Pictures Coming

I will try to post a picture or two tomorrow. I am not sure how to do it, so I will try tonight. Assuming I will not be able to figure it out, I will get some help from the techies tomorrow at work. I am totally lost in Italian class. I just filled out my homework following the examples from the text not really knowing what I was writing. The first test is this Friday so I really have to study. It is raining right now. Hopefully it will clear up so I can take my book to the beach. Oh, I forgot to write this but I was in the paper last month! The link is www.midweek.com/content/columns/hotticket_article/the_kite_runner/. I think that should work. I am really on the A list now in Honolulu Society. I am going to grade those papers that I brought home with me this weekend and never touched and then make sure I actually took pictures to post. Ciao.

week over

AHH. Work week over. Got my student ID today so I will be scoping out the discounts and where they are available. Today in Italian class my teacher asked me if I had breakfast today and I answered him in spanish that I didn't understand. Nice. So when I am not training for the Great Aloha Run this weekend I will be studying my Italian. Might head over to the library for some cds to help with the pronunciation. I am not going to stay the extra hour and half today so I am going to bring two sets of papers to grade. Hopefully they will come back on Monday graded. The Punaho High School fair is this weekend (a ritzy private school by my apartment) and I hear that they have the best Malasadas. Can't wait to have some. Malasadas are Portuguese doughnuts. So delicious and now I have an excuse to eat lots of them this weekend. Hope all is well with everyone and have a great weekend!!!

Blogging after work

Yesterday I bought home a stack of papers from school and then brought them back to work today untouched. Done that many times before. I am dealing with it by staying at work for an extra hour, hour and a half, so I can get my work done and not bring any home. I am also going to blog during that time so I don't get all lazy when I get home. The classes that I am teaching are going well, and the nutrition class that I am taking seems easy. I just really need to study for my Italian class. Not too many Italians around to practice with but I will figure something out. Maya is back, well has been back, from the mainland for two weeks and I threw her a welcome back party at a Tea House (only $35 to rent) behind her friend's apartment building. It was a big hit and lots of fun. I bought running shoes the other day and I have been going to the park a few evenings a week. I am trying to run the "Great Aloha Run" which is a 10K on February 18th. I think that it may be an Aloha Walk for me. I run for one song and then I end up walking for a few before I start running again. All good. I'll write more tomorrow.

Free Classes

Two weeks of teaching over. Not so bad. It is really interesting learning about the history of Hawai'i since I have to teach it and stay at least one day ahead of my students. One interesting fact is that the monarchy was really overthrown by a group of businesses known as the "Big 5" with the help of the US Navy in order to protect their financial interests. President Cleveland told them to give the land back to the people, but alas it was not. I will give more interesting facts as I learn them myself. Since I am working with the University of Hawai'i, I get 6 free credits. I started classes yesterday. I am taking The Science of Human Nutrition and elementary Italian, which is Italian 102. Apparently I was supposed to have taken 101 since today we started on Chapter 6. Oops. The professor said that he is not going to kick me out of the class but it is up to me to learn last semester's material. I bought my book today and will spend most of the three day weekend studying. Hope all is well. I am off the the Shanghai Circus tonight!!!

Happy New Year

So let's see if I can keep this up in the new year. Things have been going well, they slowed down for a bit when the money ran out and I still didn't have a job. Being in a new place inspired me to try something different only I didn't know what. After being fired from my retail job I figured that was for the best and tried to get work as an administrative assistant at some surf board companies and others like that. Sadly my computer skills of "emails occasionally" didn't make me qualified. When did computers start taking over the world? So I took a job at what is increasingly becoming the only thing I am able to do, teach. So after a great New Year's Eve on the North Shore, I have to study Hawaiian history because that is one of the classes I have to teach. I hope that everyone is doing well and that it is not too far in 2008 until I see everyone.

I love the night life, I love to boggie...

Shame on me. Only two posts in all of September.

So, the night life in Honolulu is not quite like the night life in New York. I still don't have a favorite place to hang out, but I have discovered a few fun things to do when the sun goes down.

1) Indigo's- This is a great restaurant, great food, funky interior, but a little too expensive to make it a regular outing. Then I discovered they have the best happy hour in the state, maybe even in the country. Three dollar martinis and free pupus (appetizers, and I feel like I am a twelve year old sometimes when someone says- "Let's go get some pupus". Me- "(giggle, giggle)"
Now we are not talking mixed nuts and chicken wings, they are serving fresh and healthy things here. Fresh broccoli, wide flat noodles with zucchini, cucumber salad, ribs, shrimp and rice, mixed green salad, and something else I can't really remember right now. And the martinis are delicious. My favorite at the moment is the Lychee martini. Yum. I definately had seconds on both the food and drink.

2) Art after dark- On the last Friday of every month, the Art Academy, convienently located down the street from my apartment, opens up its doors at night for a party. Each month there is a differenty theme. September's was "Hula Couture". Basically they just had a few models dressed in crazy takes on the traditional Hula garb. Apparantly since not much goes on in this town, this was the place to be. The place is gorgeous. Being in a nice climate, there were many outdoor quads to hang out in along with different indoor exhibit rooms and an independent film theater. I had a really fun time and even had my first D-list celebrity citing. One of "the bachelors" was pointed out to me. Who in case you were wondering is about 5'5" and looked like he had just gotten off work on Wall Street with his blue dress shirt and black dress pants. None the less, he had a bevy of ladies around him the entire night. I gave him a winking nod every time he looked my way, but I didn't get a rose.

3) First Friday- This also happens to be tonight. This is when the art galleries downtown stay open late and serve drinks and food. But which ones to go to? I was lucky enough to get a call from my new friend Shanah (pronounced Shawna), to say that she was at a really good party. The theme was "all things small". There was a door in the door that you had to almost crawl into and everything being served was, you guessed it, small. Mini oreos and fig neutons (I may have eaten most of them), mini pizzas, small kegs, etc. I was going to be really upset if they served me my wine in a mini cup, but much to my relief, it was a normal sized cup. We are going to the same party tonight but I don't know what the theme is yet.

So that is all for today. Just three of my favorite things from this week:

1) Seeing a man run past me in Waikiki holding a cement block on one shoulder with his left hand and in his right, pumping a very large weight.

2) A guy coming up to me on the beach trying to sell me two cans of tuna fish for three dollars (Light tuna packed in oil, are you kidding me?????)

3) Tutu calling the receptionist at the doctor's office a "dumb ass" because she asked for picture ID.

Time flies

Hello. Time sure flies when you're not blogging. I am obviously not a good work from home candidate. Since I am so far away I feel as though I have to write a short story full of details and tales of hilarity. I was very busy for the past two weeks with the film makers here following Maya around for the documentary. I don't think that I will make on screen in but I am going to get a film credit since I helped out so much.

Other than that I have basically been going hiking and going to the beach. There are some really grest hiking spots out here and a good variety of length and difficulty. I just ate my lunch and I am going to head out after I am done writing this.

Things I'm not used to yet:

Calling flip-flops slippers (I don't know what they call actual slippers, I need to find someone that wears them)

Saying Aloha instead of Hello (don't think I'm going to convert on that one)

Being called ma'am instead of miss by youths (this phenonenom started in New York and I think it has less to do with my moving out here than it does with getting older, but I am still not used to it)

The time difference (I never know when a good time to call the east coast is)

People telling me that some place is soooo far away and I couldn't possibly walk (we're talking 20-30 minutes on foot)

It's raining outside when I leave my apartment, but by the time I get to the lobby it's stopped


Things I am loving:

Everyday is a beach day

Tank tops

Being able to exercise outdoors 7 days a week

Surfing

Open toe shoe season is every season