Molly Gingrich
Staff Reporter

“[The United States] is practically the same as I saw in movies,” Lei Cando said. “I like it here because everything is new to me and the people here are much nicer and more welcoming.”

Cando, whose former name is Rechelene, is a 17-year-old who moved to Glenview from Guam last year.

“When I came here, I thought, ‘new life, new name,’” Cando said about her name change.

Guam is a U.S. territory and is located in the Pacific Ocean below the equator. Cando said the transition of moving from Guam to Glenview was huge.

“The hardest thing for me to adjust to was the fact that no one speaks my language, Chamorro,” Cando said. “I haven’t met anyone here who knows it.”

However, Cando did know how to speak English before she traveled to the United States.
She was supposed to move here with her mother, but her mother went back to Guam. Cando decided to stay and live here with her sister.

“I come from an abusive family,” said Cando. “My mother did not treat me or my siblings well. I was like a mother-figure for them; I stayed home from school a lot to take care of them.”

Before moving in with her sister, “I started confiding in my sister,” Cando said. “I was going through the same thing with my mother that she [my sister] did.”

“My mother just had another baby, but I haven’t met that one. I miss [my siblings] so much,” Cando said. “I have not seen or heard from them since last year in June.”

After Cando’s mother went back to Guam, she wrote her daughter a letter cutting her off.

“My mother said she wanted nothing to do with me and that I should get out of her life,” said Cando. “She told me my siblings aren’t really my siblings, but she can say whatever she wants; I know they are.”

Cando, however, is still in contact with one of her older brothers. She has attempted to contact her mother by phone but has gotten no response.

Cando, who is part Chamorro (a person who is native to Guam), Filipino, Hawaiian and Spanish, left more than just her family behind, but also her culture.

“I am worried about losing my traditions from Guam,” Cando said.

One of Cando’s favorite cultural traditions back in Guam is the monthly fiesta that all of the villages throw. All people who live in the village are invited to the grand party.

Villagers also celebrate Liberation Day in July, which is a celebration of the day the U.S. took Guam from the Japanese.

Another cultural activity Cando was involved in is dancing. She has been dancing for seven years and she described the dance as similar to Hawaiian dance.

“We do a lot of moving and body work,” she said. “There isn’t any of our dancing around here. I am not worried about losing my dance skills; I will always remember those.”

Cando has lived in many places in Guam; her most recent home was in a village called Mangilao, which has a population of about 2,000.

“Mangilao was very quiet compared to the other places I lived,” Cando said. “Not many people go out.”

For education, she attended George Washington High School, which is the second biggest school in Guam, consisting of a little less than 2,000 students, according to Cando.

“In the United States, you get a much higher level of education,” Cando said. “There are more expectations.”

Cando was also surprised to find that South’s campus is all indoors, unlike the outdoor schools in the tropical country of Guam.

“There was a huge change in my wardrobe,” Cando said, laughing. “I’m not used to wearing jackets all the time! Also, there is the time difference. When I first came here it was hard to adjust. I slept during the day and stayed up at night for a while.”

Cando braces herself for another time change as she plans to move to Japan next year with her sister and brother-in-law, who is in the military.

As for other future plans, she wants to study computers in college.

“I’m already computer literate, and it’s good for the Air Force, which is what I want to do,” Cando said.

Cando also likes living away from Guam because it allows her to be more independent.

“In the United States, I can do more things for myself,” she said.

Cando said, “This is the first year I’ve been able to live my life as a normal teenager.”