Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Jan Term in Hawaii (Jennifer Polm)
I have had the time of my life spending Jan Term in Hawaii!! Initially I signed up for this class simply to have a chance to get away from the snow! However, I ended up learning a lot from Professor Tanas (plus I got a great tan). The material that we covered in this class was really interesting, and we got to learn a lot about the ancient Hawaiian people. Each day we took field trips to different "culturally important" locations around the island. One of my favorite trips was when we went to Shangri La; the home of the famous tobacco heiress, Doris Duke. We visited Ms. Duke's home to learn more about her huge collection of Islamic art. Her home was absolutely amazing! This field trip left me wanting to learn as much as possible about her art collection, and her life in general. Along with Shangri La, a few of my other favorite field trips were the Polynesian Cultural Center, Pearl Harbor, and all of the hikes we were able to participate in while taking this class. We hiked the famous Diamond Head crater as a class, and I did three other hikes with a few classmates; one of these hikes ended in a waterfall with a cliff to jump into the water! My favorite experience from the whole trip was skydiving!!! I went with six other classmates, and it was the most fun I've ever had in my entire life! I would do this again in a heartbeat! I learned so much in this class and had such a great time... Thank you Professor Tanas!
Studying in Paradise (Cameron Stroyan)
Today is my last day in Hawaii and I'm definitely not looking forward to going back to the freezing cold weather! This class has been one of the most fun and exciting trips of my life. Raja was a very cool professor and he made the class really fun and enjoyable. Being a science major, I haven't taken any sociology classes so far, but I found the material in this class very interesting. On top of that, the daily field trips made it an even better way to experience the material from lectures. I really enjoyed the Polynesian Cultural Center to get a taste of what it's like to live on the Polynesian islands. Every field trip we took was unique and entertaining! Since we had class early in the morning (8 o'clock), we got the field trips done with fairly early and had the rest of the day to do whatever we wanted, which was a great luxury to have in Hawaii. Some of us went sky diving, scuba diving, surfing, hiking, jumping off of water falls, or even swimming with sharks! I'm very sad that the trip is now over and I would strongly recommend this class to anyone else!
Monday, January 26, 2009
Valeria Valdez-Hawaii
January 4th, 2009
ALOHA!!
I couldn't have asked for a better way to start off 2009! This is like my birthday present, christmas, graduation, everything -- all rolled up in one!
So I got to the airport this morning around 6 am and got on my plane at 7 am. The plane had mechanical problems and i had a connection flight in Seattle! Sooo...my professor, Raja Tanas and I got off that plane and got one that was going to take us to Portland, Oregon and from there we would go to Honolulu. I was moved from a seat in the back to 1E- In the Front!! sweet right?! (that was my lucky moment #1)
So then I met a girl on the first plane who was from Hawaii, she's lived here for 3 1/2 years. wanted to keep talking to her ... but she fell asleep! Because our plane got rerouted and stuff and we were going to arrive to Honolulu 5 hours later than planned...we got some free meal vouchers to eat lunch at the Portland airport.
Anyway...got to portland and then got on our flight to Honolulu, Oahu! 6 HOURS! yea, it was long! Met some really nice people on the plane, the lady next to me gave me some cheese to snack on! lol - okay cheese is not that cool, but hey she was nice!
then the guy next to me..wow..I was praying hard because he drank like 6 little bottles of Bacardi stuff... yea..(stinky!) but I was able to talk to him a little bit about Jesus! And hey, go figure, he used to go to church. That was a good conversation!
I watched Nights in Rodanthe on the plane and E True Hollywood Story - Celine Dion (did you know she had 13 siblings! wow!) Anyway...
Now to the good stuff...
HAWAII!
got off the plane..Smelled the air and it put the biggest smile on my face! My parents called me as soon as i got off the plane. It was AWESOME! I had to take off my little jacket. Absolutely Perfect temperature!
got our luggage and this lady said, "do you want my cart!" - (lucky moment #2!)...got on a shuttle really fast, went to get the rented car, got lost for a little bit looking for my hotel! (we actually passed it like 5 times and never saw it! it was fancy smanshy and i didn't think it was mine! ) RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE BEACH! (lucky moment #3!!!!) No joke, i can walk across the street, and its sand and then ocean! I will post pictures of that tomorrow because it was too dark for pictures of the beach already!
So I got to my hotel and loved it instantly! i was SO excited. My room is absolutely adorable and the hotel is beautiful! And they have pineapple scented soaps! sweet! there's a little window that doesn't actually get closed up, and you can see out to the other hotels and to the palm trees and the beach! I was so ecstatic and excited and all the fun words that start with E that show how awesome this trip is, that I cried! you have to understand that i felt SO blessed at that moment. This is something that I've always wanted to do and now I'm here and everything is going so smoothly!
So I took a little walk to the shops right next to the hotel while I waited for my professor to let me know if he was going to have time to go out for dinner with some of the other students that were supposed to be here today too...but they didn't get here. Sooo...I resorted to Mcdonalds! it was right next door and the guy at reception desk of the hotel suggested that I not go alone anywhere at night because it might be dangerous...not a lot but a little bit! so mcdonalds was like 3 minutes away! $8 for a meal...a little more than back at home, but not that bad! and guess what..you get PINEAPPLE with your meals! go figure! lol :)
The shops are great! So much stuff!-wish i had an empty suitcase to take a bunch of stuff with me! The cutest dresses and swimsuits and all sorts of artifacts! I'll take pictures of that later!
BIG waterfalls, LOTS of palm trees, SPECTACULAR weather, AND the OCEAN AND SAND! Wow, is all I can say, and obviously I am not speechless because I already wrote a Novel for a blog -that's just how amazing it feels to be here!
and there is definitely more to come!
Mahalo Mom and Dad! - this is the coolest present EVER! love you!!
ALOHA!
LOVE, Val
January 5th, 2009
Last night I was up until midnight in the lobby of my hotel. Trevor, the receptionist was playing the Ukelele. He played a couple of songs for me from the Reggae genre. He said they were from Jamaica! I woke up really early this morning to try to catch the sunrise, but I was little late for it. So I ended up taking a walk along the beach. I was also walking along the rocks and very unexpectedly a wave splashed up and got me all wet! That was the greatest way to wake up!! I took lots of pictures of the scenery and everything around me. There were fountains and monuments, little statues and what not, but the best part about being at the beach was definitely sticking my feet in the water and just standing there for a long while. That is really what I wanted to come to Hawaii for, the ocean. I love it. There were some people surfing and hanging out really early in the morning. I think it would be awesome to wake up and be able to walk to the beach and just relax. That would definitely make me a better morning person! There were guys boogieboarding and jumping off of the rocks. Some surfers were trying to catch waves but they seemed a little disappointed because the waves were too small. I took pictures of flowers and walked around the city. I got a little hungry, so I decided to go eat at a little Mexican restaurant called “La Cucaracha”. I thought about it for a little bit, and decided that that was not the best name for a restaurant-“the Cockroach!”. Anyway, it hit me that I was in Hawaii when I was paying $15 for a taco salad. That is double of what they cost back at home. And I only got 8 chips, and they charged for ‘refills’. I went to the beach to try to get some of my homework done but it was very difficult to concentrate. I got kicked off of a lounge chair…I guess it costs $10 to SIT on a chair on the beach. Per Hour! Later I headed back to the hotel to use the internet and try to do some blogs, but I ended up going out for dinner by a couple. They thought I was a travel agent, and I explained to them that I was in Hawaii taking a class, but I was on my own because my classmates didn’t arrive until tomorrow. So they offered to take me out for coffee, but instead took me out for dinner at LULU’s. It was so awesome! I had some great spaghetti and great company. Not to mention the live music and the tiki torches everywhere. On top of that, they played one of my favorite songs, I’m Yours by Jason Mraz. I don’t know why I like that song, but it just relaxes me! That song was perfect… I sat back, relaxed, looked out the open air windows at the beach and smiled because I still couldn’t believe that I was in Hawaii.
January 6th, 2009
This morning I woke up so late! I had to ask the front desk if I could check out a little later than the check out time. I ended up having to wait to be able to check into Banyan. I hung out in the sunroom of the Aqua Beachside for a few hours trying to do homework, but I ended up spacing out and losing my concentration thinking about what I could do and flipping through activity books of things I could do while in Oahu. In order to get to the Banyan I was going to have to take a taxi! It was my first taxi ride ever! I think I got taken advantage of though because he charged me $8 just to get from one hotel to the other and it was only 5-6 blocks away. It literally is a 10 minute walk. I finally arrived at the Banyan and went to check out my room. It was a little small considering there was going to be 5 of us living there. I was glad that we got changed to a different room though, much bigger and with more beds so we had a chance to sleep in cots by ourselves. Jenny was already in the room and Samantha arrived at the hotel at the exact same time I did! We were both really hungry so I told her about this little restaurant I had heard about that had steak, white rice, and salad for $6. We went to check it out and it was pretty good! Samantha and I went for a walk along the edge of the beach and along the sidewalks. We encountered some very interesting characters. One in particular we named Spike for his gigantic wrist bands filled with spikes on them. He was punching a palm tree with them. It was quite the little scene. On our walk we also encountered some very peculiar and interesting trees, MORE beautiful flowers, and a very peaceful atmosphere. We saw some guys playing beach volleyball and thought it would be a good time to sit down and watch!! It is difficult to play volleyball in the sand and these guys were jumping at least 2-3 feet off the ground. Very intense game! We saw some sailboats as well. All in all, it was a great time. We arrived back at the Banyan for our first meeting at 7:30. We went to our room and started to unpack and put everything away to get settled in. That was my third day in Hawaii!
January 7th, 2009
Today was our 1st lecture. I also went on my 1st bus ride ever! It was not as bad as I thought it would be, as far as getting lost goes and not knowing where I would have to get off. It almost felt like common sense! I saw some Hawaiian kids going to school in a little line and wondered why they were crossing the street with their teachers. We went to the mission houses and it seemed like it was raining only on us! At the mission houses we were able to check out the printing press, tour of the house, kitchen. Basement, and rooms. We also went to the cemetery behind the church where the missionaries are buried. Following the mission houses, we headed back to the hotel because Katie C. (there are 3 katies on this trip!!), Amanda, and I had to go to Costco. We shopped around with Raja and bought stuff for a chicken dinner and hamburger dinner. We went in Raja’s RED car! Sweet ride…he had to get a new one because the other one’s registration had expired! I was glad I had come to Costco because I was able to buy HotPockets, Mac N Cheese, and Iced Tea—I knew I was going to be eating a lot of this stuff because I was trying to save up money to go do the fun stuff! This little trip to Costco also brought me closer to Katie and Amanda. We became cool friends and decided that we were going to make the most out of this trip and do tons of fun stuff like parasailing, skydiving, and shark cage tours together!! I’m so ready for it! I had a lot of fun with the “carts” and getting dinner ready, wouldn’t mind doing it again! We had salad, corn on the cob, mango cheesecake and chicken! It was a great dinner. We ended the night off by hanging out at the hot tub!
January 8th, 2008
Today we went to the Bishop Museum. There were so many ancient artifacts. Masks, weapons, tools, etc… It was very interesting to see all of these ancient and historical pieces. I don’t think I had ever realized that Hawaii had such a rich and deep history. We also went to the Megalodon exhibit. According to the data, the Megalodon was the largest shark to have ever lived. The replicas of the shark’s mouth was enormous! It could have swallowed 10 people easily! It was very interesting. We also went to the scientific portion of the Bishop Musuem. Here we learned about animal species, plant life, and how volcanoes work. There was a little show and they actually had lava that was melted and that they poured out to show what it looked like and how quickly it solidified and cooled. It was crackling as it got hard. That was pretty cool. We also visited the planetarium. There was huge earth shaped screen in the center of the room, and this section of the museum was dedicated to teach people about global warming. The “floating” ball that had images of the earth was interesting and informative. We went into the planetarium show, and here we learned how those traveling to Hawaii used the stars to help them navigate. The rest of the day was spent at the beach. I hadn’t gone yet to just lay out in the sun because I was on my own, so I’m glad I was able to finally go! In the evening there was a short Luau but it was fun! I was able to take photos with the performers and they were very nice people. I love Hawaiian music! This was my first Luau ever and I had been waiting for a long time to finally witness one. It was quite the little show. That night it rained, but we all hung out at the hot tub again. I finished off the evening by doing some homework! I am in Hawaii, but I realized that I was here to take a class! ☺
January 9th, 2009
Today we had lecture, and afterwards made our way to Diamond Head. I had no idea we would be hiking that day because I didn’t know what Diamond Head was yet. But I felt prepared for it anyway. I didn’t realize it was a steep hike, with many stairs and it would take an hour. I had never fainted in my life, but when I reached the top of Diamond Head, I felt as if I was going to faint. BUT, it was SO worth the view. My group was fun as well. We stuck together and helped each other out. I met Emily on this hike and got to know her a little better. She is a great person. Very thoughtful and sweet. An elderly man whom we passed as we hiked up, was sitting down as if he couldn’t hike anymore. An emergency helicopter and crew had to come to help him off of the crater. He hadn’t had much to drink or very many carbohydrates. Neither had I, so I was happy that I brought my water bottle. I think it helped me from fainting! This same day, I had the awesome opportunity to go parasailing! I thought it would be more difficult, but it was actually very peaceful, relaxing, and not scary at all. It was a very fun time, and the boat ride was no exception! After parasailing, we went for a very long and hot walk. But we finally made it to a bus stop that would take us back to the hotel. My feet were tired but I was so excited that I got one really fun thing off of my to do list. I cannot wait to go skydiving, which is the next thing on the list!
January 10th, 2009
We had lecture this morning, and right after we all made our way to the swap meet market. It is at the Aloha Stadium. There is way too much stuff there. A person can really spend way too much money there, especially if their room is Hawaiian and they see so many things they can decorate their room with. This is the category that I fall into! I spent well over $100 and that is only because I ran out of cash. I purchased two large Hawaiian albums, 2 sarongs, and 2 bikinis. By far the best purchase I made was 2 large fans with paintings of the sunset and the ocean on them. One of them also had dolphins. They are as big as when I open up my arms ver wide. They are perfect for my room. I am excited to go home and hang them up on my wall. It started raining, so we had to leave the swap meet market early. I got a little lost while I was there because I could not find where we were supposed to get out from. I was so hungry! And the bus ride, I knew would be incredibly long. We ended up stopping nearby a Subway. We ate there and then made our way back to the hotel. There was another little luau that night at Waikiki beach but I was so exhausted! I took a long nap, and when I woke up I realized I had some homework left to do. I understood that I would never run out of things to do in Hawaii, no matter how long we would be here. If there were 30 days of this trip, they would all be filled up somehow!!
January 11th, 2009
Today is Sunday! No lecture, but wow, did I sleep in! I was supposed to go snorkeling today at Hanauma Bay with all the girls, but I wasn’t feeling so well, so I stayed asleep and just hung out in the room for the majority of the day. I tried to get most of my homework done so that it would just be ready to turn in. Samantha and one of her friends, Kelly Thorpe (University of Hawaii) invited me to the pool, so I got ready and went out with them. It was a little cold outside, but we also went into the hot tub, so that worked out. I watched television for a little bit, Bones was coming on! Great show by the way. Went to McDonald’s to get some dinner. Went to the hot tub again later and had a little pow wow with some of the other classmates who started to show up. I didn’t realize how many ants were in our room until I spent an entire day in there! That night there was a full moon and the view was really quite breathtaking. The moonlight was shining on the edges of the clouds and it was just picture perfect-so I took a picture! It got really windy so I headed back to the room and decided to call my parents. I really missed them today. I also called my friend Valerie for her birthday at 10:00 pm because in Washington it would be midnight. We are accustomed to call people on their birthday at midnight in the Hispanic culture! She didn’t answer, but if she’s reading this blog, she will know that I called her and thought about her on her birthday! ☺ It was a pretty laid back day, but sometimes when you’re in Hawaii, that is exactly what you need.
January 12th, 2009
We had lecture in the morning and then we got on a yellow school bus and went to Pali Lookout Point-which is an area that is supposedly haunted by the soldiers who died there. The only crazy thing there was that there were lots of chickens everywhere!- I didn’t quite understand why there were chickens out in the middle of nowhere! There was such beautiful scenery. Some Japanese guys took our class photo…then they were taking photos with their own cameras-that was quite funny! Then we went to the Byodo-In Temple. There was a cemetery with some very beautiful headstones that had Japanese characters engraved into them. Thewhole area was very peaceful. You could hear water running practically wherever you went. There was a bell that we could ring that symbolized Buddhist blessings….I captured Raja doing that on video! We had to take off our shoes before going into the temple. In the Buddhah room, there were spaces for all of the people who had died. Their favorite things or something that was related to them was in the spaces. One had a Pepsi can inside. Some were decorated. Incense could be burnt in the area as well. There were black swans, fish, and little waterfalls. One of the swans almost went into the little gift shop. That would have been really funny! Then we went to see the memorial park of the Chinese, from Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos—there were oranges there. I don’t remember why, but they were there. This was all called the Valley of the Temples Memorial Park. Then we went to a Macadamia Nut farm. I bought a painted coconut! There were pictures of President Barack Obama with the farm employees all over the place. One of the employees there had tattoos all over his body-it resembled a Samoan tattoo. On our little excursion I got to see turtle island, and china man’s hat island which is like a mini island. We also saw the area where Jurassic park was filmed. As we visited the North shore we went to an area where the currents were extremely strong and there were huge rock formations. I don’t remember the name, but it was an area where no one is supposed to swim or surf. One of the rocks had a hole in it. It was a very brief visit but I could’ve sat on the rocks for hours to look out at the water and how it hit the rocks. The ocean is very majestic and very powerful! Then we went to Sunset Beach! By far the best one so far..maybe not to swim in, but it had the biggest waves and they were so close! I loved it! A man was cruising the streets with a cross that said Jesus loves you and giving the Shaka sign. Then we went for shaved ice, thanks Raja! Those were good! The Dole plantation was next. We saw mini pineapples. I didn’t realize that this was how pineapples were grown. We also had pineapple ice cream-which was delicious! Very different, but good! Took some really fun pictures and had a good time. I found a snail on one of the leaves at the plantation, it was huge! I took a picture with it and made a kissy face! I wanted to take it but thought it would be a little too slimy! ☺ When we got back to the hotel, we walked to Smorgy’s for a buffet dinner! Good food, great times, memorable moments!
January 13th, 2009
Today we went to Iolani Palace on a Voice-Giuded tour. It was a neat experience to have what would be something similar to a large cell phone as we walked around the palace guide us instead of a tour guide. Before entering we had to put these little shoes on over our shoes so that we wouldn’t dirty the floors of the palace. We went to all of the different rooms of the palace and saw the grand staircase. I learned about the queen’s imprisonment in her own room as well as some interesting facts about Hawaiian Royalty life. The palace did not have a lot of furniture because a lot of it was auctioned off when some people were trying to take over the palace. Today the furniture is all over the world and it is trying to be retrieved. The bedrooms had small beds and the floors looked like they were made out of very beautiful wood. The chandeliers in the palace were interesting because they symbolized the first time electricity was introduced. Outside of the palace and across the street I finally saw the statue of King Kamehameha. After the palace, a small group of us decided it would be fun to visit Chinatown, which was nearby. We visited a Scientology Center nearby and some of us took a small stress test. It turned out that I was the most stressed! I don’t even know why! As we walked around the Chinatown markets we were introduced to an array of new foods. A lot of the fresh products were different kinds of seafoods. At first we saw chicken legs and a huge cow hoof in the window of a small store. Later we saw squid, lobsters, crabs, eel, huge fish and tiny fish. I do not like seafood and could barely stand the smell as we walked by. Danny made me try Kimchee and it has got to be the worst thing I’ve ever tasted in my life. I made the funniest and most distorted face I have ever made in my life. We had made a deal and he agreed to try pig’s head. He didn’t like it either but pretended that he did so that the locals would not get offended. We ordered a dish of pathai (I am not sure how to spell that!) and that was pretty good. Today I learned that life is too short to not try new things, and so I decided that for the rest of the trip I would be more open to trying new foods and flavors.
January 14th, 2009
Today we took our first exam. It was not difficult but it also was not easy. I had studied for quite some time. It was different to be taking our exam outside on the stone tables! Change of scenery compared to the classroom! A lot of us were really tired, so we decided to head to the beach to relax. It would be nice if we could do that back at home! ☺ As we laid on the beach I could feel the rays of the sun seeping into my skin, but I felt assured that I was protected from getting sunburnt because I had put on sunblock lotion plenty of times. I actually fell asleep on the sands of the beach, which is a first for me! Usually I am too uncomfortable to actually fall asleep! I finally woke up and got into the water because it was extremely hot. Katie C. and I walked around the rocks looking for anemones, sea cucumbers, crabs, and sea urchins. We found them and tried poking at the anemones to see if they would open. It was a neat experience. When I got back to my room, I realized that I was very much burnt! I couldn’t believe it. My back was completely red as were my arms and the back of my legs! I put on some aloe vera gel to cool off and it did. So here I am laying on the couch writing this journal, and my back and my legs are in pain because I got sunburned today!! Hopefully it will turn into a nice tan!
January 15th, 2009
Today we went to Fort DeRussy after lecture. Here we learned about the different weapons that were used during the war. We walked around and looked at old Hawaiian weapons as well as some canons and rifles. We also saw the huge bullets that were lined up in one room. There was even a section that displayed how the soldiers used coke cans as grenades! On the top we saw a helicopter! That was very interesting. There was also a room dedicated to commemorating soldiers that fought bravely. It was filled with photos and all the different kinds of medals that can be given to those that fight for our country. As I left fort DeRussy and walked back to the hotel, I walked past a Louis Vuitton store. This is a very high end store that I only hear about in the movies or shows on television. I decided to walk in and failed to understand why they were so prestigious and special! These guys sell purses that cost thousands of dollars and there is nothing great or interesting about them!! After, I stopped in an art gallery that had the most beautiful art I had ever seen. The paintings looked so real, I thought they were photographs! I went back to the hotel and after a while decided to come back with Katie to the area in front of the international market place. We both got our names painted on some posterboard paper by a very talented artist who uses dolphins, palm trees, flowers, and other Hawaiian and tropical themes to paint the letters of our name. It was very cool. There were also some break dancers on the street which was pretty interesting! They were doing back flips and headstands. I will definitely go back to that area later just to get my caricature done, which is a funny painting in a cartoon format of yourself. I will also see how much it costs to get an actual detailed painting of myself done as well. It would be something nice to have.
January 16, 2009
Today after lecture, some of the girls and myself went to Ala Moana Mall. The food court there was enormous! There was so much food to choose from! I had a smoothie wish some small beads in it, it is called bubble tea and the little beads are called pearls. They tasted like blueberries and were very squishy with a weird texture. It was five dollars and I didn’t really like it and no one else wanted it so I had to throw it away! I felt awful about doing that but I didn’t want to be carrying it around! The girls and I were going to Manoa falls on the bus to take a hike. It was raining heavily and we thought that this would ruin our chances of going on the hike, but when we arrived we saw that people were still hiking the trail so we decided to do the same! It was extremely muddy but it was nice to be going on a hike and having some fresh air and not heat. The area was so beautiful that I was holding up the group because I felt like I had to take photos of everything! I also didn’t have really good hiking shoes on so it was difficult to maneuver around. The view was so worth the hike! The waterfall goes on and on and one can’t even see the top of it when standing at the bottom! It is so beautiful. We ended up having gone on a 1 hour hike up and a 1 hour hike back down. We ran to catch the bus because it doesn’t come out too often. We went back to Ala Moana and had a really good lunch. I was craving spaghetti and was able to have that for a very reasonable price! There was a lot to look at while in the mall. Some very interesting sculptures were in the center of the food court. They were huge fishes! It was pretty neat artistic work. I was glad that I did what I did today. There was not much planned but I still had a great time! All these hikes are wearing me out, but in the end they are so worth all of the effort.
January 17th, 2009
Today after lecture we visited the Shangri La. It is a house that belonged to a very wealthy woman who decided on her honeymoon that she wanted to build it and live here in Hawaii. It is a house filled with beautiful Islamic art and it was so awesome that I decided that I wanted to take some of the decorative elements of the house to apply them in the ideas I have for decorating a section of my room back at home. When we were outside of the house in the middle of the tour we were able to see some whales jumping out of the water a long ways out. It was very cool! Our tour guide was very knowledgeable about the house and about Doris Duke. Doris Duke was a very interesting person and it seemed like she was very nice! She made some really cool decorative choices for her home and I am glad that she decided that it would be ok for the house to be viewed in the future. I later went with Amanda to a basketball game at the University of Hawaii. It was $18 just to get in. I had never been to a basketball game and though Hawaii would be a cool place to start! It was somewhat interesting. There were a lot of fouls and so the game was constantly starting and stopping. I had a hot dog and some delicious coconut ice cream! In all, it was a fun night and Amanda and I had a great time together. We had really good conversations as we waited almost an hour for the bus to arrive to bring us back to Waikiki!
January 18th, 2009
Today was definitely the highlight of my trip so far! Everyday it just keeps getting better and better. I went SKYDIVING! I had always wanted to do this. It was the best thing I have ever done and probably the craziest. It was so much fun. My parents were so scared but afterwards they just laughed at me when I showed them the video of it. They were happy that I had done something that I wanted to do so much. My instructor was very helpful! In the plane I was so cold that I was shaking and everyone around me thought that I was just extremely nervous, but it was because of all of the cold air! I was laughing after I jumped. It was so awesome. Amanda and I met two girls from New York, and with them we went to several beaches on the North Shore. We ended up at Turtle Bay Resort and had a really good time there. There was a wedding going on which was interesting. We ate there and stayed to catch the sunset. It was a very cool experience because we didn’t plan the rest of the day after skydiving but we still had a very good time and made some new friends along the way!
January 19th, 2009
Today after lecture we went out to Kalakaua and witnessed the Martin Luther King Parade. I thought it would focus around what Martin Luther King did, however it was more attributed for peace efforts and protests of labor unions and the war. It was still very interesting. I took some pictures with some parrots that were on the sidewalk…one of them said “hey baby!”. It was very fun. And they were so colorful and well trained, I was surprised! After the parade we headed to the Atlantis Submarine ride. That was A LOT of fun! I never thought that I would be brave enough to go into a submarine. One day I am 14,000 feet in the air, and the next I am over a hundred feet below the water! Before getting on the submarine we played with some sealife that they had on display. I was able to hold various kinds of starfish! I could see them breathing. It was VERY cool! I like that part of my day a lot. The funniest thing was watching Tracy trying to catch a little octopus! I was not going to try that! The Submarine ride was cool because we got to see a lot of artificial reefs, fish, and we even caught some sea turtles hanging out! The tour guide was pretty funny too! Tonight we also went to a sushi restaurant. I have never liked Sushi, but I was willing to try it again-just to make sure! I had promised myself that I would be more open to new foods. I tried it and it was not too bad. I don’t like fish in general, so raw fish is probably worse for me. It is not so much the flavor, but the texture! However, the sushi tasted better than the chicken dish I ordered, which is kind of weird. I had a really good time with everyone at my table. I really appreciate that Raja took us out for such a nice dinner! Thank you Raja!
January 20th, 2009
Today was my boyfriend Anthony’s birthday so I was up pretty late talking on the phone with him last night because we are accustomed to celebrating birthdays at midnight with whoever’s birthday it is! But staying up late did not keep me from waking up early because I was so excited for the Polynesian Cultural Center! It was the coolest thing by far on this trip. We visited all of the “islands” such as Fiji, Tahiti, Samoa, and Tonga. The Samoans were hilarious! They climbed palm trees with their bare hands and feet. They made fires out of the natural resources around them. They cracked coconuts and walked on fire. These guys are intense! Very cool. Amanda and I decided today that we would marry Samoans because they were the ones who cooked in the home!! The other islands were so much fun as well. The dancing, the music, the drums! Everything was just so cool and interesting. We threw spears as part of a game, learned how to play the Ukulele, ate coconut bread-which was SO good!, and watched all of the shows. Later we had a great dinner and excellent entertainment with the Luau. I ordered a smoothie that came in a pineapple! That was very tasty..it was pina colada! YUM. Later at the Horizons Show I was just sitting there with my jaw wide open! It was crazy!! I had never seen something like that but it was the best thing ever. The samoans and their crazy fire stunts were incredible, by far my favorite part of the show. But all of the colors and the dancing was just so beautifully presented as well! It was a very fun experience. I was exhausted at the end of the day, but it was so worth the whole day’s fun!
January 21st, 2009
Today after lecture we went to Hanauma bay to go snorkeling! I was a little nervous about snorkeling at first because I am not a very good swimmer at all. But when I got there it was not that difficult! It was actually really easy and really relaxing. I only had trouble when I went to the areas where my feet couldn’t touch the floor and this was because I had to take out the salt water from my snorkel because it was going into my mouth and I couldn’t swim and do that at the same time. Sometimes I had to drain the water out of my goggles too! Trying to do two things at once while swimming and also choking on water is no easy task! I couldn’t even step on the reef to help myself out a little! But it was so cool to see all the fish so close up. I am so glad I did that. I want to go back so that I can go see the turtles! I was on the wrong side I guess because all of the cooler animals were on the other side and Katie and I had stayed on the left side. After snorkeling, we tried to catch the bus. IT was so full that some people had to stay behind because they didn’t fit on the bus. I wondered why they don’t just get more buses to go out there, and some people mentioned that it was because they don’t want so many people going out to the bay because the reef is slowly being killed and it takes a long time for it to grow back. Less buses is a very interesting way to keep people from going to the bay. When I got back I tried to catch up on some homework and I fell asleep for a while. Snorkeling is a lot of work! I was so tired after that. But I definitely woke up for the steak dinner which was so delicious! Slowly but surely, I am taking off items from my to do list! I am still having fun and I can’t believe so much time has gone by! I am not ready to go home soon!
January 22nd, 2009
Today after lecture, I went back to take a nap in my room! I don’t know why I have been so tired! I feel like there is so much to do here in Hawaii besides sleep, but sometimes we just need to relax! I woke up and did some homework and then started getting ready for the Sunset Dinner Cruise! We walked to an area of the beach, and I didn’t realize that little boats could come in on this particular spot. There were so many people around that I had no idea that this was normal! If I wouldn’t have gone with Raja, I probably would not have found the spot! We had to fold up our jeans because we were going to get a few feet into the water in order to get onto the sailboat! I got a little wet, but it wasn’t that bad! The little cruise was a lot of fun. It was very relaxing and enjoyable. We were able to catch the sunset and it was a very neat experience. Everyone started clapping as soon as the sun went down over the horizon. We were told that there was a possibility that we would see whales or dolphins on this ride, but we didn’t see any! That is ok though because the ride was still a lot of fun, especially with Danny making so many jokes and acting so crazy! He made the ride interesting! We then had dinner at Cheeseburger Paradise. It was very very good. I had a cheeseburger with pineapple and teriyaki sauce in it and it was delicious! I really enjoyed it. Once again, thank you Raja! Dinner was GREAT! I still can’t believe this trip is almost over. I am going to make the most of everyday that is left. Can’t wait to go home, but then again, I can!!
January 23rd, 2009
Today we didn’t have lecture, but we did go to Pearl Harbor. Half of the fun was getting there. I had a great conversation with Danny on the bus about religion and faith and all sorts of topics. It was cool because the bus ride is pretty long and it would have been boring to just sit there. When we got to Pearl Harbor we started off by watching a video. It gave us some background on the history of Pearl Harbor. It was very interesting. The funniest thing happened to me right before the video. There was a couple sitting next to me and Dan and I had been trying to ask them what their little visors were for. They had some visors in front of them that looked like giant sunglasses in the shape of a rectangle. I continued to ask them, and I spoke a little louder because I thought that maybe the theatre was just a little too loud. I turned over to Dan and laughed because I told him that these people were ignoring me! They would not answer me. As I turned around again, I saw them doing hand signs to each other! They were deaf. I felt so terrible..but I couldn’t stop laughing at myself for thinking that they were ignoring me. I laughed so hard for the next couple of minutes that I cried. It was so funny! Anyway, we watched the video and then made our way to the Arizona Memorial. It was crazy to see that there is oil that is still seeping out of the sunken ship. It was a very quiet viewing and very respectful one because there are men still buried with the ship. It was interesting to see that some sailors even though they died after Pearl Harbor, wanted to be buried with their friends who were buried with the Arizona. After this a small group of us went to the USS Missouri Battleship. That was a lot of fun. We took a lot of funny pictures and also some with the sailor hats. The ship was enormous! We got to see all of the guns and the ammunition for it. We also saw where the sailors ate and slept. The control rooms full of buttons were very interesting! It is crazy to think that this huge, heavy ship can float on top of the water! Today was a really fun day, I am glad that I chose to go to the Missouri. I took so many pictures already on this trip that my computer cannot handle anymore! It’s ok, it just means that I am having fun!
THIS IS A LINK TO ALL OF THE PHOTOS FROM THE TRIP. IF THE LINK DOES NOT WORK, IT JUST MEANS YOU MUST CREATE A MYSPACE ACCOUNT.
YOU CAN EMAIL ME AT valerievaldez05@gmail.com IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT HOW TO GET TO THE PICTURES OR IF YOU WOULD LIKE ME TO EMAIL YOU A MORE DIRECT LINK...
http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewAlbums2&friendID=29275453&view=true
ALOHA!!
I couldn't have asked for a better way to start off 2009! This is like my birthday present, christmas, graduation, everything -- all rolled up in one!
So I got to the airport this morning around 6 am and got on my plane at 7 am. The plane had mechanical problems and i had a connection flight in Seattle! Sooo...my professor, Raja Tanas and I got off that plane and got one that was going to take us to Portland, Oregon and from there we would go to Honolulu. I was moved from a seat in the back to 1E- In the Front!! sweet right?! (that was my lucky moment #1)
So then I met a girl on the first plane who was from Hawaii, she's lived here for 3 1/2 years. wanted to keep talking to her ... but she fell asleep! Because our plane got rerouted and stuff and we were going to arrive to Honolulu 5 hours later than planned...we got some free meal vouchers to eat lunch at the Portland airport.
Anyway...got to portland and then got on our flight to Honolulu, Oahu! 6 HOURS! yea, it was long! Met some really nice people on the plane, the lady next to me gave me some cheese to snack on! lol - okay cheese is not that cool, but hey she was nice!
then the guy next to me..wow..I was praying hard because he drank like 6 little bottles of Bacardi stuff... yea..(stinky!) but I was able to talk to him a little bit about Jesus! And hey, go figure, he used to go to church. That was a good conversation!
I watched Nights in Rodanthe on the plane and E True Hollywood Story - Celine Dion (did you know she had 13 siblings! wow!) Anyway...
Now to the good stuff...
HAWAII!
got off the plane..Smelled the air and it put the biggest smile on my face! My parents called me as soon as i got off the plane. It was AWESOME! I had to take off my little jacket. Absolutely Perfect temperature!
got our luggage and this lady said, "do you want my cart!" - (lucky moment #2!)...got on a shuttle really fast, went to get the rented car, got lost for a little bit looking for my hotel! (we actually passed it like 5 times and never saw it! it was fancy smanshy and i didn't think it was mine! ) RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE BEACH! (lucky moment #3!!!!) No joke, i can walk across the street, and its sand and then ocean! I will post pictures of that tomorrow because it was too dark for pictures of the beach already!
So I got to my hotel and loved it instantly! i was SO excited. My room is absolutely adorable and the hotel is beautiful! And they have pineapple scented soaps! sweet! there's a little window that doesn't actually get closed up, and you can see out to the other hotels and to the palm trees and the beach! I was so ecstatic and excited and all the fun words that start with E that show how awesome this trip is, that I cried! you have to understand that i felt SO blessed at that moment. This is something that I've always wanted to do and now I'm here and everything is going so smoothly!
So I took a little walk to the shops right next to the hotel while I waited for my professor to let me know if he was going to have time to go out for dinner with some of the other students that were supposed to be here today too...but they didn't get here. Sooo...I resorted to Mcdonalds! it was right next door and the guy at reception desk of the hotel suggested that I not go alone anywhere at night because it might be dangerous...not a lot but a little bit! so mcdonalds was like 3 minutes away! $8 for a meal...a little more than back at home, but not that bad! and guess what..you get PINEAPPLE with your meals! go figure! lol :)
The shops are great! So much stuff!-wish i had an empty suitcase to take a bunch of stuff with me! The cutest dresses and swimsuits and all sorts of artifacts! I'll take pictures of that later!
BIG waterfalls, LOTS of palm trees, SPECTACULAR weather, AND the OCEAN AND SAND! Wow, is all I can say, and obviously I am not speechless because I already wrote a Novel for a blog -that's just how amazing it feels to be here!
and there is definitely more to come!
Mahalo Mom and Dad! - this is the coolest present EVER! love you!!
ALOHA!
LOVE, Val
January 5th, 2009
Last night I was up until midnight in the lobby of my hotel. Trevor, the receptionist was playing the Ukelele. He played a couple of songs for me from the Reggae genre. He said they were from Jamaica! I woke up really early this morning to try to catch the sunrise, but I was little late for it. So I ended up taking a walk along the beach. I was also walking along the rocks and very unexpectedly a wave splashed up and got me all wet! That was the greatest way to wake up!! I took lots of pictures of the scenery and everything around me. There were fountains and monuments, little statues and what not, but the best part about being at the beach was definitely sticking my feet in the water and just standing there for a long while. That is really what I wanted to come to Hawaii for, the ocean. I love it. There were some people surfing and hanging out really early in the morning. I think it would be awesome to wake up and be able to walk to the beach and just relax. That would definitely make me a better morning person! There were guys boogieboarding and jumping off of the rocks. Some surfers were trying to catch waves but they seemed a little disappointed because the waves were too small. I took pictures of flowers and walked around the city. I got a little hungry, so I decided to go eat at a little Mexican restaurant called “La Cucaracha”. I thought about it for a little bit, and decided that that was not the best name for a restaurant-“the Cockroach!”. Anyway, it hit me that I was in Hawaii when I was paying $15 for a taco salad. That is double of what they cost back at home. And I only got 8 chips, and they charged for ‘refills’. I went to the beach to try to get some of my homework done but it was very difficult to concentrate. I got kicked off of a lounge chair…I guess it costs $10 to SIT on a chair on the beach. Per Hour! Later I headed back to the hotel to use the internet and try to do some blogs, but I ended up going out for dinner by a couple. They thought I was a travel agent, and I explained to them that I was in Hawaii taking a class, but I was on my own because my classmates didn’t arrive until tomorrow. So they offered to take me out for coffee, but instead took me out for dinner at LULU’s. It was so awesome! I had some great spaghetti and great company. Not to mention the live music and the tiki torches everywhere. On top of that, they played one of my favorite songs, I’m Yours by Jason Mraz. I don’t know why I like that song, but it just relaxes me! That song was perfect… I sat back, relaxed, looked out the open air windows at the beach and smiled because I still couldn’t believe that I was in Hawaii.
January 6th, 2009
This morning I woke up so late! I had to ask the front desk if I could check out a little later than the check out time. I ended up having to wait to be able to check into Banyan. I hung out in the sunroom of the Aqua Beachside for a few hours trying to do homework, but I ended up spacing out and losing my concentration thinking about what I could do and flipping through activity books of things I could do while in Oahu. In order to get to the Banyan I was going to have to take a taxi! It was my first taxi ride ever! I think I got taken advantage of though because he charged me $8 just to get from one hotel to the other and it was only 5-6 blocks away. It literally is a 10 minute walk. I finally arrived at the Banyan and went to check out my room. It was a little small considering there was going to be 5 of us living there. I was glad that we got changed to a different room though, much bigger and with more beds so we had a chance to sleep in cots by ourselves. Jenny was already in the room and Samantha arrived at the hotel at the exact same time I did! We were both really hungry so I told her about this little restaurant I had heard about that had steak, white rice, and salad for $6. We went to check it out and it was pretty good! Samantha and I went for a walk along the edge of the beach and along the sidewalks. We encountered some very interesting characters. One in particular we named Spike for his gigantic wrist bands filled with spikes on them. He was punching a palm tree with them. It was quite the little scene. On our walk we also encountered some very peculiar and interesting trees, MORE beautiful flowers, and a very peaceful atmosphere. We saw some guys playing beach volleyball and thought it would be a good time to sit down and watch!! It is difficult to play volleyball in the sand and these guys were jumping at least 2-3 feet off the ground. Very intense game! We saw some sailboats as well. All in all, it was a great time. We arrived back at the Banyan for our first meeting at 7:30. We went to our room and started to unpack and put everything away to get settled in. That was my third day in Hawaii!
January 7th, 2009
Today was our 1st lecture. I also went on my 1st bus ride ever! It was not as bad as I thought it would be, as far as getting lost goes and not knowing where I would have to get off. It almost felt like common sense! I saw some Hawaiian kids going to school in a little line and wondered why they were crossing the street with their teachers. We went to the mission houses and it seemed like it was raining only on us! At the mission houses we were able to check out the printing press, tour of the house, kitchen. Basement, and rooms. We also went to the cemetery behind the church where the missionaries are buried. Following the mission houses, we headed back to the hotel because Katie C. (there are 3 katies on this trip!!), Amanda, and I had to go to Costco. We shopped around with Raja and bought stuff for a chicken dinner and hamburger dinner. We went in Raja’s RED car! Sweet ride…he had to get a new one because the other one’s registration had expired! I was glad I had come to Costco because I was able to buy HotPockets, Mac N Cheese, and Iced Tea—I knew I was going to be eating a lot of this stuff because I was trying to save up money to go do the fun stuff! This little trip to Costco also brought me closer to Katie and Amanda. We became cool friends and decided that we were going to make the most out of this trip and do tons of fun stuff like parasailing, skydiving, and shark cage tours together!! I’m so ready for it! I had a lot of fun with the “carts” and getting dinner ready, wouldn’t mind doing it again! We had salad, corn on the cob, mango cheesecake and chicken! It was a great dinner. We ended the night off by hanging out at the hot tub!
January 8th, 2008
Today we went to the Bishop Museum. There were so many ancient artifacts. Masks, weapons, tools, etc… It was very interesting to see all of these ancient and historical pieces. I don’t think I had ever realized that Hawaii had such a rich and deep history. We also went to the Megalodon exhibit. According to the data, the Megalodon was the largest shark to have ever lived. The replicas of the shark’s mouth was enormous! It could have swallowed 10 people easily! It was very interesting. We also went to the scientific portion of the Bishop Musuem. Here we learned about animal species, plant life, and how volcanoes work. There was a little show and they actually had lava that was melted and that they poured out to show what it looked like and how quickly it solidified and cooled. It was crackling as it got hard. That was pretty cool. We also visited the planetarium. There was huge earth shaped screen in the center of the room, and this section of the museum was dedicated to teach people about global warming. The “floating” ball that had images of the earth was interesting and informative. We went into the planetarium show, and here we learned how those traveling to Hawaii used the stars to help them navigate. The rest of the day was spent at the beach. I hadn’t gone yet to just lay out in the sun because I was on my own, so I’m glad I was able to finally go! In the evening there was a short Luau but it was fun! I was able to take photos with the performers and they were very nice people. I love Hawaiian music! This was my first Luau ever and I had been waiting for a long time to finally witness one. It was quite the little show. That night it rained, but we all hung out at the hot tub again. I finished off the evening by doing some homework! I am in Hawaii, but I realized that I was here to take a class! ☺
January 9th, 2009
Today we had lecture, and afterwards made our way to Diamond Head. I had no idea we would be hiking that day because I didn’t know what Diamond Head was yet. But I felt prepared for it anyway. I didn’t realize it was a steep hike, with many stairs and it would take an hour. I had never fainted in my life, but when I reached the top of Diamond Head, I felt as if I was going to faint. BUT, it was SO worth the view. My group was fun as well. We stuck together and helped each other out. I met Emily on this hike and got to know her a little better. She is a great person. Very thoughtful and sweet. An elderly man whom we passed as we hiked up, was sitting down as if he couldn’t hike anymore. An emergency helicopter and crew had to come to help him off of the crater. He hadn’t had much to drink or very many carbohydrates. Neither had I, so I was happy that I brought my water bottle. I think it helped me from fainting! This same day, I had the awesome opportunity to go parasailing! I thought it would be more difficult, but it was actually very peaceful, relaxing, and not scary at all. It was a very fun time, and the boat ride was no exception! After parasailing, we went for a very long and hot walk. But we finally made it to a bus stop that would take us back to the hotel. My feet were tired but I was so excited that I got one really fun thing off of my to do list. I cannot wait to go skydiving, which is the next thing on the list!
January 10th, 2009
We had lecture this morning, and right after we all made our way to the swap meet market. It is at the Aloha Stadium. There is way too much stuff there. A person can really spend way too much money there, especially if their room is Hawaiian and they see so many things they can decorate their room with. This is the category that I fall into! I spent well over $100 and that is only because I ran out of cash. I purchased two large Hawaiian albums, 2 sarongs, and 2 bikinis. By far the best purchase I made was 2 large fans with paintings of the sunset and the ocean on them. One of them also had dolphins. They are as big as when I open up my arms ver wide. They are perfect for my room. I am excited to go home and hang them up on my wall. It started raining, so we had to leave the swap meet market early. I got a little lost while I was there because I could not find where we were supposed to get out from. I was so hungry! And the bus ride, I knew would be incredibly long. We ended up stopping nearby a Subway. We ate there and then made our way back to the hotel. There was another little luau that night at Waikiki beach but I was so exhausted! I took a long nap, and when I woke up I realized I had some homework left to do. I understood that I would never run out of things to do in Hawaii, no matter how long we would be here. If there were 30 days of this trip, they would all be filled up somehow!!
January 11th, 2009
Today is Sunday! No lecture, but wow, did I sleep in! I was supposed to go snorkeling today at Hanauma Bay with all the girls, but I wasn’t feeling so well, so I stayed asleep and just hung out in the room for the majority of the day. I tried to get most of my homework done so that it would just be ready to turn in. Samantha and one of her friends, Kelly Thorpe (University of Hawaii) invited me to the pool, so I got ready and went out with them. It was a little cold outside, but we also went into the hot tub, so that worked out. I watched television for a little bit, Bones was coming on! Great show by the way. Went to McDonald’s to get some dinner. Went to the hot tub again later and had a little pow wow with some of the other classmates who started to show up. I didn’t realize how many ants were in our room until I spent an entire day in there! That night there was a full moon and the view was really quite breathtaking. The moonlight was shining on the edges of the clouds and it was just picture perfect-so I took a picture! It got really windy so I headed back to the room and decided to call my parents. I really missed them today. I also called my friend Valerie for her birthday at 10:00 pm because in Washington it would be midnight. We are accustomed to call people on their birthday at midnight in the Hispanic culture! She didn’t answer, but if she’s reading this blog, she will know that I called her and thought about her on her birthday! ☺ It was a pretty laid back day, but sometimes when you’re in Hawaii, that is exactly what you need.
January 12th, 2009
We had lecture in the morning and then we got on a yellow school bus and went to Pali Lookout Point-which is an area that is supposedly haunted by the soldiers who died there. The only crazy thing there was that there were lots of chickens everywhere!- I didn’t quite understand why there were chickens out in the middle of nowhere! There was such beautiful scenery. Some Japanese guys took our class photo…then they were taking photos with their own cameras-that was quite funny! Then we went to the Byodo-In Temple. There was a cemetery with some very beautiful headstones that had Japanese characters engraved into them. Thewhole area was very peaceful. You could hear water running practically wherever you went. There was a bell that we could ring that symbolized Buddhist blessings….I captured Raja doing that on video! We had to take off our shoes before going into the temple. In the Buddhah room, there were spaces for all of the people who had died. Their favorite things or something that was related to them was in the spaces. One had a Pepsi can inside. Some were decorated. Incense could be burnt in the area as well. There were black swans, fish, and little waterfalls. One of the swans almost went into the little gift shop. That would have been really funny! Then we went to see the memorial park of the Chinese, from Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos—there were oranges there. I don’t remember why, but they were there. This was all called the Valley of the Temples Memorial Park. Then we went to a Macadamia Nut farm. I bought a painted coconut! There were pictures of President Barack Obama with the farm employees all over the place. One of the employees there had tattoos all over his body-it resembled a Samoan tattoo. On our little excursion I got to see turtle island, and china man’s hat island which is like a mini island. We also saw the area where Jurassic park was filmed. As we visited the North shore we went to an area where the currents were extremely strong and there were huge rock formations. I don’t remember the name, but it was an area where no one is supposed to swim or surf. One of the rocks had a hole in it. It was a very brief visit but I could’ve sat on the rocks for hours to look out at the water and how it hit the rocks. The ocean is very majestic and very powerful! Then we went to Sunset Beach! By far the best one so far..maybe not to swim in, but it had the biggest waves and they were so close! I loved it! A man was cruising the streets with a cross that said Jesus loves you and giving the Shaka sign. Then we went for shaved ice, thanks Raja! Those were good! The Dole plantation was next. We saw mini pineapples. I didn’t realize that this was how pineapples were grown. We also had pineapple ice cream-which was delicious! Very different, but good! Took some really fun pictures and had a good time. I found a snail on one of the leaves at the plantation, it was huge! I took a picture with it and made a kissy face! I wanted to take it but thought it would be a little too slimy! ☺ When we got back to the hotel, we walked to Smorgy’s for a buffet dinner! Good food, great times, memorable moments!
January 13th, 2009
Today we went to Iolani Palace on a Voice-Giuded tour. It was a neat experience to have what would be something similar to a large cell phone as we walked around the palace guide us instead of a tour guide. Before entering we had to put these little shoes on over our shoes so that we wouldn’t dirty the floors of the palace. We went to all of the different rooms of the palace and saw the grand staircase. I learned about the queen’s imprisonment in her own room as well as some interesting facts about Hawaiian Royalty life. The palace did not have a lot of furniture because a lot of it was auctioned off when some people were trying to take over the palace. Today the furniture is all over the world and it is trying to be retrieved. The bedrooms had small beds and the floors looked like they were made out of very beautiful wood. The chandeliers in the palace were interesting because they symbolized the first time electricity was introduced. Outside of the palace and across the street I finally saw the statue of King Kamehameha. After the palace, a small group of us decided it would be fun to visit Chinatown, which was nearby. We visited a Scientology Center nearby and some of us took a small stress test. It turned out that I was the most stressed! I don’t even know why! As we walked around the Chinatown markets we were introduced to an array of new foods. A lot of the fresh products were different kinds of seafoods. At first we saw chicken legs and a huge cow hoof in the window of a small store. Later we saw squid, lobsters, crabs, eel, huge fish and tiny fish. I do not like seafood and could barely stand the smell as we walked by. Danny made me try Kimchee and it has got to be the worst thing I’ve ever tasted in my life. I made the funniest and most distorted face I have ever made in my life. We had made a deal and he agreed to try pig’s head. He didn’t like it either but pretended that he did so that the locals would not get offended. We ordered a dish of pathai (I am not sure how to spell that!) and that was pretty good. Today I learned that life is too short to not try new things, and so I decided that for the rest of the trip I would be more open to trying new foods and flavors.
January 14th, 2009
Today we took our first exam. It was not difficult but it also was not easy. I had studied for quite some time. It was different to be taking our exam outside on the stone tables! Change of scenery compared to the classroom! A lot of us were really tired, so we decided to head to the beach to relax. It would be nice if we could do that back at home! ☺ As we laid on the beach I could feel the rays of the sun seeping into my skin, but I felt assured that I was protected from getting sunburnt because I had put on sunblock lotion plenty of times. I actually fell asleep on the sands of the beach, which is a first for me! Usually I am too uncomfortable to actually fall asleep! I finally woke up and got into the water because it was extremely hot. Katie C. and I walked around the rocks looking for anemones, sea cucumbers, crabs, and sea urchins. We found them and tried poking at the anemones to see if they would open. It was a neat experience. When I got back to my room, I realized that I was very much burnt! I couldn’t believe it. My back was completely red as were my arms and the back of my legs! I put on some aloe vera gel to cool off and it did. So here I am laying on the couch writing this journal, and my back and my legs are in pain because I got sunburned today!! Hopefully it will turn into a nice tan!
January 15th, 2009
Today we went to Fort DeRussy after lecture. Here we learned about the different weapons that were used during the war. We walked around and looked at old Hawaiian weapons as well as some canons and rifles. We also saw the huge bullets that were lined up in one room. There was even a section that displayed how the soldiers used coke cans as grenades! On the top we saw a helicopter! That was very interesting. There was also a room dedicated to commemorating soldiers that fought bravely. It was filled with photos and all the different kinds of medals that can be given to those that fight for our country. As I left fort DeRussy and walked back to the hotel, I walked past a Louis Vuitton store. This is a very high end store that I only hear about in the movies or shows on television. I decided to walk in and failed to understand why they were so prestigious and special! These guys sell purses that cost thousands of dollars and there is nothing great or interesting about them!! After, I stopped in an art gallery that had the most beautiful art I had ever seen. The paintings looked so real, I thought they were photographs! I went back to the hotel and after a while decided to come back with Katie to the area in front of the international market place. We both got our names painted on some posterboard paper by a very talented artist who uses dolphins, palm trees, flowers, and other Hawaiian and tropical themes to paint the letters of our name. It was very cool. There were also some break dancers on the street which was pretty interesting! They were doing back flips and headstands. I will definitely go back to that area later just to get my caricature done, which is a funny painting in a cartoon format of yourself. I will also see how much it costs to get an actual detailed painting of myself done as well. It would be something nice to have.
January 16, 2009
Today after lecture, some of the girls and myself went to Ala Moana Mall. The food court there was enormous! There was so much food to choose from! I had a smoothie wish some small beads in it, it is called bubble tea and the little beads are called pearls. They tasted like blueberries and were very squishy with a weird texture. It was five dollars and I didn’t really like it and no one else wanted it so I had to throw it away! I felt awful about doing that but I didn’t want to be carrying it around! The girls and I were going to Manoa falls on the bus to take a hike. It was raining heavily and we thought that this would ruin our chances of going on the hike, but when we arrived we saw that people were still hiking the trail so we decided to do the same! It was extremely muddy but it was nice to be going on a hike and having some fresh air and not heat. The area was so beautiful that I was holding up the group because I felt like I had to take photos of everything! I also didn’t have really good hiking shoes on so it was difficult to maneuver around. The view was so worth the hike! The waterfall goes on and on and one can’t even see the top of it when standing at the bottom! It is so beautiful. We ended up having gone on a 1 hour hike up and a 1 hour hike back down. We ran to catch the bus because it doesn’t come out too often. We went back to Ala Moana and had a really good lunch. I was craving spaghetti and was able to have that for a very reasonable price! There was a lot to look at while in the mall. Some very interesting sculptures were in the center of the food court. They were huge fishes! It was pretty neat artistic work. I was glad that I did what I did today. There was not much planned but I still had a great time! All these hikes are wearing me out, but in the end they are so worth all of the effort.
January 17th, 2009
Today after lecture we visited the Shangri La. It is a house that belonged to a very wealthy woman who decided on her honeymoon that she wanted to build it and live here in Hawaii. It is a house filled with beautiful Islamic art and it was so awesome that I decided that I wanted to take some of the decorative elements of the house to apply them in the ideas I have for decorating a section of my room back at home. When we were outside of the house in the middle of the tour we were able to see some whales jumping out of the water a long ways out. It was very cool! Our tour guide was very knowledgeable about the house and about Doris Duke. Doris Duke was a very interesting person and it seemed like she was very nice! She made some really cool decorative choices for her home and I am glad that she decided that it would be ok for the house to be viewed in the future. I later went with Amanda to a basketball game at the University of Hawaii. It was $18 just to get in. I had never been to a basketball game and though Hawaii would be a cool place to start! It was somewhat interesting. There were a lot of fouls and so the game was constantly starting and stopping. I had a hot dog and some delicious coconut ice cream! In all, it was a fun night and Amanda and I had a great time together. We had really good conversations as we waited almost an hour for the bus to arrive to bring us back to Waikiki!
January 18th, 2009
Today was definitely the highlight of my trip so far! Everyday it just keeps getting better and better. I went SKYDIVING! I had always wanted to do this. It was the best thing I have ever done and probably the craziest. It was so much fun. My parents were so scared but afterwards they just laughed at me when I showed them the video of it. They were happy that I had done something that I wanted to do so much. My instructor was very helpful! In the plane I was so cold that I was shaking and everyone around me thought that I was just extremely nervous, but it was because of all of the cold air! I was laughing after I jumped. It was so awesome. Amanda and I met two girls from New York, and with them we went to several beaches on the North Shore. We ended up at Turtle Bay Resort and had a really good time there. There was a wedding going on which was interesting. We ate there and stayed to catch the sunset. It was a very cool experience because we didn’t plan the rest of the day after skydiving but we still had a very good time and made some new friends along the way!
January 19th, 2009
Today after lecture we went out to Kalakaua and witnessed the Martin Luther King Parade. I thought it would focus around what Martin Luther King did, however it was more attributed for peace efforts and protests of labor unions and the war. It was still very interesting. I took some pictures with some parrots that were on the sidewalk…one of them said “hey baby!”. It was very fun. And they were so colorful and well trained, I was surprised! After the parade we headed to the Atlantis Submarine ride. That was A LOT of fun! I never thought that I would be brave enough to go into a submarine. One day I am 14,000 feet in the air, and the next I am over a hundred feet below the water! Before getting on the submarine we played with some sealife that they had on display. I was able to hold various kinds of starfish! I could see them breathing. It was VERY cool! I like that part of my day a lot. The funniest thing was watching Tracy trying to catch a little octopus! I was not going to try that! The Submarine ride was cool because we got to see a lot of artificial reefs, fish, and we even caught some sea turtles hanging out! The tour guide was pretty funny too! Tonight we also went to a sushi restaurant. I have never liked Sushi, but I was willing to try it again-just to make sure! I had promised myself that I would be more open to new foods. I tried it and it was not too bad. I don’t like fish in general, so raw fish is probably worse for me. It is not so much the flavor, but the texture! However, the sushi tasted better than the chicken dish I ordered, which is kind of weird. I had a really good time with everyone at my table. I really appreciate that Raja took us out for such a nice dinner! Thank you Raja!
January 20th, 2009
Today was my boyfriend Anthony’s birthday so I was up pretty late talking on the phone with him last night because we are accustomed to celebrating birthdays at midnight with whoever’s birthday it is! But staying up late did not keep me from waking up early because I was so excited for the Polynesian Cultural Center! It was the coolest thing by far on this trip. We visited all of the “islands” such as Fiji, Tahiti, Samoa, and Tonga. The Samoans were hilarious! They climbed palm trees with their bare hands and feet. They made fires out of the natural resources around them. They cracked coconuts and walked on fire. These guys are intense! Very cool. Amanda and I decided today that we would marry Samoans because they were the ones who cooked in the home!! The other islands were so much fun as well. The dancing, the music, the drums! Everything was just so cool and interesting. We threw spears as part of a game, learned how to play the Ukulele, ate coconut bread-which was SO good!, and watched all of the shows. Later we had a great dinner and excellent entertainment with the Luau. I ordered a smoothie that came in a pineapple! That was very tasty..it was pina colada! YUM. Later at the Horizons Show I was just sitting there with my jaw wide open! It was crazy!! I had never seen something like that but it was the best thing ever. The samoans and their crazy fire stunts were incredible, by far my favorite part of the show. But all of the colors and the dancing was just so beautifully presented as well! It was a very fun experience. I was exhausted at the end of the day, but it was so worth the whole day’s fun!
January 21st, 2009
Today after lecture we went to Hanauma bay to go snorkeling! I was a little nervous about snorkeling at first because I am not a very good swimmer at all. But when I got there it was not that difficult! It was actually really easy and really relaxing. I only had trouble when I went to the areas where my feet couldn’t touch the floor and this was because I had to take out the salt water from my snorkel because it was going into my mouth and I couldn’t swim and do that at the same time. Sometimes I had to drain the water out of my goggles too! Trying to do two things at once while swimming and also choking on water is no easy task! I couldn’t even step on the reef to help myself out a little! But it was so cool to see all the fish so close up. I am so glad I did that. I want to go back so that I can go see the turtles! I was on the wrong side I guess because all of the cooler animals were on the other side and Katie and I had stayed on the left side. After snorkeling, we tried to catch the bus. IT was so full that some people had to stay behind because they didn’t fit on the bus. I wondered why they don’t just get more buses to go out there, and some people mentioned that it was because they don’t want so many people going out to the bay because the reef is slowly being killed and it takes a long time for it to grow back. Less buses is a very interesting way to keep people from going to the bay. When I got back I tried to catch up on some homework and I fell asleep for a while. Snorkeling is a lot of work! I was so tired after that. But I definitely woke up for the steak dinner which was so delicious! Slowly but surely, I am taking off items from my to do list! I am still having fun and I can’t believe so much time has gone by! I am not ready to go home soon!
January 22nd, 2009
Today after lecture, I went back to take a nap in my room! I don’t know why I have been so tired! I feel like there is so much to do here in Hawaii besides sleep, but sometimes we just need to relax! I woke up and did some homework and then started getting ready for the Sunset Dinner Cruise! We walked to an area of the beach, and I didn’t realize that little boats could come in on this particular spot. There were so many people around that I had no idea that this was normal! If I wouldn’t have gone with Raja, I probably would not have found the spot! We had to fold up our jeans because we were going to get a few feet into the water in order to get onto the sailboat! I got a little wet, but it wasn’t that bad! The little cruise was a lot of fun. It was very relaxing and enjoyable. We were able to catch the sunset and it was a very neat experience. Everyone started clapping as soon as the sun went down over the horizon. We were told that there was a possibility that we would see whales or dolphins on this ride, but we didn’t see any! That is ok though because the ride was still a lot of fun, especially with Danny making so many jokes and acting so crazy! He made the ride interesting! We then had dinner at Cheeseburger Paradise. It was very very good. I had a cheeseburger with pineapple and teriyaki sauce in it and it was delicious! I really enjoyed it. Once again, thank you Raja! Dinner was GREAT! I still can’t believe this trip is almost over. I am going to make the most of everyday that is left. Can’t wait to go home, but then again, I can!!
January 23rd, 2009
Today we didn’t have lecture, but we did go to Pearl Harbor. Half of the fun was getting there. I had a great conversation with Danny on the bus about religion and faith and all sorts of topics. It was cool because the bus ride is pretty long and it would have been boring to just sit there. When we got to Pearl Harbor we started off by watching a video. It gave us some background on the history of Pearl Harbor. It was very interesting. The funniest thing happened to me right before the video. There was a couple sitting next to me and Dan and I had been trying to ask them what their little visors were for. They had some visors in front of them that looked like giant sunglasses in the shape of a rectangle. I continued to ask them, and I spoke a little louder because I thought that maybe the theatre was just a little too loud. I turned over to Dan and laughed because I told him that these people were ignoring me! They would not answer me. As I turned around again, I saw them doing hand signs to each other! They were deaf. I felt so terrible..but I couldn’t stop laughing at myself for thinking that they were ignoring me. I laughed so hard for the next couple of minutes that I cried. It was so funny! Anyway, we watched the video and then made our way to the Arizona Memorial. It was crazy to see that there is oil that is still seeping out of the sunken ship. It was a very quiet viewing and very respectful one because there are men still buried with the ship. It was interesting to see that some sailors even though they died after Pearl Harbor, wanted to be buried with their friends who were buried with the Arizona. After this a small group of us went to the USS Missouri Battleship. That was a lot of fun. We took a lot of funny pictures and also some with the sailor hats. The ship was enormous! We got to see all of the guns and the ammunition for it. We also saw where the sailors ate and slept. The control rooms full of buttons were very interesting! It is crazy to think that this huge, heavy ship can float on top of the water! Today was a really fun day, I am glad that I chose to go to the Missouri. I took so many pictures already on this trip that my computer cannot handle anymore! It’s ok, it just means that I am having fun!
THIS IS A LINK TO ALL OF THE PHOTOS FROM THE TRIP. IF THE LINK DOES NOT WORK, IT JUST MEANS YOU MUST CREATE A MYSPACE ACCOUNT.
YOU CAN EMAIL ME AT valerievaldez05@gmail.com IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT HOW TO GET TO THE PICTURES OR IF YOU WOULD LIKE ME TO EMAIL YOU A MORE DIRECT LINK...
http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewAlbums2&friendID=29275453&view=true
Sunday, January 25, 2009
My Name is Josh and I Study Cultural Anthropology
I have learned so much on this trip. It's winding down, but it's been such a blast. Raja is an amazing professor, and all the students were pleasant to live and learn with.
HAWAII OH-NINE!
Friday, January 2, 2009
CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY IN HAWAII
This Jan-term program employs the construct of “culture” to explain the endless differences among human groups across time and space. Through the comparative approach of anthropology, we can better understand ourselves and others in order to cope with the multicultural and diverse environments that we live in.
By the end of the program, students are expected to have developed a framework for understanding a diverse and constantly changing world system, have acquired skills to communicate that understanding, and are in a position to suggest solutions to contemporary world problems as we strive to serve our families, our communities, our nation, and the world.
The program starts with a lecture every day at 8:00 a.m., Monday through Saturday. Sundays are free days.
After each lecture we will have a site visitation (e.g., Polynesian museums, temples, burial sites, botanic gardens, ethnic musical and theatrical performances, ethnic markets and foods) illustrating and elaborating on the concepts covered in the lectures.
In addition to daily field trips, we will have ample opportunities to attend ethnic musical and theatrical performances every evening (6:00-9:30 p.m.) in the open air free of charge at the Waikiki beaches. You are advised to go in groups.
Raja S. Tanas, Ph.D.
Faculty Director of the Program
Department of Sociology
Whitworth University
Spokane, WA 99251-1105
By the end of the program, students are expected to have developed a framework for understanding a diverse and constantly changing world system, have acquired skills to communicate that understanding, and are in a position to suggest solutions to contemporary world problems as we strive to serve our families, our communities, our nation, and the world.
The program starts with a lecture every day at 8:00 a.m., Monday through Saturday. Sundays are free days.
After each lecture we will have a site visitation (e.g., Polynesian museums, temples, burial sites, botanic gardens, ethnic musical and theatrical performances, ethnic markets and foods) illustrating and elaborating on the concepts covered in the lectures.
In addition to daily field trips, we will have ample opportunities to attend ethnic musical and theatrical performances every evening (6:00-9:30 p.m.) in the open air free of charge at the Waikiki beaches. You are advised to go in groups.
Raja S. Tanas, Ph.D.
Faculty Director of the Program
Department of Sociology
Whitworth University
Spokane, WA 99251-1105
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