In Darkness, There is Light!

Today we had the fortune to experience the first (of what we have heard will be many) power outages. Apparently, there is also a tropical depression churning our way. So, we thought it might be a good idea to buy a generator. We looked at the B/X and then decided we should go to Home Depot to see what they had to offer.

Somehow, it made sense to us to leave our relatively safe (albeit hot and dark) bubble of a house and head into town. I don't know why it didn't occur to us that if power was off here, it would probably be off elsewhere on the island... but it didn't so off we went.

Driving in/on Guam is always an adventure. People pass on the right (that's the law, not just my hubby's driving strategy), the stop lights don't hang over the actual lane they are controlling (for instance, the turn arrows hang over the middle lane), the roads are usually wet- it rains A LOT. When the power is out it's even more of an adventure than usual because the stop lights don't work, so it's just kind of a free for all. I think we almost died about 5 times on our way to Home Depot. Again, I'm not sure why we continued to think it was a good idea to keep going into town...

We finally make it- in one piece- to Home Depot. People are walking out with their purchases, so we think, "OK, maybe everything is fine." Boy, were we wrong! In one of the biggest ironies I have experienced in the past 2 weeks of being here- Home Depot was just as affected by the power outage as the rest of the island- it was completely dark. Yet, they were still allowing people in to shop. Have you ever been in a huge warehouse in the dark? Surrounded by who knows how many people wandering around in the dark? Potentially carrying sharp, pointy things? I HAVE!!!

It was crazy- Don and I had Price in a buggy and we were walking through the store, trying to light our way with our iPhones. I was holding on to Don's belt loop for dear life. I had visions of Katrinaesque looting outbreaks and stampedes... but nothing like that happened. In fact, some nice person gave us a flashlight they had been using to shop with and we proceeded to "shop" for a generator and some other items we needed for the house. After stumbling strolling around for a few more minutes, word went out via the associates' walkie-talkies that maybe allowing customers to remain in the store wasn't safe and that we should be escorted out of the building. Of course, we had already decided this for ourselves and were heading out. Right when we got to the car, the lights came back on.

This is why I am falling in love with Guam, and yet another reason why it feels like I am living in some kind of alternate universe. It was hysterical to be walking around Home Depot, with a flashlight during a blackout, Don and I kept cracking up over it- and how no one really seemed to care- they were just going about business as usual- just in the dark. It was great, but it NEVER would have happened at home.

I can't wait to see what other adventures we have over the next few years....