One of the guys from UD - Eric (seen on far right in picture above) , wrote an article for the Flyer News (UD’s student newspaper) that I thought some would enjoy reading, so I provided the link — http://flyernews.com/articles/volume/56/issue/9/category/opinion/id/4391
<<Birthday countdown = 2.5 days>>
More to come after Saturday and Sunday’s extravaganzas!!
Thanks Momma & Mrs. Kachler!
Birthday cookies sent by my mom and Mrs. Kachler. Martini glasses, pineapples, hawaiian flowers, palm trees…can it get any better??? Oh, yea that is Diamond Head in the background!
Hanauma Bay
If the twelfth of October does not ring a bell to you, then you probably should not be reading this blog AT ALL! If you need a refresher course on the meaning of that special date, let me bring you back to the year 1987…when a beautiful baby girl was born. Yeah, you guessed it, that bundle of joy was – me!
A week from today I will be turning 21 years old – some call this a big birthday, others refer to it as a “right of passage”, and some goes as far as describing it as the best night you will never remember…now how did I get so lucky to spend this pivotal moment in my life in Honolulu, Hawaii?? I ask myself how I got here, each and every day that passes. Well, I have a lot of people to thank, but this is not the platform for that. Though you know who you are (especially mom & dad) ……..THANK YOU J J
As for this past weekend < the weekend before the BIG weekend > we did not do too much, with the culmination coming today. Friday we went out to dinner with a group of friends to Ryan’s Grille. It was nice hanging out with the crew, but even nicer because my roommate drove us to the restaurant. Now, you folks on the mainland may not see cars as a precious commodity in this day and age, but to poor college students living in Hawaii, a car is equivalent to a perfect presidential candidate – i.e. – it is unfathomable! I actually found myself peddling while sitting in the back seat because I have become so accustomed to riding my bike everywhere I go.
Saturday was one of the guys from UD 22nd birthday, so we went to our local bar you have all heard me talk about, On Stage. A pretty standard night.
Sunday was anything but ordinary. After teaching Sunday school and teaching the little ones about guardian angels, Victor, Travis, Sarah, and I headed off to Hanauma Bay. Hanauma Bay is a nature preserve filled with wildlife about 10 miles east of Waikiki (meaning it is on the other side of Diamond Head from where our apartments are).
Again, as with many things which I have experienced while living on the island of Oahu, I can not begin to describe how amazing this bay is. You will have to refer to my pictures to see for yourself! But what I can tell you is all the different creatures we saw while snorkeling: hundreds of beautiful fish, octopus, sea turtles, and various other forms of sea creatures I can not name. My friend Sarah has an underwater camera that I was able to take pictures with while we were snorkeling and while trying to stay alive through the strong currents. There were signs posted about the currents, which included one of my favorite pieces of advice; “IF IN DOUBT, DON’T GO OUT”. Normally I would have taken pictures of these posted signs, but for the sake of Mrs. Vella, I withheld from doing so. (Instead I just described them to you!!!) The pictures do not do justice to all the things I saw, but I thought it would be better to stay alive than it would be to have photographs… I did take a few good ones though!
Hanauma Bay is a place we will be frequenting more often. Because it is a “nature preserve” it cost $5 to get into…….but because we are Kama’aina (you all should know what that means) admission was free; therefore we will be going back very soon and very often.
After snorkeling we went to dinner and then I went with a few friends to watch a movie while Victor went to his apartment to study for a test – don’t forget, we are here for the education!
[Forgetting Sarah Marshall -- I suggest renting it today. It was filmed on Oahu and is quite funny!]
After over a month of living less than a mile away from the infamous Waikiki beach we have finally realized that there is more to Oahu than just that beach. Sure, Waikiki has lived up to its’ name – beautiful sunsets, decent surf, plenty of restaurants, ABC stores on every corner, the Booze Cruise, live street entertainment, excellent (but expensive) bar scene, first rate shopping - it was time for us to move on a discover more of the island…
After a little internet research I found our group a new adventure. This new adventue took us to the “windward” side of the island (whereas we live on the “leeward” side”). Let me explain: Every Hawaiian island has a leeward side and a windward side. The leeward side faces South or West and is hot, dry, and sunny. The windward side faces North or East and is moderate, lush, and green.
Now that you have a better understanding of Hawaiian geography, I can better depict our travels. Our escapade began at 9am HT on Saturday morning. The first leg consisted of a 6 mile bike ride on a pretty consistant incline through University of Hawaii’s campus and up into the Ko’oaus Mountains.
After one of the most physically demanding rides of my life, we finally made it to our destination — 
Manoa Falls Trail is located just beyond the gorgeous Manoa Valley community which hosts many multi-million dollar homes. The trail itself is a two mile hike to a beautiful 150 ft. waterfall. A website descibed the trail as “family friendly”, but I would beg to differ. In fact every family I saw there did not make it to the waterfall. There are many rocks, it’s very slippery, and not an easy hike by no means.
The waterfall was a site to see, but we were all disappointed to find that we could not swim in it. Well we could swim at our own risk… there are frequent falling rocks and the water is heavily polluted with leptospirosis bacteria…neither of which sound too inviting, even to someone as daring as myself. There were a few fearless people swimming, but I did not want to risk it. I still have 11 or so more weeks here!
Besides the waterfall itself, my favorite part of the hike was the endless bamboo forest, which I insisted on exploring…. 
The hike was a great idea, if I do say so myself! Though we have come to find a new adventure for us… we asked one of the local boys if there were any waterfalls which we can swim in. He suggested Maunawili Falls which features hiking, rock jumping, swimming, and rope swings into the water!!
Sunday was not so adventurous. I convinced Victor to come with me to teach Sunday school at the parish on Chaminade’s campus. It a fun and rewarding experience teaching 2-6 year olds about friendship! I can’t imagine what we will teach them next week…
We are teaching Sunday school as a part of a service learning project. I had begun my project at Kaimuki High School watching and tutoring the student athletes in study hall, but I did not feel like I was doing much service – which is why I wanted to start teaching a Sunday school class. Though I am still going to tutor at the high school because it is a good life experience to see what a public, low income, school is like…and let me tell you –it is WAY different than any school I have ever been to!
In the end, the weekend was adventerous, relaxing, and rewarding. I could not ask for much more!
Booze cruise number 2! AAAA-mazing. 13 college students on a boat at 11:30 AM = a great time. We officially hammered it down; the booze cruise is an official once a month activity. Anyone interested in joining, give “Bear” or “Captain Crash” a call, they will hook you up.
A few things that separated this booze cruise from the last are:
1. Jess and I were sober (most likely b/c Joe and Chris left)
2. Jess scored a 9.5 on her ridiculous triple front flip and perfect perpendicular entrance into the water off of the boat (as seen in picture)
3. I free dived, reaching depths of approximately 18 feet ( with no fins )
All said and done, it was a great time and look forward to going again.
Now about this spear fishing that Jess has brought to light. Yes it is true, 3 fellow Dayton Flyers and Sarah from St. Mary’s Texas, will be spear fishing early Thursday morning. Mom, Dad (Erica earmuffs please) I will not be attending class Thursday for an early morning hunt. I will keep everyone posted, including pictures from Sarah’s underwater digital camera! Until next time – Vic
yes, we are all still anticpating Victor’s next blog. I did not even ask him to blog this time, he took this upon himself. When we got back to my apartment after the boat ride this weekend, he went straight to my computer and began writing—–5 minutes later I found him in my kitchen eating all my food. When I asked if he was finished writing, he simply replied “I was hungry Jessie” –
Nothing has changed with him, he is still the cute, little, hungry boy I have come to love. Since leaving the mainland just a little over a month ago, not much has changed in either of us, just a little more relaxed.
Currently, it is now 10pm HT (Hawaii Time) here, and Victor is at Wal-mart with his friend Travis purchasing spearfishing gear. One would think at this hour a typical college student would be studying or watching TV or hanging out with friends or playing on the internet — but no, not my boyfriend…rather he is at the local Wal-mart store investing his money into spearfishing items. More on Victor’s new hobby to come.
Myself on the other hand best be getting back to my studies! Just wanted to let everyone know that Victor’s blog will be coming in the next few days…that is if he is not too busy out in the Pacific with his new investments trying to catch himself dinner!
Victor is in the process of explaining our weekend events, but in the mean time (since it may be awhile) I put the pictures up for you to look at!
Kama`aina. The first part “Kama” means child and “Aina” means land. Literally it translates to child of the land. In modern day Hawaii, Kama’aina can have a broader meaning. In some cases it just means a Hawaiian resident. You will often hear the term Kama’aina rate. This speaks to the discounted rate for goods and services for Hawaii residents.
The reason I am enlightening you with the Hawaiian language is because 1. I think we all should absorb the culture while Victor and I are living here, and 2. because today I used the Kama’aina dicount for the first time!
Thursday turned out to be an exciting day for me; I got to go surfing and used the local discount both being my first time doing either. I can never remember to ask if they have a Kama’aina discount, but today I did. The gang was in the Quicksilver store down on Waikiki in search of rash guards (which I will explain in a bit). When checking out I happened to remember to ask, and was pleased to find out that I would get a discount if I had a Hawaiian driver’s license (which of course I now have!). I also got $5 off my surf board rental. It was a great day to be a local.
Now, as for the rash guards I have spoken about. As a surfer it is vital to wear one of these…I acually suggest a full body rash guard. If you look at the picture in the “Sept. 18″ link you will see why I make such a suggestion–I was only wearing a rash guard shirt…ouch.
This is just a glimpse at one of my rashes from surfing!
It was a great way to start my weekend here on Oahu. We have plenty in store for this weekend, so stay tuned! In the mean time check out the pictures in the “Sept. 18″ link.
<sorry mom, dad, uncle larry and aunt debbie for not calling you guys back — what can I say I was out catchin’ some waves!! it was much too late in the eastern time zone to call you all back>
Brunch @ President Sue
The weekend was pretty uneventful. We did a lot, just not much to talk about.
I previously posted the weekend’s agenda, so there is no need for reiteration. I posted new pictures in the link “Sept. 5 & 6 pics” that were taken over the weekend.
Good Food ~ Good People ~ Good Times.
Tomorrow I am going to attempt to transfer my Ohio driver’s license to the state of Hawai’i driver’s license. My current license expires in a few weeks and I need to renew it soon. This means that I am going to have to take the written test for driving in the state of Hawai’i, but really how hard could it be?
It wasn’t that hard …….
I wish I had more exciting things to tell everyone, but it was just another week in Honolulu, Hawai’i –nothin new…nothin new.
Vic and I on our way to dinner in Chinatown
The plans for this weekend are as follows:
Friday - Pizza luncheon with the Dean of student
Aloha Festival down at Waikiki
Saturday – Beach day / maybe Diamond Head (obviously not for Vic though)
Dinner at Barbara’s house
(Barbara is a lady who grew up in Dayton and has since moved out to HI and works at the University. She has a strong liking for us, so she invited us to her house for dinner)
Sunday – Church at 10am
Brunch at the President of Chaminade’s house (there is a pool and her husband is a chef…I am excited <mostly for the pool!!>)
Decent weekend ahead of us. It should be pretty exciting, keep a look out for new pictures to be posted from the upcoming activities!
INJURY UPDATE (**a picture alone will do justice)
