It's Getting Hot in Here...So, I 'Member Guam.

Whenever it gets warm stateside, I’m flushed with memories of my childhood on Guam.

A few things I miss, and others not so much….

1. Foremost Macadamia Nut Ice Cream—I used to excavate the tiny pieces of macadamia and save them for last. Like a squirrel, it was sometimes futile collecting nuts...one per half gallon just about.


2. Ice Water Out of a Jar—Straight from the tap, we shared one large jar and had to wait for the white cloud to subside. I would watch it sizzle away, never questioning the health of that water. I’m fine today, except for the third eye behind my head.


3. Grease-The Movie, played every year. My parents didn’t care that I was eight and learning about sex and hickeys and working it. Lessons still not learned. “Tell me about it, Stud.”

4. Hagåtña Library-Even though I didn’t own an actual library card because my parents couldn’t be bothered to come in with me, they would occasionally drop me off to spend a few hours. A/C and books, a great combination.

5. Paseo-Walking around Paseo Park for exercise, then having Taco Bell after with my almost ‘nina’ and her son. That lesson of exercise so I can eat, all their fault.

6. Asan + Camel Rock + Low Tide= Aliling or sea snails. It was a family fun day, to have a bucket, mom’s enthusiasm and low tide in the village of Asan. I typically lagged behind my family, trying not to cut my feet on the jagged rocks, deathly afraid of attracting sharks. Once my tiny Korean mother hunted her weight in shells and sea snails, we headed home where only she and I would eat the chewy take out from the sea.

7. Sticking my face in the Family Freezer. Guam folk love their deep freezers. Meat doesn’t expire! Hot summer days, when my parents weren’t looking, my adolescent face was hanging into the freezer to chill out. Days before A/C was normal in the whole house.

8. Foremost Macadamia Nut Ice Cream. Oh, I mentioned that already? Sorry, I’m hungry.