Math Test #4

Today's ASL class was one of those average classes... I find it hard to recall what I learned. I'm not so confident about ASL's final exam, which will be a 10 minutes one-to-one conversation in sign with the instructor.

English class was fortunately a little more fun than Monday, since the students who had been missing last time showed up. We had to fill out a form to rate the instructor and write what's good and bad about her.

After the lunch break came the math test!! Thank God it wasn't as hard as the previous one! It took a lot of time to finish, but I think I did okay because Mr. Astromoff took a look at it and gave me a thumbs up.

I walked home and did homework and whatever until evening, when all four of us went to Kahala Mall to pick up dinner of Korean and Chinese food. I just love the Korean takeout food here! Mmm... the spicy BBQ chicken! While eating, we watched Hogan's Heroes again. Sergeant Schultz (the fat one in the pic) is such a cute character.

I am off to bed now, although I don't need to get up early tomorrow.

Wow... only 20 more days in Hawaii!

Today was a pretty normal Tuesday, which means that it was pretty good. In our history class, we learned about the Song dynasty of China. Mr. Cassity also answered questioned about our essay on Theban plays, which was interesting! The story about Oedipus and Antigone is tragic but interesting. It somehow reminds me of the story of Turin Turambar in the Silmarillion, written by J.R.R. Tolkien.

For lunch, Naomi made us Fajitas with chicken and mushroom!

During art class, I started painting from one of the photos I'd taken the other day. Not very developed, so I'll put no pic of it today. Maybe I will on Thursday!

Went home, and finished up correcting the rough draft of my "nuclear essay". It will finally be handed in tomorrow, and I won't have to worry about it anymore! :D

Oooh, what a short post for a full day this is! Hopefully it will be more interesting tomorrow... it probably will be, since it's the math test day!!

A looooooong English class...

This morning was a rather interesting start. Erin and I walked halfway to Nick&Heather's house (because Naomi had driven the car there) then were picked up by the above mentioned family's van! They took us to their house, and from there we took our own car and drove to our ASL class. Okay, maybe this was a bit confusing... but the important thing is that we got to the ASL class just in time!

Our English class from 10:45am seemed really long, even longer than usual (which is saying a lot!). Some people we knew did not show up, and there were only about 10 people. I admit that I found my mind wandering off quite a few times... I don't think I missed anything though. At least the instructor seems to really like us. She said something like "You are such good students!" to us... that is, after all the other students had left!

It turned out that Priscilla was to go to the blood drive to donate blood earlier in the morning, but she had totally forgotten about it... so after English class, we walked to the bloodmobile. Because they said that the blood-donating procedure takes about an hour, I left Priscilla in the hands of the able blood-collecting (?) people there and went to Subway to get a cup of clam chowder for lunch. Mmmm it was so good... although I did burn my tongue.

After an hour I went back to Priscilla, and much to my surprise, she couldn't donate blood! :( Turns out she needs more iron in her blood in order to donate.

We drove home and spent a few minutes in relaxation before our math class. Well, the math class turned out to be really easy and short, so that was nice! There's a test coming up on Wednesday... I hope that it will be easier this time!

I walked home, finished my math homework, then started building my canvas. It's actually not finished yet, but I think I'm starting to get the hang of the "making of canvases". It's for the new painting I am going to start tomorrow. It's supposed to be one of those typical Hawaiian scenery stuff... I took some pictures, and I'm going to use one of them:








These are all pictures taken within walking distance from our house.






In the evening, I read some more of Sophocle's tragic play Ordipus Rex and Antigone. I'm really enjoying the story, although I won't be writing an essay on it.

We each ate our own dinner, and some of us later watched a Hogan's Heroes episode. Tomorrow's Tuesday.. yay! I love Tuesdays and Thursdays! Here is an extra pic, taken during my art class. The room is not too clean, filled with painting desks, easels, and uncomfortable chairs. The little guy in the white shirt is my art instructor, while that taller guy with glasses, long hair and a moustache and holding a painting.. he is this... really.. strange.. guy, named Joseph. While almost everyone has finished the 3rd painting out of 4 already, he has only recently finished the 2nd one!

Thus begins our 15th school week

This morning, before starting our service, we ate leftover pies for breakfast. In fact, we lived mostly on leftovers from Thanksgiving all day today! LOL The food was still really good though.

Naomi led our service today from 10:00am. We had a kind of "sermon before the sermon", though it was more like a discussion. Then we listened to my father's sermon from October, titled "The Word of Life" VS. "My Life". It was good to hear his voice again, though I do talk with him sometimes.

After having a nice lunch, Erin, Priscilla and I went to buy some Christmas gifts for the kids back home and to see the movie Pride & Prejudice at Ward Theatre. We were actually planning on going to see Harry Potter at first, but then decided to watch this one instead.

It was a really cute and romantic movie, and I thought that Keira Knightley was pretty good in it. I wasn't sure how much I'd like it after seeing the long British version of it, but it turned out to be a really well-made film.

By the time we got home, it was almost 6:30pm... already dark. I spent a few hours finishing up my deaf research paper and watched some Hogan's Heroes with Priscilla while eating dinner.

So here I am, getting ready for an early start tomorrow.. 15th week of school out of 16 and a half!

Stayed at hom aaalllll day!

Today, Priscilla and I stayed at home all day long... no wait, I went out once.. but only to hang up the laundry! But I didn't spend it doing nothing; I started my Dead Culture Research Paper, which is turning out to be more difficult than expected. That's because I don't really know much on what I am writing about... so I keep consulting books and webpages. It took many hours, and I still have 1/3 left!

As for food, we had a PLENTY of stuff left over from Thanksgiving, so we didn't have to cook anything. While eating lunch, Priscilla, Erin and I watched two episodes from Hogan's Heroes 2nd season.

In the afternoon, Erin went to get her hair cut short; it turned out really nice and refreshing!

I continued on with my essay until around 6:30pm. While eating dinner, we watched Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. It was my first time to watch that one, since I'd only watched the first one before. It was interesting, but I still don't see why people become so crazy about it... still, it was entertaining, a good way to prepare ourselves for the current (4th) Harry Potter film we're going to see tomorrow.

Tomorrow is Sunday, and we're going to have our service at home!! :D

Day-after-Thanksgiving shopping madness

Today, Naomi took her cousin Ayumi all over the island, so Priscilla and I tagged along. We went to many place, and it was really a fun, eventful day for me, because it was actually the first "tour" of Hawaii that I got to go on. We had a great time together!!

First, we went to Punchbowl Cemetery to see the great view of diamondhead. That's Ayumi and Naomi in the picture.



Next, we went to Queen Emma of Hawaii's Summer Palace. It was an old building built in the 19th century, and it had all kinds of cool wooden furniture, including an ancient-looking piano!

There was another piano there as well, which Priscilla and I got to touch and play!



Next came the Pali lookout, which was a beautiful green view!














There was a guy selling fruits and snacks in a van at the lookout, so Naomi got me a real coconut fruit to drink from... my first experience! The guy was really nice and even gave us one extra free coconut!

Next (wow so many places!), we went to a nice, relaxing beach where we waded and splashed along the shore.

This is where my camera ran out of battery, so there are no more pictures for the rest of the blog. :(

Finally, we went to Waikele Outlet Mall. Before shopping, we stopped by at Chili's to eat lunch. All of us bought some clothes after about 2 hours of shopping, so we were happy and content!

We finally got home at around 6:00pm... Ayumi went back to her hotel afterwards as she is to leave Hawaii tomorrow morning. I am thankful since it's because she came that I could go see so many places!

Thanksgiving Day a.k.a. Stuff Yourself Day

We had a wonderful time on this special day! We got to sleep in until 9:30 in the morning, then cleaned up the whole house because we were to have guests for dinner later in the day.

At 1:00pm, all four of us went to Aunt Jean's friend's house at Hawaii Kai. They had a nice big house, and Reed (Aunt Jean's friend)'s son happened to be a KCC student like us.He also had a cute black female dog named Benji.

The big guy standing is Reed, and his son and his girlfriend are next to him. Because it was our first time to meet, they seemed really nervous at first!

We had lots and lots of food at Reed's house, and we stuffed ourselves full with turkey, mashed potatoes, salad, and other Thanksgiving dishes!

Benji staring at the food.







At 4:00pm, we went home and had less than an hour to prepare for our own church's Thanksgiving party at home!

After 5:00pm, people started piling in to our house. Yury came first, then others like Ericson, Brandon and Christi, and Yoko. Ayumi, Naomi and Priscilla's cousin, also came to dinner because she was staying here on a business trip (she's the one in white on the left side).

We had tons of food since we'd made all kinds of dishes the day before, and Ericson brought turkey and home-made yam. So we stuffed ourselves full once again until we were close to bursting! After we finished eating...

we watched a movie! Christi and Brandon had brought Madagascar, which was really funny, though not as good as Ice Age. The funniest, best characters by far are the four penguins.

After the movie, we played a game called "Cranium". It's a pretty interesting board game that makes each team answer a quiz, draw or sculpture something,

Here Ericson is found thinking but looking sleepy, Matt is pondering, and Erin is looking rather clueless.

Yoko and Naomi's dog... both about the same size!

Finally, everyone was too tired to do anything... just sat and talked.

All in all, it was a wonderful thanksgiving... thanks to everyone who came to dinner at our house!!

A Rainy Thanksgiving Eve

I can't believe I forgot to post yesterday's blog!! First miss! I was so intent on finishing up my English essay last night that I completely forgot about my blog! Well, at least there wasn't much to write about yesterday, except that I finished up my third painting!



Today was our last normal schoolday of the week. All our classes were pretty normal and easy today, although there was a quiz during English class.

What was most annoying about today was the weather... it was cloudy and drizzling slightly in the morning. Then, at lunchtime, it was really hot and sunny! We decided to hang the laundry outside... 20 minutes later, it was pouring like crazy!! We got to our math class all wet and muddy... yuk! Seriously, weather is unpredictable in Hawaii!

In the afternoon after all my classes were done, I helped Naomi cook food for Thanksgiving dinner. I made the mashed potatoes and washed some dishes.

From 7:00pm, we all attended the Thanksgiving Eve service at the Kaimuki church. It was pretty crowded, since it was a special occasion. Naomi and lots of other people performed a sign dance.
Later, a few people came up to talk about their ministries, then lots of random people stood up and said what they were thankful for.

This got a little dull after a while, but there were lots and lots of pies waiting for us after the service, which made us happy!! :D

I don't think I've ever seen so many plates of pies in one place before! This picture is only a part of the whole thing.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, which means there is no school! We are also inviting lots of people over to our house for Thanksgiving dinner. Looking forward to it!
I hope the weather clears up a bit though.

Cloudy Day...

This morning, I had a hard time getting out of bed because it was so dark! As it turned out, the whole day was kinda cloudy and humid... that kind of weather just doesn't feel right in Hawaii somehow.

ASL class and English class went normally as usual... not much happened. However, Mrs. Lamb-Tamura of our English class did get a bit upset with some negligent students who didn't prepare much for an oral presentation ("shame on you!"). Heehee! She was all nice and smiling whenever she came to us, though.

At math class... we got out test results back!! All the other students seemed to have been dreading it, too. As it turned out, most people got a bad score (I saw one 0!). I got 10 out of 15 points, and even that was in the top 5! Fortunately for us, Mr. Astromoff said that the next test will be much easier. Whew...

Not much happened after coming home. I finished my math homework and worked on my essay on nuclear energy.

While eating dinner, Priscilla and I watched a Cary Grant movie called Bringing up Baby, a funny black&white comedy!

Oooh, a very young Cary Grant, looking nerdy with glasses on!

O Happy Day!!

This was the first Sunday in which we didn't go to the Kaimuki church. We had our own service at home... our service feels so much more whole when we don't have to think about going to another service after it. It was a really good service; we discussed about our new church again and listened to Pastor's English sermon from November 6, which was about luke-warm Christians. It was really strengthening for me... I had almost forgotten how different the sermons back home are!

Since it was 3rd Sunday, we all went out to eat together at Happy Day, just like last month. It's still one of my favorite places to eat in Hawaii... and we ate dim sum until we were really really full!

After driving home, all of us except for Naomi took a nice, refreshing nap. :)

We left for dinner at 5:30pm. Erin finally got her chance to treat us all to a good restaurant, so we went to Buzz's Steak & Lobster, where a friend from our English class named Eric works. It was so nice because he priced everything 20% off for us and got us nice seats outside on the balcony. The food was all delicious, though we didn't get the big lobster tail. I got a seafood plate with all kinds of good stuff on it. Naomi had a big, fat crab leg with her steak, as you can see in the pic.

We had a wonderful time... thanks Erin for taking us to the place! Now I'm so full and content from eating out twice (at great places) in one day!

I shall now go prepare for school! Good night!

Walk the line~♪

Well, this morning Priscilla and I both overslept, and Priscilla ended up going to her drum lesson late. At 10:30am, Priscilla returned from the drum lesson, then I immediately went with her to her tap class. Why? To take pictures for her last tap class this year!

I took some nice videos of the dances, too, though I can't put those here.



Went home, and after lunch, Ericson came to pick us up to go to Ward Theaters. Today's movie was Walk the Line, a drama/biography about a musician named Johnny Cash who was famous in the 60's. Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon actually sang pretty well. The movie sometimes got slow, but overall it was good!

We stopped by at Logos bookstore for a while and bought some Christmas gifts, then went home. We invited Ericson over to come and relax at our house for a while, since he didn't have anything to do for the rest of the day. We sat and talked and had a nice time for a while, until around 5:30pm when he went home. Erin and Priscilla also left around that time, Erin to a design award event and Priscilla to babysit a little boy.

I stayed at home and started on my English essay... I'm writing about nuclear energy, and it takes a lot of researching! However I don't mind researching that much, so I think I can manage it.

Tomorrow is Sunday!! :D For the first time, we won't go to the Kaimuki church but will have our own service only.

Dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory!

This morning's ASL class was iiiiinteresting... a couple of deaf people came to talk about a deaf festival they're doing tomorrow. I don't think Erin and I will go, though.

I stayed on campus after class (Erin went off to her intern) and continued on my Pissarro painting. I was thinking of finishing it up, but I had a headache which made me feel rather sick after a while. So... deciding that I can paint better some other time, I put everything away and walked home.
It's actually almost done, but the house still needs work. The tree and the lawn need some final touches, too.


My afternoon was not very eventful, since I could not bear to look at the computer screen very long because of the headache. I spent sometime reading the book I borrowed from Naomi, and also took a very short nap.

Then we went to the evening service at the Kaimuki church. No comment on today's worship, which was led by Josh. The testimony that this one guy gave during the sermon was really amazing, though, and was the best part of the service, along with the special music in which Priscilla played the drums!

After the service, we went out to eat dinner with Matt, Ardell, and Yury. We went to the Old Spaghetti Factory (first time for me)... I liked the place a lot! The interior was really nice.

Erin in one of the big chairs...







..and me in an even bigger chair! Or is it that I'm too small??

The pasta we had for dinner was reeaally good, but as usual I couldn't finish it all. On the way back home, while getting into our house's gate, we spotted a huge, ugly, black slug on the ground! Eeewww... even I refrained from touching it.

It's now quite late, so I'd better get to bed!! At least tomorrow's Saturday.

I got all my classes!! (^v^)

Today's History class was pretty easy-going... the map quiz was really easy as well. Mr. Cassity finished up talking about the Muslim Empire. Soon we will have to start writing a 4-page essay about Sophocle's Greek tragedy Oedipus Rex and Antigone. Come to think of it, I will have to write three pages, each 3 or 4 pages long, in the next 2 weeks.

After having fried rice for lunch at home, I went to art class. Unfortunately, I forgot to take with me the original Pissarro artwork which I'm using as an example, so I had to use my memory and imagination to paint today. Naturally, I didn't get that much done today, so I'll complete it tomorrow and put it up on the blog then. ;)

Erin cooked yummy chicken-katsu for dinner while I did my ASL homework. We ate quickly to finish before the Bible study class took place at home. Since Naomi and Priscilla were both away practicing stuff at church, they came back later in the night. The lady who comes to the Bible study gave each of us a cute tea cup filled with chocolate and a lamb!
Aaaawwww!


Okay I am off to bed now so I can have a fresh start tomorrow for ASL class!

One more month of school and we're done!!

I think I had a similar kind of title a few days ago, but that just shows how excited I am go home!

I woke up as usual at 7:00am, then immediately started registering for my classes. Priscilla soon woke up and started registering online as well (although I hear she fell back asleep later). Today I successfully registered into 4 of my 6 classes. 2 of them are full and I have to wait for a seat.

ASL class was pretty easy. We learned how to say "1 week ago", "1 month later", and "what will you do next Saturday?". Pretty useful stuff.

During English class, most of the students, including me, had to give an oral presentation about the essay we are to write. I talked about the Chernobyl nuclear accident (which happened the year I was born) and the nuclear energy debate today. It's very controversial, and that's what makes it interesting.

Priscilla and I had instant ramen for lunch, then went to our math class...

AAH, that math test!! It was muuuch harder than we'd expected and I think I made a few mistakes on it. I am dreading the day I'll be getting the result.
After exhausting my brain at the math class, I went to the library to borrow a book about nuclear energy for my essay.

Went back home at about 4:15pm and did nothing very productive until after dinner (Naomi's oyakodon!!), when I started studying for our map quiz for tomorrow. Well, a map quiz shouldn't be so hard...

We have to study both the Mediterranean area AND the Asian map. The real test sheet is simple black-and-white. I laughed when our history teacher said that some students don't even know which is continent and which is the ocean! They sometimes end up putting a city right in the sea! LOL

At night we had our prayer meeting. Naomi and Erin have already gone to bed, and I think I should follow their example!

Our history instructor was Santa??

During today's History class, we asked specific questions for our upcoming map quiz.. questions like "where's Cordoba?" and "where's the Gobi Desert?". Obviously, some students weren't listening and asked the same question that anothe student had asked already. Mr. Cassity had to patiently point out the locations on the map again and again.
Mr. Cassity also said that there was a "Christmas in November" event on campus last week, and he was the Santa Claus! So after getting home, I went to the Kapiolani Community College website, refreshed the homepage again and again (because the pictures keep changing) until a pic with a huge Santa showed up... obviously, that was our history teacher... he's one big jolly guy! LOL

After a lunch break, I went to continue painting at the art class. I was in my little corner and was bothered by no one (there's this one weirdo called Joseph who usually likes to bother me with talk about his Anime craze). Mr. Sunabe came once and said "Maki, looks like you're having fun!"... and I was! There are so many different colors I can use, and I really got absorbed into it!

Art class is really fun, but standing for a full 2 1/2 hours while holding a brush can take a lot out ofme.

I walked home with Erin and made dinner for the two of us since Naomi was away on a conference (?) and Priscilla was babysitting at Heather's house.

Finally, I finished preparing for my English oral presentation for tomorrow and also for my Math test! Wish me luck!

Only 4 more weeks of school! (plus final exam)

This morning, our ASL teacher was 40 minutes late! Another ASL teacher, also deaf, came to teach during Crissy (our teacher)'s absence. Her name starts with an "L", but that's all I remember of it! Crissy eventually showed up, so we had our usual class for the remaining time, for about 30 minutes.

We went to our English class earlier than usual, because Naomi needed the car. The English students are supposed to give oral presentations on either today or Wednesday, but it turned out that only three students (including Priscilla) were ready to give it today. At least I am readier than most others... to give it on Wednesday.

After our lunch break at home, we went to our Math class, which was really short because it was only a practice test. After class, we stopped by at the library and did some research. For me, the research got pretty long, and I finally got home around 4:00pm (usually I get back 3:00).

Since there was no homework, I helped Naomi make meatloafs for dinner. Naomi also cooked some huge, flat mushrooms which were delicious!

Watched some Ghostbusters 2 with Priscilla on her bed... so comfortable! Then Priscilla and I started grading the older KCIS kids' book reports, but couldn't finish them as we both had people to talk and chat to.

I am now off to take a shower!


Pic of the day:
The bronze Waikiki man from last weekend... his arms never get tired!

A night of babysitting.

This morning, Naomi made french toast for breakfast, then led our church service. She spoke and said that we must first be strong and put away our doubts as our church is taking a new step.

Naomi, Priscilla and I went to the 10:30am service at Kaimuki Christian Church. It was basically the same as the Friday service, except we'd missed the first part before. They did a slide show to honor the men in military because of the Veteran's Day.

Priscilla then went to Heather's house to babysit Malia and Bella until around 4:00pm. The rest of us ate lunch at home. Erin went to the swimming pool in the afternoon while I stayed behind and took a niiiiiice nap. It's really been a long time since I'd taken a real nap!

At around 6:00pm, after Priscilla had returned, Nika and Kyla (Joe the drummer's kids) came to our house to be babysat. We had to keep our eyes on them all the time, but they were pretty good.

<--- Nika

Who's playing with my headset?? It's Kyla!

Priscilla entertaining the kids.

They were finally picked up by their parents around 10:30pm. I'll bet those kids fell asleep right away after getting home!

To Waikiki Beach!

This morning, Priscilla and I did not wake up until 10:00am! Shock horror!! Priscilla rushed off to her morning tap class soon after, so I helped clean the house a little and do the laundry.

In the afternoon, we all went out to do some shopping: Erin and I went to Waikiki, and Naomi and Priscilla went to Costco. I was torn between Waikiki and Costco, but in the end I chose to go with Erin.

It was a hot and sunny day, and the place was teeming with tourists. Still, the beach was beautiful! Here are some photos that I took:









Look this way, Erin! :)


Beeaaauutiful Hibiscus flowers!




We looked at many places but didn't buy much... I got some postcards and stuff at on of the many ABC Stores on the street, but that's about it.

But it was fun to be able to see many places, since this is still only my 4th or 5th time to visit Waikiki since I came. Many stores were selling Christmas stuff. There was even a Christmas tree made of Christmas bears!

Don't ask me why there's a big square hole in it.. I don't know!


We were picked up by Naomi and got home at around 4:00pm. I spent the evening doing computer and looking at some art books I borrowed from Erin.

For dinner we had sashimi from Costco! :D Mmmm then I watched most of the movie "Open Range" with Priscilla and Erin.

Tomorrow is Sunday! :D Strange, but it feels like today is Sunday, because yesterday was a holiday. It's nice to know that there won't be any school until day after tomorrow!!

Veteran's Day

Today was a pretty eventful holiday. In the morning, Priscilla went to babysit Malia and Bella at Heather's house, so I stayed at home and completed my history map practice by filling in all the places on the map.

For lunch, we went out to eat at the Kyoto Ramen restaurant for the second time, but for the first time with all four of us. The chashu ramen was sooo good, but there was so much chashu inside that I shared them with the others.

Then we went to Punchbowl to pay respects to Naomi and Priscilla's grandfather. Since it was Veteran's Day, lots of other people were there. The whole place was decorated with flags and flowers. It was beautiful!

Went home and watched one movie with Priscilla and Erin before going to the Deaf Starbucks Event at Kahala Mall. We got to use a lot of ASL, but there was a small concert thing going on at the same place, and it was sometimes hard to concentrate because of that! Only later did we find out that our friend Yury from the Kaimuki church was playing violin there!!
See the blond guy up close? That's Yury. I was so close to him but didn't know he was there!

We got to the Friday service at Kaimuki, where Pastor Ron talked about giving thanks, probably in preparation for Thanksgiving Day. Instead of going out with the others for dinner (some of us were tired), we picked up dinner at Jack-in-the-Box and ate at home while watching Hogan's Heroes yet again! There are only 2 episodes left to watch... *sniff*

We are going to bed a little earlier than usual today. Good night! (and hopefully the image upload will work tomorrow morning!)