BS: Working (at last) in Guam

Subject: RE: BS: Working (at last) in Guam
From: SINSULL
Date: 20 Jul 06 - 11:00 AM

You temted fate asking about that other shoe. Sounds like a bite to me too. Hot compresses? Better still - a trip to the Emergency Ward.

Subject: RE: BS: Working (at last) in Guam
From: Naemanson
Date: 22 Jul 06 - 06:33 AM

Quest went home today.

In December 2002 a supertyphoon wreaked devastation all over the island. Amid the rubble the remains of a canoe house sat squarely on Quest crushing her spirit and soul. The broken pieces went up to Nimitz Hill where they sat under a tarp and ragged canopy while Manny and the rest of the crew worked to find the right wood and carve it into the replacement pieces needed to make Quest whole again.

Quest moved down to Paseo Park where she sat under a tarp waiting the long months away while modern boats powered past on their way to fishing grounds on the open ocean. Every weekend a tarp was spread and the crew worked carving the bits and pieces of wood needed to bring her to life again. Then, when threatened by weather and possible vandals she moved into the "cage", a locked covered area where we could work on her. Finally Quest sailed again but still she waited in the cage.

While she waited the crew worked to build her a new home. It was slow work, hot and sweaty, delayed by lack of funding and bureaucracy, lack off materials and lack of dedicated time to build the traditional home of a seagoing canoe, a proa from the old days.

Thanks to the tireless efforts of many and the unceasing pushing of a few the canoe house was finished and dedicated. Today Quest finally sits in her new home by the bay, the waters where Chamorros sailed their canoes for thousands of years before the Europeans found them and imposed a new way of life upon them. Tonight she dreams the old dreams undisturbed by the modern cars and boats that pass her, the fishermen who fish with modern gear and speak in languages she could not recognize. She is home and it feels good for us to know it.

Thanks to the crew who worked so hard to get her home. Thanks to Manny who is our teacher and navigator. Thanks to Larry who pushed and paid for so much of our materials and food and drink needed to keep the crew at it. Thanks to Gordon whose sweat and perseverance has made the task possible. Thanks to Anthony, Daniel, Bruce, Al, Ward, Steve, Ron, Tom, and all the others who came out to make this happen. And a special thanks to the Puluwat community who brought their expertise and muscle to the raising of Sahyan Tasi Fache Mwan. Quest is home and where she belongs.

Subject: RE: BS: Working (at last) in Guam
From: JudyB
Date: 22 Jul 06 - 12:08 PM

You do such a good job telling the story - thanks for the update!

Subject: RE: BS: Working (at last) in Guam
From: Ebbie
Date: 22 Jul 06 - 01:47 PM

Congratulations to you all - and to her.

Subject: RE: BS: Working (at last) in Guam
From: katlaughing
Date: 22 Jul 06 - 07:08 PM

Brett, that is just plumb beautifull. Thanks for painting us the picture.

Hope your leg is better, today.

Subject: RE: BS: Working (at last) in Guam
From: Naemanson
Date: 23 Jul 06 - 02:06 AM

The leg is doing much better, thank you. It's still swollen and red but not as angry looking as the other day. It no longer hurts. The center is black but smaller.

Gordon and Anthony came by to drop off some stuff. They liked what I wrote about the canoe. I had sent it out to members of the club. Gordon suggested I send it to the newspaper so I did.

I've been figuring out the chords to Tanglefoot's Traighlie Bay, a song about successful pirates. It's a good one. If anyone knows tha chords to their Silver Island Mine I'd love to have a copy.

Subject: RE: BS: Working (at last) in Guam
From: bbc
Date: 23 Jul 06 - 07:16 PM

Glad to get a report on that leg, Brett. Your previous message worried me!

Barbara

Subject: RE: BS: Working (at last) in Guam
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 24 Jul 06 - 09:53 AM

me, too, she says

sandra

Subject: RE: BS: Working (at last) in Guam
From: Naemanson
Date: 25 Jul 06 - 04:08 PM

The other night I was working on Stan Roger's song Giant. I was trying to figure out how to play it in the alternate tuning that he recorded it in. Wakana sat down and looked at the music and then picked up her little accordion. she tried it out and we worked on it together. She was frustrated because she couldn't see the keyboard and the little thing, not much more than a toy, didn't have the range required for the song. So we dug out the old keyboard that I bought for Amy a hundred years ago, stuck some batteries in it and she made much faster progress. It's a Yamaha electronic keyboard with 60 some keys. She played through Giant and then went on with tunes she had played back when she used to play piano. It was a very nice evening.

Wakana uses a different musical system than any I've heard of. When she first mentioned it I was surprised and confused. In Japan kids re taught Do-Re-Mi... as we are in our schools. But the Japanese use it as the names for the musical scale. Do is always C. Re is always D. Thus, if you want to work in the key of F you start with Fa and run up as follows:

FA        SO        LA        LA#        DO        RE        ME        FA

This was quite alien to me and took me a while to wrap my head around. It works well for her so who am I to argue. When she was working out the chords for Giant she was writing her Do-Re-Mi in Japanese characters with the little sharp and flat symbols in standard English.

This week I am substituting for the two regular English teachers at the Liberal Academy. The school has a summer camp for Japanese kids and the regular instructors are working with them. I now have to work with the two Korean students, Ji-Young and Yon-Hee. Believe me, it is no difficulty. Those two are very easy on the eyes. They are each in their mid thirties. One has a 12 year old kid with her parents back in Korea. She is trying to start a Korean restaurant here in Guam. The other is working as a waitress in a Korean bar. She wants to get into the import-export business when she goes back to Korea. She figures knowing English will help. Ah, if I were single and in my thirties again....

Yeah, yeah, I know, bad boy! I know that I already have the best partner I could possibly find. These two are fun to look at and talk to but I would never do anything to jeopardize my chances for another evening like the one I just described. Besides, all of you would hate me forever!

Subject: RE: BS: Working (at last) in Guam
From: Charley Noble
Date: 25 Jul 06 - 08:03 PM

Here's to working up "The Giant" for your next pub performance. I've always loved the song, and was fascinated by its chord transitions which went well beyond the 3 usual ones. I used to do it on the autoharp.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Working (at last) in Guam
From: Naemanson
Date: 28 Jul 06 - 04:01 PM

Give me a foot, give me an acre, I am the jolly matchmaker!

Yon-Hee, my afternoon student (female, cute, 36, single, Korean, waitress), needs a study buddy for English. Takashi, my evening student (male, handsome, 30, single, Japanese, engineer), also needs a study buddy. Well, two plus two makes four.

On a no-chance-of-a-relationship note, Ji-Young, my morning student (female, cute, 37, single, Korean, waitress) is already in a relationship. However she is an athletic type and I will pair her up with a group of peole who go hiking every Saturday morning. Hopefully my new student, Sachiko (female, cute, age unknown, married, Japanese, housewife), will be interested in going along also. That will get them out of the Korean and Japanese society and language patterns and into an English speaking environment to practice their new language.

Teaching English can be a very difficult job. I have to speak slowly and clearly, I work with people with heavy accents so I have to listen very carefully, I have to explain words without using most of my vocabulary, and I need to help my students conquer their pronunciation problems and keep the lesson interesting. Sigh, this working for a living sucks. Last week I had to work 24 hours! Of course it's much more than that because I need to prepare for the classes. But I went to work every day! I'm exhausted. How did I ever manage working 40 hours a week?

Of course the men and women I'm working with are, overall, interesting. Takashi is an engineer working for a Japanese firm installing underground power on the island. He is thin and tired all the time. He works incredible hours for a lousy boss. He get Sundays off, sometimes, and has no time to study. He just started studying English and it shows.

Ji-Young is here from Korea trying to start a Korean restaurant with a business partner. She has a Japanese boyfriend. She spends a good part of every day running, swimming, or going to the gym. I hope she knows that business owners don't have time for that kind of thing. She has been studying English for only three months and has made wonderful progress.

Yon-Hee is here from Korea working under a special visa as a waitress in a Korean bar. I believe the job was set up for her by the bar owner, her sister. It's probably just an excuse for an extended visit with an older sister who is trying to get her to do something with her life. Yon-Hee is single but says she wants a boyfriend. She has six more months on her visa and then she has to go back to Korea. She hopes to go home with fairly decent English in her repertoire.

Sachiko is a new student. I know a little about her from my very first experience at Liberal Academy. She was a student then also when I substituted for someone. Sachiko is a housewife. She doesn't seem to have much more in her life right now. If I can pair her up with Ji-Young for extracuricular activities outside the home then her English, which is already pretty good, will improve dramatically.

Next week at the school will be the Japanese summer camp. We'll have thirty two kids screaming around the place with only a few escorts to keep them under control. I, fortunately, will not be one of them. I am off next week. And it's about time for a vacation.

Subject: RE: BS: Working (at last) in Guam
From: Naemanson
Date: 29 Jul 06 - 07:15 PM

Yesterday was my birthday. Wakana gave me two pair of shorts and two DVDs. She had shortened the shorts to a more suitable length, not the knee length half pants that everyone wears but above the knee, a more comfortable length. Later that evening my daughter called me.

In the morning we met Ji-Young at Paseo Park and sent her off with the Boonie Stompers. That is a group that hikes different trails around the island. There are a lot of places to hike here. Then we went to the canoe house to meet with Gordon and Manny. Manny got to talking about life on the island of Polowat and the legends there. Apparently Polowat and the Marshall Islanders share an ancient set of legends about the sons of Rondilap. Manny thinks the legends might have originated there because the Marshall Island group includes two islands named for the sons.

On August 26 our canoe house will host a Pwo ceremony. This is a religious ceremony ordaining new master navigators. We need to build an earth oven. Ordinarily this would just entail digging a hole but most of the area where we want to dig is considered by the government to be archaeologically significant. No digging without hundreds of forms, filled out, signed, lost, found, recycled as peat and then dug up again. The Government of Guam learned a lot about Vogons and applies all those lessons liberally. So we need to bring in a ton of sand, spread it on the ground on top of plywood, so we don't damage the grass, dig the earth oven into that, and then take it all away after the ceremony. Joy.

I did some searching for references to the Pwo and came up with some interesting sites.

Here is a list of Pwo References for a movie about navigation.
The site for the movie has several interesting sub sites. One of the most famous navigators was Urupiy, a man that Manny talks about with something like awe.
Here is Urupiy's biography.
Urupiy came from the island of Lamotrek.
You can see a photo gallery of Urupiy here.

You can see an article about Manny here.
Manny comes from the island of Polowat. There are photos of his home island in this gallery of photos from Micronesia.
If the photos come up on your computer four to a row then you can see the following important things on that page.
Row 16 shows a man wearing a 'thu'.
Row 17 shows a canoe house just like the one we built.
Row 20 shows a canoe similar to Quest in a canoe house.
Row 23 shows a picture of Rapwi. He is the navigator that will conduct the Pwo ceremony at our canoe house.
Row 24 shows a Micronesian meal of rice and coconut crab.
Row 24 shows a paddling canoe similar to the one we are building.
Row 30 shows a small sailing canoe similar to the one we want to build. Actually we want to build a fleet of these.

You can see Photos and a discussion of Polowat here.

Here is a canoe just like Quest under sail. And here is another photo of a voyaging canoe just like Quest.

Subject: RE: BS: Working (at last) in Guam
From: bbc
Date: 29 Jul 06 - 10:29 PM

I'm sorry, Brett. I had your birthday listed on my calendar & missed it, anyway. A very happy day after (Here, it's still the 29th!).

love,

Barbara

Subject: RE: BS: Working (at last) in Guam
From: freda underhill
Date: 29 Jul 06 - 10:54 PM

Happy birthday, Naemanson - a very well deserved one. It's wonderful to read about your life in Guam and your lovely partner Wakana

best wishes

freda

Subject: RE: BS: Working (at last) in Guam
From: Naemanson
Date: 05 Aug 06 - 07:14 PM

Yesterday afternoon Gordon called to tell me there is a storm building in the east and headed our way. Sure enough a tropical depression was developing into a tropical storm and was scheduled to be over head by 3:00 AM. I ran outside, put away a lot of the junk we (I) have lying around and took down the canopy. Today it turnes out that the storm will miss us and we'll get some rain and wind. Whew!

Last week Liberal Academy was "closed" so we could host a summer school of Japanese kids. I didn't have any of my regular students. Instead I taught English to two of the mothers of kids in the summer school. One mother, Kumi, brought her daughter, Marina. It was a fun class. Kumi and Sayako had some proficiency in English. Marina, it turned out, has a pretty good vocabulary but no experience in speaking. Getting any of them to speak was a chore. I learned a lot about what I need to do in teaching English.

Marina is one of the cutest kids I have seen in a long time. She has flashing eyes and a wonderful smile. She's thirteen but in another ten years she is going to be a heartbreaker. At one point I had all three of them unscrambling sentences. One of Marina's sentencses, when unscrambled, was 'I like candy.' I asked her about her favorite candy. She hemmed and hawed and consulted her mother in Japanese. At one point, to illustrate eating her favorite candy, she held her fist in front of her mouth and moved it back and forth. Sayoko and I exchanged a look and looked away and let her mother deal with that but inside I was laughing. It turns out she loves lollipops. I hope, it the future when she discovers sex, that she does not remember this incident.

Subject: RE: BS: Working (at last) in Guam
From: Naemanson
Date: 05 Aug 06 - 08:36 PM

Gordon just introduced me to Google Earth. Check it out. Wakana and I can see our house!

Google Earth is a program you download that allws you to view satelite photos of the earth. The resolution is terrific (mostly). Wakana and I looked up our house and it is clearly there though it looks like the picture is a few years old. The house still has its back corner and the neighbor's house has not been built yet.

I looked for my parent's home but the pictures of Maine do not have a very high resolution. Neither do the pictures of Nasushiobara so we couldn't see Wakana's home either. But check it out. If you are curious about Guam about half the island is clear.

Subject: RE: BS: Working (at last) in Guam
From: GUEST,Greg
Date: 06 Aug 06 - 03:49 PM

Hi Brett, I found this thread by accident and went back to the very start. It took me a couple of afternoons to read it all, but it was well worth the time. I was on Guam in the mid-70's, lived on the naval base and remember many of the places you have spoken of. You have a way of bringing words to life. Thank You for sharing.
                                        Greg

Subject: RE: BS: Working (at last) in Guam
From: Charley Noble
Date: 06 Aug 06 - 04:47 PM

Brett-

Check out Google Earth for Georgetown, Maine. For some reason the resolution is high enough in that area of Maine to see our family farm on Robinhood Cove.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Working (at last) in Guam
From: Naemanson
Date: 07 Aug 06 - 03:12 AM

Wow, Greg! That was a major undertaking. I'm glad you enjoyed it. Stick around for the next chapter.

Saturday afternoon Gordon called to tell me that a tropical depression was on its way. Wakana and I raced around in the deepening dark and rain getting the canopy down and putting away the junk that seems to expand beyond out outdoor closet. We ate pizza for supper and collapsed on the couch to the sounds of thunderous rain showers. Next day was cloudy and rainy but... no wind. The storm had puffed into existence and threatened us within 24 hours. Just as quickly it had dissipated.

Today I had my class with Ji-Young and got the story on her hiking trip. She told me it was hard. She'd had the wrong shoes and got soaked by the rain. She wasn't able to talk with anyone because she had to keep moving. They were out there for five hours. When I apologized and sympathized I got the rest of the story. She didn't go back last week and isn't going back next week because the hikes are classified as 'very difficult'. She will be going after that when the hike is classified 'medium'. She realized that she liked the experience. I think she is one of those people who love a challenge and one of those hikers was a 70 year old man. I think she doesn't like the idea of being out-hiked by someone 37 years older that she.

Subject: RE: BS: Working (at last) in Guam
From: Naemanson
Date: 11 Aug 06 - 10:06 PM

What a week! It has been very busy and challenging. I guess I was working with seven students at various times. Two of them brought in additional students! My boss is thinking that I should continue to work with the individual students when we begin the dropout program. I appear to be gaining some popularity with the students. One of the Japanese students told Wakana that I make her comfortable becuase I am familiar with Japanese customs and the language. That's all very well but it doesn't explain why one of my Korean students brought in a friend to sit in on a class.

For me I truly enjoy the work. Most of my students are women, lovely younger women. They are a joy to look at but I adhere strictly to the no-touch rule. I am mature enough to know that looking is OK but closeness is not desired on their part and it wouldn't do my life any good at all.

On an educational level the work is very challenging. Most of the students have paid for classes rather than individual lessons. That means I usually have students working at different levels of ability. Some can understand me very well. Others do not understand at all without a lot of help.

Then there is the difficulty with dealing with Asian women. They do not readily reveal anything. So after you work very hard at getting them to say something, thinking they do not understand, they speak clear English without a bit of hesitation. One of my students is there because her husband (another of my students) believes she cannot speak English. After a few moments of conversation I realized she speaks better than he does!

The school has been running a summer school for Japanese children, teaching them English in the morning and taking them out for adventures in the afternoons. The kids are in Guam with their parents. Three of the mothers decided to take English classes while their kids are in summer school. One mother brought her daughter to my class for a week then the little girl was to join the summer school in the second week. She is the cutest kid with bright dancing eyes and an infectious smile, and very shy. She is also very bright. We had fun working together. After one day in the summer school she asked if she could rejoin my class. She said she'd learn more English from me and then could spend the rest of her day with her mother.

I was very sad on Friday when they finished their last lesson.

Subject: RE: BS: Working (at last) in Guam
From: Naemanson
Date: 14 Aug 06 - 05:50 AM

When we got home on Friday we found that the air conditioner was dead. We called the landlord and a repairman, a tall Phillipino named June, was out the next day. He determined that the fan motor was burned out. That was Saturday afternoon. There was no chance to get the motor repaired that weekend. Today is Monday and now the landlord has a motor. Tomorrow we get it installed (I hope).

The weather has been cool (low 80s) but rainy. The humidity is very high. I washed clothes on Saturday and hung them up on door frames around the house. Today, on Monday, I finally took them down. They are relatively dry. Paper in the house is like wet cloth. All surfaces are sticky. I hope we get our A/C going soon.

Subject: RE: BS: Working (at last) in Guam
From: katlaughing
Date: 14 Aug 06 - 01:03 PM

Still loving this SO MUCH, Brett! Thanks for the links to pix and for sharing.

luvyakat

Subject: RE: BS: Working (at last) in Guam
From: Naemanson
Date: 15 Aug 06 - 08:26 AM

The air conditioning is FIXED! And we have no water... "Showered" tonight with a plastic bowl and a washcloth.

Here's a question for those in the know. Wakana has created a very good set of flash cards for teaching Japanese. Does anyone know how flash cards get published?

Subject: RE: BS: Working (at last) in Guam
From: katlaughing
Date: 15 Aug 06 - 10:54 AM

Yea A/C!!

I would assume with the flash cards, one could submit them to a publisher, one that is known for publishing those types; print & package them oneself, in standard postcard size that shouldn't be too complicated; or, see if somewhere like cafepress.com has a blank set which you can set up with your designs. I don't think they do, as you'd have to do a different product for each card. Maybe check with a playing card manufacturer. Also, check with any specialty advertising company.

Good luck, that sounds neat!

Subject: RE: BS: Working (at last) in Guam
From: Naemanson
Date: 16 Aug 06 - 08:24 AM

Today I had an arthrogram on my wrist. If you've never experienced the joys of the arthrogram take my advice. Avoid it if at all possible.

I was seated in a chair with my arm on the table. The doctor turned on the machine so he could place the needles with the novacaine injections. Then he got out the big needles to inject an X-ray fluid. He had to sink the needles in between the bones in my wrist and then inject the fluid. I'm not sure at which point I passed out. I woke to find the doctor and his assistant holding my legs up in an effort to re-establish blood flow to my brain. After that I was too groggy to notice what the doctor was doing and he finished his work.

I went out, paid for the procedure and headed for home. I hadn't eaten in a long time so I grabbed a chicken sandwich at Micky Dee's. Pulling out of the parking lot I heard a strange noise from the front end. I hoped it was from one of the other cars around me. My wrist was abnormally swollen with all the fluid he'd pumped in there and bleeding from the large needle holes. It hurt like hell. I headed home for an ibuprofen and a nap. When I got to Agat the sky, which had been threatening all the way home, opened up like someone had upended a bucket. My windshield wipers couldn't keep up. There were no puddles in the streets, only lakes and rivers. I was still groggy and my wrist hurt and the power steering pump or the front end was making a funny noise. I was never so happy as when I pulled into my dooryard. In the fifteen feet between the car and the door I was soaked to the skin.

Now the swelling has gone down a little and the pain has been reduced somewhat. I'm headed for bed. It's been a lousy day.

Subject: RE: BS: Working (at last) in Guam
From: Charley Noble
Date: 16 Aug 06 - 12:15 PM

Yikes, Brett! You mean to tell us you didn't consider getting a friend to drive you home?

I suppose, better a lousy day than no day at all. Be aware that though your luck tank is apparently not running on empty, it may be getting close.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Working (at last) in Guam
From: Naemanson
Date: 16 Aug 06 - 04:27 PM

Yeah, I probably should have but nobody told me the procedure was so difficult. Wakana was working and I just went of in my innocence to have a little test done on my wrist.

It's funny, last Sunday I decided that I would try to swim a lot more than I do. Every day I drive past Fisheye, a great place to snorkel and swim. Fisheye is a tower that stands in thirty feet of water. Tourists pay to walk out along a bridge and descend the circular staircase to a lounge where they can see the fish swimming in their natural environment. The coral has grown into fantastic shapes and the fish are large and varied in their color and their species. It's a good swim. The water is generally calm and there are few currents. Many of the dive companies take tourist divers there. It's not unusual to see large groups of divers wading out through the shallows for the deep water.

So, anyway, I decided a nice swim every day would be good for me. Unfortunately there has been some other requirement, task, or deprivation come up every day since then! It's not fair!

And there is another chapter in the Government Auction Saga. I did not bid on anything in this last auction. There was a diesel truck for sale but I guessed it would go for about $5,000. Nothing else appealed to me. Gordon, however, is a different story. He bid on several lots including the truck. It turns out I was right about the truck. It sold for $5,500. Gordon didn't get it. He did end up with three overhead projectors, some other electronic gear, and seven hundred and twenty plastic canteens. Remember the collapsable water tanks? Remember the mattress covers? Now he has a surplus of canteens! Sigh. Anyone want one? Or two? Or a dozen?

Subject: RE: BS: Working (at last) in Guam
From: Naemanson
Date: 17 Aug 06 - 07:52 AM

Tonight after work we stopped in at the Mermaid Tavern for supper with some of the crew. The assistant director at Liberal Academy is Dan O'Keeffe. He swam for the American team in the 2000 and 2004 summer Olympics. He runs swimming seminars and coaches teams also. He's a very nice guy and a good person to work for/with. In December they will have the second annual winter loop swim race. The sponsors want to call it Dan's Cup. We had a great time around the table swilling beer and postulating on who would want to compete for Dan's Cup. According to Shinko Dan has lots of girlfriends so I assume they would be interested...

Subject: RE: BS: Working (at last) in Guam
From: Charley Noble
Date: 17 Aug 06 - 10:48 AM

Brett-

"Dan's Cup"? You know there may be a song in this one.

Musing further, have you considered working up "Tales from the Mermaid Tavern"?

There are millions to be made from such a potential best seller.

As your mainland agent, I'd like my 10%.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Working (at last) in Guam
From: Naemanson
Date: 18 Aug 06 - 08:36 PM

Charley, Charley, Charley, how many times do I have to tell you? There hundreds of pennies, maybe even a thousand, to made in folk music. Certainly not millions. Just think, a million pennies would be $10,000 dollars! I can't imagine anyone making that kind of money in folk music. I know there are some people who claim to make that kind of big bucks but they travel a lot you know [wink, wink, nudge, nudge]. What would happen if their bags were ever searched. Who knows, they might be smuggling kumquats!

Subject: RE: BS: Working (at last) in Guam
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 19 Aug 06 - 02:13 AM

q.
How do you make a million in folk?

ans.
start with 2!!

Subject: RE: BS: Working (at last) in Guam
From: Charley Noble
Date: 19 Aug 06 - 10:13 AM

Rolls in, rolls in,
My god how the money rolls in, (rolls in!)
Rolls in, rolls in,
My god how the money rolls in!

My brother's a street missionary;
He saves little girlies from sin;
He'll save you a blond for a dollar –
My god how the money rolls in!

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Working (at last) in Guam
From: Naemanson
Date: 19 Aug 06 - 11:16 PM

Then there's the old story of the fishermen (or folksinger) who won the lottery. When asked what he was going to do with all that money he replied, "Keep on fishing (or singing) till it's all gone."

Wakana is out mowing the lawn this afternoon. She loves to cut things. Last week she hauled me into a chair and held me down while she trimmed my beard and hair. At breakfast she looks out the window at the jungle and sighs wistfully wishing for a chain saw. I swear she used to live in the Sahara Forest.

Subject: RE: BS: Working (at last) in Guam
From: Naemanson
Date: 20 Aug 06 - 07:54 AM

For the last nine days the island of Guam has been hosting twenty six Japanese seventh graders and their five chaperones. Liberal Academy has been part of their visit, teaching them English and providing tour operators. Tonight was their farewell party.

For those of you who have or have had teenagers you may remember what they are like when excited. Consider the five men and women who volunteered to chaperone this group. For nine days they have put up with twenty girls and six boys all about thirtten years old. If there is an award for endurance it's being wasted on athletes.

We met at the Holiday Plaza at the VIP Chinese Restaurant. We sat at round tables with a large lazy susan in the middle. The wait staff dropped plate after plate of food on the lazy susan and we worked our way through vegetable dishes, brocolli beef, sweet & sour shrimp, fried rice, and a very spicy tofu dish.

The kids had "organized" an entertainment, demonstrating as only kids can, the mysteries and wonder of Japan. We saw karate and kendo demostrations, half heard riddles, enjoyed origami, and watched them dance to YMCA and the Macarana. They all wanted to be in a picture with everyone else. It was a rambunctuous and noisy evening.

Subject: RE: BS: Working (at last) in Guam
From: Naemanson
Date: 21 Aug 06 - 07:43 AM

Today was to be my slow day. I had a class with two students in the morning and then nothing for the rest of the day. But... life has a nasty habit of hitting you when you least expect it.

When the boss arrived she announced that two of the other employees were out sick. She wasn't feeling well either. At 2:00 she and the only other employee that was left had to go pick up another load of Japanese summer campers. The sticky point was that there were six Japanese kids in the back room that needed English lessons. There was only one person who could do the job... moi.

I had forgotten how noisy and rambunctious kids could be when you don't share a language and have no time to prepare for the experience. At one point I made up a treasure hunt and sent them out in two teams to search the hotel for various things. Peace reigned supreme for a short time.

I'm tired.

Subject: RE: BS: Working (at last) in Guam
From: Naemanson
Date: 25 Aug 06 - 05:32 PM

Disaster! I just learned that sometime last week the Mermaid burned! The only brewpub on the island is closed and gone! The only place that makes a good pale ale.

Charley! I blame my years with Roll & Go. Remember laughing about the places that closed or were destroyed after R&G played there? Did I acquire the R&G hex?

Subject: RE: BS: Working (at last) in Guam
From: SINSULL
Date: 25 Aug 06 - 07:02 PM

Come on back to Maine, Brett. We'll even build you and Wakana a pub.
SINS

Subject: RE: BS: Working (at last) in Guam
From: curmudgeon
Date: 26 Aug 06 - 03:55 PM

Don't mean to add insult to injury Brett, but two of the places that you and R&G played at last year's Maritime Fest have gone out of business. I'm still scrambling to replace them -- Tom

Subject: RE: BS: Working (at last) in Guam
From: Naemanson
Date: 26 Aug 06 - 09:03 PM

Ouch! Tom, didn't Charley warn you about the negative side of R&G? We seem to have that effect on places. I had hoped it only applied to R&G but it seems to have attached itself to me!

Yesterday I had to admit to a failure. It was one of my tourist students, a fouteen year old girl. Marin's mother brought her in because Marin has not been succesful in school English classes. I was supposed to give her a leg up. I failed. The kid KNOWS English. She has a very good vocabulary. She can construct sentences. Her pronunciation is good. But she refuses to use it. She would not speak to me unless I dragged the words out of her. Our "conversation" became a string of questions from me, mostly centered around the "What is it?" variety. Yesterday I worked with her for two hours, walking around Paseo Park showing her the sights to be seen there. We stopped at the Jamaican Grill for some of their delicious iced tea. We saw a fishing boat bring in a seven foot long marlin. We watched Manny carve on the paddling canoe and Anthony carve on a paddle. Yet, at the end of the time we worked together she still refused to speak unless forced. It was the classic young-girl-not-wanting-to-talk-with-the-old-man story.

Sigh.

Subject: RE: BS: Working (at last) in Guam
From: Charley Noble
Date: 27 Aug 06 - 11:27 AM

Brett-

The "curse" of the old Portland Folk Club may still be running amok, in the demise of the Mermaid Tavern. But think of the possibilities for a new drinking song:

THE OLD MERMAID TAVERN

Some friends and I in a public house
    were playing dominos one night,
When all a-sudden the bottleman comes,
    his face all chalky white;
"What's up?" says Brett, "Has you seen your Aunt,
    Has you seen your Aunt Mariah?"
"Me Aunt Mariah be buggered," cried he,
    "The bleeding pub's on fire!"

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Working (at last) in Guam
From: Naemanson
Date: 28 Aug 06 - 04:34 AM

"Hello!" he said with evident false cheerfulness. "I just came from the hand doctor."

It appears the arthrogram was a complete success and now he knows what he needs to do. It appears that there is a torn ligament that needs to be repaired. They will do the surgery on September 7. My right wrist will be out of action for 6 to 8 weeks. He intends to put in some wires that will keep the wrist from moving for that whole time.

At the end of the arm bones is a crescent of three bones that make up the first of the wrist bones. The bone nearest the thumb has separated from its mate and now rolls in the wrong direction when I flex my wrist. The most hopeful scenario is that there is enough of a "tag" on each bone that he can sew it back together using arthroscopic techniques. The next is that there is enough of the ligament there that he can anchor it to the bone with a minimum of intrusion. The most intrusive technique comes up if he hasn't got enough in there to work with. Then he'll have to open up the wrist, steal a piece of bone and ligament from another part of the hand and then attach it in the right place with screws.

All in all it will not be a fun experience.

Subject: RE: BS: Working (at last) in Guam
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 28 Aug 06 - 08:18 AM

doesn't sound like it will be.

sandra (crossing her fingers that no. 1 is the right one)

Subject: RE: BS: Working (at last) in Guam
From: Charley Noble
Date: 28 Aug 06 - 09:27 AM

Youch!

Well, at least they have a clear picture of what the problem is.

If they can't find enough of your ligament to do the job, you could lend them an old guitar string. Are yours still catgut? Duct tape should do a great job of immobilizing your wrist.

But youch!

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Working (at last) in Guam
From: JennyO
Date: 28 Aug 06 - 12:22 PM

Ooh.... brings back memories! I had three lots of surgery on my left wrist after a bad break a few years ago. People said "lucky it's your left wrist", but I soon found out how many things you need two functioning hands for! That part's a bit of a nuisance.

It took a while, but despite gloomy predictions from some, it's now as good as new. Lets hope your hand doctor is as good as mine was, and lets hope the easiest option works out!

Subject: RE: BS: Working (at last) in Guam
From: Amos
Date: 28 Aug 06 - 01:07 PM

Oi, mate. Lemme know if you need someone to give you a hand.   (Groan).

Serously, I wish you great success. Tell him not to use KrazyGlue.

A

Subject: RE: BS: Working (at last) in Guam
From: JennyO
Date: 28 Aug 06 - 01:26 PM

..as long as he doesn't finish up like the earth - mostly 'armless (double groan).

Subject: RE: BS: Working (at last) in Guam
From: Naemanson
Date: 28 Aug 06 - 05:12 PM

CTM (Chuckle To Myself, i.e., not as hilarious as ROTFLMAO. It's all a pun really deserves when a groan is not enough.)

Subject: RE: BS: Working (at last) in Guam
From: GUEST
Date: 28 Aug 06 - 06:24 PM

Krazy Glue might be just the thing, ackshully.

Subject: RE: BS: Working (at last) in Guam
From: Naemanson
Date: 29 Aug 06 - 06:12 AM

When the doctor told me my right wrist would be out of commission for 6 to 8 weeks I commented that I would have to teach my left hand to do a few things, such as brush my teeth. He chuckled and suggested a vibrating toothbrush. I thought that was a good idea but that there was the other end of the alimentary canal to think about. My left hand has no experience down there. He said that is what a garden hose was for.

Subject: RE: BS: Working (at last) in Guam
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 29 Aug 06 - 08:47 AM

your doctor sounds all right!

I was laughing at CTM then I read the last post - good thing no neighbour was walking past my door, it would have been too hard to explain what I was laughing at.