Aloha!

Aloha!

You may have been wondering where I disappeared to... was I off surfing on the backs of turtles? or perhaps stuck in a palm tree trying to pick a coconut? Alas! I am actually without internet in my house here, which makes me wanna feed someone to the sharks!! Thanks to my trusty blackberry, I'm not totally disconnected.

The view from my house is really beautiful. In fact the picture to the right is from the balcony on the top floor (and the one on top is an image of the house from the beach). It's a two story home, built by a couple and their kids, and the upstairs is very nice though not air-conditioned. My room, downstairs does have AC and a TV, but overall, the house is definitely not what I expected... I'm sharing the rooms downstairs with a girl who has some mysterious night-time employment in one room, a mom and her two teenage boys in another two rooms, along with a guy who works on the property and acts as the property security dude upstairs (he's really nice) - not exactly the what I expected. Especially the part about sharing a bathroom with two teenage boys. The kitchen is definitely not a place I see myself cooking in - so my diet has consisted of alternating turkey sandwiches and peanut butter sandwiches - halla back to college! Hopefully this weekend, I'll get to have a well-balanced meal - though subway would excite me...

School is actually really great. The classes are very interesting, and the teacher is enthusiastic about what he is teaching. I take a 45 minute bus ride to get here, but the bus drops me off close to school. The school, Leeward College, is directly above Pearl Harbor - in fact, you can see the old navy ship graveyard from the second story. Pretty much anywhere in Hawaii has a great view! This Friday we're taking a class field trip to Pali, just north of Honolulu where we can see lava flow marks from an old volcano. Don't worry mom, the volcano is dead!

Oh another fun fact - I remembered to bring wash clothes and lysol wipes but FORGOT to bring my camera! DUH! The pictures you see here are from my 2 megapixel phone camera. Hopefully my camera will arrive next week, and I'll be able to post some pics of my school and my room. Sadly, any awesome adventures this weekend can only be captured by little phone! Though it's pretty decent - check out the sunset from my house in Ewa Beach, which faces South (to the left).

I'll let you know how it goes... if you're sensing my apprehension, it's just that this is so different than studying abroad because I'm not associated with an organization, and Hawaii is definitely an entity onto itself than to the US... much like Hong Kong is a separate entity to China. The area I'm living in is largely local, which is cool in its own way - not touristy. Everyone has been friendly overall, though without a car, I don't really see myself going out after sundown. I'm looking forward to Jamie's visit not this weekend, but next weekend and Mike's visit the weekend after. I know we're gonna have a great time!

Hope everything is chill on the Mainland 8-) Surfs up!!