~ Starbucks does not exist on Guam. Well, not exactly true...there is no full fledged Starbucks coffee shop on Guam (no loss as far as I am concerned) but there are several places on island that sell Starbucks coffee. As a coffee lover, I just found this interesting. And speaking of coffee....
~ Iced coffee is the way to go! I think the first couple of times Carlton and I went out for coffee when we first got here, we got regular coffee (hot coffee). When you go outside and it's 88 with about 87% humidity, hot coffee does NOT appeal! My weekly routine now includes a morning walk with a group of friends and going for coffee after...needless to say after working up a sweat, iced coffee really hits the spot! Hot coffee? No thank you!
~ Keeping with beverages, when you go to restaurants or cafes here, they do not have sugar packets for your iced tea (or other beverages). Instead they have already dissolved sugar into water to make a liquid sweetener that will mix much better than crystallized sugar! So here is what you will see:
~ Another interesting tidbit (at least to me) is the signage that businesses use here. Many of the shops and mini-marts use banners for their signs instead of actual signs. I am guessing because of the wind and rain...maybe the banners weather the weather better? :-)
~ Speaking of weather...it is currently the dry season here on Guam. Apparently dry has a completely different meaning here. Being from Phoenix, I am used to dry meaning DRY! In Guam, the dry season means that it will rain at least once a day. If it looks like it might rain, it will. If it's sunny out, it will still rain later. The weather changes fast and rain could last two minutes or an hour. I am curious how the wet season is...I imagine it rains for days on end. We might need to invest in a row boat.
~ Driving on the island.....the speed limit for most of the island is 35 mph. Of course most people do not drive 35....more like 45-60 mph. The fastest speed limit I have seen posted is 45 mph on Andersen Air Force base. Very weird coming from San Diego where people normally drive 80 mph on the freeways!! Guam may not be very large but getting anywhere on island takes longer than you would think! I have found that it takes me about 35ish minutes to go 14 miles. Partly because of the speed limit and partly because of the drivers who do drive the speed limit (crazy people).
~ Potholes! Potholes are the bane of every commuter on island. The only place they don't seem to exist (or at least not as much as in town) is on the military bases. Since many of the roads are riddled with potholes, it is completely acceptable for you to drive on the shoulder, in the other lane, and in the turning lane to avoid driving over the potholes. At first this seemed a bit extreme to me, but after driving all over the island for awhile now, it is automatic for me! I couldn't exactly take a picture of people driving on the other side of the road to avoid potholes while I was driving, but I did find this picture which I thought was very fitting!!
That is all I have for now!! I am sure there will be another post in the future about lessons of Guam!! As a side note, Bubbles and Edge are now getting along so that I can walk them at the same time! Progress!! :-) Bubbles has another follow-up appointment with the vet this Friday, so hopefully we can get rid of her bandage and the cone of shame. The wound is healing really well, so we will see.
I have less than two weeks before I move into the house on base!! Very excited about it and I hope the move goes smoothly. I have really enjoyed staying in my current place but the 35-45 minute drive to the base is definitely getting old! I cannot wait to be on base!!
