First Post!

Hafa Adai Gang!
I know I promised a lot of you I'd keep a blog of my adventures so nobody will miss out on any stories. This way you can all share in the humor and tragedy of Asians on vacation. (there's a very fine line, trust me) I got into Guam week ago Saturday. Actually it was Sunday morning. I left Salt Lake Intl at 1:30 PM on Friday. Traveling for 22 hours straight is grueling let me tell you. The flight from SLC to Tokyo wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The stewardess (or if you prefer flight attendant) was about as icy as O-Town in February but I was determined to win her over because she was the one who would decide how many free Heinekens I would drink. I just kept looking her in the eye and saying thank you so much everytime she would come over to me and by the time we were flying over the Pacific, we were fast friends and I was on my 3rd beer. In the 13 hour flight I was able to down about 5 which I do believe is about 3 more than anyone else got. Yay! I had a 4 hour layover in the Tokyo Airport which sucked. Though I did eat some awesome buckwheat noodles, I can't remember what they are called but it was like ramen on steroids. The urinals in the bathrooms looked like midget escape pods on a Star Wars spaceship. Finally boarded the plane for Guam around 730 japan time which I figured was about 4 am Utah time. I had the privilege of sitting behind the only dude on the plane taller than me and of course he felt the need to lean his seat back. I gave him a complementary knee massage for about 30 minutes and then conceded and moved over to the window seat. Also for my listening pleasure there were two screaming babies. One directly behind me and one on my left. They seemed to coordinate their vocal assaults so that when one would take a rest, the other would do the work of both. Once in awhile they would both stop for a minute or two, just long enough for me to dose off and then would start in together. After a trans-pacific flight and a 4 hour layover in Japan, it was just perfect. I've never considered myself a violent person but the thought of stabbing a baby was tantalizing.

I stepped off the plane and felt the island humidity for the first time. I love the humidity. Granted, I has taken me a week to get used to it but it's a nice relief from the arid climate of home. I had a day off on Sunday to recouperate which was much needed. I felt jet lagged until about tuesday. I spent all of last week training and will spend the next week doing the same thing next week and then it's off to the races. This resort has a lot of stuff to do. There is a swim-through aquarium with live fish and big clams and coral. It pretty cool but it's kinda gross. Not my favorite station. I taught my first lesson in the swim-through on Wednesday or so. You show the people how to use a snorkel and tell them not to kick their feet because they will cut them on the razor sharp coral. I had two Japanese girls and a Korean couple. The Japanese girls were cool but one decided she couldn't swim, mind you they are wearing life jackets... Anyways, I thought she was saying she couldn't see so I spent about 5 minutes trying to fix her mask until I realized what she was saying. The Korean couple didn't want to have anyting to do with me and wouldn't listen to anything I said even though they spoke English. The woman decided that she wanted to kick her feet and tried to turn around halfway through, two of the no-nos we spend 10 minutes or so explaining before they start. It was quite entertaining. Another day was spent teaching archery. I might be the worst archer ever. Out of the 40 or 50 arrows I've shot, maybe 5 have hit the target, none even close to the center. There's also this ninja course modeled after the ninja warrior show. It's fun but it was designed by two five foot nothing guys which makes a few of the stations pretty much impossible for a guy like me.

We are expected to always be smiling and making sure the guests are having fun. Everyday at noon before we go to lunch, we meet in the center of the waterpark for some ridiculous dancing. You're supposed to go around and recruit guests to join in the embarresment. Kids are pretty easy to get but adults are a little more challenging. We do the macarena, the chicken dance, follow the leader, and some others that I can't remember. Honestly, I kind of enjoy it. I had this guy come up to me, I think he was Japanese, and ask me, "Isn't that embarrassing?" and I said of course but we Americans like to be embarrassed. He didn't know what to say about that and walked away shaking his head and deciding whether or not he wanted to laugh. Pretty funny. I've been keeping busy, my day usually starts around 7 or 8 and goes till about 1 or so unless we go out which can stretch till 3 or so. It's pretty much a dude's club with all my co workers. Out of the 30 or so clubmates, 7 or 8 are girls and about half of those don't really like guys if you know what I mean... It's fun though because we'll go to a bar and pretty much take over. Good times but I can tell the locals aren't huge fans. Too bad everyone is so cool, it makes it really hard for them to not like us. I played my guitar for a bunch of people last night which was fun. When I started playing Guitar Man there were like 5 people in the room and by the time I was done there was like 15. Mostly Korean interns that live in the hotel with us. They were stoked and gave me a rousing applause. It still couldn't top playing for my friends on that last camping trip. That has been the most difficult thing to deal with. I miss everyone greatly but I needed this experience. I think it's gonna turn out to be one of the best things I've ever done. I'm gonna get off my roommates computer now, he's been gracious enough to let me use it whenever I want. I love and miss you all and I'll be back for another post soon.