The Boonies

Limestone woodland, sometimes referred to on GUAM as the Boonies is made out of blended local flora and fauna developing on a raised limestone substrate.  Limestone is usually found in Northern Guam and is formed by the Karst system, which is a complex landscape sculpted by water. 

At one point, the northern part of Guam was under sea level, hence the coral buildup.  However, when the rain falls it pounds onto to the coral permeating on the rocks which cause the limestone to have sharp edges and unique rock formations. The rest of the water is drained into an aquifer lens underneath the limestone.

As we trekked through this small patch of jungle, I noticed that the papaya tree grows here easily as it requires little soil to flourish.   I also saw many invasive  species like the Moses in the cradle plant which is a long bladed weed with purple on top and green on the bottom.  I was most impressed with the view of the Cliffside overlooking the magnificent blue ocean, ahhhh so breath-taking. 

I was also glad that I wore gloves because we had to climb over jagged rocks and with my weight I could not hold onto any trees for support as it had just rained and the trunks were very slippery.

A couple of words that I learned is epiphyte which is a plant that grows on top another plant and the second word is lichens, not the werewolves, but an algae or fungus that covers rocks and plant leaves.  Both of these form a commensal relationship, where it doesn’t harm, but benefits with its host in the forest.

I enjoy science classes because it gives me the opportunity to see the island in all its rawness.  I am anxious to become a teacher and expose my class to Guam’s natural beauty and hopefully, I can inspire the children to take gentle care of our earth and form positive symbiotic relationships.

Learn more on limestone forests: north.hydroguam.net/environment-forests.php

Mangnge'na Fruta Siha - Delicious Fruits

This past summer I was part of a project to create a book that would showcase Guam's fruits and vegetables. I helped the authors Melissa Palomo and Clare Camacho create rhymes so children could chant to learn the benefits of eating healthy and the Chamorro language.

Although this book is published it is not for sale as it is part of a grant award from the Guam Cancer Trust fund in collaboration with the School of Education at the University of Guam.  Perhaps a format will be in the making so we can share this amazing product with my fellow education majors.

Here are a couple of rhymes:

When you’re hungry, when you’re hungry

Eat some fruit; eat some fruit.

Taste them all and you will see.

Fruits are yummy and healthy.

Todu fruta… gof mangnge’!

Bilembines, Bilembines

Has many sides, has many sides.

Just line the pieces on a dish.

They're shaped like stars, so make a wish!

Bilembines... gof mangnge'!

Aga’, Aga’, Aga’, Aga’

Smooth and yellow, smooth and yellow.

Take a bite or mash it up.

Blend a smoothie in a cup.

Aga’, Aga’… gof mangnge’!

Mangga, Mangga, Mangga, Mangga

Green or yellow, orange or red Pickle it and eat a slice.

Put small pieces on shaved ice.

Mangga, Mangga… gof mangnge’!

MASSO Watershed

My Environmental Bio class visited the MASSO Watershed in PITI. A watershed is an area or ridge of land that separates waters flowing to different rivers, basins, or seas which come in all shapes and sizes. 

Southern Guam has about 14 watersheds, but what I found interesting is the one in the village of PITI is man-made. Back in the 40's the US Navy dredged the area so that it could have a clean water source but was shut down because fine sand found its way into the water system. In the early 50's it was taken over by GovGuam and is now being restored to a nature park.  There are phases in the works to make it have the full amenities of a tourist attraction.  

As this is the rainy season, the water is murky but when it settles you could see some of the water species like tilapia, mosquito fish, fresh-water eels, and shrimp.  The water gets up to 15-20 feet deep but swimming is not allowed, in fact, the caretaker caught leptospirosis which is a bacterial infection that causes organ dysfunction, about six times.  

There are patches of grass you could set up for a lovely picnic and do some quiet reading or take a small hike up the hill. There are mosquitoes so you might want to spray on bug repellant. 

In the dry season, the hillside is prone to forest fires which cause erosion and maladies for the flora there as well.  Volunteers have planted many Acacia trees which are fire resistant and also helps reduce soil erosion.  Plans are to infuse the area with many native and endemic vegetation. 

We saw animal tracks so you may be lucky to see deer (BINADU), wild pig (BABUI), and the endangered Marianas Moorhen called PULATTAT in Chamorro language.  

Visit this site to learn more of this natural Guam beauty...

http://ivyllexanimo.blogspot.com/2014/04/blog-post.html

Cardboard Challenge!

Caine's Arcade, the story of a 9-year-old boy named Caine, who played in his father's car part's shop one summer gathering cardboard boxes and turning them into a mini arcade.He never had a single customer until one day, filmmaker, Nirvan Mullick, took interest and broadcasted this documentary which sparked international phenomenon with the Imagination Foundation and Global Cardboard Challenge.(cainesarcade.com)

Last year I had the chance to join the movement through my Early Childhood Education courses at GCC's 2nd Annual Cardboard Challenge. I led two separate teams in creating and building a caterpillar to encourage story time and an ice cream shop for pretend play. Both of these themes motivated the five areas of child development: physical, social and emotional, approaches to learning, thinking, and communication and language. 

Read more at http://www.bestbeginningsalaska.org/activities-resources/child-development-areas

I would like to extend an invitation to this public event happening this October 5,6 and 8.  

Selected schools all over the island will bring their projects to the Multipurpose Auditorium (MPA) at Guam Community College (GCC) to showcase their creations.  I am anxious to see the imagination of how children manipulate and play with cardboard this time around.

Stay tuned for future postings...

Find the Flora!

In Environmental Biology Lab, Professor Jocson created for his class a Campus Scavenger Hunt. Professor Jocson, gave our team of five, Franklin, Dillon, Jerry, Zenilda and myself, Anita a set of six coordinates and one Etrex 20 Handheld Global Positioning System(GPS) unit.

With this assignment, it allowed our fellow classmates to come together to work, have fun and learn about Guam's rich diverse flora. We had to anticipate and be wary of the weather which was windy and rainy and the terrain of the field as it was muddy and slippery. 

We were the first team to complete and we also helped other teams to locate their plants as we had ample time. Although we didn’t use the campus map to maneuver it helped with our comments when we had to name the buildings where we located the plants.  We were able to incorporate technology and our natural human ability to navigate throughout the campus. 

Overall, this exercise was not only fun and adventurous, it took us out from the comfort of the classroom.  It also gave us great incite on the foliage found on our campus and were amazed of the many different types. It also made each of us form a close knit friendship as we are all diverse in age and culture.  

Weather or not!

Fall Festival was supposed to happen, but due to inclement weather, it was postponed to October 27th.

So here I am 7 a.m. preparing all the food that we are to sell at our Education Student Organization booth later this afternoon. I had the one whole case of chicken thighs, deboned and cut into quarter pieces for the Karaage Chicken, with the carrots and cabbages chopped to a specific size for the Yakisoba and crab meat shredded, ready to mix for the Sushi Bake. At 9 a.m. I get a text from one of the club officers saying that the event will be canceled. I was disheartened, really more frustrated, not because I did the hard work of prepping, it was because all the students that donated and more so of the food that would be wasted. But lo and behold, I get a callback. I was excited because I could still prepare the dishes and sell at our EDUCATION STUDENT ORGANIZATION (ESO) mini food sale. So I hurried and cooked all the food and brought it all down to school in a record four hours which included the drive from DEDEDO to MANGILAO.

The officers greeted me at the selling site and there was already a line of hungry patrons.

I was happy even though some of the comments on the food wasn't nice, like the chicken was hard or the crab to rice ratio wasn't even or the noodles was missing a particular ingredient.

Overall, the majority said they enjoyed the food and were impressed with my cooking. I always try to remain positive in all aspects, and that's one of the traits that I must have when I become a future educator, is to always buckle down and drive on.
It won't be easy but it will be all worth it.

Scratch the Surface

Ok, so a bunch of us woke up zero dark thirty, to head to Chalan Pago Bay to assist with the island wide coastal cleanup. Some of us did it for a plethora of reasons such as extra credit for environmental biology or to get the prestigious t-shirt, but I also did it to help community awareness of our island's coastline.
Back in the 90's, my first visit to Pago Bay, I remember the water was so clean and greenish with light brown sand. There were a couple of concrete pavilions that visitors could use to set up a picnic and celebrate the island life with barbecue and brews. Now with the erosion of land being battered by the tropical storms in the late 90's the water decimated the pavilions and limited the area to being used by squatters and local fishermen.
I came to Pago Bay to help with the clean up last year, it was low tide so we were able to clean the left side of the bay. We accumulated about 10 bags of debris. This time it was high tide and some were brave to cross over a huge pile of bamboo to pick up trash. I didn't want to get injured so I stuck to the right and just that patch of land measuring a tenth of mile, our group of four, we alone harvested five bags of plastics, glass and cans.
We didn't scratch the surface, there were hundreds of cigarette butts crusting the top soil and like last year, I left feeling disgusted and weary that I couldn't make a significant difference in my physical efforts. I do hope with this broadcast that I would ignite my fellow classmates to do their part of keeping GUAM CLEAN and GREEN.
Learn more about Pago Bay... http://www.guampedia.com/pago/