I've Made Friends!

Last day of the conference, huzzah!  Another bright and early morning today.   I had to be at the conference by 7:30 today, but it ended at about 4:00 (instead of 9:00 like last night).  I sit at the registration table with my bosses wife Linda all day, she is very intellectual woman and boy can she chat! She was my entertainment for most of the day. She can talk to you about anything and everything… most of it about her family and experiences in life. She didn’t ask me a single question about myself the ENTIRE time.  But I can tell you a lot about her J Which is fine, I didn’t mine the one way conversation. :)

 My boss Phil is in the middle! Everyone at at the conference in one pic

 This is the main room the conference was held in, pretty nice eh?

As completely miserable as my sunburn has been, it’s helped me make a lot of friends! I guess people instantly have something to talk to me about, and I’m pretty sure I have heard every sunburn joke in the book now.  One of my new friends is Manny Hechanova.  He works for the University of Guam and was a the conference to help with all of the IT stuff.  He is hilarious!  He has been SO nice to me this week and today after the conference he said he had two presents for me. He gave me some of his favorite cookies, and a jar of spice made here in Guam that he loves.  I was tickled pink! He is such a cool guy.

 My new friend Manny!

Haha then there is Frank Cruz… he is one of the attendees of the conference.  I wasn’t quite sure what to make of him at first, but today he brought me his own personal sunburn remedy.  It’s a bottle of coconut oil, some sort of plant that had medicinal value to help sunburns, and then the scent of some tropic flower to mask the medicinal plant smell. I again was blown away at how kind and thoughtful these folks have been!  He assured me that this would help my sunburn more than anything else.  I was SO grateful!

After the conference ended, I had to go to my room and scream into a pillow… the miscommunication and lack of communication today was putting me on the edge! I took a therapeutic walk to the beach and let my iPod and the waves take me away for a bit…

 This is my all time favorite view from the hotel, I stare at this at least 10 minutes a day in awe.

I am in love with the trees here! They grow over the beach chairs and it's my little sanctuary.

Then the fun could begin!  There is this place called the Chamorro Village that is a local market open every Wednesday night.  I was so excited! I was dropped off with 5 of my co-workers, and several others came in different cars. It was SO FUN!  There was so many little shops and tons of place to eat.  They had some Chamorro fire dancing which was pretty intense! But my favorite memory of the night is when I was talking to this DJ selling electric reggae music.  We were going back and forth on prices when he offered me “betel nut” which my understanding is this local nut that is totally addicting, gives you a high and rots every last one of your teeth. I laughed and asked him if he knew what a Mormon was.  He asked quizzically, “You’re a Mormon?”  I nodded my head and he gave me a nod and fist bumped me.  I guess that was a cool excuse in his book.

 On the mainland kids ride horses, in Guam they ride water buffalo!

 These were my favorite things I saw, coconut piggy banks!

 This guy had some sort of reptile on a leash and with its mouth taped shut... I wasn't too interested in getting closer than this!

 Catching part of the show!

 The youth dancing at Chamorro Village, so much fun to watch!

 They had a chocolate store! Chocolates made in Guam! I was SO tempted but I am holding strong on my no chocolate for a year...

 So instead I bought a BBQ chicken kabob :)

This couple was KILLING me! They caught me filming them and waved for the camera! The husband has got some hilarious dance moves, and you gotta love her fake smoking. It's worth watching!

My last friend I’ve made here is Ed.  He is one of the staff here at the hotel.  He was the first person I met when I got here and he checked me in and everything.  Every time he sees me he calls me “Miss Megan” and he is always asking me how I’m doing and giving me suggestions on things to do around the hotel. He’s 23 and we had about a 45 minute chat tonight, I think we’re going to be Facebook friends :)

My friend Ed!