The Ohrvalls | The Life and Times of

This past Saturday Matthew and I were invited to the Onward Beach Resort Waterpark for the Volunteer Appreciation Day with the USO.  We have been getting more involved with the USO and volunteering our time there.  It has been a lot of fun so far.  At first we didn't think that we would be able to go to the Appreciation day because we had only volunteered once before that.  But when we were personally called and invited to go to a waterpark for a day, then we had to accept. When you think of a waterpark in the US what do you think about?  Big slides, awesome rides, a wave pool?  Yeah well there were a few of all of those things at this waterpark.  Take a look at the comparison maps that I have for you.  The first one is of Water Country USA, the second Guam's Waterpark. Guam's waterpark had exactly 4 slides, 2 with tubes and 2 without tubes, one crazy drop ride on a tube, a wave pool and a lazy river plus a couple smaller pools fo...

I wanted to write a blog about my experience last night going to see the catching fire premier because the story will give you a bit of insight into the culture here on Guam. First of all, image what it would be like in the states (say Raleigh because that is where most of you are from) when you go and see the premier of a big movie like this.  You expect long lines, lots and lots of people, watch the movie and then leave the crowded theater talking about the movie, right!?  Right!? OK, now let me tell you what happened with Matthew and I.  So we had went to the movie theater and bought our tickets for the 8:00 premier about 2 weeks early.  Matthew kept the tickets in his wallet for safe keeping.  Last night we drove to the movie theater and walked into the strip mall when the movie theater is located.  As soon as we walked in we noticed a hugely long line of people to which I automatically though, "oh no are they all here early to see the movie too!" ...

Sunday morning before the tide receded too much Matthew and I went out to Old Wive's Beach here on base to go snorkeling.  So now I have a few more snorkeling pictures to share with you guys.   I seem to remember back in middle school talking about plate tectonics and how the movement of the plates below the Earth's surface create cracks in the ocean floor.  Well the Pacific Ocean is one place where this happens and it creates a lot of the earthquakes and volcanic activity that happens out here.  At Old Wives beach there are many different cracks in the ocean floor that go down so deep that you can't see the bottom.  The cracks look like what you would see if you took an areal shot of some rivers leading to bigger bodies of water in the states.  It is just amazing to see the ocean floor go from 5 feet deep to dropping over 20 feet or more!  Here is a picture of one of the cracks we came across.  Notice you can't see the bottom in the darkest ...

This morning Matthew and I woke up at an abnormally early hour for a Saturday morning.  Bright and early (or not so bright) at 4:00 am.  We had signed up to participate in a Color Run 5k here on Guam.  It was the first on that they were having here and the proceeds benefited the Guam Cancer Society.  But the main reason that I wanted to do it was because I had heard so many good stories about color runs back home being a lot of fun and I wanted to try it out.  So when I heard that they were having a color run on Guam I told Matthew that we were going to do it and I had about 3 weeks to try and get myself in some sort of running shape. If any of you know me, I like to work out and I feel like I am fit person BUT... I absolutely despise running!  I like to get my cardio in other ways such as the elliptical, cycling, rowing and even swimming.   I played softball most of my life and even then I would hate the laps around the field but would be fine with ...

This past weekend was a three day weekend for Matthew since Monday was Veteran's day.  Matthew and I were able to spend a lot of quality time together!  We had all of Saturday, Sunday and Monday to fill up with fun stuff to do (that is, when Matthew didn't have to go to the kennel and feed the dogs).  Every other weekend Matthew has Kennel Duty where he has to go and feed the dogs and clean out their kennels but that only takes up about 30-40 minutes twice a day. Friday night we were planning out our trip up north to finally get to go on the hike that we tried to go on a couple weekends ago.  We had our bags packed and our gear laid out so that we could eat an early breakfast, go to the kennel to feed the dogs and then head up to the northern part of the island to go on our hike.  This is the same hike that you have to call and make sure is open because it is on part of the northern Naval Base.  While we didn't think there would be any reason why it would...

Hello All!  I know it has been a while since I have posted anything that is going on around here.  That would be because ... dun dun dun ... there isn't much new going on! :)  This can be a good thing and a bad thing but right now we try to look on the bright side right!?  Well I have gotten word that all of my subbing packet materials have been received and that I should  be getting some calls about subbing at the high school soon.  We will see how that goes seeing as it took them two months just to get all my paperwork in.  But other than that it has been pretty much the same here for the day to day business. This past Wednesday Matthew and I took a little adventure out to the Chamorro Village.  We have driven by the Chamorro Village many times because it is right off the main highway and you have to pass it to get to most of the shops and such that are on the island.  We have even been to the park that is behind the village but we had ne...