Where Memory Meets the Present

Dave’s mom arrived on Guam this week! We were all beyond excited to see her and have her join us for this portion of our journey. Dave’s parents were stationed on Guam when they were in the Air Force, and lived here for 15 months between 1974-75. This is Debby’s first time back on the island. We’ve been talking about all of us coming to Guam since 2018, which is what first planted the seed for the idea of taking this gap year. It feels fantastic that we finally made this happen!

From Her Guam To Ours

We’ve all loved listening to Debby’s stories about the time she and Dave’s dad (Steve) spent on the island and what it was like back then. Our kids never got the opportunity to meet Steve, so it’s fun to learn more about him through stories. We made a list of the different things we want to do while Debby is here and plan to start ticking those off soon. She’s really put Dave and I to shame with her ability to bounce back from the jet lag. We were a mess for days after arriving in Japan!

An Afternoon at the Beach

Yesterday we spent the afternoon at the beach. The snorkeling wasn’t the best because the water was a little rough, but the weather was perfect. We swam, relaxed, and soaked up the sun!

The Villages of Guam

For dinner we decided to check out a place called ‘The Village of Donki’. This is a large shopping and dining complex that is built around the Japanese mega-store Don Quijote (also called Don Don Donki). We visited this store in various locations in Japan, and it was interesting to see the differences. In Japan this store has multiple levels (as many as seven), and is so packed you could barely move around. It was extreme sensory overload and we often couldn’t get out of there fast enough. The store here on Guam felt much more manageable. Big aisles, things were spread out, and far less people.

The name of the complex is a playful nod to the fact that Guam is a village based country. There are 19 separate villages on Guam, each with their own mayor, local traditions, and landmarks. They vary in size with the largest having about 44,000 people, and the smallest around 700. We plan to visit as many villages as we can!