Seals!

I have been living in Hawaii for two years today, but this was the first time that I have ever seen SEALS on the beach! My friend and I got there about 5 minutes before the wildlife protection services discovered that there were seals on the beach, so we were able to get really close. This all happened on Sunset Beach (one of the most boring beaches in my opinion, but aptly named for it's incredible sunsets).

After that we went to Ted's Bakery to get pie. This place is probably the most famous of all the bakeries in Oahu. Although they don't just serve dessert, they also have various (overpriced) meal items. Definitely recommended.

I also bought a car. That's right, a car. I swore I would never get one, but here I am. With a car. A real car. That drives. Yeah. Okay, so it's a 1994 Toyota, but it gets from A to B, so that's all that matters. It's also not to bad on gas. So how did I get this car? Well, I was forced. My internship is a 2.5 hr bus ride away. With a 45 minute transfer. One way. Combine that with the incredibly unreliability of the bus system here and you have a girl that needs a car. I literally spent 7 hours commuting a few weeks ago when I still didn't have a car. It was awful. But that's all in the past now. I have a car. My first real car. :)

Culture Night, Krashen

Last night was a four-hour extravaganza! Every single culture club put on an 8-minute production that they've been practicing for weeks. I didn't perform, or even practice, for any of the clubs this year considering my bad experience last year with Japanese club....haha. I didn't wanna risk getting kicked out again, so I went for the safe route and just didn't even try. I'm a bit disappointed now, I think I could have learned at least some of the dances. Anyway, it was really long, my butt hurt, and I was super tired the entire time.

So today I woke up at 5am to get ready for a conference with Krashen. He's one of the most famous figures in TESOL right now having come up with one of the most prevalent concepts of language acquisition. It was really interesting, not to mention he has an impeccable sense of humor.

A Not-so-friendly Reminder

Sometimes it's good to remember that when you assume, you'll eventually end up making an "ass" out of "u" and "me." Words of wisdom from yours truly. Mais c'est la vie, quel dommage, and life must go on!

Chinese New Year

Well, it's that time again...much has changed in the past year.

Honolulu had it's last celebration on Saturday, so I went with a haole boy and some of my other friends. It was a much different experience this way. I knew so much more (and my knowledge really is pathetic) of the food, the activities, the clothing, just everything than the guy I was with. It really made me realize how deeply connected I feel to the Chinese culture.

I mentioned this excursion to my dad. He laughed out loud and remarked that if I did indeed end up marrying a white boy, it would be an interracial marriage. I think he meant intercultural, but then again, he probably meant precisely what he said.

And in case you were wondering, I did let the white boy hold my hand. I'm also a creeper and happen to know his personal blog (which he may or may not know that I have access to), and yes, he did mention me...bwahahaha.

The funny part? Originally my housemate S was invited by Will (the one with the car) to go out for a night in Chinatown. So she asked that me, Emily, and haole boy would get to come too because she didn't wanna go on a date with Will. Will agreed, but said we'd have to squish in the back since he was bringing his Chinese friend, Song. That's right, we fit 6 into a four-person car. And drove for an hour. Beat that.

Well, S and Song really hit it off (poor Will). After Chinatown, we were all dropped off. 5 mins later, S lets us all know that Song has invited her to get something to eat. He picks her up in his convertible and they drive away.

And the kicker? Apparently while finishing their icecream outside the local grocery store, they saw Will. Oops.

Busy Bee

I am a masochist.

I perform much better when I am ridiculously busy. Currently, I am in either in class or at work from 8am until 8pm every day. Then I cram homework until midnight or later, then get up somewhere between 6-7am. I am super tired, my mood swings from super happy to despondent, to verge of anger every few hours. I love work, I love school, I almost love homework, 40 min lunch and dinner breaks are heaven, and I CANNOT wait until the weekend.

And yet, I did the same thing last semester and received the best grades I've gotten since 4th grade. Go figure.

Beach and Breakups

So Christmas Break was amazing. I wish I could have spent more time with my Utah friends, but being in Vegas with my fam was also priceless. The Pitbull concert for New Years wasn't half bad either. ;)

Anyway, the moment I arrive in Hawaii, all the drama I'd left behind is once again unleashed...

One of my best friends here broke up with his girl of nearly two years over the holiday. I had assumed he wanted a listening, commiserating ear, but no. He wanted to date me. I tried to explain that it was way to weird to go from just close friends to lovers in a matter of minutes, but he wasn't having any of that. It's been two weeks since he confessed his love for me and his desire to take me to the temple. School started barely two weeks ago. So, I have a new ruined friendship on my hands.

My first weekend back, two of my girls got a surfboard. So we tried to paddle from Bikini Beach to Pounders with all three of us on top of it. Needless to say, it didn't go very well. But it was a ton of fun.

The long weekend was spent at Sunset Beach, seeing The Green Hornet (hilarious), church, weekly phone-call home, homework, Surfin' Tacos, Walmart run, and work. My new job requires that I Skype with international students for 10 hours every week. It's a real pain for me to try and reschedule, especially since most of my students are in Mongolia. So I went in on Monday and spent three hours in the office alone. Of course almost half of my students didn't even show up for their appointed time...but that's okay. I sat and watched netflix during the time I had no one to talk to--don't tell the boss! haha.

Roof over our heads

My roomie and I were really bored. So we decided to make a quick trick to Foodland. It was grey outside, but it had been all day. We began our ten-minute walk with high spirits--excited to finally have escaped from our a/c-less dorm room.

It wasn't until we were about 1/3 into our journey that it began to sprinkle. As most know, Hawaiian rain is nothing to worry about. It rains for awhile and then stops. We continued walking. About two steps later, it was pouring. It is important to remember when traveling that when it rains in Hawaii, it is buckets for five minutes, and then sun. Usually. Probably about 99% of the time. Generally. Yeah.

Roomie and I were nonplussed. We quickly slipped under a palm tree and remained predominately dry. Just as suspected, the rain stopped approximately 2 minutes later.

We continued our journey, walking a bit faster than before--just in case. We turned the corner down another street and were rewarded with another torrent of rain. And of course, this was the one street without palm trees of any kind.

After shrieking with laughter and running a few yards down the street, I had the brilliant idea that we take refuge under the eaves of someone's house. So we did.

Around 25 minutes later (apparently this was the other 1% of Hawiian rain trends) the rain had almost stopped. Just a tiny bit of sprinkling. We edged from under the roof, only to be met with the tenants of the home who had been sitting in their open garage.

Roomie exclaimed, "Thanks for letting us use your house!!" She was met with stifled laughter. My response was somewhat less controlled as I doubled over in near hysterics.

Giggling, we dashed down the street, partly to avoid any more rain and partly to remove ourselves from the awkward situation. We got some pizza, browsed the one clothing store in our small town, and checked out the supermarket for the 3rd time that week.

The walk home was uneventful. No rain, no random nice people offered us a ride home, just me and Roomie dragging our feet back to our stuffy room.

Funny thing is, this happened again yesterday. Only this time, I was walking home with several house mates and I had a date in 30 mins. We took shelter for about 10 mins under a different house, but when the rain didn't seem to be stopping, we decided to run home.

Luckily, someone did take pity on us--but not until we were 3/4 of the way there. We were drenched. And yet, I changed my outfit, dried my hair, reapplied makeup, and was completely ready for my date with time to spare. I'm just that awesome.


The funny thing is, I have 4 umbrellas. Two super huge ones, and two mini ones. Now if only I could remember to use them...

But if you were thinking about a Christmas gift, this would be great: