Liberation Day

On July 21, Guam celebrated Liberation Day.  It is a HUGE day of remembrance and celebration for the people of Guam.  They go all out - everyone gets the day off, there is a big parade, they camp out overnight on the parade route (think Rose Parade) & everyone has a fiesta in the streets.

Since I'm a nerd, here is a bit of a history lesson:  The Chamorro people are the original inhabitants of Guam.  The Spanish were the first known foreigners to occupy Guam beginning in the mid-1500s.  At the end of the Spanish American War in 1898, Spain ceded Guam to the United States.  Guam was put under the administrative purview of the U.S. Navy and was used as a strategic refueling, supply & communication location in the Pacific.  During World War II, on December 8, 1941 (the same day as the bombing of Pearl Harbor - it was still December 7 in the States), the Japanese attacked Guam and overtook the island in just two days.  The Chamorros endured many hardships during the Japanese occupation.  They were forbidden to speak English, forced to learn the Japanese language & customs, and put in internment camps.  But on July 21, 1944 the Americans came back - the U.S. Marines, specifically, stormed the beaches of Guam.  On August 10, 1944 - after 20 days of arduous battle - the American forces defeated the last Japanese troops on Guam, ending the occupation and liberating the people of Guam.  Thus, liberation day.

One last interesting tidbit of WWII Guam history - since most of Guam's landscape is covered with jungles, a lot of the Japanese soldiers retreated into the forests and hid for many years to avoid surrendering to the U.S.  On January 24, 1972 - almost 28 years after the U.S. invasion - Shoichi Yokoi, a Japanese solider, was found hiding in a cave on Guam!  He was considered a hero by the Japanese and absolutely astonished the people of Guam that he had been hiding out for all those years.  As Drew tells me, Yokoi was the second longest holdout from the WWII Japanese army.  Apparently another Japanese solider was discovered in the Philippines in the late 1970s.

In honor of Liberation Day, Drew & I decided to check out Guam's annual parade.  Each village creates its own float & the whole island basically participates in the celebration.  Drew & I had a fun time walking around & taking in the festivities.  I especially enjoyed the ginormous shaved ice that I got.  Delicious!

This last week also brought a wonderful addition to, what I consider, my extended family.  My very dear friends Kristen & John-Paul welcomed their third little boy into the world on July 18.  His name is Tucker Savant Nelson and he is just perfect.  I had the amazing privilege to iChat with him just the day after he was born.  And I look forward to meeting him very soon!  Congrats, Nelsons!!

Finally, I've been meaning to blog a bit more about So You Think You Can Dance (aka, Chugga Chugga) but I've been an utter failure up until now.  I'm really liking this season, even though I'm not necessarily liking the people that I thought I would.  Ryan was the biggest disappointment EVER.  I thought that I was going to like her based on last year & the auditions but she just did nothing for me & actually got on my nerves.  Right now my favorites are as follows:

1.  Melanie
2.  Marko (Go Guam!)
3.  Sasha (She got me with that hip hop routine last week with Twitch.  I had been a fan of hers before, but now she's one of my favs.)
4.  Tadd
5.  Jordan

Yes, I know my favorites are more than half of the remaining dancers but they're just so good.  I really can't stand Jess.  I guess he's an alright dancer, but I just don't see anything special about him & he seems SO cocky.  I root for him to go every week, but he's barely ever been in the bottom.  I guess people must really like him.  Caitlynn doesn't really seem too memorable to me.  And Ricky is sweet & does some pretty amazing dance-for-his-life routines, but I just can't call him a fav.  What do you all think of the top 8??  I'm interested to see how Lady Gaga is going to be as a guest judge next week.  Should be entertaining.  Is anyone learning the National Dance Day routines?  Please tell me yes.  I'm trying really hard to get Drew to learn one with me.