Finally hiked Diamond Head

Two more days until Jessica and I will be looking back on this opportunity as a surreal adventure. Too early Friday morning Jessica and I will be on a red-eye, making our way back to Cleveland.  Too bad this trip didn’t last longer…not!  Ok, so Jess and I are very anxious to get home and see everyone.  We enjoyed every second out here, even in our last week we made every second count.  Thursday night the President of The University of Dayton treated the exchange students to an extraordinary dinner at the Marriott.  The food was excellent and the company was even better.  On Sunday, Jess and I started the day with one final Sunday school.  At the end of our time, we were called to stand in front of the parish, only to receive a large round of applause from everyone in the community (and a little present).

After Sunday school Jess decided what is a trip to Oahu when you haven’t climbed Diamond Head?  It’s only the most famous creator in Hawaii.  After she convinced me that we couldn’t leave with out climbing, we headed over there.  Please if you’re afraid of heights the following pictures are at some of the steepest altitudes on Oahu!

Overall it was a great time.  Would we do it over again, heck yeah! Would we do it a second semester…no way!  It’s time to get on the plane and come home!  See you all in Cleveland!!!!!!!!!

Aloha from Hawaii on last time,

Jess and Vic

Only 9 days left in Hawaii, and I hate to say it, but I am so ready to come home.  This may sound surprising, but it is honestly the truth.  Life out here is too different and 4 months was the perfect amount of time to be here.  I exerienced everything I wanted to, saw all that I wanted to see, explored all that I wanted to explore, and now I get to say I have lived in Hawaii.

Last week my family came out to visit and for the fist time I felt like I was on a real vacation.  If it wasnt for this thing they call “school” I would have been on vacation for 4 month, but unfortunatly I have been attending class and completing assignments, as well as going to the beach.

I don’t have much time to write because next week is exam week and I have sooo much work to do (including working on my tan), so I am just going to give you a quick run down of everything my family and I did while on Oahu and Maui.

Wednesday – Parents arrive and we go straight onto a dinner cruise

Thursday – Tour guide Jessica gives parents a tour around the island of Oahu, stopping at all the hotspots

Friday – Hanauma Bay snorkeling & exploring Waikiki

Saturday – Mom and Dad leave for Maui and Amy arrives/ Sat. night Amy discovers Waikiki night life

Sunday – Victor. Jess, and Amy head to Maui to meet mom and dad

Monday – Beach day, Black Rock beach… snorkeling, cliff jumping, tanning, relaxing

Tuesday – snokeling cruise to Molokini and excursion to the top of Haleakala creater

Wednesday – Another beach day (what do you expect? We are in Hawaii)

Thursday – Thanksgiving Luau

Friday – ZIPLINING!!!! Attempt at rode to Hana, explored Maui’s North Shore and historic town of Paia

Saturday – Fly back to Oahu, Swap meet at Aloha Stadium. Mom, dad, and Amy go back to Cleveland

Now everybody is gone and life in Hawaii is back to normal.  But like I said I have a lot of work to do and catch up on after my family vacation, so that is all for now.  You can expect one more blog before we leave on Dec. 12!

Dinner Cruise

my mom and dad got here on Wednesday and have since left to go to Maui.  As soon as they landed on Oahu I picked them up to the airport and took them straight to Aloha Tower Marketplace where we went on a five-course dinner cruise with a bunch of our friends.  They were a little tired from all the traveling, but we all had a great time.  On Thursday I drove them around the coast of the entire island and showed them all our favorite spots.  Their favorite was the North Shore.  Friday we woke up early and went to Hanauma Bay, our favorite snorkeling here.  After a day at the beach we cleaned up and went to dinner at Duke’s right on the beach and spent the remainder of the night on the Waikiki strip.  At 6am this morning I took them to the airport to leave for Maui.

Amy lands in about an hour and she will spend a day with me in Oahu and on Sunday afternoon, we all leave for Maui to join my parents.  This next week in Maui is going to be sooo fun! I cant wait to tell you all about it

This weekend was not very eventful, giving the fact that we are in Hawaii.  There are reasons for this though… In 3 days my parents will be coming to visit and as a result Victor and I will be missing some classes, so this weekend we needed to actually spend some time doing homework – shocking, I know!

On Friday we went and got frozen yogurt at our favorite place on the island, YogurtLand!  It is a yogurt-lovers paradise located on the University of Hawaii’s campus (not far from where we live). After a little dessert, Victor, Sarah, and I went to the $1 theatre and saw Dark Knight ( a great movie).  After the movie we called it a night because we wanted to get up early the next morning.  On Saturday we woke up and went down to Waikiki to rent mopeds for the day.  From 10am until 8pm Victor and I cruised around the coast of Oahu.  It was beautiful and one of the most fun/adventurous things we have done yet.

Sunday=boring. We went to teach Sunday school then came straight home only to do homework the rest of the day, though we did take a break to video-chat with the grandmas, aunt Debbie, mom, and dad.  Well, I also took a break to write this blog too, but now I need to get back to work   Mom and Dad are coming soon!!! Oh yea, Amy will be taking a vacation to Hawaii as well! See you guys soon…

lū‘au at the Polynesian Cultural Center

Thanks to the consistant reminders from Mr. Vella, reality is that our time here on Oahu is running out.  Exactly one month from today we will be back home in Cleveland.  Which isn’t as bad as it sound, surprisingly we are looking forward to our return (as I am sure all of you are    ) I miss the weather changing the most, weather here is so invariable I actually get tired of it.   Well, and I guess I miss my friends and family back home too!

Because our time is slipping away we are keeping very busy and trying to experience all that we can in our final weeks here.  Last weekend our big events were a University of Hawaii basketball game and the Polynesian Cultural Center.  On Sunday our friend Karina, from Peru, made us a homemade dinner — it was one of the best meals we have eaten on the island! In the pictures you can see she taught Victor a little of the trade.  He was helping her make Japanese dumplings.  Thanks to Veterens we did not have classes on Tuesday so we got to go to the North Shore for the day.  While there we also ventured in the Waimea Valley and got to swim in a waterfall. 

These next few days are going to be busy.  Victor and I are trying to get ahead on all our work so we can skip a few days of classes to hang out with my parents — who will be here in 1 week!!! 

Sorry I don’t have time to write much, but check out the picturesfrom this weekend. (There were more, but my camera got sick this weekend and decided to randomly delete some of my photos – yea dont really want to talk about that)

Halloween in Waikiki

I have asked Victor numerous times to sit down and write this blog, but I came to the realization that it would just be easier to do it myself.  One of the main reasons I let him off the hook this time is because I made him get up at 6:30am this morning to go to the swap meet at Aloha Stadium.  Every Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday over 700 vendors gather around Aloha Stadium begining at 6am (so I could have made Vic get up even earlier!).  And it wasn’t all bad for him, he acually found a few things he really wanted and I packed him snacks for the trip and even bought him a lemon ice for being such a good boy

This past weekend was alot of fun, as are all our weekends here in Hawaii.  Friday I volunteered at a grade school halloween festival, which caused me to recall some great memories at St. Anselm on Halloween.  After volunteering I went back home to work on Victor’s halloween costume — which turned out to be time well spent because he won $50 at a halloween bbq.  After collecting prize money and free food at the bbq we headed down to Waikiki with a big group of our friends.  I can not even begin to describe the scene to you. It was unlike anything I have ever witnessed before.  It was one of our best/most fun nights here!  And the reason Victor is not in the picture above is because he was too busy taking pictures with every tourist who walked by, who for some reason all needed pictures with him.  I am pretty sure one even asked for his autograph.

Saturday Victor and I hung out on the beach all day, trying to recover from halloween on Waikiki.  Saturday night we went out to dinner with the group and then to Mai Tai – one of the most talked about bars in Oahu. It was a easy going night – everyone still trying to recooperate from the past night’s activities.

Sunday we woke up and taught our weekly Sunday school class and then headed to Maunawili Falls.  After an hour and half hike we reached the waterfall.  Victor and Eric wasted no time.  The two of them stripped down to their bathing suites and jumped into the swimming hole.  It was like watching Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Fin frolicking in the Mississippi River.  Victor had to push the limits and was not satisfied jumping off the 10ft. waterfall, so he made his way up the side of the fall to a much, much, much, taller jump.  This jump was more like 50-60ft., and after watching him hit the water, I would have guessed he jumped off a skyscrapper.  He felt it too…  After Vic’s big jump we all headed back down the Ko’olaus Mountains to the bus stop. 

Overall the weekend was great, though we are realizing that our time is quickly expiring.  We now make the most of every spare second we have here.  This Friday we are going to watch Chaminade Men’s basketball team take on University of Hawaii on their campus.  After the game, the boys are trying to convince everyone to going to a strip club, but we will see how that goes considering they have been trying for some time now.  Saturday is a big day, we are going to the Polynesian Cultural Center which has been voted Hawaii’s top paid attraction.  While there we will see seven native villages which showcase the daily adventures of Hawaiian and other South Pacific cultures.  After that we are attending what is said be Hawaii’s most authentic luau and the world’s largest Polynesian night show.  It should be an awesome day.  No plans for Sunday yet.  Don’t panic though, we will think of something!

That is all for now, I need to get some rest – I am getting up early to surf before class tomorrow.

Maunawili Falls

Victor will be writing the next blog… so in the mean time check out the new pics I added to the Oct. 31 link from Halloween and Maunawili Falls hike.

So it rains in Hawaii...

With Halloween just a few short days away, I have been trying to come up with some ideas of what Victor and I can dress up as.  Please keep in mind a few things: we are on a tight budget, Hawaii is no cheap place – it has been requested by our group that Victor and I go as a pair because we are the only couple on the trip – and also remember it is still hot here so we don’t want to be wearing a lot of clothes.  So baring in mind these few stipulations put on your thinking caps and send your ideas our way!

We have been told by many that the Waikiki strip is the place to be this Friday night.  We have heard that Halloween is one of the craziest nights you will ever spend on Waikiki…so if you want to hear and see pictures from Halloween night, I am going to need everyone to contribute ideas of what we can dress up as.  I know most of you have mastered the talent of commenting on the blog so I have some expectations.  For those of you who haven’t, there is no better time to learn.

As for what went on this weekend…On Friday, I went to Sandy Beach with a few of the guys in our group.  Sandy Beach is the home to the most neck and back injuries in the nation!  Before we even got in the sand, a lifeguard spotted our group of Haoles and warned us about the waters. 

Hoale (pronounces “howlie”) is a Hawaiian word meaning foreigner.  In Hawaii they call any and all Caucasians hoale – this is a term we are called a lot here.  I would venture to say it is not the greatest thing to be called either.  For the first time in our lives we experience the other side of racism.  Like I said before, this is a great learning experience.

Sandy Beach was much fun, though I did not dare to go in the water.  Victor was not able to go because he had class, so we will be going back there soon.  Friday night after I returned from the beach, Victor and I made use of my gift certificates from Grandma, Aunt Debbie, and Uncle Larry and went to Duke’s for dinner.  Food was great, sunset was beautiful, and my date was pleasant.  I could not ask for much more.

Saturday we had tickets for the University of Hawaii v. Nevada football game.  Kickoff was at 6, so we decided to head down to Aloha Stadium early to catch the Ohio State v. Penn State game on TV.  We found this great local bar right by the stadium to watch the game.  The bar, Brady’s (I think was the name), was a great find because for some reason at 4pm we were told that there was free food.  We are not sure why, but the owner’s family makes homemade food for every UH football game for everyone who is in the bar.  Free food and college students always go hand-in-hand.  After taking advantage of the free food we made the trek over to Aloha Stadium, the same stadium of NFL Pro Bowl is played in.  Our seats were 8 rows up from the end zone and UH won in the final minutes of the game!  The only problem was that it poured almost the entire game.  

After we finally dried off and Sunday rolled around, Victor and I taught our weekly Sunday school class.  After class we went and saw the Bodies Exhibit at Ala Moana.  Bodies is a controversial exhibit which displays preserved human bodies dissected to show the bodily systems.  For anyone who has the chance to see it, I would highly recommend it.  

And that was our weekend in review.  I assure that with your help on ideas for costumes, next weekends’ events will be much more exciting.  

(Also in the pictures from this weekend are pictures from the basketball league we are in at Chaminade.)

With the exception of an unfortunate bike crash, this weekend was excellent.  On Friday night, we did something we have done before – the infamous booze cruise, but with three twists…

first: it was my first legal booze cruise

second: Luke’s parents came along for the ride

third: it was the sunset cruise

The first twist really did not make much of a difference. Being legal on the booze cruise really means nothing.  Awhile ago we made friends with “Bear” at our local bar (On Stage).  Bear happens to work on the booze cruise and he is the one who checks ID’s before boarding the boat.  So prior to Oct. 12, I have been handing Bear my library card, just so his boss sees him checking something resembling a driver’s license. So not much thrill in being 21 on the booze cruise.

The second twist is kinda a big deal.  Luke’s parents are our very first parents to come out and visit.  We have had cousins, friends, aunts and uncles, but not yet parents.  Let me just tell you they set the bar high.  They started their vacation out on Wednesday night with our mandatory happy hour at On Stage, from there the fun never stopped.  When Friday rolled around Luke knew he had to take them on the booze cruise. 

And finally the third twist…the sunset!!  The last booze cruise sets sail at 5:30pm. allowing all passengers to be sailing the Pacific during the beautiful Hawaiian sunset.  And for some reason the all you can drink drinks were a little easier to swallow on the 5:30 cruise as opposed to our previous 11:30am sail last month J

After the sunset cruise we headed to Duke’s for some food, only to find out there was a 1+ wait for our group of 10 people.  Instead, we headed to the bar/restaurant above Duke’s – Hula’s.  Hula’s was great, just a little pricier than Duke’s, but the atmosphere was great with live Hawaiian music and dancers and good (though expensive) food.  After dinner and a few more drinks in us, we were all ready to head home and rest up for Saturday.  

Saturday morning did not start off so well…as I mentioned before there was a little accident.  Allow me to set the scene for you:  As many know Oahu is covered in mountains, every where you go there is hill after hill.  This causes for a very beautiful rolling landscape and a very difficult bike ride.  Each day many of the Dayton students head to campus on their trusty Wal-Mart bicycle.  My first mistake was inaccurately describing our bikes as “trusty”; these sub-$100 pieces of metal have been nothing but trouble for most of us…sure they get us from place to place a lot quicker than public transit, but they have also caused many headaches (and other aches and pains).  I had already had to bring my bike back to Mr. Walton 3 times previous for various reasons and it still was not safe to ride I guess. 

On Saturday morning the student exchange club was meeting on campus to head out for the North Shore.  On my ride up a very steep hill my gears decided they wanted to switch on me, even though I did not switch them manually.  The problem with gears unexpectedly switching while you are standing peddling hard up a hill is that your body is then thrusted forward while your bike hangs back –causing your body to go over the handlebars, and in my case over the handlebars into a metal fence.  Not really the most comfortable position to be in…in between a metal fence and a bike that is.  I would not recommend it to anyone.  To make matters ever worse after I detangled myself from my bike and the fence and realized what had just occurred, I heard “ppssssssssssshssssssss”.  Yep, that was air coming out of my bike tire.  Some how I managed to pop a tire in my crash as well.  So not only was I in pain, but I no longer had a bike to ride to my destination.  Thankfully, my new Hawaii mentality of “no worries” allowed me to brush it off, walk my totaled bike to campus, and forget about it!   After all, I was going to the North Shore!  I had much to look forward to!

The North Shore is on the other side of the island from where we live.  It is home to beautiful white sand beaches, great surf, and cute little surf towns.  We don’t get out there much because it is about a 45 minute drive on H1 (one of Oahu’s 3 highways – H1, H2, & H3).  

The first stop we made was at Waimea Bay. Waimea means “Red Water” in Hawaiian, the water is said to have a reddish tint in the winter months.  Also in the winter, Waimea and other North Shore locations such as Pipeline and Sunset Beach host a number of surfing contests because of the large waves found here. These waves are created by winter storms in the North Pacific.  Also located in the bay is a 50ft. rock, which we took advantage of (see Oct. 18 pictures).  All I will say is hitting the water after free falling 50ft. felt even worse than my bike crash!!

After Waimea Bay everyone was pretty hungry so we made our way to the town of Hale’iwa.  Hale’iwa is a tiny little surf town filled with board shops, restaurants, tourist shops, and shaved ice!  Victor and I shared a shaved ice from one of the best places on the whole island – Matsumoto.  It was amazing!!

Our final stop of the day was Sunset beach.  Recall that the waves and rip tide are much greater on the North Shore than at Waikiki?  Well we quickly learned the hard, yet fun, way!  With 6-10 ft. waves and sporadic rainfall it quickly turned into Pacific Ocean frenzy.  It was so cool jumping into these huge crashing waves then getting sucked back out to sea…but we all felt it the next morning.

Again, another unforgettable to weekend in Hawaii!  Can’t wait to see what next weekend has in store!!!!!!!!

Did I mention we swam with sea turtles?? Cause we did.  Victor saw it catch a fish then rip the fish’s head off! Look closely at the pictures of the turtle, you can see it holding the fish…

This weekend was action packed, I am going to break it down as simple as possible…

          Friday – Jess’s roommate had a party, supposed to be an early night.   Some how we ended up on top of St. Louis Hill, (the highest point on the island) trying to find our way home at 2:00 AM, in Jess’s roommates 1990 Nissan Pathfinder that does not always make it out of first gear.   Thankfully we were able to roll it down the hill and back to our apartments by 3:00. Needless to say not such an early night.

          Saturday – We rode our bikes to Diamond Head beach were we surfed for hours upon hours.   A friend and I rode one wave so close to each other we could touch.   Jess did great too, catching most waves she attempted to ride.   We brought hotdogs and hamburgers to cook on the beach.   Between the two of us, we ate 6 — well actually now thinking about it…I ate 6 and Jess nibbled on one of my burgers.  

After 7 hours of surfing and beaching we were exhausted.   We went back to sleep, only to catch 3 cycles of REM (5 hours) before heading out for Jessie’s 21st birthday.   We finally arose from our deep sleep and made it to the bars by 12:01 – It started with a Washington Apple, Then Sex with an Alligator, followed by a shot that was set on fire and illegal in 47 states, followed by a…..well you get the picture and I don’t need to embarrass my girlfriend. Though this picture might…  Thankfully we all made it through the night. – Side note to the naderer’s, grandma still owes Jessica a Manhattan when we get home.   I decided although I am part of the family, this tradition belongs to grandma.                   

Sunday – Once Jessica awoke from her overnight coma, we had breakfast and went on our way to celebrate her 21 ^st  birthday.   Our first activity took place on the beautiful Waikiki shore.   It was here we loaded a boat and took a 15 minute ride out in the ocean.   We reached our destination…in the middle of the ocean, what was it?   A SUBMARINE RIDE!   We reached depths of 113 feet, saw 4 artificial reefs and hundreds of fish.   The coolest sea life we saw included an eel, reef shark, and a sea turtle.   After the dive, Jess and I rode our bikes on over to the Cheesecake Factory for an early dinner.   The food was great (thanks mom and dad for the gift card that you gave Jess on Easter!), including this large piece of white chocolate raspberry cheesecake that Jess and I demolished [see above picture].

Our dinner happened to finish around 6:00 PM, just in time for the 6:15 sunset.   As we sat watching the sun set into the clouds (the worst Hawaiian sun set still beats the best Ohio sun set) we decided to call it a night.   We stopped at Dukes (a restaurant located right next to cheesecake on the strip with fantastic ocean view seating) to pick up Jessica’s gift cards, compliments of Uncle Larry, Aunt Debbie and Grandma.   Thank you guys! Dukes is the best restaurant on the strip!   The only restaurant better then that just relocated itself off of SOM center road, Grandma’s house (my grandma that is)!   Anyway we our having a great time and hope to see everyone soon.   We just sent out one round of post cards, more will be coming soon.  

Monday we had off of school (obviously Sunday was Jessie’s birthday — a National holiday) so we went to the Dole Plantation and learned everything we will ever need to know about Pineapples.  We enjoyed Pineapple icecream, Pineapple cutting demonstrations, Pineapple tours, Pineapple purchasing lessons, and the finding our way through one of the largest mazes in the world (obviously in the shape of a Pineapple!).

Keep an eye out for a special aloha from Honolulu! If you were not in the first round, figure out how to comment on this blog and we will be sure to send one your way J – Vic and Jess