Buhr blog: Guam Trip, by Aimee

Two weeks ago, my sister and I went to a soccer tournament in Guam. The soccer tournament was an ACSC girls soccer tournament. ACSC stands for Asian Christian Schools Conference. We went to Guam because St. Paul's School there was hosting the tournament. Guam is an island near the Philippines. It is an American military base so it is considered American territory.

Day 1 (traveling):

We woke up at 5:30 and got to the school at 6:30. We boarded school vans and drove to the airport. We boarded our flight to Singapore. When we got to Singapore we had a bit of a layover so I had Subway for lunch. Then we boarded our next flight to the Philippines. When we got to the Philippines we had another long layover so we had to wait in a transit room for a long time. Then we boarded our last flight to Guam. We got in at 3:00 in the morning and a bus immediately drove us to the barracks in which we were staying. Then we fell asleep.

Day 2:

We slept in for a very long time (until 11:00). Then we boarded a van and one of the staff from St. Paul's School drove us to the school. While we drove we saw all these restaurants that we don't have in Penang, like Taco Bell, Wendy's, and Little Caesar's. Then we arrived at the school. We first had lunch which was kind of gross because it had a lot of oil and fat in it. Then we had a practice at the field. The climate is quite different from Penang. It is really windy and I was definitely not sweating as much as I would have in Penang. After that we headed back to the barracks, showered, and changed into nicer clothes. We headed over to a really nice hotel because we were going to have the opening ceremonies for the tournament there. We took some pictures at the beach because it was really pretty. Then all the teams were introduced and we had dinner. After that some dancers came out and did all sorts of weird dances. They kind of reminded me of Hawaiian dancing. Then they started bringing up girls from all different teams to dance with them. One of the girls from our team went up and started dancing. It was hilarious. Then the dancers started dancing with fire. It was very scary because they were twirling fire torches all around them. After the dancers finished we went back to the beach and they set off fireworks. It was a really fun night full of awesome memories. After that we headed back to the barracks and went to sleep.

Day 3:

We woke up at around 9:30 a.m. and headed over to the grocery store to pick up breakfast. For breakfast I had a protein bar, a blueberry bagel, and vanilla bean yogurt - all things we can't get here. We headed over to the school to watch the first soccer game while we ate our breakfast. Then we got ready for our first game. Our first game was against a school called Grace that is in Chaing Mai, Thailand. We warmed up and started playing. Our team did really well. We did not let any goals in our net and we scored three goals. I scored one of them. After our game we rested and had lunch in the gym. After that we got ready for our second game against Morrison, a school from Taiwan. We warmed up again and started playing. We beat Morrison 2-1! After that we headed over to the mall and we had Taco Bell, which I had not had in a very long time! Then we headed back to the army barracks and called it a night.

Day 4:

We had to wake up pretty early, around 6:00, because our game was at 8:00. We picked up breakfast again and headed over to the school. We got dressed in our jerseys and started warming up. We were playing the team that was hosting the tournament, St. Paul. We played pretty good but in the end we tied them. We had a long time to rest and recover and we also had lunch. Our lunch was sponsored by Tony Romas; it was really good. After that we rested a bit more; a girl from our team and I watched some of the games under the shade. Then we got ready for our second game - against a school called YISS from Korea. We also tied them 1-1. It was a disappointing day for us, but at least we hadn't lost any games so far. After that we showered and headed over to K-Mart. I got a bunch of food for my family and mostly looked around at all the American candy and snacks. After that we headed back to the mall and had dinner. I had dinner from a restaurant called California Sub. It was really good! After that we got to watch The Jungle Book with the other teams in ACSC! It was a day packed with fun and memories. After that we headed back to the barracks and went to sleep.

Day 5:

This was our last day of games before the finals. We had to wake up early today as well. We went to the grocery store again and had breakfast. I had a treat today. I got a Starbucks drink. After we finished eating we did our service project. Our service project was quite strange. We had to stick colored bottles in a fence and create a picture. These bottles were made by some children who had a school at the barracks where we were staying. They were learning about recycling and we helped them display their artwork. It was hard work but it was worth it after we finished. Then we headed over to the school. We got ready for our first game. This game was against ICS Hong Kong. We warmed up and started playing. They slipped in two goals in the first and second halves but we did not let any more goals in. It was a disappointing loss for our team but we needed to keep the morale up for the second game of the day. We rested a bit and got ready for our second game. This was probably the most important game for us in the entire tournament. We were playing against Faith, a team from Manilla. Faith had beaten every team in the tournament. They were definitely the team to beat. This game would decide if we were going to play in the third-fourth place game in the finals or the fifth-sixth place game in the finals if we lost against them. We psyched ourselves up and then began to play. In the first few minutes of the game we scored a goal! We were overjoyed but kept our defense up until the end of the game. The game ended and the score was still the same, 1-0! Our team was so happy. After that we headed back to the mall and got California Subs again. Then we headed back the barracks and called it a night.

Day 6:

We woke up and headed to the grocery store for the last time to pick up breakfast. Then we headed over to the school and watched the fifth-sixth game. Then we got ready and warmed up for our final game. Everyone was really nervous. For the Seniors on our team, this was their last game of the season and for our school Dalat before they graduate. We were playing YISS, the team we tied. We started playing and managed to slip in a goal in the first half. But a minute before the game ended this team managed to slip a goal in. We were devastated and the game ended in a tie. It was time for overtime. We played five minutes and then another five minutes but no one could slip a goal in. Then it was time for penalty kicks. Our coach picked five players from our team and they were supposed to shoot. Whichever team shot the most goals out of the five players would win. Three of the five players including my sister, scored But so did the other team! After that it was sudden death penalty kicks. This meant that the first player that missed the goal, the other team would win. A girl from our team scored, but so did the other girl from the other team. It was my turn! I walked up to the goal, shot, and the ball deflected off the goalie's hands into the goal! The other girl from the other team stepped up and shot. It sailed over the goal. We had won!! Everyone was overjoyed. After that we showered and watched the finals. It was Faith against St. Paul's (the school that was hosting). Unfortunately, Faith scored two goals and they won the tournament. I say "unfortunately" because Faith is like our nemesis school. After that we headed back to the gym for the closing ceremonies. We got lunch and then they started with the awards. We got third place and collected our medals and trophy. Then they called the MVP award, the Golden Boot (most goals), and, the Golden Glove (best goalie). They also had an all star team where they took one, two, or three girls from each team and combined them into an honourary All Star team. After this we packed up and said good bye to the other teams. We then headed over to the beach. We played around at the beach, took pictures, and overall bonded as a team. It was super fun! Then we headed over to Wendy's. It was our last dinner in Guam. I had a frosty for a treat. After that we packed up and headed back the barracks. We called it an early night and went to bed.

Day 7 (traveling):

We woke up at 3:30; it was really early. We headed over to the airport. Everything took really long there. I particularly did not like security because they were so strict. They took away some of the stuff I had bought in Guam. We caught our plane at 7:00 and flew to the Philippines. We had an extremely long layover in the Philippines, so we stayed in that transit room again. Then we caught our plane to Singapore. We got to Singapore and quickly ate dinner at Subway again. Then we caught our plane to Penang. We got into Penang at 12:00 in the night! I got home around 1:00 and fell immediately to sleep. It was good to be back in my own room, but I already missed Guam.

This trip was really amazing. It was so fun and I made a lot of memories. Our team bonded and it was a really fun time. I am so thankful for this chance to go to Guam and play soccer!