a summary

My friend Judi (hi Judi) found me on skype today, and we had a long conversation in which she enthusiastically peppered me with questions about my life on Guam.

As I have thus failed to provide any thrilling accounts about my daily life here, I thought I would indulge Judi (who may be the only person who finds this interesting) with a summary of my time here to date.

So, I live in a pretty normal apartment complex (above).

My favorite thing about it, besides being a place I can sleep and afford the rent is the plumeria trees outside my building. (below) I didn't know anything about plumeria until I wikipedia'd it about five seconds ago, but, apparently, they are indigenous to tropical and sub-tropical areas of the Americas, have spread to tropical locales all around the world, including Hawaii where they are used to make leis, and are poisonous.























My apartment is a fairly normal suburban unit - I have carpeting, an air conditioner and a place to hook up a washer and dryer, if I were ever able to afford one. (Not likely).
















I also have a really awesome veranda, or something, that I never use due to the fact that it seems, of late, to have been colonized by a couple of reproducing spiders. But the view, when I enjoy it, is a lovely scenescape of jungle and a few wayward chickens who seem to have moved in.
















My kitchen (below), however, feels like a palace. I have more counter space than I could have ever dreamed of in New York, a stove and more cabinets than dishes, which makes the fact that I don't have a dishwasher tolerable, as I don't own very much stuff to wash.
















I still spend a very large amount of time baking (see below), because it is pretty much all I have to do in my apartment, as I have yet to invest in furniture (also below).








































I do have a bed now, however, compliments of a very nice guy I work with, who gave me a mattress he had in storage. It kind of didn't occur to how weird that sounded, that I had a random co-worker with a mattress in storage until just this instant. But then, this guy lives in a shack in a jungle, being one of those free-spirited world travelers who eschew all things material (including, I hope, the internet).

At any rate, yes, all the worldly possessions I have are stacked delicately on a few cardboard boxes I have left over from my purchase of kitchenware in my mostly empty living room. I'm sure at some point I will get furniture, but right now it seems like less of a priority than say, buying a plane ticket to Thailand to see my little sister.
















Oh, and also, making car payments, as I am now the proud owner of a mostly working Toyota Echo, which I have to drive to work in downtown Hagatna (below).































And yes, I realize that is mostly a picture of a parking lot, but it is also, incidentally, downtown Hagatna.