babies than with the new ones. Or maybe it is because I know what the problems are and keep an eye on them. The worst was Chevy (Company car and not my choice) with a faulty catalytic converter. That damn car would die on the Grand Central Parkway in rush hour. A terrifying experience. The company agreed to a complete overhaul. I drove out of the dealership onto Queens Blvd after thousands of dollars in repairs and ...wait for it...it died. Go with a carefully vetted (Word of the month, I suspect) pre-owned car checked out on the Net for accidents. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 16 Sep 08 - 10:39 PM Best thing about a pre-owned is low or no payments and lower insurance! We bought our mini-van 7-8 years ago and it is still going very well with no major repairs needed. I insisted that we pay the twenty bucks to check it out at carfax dot com. Best money we ever spent in "vetting" (isn't that a political term?!**bg**) a used car. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 21 Sep 08 - 04:20 AM We went shopping and she settled on a new Nissan Versa. she is waiting to hear from the bank about her loan. She expects to get it. I am not so sure but will say nothing until she is either approved or not. I tried campaigning for a used car but she doesn't want that. I will not try to force the issue. It's her money. We will see what we will see. This weekend was the Fiesta of San Miguel in Talofofo. Parties and loud music abound. I never realized that drinking was good for celebrating the saints. I had hoped to go out and visit the fiesta but we spent the whole day going around to the showrooms being pushed and prodded by salesmen. Wakana was getting pretty depressed over the whole thing so I started telling the salespeople that we were tired of being pushed and that she was getting mad. They laid off after that. Also this weekend was the official launch of the Saina. This is the 33 foot canoe our club built. Tomorrow, weather permitting, she will make her first voyage, about 75 miles, to Rota. Everyone is excited. The Lieutenant Governor is going along. The boat looks great. I'm very proud of those guys. I have to get back to work. I am setting up a pop quiz for the kids this week as well as starting them on Benjamin Franklin. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 21 Sep 08 - 04:22 AM You can see a picture and read the article Here. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 21 Sep 08 - 05:06 AM interesting article - also interesting comments! sandra |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 21 Sep 08 - 11:32 AM Brett- Nice to hear that a large sailing canoe or sakman is now again sailing the seas. Are there even more ambitious plans in the works? How big were the largest sakmans? Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 21 Sep 08 - 11:50 AM That is so neat! How wonderful to be there and have a hand in keeping a culture alive, Brett! Luck to Wakana and her loan! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 25 Sep 08 - 11:21 PM Charley, the Saina is a scaled down version of the sakman that Commodore George Anson took in 1751. Someone in his squadron made a measured drawing of the boat. I got a high quality copy of the drawing from a museum in Australia for the club. Our boat experts scaled it down to 33 feet so they could fit it into a cargo container. The Quest went to Palau as deck cargo and wound up going through Singapore and one or two other harbors before she came back to us. We all worried about her the whole time but she came home in one piece. Wakana is still waiting for her car. She put $2,000 down on it and they've prepared it for her. We hope to pick it up tomorrow. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 26 Sep 08 - 04:47 PM Brett- Think of us all tomorrow (or maybe today where you are) while we're trudging through a tropic rain storm on our way from one venue and another at the annual Portsmouth Maritime festival. Hey, I just heard from Chez Watts after 5 years. Do you want his e-mail address? Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 29 Sep 08 - 11:13 PM Good timing for a hurricane to wander through the area. On Sunday we had to escort Wakana's aunt and cousin and the cousin's boyfriend around the island. By the time we were done we were exhausted. We got home and took a "nap". We woke up around 8:00 and did a little work for school. I wandered off to bed and Wakana stayed up till 3:00 AM. She had a rough day in class. When she came home she was beyond exhausted! And then we had to go into town to pick up her new car. She was too tired to get excited. At one point she was almost in tears. And THEN we had to take our visitors out to dinner! When we got home we collapsed. This morning I came into our kitchen and saw her on the carport admiring her new car. She is very happy. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 30 Sep 08 - 11:52 PM That afternoon she got home and washed her car... and found the ding in the door where someone else's door hit hers. Fortunately she has a good head on her shoulders so she wasn't devastated. But she is bothered by it. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 04 Oct 08 - 04:40 PM Wakana continues to gush about how much she loves her car. Last night we went to Agat to do our laundry and her main topic of conversation was how great her car is. She did talk about events happening in her classes too but mostly it was how happy she is with the car. Our life is damn good right now. Wakana is so happy about everything. She loves this house, the cats and now her car. I tease her about not having any love left over for me but she then proves that is not the case. Our weather has been very wet lately. Last week it rained steadily all week. The road past our house is pure mud. The mail truck backed in there to turn around and got stuck. The farmer couldn't reach his fields without walking in. We told him to use our back yard until the road dried out. He is able to pull right up to the field that way. School is still fun. The kids can be a royal pain in the ass and I hate correcting homework and tests but every once in a while they come up with some weird idea that gives me a laugh. And they are very likable. They gather around me at the beginning of class to ask about grades or homework or some such. We laugh and joke and then get serious about the work. Last week I got roped into being the adviser for the masquerade ball run by the drama club. I had to sign on to allow them to rent the hall and I'll have to be there while they decorate and later I'll have to be there for the dance. I'm not looking forward to that. I expect it will be loud and crowded, two of my least favorite things. With luck I'll only have a headache when I get home. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 12 Oct 08 - 07:49 PM This morning Wakana and I sat on the carport drinking our coffee as the rain poured down around us. The cats slept on the workbench and we talked of life and how good it is now. Wakana spoke of how she had shut off her emotions while working in Tokyo, how one day she realized she couldn't remember the last time she cried. This was after she started to cry with the feeling of how happy the Mama Kitty is. Remember, when we first saw her she was starving and skinny. She was stealing the bread we threw to the chickens. Now she's fat and happy. Wakana loves her new car. On the other hand she is less than happy with my Mercedes. The brakes quit working again. Last night, Sunday night. we drove it to the repair shop, an exciting ride without brakes. She followed in her car. As a consequence of the brakes not working she dragged me out to go shopping for a newer vehicle. We looked but did not see anything that excited my interest. There was a Toyota Highlander that she really liked. She has always wanted one and this was her chance. The thing was loaded with options most of which you'd only need if you were traveling the open road; cruise control, CD and cassette player, DVD player in the passenger seat visor, lots of comfort and style. But I couldn't see letting my old Guam bomb go for that. I just had the brakes fixed and the problem should be covered by that repair. There shouldn't be any further expense. She seems to love car shopping. I think I've created a monster. I truly believe that she wanted to go looking only because of the shopping experience. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Amos Date: 12 Oct 08 - 07:58 PM BRett: I'm terrifically happy with my RAV4 Ltd, although it does not have 4WD. If the time comes, ypu might want to consider it. The Highlander carries a lot more weight, and has relatively little more cargo space to show for it. A |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 13 Oct 08 - 12:32 AM LOL...maybe she's become addicted to new car smell, Brett!:-) It IS wonderful to read your happy words. I am very happy for both of you. I don't think I've said this lately, but thanks so much for sharing all of this with us over the past few years. It has been and continues to be really fun, interesting, and is something I really look forward to! luvyakat |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Ebbie Date: 13 Oct 08 - 01:26 AM I agree. I smile very time I see there is another installment of Settling in Guam. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 13 Oct 08 - 04:59 AM me three |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 13 Oct 08 - 02:20 PM Brett- Have you ever considered building a steam-powered car? The Stutz Bearcat was a classic one built here in Maine in the early years of the 20th century which I was always fascinated with. You may want to order Kendall's "live" CD. There are some wonderful tracks from his years of singing, including a concert at the Portland Folk Club. Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 19 Oct 08 - 03:10 AM Nah, Charley, too hot. And the A/C doesn't work for crap on a steam car. I'd like to figure out how to make a car that runs on solar power. We've got plenty of that around here. Last night my daughter, the mother of the smartest and most beautiful grandchild on the planet, told me I needed to get on FaceBook. She has posted pictures and videos of Sabra there. So, I bit the bullet and got it together. I am now on Facebook. The pictures and video are wonderful. I started uploading some stuff too. So far only four pictures, two of which are not from Guam but are scanned out of Holman Day's book Pine Tree Ballads dated 1902. So, I don't know if any of you are on that site but if so we should connect now and again. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 19 Oct 08 - 06:03 AM oooohhh, you dont know what you're saying Brett, inviting Mudcatters on Facebook to visit you. You will be overwhelmed with attention - lotsa' Mucatters are on Facebook, check out the 1640 references here - "facebook" site:mudcat.org - you can even see your post!! sandra (not on Facebook) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 26 Oct 08 - 03:10 AM Well, it hasn't caused any problems yet but I am so busy these days I would have time to do anything about it. We have a four day weekend now. Note, last weekend was a five day weekend for the kids. Next weekend is a three day weekend. Then we have a strange event. The following week is a full week with a two day weekend! Then we are at Thanksgiving. Sigh. I don't think I can handle this. On one hand it is nice to have all the time off but then, I would like to get some classwork done. My juniors are reading Huckleberry Finn. I gave them six weeks to get a copy. Of course most of them didn't bother. This next week they will have a pop quiz on the first seven chapters. I can already hear them complaining about not having the book. Last night I experienced the horror that all teachers have to experience now and again. I chaperoned a high school dance. It makes my soul cringe to remember it. I believe the first music humans created would have been some kind of rhythm instrument to accompany a chant. If any of you have heard the music these kids listen to you would agree that we have come full circle. The only real difference would have to be the huge amplifiers and speakers. The kids were dressed fairly conservatively. They danced in a solid phalanx that left most of the dance floor unoccupied. They rub up against each other like they are having sex fully clothed. The music pounds out of the speakers and fills the room and the hallway outside with rhythmic neanderthal beats. My head hurts remembering the evening. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 26 Oct 08 - 11:46 AM Brett- You are indeed a noble self-sacrificing man, to serve your island as a chaperon at the high school dance. Wild iguanas couldn't drag me to such a special event. Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 28 Oct 08 - 05:50 PM lkJgf'jv'klj 5 WLWKjf'LSKDf days pojf'flkj[EIJF SINCE 'keJF'KLSDJGF;ZLG THE skdlgfJHsklJGF'lskdJGF DANCE. SD;KLJF'K I wl"FKGH:lkdjf THINK ojghflksdJF'klDJF I'M dfsLHlgkfjHJ ok. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Desert Dancer Date: 28 Oct 08 - 06:03 PM It's affected your typing, Brett. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 28 Oct 08 - 07:40 PM Only five days since and you are okay? Wow, man, that's fast recovery! (I had wondered if one of the cats or chickens was learning to type!) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 28 Oct 08 - 07:59 PM Brett- You think you're OK? Shall we take a vote? Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 03 Nov 08 - 08:49 PM Election day is here! Today we find out how America really feels. My prediction is that the USA is too bigoted to vote for a black man no matter how bad the other candidate looks. Would you PLEASE prove me wrong. We took the cats to the vet this morning. It's time for Mama Kitty's annual exam, some vaccinations, and to clean the mites out of her ears. They both need to have their ears cleaned and they will be checked for worms and other parasites. Poor Wakana cried most of the way to the vet's office. She feels very strongly that the cats would be dead by now if she hadn't intervened when she did. Also she cannot stop feeding Mama Kitty whenever she asks for food. So we now have a very fat little cat. But she'd have died of malnutrition or disease if we hadn't brought her inside. For the first year or so she spent most of her time outdoors. Now she is a committed housecat. She only goes out when Wakana is outside. She never leaves the shelter of the carport or the eaves of the house. Usually we find her indoors when we come home in the afternoon. Neko, on the other hand, is in the prime of life. She is large and sleek and strong. She spends every available minute outdoors. She hunts and lays around, teases the dogs next door, and then comes running home and into the house calling loudly for someone to come and see her and reassure her that she is OK and home again. In the evening she will go out and come in dozens of times. Wakana will not shut the door all the way so the cats can come and go as they please. The farmer brought his bushcutter and mowed around the betel nut trees. It looks pretty good over there. He is very grateful for the fence charger that Charley gave me to give to him. You should know Charley that there was a broken wire inside the box but he fixed it and now his crops are safe from the pigs. We let him plug it into our outdoor outlet. Thank you once more on his behalf and on ours. Sometimes we come home to find fruits or vegetables on the carport. He is a really nice guy. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 04 Nov 08 - 10:35 AM Brett- It's nice to know that the fence charger is back in operation. We used to have a lot of "fun" with it when my brother and I were much younger. We would reassure our city cousins and other visitors that the fence charger was off and that the fence wire was safe to touch, and we would demonstrate that by grasping the wire, and not responding to the small shock. Then we got to watch them jump out of their skins when they touched the fence wire. What jolly fun! We are optimistic about the election outcome but it could be another long night before enough state results are firm enough to be called for Obama. Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 04 Nov 08 - 09:27 PM I've been watching it on our end. We'll still be up when the results are tallied. We watch it on http://news.yahoo.com/election/2008/dashboard. It works pretty well. Looks like Obama is ahead. Maine came though all right. 67% for Obama. I am optimistic for the first time in a long time. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 10 Nov 08 - 05:49 AM You guys did it! We have a new man in the White House, a young man, a man with some experience in non-Christian beliefs, a man who may actually bring change to Washington. Or, maybe, it will still be the same old, same old... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 12 Nov 08 - 06:03 AM I found a good book the other day. I went into Bestsellers, the only bookstore on the island, and saw it sitting there begging me to buy it. I had heard of it, I'd heard interviews with the author, and now there it was waiting for me to buy it. The title? Death From the Skies! Secondary title: This is the way the world will end. Bookstore section? Science. Author? Phil Plait, PhD in astronomy. Today I took it into work and scared the hell out of my students. There are 9 chapters and each one deals with a different way the universe might kill us. Chapter one is meteors, asteroids, and comets, oh my! It is titled Target Earth! Other chapters cover such things as Solar Mass Ejections, Cosmic Ray Bursts, Black Holes, Colliding Galaxies, and the eventual death of the sun. I have learned so much about astronomy in the last few days. Plait's style is easy to read and full of fun comments. Phil Plait also has the Bad Astronomy website. That is a fun place to explore as well. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 12 Nov 08 - 09:23 AM Brett- Nothing about little green creatures with ray guns? Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 14 Nov 08 - 08:01 PM Yesterday was a hard day. I arrived at school and was waiting for my home room students when the principal announced an emergency and asked all students to congregate in the big gravel parking lot next to the Muroski Building. Home room teachers were to gather their students and take attendance. Thus started three hours of living hell. There is no shade in that parking lot and it is surrounded by low jungle so there is no escape in the brush. There is one tree on the south side but that shade was claimed by several classes. There is a trail that runs through to The Grotto but it is out of sight of the administrators so we couldn't use it.We counted our students and stood around waiting while police and fire department personnel swept through the building. After about an hour they let us take the students into whatever shade we could find. Then they blocked off one lane of the road in front of the school and let us take the kids down there. There was more shade there and we could sit on the grassy hillside. Finally about 11:00 we were allowed back into the building. We still had to finish the school day so they reduced class time to 40 minutes and we had all four of the blocks we normally would have had. We were hot, thirsty, and sweaty. The kids, being kids, had been telling me they were thirsty, hungry, tired, hot, and wanted to go home. I guess they figured I was standing in an air conditioned bottle with limitless cold drinks and plenty of shade and snacks. They must not have noticed my sweat soaked shirt and the way I eyed the empty bottles and cans that lined the roadside. It was a bad morning for all involved. I developed what I thought was a good reply to the complaints. I said, "I didn't call in the bomb threat and I'm sure none of the faculty and staff did either. If you want to complain find the student who did this to you and complain to him or her." On another note: Since we shanty singers use the word 'rollicking' quite often you might be interested to note the origin. I get an email every day from A Word A Day with a word and its origin. This was today's. rollick PRONUNCIATION: (ROL-ik) MEANING: verb intr. To move or act in a playful, carefree manner. ETYMOLOGY: Probably a blend of romp + frolic. USAGE: "When Olivia Newton-John attends, she'll be joining the hundreds of others who rollick in the audience to the tuneful songs that have become part of the American ethos." John Soltes; For Ashley Spencer, 'Grease' is the Word; The Leader (Lyndhurst, New Jersey); Oct 17, 2008. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 14 Nov 08 - 08:19 PM Charley, Yep! In Chapter 6 he talks about Alien Attack. The chances of this one are either o% or 100%. Most of the chapter he uses the topic to talk about current theories and ideas about life on other planets. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 14 Nov 08 - 10:36 PM Oh dear! At least I don't have to worry about false alarm emergency drills. Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Roger the Skiffler Date: 15 Nov 08 - 11:25 AM Perhaps the kids could have picked up the "empty bottles and cans" litter while they were waiting (might have taught them about littering!) RtS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 16 Nov 08 - 10:20 PM Oh PLEASE! Give them something positive to do? It was bad enough that the teachers kept them in the hot sun for hours with nothing to do. (Get the sarcasm?) Actually we did pick up some of the litter. Someone sent a student down the line with a garbage bag. By then I'd made them throw the beer cans and bottles into the jungle. They were weaving by the roadside waving the bottles at passing cars pretending to be drunk. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 22 Nov 08 - 06:30 PM Yesterday was the Japanese song festival at the Agana Shopping Center. It is an annual competition between high schools. The teams have to sing songs in Japanese. Wakana's class was there and there were two teams from ND, sophomores and juniors. The ND juniors won first place. Wakana's team did not place. After the competition Wakana had to go to a meeting with the Japanese Language Teacher's Association (JALTA). I think these "meetings" are really an opportunity for the teachers to eat, drink, be merry, and speak their native tongue freely. Wakana certainly seems charged up when she comes home from these things. Neko has a medical problem. She has an infection at the base of her tail. It is very tender. We took her to the vet and were given some medicine which she hates to take. She is sleeping a lot and logy. I think we'll take her back to the vet on Monday. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 22 Nov 08 - 08:07 PM Brett- Best of luck with Neko. Our cats seem to be relatively stable. Tejitu is asleep to my right in her nest. Tilahun is off in our bedroom where she prefers to hang out. What are your plans for Thanksgiving? Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 22 Nov 08 - 10:34 PM I'll bet those meetings are a good way for them all to blow off some steam, too! Good luck with your kitty. Mine had too much of the bad bacteria in his gut and was quite listless...scary listless...I couldn't tell what it was when I took him to the vet. He's on antibiotics, now, and started getting better the next day. I am putting his powdered meds in his moist food and he eats it right up. Before that, though, the vet showed me a neat trick. Cut the narrow part off of the tip of a syringe, suck up some baby food in it, pour the meds in and stir it up, in the syringe, with a small stick or ice pick like I used, then grab them by the scruff of the neck and stick it in their mouth and push the plunger. Works a treat! Take care, kat |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 26 Nov 08 - 08:26 AM Tomorrow, here on Guam, is Thanksgiving Day. I had my sophomores read Civil Peace, a story about life in one of the war torn countries in Africa. The main character comes out of the war with only his wife, three of his four children, and a bicycle that he hid from the army. He finds that his little home is mostly still there and he is able to get it repaired with the money he earns using his bicycle as a taxi. In the story's climax they are robbed of all their money by gun toting thugs. He meekly surrenders the money and goes on with his life as if nothing happened. The other story I had them read was Uprooting a Japanese American Family, a story of the west coast relocation camps during WWII. The main characters are a simple middle class American family who had the misfortune to be descended from Japanese. Everything was taken from them and in one fell swoop they end up living in a stall in a stable at a race track with only the clothes they could pack in the five minutes they were given to evacuate. My intention, at this time of the year, was to make the kids appreciate their lives a little more by showing them how little others have and how quickly their comfortable life can be taken away from them. My efforts were a dismal failure. The posters were, one and all, variations on the same theme. They love their parents, God, their friends, their sport, etc., etc. I had them present their posters and asked each of them if the poster would be different if they had never read the stories. To a student they each declared the stories had no impact on them at all. I finally started asking them what would be on the poster if they were the main character in either of the stories. They couldn't see the answer. I had to point out to them that their poster would be blank with only a few exceptions (God mostly). It didn't faze them at all. This group of kids has to be the most superficial, uninteresting, self-centered group of kids I have ever encountered. If there is something new in the classroom they expect I will tell them before I tell anybody else. If I am in conversation with another student they barge up and begin talking to me as if nobody else is around. If I have one small food item in sight they expect I will give it to them. It is quite depressing. It's as if they never had to live through the 'terrible twos'. Yesterday I took my bones to school and rattled them a little during home room. The students showed absolutely no interest in them. Today we had a pep rally and each team and each division in the school had their own cheer. The faculty also had a cheer so I took my 'storm' whistle and my loudest set of bones. As we strode out into the middle of the floor I heard a chanting sound from the juniors seated on the floor. It turned out they were chanting "Burn-AM, Burn-AM". I blew my whistle and rattled my bones and we did our two cheers. Somebody made the mistake of handing me a bullhorn. I used that to trot out a growling yell. I was quite busy. Later we reassembled in our home rooms and I had four guys wanting me to show them how to rattle the bones. It seems they finally realized the bones could fit into their hip-hop rhythms and that they are easy to make. My juniors are reading Huckleberry Finn. I have assigned a project that can be either physical or academic. I have required them to submit a project description and follow that up with the actual project. They will have to conform to the description exactly. I want them to plan the project, not try to whip it out on the evening before it's due. Many of the students want to build models of Huck's raft. Their interest cooled a bit when I explained that the model had to be to scale. I had to teach the meaning of scale several times. Yesterday I received the first project. It was a poster of Huck and Jim and the theme was the superstition used in the story. The two students did a great job. The poster is very colorful and right on the money but Huck has been translated into an anime character with the huge Japanese eyes. I had to explain several times that the 'underground railroad' was not a subway system used to transport slaves north to freedom. A few of the students wanted to create posters that showed the rail lines used and asked where they could find maps show the routes used. One young lady will be producing a model of the raft made out of Rice Krispies treats. One group (I am allowing teams) wants to film the first half of the book. They will not listen to me when I explain they've bitten off more than they will be able to chew. I'm looking forward to seeing that when they finish it. Next week will be very interesting. Happy Thanksgiving all. I hope you enjoy your turkey or whatever you eat for the holiday. I was intending on baloney sandwiches but Wakana says we are going to someone's house for a real meal. Sigh. I guess I'll have baloney for Christmas. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 26 Nov 08 - 09:26 AM Brett- We'll be heading up the coast to Lincolnville to join Judy's family for Thanksgiving. Mother will be accompanying us as well, bringing along two pies: sour cream raisin and apple (for the wimps). Judy's brother lives on the side of the hills above Camden in an old farm house, a lovely spot. His daughter Heather will be there; she's the one who won a full scholarship to study in Japan for a year and we're curious what she will do next after graduation in the spring. I'm gearing up for ripping apart your old apartment upstairs. I'm going to square off the old bathroom, install a full tub/shower, new kitchen cabinets and a full size stove, new carpet etc. Lots of fun! The current tenants will be moving downstairs to the newly renovated first floor apartment. Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 26 Nov 08 - 10:39 AM They sound like a very challenging group, Brett! Sounds as though you are up to the task, though.:-) Isn't that just like a landlord? They tear it up and renovate as soon as ya move out!**bg** (Kidding, Charley, just kidding!) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Amos Date: 26 Nov 08 - 11:02 AM Jeeze, Brett. I guess your karma was not suited to retirement. Are you paying dues for your own juvenile sins against teachers, by any chance? Enquiring minds, etc. A |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: SINSULL Date: 26 Nov 08 - 12:50 PM A raft out of Rice Krispies Treats? In your humidity? Will it float? Will she lose points if it doesn't? If the hungry hoards eat it before you grade it, does she fail? I will wait with breath bated (or baited as the case may be). Happy thanksgiving. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Amos Date: 26 Nov 08 - 01:24 PM The word is 'bated, Sins. The apostrophe is lost through usage, but it is a contraction of abated, or held short. ANd after all, a raft of Krispies Treats need only float as far as the teacher's imagination. A |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 28 Nov 08 - 05:55 AM She brought me a sample of the raft material to "test" and it tasted fine. Wakana and I stopped in to the students house in Ipan to see how the filming was going. We found three of the group (out of twelve) sitting around in the shade talking and doing nothing. The rest were nowhere to be seen but these swore they'd already built the raft and it works well. They said it was in the water. I have a vision of that raft soaking up seawater until it sinks on filming day. Life can sometimes throw a curve ball at you. Yesterday we went to eat our thanksgiving turkey at the house of one of Wakana's co-workers. Wakana had been looking forward to it for some time because she really likes the woman. She even baked an apple pie for the occasion though it turned out more like an apple crisp. It was still delicious though. We arrived a little late. They were waiting for us so they could sit down to eat. We walked into the dining room and there was another one of Wakana's co-workers, a woman that Wakana cannot stand. I might even go so far as to say she hates this woman. I felt so bad for my dear wife. So we sat down to eat. The hosts were B'Hai. The husband had many stories to tell about his travels. These included working in Russia in Sakhalin, working in the Yukon, and traveling in Japan and other Asian countries. About an hour into the visit I complained of a headache and asked Wakana to take me home. Of course, I had no headache. I was avoiding the one I would get if we stayed any longer and I had to listen to Wakana complain about that other woman. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 28 Nov 08 - 04:21 PM That was quite noble and smart of you, Brett! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 29 Nov 08 - 09:45 PM This morning we went to Agat early to do laundry. The laundromat is near the town office and the fire station. It also looks out, across the post office parking lot, at Agat Bay. To the left is Gaan Point Park, the secondary landing point for the Americans when they landed to take the island back from the Japanese. The town is building a very nice evening market center. This is not a line of store fronts. Instead it is an outdoor market similar to a farmer's market back home. There is a line of small buildings that will be permanent market stalls and a long covered area that will be individual tables selling things. At the far end is an outdoor covered stage with a green room in the back. It is a really nice facility. Wakana walked over to look at it while I stayed with the laundry and my newspaper. After we loaded the dryers I wandered over myself. The sea was calm with only the faintest suggestion of rolling waves. It was pale green up close darkening to dark blue out near the horizon. A bank of clouds hovered over the scene. Out on the water a tourist boat sat either a dive boat or a whale watcher. There were some other boats farther out. As I stood there a rainbow blossomed, a complete arch of color that ran from Orote Point on my right to where the sea disappeared behind Gaan Point. I could only stand in awe of the sight and wish Wakana were with me. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 29 Nov 08 - 11:00 PM Completely awe-inspiring when you describe it all. What a beautiful home. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 30 Nov 08 - 08:08 PM Brett- You will be thrilled to hear that white flakes of stuff are now filling up our driveway. Have a nice day! Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Barry Finn Date: 30 Nov 08 - 08:20 PM Jesus Bret!! You got a newspaper???? You should be writing for the paper! Ever see the movie "Shipping News" where the lead says he can't write & says what do I write about, Oh a big storm is about to devestate the island? He then askes what if the storm blows out to sea? Headlines "Island svaed from total distruction from big strom". Go for an interview, bring in a laptop & when you're asked about anything you've written open up this thread. Ok, as a part time contrubitor. Good luck evening shoppin, it's sounds as if shoppin during sunrise might even be better,,,,depending weither the mall's on the eastern or western side of the island. Happy thanksgiving Barry |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 30 Nov 08 - 11:27 PM I second that, Barry! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 01 Dec 08 - 03:45 AM Charley, I was talking with Dad the other day and he mentioned the low temperature. At the time I was sitting in my kitchen with the windows open and a slight breeze flowing through the house. I was in shorts and t-shirt and considering the lawn mowing project I had ahead of me. Later it turned out that the fuel line on the mower broke so I had to go into town to replace it. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 01 Dec 08 - 12:32 PM Brett- It was so fortunate that the mower fuel broke. Sure calls for a nice cooling drink while one meditates the situation, and appreciates the warm tropic breeze flowing through your open windows. Maybe I'll open my windows today and think, or drink, tropic! Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 02 Dec 08 - 05:08 AM As a follow up to the project I assigned my juniors your should know that I am impressed. I had only one raft that I consider close to a failing mark. I had a couple that were marginal Bs and most of them were gems of creativity and imagination. The largest is about three feet long and is incredibly detailed. They made a brown clay figure to represent Jim lying down on the deck. There are three little fish near him as well as his fishing pole. The A-frame wigwam has a woven coconut frond mattress and pillows and a fire pit just like it was described in the book. There is a clothes line with a shirt drying on it. There are also some fish hanging there. I asked about it and they explained that they were drying the fish for later! The best, in my opinion, was made by a girl working alone. The raft is small but wonderfully conceived with proper scale and detail. It was built thick and heavy, the way a plank raft should be made. The wigwam was raised up a (scaled) foot as described. She had some rolled blankets and the fire pit in there too. There are extra sweeps on a rack and a steering sweep over the stern. She even has coils of rope laying on the deck. One pair of girls created a diorama of the raft on the river. They cut a curved slit in the bottom of the box so they can make the raft move down stream. Another young lady built the house that floated past Jackson's Island. Huck and Jim find a dead man in the house. She took a block of foam and painted it blue. Then she built the house out of Popsicle sticks. But WAIT! There's more! She made the roof so it could be removed and then recreated the scene inside the house complete with wallpaper and graffiti. I was very impressed. And very happy. I'm afraid my expectations were not very high. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 02 Dec 08 - 08:03 AM maybe there's hope for them |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 02 Dec 08 - 08:19 AM Neat! Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 02 Dec 08 - 03:14 PM Pictures!? Goodonya and them! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 03 Dec 08 - 03:46 AM Pictures! I posted some pictures to my Facebook page today. There are now pictures of some of the projects and others of life at home. I hope the link works. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 03 Dec 08 - 08:04 AM Only members can access Facbook. sandra (not a member) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 03 Dec 08 - 08:50 AM Grumble, grumble, gripe, gripe |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 03 Dec 08 - 09:08 AM Joe (joe@mudcat.org) can load them on the Mudcat photowebsite sandra |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 07 Dec 08 - 02:14 PM This weekend consists of four days of no time off. Friday we took the whole school off to a religious retreat. Each class went to a different church. The sophomores went to St. Anthony in Tamuning. Essentially we teachers rode herd on them keeping them from getting into trouble. Saturday Wakana and I made a run into town on some errands. Sunday I had to supervise the Sophomore car wash. The kids were raising money for their future class activities. Attendance for the kids was mandatory. About half of them showed up. I had a two hour shift from 10:00 to 12:00. My relief did not show up at all. I was told he had a sick kid at home. I had to stay until 2:00. I was exhausted and sunburned when I got home. Wakana had decided to drive me to the car wash and run some errand while in town. The extra two hours were not in her plans. She was in a hurry to get home because her students were performing in a Christmas concert that night. She had to get to school in time to marshal the students and give them one more practice. I got home and had time for a short nap and then I was up and heading for Wakana's concert. I arrived and met a friend of hers so we sat together to watch the concert. It was pretty good... well, it was a high school concert featuring a bunch of boys forced to sing. The only groups who showed any real life were Wakana's because she was out in front of them, leading them and dancing to show them the moves they were supposed to do. She put a lot of her energy out there and it showed in the boys' performance. Today we have no school in honor of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. We have to be at the cathedral at 3:00 for the procession around the block carrying the little statue of Mary, our Lady of Camrin. Not looking forward to that. I'm already sunburned. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 10 Dec 08 - 03:23 AM We survived the weekend and now are struggling to survive the week. This is the last full week of school before the semester exams. I need to write two tests. By next Friday it will be all over... for a while. We have our tickets for Japan. We are leaving on December 29 and return January 3. Unfortunately for Wakana that means leaving her precious cats to board at the vet's office. And we have to drop them off the day before we leave and we cannot pick them up until the day after we return! It'll kill Wakana. Recently Guam defeated, once again, the efforts to bring legalized gambling to the island. With this vote the dog racing track in Tamuning closed. They had claimed they would have to if they couldn't institute gambling. So, they closed, and they gave away all the dogs. Today there was a story in the paper that people are abusing some of the dogs. There was no effort made to make sure they went to good homes. I read the story to Wakana while we were driving home and she burst into tears. She has such a soft heart for animals. It took a while for her to calm down. We stopped at the Chalan Pago Hao Mai for fresh lumpia and iced tea. That helped. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 10 Dec 08 - 10:38 AM DO I see a dog adoption in your future? I feel the same way as Wakana and cannot stop the tears when I hear of such abuse AND, I hate leaving my cats for any reason! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 11 Dec 08 - 04:44 AM Yesterday I tuned in the weather channel and saw that there was almost nothing to the east of us. Tonight we are battened down for the tropical depression that formed just to the east of us and is blundering past us now. It is supposed to strengthen into a tropical storm during the night. All the school activities planned for the evening have been canceled. Wakana and I stopped at First Beach to look at the surf and it was pretty impressive. First Beach is a bowl shaped body of water protected from the waves by the reef about a hundred yards out. I have never seen any rough water in the basin. Tonight huge waves were pounding the reef and washing over it and into the basin, filling it and leaving no room for the water to get out. It was very impressive. The wind was like a wall slamming into you from over the water, carrying salt spray and the smell of the sea. According to the weather channel the eye of the storm is just fifteen miles south of Guam. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 16 Dec 08 - 04:57 AM Today was the last day of classes before Christmas. We give the exams over the next two days and then we are on vacation until January 5. In about two weeks we go to Japan for New Years and then home to work again. We want to take advantage of the time. Wakana is concerned that she has gained some weight and wants to start walking. I need to get on my bike and work up some muscles and work off some weight myself. We also want to reorganize the living room and kitchen. And I need to repair the lawn mower and get the grass cut. And we need to relax and recover a little of our sanity. Yesterday one of my students commented about how excited she was about getting out of school. I told her she had no idea what being excited was all about. We teachers were ten times more excited than she could ever be. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 23 Dec 08 - 01:17 AM Christmas vacation and I went Christmas shopping today. I was feeling good until I got to the Agana Shopping Center. I met two students from ND and they told me that the missing kayaker is one of my students. There went the festive feelings. I feel like crying. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 23 Dec 08 - 06:46 PM horrible news for family & friends when everyone else is celebrating hugs sandra |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 23 Dec 08 - 07:34 PM Participating in today's search are 10 members of the fire department and seven members of the of the Guam Police Department to search the shoreline; a GPD Marine Patrol Boat; three jet skis; and a helicopter from the Coast Guard, he said. That doesn't sound like a very big search team. Couldn't the military help out? Brett, I hope you do let yourself cry; there's no same in having compassion and love for your students. My sympathies on that this is happening, esp. this time of year. May they find him so there will be peace of some kind for his family and friends. luvyakat |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 23 Dec 08 - 10:49 PM I had a moment of hope when I looked at the PDN website today. They stated the kayaker's name was Jerod Quan, not Jerod Untalan. Then I checked out the comments and found one from his mother berating the paper for reporting his name and for getting it wrong. His name was Jerod Quan Untalan. Still no progress on the search. The story I got from his classmates was that Jerod and four others were kayaking out near the surf line. Jerod was in a double kayak and it went over in the surf. The other boy is OK but Jerod disappeared. Two of the other boys were other students of mine. Jerod is a member of a group at the school that is very tight. They call themselves The Brotherhood. These boys are not a negatively styled gang but a positive group who see a chance for change in the way people treat each other. Jerod's disappearance will hit them hard. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 24 Dec 08 - 10:10 AM Brett- Very sad. It's always such a loss to lose the adventurous ones. They are the ones you always remember. Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 24 Dec 08 - 08:42 PM Today is Christmas Day on Guam. Wakana greeted it like a child waking me at 5:00 AM. We went out to open presents though none were wrapped, hers or mine. She did get a wrapped present from the cats. It was a lovely rectangular rosewood tray with slatted bottom and angled ends. I gave her exactly what she asked for, a Dremel tool with extra cutting bits for carving and a poplar plank to carve. I got a Dilbert calendar, some bandannas, a Jeff's Pirates Cove dew rag, and a Guam T-shirt. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 24 Dec 08 - 08:45 PM Merry Christmas to one and all. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 24 Dec 08 - 09:54 PM Merry Christmas, Brett and Wakana! I have finished making the pies and cranberries. Now I am waiting for the sweet roll dough to rise for the Swedish Tea Ring for breakfast tomorrow! luvyakat |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 25 Dec 08 - 09:25 AM Brett- It's a little gusty today but very sunny and in the 40's for temperature. The rain last night lowered the snowpack but there's still plenty of snow around and it looks like a great travel day for our house to house family visits. Card is on its way to you and Wakana and will probably arrive some time in the Spring! Cheerily, Charley noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 27 Dec 08 - 12:27 AM Charley, we got the card today. Thanks. We didn't send any cards though Wakana bought three boxes of them. Some day I will have to get organized. We are leaving for Japan on Monday morning early and so had to take the cats to the vet for boarding today. They are closed tomorrow. Wakana cried most of the way home. She will not see her cats again until January 5... in the afternoon... after work. She wore herself out with her tears. She's asleep now. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 27 Dec 08 - 01:10 PM Brett- I'm absolutely amazed that our card arrived so fast! It is stressful for cats and people who love them to figure out good ways to deal with them (the cats) when you must travel. Our best compromise is to keep the cats at home and hire a neighbor to check in on them; we now repay the caretakers by taking them out to dinner or dinners if we're off on an extended trip, or cash if that is more useful. However, this fall we did no major travel and our kitty gang is quite content! Have a good time revisiting Japan. Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Amos Date: 27 Dec 08 - 09:40 PM Safe travels, Brett, and a prosperous Year to you both. A |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 01 Jan 09 - 12:05 AM Happy New Year to all. I see that you have about 40 minutes left in 2008. I have been in 2009 for 13 hours and 20 minutes so far. We just finished our traditional Japanese New Year lunch. There were three lacquer boxes full of goodies, at least goodies for the Japanese palette. Most of them were very tasty, oishi, but some of them did not meet my excruciating tastes. There were tiny whole crabs cooked in some red sauce. There were whole shrimp, uncooked. A batch of red-orange fish eggs. Salmon wrapped in seaweed. But there were plenty of wonderful tastes there also. Beans, three types, all sweet and tasty. Ham, eggs, A lovely egg dish rolled with some kind of sauce. And much, much more. One of the main points of the meal was the beautiful arrangement of the bfood in the lacquer boxes and the arrangement of the table. We ate in the tokanoma room, a formal room in the house. We drank toasts to the new year in sake and another drink. We ate while Wakana's father explained the meaning of each dish. it was a very pleasant time. Last night we ate traditional soba noodles for supper then had our baths. At 11:30 we drove to the local Shinto shrine to make a new year wish. There were lots of lights and a bonfire to help people keep warm. There weren't very many people there when we arrived but we seemed to be only the first. The line formed up behind us. We had to step up to the altar, drop our wish money into the box, ring the bell, clap our hands, make the wish, bow and clap our hands again. After we made our wishes we stopped to have mochi in red bean soup. We then drove over the the Bhuddist temple. There we were to ring the temple bell. We were in a line for a long time but finally got up to the platform. Temple bells are shaped differently than western bells. They are more cylindrical and do not have the "bell mouth" we otherwise recognize. This bell was loud and held it's resonance for a long time. It is rung with a long heavy pole hung horizontally and swung using a rope. Each person got one chance to ring the bell. Oops, Aund Sachiko has arrived. Got to go. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 01 Jan 09 - 12:13 AM Ah, that sounds so lovely, Brett...a very nice way to enter the new year with such observations. I wish we had more of those types of traditions over here. Thanks for sharing. Happy New Year...still a little under two hours to go here in Colorado. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Amos Date: 01 Jan 09 - 12:56 AM Happy 2009, Brett! A |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 01 Jan 09 - 03:45 AM Happy New Year I spent New Year's Eve working on a jigsaw & listening to national radio's New Year program. There were calls from folks all round Oz saying what thay were doing (transport drivers delivering stuff, folks celebrating or working) At midnight a great noise filled my place with all the celebrating folks in my suburb (Sydney's entertainment centre) yelling & yahooing. I ate a bowl of steamed vegs around that noisy time then eventually went to bed. sandra (7.45pm Thursday 1st Jan) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 01 Jan 09 - 09:29 AM Sounds great, Brett! Judy and I and the kitty gang had a quiet evening at home, sipping wine while we watched our lighted Christmas tree, which looked very nice through our wine glasses. It's well below zero with the wind chill this morning... Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 01 Jan 09 - 10:36 PM Wakana says it snowed but I was busy doing dishes and didn't see the few flakes she saw. It is around zero here but that is in degrees C which makes it about thirty two F. Aunt Sachiko stopped by and we drank green tea and ate some chocolates she brought. Wakana and I showed her the photo album we have with us. After she left we sat in the tokanoma room and talked then went out to the sushi restaurant. At the restaurant we sat at a counter and watched as plates of sushi rolled by. We just took whatever looked good. Each plate had two pieces on it. I tried some of the shrimp, and some other ones. I let the ones with whole raw squid go by. There were even hot dog sushi and hamburger sushi. I tried the sushi with the hot dogs on it. I had to. By the end of the meal I had fifteen little plates stacked up in front of me. Each one cost one hundred and five yen or about a dollar. The others also had stacks of little dishes. Total cost was about forty five dollars for the four of us. And very tasty too. Today Wakana is packing up some of her personal possessions to finally take home. We'll need to make more room in the bookshelves at home. We will ship the winter clothing home and some of the books and carry two boxes with us. We'll probably have to pay the overweight charge. There is a store here, Cainz, which is a handyman shop selling lumber and hardware as well as housewares. I buy some wonderful tie down straps there whenever I come to Japan. I walked around there the other day and noticed a little piece of hardware that I had searched for desperately back home (in Maine) but never found. I had been convinced that SOMEONE had to make one. I started noticing other such things that I had been looking for in my life and never found in any American hardware store. There were little sheets of plexiglass, both clear and colored, small rolls of sheet metal, brackets in many sizes, and other items I had looked for once upon a time. I am so jealous. They also have wonderful methods for making the most of a small space. There are rolling wooden racks for moving stuff out of the center of the room. There is a shelf system consisting of wooden uprights cut to take wooden shelves. The end result looks very nice. I noticed styrofoam blocks shaped like concrete blocks. When I asked Wakana she said it was the same as the college student's bookcase made with planks and concrete but these were cheaper and easier to carry. I'm having a great time here but we go home tomorrow. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 05 Jan 09 - 06:33 PM Very sad year so far. I am still dealing with Jerod's loss and now I learn that a dear friend back home has died. No details yet but I am going through a lot of tissues. I'm not looking forward to the classes with Jerod's classmates. All the students are down in the gym at a memorial mass for Jerod. I took my home room down and then settled on a bench outside where I let the tears fall. Now I am in my room and treasuring the quiet. Too soon the kids will be back. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 05 Jan 09 - 09:14 PM Have some {{{{{{Hugs}}}}} Brett. My condolences. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 17 Jan 09 - 04:35 AM I am surviving. Kelli went to the memorial and so did my nephew. He read an email I had sent to Kelli describing my memories of Doug so I guess, in a sense, I spoke at the memorial too. The kids are dealing with Jerod's death in different ways. A number of his friends are depressed and two of them have broken up with their girlfriends which makes it even more difficult for those two. In the meantime Kelli and I are in constant communication with Doug's wife trying to keep her spirits up. She's living with her parents now. That isn't any difficulty because she works for her father as a CPA. I whittled a plug for the broken water line and clamped it in place. It seems to be holding. The plumber cannot get here until next weekend. The water system has been a mystery since we moved in. There are water spigots all over the place and none of them work. The broken line went to the only one in the back yard that worked. We dug up the line next to the meter and found some ridiculous blue hose coiled up in the ground. I decided to have the plumber install a new line (that meets code) from the meter to the house and damn the rest of the water systems. I gotta go take a shower. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 17 Jan 09 - 10:03 AM Why do I have a bad feeling about what will happen when your plumber installs the new line from your meter to your house? Maybe it has something to do with the dream I had last night about our own house flooding from the new plumbing install in your old apartment upstairs (it's getting a new full bathroom). By the way, you'll never guess what we found behind the wall between your small bedroom and the bathroom, almost three feet of "lost" space and a huge archway; it's now the grand entrance to the new "rectangular" bathroom. According to the old comics that were stuffed here and there, the space was walled off in January of 1944, when the Phantom was just being installed upon the death of his father. I bet you didn't know that! Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 17 Jan 09 - 08:54 PM IBD! (I'll be damned!) That's amazing. I love it when things like that happen. In 1979 a friend and I were hired by the St. Francis College in Biddeford (our alma mater) to help rip out sections of Stella Maris Hall so they could renovate it into the medical school that is there now. We opened up one wall and found they had been insulating with newspapers. One of the news stories was about the new line of forts being built to protect wagons going out to the Oregon Territories. I always wished there was some way to remove the paper from the wood but it was well attached. Wakana and I are busy rearranging the living room and cleaning. I snuck off for a few minutes. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 20 Jan 09 - 06:10 AM Last April Wakana and I went to the mayor's office to request a load of crushed coral to fill in a few holes in the back yard. They never delivered. More recently the garbage truck has not been picking up our trash because the trees were overhanging the road. One of the neighbors must have complained because they cleared out ALMOST all the trees by pushing them down with the backhoe. They did not clear the last section nearest our house and once more the garbage truck did not pick up our trash. Today on the way home from work I stopped into the mayor's office. I requested the load of coral and to have the trees pushed back. I then proceeded home and lay down for my after-school break. I heard some heavy machinery somewhere but thought nothing of it. Wakana came home and told me there was a backhoe working on the trees. Sure enough the mayor's office had mobilized immediately. After he finished with the trees he brought in a load of coral for the muddy road the farmer uses and one for us to use. I like this mayor and Talofofo in general. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 31 Jan 09 - 08:01 PM Not much to report. It's Superbowl Sunday which means last week was Catholic Schools Week. We had a conference on Friday and we have Monday off because of the game. They started having game day off because school attendance plummeted like a rock on Superbowl day. Most of the kids stay up to watch thee game and that keeps them up all night. So we have no school. Wakana and I are planning a low budget retrofit for the kitchen. We'll paint the cabinets and put knobs on the doors. She wants me to build an additional cabinet to fit in next to the refrigerator and I want to rip out one set of cabinets and build a set of shelves to replace them. We will do all this over Easter Break when we have ten days off. A long time ago I looked into getting a turntable that I could use to record my records into digital mode. Back then they were over $400. Recently I looked again and saw they are now around $150. I think I'll get one next payday. By the way, if any of you are tall and having difficulty finding t-shirts look at Duluth Trading Company. They have a long tail t-shirt in sizes up to 3XL. I've been buying my t-shirts from them and love the shirts. Good tough work shirts. I just ordered some more. My parents are shipping my little guitar back to me. I left it with them by accident and then told my niece she could use it but her parents were afraid she would break it. So it's coming home. I've been digging this morning. We need to replace our water line from the meter to the house. I've been digging a trench to get it underground so we don't hit it with the lawn mower. The plumber was supposed to come yesterday but he was sick. There is some kind of flu going around. About a week and a half ago we came home to find Neko with a huge gash in her side. We rushed her off to the vet and then when she got home we had to keep her inside for a week. Then, a few days ago Wakana began to worry about Mama Kitty. She was listless and didn't follow her around. She took her to the vet and they found an abscess in her butt. Now she is confined to the house. These cats are expensive. I guess I better get back to work. I need to fix my folding workbench and then build some sawhorses to get ready for Easter break. I also need to repair the silverware drawer and get ready to build some bookshelves for Wakana's books. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 31 Jan 09 - 11:04 PM Wow, sounds like you have both been busy and going to be even more so come Easter break! Good for you. I am glad the kitties are okay. They do get expensive! Thanks for keeping us up to date, Brett. I love hearing about your part of the world. Those newspapers must've really been old! Well, maybe not for New England. Too bad you couldn't get them apart from the wood. Imagine, I lived on the Oregon Trail and have been to a few of those forts.:-) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 02 Feb 09 - 04:04 AM I bet they'd changed a bit by the time you got there. I went into town today to pick up the new lenses for my glasses. When I left the shop my eyesight seemed a bit strange. It didn't take too long to figure out that the prescription was correct for the center of the lenses but nowhere else. I couldn't even shift my eyes to look at a road sign because it was too blurry to read. Back to the shop and back to my old lenses. I demanded my money back and left in a huff. It had taken them two months to make the wrong lenses. I informed them I would not get any more glasses made there. This is the end of a four day weekend. At the beginning I swore I would work on my school stuff a little each day so I wouldn't end up doing it on the last evening. Guess what I'm procrastinating about doing now. Better get to work. I have to write two tests and a newsletter. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 12 Feb 09 - 04:56 AM For those of you with a little time on your hands and an interest in reading about a strange new world, try Guahan Magazine. This magazine has been published locally for some time and is now going on-line. This is the magazine that published my article about the canoe club. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 17 Feb 09 - 04:33 PM On Sunday I took a misstep and felt a pop and a great deal of pain in my left foot. The pain has continued through the days since. Wakana was convinced I had a broken bone in my foot. I refused to believe it... until the doctor read the x-rays. So now I'm on a codeine painkiller and waiting to see the foot doctor. I guess I'll be wearing a cast for a while. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 18 Feb 09 - 11:44 PM Yep. The cast runs halfway up my calf. At least it's a walking cast. But I think I'm developing a blister or two in there. Me and the cast for 6 weeks. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 19 Feb 09 - 12:02 AM Ouch! My sister in WY did that last fall. Be sure to get some physical therapy after they let you take the cast off. She didn't and now regrets it as her leg/ankle is still very weak compared to what it was and it is taking her more time to recover than might've been. Thanks for the magazine link! That's really so interesting. I hope to read some about your music in there! And, all of the other cultural things you are both involved in. Take it easy, willya?:-) kat |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 19 Feb 09 - 02:02 AM ouch seconded. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 20 Feb 09 - 06:01 PM I'm planning to have a cast party when it comes off. On the other hand, I can't wait until the blisters on my left foot form into calluses. They hurt more than the broken bone. Working in a high school means you are surrounded by teens. And that means they each want to know what happened. AND they don't want to wait until they are in class and you can tell everyone at the same time. I started by explaining what happened to each person who asked. Yesterday I left it at, "I was kicking a student who asked too many questions!" |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 20 Feb 09 - 07:34 PM LOL...print that up on little pieces of paper and hand them out when anyone asks!:-) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 01 Mar 09 - 01:20 PM Saturday evening was the 32nd annual Songfest for ND. Each division (Freshmen, Sophomores, etc.) writes a song and practices the hell out of it until they perform it on Songfest night. They choreograph hand gestures and limited dance steps and are judged on various points. Those kids who play intruments make up the band to provide music. The process includes the entrance song and choreography, the actual song, the exit song, and the song sung before seating themselves in the bleachers. Some years there is no question who is the best. Others, like this year, it's a tough job to make the selection. There are five judges. The Juniors won this year. They wrote a poignant song about Jerod and how his death brought them together as a class. I cried. Unfortunately my home room consists of Sophomores so I am a Sophomore advisor. The reason I say this is unfortunate is that I only have one class of Sophomores but I teach ALL the Juniors. I worked with them last year as Sophomores too. It was a good night. Lots of happy families. I had the chance to see my kids hanging out with the friends they have outside of school. I enjoyed myself. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: curmudgeon Date: 02 Mar 09 - 06:09 PM In my last teaching gig, I was both student council and class advsior. Usually it was senior class, but one year I was handling three classes for a while because no one else wanted to take on the unpaid positions. To a certain degree, I found the advisor's work equal to, or more satisfying than the teaching. Keep up the grand work you are doing, and the great posts - Tom |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 04 Mar 09 - 03:58 AM The student counselor has been presenting the juniors with the nuts and bolts of what to do to apply for school and how to pay for it. His presentations are pretty funny and I chime in now and then with my own observations. He is pretty cool. He has a Master's Degree in education and a PhD in law (JD). I think he is retired from law. When not at school he can be found on his boat, trolling. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 04 Mar 09 - 11:04 AM Tough life, huh? What Tom said. Please do keep posting. I LOVE learning more about your part of the world and reading your personal observations and experiences. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: SINSULL Date: 05 Mar 09 - 08:45 AM So after years of frustrating you, these kids are turning into decent human beings after all? Congratulations, Brett. You have accomplished something very good. Give Wakana my love. We s[eak of her here often. I have the beads and silk scarf you both gave me on display amid the tiny nuns and think of you both often. Come back... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 05 Mar 09 - 04:46 PM Hey Sins, you need to plan a triumphant return. We are planning a trip home for Christmas. This should give you plenty of time to prepare! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: SINSULL Date: 06 Mar 09 - 02:27 PM WHOO WHOO! I will get the Evil Sisterhood to work at once. Wakana in the Christmas Tree Shop for the after-Christmas sales!!! I'll bring a camera. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 06 Mar 09 - 05:23 PM Neat! Christmas season will be fun! Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 06 Mar 09 - 09:47 PM Miss the snow, do ya, Brett?:-) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 08 Mar 09 - 07:54 PM NO! I do NOT miss any of the white crap. But Wakana wants to see a Burnham Family Christmas. I can't talk her out of it. We really suffered this last Saturday. We went out on the carport to drink our morning coffee but it was chilly and rainy. The temp was down to 78 and the wind blew the rain onto our usual places. I had to lean back against my car to enjoy the morning. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 09 Mar 09 - 12:00 AM LOL! Oh you puir things! A beautiful New England White Christmas is really beautiful, though! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: SINSULL Date: 09 Mar 09 - 10:56 AM Unfortunately, this year's white Christmas is still dumping the hideous crap on us. hree more inches today. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 10 Mar 09 - 07:56 PM The day before yesterday I had to go to the doctor about my foot. He took one look at the cast and wondered what I'd been doing to it. The heel was busted out and there were cracks in the fiberglass. The stuffing was dragging along behind me. He decided he hadn't made the cast strong enough so he beefed up the new one. I'll need a hammer to break this one. I've started letting the kids sign the cast. When the doctor cuts it off I'll tape it back together and hang it in my room. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 11 Mar 09 - 05:49 PM How much longer will you have to wear it, Brett? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: SINSULL Date: 12 Mar 09 - 10:34 AM How weather and long term casts can have nasty results - you may want to re-think keeping it, Brett. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 19 Mar 09 - 12:52 AM Wakana bought a bottle of scented rubbing alcohol. Every once in a while we pour a little into the cast. It makes a nice change. One of my students drew an arrow to where the toes stick out and wrote, "Don't Smell!" I have been driving myself to work. I take the 'shoe' off and that makes it possible to work the clutch. I put all my stuff in a plastic storage box and bungee cord it to a luggage dolly. I leave it in the lobby and send a couple of kids down to get it. I leave my coffee on the hood of my car and send a kid out to get that too. Kids are useful. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 19 Mar 09 - 05:30 AM good to see you've finally found a use for your students! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 20 Mar 09 - 12:44 AM Yeah, they can be a pain but they are good kids at heart... most of them. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 22 Mar 09 - 12:47 AM The local GATE organization produced High School Musical 2 at the GATE theater. Four of my students were in it. I like to encourage my students to go see live theater so I offer extra credits for their participation. The kids did a great job. There are some great singing voices among the young people on the island. I asked Gordon's son Anthony to power wash and paint our roof. It is a great way to cut down on the power bills. They'll be out next week to do the work. Elastomeric roof paint is running close to $100 a bucket (5 gallons) and we need over 5 buckets. Expensive job but Anthony needs the work and we need to get it done. Got to go do laundry and Wakana wants to go to KMart. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 22 Mar 09 - 03:52 PM Brett- It's probably a good idea to check the ice-catching hardware on your roof as well. Many's the time we've had a guest or two buried when the snow and ice let loose as they were entering or leaving our house. Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 27 Mar 09 - 01:04 AM Lots o' news. The roof has been power washed and painted. Turns out it was NEVER painted. This should result in much lower electricity usage. I have graduated from a fiberglass cast to a black plastic boot with lots of buckles. And I have survived another week with the teens. This week was rough. On Tuesday they loaded the last straw onto this camel. The result was not nice to look at. They have been yelled at by past teachers and will be in the future but this teacher made a serious effort to explain where the bear walked through the buckwheat. I explained about a conversation I'd had recently where I told someone that I didn't usually attend IRA meetings because they are geared towards teaching elementary students and, I said, "I don't teach anybody who is that mature!" I explained once again the process for earning respect. Oops, Gotta go. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: SINSULL Date: 27 Mar 09 - 02:09 PM Were you wearing the balck boot at the time? LOL |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 29 Mar 09 - 12:31 AM Sigh, I've been doing some thinking. I cannot expect them to learn anything about respect and behavior by treating them nicely and I hate playing the dictator. I need to evolve since they are not capable. I surprised them this week with the concept of the negative credit slip. I have been giving extra credit slips for good behavior, academic ability, etc. An extra credit slip is worth one point on their quarter grade. This week I did a book check to see who had come to class prepared. I awarded each student without his or her book one negative credit point towards the quarterly grade. I plan to continue with that for poor behavior too. I will not actually take the points from the grade. I will use them to track the citizenship grade we give them. The mechanics are as follows. Johnny fails to bring in his book. I have him bring me a stamped slip of paper from the box in the back of the room. He writes his name on it, adds a -1, and the note 'book' and hands it to me. I countersign it and he puts in in the bag for his block. This way he has lots of time to consider what he has done. After a few of these I'll have him count them out for me. At report card time I will give him a grade for citizenship based on the negative slips. Citizenship is the grade we give them based on their attitude, preparedness, proper wearing of the uniform, cleanliness, etc. It ranges from excellent (E), Satisfactory (S), Needs Improvement (N), to Unsatisfactory (U). Two or more (N)s results in a form of probation that could impact participation in sports or other programs. A (U) automatically removes them from all extracurricular programs. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 29 Mar 09 - 06:09 AM This afternoon our principal called to inform me that one of my students and a member of my ACB team drowned while on a church outing at Tarzan Falls yesterday. I think I've cried myself out for the time being but this is the second student we've lost in three months. Nope, not done crying. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 29 Mar 09 - 07:30 PM Brett- So sorry to hear that. Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: GUEST,winterbright Date: 29 Mar 09 - 08:51 PM Brett, That's truly terrible. So sorry. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 29 Mar 09 - 10:37 PM OH, Brett...that's so sad. My condolences, darlin'. You are doing such a good job with them all...it must be really hard to lose even one, let alone two in such a short time. {{{{{HUGS}}}}} luvyakat |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Ebbie Date: 29 Mar 09 - 11:07 PM Ah, Brett. I'm so sorry. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 30 Mar 09 - 05:36 AM Wakana is hurting too. Alexis was aa member of my ACB team. I used to give him a ride home after practices and sometimes she would be with me. She knew him and respected him for his cheerful personality, bright smile, and quick intelligence. We had parent teacher conferences today. We started with prayer in the cafeteria. There were very few dry eyes. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: SINSULL Date: 30 Mar 09 - 08:13 AM I am sorry, Brett. Watch your others like a mother cat. Kids have strange ways of dealing with grief. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Dahlin/Fla Date: 30 Mar 09 - 05:42 PM Brett After 38 years in the world of education I can tell you that even though they are not your flesh and blood the pain of loss is often as severe. I can still remember all of those we lost in an untimely manner. Try to focus on those you have with you and yes, watch them carefully. Their response to such losses are often poorly thought out. Most importantly, take care of yourself. You can only help others if you do that. Dick Dufresne |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 02 Apr 09 - 08:52 AM Thanks, everyone. It's been tough this week but next week is Easter Break. We'll be off for 9 days. How sweet it will be. Tomorrow is the last day. Today I went to see the doctor and he demoted me from a walking boot and put me back into a cast. Bummer. Several pounds of fiberglass that I cannot removed without power tools. The week before last I accidentally nailed the edge of the bathroom vanity with the big toe that stuck out of the cast. I ripped back the toenail pretty bad. When we went to the last doctor visit he pulled off Wakana's makeshift bandage and took a look at it. Wakana asked him to show her what to do with it. You know the wire cutters an electrician uses? The one they call dikes? He picked up a set of those in stainless steel and started cutting off the toenail while poor Wakana did the Dance of Disgust in the doorway. She said she felt those cutters working on HER toe. I didn't feel any pain only because I was laughing so hard at her! The toe is pretty ugly now and he says the rest of the nail will go soon but I doesn't hurt very often. Guess I'll go to bed. I'm tired. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 02 Apr 09 - 09:29 AM laughter the best medicine! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 02 Apr 09 - 11:17 AM Brett, I hope in your nine days off you be kind to yourself and take it easy! It does seem to take some time for some things to heal, ya know?!:-) I cringed when i read about your toe. My Rog was putting a sock on for me after putting lotion on my foot about two weeks ago. As he pulled it up, a snag caught on my big toe nail, but before I could scream out "ouch!" he'd already tugged on it to get the sock the rest of the way on. THEN he heard me because I got my breath back! Ow, ow, ow! It didn't tear off the whole nail, but it did about half, in a vertical way. The short side is just now, finally, growing out, but the whole hurt so badly the first few days. I feel for you! Take care!:-) kat |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 02 Apr 09 - 02:48 PM 4:15 AM Went to sleep too early last night. As the school year progresses it seems that I am more and more tired at the end of each week. Now with less than two months to go I come home exhausted and just collapse upon the bed. It doesn't help that my foot is injured. I went to see the doctor yesterday afternoon. He put a new cast on my leg. No more boot. I've been demoted. If you appreciate irony you will enjoy this story. Last Monday I was relaxing at home. I was on the bed with my foot elevated, being a good boy, when the phone rang. The bedroom phone was not there so I hobbled my way down the length of the house to get the living room phone. No boot, no crutches. The voice on the other end of the line was my doctor. He told me he had just looked at the x-rays and that my foot was not healing as well as it should. He told me to come in and he would replace the boot with a cast. And, he told me, "DON'T WALK ON IT WITHOUT THE BOOT!" I didn't know if I should laugh or cry. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Amos Date: 02 Apr 09 - 02:59 PM IT's not a demotion--you've graduated from Boot Camp! But the graduation was premature. You don't want to spend your life suffering from premature boot, do you? A |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 02 Apr 09 - 03:35 PM I'd like to give the cast the boot! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 03 Apr 09 - 12:57 AM No, no, give the cast an ovation and try for an encore!:-) (You'll feel better in the long run.) luvya! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: SINSULL Date: 03 Apr 09 - 08:57 PM Laugh, Sweetie. No danger of gout, is there? No lobster for you! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 04 Apr 09 - 09:32 AM The vacation is here! Today was to be a "dummy" day as in we wouldn't do anything but relax. Then we got hungry and decided to go to Shirley's for lunch. From there we ended up shopping for ant-proof cereal containers and buying $180 worth of groceries and stuff at Cost-U-Less. Returned home worn to the core. Tomorrow was to be our first day of destruction in the kitchen but we got a call from one of my former students and now we have to clean house for a visit. Hmm, there is a pattern emerging. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 04 Apr 09 - 10:49 AM Brett- Destruction in the kitchen? Have we heard about this plan before? 300! Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 08 Apr 09 - 08:53 AM Kitchen destruction is on hold. Wakana has realized just how involved the project will be. I guess we'll take it on when we are out for the summer... and I no longer have this cast on my foot. I made some progress cleaning up the office today. I found the table with the computer on it. Now I have to haul out the bags of trash... see above comment on the cast. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 10 Apr 09 - 05:38 PM Yesterday we had six wild piglets running around the back yard scarfing down fallen fruit. The farmer, who had just spent the day planting came over in the evening with the fence charger he got from Mudcatter Charley Noble and plugged it in again. He is so happy to have that charger, Charley. I finally got my Japanese rifle back from GovGuam. I had to go through an FBI check and get a firearms permit and a permit to have the rifle in my home. Lots o' money but now I can give the rifle to the museum. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 10 Apr 09 - 08:06 PM Brett- The renovations are complete on your old apartment upstairs. It's even rented to a delighted tenant! Would you like a set of photos of the improvements to the kitchen, bathroom and bedroom? Cheerily, Charley Noble, Brett's former landlord |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: SINSULL Date: 10 Apr 09 - 10:13 PM Wakan? Have you heard Captain Kendall and the Kitchen? You may want to re-think the destruction... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 13 Apr 09 - 07:45 AM I'd love to see what you did to the place. I have very fond memories of that apartment. It was my escape from a very tough time for me. I don't know if I ever told this story here. A couple of months before I left Maine a friend asked me if I was running to or running away. I told her I was running to a new life and definitely NOT running away. Later, much later, I realized my answer was not correct. I was running away big time. In the months up to my departure that apartment was a little pool of calm and comfort, my own place where I could drop the cares of wasted relationships and lost time. It really was a great place and I am so grateful I had it to hide in. Thanks Charley. Tanglefoot on the stereo now. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 13 Apr 09 - 08:25 AM Brett- Images on their way. The new tenant is quite excited with the prospect of moving in. Cheerily, Charley |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 15 Apr 09 - 08:39 AM Wow! Charlie, you done good! The only part I recognize is the alcove in the living room. Man, if that apartment looked that good back than I might never have left... NOT! The reality is that I needed this change. Life is better here than it ever could have been back there. Everywhere I went back there I saw something that reopened my wounds. Here it's all new. One of the things kids ask for from teachers is to see movies. Recently I relented and showed them The Librarian: Quest for the Spear. If you haven't seen it get over to a video rental place and get it. It's made for TV so don't expect a great cultural icon but it is a fun comedy along the line of Indiana Jones. You will recognize a lot of the Jones movies' influence but there are also some steps that the Jones movies don't take. Anyway, I showed them the film. Many people seem to think the TV is supposed to be the backdrop for conversation and my kids are no different. I did explain to them they should pay attention but that means nothing coming from a teacher... until they hear the word 'QUIZ'! They want to treat the movies we show them as free time. They don't like knowing that it is a learning experience. The quiz is 30 questions on the details in the movie and the elements of fiction I have been talking about (among many other things) since last year. Who is a dynamic character? What examples of man versus circumstance conflict are in the movie? Which scene is the climax of the film? SIR! Why do we have to do this? Because this is a school and everything should be taken as a learning opportunity. There is no such thing as free time in my classroom. On another topic, my dad likes to send me newspaper clippings from the Bangor Daily and the Portland Sunday paper. One of them showed a man standing on a frozen lake with a huge togue (lake trout). Behind him a dog is sleeping on the seat of his snowmobile. The man is all bundled up against the cold. My father sent it to me because he thought the man looked like me. I dutifully pinned it to the bulletin board and waited. Eventually, as in days later, one of the students noticed the picture and commented on how much the man looked like me. They even asked if it was me. I told them to read my father's handwritten note on the upper corner of the picture. They hadn't bothered. It read: "I thought this was you standing on a coral reef but then I remembered you don't have a dog." The kids didn't get the humor. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 15 Apr 09 - 09:10 AM Brett- Your father has a sense of dry humor that rivals Capt. Morse. What fun it would be if they ever got together. Glad you like the renovations of your old apartment. I'm temporarily using it as a photography studio for shooting a huge collection of my mother's childhood art; much of it was shown at the Modern Museum of Art as an example of creative growth of an artist in 1939. Not everyone gets a retrospective show at the age of 22! There are some amazing images in this collection, some of which will appear in a biography that Down East Publications is working on. Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 16 Apr 09 - 05:36 AM Will any of it be showing on her website? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 16 Apr 09 - 05:21 PM Brett- We'll probably post a dozen or so of Dahlov's childhood art on her website in a month or so. Evidently as a young teenager she was fascinated by World War stories such as All Quiet on the Western Front and created a whole series of war scenes in pastel; three of them decorated my college dorm room back in the 1960's: German Soldiers Burning a Village, The French Storming a German Trench, and The Good Soldier (a dead German Soldier). Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 16 Apr 09 - 10:12 PM I think we all have childhood attitudes that are better left uncovered. I was once a racist. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 23 Apr 09 - 10:49 PM Yesterday the doctor removed the cast after three weeks. I wore the boot out of there and went to get new x-rays. We have to take the pictures to the doctor today and then, judging from the pictures and how my foot feels, he'll put ANOTHER cast on it. I hope not. I'm sure tired of the damned cast. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Amos Date: 23 Apr 09 - 11:16 PM I'd rather be part of a cast of thousands than have to bear a thousand casts, myself. A |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 24 Apr 09 - 09:02 AM We went to see the doctor and he did NOT put another cast on me but I am not out of the woods yet. The x-rays show no real healing but he believes the bone callous is not "bright" enough to show clearly. I will see him on Monday to evaluate how I do over the weekend. This morning I had the class artist decorate The Boot. It is black plastic and I handed him The Boot and a silver Sharpie marker. When I got it back it looked pretty classy. I'll have to take a picture to show everyone. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 24 Apr 09 - 10:01 AM Brett- Best of luck with that, Big Fella. You do impose formiable stress on your poor feet. Have you considered lightening the load with helium balloons? Cheerily, Charley Noble, revisiting Michigan |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 25 Apr 09 - 08:47 AM I told Wakana that I would now be able to go swimming since I no longer have the cast. She became angry with me for talking stupid talk. I asked the doctor if I could start riding my bike and he said I could but then retracted that. He is worried about my foot taking too much strain if I lost my balance. Have fun in Michigan, Charley. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 25 Apr 09 - 10:15 PM We have MANGOES! The two trees behind the house are not loaded with them but they are growing some mangoes. The brother of the previous owners once told me those trees never bore fruit so this would be their first year. Wakana cut some up the other day and they taste pretty good considering they aren't quite ripe yet. And these are supposed to be carabao mangoes, the best there is. Yummy. Anyone want to come for a visit next month when mango season really gets under way? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 29 Apr 09 - 05:40 AM My computer has died again. We woke up a few nights ago to hear it saying something loudly in a badly distorted voice. The only word we could make out was 'SYSTEM'. I turned it off but that's all we get wehen wee turn it on now. No screen, no chance to try a reboot, no nothing. So I bought this fancy laptop. Now I am sitting in front of the TV typing a message while Harry and Hermione save Buckbeak and Sirius Black. Life is good. I am going to take the desktop in to try to recue to hard drives. I really need to information on there. I hope I can mount them in some kind of case so I can use them as external drives. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 29 Apr 09 - 09:02 AM good luck, sandra |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 29 Apr 09 - 09:44 AM Brett- It's a good thing that you have your back-up drive...err, you do have a back-up drive, don't you? Hmmm? When was the last time I used mine? Actually, Judy and I do back-ups to external drives quite frequently when we're involved with major projects such as music recording or digital image editing, and major back-ups of everything every six months or so to drives which are then stored outside the house. Cheerily, Charley Noble, drifting toward Grand Rapids |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 30 Apr 09 - 12:58 AM Well you know what they say. Jesus saves. And you well know I am not Jesus. I do have an external drive... somewhere. I better pull it out. Most of my school stuff is on the little group of thumb drives I carry around. In fact I was given a new one by the Army recruiter when he came in to talk to the kids. Problem is that it's camouflaged. I'm pretty sure I put it down here on the desk but I can't seem to find it... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 30 Apr 09 - 01:01 AM Oooo, camo, how chic!**bg** Good luck getting your stuff off the old drive. Those little sticks are neat, though, aren't they? Mangoes coming outta your ears, yet? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 30 Apr 09 - 02:27 PM Brett- The thumbdrives were very useful in Ethiopia for transfering files back and forth. It is amazing how much information one can deal with, amazing to me whose first computer had maybe a MB of memory. Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 02 May 09 - 09:36 AM I don't think they had thumb drives in Ethiopia when you were there. The desk top computer hadn't even been invented yet. By the way, there is an NPR podcast that replays some of their reports from the past. I heard one the other day about a new invention used by Apple Computer on their new machines. The computer was called LISA and the new peripheral was a mouse. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 03 May 09 - 08:32 AM Brett- I meant the thumbdrives I was using during my revisit to Ethiopia in March this year. As Bob & Ray used to say as they signed off, "Hang by your thumbdrives!" Cheerily, Charley Noble, treed in Ann Arbor |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 06 May 09 - 06:41 AM I have discovered an interesting podcast/website for a magazine called Make. It has some really fun stuff. One of the items was how to use a yard light and a webcam to photograph animals in the wild. Another was how to use mutiple thumb/flsh drives to make a single flash drive. Check it out. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 07 May 09 - 08:05 AM Today the students had to start the Stanford Achievement Test. We tested them in the morning, went home for a break and then had to go to the Baccalaureate Mass at 6:00. Tomorrow we test them again then go to the cathedral for graduation at 6:00. This evening I sat in the pew listening to the ceremonies and watching the students. I feel sorry for them. They are not ready for the real world. Are any of us when we graduate? I have heard of their shenanigans and I am not impressed with them yet I know they will be surprised when they realize the world was not made for them. Having said this I have to mention a conversation I had recently with the school counselor. I was expressing my frustrations with the students. He told me the real frustration was with the parents. He explained that many times in the past a promising student has been accepted with scholarships to prominent universities in the states but that the parents would not let them go. It's heartbreaking. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: SINSULL Date: 07 May 09 - 08:15 AM Brett, You're looking at their world through your eyes. They will live their lives and be happy sometimes, sad others and neutral most often. In fifty years they will sigh in disbelief at the hopeless youth of their day. It seems a shame to me that we don't get to do it all over once we have lived fifty years or so. We might get it right the second time around. SINS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 08 May 09 - 08:54 AM Click Here! A friend sent me the above Youtube address for a project put together by a local group. I don't recognize any of the names or faces in the production but it is a cool rendition of a local story. And it has some good pictures of Guam. AND it shows how the old timers used to live. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 08 May 09 - 12:14 PM That is incredible, Brett. No mystery who the true "barbarians" were; too bad they had to spread it all over the world. It is really good the people survived and tell the stories. Thanks for the link. There are some other ones that show Guam, too. I love seeing your world and learning more of it. If I were fit and had the means, I'd love to visit. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 10 May 09 - 08:11 AM Kat, you would be welcome, you and Roger. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 10 May 09 - 11:10 AM Thank you, Brett. I would love a visit...seeing all of the beauty you have shared, the music and folklore and YOU and Wakana! It would mean a lot to us. I am following my bliss so who knows?! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 11 May 09 - 07:56 PM My left foot bothered me all weekend. Saturday I went in to get an x-ray taken so I could be prepared for my next visit to the doctor. To my untrained eye it doesn't look healed at all. I'm afraid he will have to operate and install a pin. If he does that I have no idea how much of my summer that will eat up. Bah Humbug! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 11 May 09 - 11:34 PM Patience, Grandpa, patience!**gentle smile** |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 12 May 09 - 04:25 AM I have discovered the wonder of Skype. I downloaded it and had a lovely visit with my younger daughter and met her boyfriend. Then I sent an email to my older daughter and we connected a little while ago and chatted while she kept the camera trained on Sabra. It was too cool. We've achieved the video phones of my favorite stories in science fiction. Anyone else want to get together? Download Skype and hook up your mike and camera and you are there. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 20 May 09 - 09:07 AM It's almost over! Today was the last day of classes and tomorrow we start the final exams. Then I have to correct them, and turn in the grades. And THEN... it's vacation time! I have a lot of plans for this summer. I want to get my workshop up and running, build some bookshelves, and start to renovate the kitchen. I also have a lot of small jobs to do, things like clean out the spare room so we can have another bedroom, and organize the carport. AND I want to start riding my bicycle. I have been laying around for the last three months waiting for this damn foot to heal. I was out of shape when I started. Now I am in terrible condition. For now, no more classes... until next August. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 20 May 09 - 10:17 AM happy holidays! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 20 May 09 - 10:35 PM Sounds like there's hope! Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 20 May 09 - 11:12 PM Oh joy! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 31 May 09 - 03:48 AM At long last I'm on vacation... what do people do when they are on vacation? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 31 May 09 - 04:12 AM go to folk festivals? sleep in? I dunno. I'm retired! sandra |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: ClaireBear Date: 31 May 09 - 05:08 AM Write the great American novel? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 31 May 09 - 11:13 AM eat more mangoes? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 31 May 09 - 11:21 AM No more students, no more books, no more teacher's dirty looks! You've earned some time to mull this one over. Maybe you should revive your guitar playing and sing some songs. Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Roger the Skiffler Date: 01 Jun 09 - 09:50 AM Well, Brett, here's what some other canoe buffs do: New vaka takes on trained crew in Auckland Tuesday 26 May: Crew members for the newly built double-hulled voyaging canoe Marumaru Atua have been undergoing sailing training and skipper courses in Auckland, New Zealand. The vaka was built and launched in Greenhithe, Auckland, and is one of four being built for a voyage between Rarotonga and Hawaii next year. Last weekend the vaka, which had three crew from Rarotonga onboard, undertook trials to Great Barrier Island. Already four crew members -- who not only helped with the building of the vaka -- have completed a skippers course at the Auckland Marine Rescue Centre. The new crew members are Sam Napa Jnr, Paul Mangakahia, Leanne Young and Alan Sullivan. "Marumaru Atua will remain in Auckland for some time to carry out crew training sessions there before being sailed to Rarotonga later in the year," says Cook Islands Voyaging Society president Ian Karika. The vaka building project is one initiated by the Pacific Voyagers – a network of voyaging groups in American Samoa, Cook Islands, Fiji, New Zealand, Tahiti, Tonga and Western Samoa, which was formed in February. The participating groups intend to celebrate the formation of Pacific Voyagers by assembling a fleet of seven ocean-going canoes in Rarotonga in April 2010. The fleet will then sail to Hawaii at the invitation of the Polynesian Voyaging Society and the Makali'i Voyaging Society. [Cook Islands News online last week.] RtS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 01 Jun 09 - 08:51 PM Cook Island News article pic of vaka Polynesian Voyaging Society |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 02 Jun 09 - 08:25 PM Monday I went over to the university to register for some classes. I need several to fill out my certification requirements. Monday was the last day to register. I had my sights set on two classes. The History of Guam class is required for all teachers on the island. I've wanted to take it for some time now. The only other class offering that fills the bill is a class on testing and evaluation. The history class was scheduled for 9:00 AM so I arrived at the dean's office at 8:00 to register for it. The secretary told me to attend the class and then come back to register. That was suspicious. We had about an hour but she seemed to be busy on some task or other. With that much time available I walked across campus to the School of Education to register for the other class. That one didn't start until 4:00 PM. There was quite a crowd in that office so I waited patiently, and thankfully, in the cool air conditioned office. It was really starting to heat up outside. When I finally got to speak with the secretary she looked up my file and told me I had to update my records before I could register. She printed out a page and handed it to me. I asked her about the instructor and classroom. She told me to speak to June in the next office about that. There I was told that June had not come in to work. I told the secretary who said she would find out for when I returned. I walked back across the campus to take the history class. The history class was very interesting and the instructor seemed to be full of energy and interest. I knew I was going to enjoy the class. She spoke of the study of history and how people look at it. This was important because islanders have a different point of view. For them history is in front of them. The future is behind them. The Chamorro word for ancestor is taotaomo'na or "the people/spirit in front of us." This was indeed going to be an interesting experience. After the class I walked over to the admissions office to update my record. The office was crowded so I took a number and waited. As I waited I scanned a rack of forms and realized I would probably have to submit a request for readmission because it has been over a year since I last took a class. I filled out the form and continued waiting. When I got up to the window the woman did indeed tell me I needed to fill out the form. I handed it to her. She seemed annoyed. She told me I should have done this a week ago. I explained that I was a full time teacher with 118 students and that Friday had been the last day of school (a slight exaggeration). She told me to sign and date it and note that my last class was Fall of 2007. Then she asked me when I had last been tested for TB. My last test was for admission back in 2007. Well, she said, you need to have the test before you can attend classes. She sent me to the campus health office. In the health office I was told that the nurse was off-island and they were not administering the shot. There was nothing they could do. I returned to my car and drove to my clinic. There they made an appointment for the next day. They gave me an appointment card and I headed back to the admissions office. After another long wait the admissions woman looked at the appointment card and told me that I would have to ask the instructors if it was all right to attend the class until my TB test could be read. I walked over to talk to the history instructor and found that she had gone home. According to the note on her door she only teaches the one class in the summer. I walked across campus to the School of Education to speak with that instructor. By now the day had really heated up. The secretary told me to step next door and talk to June (Remember the woman who had not come in to work?) I reminded her of that but she told me that June had come in after all. I went next door and was told that June had gone home early. By now it was about 2:00. I had been beating my head against the wall all day long and had made zero progress. Note that I did all this walking with my left foot in the huge black orthopedic boot I still have to wear because my broken bone is still healing. As the day progressed so did the pain. I finally gave up. I was so angry and frustrated that my hold on civilized behavior was tenuous at best. I went home. When I got home Wakana greeted me and was surprised to see that I was in tears. My anger and frustration was racking through me. She tried all evening to commiserate and relax me but I kept railing at the bureaucracy of the university and a system that kept sending people off to another office rather than solving the problem themselves. I am feeling better now. Yesterday we pulled out the window air conditioner in the bedroom and replaced the window. Then we rearranged the room and cleaned it as we did. She headed out to a meeting and I stayed home and relaxed with the computer, the TV, and the phone calls from angry parents telling me that their kid really did do the homework I claim I never received. I am now on day 3 of my vacation. Wakana has a luncheon with her co-workers and I can go along. The luncheon is at Jeff's Pirates Cove down in Ipan. That will be a very good feed. Later I need to do my laundry. I have two baskets full. Wakana did hers on Monday evening but I was incapacitated by anger, frustration, and pain. Day 3 of my vacation. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 02 Jun 09 - 08:38 PM Alex, the guy who farms the land next to us, stopped by and delivered a small bag of cherry tomatoes. I've already eaten one. Boy is that good! Fresh from the vine! Back home my father (81 years old) has just planted his garden. He even copied the upside down planter he saw on TV for growing tomatoes. He talks about planting the three sisters. He planted his corn in three rows. Once it comes up high enough he will plant beans and squash in the same rows. This is a Native American method. It controls the weeds by crowding them out. Squash covers the ground and the beans climb the corn stalks. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 02 Jun 09 - 10:31 PM Brett- I'm reminded of the old song used to sing at Michigan State University -- It's a one step forward, two steps back, Moving down the tenure track, Doing the tenure tango! Well, what you're describing has little to do with tenure, but the bureaucratic frustration has a similar ring. Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 02 Jun 09 - 11:20 PM Hell of a way to spend vacation! I hope you get it all sorted out. Those tomatoes sounds delicious! My sister is growing one of those Topsy Turvy tomatoes in Alaska, too! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 03 Jun 09 - 12:12 AM I'm going to try growing my own tomatoes that way too. I'm just waiting to make sure we're past the season for sudden frost. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 08 Jun 09 - 08:24 PM Hmm, no takers on the frost comment... Wakana has been in Japan for the last few days but she's coming home tonight. She is escorting an exchange visit sponsored by the Rotary Club. Some of her students were selected to go. I have missed her. She called the other day and is having fun. She bought a new laptop computer which will make her life a little easier. I bought her the last one after hers was stolen by the burglar back in 2004. It was not top of the line. She sounded pretty excited about her new machine. I guess the old one will go to school with her. I've been cleaning and rearranging the kitchen. It's amazing how much crap we let build up there. We were running out of counter space. Now things are much easier to work with. I've been listening to Barry Finn and Neil Downey on their CD Finn and Haddie. It takes me back to the Press Room and other places where I've heard Barry. I don't think I've ever met Neil. I miss the old life sometimes. I love where I am now but I guess I'm feeling a little sentimental. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Ebbie Date: 08 Jun 09 - 10:07 PM Ha, Naemanson. When I read your frost comment the other day it made me snort. I don't snort every day. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Barry Finn Date: 08 Jun 09 - 11:53 PM I'm glad our singing takes you back Brett but why were you heckling me? Damn near woke me out of a deep slumber. You're gonna miss Mystic this weekend, we'll raise a song on your behalf Barry |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 15 Jun 09 - 07:30 PM Now we have a problem. On Sunday we discovered a group of people in our back yard. It was the owner of the next piece of ground, her cousin, and a realtor. The owner is selling the two lots on the other side of us, the farmer's lot. I guess we will need to try to buy it in self defense. We do not need another house back here. If someone bought it our front yard would be their driveway. Yuck! Actually we have considered buying that piece before but we had hoped to have a few years to prepare for it. I guess it ain't gonna happen. So we need to marshal whatever money we can and get things lined up now. Of course we were planning to go home for Christmas so this comes at an awkward time. Financially we are in pretty good shape. Only two loans, a mortgage, and no credit card debt. I hope we can do it. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 15 Jun 09 - 09:39 PM Brett- The wrong nearest neighbors can be a continuing pain. However, if you buy the land yourself, you could resell it to someone you might want to live next to, and keep their driveway out of your front yard. Oh, and Mystic was great! Check the thread. Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 16 Jun 09 - 11:41 PM Good luck with buying that land, Brett. That sounds like a GOOD plan. Good fences might make for good neighbours, but I'd prefer having none of the latter!:-) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Barry Finn Date: 17 Jun 09 - 01:27 AM Buy the land Brett, I'm gonna need a place to pitch my tent Barry |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Bat Goddess Date: 17 Jun 09 - 08:33 AM Here in New Hampshuh I just acquired and hung up a pot of Tumblin' Tom cherry tomatoes -- they're cascading cherry tomatoes in a hanging planter. Two regular sized tomato plants already on the deck along with other salad fixin's. We may have 33 acres, but the only practical place for food-type plants is on the deck. Look forward to BLTs on the deck with fresh picked tomatoes! Linn |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 17 Jun 09 - 09:32 AM I've been talking with my kids using the Skype video phone. Kelli, my older daughter, was telling about her garden and I just turned the camera to focus on the four little pots with wet dirt in them. I planted tomatoes, cantelope and watermelon. About a week from now I'll be able to turn the planters over and hang them up. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 17 Jun 09 - 09:34 AM She was not impressed with my "garden". |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 17 Jun 09 - 10:08 AM nuffin' wrong with a small select garden! sandra |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 17 Jun 09 - 10:45 AM The nasty little turtle buggers are eating the leaves off our cherry tomato plants again. I go out and squish a new pack of them each morning. I never ran into them before I settled here in Richmond, Maine. They are bugs that actually look like miniature turtles, and they have voracious appetites. Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 17 Jun 09 - 09:08 PM What's the song about having a bug squishing party? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 18 Jun 09 - 10:34 AM Brett- Yes, there was the bug squishing song composed by Dan MacArthur (one of Margaret's sons) discussed on this thread: a href="thread.cfm?threadid=13042">Click here! No lyrics, though. Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 19 Jun 09 - 05:34 AM I went to Home Depot today. I spent way too much money. But I rationalized it this way. Father's day is coming. I am a father. My kids cannot afford to get me what I want. So I have to do it. Consequently there is a new circular saw and a random orbit sander in my car. I'm afraid to unpack the car until Wakana goes to bed. She wasn't thrilled to see the drill press. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: maeve Date: 19 Jun 09 - 06:22 AM Yucky Bugs by Dan MacArthur You just needed the correct title to work with, Charley. maeve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 19 Jun 09 - 12:47 PM To: Me, From: Me pressies are the best of all pressies cos ya get exactly what you want/need. have fun sandra |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: GUEST,Kelli Date: 20 Jun 09 - 05:25 AM Happy Father's Day, Dad. ;) Love Kelli |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 20 Jun 09 - 05:55 AM I put the new tools to work. Didn't accomplish anything but it was fun. Wakana took her chain saw out back to play with the trees. Score at day's end was Wakana - 4 Trees - 0. My garden is up. Two of the tomato seeds have germinated as well as a cantelope seed. What's next? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 22 Jun 09 - 09:53 AM On Father's Day I helped Wakana move a few rocks. I could just barely pick up the smallest one. We had to use levers to move the larger ones. She wanted them in a very specific place. I don't know why. She's just going to bury them in junk and crushed coral. Today I let her persuade me to trim some branches off the mountain apple tree next to the house. Huh! "Trim some branches"! That is an understatement if ever I made one. The tree now looks like a green ice cream cone. And the yard is full of cut off branches. Tomorrow I am going to make her a sawbuck o she can cut the remains up into firewood. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 22 Jun 09 - 10:10 AM good to see an independent woman who can chop her own wood! sandra |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 27 Jun 09 - 03:44 AM Yesterday Wakana and I went to the gym. The cardio room wasn't open so I couldn't use the stationary bicycle. We walked around the basketball court instead. Today my formerly broken bone feels broken again... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 28 Jun 09 - 07:56 PM Feeling better. My foot quit hurting. I think it was muscle spasms around the healing bone. I finished building my saw horses and a convertible bench, one that folds up so you can use the back as a table, similar to half a picnic table. Every time I go to Home Depot I check the paint department for their mistakes. When a customer orders paint the store mixes the color on the spot. If they make a mistake they sell the can for $5.00. If you are not too concerned about the color you can get a pretty good brand of paint very cheaply. The other day I bought three gallons of pale yellow exterior paint for $15.00. We used it to paint the bench. I also have, now, a gallon of light gray and a gallon of a funky orange. I'll use the orange inside my shed out back. It will brighten up the dump. I am supposed to be starting on Wakana's bookshelves today. I'm procrastinating. I used the camera she bought me in Japan to take some pictures around the house. It has a movie function on it. I need to make up a DVD so my family can see the movies on their TVs. Anyone know a good basic software that will do the job? I don't need to edit movies or try to create a masterpiece of cinematic glory. Nor do I need to copy (pirate) my collection of DVDs. Any suggestions that won't break the bank? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 09 Jul 09 - 02:56 AM I found something interesting. I was researching Charles Causley's poem Armistice Day. There are a lot of slang words from the Royal Navy in it including the phrase "pneumonia suit". I found the following site which answered the question. pneumonia suit You'll have to search the page. The site has a lot of information about the navy that Tom Lewis and Cyril Tawney knew. Check it out. Here is the poem: Armistice Day By Charles Causley I stood with three comrades in Parliament Street November her freights of grey fire unloading No sound from the pale city upon the pale air Above us the sea-bell eleven unloading. Down by the bands and the burning memorial Beats all the brass in a royal array But at our end we are not so sartorial: Out of (as usual) the rig of the day. Starry is wearing a split pusser's flannel Rubbed, as he is, by the regular tide; Oxo the ducks that he ditched in the Channel In June, 1940 (when he was inside). Kitty recalls his abandon-ship station, Running below at the Old Man's salute And (with a deck-watch) going down for duration Wearing his oppo's pneumonia suit. Comrades, for you the black captain of carracks Writes in Whitehall his appalling decisions, But as was often the case in the Barracks Several ratings are not at Divisions. Into the eyes the stiff sea-horses stare, Over my head sweeps the sun like a swan. As I stand alone in Parliament Square A cold bugle calls, and the city moves on. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 11 Jul 09 - 03:16 AM It wasn't even a week ago that Wakana and I were sitting at breakfast talking about how well we are doing, how good life is, and how happy we are. A lot can change in a short time. I had received a notice from the school about a new president, a nun that has been working at the university. This was not unexpected. We had an older nun filling that task and she wanted out. On Thursday I ran into one of the other teachers from ND. She told me that the principal had resigned with no notice and isn't speaking to anyone. The teacher I spoke with is the world history teacher and she told me she is leaving ND to move back to the States. That leaves TWO openings in the history department, my ultimate goal. I went to ND yesterday to find out for myself what was going on. I spoke to the former president. It was a very sad interview. She told me there was a new president for the school. Apparently she and the principal butted heads right from the beginning. She told the nuns they have a vow of obedience but that she did not and she walked out. This is, in itself, a shock. If anyone defined the unique qualities that made Notre Dame the school it is it was she. But it gets worse. The former president was ordered to go on sabbatical. She had just come back from one recently. She doesn't know where she's going. She just knows she has to report to the headquarters in Milwaukee. She told me that there had already been some conversations criticizing my classroom management. I guess it comes from my letting the kids listen to their music while taking tests and not paying a lot of attention to the proper wearing of the uniform. She said it "confuses" the kids. Hah! So now my life is uncertain. And I'm feeling stressed. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 11 Jul 09 - 04:35 AM bummer (to put it politely) sending hugs sandra |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 13 Jul 09 - 08:24 PM I am sitting in the college library supposedly doing homework before my class begins but I am procrastinating. The battery on my computer is almost dead so I will have to shut down shortly. There is still no light at the end of the tunnel as far as ND is concerned. I will apply for a job at Wakana's school and go to work for them if they'll have me. I found some interesting sites while researching WWI and WWII slang for a paper I'm supposed to be working on. I will post the addresses later. One has the histories of ships, all ships, no matter whose, no matter where. At least that is their goal. I have also been catching up on some Internet comic strips I used to read back in Maine. I have (had) ten years to catch up on. I am getting there. One is Sluggy Freelance. The other is Kevin & Kell. Sluggy is pure brain candy, not good for you but funny at times. Kevin & Kell is also very funny but it uses a world where the civilization is based on animals being intelligent. There are predator species and prey species living in a world with telephones and computers. Kevin is a large rabbit and Kell is a wolf. They are married. This does not sit well with the rest of civilization. When they go to a restaurant they have trouble because the staff assumes Kell brought Kevin as her meal. There are a lot of very silly and funny interactions that reflect on our society making it a social commentary as well as a funny comic strip. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 14 Jul 09 - 04:44 PM Hang in there, Brett! Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 14 Jul 09 - 06:25 PM You've survived much else, Brett. I am sure you will figure this out,too. We're all thinking of you and Wakana. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 16 Jul 09 - 04:35 AM I handed in the application at Wakana's school and was told they'd just hired a history teacher. No openings... I was disappointed but Wakana surprised me with the strength of her reaction. She cried most of the way home. A couple of weeks ago I brought a copy of the first Harry Potter book in the car as we drove to town. Just for the heck of it I started to read it out loud. Now we never go anywhere without a Potter book in the car and I read out loud all the time. We are more than halfway through the second book. Back when Kelli was very young I read the Lord of the Rings to her starting with The Hobbit. That was only four books. Now I am on a run through all seven potter books but it is fun. We get a laugh out of it and we also use it for some English lessons. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 22 Jul 09 - 11:41 AM The day before yesterday I found out that I do have a job at Notre Dame this school year. On top of that I will be teaching American History! This is the job I've wanted since I got out of college in 1980!. Twenty nine years is a long wait. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 22 Jul 09 - 02:03 PM Doing a Happy Dance! Congratulations! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 22 Jul 09 - 08:10 PM yah! all things come to those who wait |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 22 Jul 09 - 11:24 PM Brett- Excellent. "History is best taught by those who survive it." You may quote me if you like! Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 24 Jul 09 - 06:54 AM Charley, did you get my email about the workstations you built in your office? I've been feeling kind of crummy lately. It's a gut thing. The doctor gave me some pills to take four times a day and they seem to help. Actually I'm overdue for today's number three. I've been reading through the textbook I'll be using. Textbooks sure have changed since I was in high school. There are so many notes and added references that I cannot make out how the subject is treated. I don't know how to read this thing. Oh boy, what have I gotten myself into. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 30 Jul 09 - 04:45 AM Still not feeling well. I didn't go to class today. I think I am going to lay off food for a while. Just small light meals from now on. I've been working on my lesson plans. It's fun to see what I have to teach and how little time I have to do it in. The first ten chapters in the text take us from an unpopulated continent up to but not including the Civil War. There is a lot of information there. I was sitting in a coffee shop today waiting for Wakana to finish her class. I was working on my laptop and got a message that someone had posted a message for me on Facebook. I flipped over there, read her message and then scanned down to see what else I had missed. That's where I found out about Sandy Paton. Next thing I know I have tears flowing down my face and I can't focus on anything. A friend walked into the shop, a colleague from ND, and saw me crying. My God this has been an awful year. I feel so bad for Caroline. I remember her watching over one of her grandkids (Kaelan?) using a little telescope because her eyes were so bad. And now she's alone. Life just isn't fair. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 30 Jul 09 - 08:54 AM Brett- I'm also very sad about Sandy Paton but he and Caroline certainly had a full and rich life. It is unfair, however, that they also lost a cherished grandson. This has been a difficult year for losing valued mentors and other long-time friends. Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: SINSULL Date: 30 Jul 09 - 11:26 AM Caroline will never be alone, Brett. Her extended family numbers thousands. She has her sons and her grandchildren. BBC is helping run the business. She is a strong lady. She will grieve and move on. There are still good times ahead. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 30 Jul 09 - 05:19 PM {{{{{BRETT}}}}} Hope you feel better or find a doc who can help you to do so. Sounds as though the class will be a challenge, but you always seem to enjoy those; you get VERY creative in dealing with them and we benefit from your telling about it. Take care, friend, kat |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 30 Aug 09 - 08:49 PM Brett- We haven't heard from you in over a month. Is that good news or bad? Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Ebbie Date: 30 Aug 09 - 09:03 PM I've been wondering the same thing, Charley. Consider yourself 'poked', Brett. (Hate that (Facebook term - but I guess it's better than 'slapped'.) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: The Barden of England Date: 31 Aug 09 - 05:43 AM I've been missing the 'Tales from Guam' too. John Barden |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 31 Aug 09 - 10:38 PM Me,too. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 01 Sep 09 - 09:47 AM Brett's probably so busy correcting homework that he doesn't have any time to deal with his thread. Maybe we should throw a party! Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 01 Sep 09 - 11:26 AM party! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 06 Sep 09 - 11:08 AM Well, it's time to roll out them tropical coolers. Make mine a dark and stormy! This place looked a little untidy when I first posted in but it's looking better now. Even the mermaid looks more perky! Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 08 Sep 09 - 05:48 AM Hi guys, Sorry about that but the new school year is kicking my ass. I am finally teaching history but I have my insecurities. I am teaching two classes of world history and three classes of US history. In world history we've finally started on the Egyptians. In US we are looking at Jamestown. These kids have trouble. They really don't care. This morning I started with asking the perennial question, "Why do we study history?" I got the usual canned responses. So I pointed out Erich von Daniken who wrote Chariots of the Gods in 1968. He made a lot of money off people who believed him when he said that humans could not have built the pyramids. But we know who requested the pyramids, who designed them, who oversaw the gangs of men who worked on them, where the men lived, what they ate, where they are buried, and much more. If you aren't familiar with history you may as well throw your money at any passing charlatan who wanders into town. They seemed to like that. This afternoon I was having trouble with two sets of kids in the back of the room. You know the kind, not interested and too distracted by the gossip of the minute. I finally stepped back there and told them I didn't care if they were bored or not. I didn't care if they wanted to make a mess of their lives. The world always needs more burger flippers. BUT! They are NOT allowed to make a mess of their lives (pointing over my back at the rest of the class. YOU WILL SIT QUIETLY AND WAIT PATIENTLY FOR THE BELL TO RING! If I hear one word from any of you between now and then we will carry this conversation on 20 minutes after the bell. They managed to keep quiet after that but it is a momentary respite. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 08 Sep 09 - 08:21 AM Brett- Well, you're welcome in for a drink as well! What will you have? Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Leadfingers Date: 08 Sep 09 - 09:51 AM 400 |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: The Barden of England Date: 08 Sep 09 - 01:55 PM So good to hear from you Brett. Keep up the good work (and word). John Barden |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 08 Sep 09 - 11:16 PM Really good to hear from you, Brett. I hope things look up for you in the classroom; darn kids, anyway. They are lucky to have you. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 11 Sep 09 - 04:46 PM The weekend! Oh how lovely is a weekend. I have discovered the real value of working is to highlight the wonder and delight of Friday night and all day Saturday and Sunday. Not that we actually DO anything with that time. It's just that it is OUR time to do with as we please. Of course this usually entails writing lesson plans and correcting homework. But is is OUR CHOICE to do that... isn't it? My car is dead... or severely injured. It died a couple of times on the road and now will not start at all. It was acting as though it wasn't getting enough fuel. I changed out the filters but that did not help. I don't know what to do. The shop cannot figure it out. It has been there a couple of times. Sigh. On the up side a friend of ours has a pickup for sale. It's a 2000 Ranger 4 wheel drive extended cab. It was a company truck for an archaeological company here on the island and they don't need it anymore. Wakana and I are going to the credit union later to arrange a loan. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Amos Date: 11 Sep 09 - 05:05 PM Yay!! A voice from the Other Side!! "But Brett!", he replied softly. "Isn't that why you retired from Gummint Woik in the first place?" A |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 11 Sep 09 - 05:36 PM Go, go, ex-archealogical Ranger, go! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 12 Sep 09 - 09:12 AM No, I retired from the government because it was a stupid pointless soul sucking job that I had hated for 24 years. My current job of telling disinterested teens about the wonders of the world around them is way better though sometimes it does seem rather pointless. This week we will explore the wonders of the Indus River Civilizations (sophomores) and the Puritan settlement in New England (juniors). I can just hear them all out there preparing to be bored out of their minds. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 30 Sep 09 - 04:25 AM What a weather week. Last week all we had was rain. When it wasn't drizzling it was pouring. Then the sun came out. Now we are under the gray roof of clouds again. There is a simple explanation. Last week a typhoon ran south of us. It is battering Viet Nam now. This week we were missed again by a typhoon. And today we were supposed to be hit by a tropical storm. This weekend we will get yet another typhoon. And the Floridians complain if they get one hurricane. Sheesh! Today's storm has not materialized though the schools were closed in anticipation of the weather. It seems to have evaporated. Who knows what will happen with the next typhoon. It's still a tropical depression but the forecast shows it strengthening to full typhoon before it gets here. Melor will arrive on Saturday with 75 knot (86 MPH) winds and gusts of 90 knots (104 MPH). The beauty of the situation is that preparations for today's storm showed some serious problems with our (mine and Wakana's) readiness. The storm shutters I wanted to put up are inadequate and we have too few of them. I get two afternoons (Thursday and Friday) to make up the difference. Then we get clobbered for real... maybe. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 30 Sep 09 - 05:36 AM By the way, we bought our plane tickets for our Christmas journey home. We will arrive in Portland, Maine, on December 21 and head stright up to the farm to visit my parents and my kids. I get to see my granddaughter, the fabulous Sabra. We fly out on January 1. We have to be at work on January 3. I hope to get a little time in southern Maine to visit with friends. Can we set something up? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 30 Sep 09 - 12:53 PM Good luck on the shutters and other preparedness. Stay safe! Yeah! On Christmas...have fun! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: SINSULL Date: 30 Sep 09 - 01:03 PM See my PM Brett. And keep an eye out for tsunamis. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 30 Sep 09 - 10:21 PM Brett- Something between Christmas and New Year's is not out of the question. We could do a picnic down at Reid State Park but Wakana might never forgive us for such a freezing experience. The usual 3rd Friday and 3rd Saturday scheduled events don't work at all. We are open to better suggestions. Cheerily, Charley and judy |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 02 Oct 09 - 05:53 AM I'm sure most of you are familiar with the infrared weather images. You know the ones, the darker the color the harder the rain is falling. Looking at the local images is very exciting. I have never seen that much scarlet in my life. Last week, before the tropical storm petered out, we had three huge scarlet swirls rotating around Guam. Tropical Storm Palma, recently upgraded to super typhoon, Tropical Depression 18W, which petered out on Wednesday, and Typhoon Melor which is now building up to super typhoon strength. Luckily Melor will run off to the north. We will get some tropical force winds tomorrow afternoon and evening as it pounds Saipan and Tinian. We shouldn't see much more than that. Driving into town this afternoon was an education. All the storefronts have their protection in place with signs saying that they are open. The grocery stores are mobbed but that just might be the regular Friday crowd. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 03 Oct 09 - 03:43 AM Melor did run off to the north. We got a little wind and the northern part of the island got a little wet but they canceled the official warnings about the same time as I mounted the last of my typhoon shutters. Wakana and I wne to a new restaurant, Gyoza Yatai. The main theme of the restaurant is gyoza. This is a Japanese dumpling, a folded rice tortilla full of cabbage and spices and a little meat. They are either fried or steamed depending on the type of gyoza. We also had ishiyaki, a rice mixture with meat seaweed, broccoli, mushrooms and slices of bamboo served in a large hot stone bowl. The bowl is so hot you can hear the food crackling from its contact with the bowl. All I can say is YUMMY! On the way home we stopped to watch the surf. The typhoon may have wandered off to the north but the effect can be seen in the water. Pretty impressive. The rollers come in long lines one after another. They curl and break on the reef line, bright green blue topped with white foam. They break and run in but hit a second wall that throws them up into the air. The surf is white and above it is the mist of salt water flying in all directions. Very nice if you are standing on dry land or, better yet, sitting in a car. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 03 Oct 09 - 11:32 AM I find storms like that exhilarating IF, as you say, I can be safe and dry. When Hurricane Bob, I think it was, hit CT, my girls and I stood out on our porch and watched the wind whip through the town. We were probably a little stupid as it threw bricks off of our chimney and knocked down some tree limbs nearby, but we still loved it!:-) Stay safe! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 04 Oct 09 - 02:13 AM Nothing to worry about. The storms have gone by and we are untouched... so far. Who knows when the next storm will come? Wakana and I went to a new(ish) restaurant for lunch yesterday. Gyoza-Yatai serves gyoza as their central food. Gyoza is a Japanese dumpling but it is originally from China. I grabbed an ingredient list off a website. Here is what's in a typical gyoza. Ingredients: (for 30 Gyoza) * Dough: o 170 mL water o 200 g strong flour * Filling: o 200 g ground pork o Cabbage o Nira*: can be substituted by leek or green onion o Leek or Green onion o Garlic o Ginger o Sake* o Soya sauce, salt, and pepper o Sesame oil * Dipping Sauce: o Soya sauce o Vinegar * This ingredient may not be available in Western supermarkets, but you should be able to find it in Japanese grocery stores that exist in most large European and American cities. This is a "typical" gyoza but there are many kinds. Look them up to see what they look like. They are either steamed or fried and are very tasty. The restaurant does a very good job on them. The other part of our meal was a stone bowl full of a rice dish. The bowl was so hot that the food inside was crackling with the heat. It was all great. I told Wakana that I had a new favorite place to eat. Today is Sunday and we are making a lazy day of it... well, as lazy as a teacher can make it. We are each working on making tests or correcting papers. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 09 Oct 09 - 01:36 PM Wakana got hurt at work this week. She was holding the door open and calling her students into the room. One of them hit the door hard and smashed her hand between the doorknob and the wall. For a while we thought her finger was broken but the x-rays cleared up that worry. Not sure what's going to happen to the kid. He's one of those who is not careful and is too rough. They should boot him out. I got home from work this afternoon and felt like a steamroller had run over me. I laid down for a nap and slept for over three hours. Wakana slept longer and she'd had the day off. By the end of the week we are exhausted. The other day the woman who runs the Good Morning Market, our little convenience store, asked me how I was doing when I stopped in at the end of the day. I just looked at her and said "75 teenagers!" She knew what I meant. Her store is next to a bus stop and they crowd in there after school. It's 3:30 AM and I cannot sleep. The down side of a long nap. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: maeve Date: 09 Oct 09 - 08:04 PM Brett- I'm so sorry Wakana was hurt. I do hope she recovers soon. Do you have any arnica gel/ointment on hand? It is very helpful for such an injury as recommended by my physical therapist. maeve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 09 Oct 09 - 08:42 PM Brett- I'll send you a copy via e-mail of the poster Roll & Go is using for its Pirate Party at the Sidedoor Coffeehouse; it might cheer you up. Could you book us for a concert at your school? Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 09 Oct 09 - 10:49 PM I got the poster. Looks great. I'm going to take the file to the local copy shop and get a large size done for my classroom. Who's the new woman? She looks a lot like the new guy. Wakana is doing better today. She keeps the hand wrapped in an ace bandage but she did come out to help me repair some bookshelves. The pinky on her left hand is painful when touched but otherwise it is OK. The Micronesian Islands Festival is this weekend. Wakana and I will go tomorrow. Today is a lazy recovery day. I will take her to Hoa Mai for lunch. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 13 Oct 09 - 02:01 AM A lesson in how to be nice to people. Wakana and I went to Gyoza Yatai for lunch the other day. As we walked in we caught the waitress grabbing a bite of her lunch. She apologized as she came over but we told her not to worry. I commented that we believed that waitstaff are humans too. The manager came out and recognized us from our first visit. We made small talk and said nice things about his restaurant. We mentioned that we live in Talofofo which is quite a distance from the restaurant (as things are measured on the island). After our meal we were preparing to leave when the waitress came over to our table with a tall tapered glass full of white gooey creamy deliciousness. It was the desert we did not order but that the manager and she agreed we needed to have. It was full of fruit and whipped cream and jello and, at the bottom, corn flakes. Yummy! Oh, and the Micronesian Islands Festival is next weekend. We went down to Ypao Beach Park and found what could only be described as a party day for all the employees of all the largest companies on Guam. It was pretty exciting but it wasn't the Micronesian Islands Festival. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 13 Oct 09 - 08:40 AM Brett- The "new woman" you referred to in the Roll & Go pirate poster is Carol Davis, a former garage rockbandmate of Jeff Logan but not otherwise related. She and Eli do some nice harmonies together, swapping back and forth. We'll be bringing out a new CD in a month or so titled Roll & Go: Watch Out! Be sure to reserve a copy, for the entire edition will sell out in a week, or a month, or maybe a century! Happy festivities! Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 15 Oct 09 - 05:28 AM Last night I was lying in bed surfing the net with my laptop. I was looking for living history museums with internet programs I could use with my students. I dropped into Mystic Seaport to see what was available. As I scanned the page I noticed a link to some kind of letter about sailing the Morgan. I clicked on it. Next thing I knew I was crying and so happy! They are going to fix up the Morgan and SAIL HER! My tears surprised the hell out of me. Way back in the misty depths of time, when I was in grade school, my parents took me to Mystic Seaport. I walked on the Morgan for the first time. She sat at the dock firmly bedded in sand. It was so sad. I could see that even as a kid. Fast forward to adulthood. The Morgan wad been rebuilt and was floating. I was so happy for her. I walked the deck and, if I stood very still, I could feel her moving. It was so great! And when the crew set the sails and they pulled you could feel her move just a bit. NOW however, they want to set her free! They will let her sails take her out of the cramped river where she has been sitting for the last 68 years and out on to the ocean once more. I am so happy. I HAVE to be there when they move her. I MUST see her sail. Last night when we went to bed the skies were clear and the breezes wafted softly through the carport. This morning we woke to wildly tossing branches and torrential rain. Overnight a tropical depression established itself and grew to a tropical storm. It ran off to the south of the island today and has gone on to intensify into a typhoon. It's aimed at the poor Philippines. I don't know how many of these have gone on to hit them but they don't need any more. It is a lesson in how quickly these things can grow around here. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 15 Oct 09 - 09:22 AM Brett- You must have missed my comments about the Morgan hauled out for major rebuild when I was down at Mystic last June for the Sea Music Festival. Sailing her is the goal. I'll send you an image of what she looks like out of the water; the hull looks amazingly ancient! Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 24 Oct 09 - 09:27 AM I'm afraid I have not been watching the threads. I am getting really homesick. I don't sing anymore. I don't play my guitar. I can't remember many of the songs I used to do. I get really grouchy around the students... oh, wait, I'd do that anyway because they are such.. uh, dunderheads. Friday was Parent Teacher Conferences. I had forty some parents roll through my door. Most of the conferences were pretty good but it was exhausting. They don't understand why their little angel doesn't do well in my classes. I have made some pretty serious promises. I will be instituting a seating plan for several of my classes. I will require certain students to sit up front at the request of their parents. I will email worksheets to parents so they can sit over their darling angels and force them to do their work. I will learn that failing kids who do not deserve better grades means I have to pay the price in long discussions with parents who believe their snot nosed little brat is a perfect angel and that he may not be able to read but at least he can beat people up! What? What do you mean that isn't a Christian attitude? Just because he is supposed to be a good Catholic... I think I'm getting bitter about parents who buckle under the pressure and spoil their kids. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 24 Oct 09 - 09:54 PM Say, Brett, what's your latest schedule for your holiday visit to Maine? We'll be in residence and would very much like to see you and Wakana. Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 24 Oct 09 - 11:16 PM We arrive on December 21 and head straight up to the Farm. We fly home out of Portland on January 1. I'm hoping to get a day or two in the Portland area before we come home. Sinsull has invited us to her house and I think we'll take her up on it. I'm having trouble getting Wakana to plan that far ahead. I really want to see everyone I can and get in touch with my roots again. I also need to visit a number of stores to stock up on some items I cannot get on the island. I'm making a list. I spent most of yesterday (Saturday) asleep. I was beat. I felt better this morning and used my energy to take the riding lawn mower apart so I could figure out why it was eating drive belts and to put my bicycle in the back of the truck so I can fill the tires. Now I'm exhausted again. It's as though I have no reserves of energy any more. I gotta get on that bike and work out some more. My back is starting to trouble me. I'm too damn fat. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 07 Nov 09 - 08:41 AM Wakana and I went to Gyoza Yatai AGAIN. We always seem to end up there on the weekend. While there the manager told me he'd Googled the name of the restaurant and found this thread. He realized it was my thread from my description of Wakana's injured hand. So... Hi Frank and Ha'ana! Just in case he looks again. On Friday morning we woke to the alarm, eventually rolled out of bed, went through our usual morning routine, Wakana left for work and I was getting ready when I looked closer at the clock. I had been glancing at it off and on to make sure I was on track. Then I realized it was NOT ten minutes after seven. It was ten minutes after eight! Somehow we lost an entire hour! I got to work in time to miss my homeroom and just in time for my first block class. Wakana didn't realize it until she got to school and wandered around wondering why everything was quiet and all the kids were in the classrooms. We've been laughing about it but the only explanation we can come up with is alien abduction... or some kind of time shift. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 07 Nov 09 - 10:08 AM I arrived at my physio's exercise class an hour late one morning. I normally wake two & a half hours before I need to leave, but stayed up several hours longer than normal, so didn't set the alarm & woke an hour later & just did the usual (I must have still been tired!) As I was approaching the bus I realised it wasn't 10.40, it was 11.40, so I said a rude word or two, & kept going. I called into the class as it was finishing to explain. sandra |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 29 Nov 09 - 03:38 AM This is the end of the Thanksgiving vacation.We had a pretty good time. We went to Capricciosa for a spaghetti lunch and bought enough to have leftovers all weekend. On Friday we went out for a doctor appointment for Wakana and a little shopping. I went to my favorite place, Home Depot. Wakana went to hers, KMart. Mostly we've stayed close to home. Not hard to do when you live on an island. We are trying to save money for the trip home. Every time I am tempted to buy something I stop and remember it is time to swell the bank account. Last Wednesday I hit a low point at work. I was really depressed at how resistant the students are to acquiring knowledge. I spent a week talking to the Sophomores about the Romans and making it as grisly and sexy as I dared and the lessons dribbled off them like water off a duck's back. The Juniors slept through the War of Independence and grumbled all the time. I'm afraid I said some rather insulting and angry things about them while at home. Tomorrow we go back into the classrooms again. Sigh. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: SINSULL Date: 10 Dec 09 - 04:53 PM PM me with your tentative schedule. If Wakana expects to visit the Christmas Tree Shop for the AFTER CHRISTMAS SALES,SHE BETTER COOPERATE. Not really. We can be flexible with people we like. SINS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Amos Date: 10 Dec 09 - 05:29 PM Brett: Get some Bragg's Apple Cider Vinegar while here and start taking one half a teaspoon in your OJ every morning. It will improve your energy and help burn off the reserve stores. Only 1/2 a TEAspoon, mind you. A |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 11 Dec 09 - 06:52 AM Amos, what happens if you take a whole teaspoon? Sorry to be so quiet. This school year is tough on both me and Wakana. She has a particularly difficult set of students. I spend a lot of time listening to her decompress at the end of the day. A husband's work is never done. Recently she introduced me to one student who has given her a lot of trouble. I smiled, looked him in the eyes and shook his hand... the way we shake hands in Maine... you know, the strength contest between hairy-chested males? I could see the pain in his face. I told him that Wakana had told me all about him and that I was glad to meet him. Later he complained to Wakana that I hurt him. She innocently explained that she had told me all about his antics and that I had been looking forward to meeting him. It worked for a few days. Wakana and I talk about dogs using a phrase I picked up from a stand up comic. "Every time they blink they open their eyes on a whole new world." Our students are like that. At some point this kid blinked and he forgot the whole thing. I need to shake his hand again. We have a new teacher at the school. The Spanish teacher took a medical retirement and Mr. Catling came in to take her classes. It wasn't until he arrived that I realized some of what I've been missing. Mr. Catling is a new age kind of guy. He's small, dark, and wiry and has long Afro hair that he bunches at the back of his head. He is back on Guam after trying out the life of a professional actor. He learned Spanish in Spain. I really like him. He is like a number of people I know back home. New age, interested in a lot of things, plays music, has his own drums, etc. He wants to get the drama club running and healthy at the school. He is trying to plan a trip to Spain for his students but that will be very difficult because he will need about $60,000 to pull it off. Plus, he spent a few months working in The Old Town School Music Store in Chicago and is very familiar with folk music. Of course, he had a little misunderstanding with the administration. Our windows are covered with plexiglass panels. He had his students paint them in a swirl of colors and styles. I guess this did not sit well with the administration. I don't think he did anything bad. He's like a breath of fresh air. It is one of the few really positive things to happen in a long time. Anyway, I wanted to post my itinerary for all to see. We'll be spending most of our time with family in Houlton. I'll finally get to see my granddaughter again. The last time she was about six months old. Now she's almost two years old. She's walking and talking. Too cool. Here is our itinerary. Arrive Portland - Dec 21 at 10:42 PM We'll be picked up by my sister, spend the night at her house and then head up to Houlton. We are planning to go to Mary's for her New Year's Bash. Dates and times for our return to the Portland area are uncertain. Depart Portland - Jan 1 at 2:05 PM |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 11 Dec 09 - 10:41 AM Bragg's Vinegar is g-o-o-d stuff! I would not put it in my oj, though.:-) A little water, yes. Have a wonderful and safe trip, Brett and Wakana. Bring warm clothes!:-) kat |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: SINSULL Date: 11 Dec 09 - 10:57 AM Have to admit, Brett, I was bored to tears by history classes. It was all about wars fought by people who were long dead. Age has given me a perspective on the importance of it all but then I frankly didn't give a damn. Had one teacher make us memorize the entire battle plan of the final offensive of the Civil War - fascinating stuff. YAWWWNNNNNN. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: ClaireBear Date: 11 Dec 09 - 12:36 PM This is primarily for Mary. My father was a university history professor and a department head for many years. He was one damned fine teacher, and he built a department of damned fine teachers (who then taught me, so I know this to be true). This was his policy, as best I can articulate it: Teach about trends, movements, cultures, and principles; abjure memorization. Make sure that your students understand what happened; why it happened; to whom it happened; and how it interacted with what else happened -- earlier, at the same time, and later. Don't waste your time or your students' time requiring them to memorize facts that they could easily look up in a book -- just make sure they know how to use a library (and, these days, the Internet) and that they can tell a reliable source from a dubious one. Your teacher is probably now resident in the same circle of hell as the one who told my very dyslexic husband (when, as a junior in high school, he finally mastered enough reading skills to develop a love for the poetry of Robert Browning and proudly announced this to said teacher) that "a liking for Browning is a sure sign of a second-rate mind." Claire |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Amos Date: 11 Dec 09 - 04:15 PM Wal, you can read up on it in various health-food forums; it can cause a lot of flatus and burning sensations in inconvenient locations if you take too much. The standard prescription is usually one-half teaspoon. If you found it was working well for you you could see how you did working up to one teaspoon, but in my experience with it you don't want to go much past that. YMMV. However, I did find that it raised my energy and metabolism, and helped me burn off some weight. A |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: SINSULL Date: 11 Dec 09 - 04:36 PM Any teacher who would belittle any student for loving Browning (or any other poet or author,etc.)ought to be shot.When my son read a comic book, I encouraged him to read another. Any reading is better than none. By the way I have a brother in his 60s who brags that he has never rwead a book since he quit high school at 17. Brilliant. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 19 Dec 09 - 08:35 AM Tonight Wakana and I drove over to the other side of the island to have a last dinner at Hoa Mai. We stopped to put air in one of the tires. While there I looked at the sky and made her turn around to see it. There was a thin haze of high altitude cloud turned pale pink by the sunset. To the west of the line of cloud the sky was a beautiful turquoise fading to pale lavender. To the east the sky faded quickly to dark space shot through with twinkling stars. And shining through the pink haze was just the barest fingernail of moon. It was gorgeous. We got out our cold weather clothes and tried them on. They still fit and do not smell too musty. I ordered some boot from Beans. They are at my sister's house now. I'm not sure we can fit everything into the suitcases. A couple of my students were selling calendars to support the Gef Pago Island Dance troop. I bought five to use as Christmas presents and looking at them I wish I had bought more. Several of my students are in there. The pictures are so pretty. We'll arrive at the Portland Jetport around 1045 Monday evening. My sister will pick us up and take us to Monmouth for the night. Next day we'll head up to Houlton. I'm a little worried about my Dad. He's been fighting some form of leukemia, a form that apparently is common in the elderly. He's been getting blood transfusions and chemotherapy. I think Mom is worried too. Don't know how things will play out but I've gotta see what's going on. I spent the day working on my correcting job. It's an impressive pile of paper the students have generated. All I have left are the final exams and the extra credits then I get to load it all into the computer. Why did I think being a teacher was a good idea? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 19 Dec 09 - 10:32 AM wow - what a wonderful sky -I would love to have seen that it. around 6 tonight I was trying to photograph a silvery circle that looked like a full moon as it appeared & disappeared in the thick & thin fast moving clouds. Then it passed behind a space in the clouds & it was the setting sun. I got an uninteresting series of pics of clouds about the mid-Victorian Town Hall - bummer, it was not what I was trying to get. I do have sunset pics from my suburb on a hill above Sydney's CBD, including some with the Town Hall tower, but this was so different. best wishes for you visit to your family, Brett. sandra |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 19 Dec 09 - 11:34 AM Safe journeys, Brett and Wakana and may there be an ease of mind and heart concerning your dad. The sunset sounds spectacular! luvyakat |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 19 Dec 09 - 01:36 PM Brett- Our best to your father and mother. Charley Noble and JudyB |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: SINSULL Date: 20 Dec 09 - 11:14 AM I saw that same sunset in Maine with just a touch of purple added. The sliver of a moon was stunning. I wonder how many people all over the world, rich or poor, healthy or ill, in peaceful homes or caught in war, shared that same sight. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 21 Dec 09 - 10:09 AM Weather looks good for flying into Portland, Maine, this evening. Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 23 Dec 09 - 11:37 AM Arrived at my sister's house in the very early7 morning of December 22 after 33 hours traveling. Exhausted. Next day we drove up to New Limerick in my sister's car. Just north of Bangor we ran into snow. By the time we got to Patten we were down to 45 MPH with whiteout conditions every time a car or big truck passed us. It's still snowing. I may not be able to0 get back to Guam. Did I mention the cold? And the dry air is killing my sinuses. Some more whine, my dear? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 23 Dec 09 - 11:44 AM Never thought of New England having "dry" air...but that was compared to the high desert.:-) What did Wakana think of driving in the white-out? Glad you arrived safe and sound, at least! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: SINSULL Date: 23 Dec 09 - 12:14 PM Cold and dry. I never got chapped lips until I moved up here. Dry fluffy snow you can sweep with a broom - weird. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 23 Dec 09 - 01:22 PM Gee, Brett, we thought you'd be pleased by being greeted with a major snow storm. After all, you haven't had a chance to shovel this stuff for years. Hope you brought your ice scrapper. Looking forward to seeing you and Wakana after Christmas. Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 23 Dec 09 - 04:34 PM Sins, that's what my sister says the snow is like in Alaska...she never has to shovel her driveway it is so dry and light. That's not always normal for Maine, is it? Don't you have a lot of humidity in the summer? (Sorry, Brett..carry on.:-) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 23 Dec 09 - 07:29 PM have you contributed to the 'Is it snowing where you are' thread! sandra |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Amos Date: 23 Dec 09 - 07:44 PM I accused my boss of whining this morning and he laughed and told me that a TexAs buddy has once informed him, "If you want sympathy, it's right between shit and syphilis in the dictionary...". A |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 30 Dec 09 - 07:20 AM Very busy time in New Limerick. Great time with my kids, Parents, and grandkid. Now we are back in southern Maine. The drive south was almost as difficult as the drive north. Arrived tired and ready to sleep. I need to rent a car today to make the rest of our trip a littler easier. Wakana really wants to see the Maine State Museum. I'd like to get to Mary's house today. My sister keeps a very cold house. We are freezing. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: SINSULL Date: 30 Dec 09 - 09:40 AM God is punishing me for being a sloppy housekeeper. LOL Your room is ready. The rest of the place is chaos. Welcome to my world. BUT just got an oil delivery so I can crank it up 90 if you need it. For reasons unknown, your room upstairs gets all the heat so you'll be warm at night. When I sleep in that room I open a window even if it's 10 degrees out. Lots of warm afghans too. Mary |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 30 Dec 09 - 11:16 AM Best laid plans time. Wakana wants to make tempura for my sister's family. I guess we'll be there tomorrow morning. Sigh. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 30 Dec 09 - 05:05 PM Words & Music by Charlie Maguire © 1981 Oh, Cold & Misery It was ear-ly one morn, like so man-y be-fore, Oh, cold and mis-er-y, I put on me coat and walked out the door, Stand-ing a-lone on the froz-en ground. I went to the place where my beast lay asleep... On four tires of rubber, a long cord in its teeth... I opened the door and I jammed in the key... But no sound could I hear, nor exhaust could I see... So I called up my neighbor, to him I did spoke... And he soon came a-riding on clouds of white smoke... We went to my beast and pried open its jaws... But black, icy darkness was all that we saw... On its terminals bare, long cables I placed... And I gave it a charge with revenge on my face... The smell of the ether it hung in the air... And empty Heet cans lay about everywhere... And when we were moving, its anger was gone... From its radio voice came music and song... But tonight, when the dark comes to its moving parts... It will again be the beast with the ice in its heart... Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Ebbie Date: 31 Dec 09 - 04:06 PM Feeresh |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 01 Jan 10 - 12:25 PM Looks as if Brett and Wakana will have decent enough weather for flying out of Portland, Maine, today. It was great to see them again at Sinsull's New Year Party. Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: SINSULL Date: 01 Jan 10 - 12:29 PM Tami took them to the airport a little while ago. Brett and Wakana are eager to get home and sleep in their own bed. It was so good to see them. Fun breakfast with Jacqui and Tami. Lots of laughs mostly at Brett's expense. He was the only man. Talk of a Mudgather at their house in the spring. Who's in? HEH HEH |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Ebbie Date: 02 Jan 10 - 12:36 PM (Holding the bag high so when they are ready they can dip in) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 03 Jan 10 - 01:23 PM I'm wondering if our wandering snowbirds have found their way back to Guam, or whether the flight dropped them off in Iceland instead. Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: SINSULL Date: 03 Jan 10 - 01:50 PM They were due home at 7PM on Sunday and had to go to work Monday morning. Bet they are sleeping. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Ebbie Date: 04 Jan 10 - 11:32 AM OK. In that case, I'll give it another shot in the arm. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: SINSULL Date: 05 Jan 10 - 11:23 AM Is anybody out there?????? Anyone remember that line? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 06 Jan 10 - 08:13 AM Sinsull- Most likely they're swinging in hammocks, with tropical coolers nestled close by, the fireflies flitting among the evening shadows. Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Ebbie Date: 06 Jan 10 - 11:15 AM There are fireflies in Guam? There aren't any in Oregon or in Alaska. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 07 Jan 10 - 09:24 PM Sorry about that. We landed around 7:00 Sunday night, got home around 9:00 and were at work early next morning. I'm never doing that again. I think I have only just recovered but I'm not really sure about that! My cold is hanging in there. I've been telling the kids that I went to Maine and all I got was this cold. It was a good trip but way too short though I don't think we could have stayed in the cold any longer. We truly were happy to walk out to the car in the warm weather when we got to the airport. Next day we brought the cats home and that made the house complete. Since then it's been run, run, run all the way. This weekend is supposed to be our chance to relax but I think we will end up working most of it. This afternoon we need to do our laundry then tomorrow morning, bright and early, we have to go to the lab to get our blood drawn for our physicals. I hope we get the chance to go to the movies this weekend. I need to catch up. Right now I am substituting for the art teacher. There are kids crowded around work tables, talking and laughing, and working, while I play nursemaid and make sure they stay under control. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Ebbie Date: 07 Jan 10 - 09:48 PM But isn't it nice to get back home! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Amos Date: 08 Jan 10 - 12:36 AM Say, BRett, is it snowing where you are? That's what I thought. A |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 08 Jan 10 - 08:36 AM Brett and Wakana- Nice to hear that you're back, and before the temperatures dropped to the really cold single digits as it has this morning. Our cats are lounging about in the hot spots today, Tilahun on the window seat (with baseboard heater beneath), Tejitu on the desk top beside me next to the slide scanner. I'm wearing long underwear and a wool vest on top of my polar fleece shirt and I may add a hat and mittens before the day is out. Yesterday we were up on the porch roof repairing a bad leak caused by ice and snow. Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: ranger1 Date: 08 Jan 10 - 07:06 PM Charley, isn't it a bit awkward wearing long underwear on top of your fleece shirt? I'll get me hat... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 13 Jan 10 - 07:27 PM This morning I went out on the carport for my morning exercise. I have a piece of plywood set across some sawhorses to use as an exercise table. I go out wearing only my shorts and do my regimen as the sun comes up and I revel in the cool morning breezes. No long underwear, no polar fleeces, no snow, no ice, no nothing but tropical wonders. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Ebbie Date: 13 Jan 10 - 09:26 PM Charley! Go back and read the instructions. The underwear goes inside. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 13 Jan 10 - 11:59 PM Brett, you're worse than Amos!**bg** So glad you are home! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 14 Jan 10 - 10:59 AM Not to worry, gang, I'm well experienced in undercover work. Charley Noble, still resident in windy New York City |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 19 Jan 10 - 05:16 AM We experienced real cold today... according to my co-workers. They complained about a cold front moving through the area. When I got home I checked. The thermometer was down to 74 degrees! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 19 Jan 10 - 09:34 AM Brett- "Down to 74"! So sorry to hear that. I do hope you've got a sweater or two in reserve. Here in Maine the temperature went up to 70, in this house after the furnace kicked in this morning. Outside it's somewhat colder with a foot of new snow. Charley Noble, back in Maine |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: The Barden of England Date: 19 Jan 10 - 04:54 PM Thank goodness you're back. I was missing my Pacific news. John Barden |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 20 Jan 10 - 07:22 PM Still cool (i.e., cold to my students) and it's been very windy yesterday and today. Yesterday it was windy and rainy but today it's windy and sunny. Wakana was offered a chance to teach two classes at the university. She usually teaches one at a time. Now they want her to teach a class at 3:00 and one at 5:00. The sticky point is that she doesn't get out of work at the high school until 2:55! Yesterday she met with the students and explained that she would be starting the earlier class at 3:10 and that they should wait for her to arrive. I wonder how many will use it as an excuse to avoid her class. After a certain number of absences the students automatically fail. The long and the short of it is that Wakana goes to work at 7:30 AM and doesn't get home until 6:30 PM. That makes for a long day. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 25 Jan 10 - 06:41 PM I am in class right now. I have put on a movie, the first interesting movie for my sophomores. They are quiet and attentive but then I would be too after the threats I made. I explained that my second block would never see another movie in my classroom again after their behavior while watching the last movie. They decided that the movie was a good time to talk, read magazines, and text their friends. They repeated their behavior after two warnings. So, no more movies. I suppose I will relent at some point but it will be after the other blocks see a movie they cannot. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 01 Feb 10 - 05:51 AM I followed the Grammy's and was sorry to see that Kendall, Jacqui, and Dan didn't win. Still, it is a great honor to be nominated. This weekend we picked up a new dinner table and chairs. Our old set wasn't really a set. My ex got the old table and four chairs and let me have the captain's chairs and two of the side chairs. The last two have finally given up the ghost and you can't buy just chairs. I put the new set together in the living room and set it where the sofa used to be. (We traded the sofa for $100 off the dinner set. Next to it, on a cabinet, I set up my old JVC AM/FM amplifier and hooked up my new turntable. I connected the turntable to the computer and voila! Ed McCurdy's Folksinger's Choice from vinyl to mp3! Now I gotta dig out the boxes of records and get started... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 02 Feb 10 - 08:08 PM Monday was Teacher Appreciation Day. Tuesday was Family Appreciation Day. Today is Student Appreciation Day. Tomorrow is Catholic Schools... mass. Monday we found a full breakfast in the teacher's lounge put on by the Seniors. I wish I had not already eaten a breakfast. On Tuesday we teachers were each assigned a group of students who formed our Royal Family for Royal Connections. we had a short meeting where we were supposed to give ourselves a name. Last night I went out to buy candy to share with my students. I've been "appreciating" them all day. Some of my students wanted to be appreciated twice. A few wanted a whole handful of appreciation but I limited them to one appreciation each. When the Student Affairs Assistant brought the attendance sheets by I appreciated her too. I've even been appreciating myself once or twice. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 02 Feb 10 - 09:32 PM LOL...got any of that appreciation left? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 03 Feb 10 - 09:48 AM Appreciation Days invariably revert to Depreciation Week, in my experience. I bet there's a song for that thought! Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 08 Feb 10 - 08:14 PM I almost ran out of appreciation but I had planned ahead and had some emergency backup appreciation on hand. Friday was the annual Catholic Schools Conference. Monday we had a Faculty Development Day. So the kids got four days off but we didn't. I started to clean up the mess on the carport. I need to organize my "workshop" and find all my tools. Wakana wants a shelf and a cabinet for the kitchen. I also want to work on some other projects. The other full time social studies teacher told me she had a box of stuff for teaching world history. She gave it to me and it is a gold mine but... there is a good proportion of books and magazines I gave to the teacher I replaced. So the stuff has come full circle. It's good stuff. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 19 Feb 10 - 12:25 AM It's Songfest time again at ND. Each division has made up a song and are rehearsing for the competition. I'm sure the seniors will win it. They have been a tight group since their freshman year. The juniors and sophomores just don't care enough. They use the rehearsal time as a chance to chat with friends and not be in class. Actually that is an exaggeration. MOST of them don't care, a few do care, and the rest are too apathetic to work up an opinion. One of my students, one of those who care, was almost in tears the other day because of her apathetic classmates. In the meantime I have to listen to their half whispered (because they don't know THOSE words) and half shouted (because they DO know those) ff key and poorly timed antics while their "leaders" try to get them to shut the hell up. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 19 Feb 10 - 09:47 AM Brett- Maybe they would benefit from a harmony workshop with Roll & Go, or not? Roll & Go should be releasing our new CD Look Out! in a month or so; you heard the news first! After two large snow storms here in Maine we haven't had anything to speak of for a month, and now the temperature is up to 40 degrees F. Tomorrow we go down to the Press Room for another session with Tom and Linn. Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: SINSULL Date: 19 Feb 10 - 10:02 AM Brett and Wakana, I put out the chocolate covered macadamia nuts and dried mango at the last house concert. WHOOSH! Gone. Wonderful stuff. Thank you. Mary |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 22 Feb 10 - 12:20 AM You are wecome. Need more? It is 3:10 and I am riding herd on the Junior Class as they practice for Songfest. It's frustrating to listen to them but it would be worse if I actually had to get involved. In World History we have reached the Medieval period, my favorite. I tried to explain trade guilds today, first effort. I'll try again Wednesday. Sometimes you have to present the material several times. This weekend I built a workbench on the carport. Sunday I tried to replace the toilet in the little bathroom. Somebody glued it down with some kind of grout or concrete. I needed an 8' pry bar to get it unstuck and then had to chip away the grout material. When I was done I found the builder had never installed the closet flange, the device the toilet bolts to. Now I need a professional. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 22 Feb 10 - 09:09 AM Brett- There should be an appropriate medieval punishment for such a builder, boiling in oil or a stretch on the rack. Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 27 Feb 10 - 05:56 AM This afternoon was Songfest. It was the 33rd annual event. The kids came together and did a really good job. I don't know who won because we left early. They sang, we ate barbecue, and went home. We are tired but it is a three day weekend. Monday is Discovery Day. March 1, 1521, Magellan anchored off Guam and sent a boat ashore. By the time he was done several Chamorros were dead and at least one village was burning. I don't know why the island insists on celebrating the event but it is good for a day off. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 01 Mar 10 - 08:18 PM Songfest results: Seniors won for best stage performance. Juniors won best entrance and exit. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 01 Mar 10 - 09:02 PM Kind of like Columbus Day. Good for the singers winning! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: SINSULL Date: 02 Mar 10 - 10:42 AM Best Entrance and Exit??????? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 03 Mar 10 - 01:50 AM Yeah, the kids choreograph an entrance and exit each with their own music. Our entrance started with the boys in the bleachers and the girls lined up on the floor. The boys called out a question and the girls answered while dancing towards the stage. The exit started with the kids on a darkened stage. They started the song and raised their hands and swayed in time with the music. Each kid had a glow stick so it looked pretty good. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 03 Mar 10 - 01:54 AM Neat! Any videos? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 05 Mar 10 - 12:10 AM I am so happy to say there is. My kids are on YouTube. Check out the link. ND Juniors The soloist also was one of the lyricists and is one of my favorite students. You can see their whole performance on the video though the lighting isn't very good for the entrance and exit. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 05 Mar 10 - 09:39 AM Brett- Well, they sure looked and sounded to me as if they had their hearts and souls in it. Good job! Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 05 Mar 10 - 10:50 AM She's got a beautiful voice and they all did so well at harmonizing and keeping a tempo without a director in sight. Good music backup,too. Neat song, did she write the lyrics? Loved it and hope we get to see more! Thanks, Brett. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 07 Mar 10 - 11:48 PM I just had the greatest experience. We have a group of students from the Notre Dame School in Kyoto, Japan. We had a great assembly with speeches and performances including a long performance by a cultural dance group. Four of my students are in that group and the rest of them are students here. We are on an adjusted schedule now. Shortened classes make up for the assembly time. Anyway, I had to sub for the senior physics class. These are kids I worked with in their sophomore and junior years. Early on in the period a group of the Japanese visitors came into the room. While they were there another group entered the room. Then a third group arrived and their escorts were carrying a guitar and a drum-like thing. Next thing I know the students are all singing and laughing and having a great time. They were actually sharing music the way we did/do whenever we get together. It was great. We had a great time but no work was done. Who Cares! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 08 Mar 10 - 12:19 AM what a buzz. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Charley Noble Date: 08 Mar 10 - 09:59 AM Brett- Sounds pretty neat! Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 10 Mar 10 - 06:20 AM Kurusawa was a genius! TCM is celebrating the 100th birthday of the legendary Japanes director Akira Kurusawa. The man was a genius. I watched most of Ikiru (1952), a story of a bureaucrat who learns he has cancer and six months to live. He is determined to leave a legacy. In anyone else's hands it would be a forgettable movie. Kurusawa turned it into gold. It isn't necessarily the story bu the way it was told. Most of the movie is spent with Watanabe (the protagonist) trying to relearn how to live life. Once he decides to get the city to build a park the mvie jumps to his wake and the rest of the story is told in flashbacks from the bureaucrats at the wake as they slowly come to realize just what he did and what he risked. See it if you can. See any others you can see too. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 18 Mar 10 - 08:27 AM St. Patrick's Day is over again. Until I started at Notre Dame that day was just a chance for everyone to be Irish. Here it is a formal saint's feast day. Of course everyone is supposed to wear green but here wearing orange will get you snubbed pretty badly. I continued my protest by not wearing green. The kids did not understand. They also do not understand that in the non-Catholic world the day is only a day to celebrate being Irish, even if you aren't. Poor Wakana is exhausted physically and mentally. She is carrying two jobs, high school teacher and college teacher, she is chairwoman for the Nihon-go Challenge Bowl, and she is in the Japanese Language Teacher's Association. She has a kid in one of her high school classes who is totally out of control. Yesterday he caused a fight in her classroom. Today he is suspended but he will be back in a couple of days. I wish I could do something for her. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 18 Mar 10 - 11:09 AM We love Kurusawa's movies, too, but I don't recall seeing that one. Will definitely see if netflix has it. I know what you mean about wearing green. My dad always insisted on us wearing orange, but we also had a bit of green to keep from being pinched. I honoured his memory by doing so, yesterday. {{{{Wakana}}} luvyakat |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: SINSULL Date: 18 Mar 10 - 11:45 AM How about visiting the class and putting the fear of god into the little shit. Or...maybe just speaking with him quietly to figure out what is going on in his life to make him behave like that. Sounds like a pretty angry kid. Are the parents involved? Tell Wakana I think of her often - her beads and silk scarf are on the bookcase where I see them every day. SINS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: SINSULL Date: 18 Mar 10 - 11:52 AM If you have not seen Rashomon and Ran, put them at the top of your list. Brilliant. The incredible soaking rain in the opening scene of Rashomon is not to be believed. He was a genius. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 18 Mar 10 - 04:39 PM Brett, a reporter from Public Radio International was there in Guam reporting on her visit from Minnesota during the winter and what Guam and MN have in common....Spam - the dubious canned meat from Hormel in MN! Did you know that Guam eats more Spam per capita than anywhere else in the world?! Sixteen cans per person per year, I think it was. She even interviewed some young Chamorro girls about it and noted the gov. is stressing more exercise as obesity is becoming a problem. Also, Hormel has offered a low-salt Spam now. The ads for exercise were sponsored by...McDonalds!LOL! Anyway, it was fun to hear, plus it led to a neat site with recipes and other Guam info at Guampedia. I don't know if they will put up the audio later today or not, but you can read the synopsis HERE. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 18 Mar 10 - 10:46 PM Gee, I wish I'd known she was here. I was always a pretty good supporter of MPR. It would have been nice to share a former Mainer's opinions of life in Guam. By the way, the governor is pushing a name change for the island. He wants to use the older name of Guahan. As for the kid, the parents are NOT there. At one point she was escorting the kid to the office and his father happened to be there. He didn't react to what his son had done. I met the kid earlier this year and made a point of shaking his hand... hard. He didn't get the message. Spam is the local favorite food. When you ask for ham and eggs for breakfast you get (kind of) ham flavored spam. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: katlaughing Date: 18 Mar 10 - 10:53 PM She may still be there...it's still winter in Minnesota.:-) I hope something can be done about that kid. Can Wakana ask that he be transferred to another calls if available? When did they change the name to Guam and how do you pronounce the older name? I don't think I'd eat out much there; I cannot stand Spam and we didn't have it around much when I was a kid. Yuck!*bg* |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Ebbie Date: 19 Mar 10 - 12:01 AM Alaska and Hawaii are also traditionally big Spam eaters. I imagine it has to do with the perishibility of uncanned meats. But yuck. My mother served it a few times when I was a kid in Oregon; I don't remember her doing that after we were a bit more grown. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 19 Mar 10 - 01:17 AM Spam is on the shelves of my local supermarket, but I haven't eaten it for many decades. sandra |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 20 Mar 10 - 08:12 AM Go ahead, live a little. Try it with eggs in the morning. Wakana's frustrating kid has used up all his chances. One more incident and he will be expelled. Unfortunately they give them too many chances; private warnings, public warnings, in school suspensions, etc. It all means he continues to hang around causing problems for everyone. Our schools give two grades. There is the academic grade and a citizenship grade. This kid cannot do better than the lowest citizenship grade. At Wakana's school that grade is given to him by the home room teacher. At my school we each give the student a citizenship grade. Guam's name has always been in dispute. Magellan and the early Spanish settlers called it, and the other Marianas Islands, Islas de Ladrones, the Islands of Thieves. There have been others. Currently the local dispute is between Guam and Guahan. I think the dispute is the result of the 'build-up'. We have a bunch of Marines moving to Guam because Japan doesn't want them any more. They keep raping the Japanese women. The infrastructure is already stressed by the 150,000 people already living here. Various sources make the population increase any where from 20,000 to 50,000 people. Our roads are bad, the water and electrical systems are bad, and the police have enough problems keeping up with the drugs and domestic abuse cases. Traffic in Tamuning and Tumon are already hard to handle during the rush hour. What will it be like with another 40,000 people here? There is a beneficial side. While the rest of the world is suffering through a near-depression we have been spared the worst ravages because the government is pouring money into the economy in the form of jobs preparing for the arrival. Homes are being built and businesses are opening left and right. Still, tonight we have no water pressure. There is probably a break in the line somewhere. I am happy to be living and working in the southern end of the island. We are far (10 to 15 miles) from the busy end of the island. yet the crime has struck close to home. A young man in Yona (Joh'-nya) was beaten to death last week by a gang of juveniles who were looking to steal his pot. He apparently was a supplier. He had several trash bags full of the stuff. Several of my students knew him. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Settling in Guam From: Naemanson Date: 20 Mar 10 - 08:21 AM The next thread is here. |
