Until We Meet Again

Aloha Oahu!  
You will be missed!  Things that will be missed.....
need a change of scenery or temperature, take a ride over the pali
driving to my parents place on the NS, driving down snake road.... the soap factory, the waves, the never ending blue
no need of air conditioning or heat
spam musubi from kukui plaza (the best)
Don Quijote
rainbows-they always seem to give  you a reality check when you're stuck in traffic/having a bad day and you see a vibrant/in your face/how ya doing rainbow.... how can  you be bitchy with such beauty?
knowing which streets to walk cuz they have the most shade
listening to all the different languages on the bus
noticing things that I will not see elsewhere... sitting at the food court at the mall and seeing two guys in boards shorts, one on a bike, riding/walking through with no shirts, no shoes, and boogie boards
being awe struck driving around the island: the water, the mountains, the lush greenery, the palm trees....
Coco Curry

Verbage

It's funny when you travel and live in different places how the little things, like how people use words, stand out.  
On Oahu when you use "town" you are talking about Honolulu.  Everyone understood that, townies lived in Honolulu/Waikiki.  
Stopping in Missouri, town is used to describe the closest "town" which has the basic amenities (gas, food, etc) so that town could only have a population of a couple hundred.
Now in Utah I've realized that town does not mean the largest town in the area (Salt Lake City).  I was talking to someone and mentioned that wherever I get a job...on base or not, I'm going to live in town.  I was looked at a little weird and then the reply "you mean SLC?".  So now I know I have to say SLC or town could represent anything.  Also the street thing that annoyed me before, is something I have to adapt to AGAIN.  Streets around here are on a number system.  The exit to go to Sandy is 9000th but you don't say that!  You say 90th street!   


As for the job update.  I've applied to 10 jobs and only 1 is a definite no.  I know I have at least 4 that have passed the first screening and are getting reviewed at the HR departments.  The email stated that it could take a few weeks before they start making calls.  I'll be in India :(  I'll put an out of office assist on my email and and out of town on my phone and pray that this trip won't hinder my job applications.  


India is just a few weeks away! I'm excited and nervous!  

Movie Review

Last night the folks and I went and saw Princess Kaiulani.  It was an o.k. movie and after living here and learning about the land, the people, and the way the U.S. acted I felt the movie missed a lot.  The movie focused too much on her time in England and her budding romance.  One didn't get a feel for the troubles of Hawaii and when it did show parts of the overthrow, you really didn't get a good understanding of what was going on.  If one didn't already have a basic understanding of the history of Hawaii, this movie could be somewhat confusing even.  The princess was even arranged to be married to a Japanese prince but this was not even mentioned in the movie... among other things.
The political firestorm was glossed over and not focused on.  It does feed one's curiosity about her life, so in that aspect it's good for folks that take the time to learn a little bit more about this amazing woman!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ka'iulani

Summer Palace

Today's field trip was to Kamehameha III's summer palace off of the old Pali drive.  It was a rainy morning and I was secretly hoping that it would be canceled.  It wasn't and I went.  Once the group was assembled (it was a lot smaller than yesterday's), we got some history on the place before going to the palace.  Our guide held a machete while he talked to us, a little odd but you just go with it and surprising enough there weren't a lot of questions :P

After standing around getting a slight history while it rained off and on we were off.  We went up to the guides truck and collected more gardening tools and then we ducked into the woods.  Again, if you didn't know it was there.... you'd miss it.

Parked on the side of Old Pali Dr.                   

Walking toward the "entrance"

We walked through forest of bamboo so thick it was blocking the sunlight.  It was awesome and so beautiful!

              The Summer Palace of kings and queens of Hawaii :D

 

 I would have taken more pictures but it rained so hard on us that we ended the morning early.  We were all drenched and I was cold to my bones.  I came home and had a long hot shower to try and warm up.  It's been raining all day :(  I may try to go back when it's sunny to spend some more time there.  It's peaceful and very beautiful with all the bamboo.  

Halawa Valley Heiau

Today I went to the Halawa Valley Heiau.  I am required to do 25 hrs of service for my anthropology class, Culture Religion and Environment.  This is why I went to the fishpond earlier in the semester.  
These areas that I am going to are not mainstream.  You can drive by these areas and not even know that they are there.  These are not areas that tourist go to but locals and natives of the land.  These areas are of their ancestors and in many cases they have had to fight to keep these lands.  Now, usually due to volunteers and class projects, they are slowly restoring these sacred historical areas back to what they use to be.


To get to this area we had to drive threw a cement factory, which is just weird.  Thank goodness it was on a saturday because I can't imagine how weird it would have felt to drive threw that factory during a work day!  There was a big group of volunteers today and they split us into to two groups: first group got a tour while the second group started work.  Rachel (classmate) and I made sure we were in the first group ;)  But before we were split up we actually went back OUT of the area and a woman did a Hawaiian chant/prayer for thanks and then another woman did a chant/prayer welcoming us into the heiau.  Whenever I hear the chants in the native language it is touching and I am so aware of the differences in how I was raised to pray.  In church it is such a quiet demure thing, with heads bowed but when they do their chants their voices are raised to the heavens, they encorporate all that are around them, and their words seem to engulf the group.  It is always nice to be outside when this is going on.  I can't imagine hearing a chant and being indoors... it just doesn't seem to fit to me.


Then we were off on our tour.  We were told not to take any pictures of the artifacts :( but plants etc. were fine.  Granted the artifacts consisted of stones, and unless someone pointed out what they were you'd probably wouldn't know that a stone was a "birthing stone" or represented a sharks head and a boundary.  It was pretty to be in the lush green and it's amazing to think of people living there, simply.  The women and men are housed in different areas and most of the work that we did was on the men's side to start clearing away some of the vegetation that doesn't belong.  


After our tour, we switched with the group that was doing the work and luck would have it... it started to rain.  From light to downpour, it went back and forth and I got wet and muddy.  We worked for about an hour and then it was lunch time!  Of course we had the rice and the kalua pork and cabage, some mystery meatloaf with gravy (that had big ass mushrooms which I avoided) and some awesome brownies!  


It was a good and interesting morning and I am doing another field trip tomorrow morning. I need to get my hours and I will be short at the end of the semester due to my military weekends and the trip to Alaska... oh well.  I'm making an effort.


Here are some pictures from the day:

The H3 runs right between the mens and womens hale (living areas).  A stream did the dividing before but it has been rerouted for obvious reasons :(  When they started to build this massive highway, a group of 5 grandmothers went to protect this sacred ground, which obviously they did and they started the restoration efforts.










Some of the greenery :D

This is the area we were working in.

The rains :P

What day isn't complete without a random carcass head :D

First Friday

First friday in Chinatown is art night.  The galleries stay open late, there is good food, a protest (tonight was about the right to choose), and great people watching.  Shan had a piece in a gallery so when I mentioned going this Friday cuz I didn't have drill she said she wanted to check it out anyway.  We hit all the art galleries that were open, but with it being Good Friday things weren't as busy but busy enough for us to head over to Aloha Tower for some food to get away from the crowds.  But that is neither here nor there.

This is mainly another post about changing one's point of view/perspective.....

Talking with Shan about the latest and greatest mr.man, she corrected me when I said "I was dumped" and she was like NO, you broke it off.  Which is true.  He told me the situation and I chose not to continue with the relationship.  I don't know if he would have continued on if I was willing, to me that wasn't an option.  As soon as he explained the situation, my first thought was... I'm not going there again, been there done that and I'm done.  I deserve better and that was that, my mind was made up.  I explained how I felt, he respected and understood that, we hung out a little more and then when he left we even kissed as we parted ways.  Now, I wish ALL breakups would go that smoothly and nice :D

It's amazing how little words have so much power.  To go from I was dumped, to I made the decision to end it.... the whole feeling of it changes.  Granted I wasn't crying in my wine over the situation, I do miss him, which is normal.... but it wasn't meant to be.

So, once again... art, good food, good company makes a woman healthy, wealthy (not so much), and wise :P

Day of statistics, Waikiki, and contemplations

Thursday I don't have any class so it's a day of school work.  But I decided to treat myself to lunch in Waikiki.  I have a friend who just got a job as the chief at one these little italian places.  So after a morning of social statistics... off I went.  I got there right when it opened so I had the place to myself, what's even better I could sit and people watch!  I could have sat there ALL day drinking and just watching the people.
Case in point... this Italian margarita was very nice indeed :D

It never fails that I see something weird when I'm out and about. Today.... I saw two guys run by in beach gear (board shorts and slippas) with rapiers.  Yes, that jousting sword!  I also saw a homeless guy passed out with a nice Ed Hardy shirt on (those shirts are expensive!).  I also had to chuckle at the albino white tourist heading to the beach around noon.  I forsee them being lobsters by the end of the day :P
After my great lunch, walking home I was hit by a wave of sadness with the idea of leaving here.  Which is normal and I accept this.  It's always been like that here in Hawaii for me.  I have a lot of days of  "this is not the place for me" and then I get hit with feelings of "this is pretty nice".  That back and forth one gets everywhere one lives I suppose.  Looking back at all the places I have lived I know this is true.  I just need to remember what is important to me, my goals, my desires and I know my decision to move is the correct one.  

Field Trip

Well, I got up and left to find Ahupua'a 'O Kahana, mainly the Huilua fishpond. I managed to pass the place at least 3 times! Ugh!
When I finally got there, there was a small crowd standing around talking. It was a low turn out probably cuz of the rainy weather.
The Huilua Fishpond was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1962. It shows the management practices of the Hawaiians prior to the West moving in. Restoration was initiated in 1993. I was told once they clean up the vegetation of the area they will start rebuilding the wall.
The 500 ft rock wall is attached to the shoreline and is built from stream beds and valley slopes of Kahana. They carefully locked the stones, no mortar was used, and it can withstand the daily waves.
They are not sure when the Huilua Fishpond was built, but many in Hawaii were built between AD 1400-1600.

This is the "entrance" looking into the area we were working on.


This looking out to the fishpond area. If you look closely you'll see part of the wall sticking out of the water.



Part of the wall that has been rebuilt



Other pics of the area