The Ghostly Characteristic

Looking out from our balcony, just past Wedding Cake Mountain, we can see the Island of Guam. By day, it looks like a small hill lurching from the sea; but by night, it resembles the lights of a mainland city as viewed from the far outskirts of town. It may as well be a million miles away if you are on Rota, a million and one, to be exact.

Rota is nestled between Guam and Saipan: two islands that, while in various stages of economic decay, still have a ‘bustling’ nature not seen anywhere on Rota Island. Sadly, my observation thus far has led me to believe that the proximity of either island to Rota Island has absolutely no positive impact on Rota’s economic condition. Rather, I suspect that the economics of this island seem ripe for the picking by opportunists who would easily evolve into kingpins depending their access to a dock and a barge.

At this point, I am confident in saying that Rota is absolutely nothing like Saipan. Outside of its wonderful diversity of people, it shares no characteristic with its closest neighbor (Guam) either. Further, Rota contributes to both island’s economies on a daily basis. Just count the coolers being unloaded from the plane on any given day. They are packed with goods that simply aren’t available here, barge or no barge.

Walking around Rota at times is surreal. Everywhere you look, you see the early decay of various abandoned products of grand ambition, once vibrant, but now defunct. Romanesque and Venetian stairwells spiral toward the sea in Metaphysical School fashion, and just like De Chirco’s work, hold a surreal and sad emptiness surrounding them: a beauty for which there is no one present to enjoy it.

The best way to describe it is that one feels like an apparition in some ghostly alter world. An eerie wind bellows through the thin air that a physical being would occupy. If you have ever lived in a resort area like Ocean City, N.J. on the mainland, it feels like the day after all of the tourists leave (‘after the boys of summer have gone’) and you are among the sparse population of ‘locals.’ The only difference is that there are even less locals here than in your typical tourist town. Thus, the wind seems much, much louder.

Lastly, the most common thing I hear from people in Guam and Saipan is that “[I] haven’t been to Rota in ‘X’ years.” which is generally followed by a poetic expose on how beautiful the island and its people are. When I experience this, I get a sense that the person is speaking fondly of a brother who had passed away, but whose ghost still lurks in the dark corners of the mind's eye. This is one of the things I thought I could be helpful with, but sadly, the waning remnants of the tourist industry here have become somewhat of an institution rather than a problem- its meshing into the culture from my perspective has long surpassed a complexity that could be unraveled by an outsider such as myself. Further, without delving in so deep as to ensnarl myself in a local battle, the way government works around here is a dastardly hindrance to any sort of ‘economic upturn.’

In a way, it feels forgotten here. Perhaps that is why the families are so close knit on Rota. Perhaps the fruit of what an outsider like me finds incredibly difficult is the general loveliness of the people of Rota. That will give me something to ponder this evening as I stare out at the Guam lights.


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Finally got the internet hooked up

First off, please forgive the dead air on our blog since the 29th. Honestly, the past week has been one of boolean contrast, for which there were no moderate 'in-betweens' to ease the polarity that has enveloped us.

The most positive thing to note about Rota is that the people of this island, whether Chamorro, mainlanders, Philippines, or otherwise, are all representatives of the salt of the earth. Nay a single soul here has treated us as if we were not part of some sort of family, which is beyond surreal given the world(s) we come from. This unnerving beauty shared among the people of Rota surpasses to me, even the vast, VAST, beauty of the island of Rota itself; although, our lack of transportation to date has placed severe limitations on our exploration outside of Songsong. But still, I doubt my opinion will change when that does.

Right now, Suz and I are doing our best to tend to a range of other issues, for which, we'll discuss later. Let's just sat that It is quite a transition for now and that even though we tried to take on this venture with our best imitation of objectivity, certain things and certain ways we thought we could be helpful are not likely to pan out. However, one good thing is that I was able to become an official volunteer at the school! I think that I can be of a lot of help there, especially with the yearbook/journalism class.

Speaking of which, I am going to discuss selling the Rota HS Yearbook on the blog to try to help raise money for the school. Would you be interested in that? If so, let me know and I'll set up a Paypal Acct. or something. I think the yearbook has a run of 100 and sells for $30, so maybe I can sell the remainder of the run once the kids have bought theirs. We'll see. No promises.

I have to run and finish a poster I'm working on for the HS. Please forgive the lateness of our posting here. Getting our internet and phone hooked up was nothing short of a nightmare (a topic for a post later, perhaps.)

Thanks for the big flurry of phone calls this morning and last night. It really meant the world to us as we have been in radio silence for almost a week.

I'll catch ya...

Love,

Andrew

Trekking up to Vermont

We're taking our final trip to see my uncle in VT.

Thank god, they've accepted one of our cats (2 down, one to go.) That should be an interesting ride.

We'll be back Monday barring any internet cafe' along the way. In the mean time, ponder this:

Suz and her mom found an old globe she gave her mom way back when the USSR was still the USSR.





Closer inspection revealed that yes, Rota indeed, is a place on the globe!




:)

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Just 11 More Days

I plan on keeping my speedbag up for as long as possible before I take it down and pack it in my carry on.

I hope you guys in Rota like Boxing, because I intend to start training whoever is interested, especially with the Speedbag and double end bag.

It's a great workout and chicks dig it! And from my pespective as a married man whose wife digs me hitting it, a lady with speedbag skills is all that.

:)

Three rules:

You have to wear the stupidist looking hat you can find (no brims) to hit the speedbag.

If you spend more than $3 dollars on a cheap pair of work gloves and cut the fingers out, laughter and snark shall ensue!

(Optional) you have to blast some hard music. Techno from the late 80's and the 90's works best.

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