Hi, would you like to introduce yourself? Yes, my name is Annie Marie Rivera Montes.
And where are you from? I am from the island of Guam.
And where are we right now? We are here in California, in Vallejo.
And why are we in Vallejo? Because my husband had a mild stroke so they
requested him to come here. And my Dad had a serious stroke
and that's why I haven't been recording any podcasts,
So I am really interested in that you are from Guam.
My students know about Guam but only as an answer on the Citizenship test.
What do you think is the most important thing that students should know know about Guam?
For one thing, when you land in Guam, everybody welcomes you.
We are a very friendly people. And we have our own culture which CHAMORRO
And for other people, they call them GUAMANIANS.
One thing about Guam, we are very friendly and anywhere you go walking around,
and people will call you to come eat with us.
So there is no such thing as a stranger. No, there are no strangers,
We welcome everybody as friends and family. Can you tell us a little bit more about the
CHAMORRO culture? The CHAMORRO culture (years ago) we are from
Micronesia and then Magellan came in
and met the regular CHAMORRO people they are huge people and very strong and powerful
And what happened is when Magellan came in, Guam became a Spanish island and culture
So we learned how to speak Spanish But we still keep the island language, which
is the CHAMORRO language And then later on, a couple of years later,
then the Japanese people came in and took over the island
During World War II? Yes
And then later on, the Americans came in and took over
So Guam became a U.S. territory But the spelling of Guam is K - U - A - M
Oh really? It's K - U - A - M. When then the U.S came
in it became G. The K becoming a "hard G"
Very interesting. I did not know that. So from all of the United States,
and all of the territories of the United States, Guam has the highest percentage of people in the
U.S. military. Can you talk a little bit about that?
Well when the military came in Guam changed a little bit.
They added more military (bases) and schools and we have the U.S.O.
and everywhere you go, you see military people
and they are very friendly and when they come towards us
we just mingle around that why we are very friendly island
Ya, when my father was in the Navy he felt very comfortable with the people in
Guam Is there anything else that you want people
to know about Guam? For instance, where should they go?
What should they see? When we have visitors,
when they step on the island of Guam what we do is that we welcome them with open arms
and our hearts We welcome them and show them around
just mingle around and take them around
and have fun! We invite them in our homes.
So what to in Guam is not the navy bases or beautiful places,
but to go to people's homes and to eat with them.
invite them in, even if we don't know each other,
we welcome everybody in our house. When we go to the beach or any place,
we welcome them. We see them, that they are tourists or anybody
It doesn't matter if they are tourists or not,
"Come and eat with us. Stay with us. Enjoy! Enjoy!"
That why they say:
"GUAM IS FOR LOVERS!!!!" Guam is for lovers--I've see that.
Finally, can you say hello to our listeners in CHAMORRO
(She speaks in CHAMORRO) And how about: Welcome to Guam
Welcome to Guam? I don't know how to say that
Maybe there is no "welcome to Guam" May it is: WELCOME TO MY HOUSE
(laughing) (She say "How are you?" in CHAMORRO)
Thank you so much. I hope your husband gets better
Thank you so much And I hope that your Dad will be ok too.
God bless you guys! God bless you too!