My trip to Guam with my Japanese family

I am Canadian. I married a Japanese woman, so some of my family is Japanese. During the Smith’s Golden  Week holiday, I went to Guam with my wife, her parents and her two brothers. We had a great time. It was the first time abroad for my wife’s parents. My wife had wanted to take them abroad somewhere.  Being only a little under 3 1/2 hours away by airplane and part of the United States, Guam seemed like the right choice. In addition, we could cover the ticket cost for three of us using Northwest Airlines airmiles that I and my wife had accumulated.

We stayed 3 nights at the Holiday Resort & Spa Guam . It was located very close to the beach. The photo on the left was taken from I and my wife’s room’s balcony. As you can see, the beach and ocean are very close to the hotel.

 We had two full days for sightseeng and relaxing. On the first day, we walked to the downtown area near the hotel. Some of us had some tasty, big hotdogs, then we all took a shuttle bus to Two Lovers Point, a famous sightseeing spot in Guam. There we had a great view of the ocean.

Later we did some shopping at a mall.  Coming into the mall, I was amazed by metal recreations of the Alien and Predator movie characters in the entrance of a shop! Wow!  

 My wife had told me that most of the staff in stores could speak Japanese in Guam. That’s because most tourists are Japanese. Sure enough, the staff in the stores could speak some Japanese.  Japanese people can get by without English in Guam.  We ate a late lunch at the mall, most of us eating big hamburgers called “Whoppers” from Burger King, a hamburger fast food restaurant. They were delicious!

That night I, my wife and one of her brothers went to a fitness room our hotel had. I and my wife’s brother exercised and my wife took some photos.

The next day, we all went to the beach near our hotel. We did some swimming and suntanning, or should I say, sunburning! One of my wife’s brothers had dark suntanning oil spray. I, my wife’s brother and father all used some. Boy oh boy! The sun was strong and we cooked! We also had fun burying my mother-in-law in the sand (she had fun too)! The beach and the view there were quite nice.

After going to the beach we had lunch at a pizza restaurant at our hotel.  Everything was delicious. Next we went shopping again and I bought some omiyage (souvenir gifts) for some people, including my students (buying souvenir gifts for family, co-workers, teachers, etc. when visiting places is part of Japanese culture, so I often receive omiyage from students at my school). I bought mostly sweets, which included some cookies made in Guam. Later that day, we ate ramen at a restaurant near our hotel.  Even though we were in Guam, we could enjoy Japanese-style ramen. The restaurant that we went to had Japanese written outside the windows. I saw Japanese written at several other places too while in Guam. It really is easy for Japanese people in Guam to do things. 

We all had a great time in Guam and want to go on trips together again!

Back at my school now, I feel refreshed after the holiday. I offer my students some cookies that I got for them in Guam and we enjoy talking about our Golden Week holidays. It’s always fun taking a break from work and getting away a few times a year. I can come back feeling refreshed and ready to get back to work at my school. It’s always nice to see my students again when I get back.

Derek

Smith’s School of English Tsukaguchi