relax...

sun slowly setting behind a mountain
more mountain/water
me swinging from a vine
view from the pool area at rosa's complex
more pretty-ness

so today started w/laundry (amazingly, i have not been going thru laundry withdrawl) then rosa put me on a bus and sent me to the local mall. granted the mall that is across the street from the beach. we went there to eat at the food court last nite and i kept seeing bags walk by of stores i wanted to visit. this 4-floor wonder has astonished me. stores include: gucci, chanel, hermes, christian dior, etc (all with security guarded entrance/exits) as well as your more normal mall fare: hollister, american eagle, gap, abercombie, banana republic, old navy, pacsun, guess and several uniquely hawaiian joints. and the stores that kelsey dreams about: most notably puma and diesel. i didn't buy hardly anything, but had a fun time walking around. somehow, even after buying million dollar property and nice cars, hawaiians have money?!

then i came home and rosa and i went and layed by the pool. the pool water is too cold for my taste, so i read and looked at the view (pictured above). then we walked to the beach. after the sun set, we walked to a burger place where i got the best chicken sandwhich of all time, and loaded up on american foods such as french fries and a shake (hey, it's gonna be a long 2 weeks as far as food goes). then we walked back. total walking distance: 3+ miles, so there wasn't too much guilt in the fried american fare :).

tomorrow we head off to china. i'm kinda sad to leave hawaii, although i do enjoy being in china. rosa is already making plans for my next visit (i'm still trying to figure out WHEN though) so that's good :).

the next post should be from china; probably not for a coupla days though.

zaijian!

snorkeling

coldstone icecream = lunch
beach for snorkling (see the greyish stuff in the water? that is the coral in which one snorkels)
if i look like i am suffering, it is because i am
a true hawaiian palm tree
another perfect day in paradise closes

(mother: there is an email from janet. she seemed to think my name was cathy :)... ah well)

today we went to coldstone icecream for lunch. it was amazing. may i reccomend cheesecake ice cream with strawberries, raspberries and blueberries?

we went snorkling. i saw TWO SEATURTLES up close in personal, go to swim with them, etc. if i had an underwater camera i would have taken pictures, but alas. i also saw lots of other fishies, but the turtles were by far the highlight.

we went and ate at the foodcourt for the mall here for dinner. i am envious. this mall has not only all the stores we have in our mall, but a diesel store, puma store... and much more amazing shopping. plus it's all there, no running here to old navy, and there to all the other stores. and the food court is just about the most incredible smorgasboard of food i have seen in a long while.

then we went to the beach to see the sunset. so nice. i think i am the most relaxed i have been in a very long while.

i have no idea what we are doing tomorrow, except that i have to do laundry and we have to visit this one store. sadly, tomorrow is my last day here. rosa said she gets homesick for hawaii just by THINKING about leaving. i told her i will be homesick for HER home :).

best wishes from paradise, ya'll :).

we went hiking today

nice view, yeah?
nice hair, yeah?
another nice view, yeah?
coupla nice people infront of another nice view, yeah?
misty islands, yeah?

1. one thing about hawaiians. they say 'yeah' after EVERYTHING. i will come home and you will all be astonished at this new addition to my vocabulary. basically, i laugh everytime i hear it used, until i use it myself :).

2. so we went hiking today. it was rosa, myself, a professor at the university of hawaii and his wife and daughter (age 2.5) and a chinese guy named dustin (mother: ha ha ha) who knows rosa from church. so anyways we hiked up this paved trail up the side of a mountain viewing makapu'u (water, lighthouse, cactus, etc) for a long while. it was fun and the views were amazing and i got lots of great photos. the only catch is that i have to come back in the winter to see the whales. they are seasonal :).

when we were done hiking, we drove to a coupla 'scenic points' and got some good photos, then went out for vietnamese food. it was kinda funny, i'm sitting there eating vietnamese food hawaiian style with 5 chinese people on a deck my a marina in hawaii kai. go figure.

it's interesting... they talk in about half english, half chinese, and they are all very fluent in both. very fun.

rosa and i had ice cream for lunch today. we are going to do the same tomorrow. we are so similar, it is frightening :).

anyhoo- life in hawaii is great. i officially do not want to leave. i mean, yes i am excited to go to china, but go back home? why would i want to do that? (sorry ya'll, don't want to hurt your feelings but i kinda like it here :)...)

oh! i found one problem with this paradise. the pool at rosa's complex was a bit too chilly for my taste this morning when i went to take a swim :). but the atmosphere there is like a relaxing waterpark (waterslide included). little yellow flowers fall into the water and they have a fountain kinda thingie and the pools are fun shapes as well as multiple hot tubs. and they have water running about the whole complex.

i took a walk around the neighborhood this morning and there were flowers everywhere. unfortunately, the homes (mostly 2-3 bedrooms, 2ish baths) run about $1.3-1.5 million. a little out of my pricerange, yeah?

until next time----

view

this is the view out rosa's front (living room) window. it is basically the only all in the front of her appartment. that is the ocean way out, touching the sky.

surfing day

me on the beach (doing a standard hawaiian hand sign)
that's me surfing!
the beach (a picture doesnt to it justice)
paddling out
(rotate) yup, even the traffic cones here rock :).

today we woke up bright and early and rosa took me to the beach. her church has an SURFING OUTREACH! so she dropped me and a bag of chips off and went onto a seminar for her job. basically, the leaders pair off with you and take you out and give you pointers and get you all in line for a nice wave and whatnot **highly reccomended!!!**.

i kinda hooked up with a girl who is 13 and has lived in hawaii for 5 years. she hadn't gone surfing yet, so we kinda stuck together. i talked with her and her dad for a while, they are camping on the beach for the summer.

needless to say, surfing is amazing. i wanna do it again tomorrow! acutally, the guy that taught me was surprised i lasted as long as i did, b/c there's a lot of paddling against the current involved. he also said (he read this in a surfing magazine) that they do surf a little on lake michigan. also paddling surfing is a growing cool thing to do. at any rate, i enjoyed it immensly, got complimented on my ability and have determined that it is something i would like to persue in the future if the whole graphic design thing falls through :). and gcc definately needs a surfing outreach too.

so that's basically all i've done today. it is about 4:15 and we are going to saturday night church at rosa's church and then i am going to crash :). rosa told me what we are doing tomorrow, but i dont remember :). oh yes! we are hiking up a mountain. i am going to have a good physique when i get home after all this demanding physical activity!

i love it here; i think you ALL would too!!!

hawaii!

sorry rotation didn't happen... tilt your head :)
the beach!!!
this is right outside the airport
punchbowl street! yes!
my first lei!

1. my father is the bestest driver ever. i almost missed my flight, but somehow we made it. praise, hallelujah!

2. hawaii is awesome. oh my. i dont think i ever wanna leave. if i didnt have friends, family and gcc at home, i simply wouldnt come home.

3. rosa is awesome! you know you're in good hands when she drives up in an immaculate sky-blue brand new mercedes. and she gave me the lovely lei above...

4. did i mention that hawaii is amazing?

5. i sat by an older man who is from idaho (go figure) and has lived in hawaii for 5 years. his wife does real estate and though i didnt catch what he does, he travels all over the pacific rim islands. he filled me in on just about everything hawaiian which was great.

6. get this. from rosa's appartment, i can see this mountain AND the ocean. her office is across the road from the beach (about a mile from her appartment). they have an amazing pool area at this complex. there is the most amazing wholesale shopping center not to far away, plus restaurants and botique-swimsuit stores and whatever else. we saw baby ducks w/their mama while eating at this nice italian place (owned by vietnamese, go figure. our waiter was asian, too) that sits near a marina with a view of the mountain rosa kinda lives on.

(if you haven't caught this, rosa is the lady i'm staying with. i have only spoke with her on the phone and via email till today.)

7. bright and early, i am going surfing! this is what rosa's church does for 'outreach' (get this. they have 4 or 5 services, saturday nites are also in chinese, 1 or 2 on sunday are korean, 1 or 2 sunday are for japanese. if you speak english, you pick whatever works. kinda sounds firmiliar, huh? they have a couple thousand who attend. oh. and churches here are on the beach. gcc has a nice facility and all, but honestly, would you rather be airconditioned or enjoying a balmy hawaiian breeze? big screen or the pacific ocean?) so anyways, they do surfing as like an outreach/hang out event. i think our youth/merge should take note. surfing will draw the masses, even the masses from the otherside of the country....

alrighty. kelsey is tired. it has been a long day. leave your comments and i will tell you all about surfing tomorrow sometime :).

june 2 already?

we're getting really close :).

maybe i should start thinking about maybe packing? nah, i'll put it off a little bit longer...