Oh no... geography midterm!

This morning, I took a quiz during music class. It was a little difficult, but our teacher gave us a few bonus questions as usual, so I think I did pretty well. On Thursday, we will start learning about Native American music. I have no idea what that's like... it's bound to be interesting.

I went up to the theatre class at 10:45am. Today was very fun because we got to do our much-awaited American Idol performance! We got three chairs behind a table for the three judges to sit on. The contestants came up one by one in front of the judges to perform a song. One person also had to be the host, Ryan Seacrest.
It was funny because most of the students sang really terrible (on purpose, I hope)! I tried to sing badly, but it didn't quite come out the way I meant it to... it's not easy to sing terrible on purpose!

After lunch at the cafeteria, I went to the library.. but instead of studying, I read the Louis L'amour book I'd brought with me!
Geography class was simply a review for the midterm test we're going to take on Thursday. This is not going to be fun!

At home, I took some more pictures for my art class tomorrow. These two are ones that I had to draw because I couldn't find anything adequate for my purpose on the net.

Naomi cooked spaghetti and portabella mushrooms for dinner, so we ate them while watching American Idol again.

I have only one class tomorrow, but probably will be working at home a lot.

The art project result is here!!

This morning, I was so sleepy and couldn't stop yawning during class! I hope the teachers didn't think me rude or anything. During the art class, we started learning about basic tools of Photoshop. We also got back our first project with the results... I got 96 out of 100, which is an A! *claps* So happy! The only problems the instructor found with my work were a few minor technical things.

Next, I went to the freezing English classroom, where the last 5 students gave their poetry presentations. In one week, we have to submit the anthology about the Hawaiian culture. Because the instructor expects us to spend a lot of time on it, there will be no English class this Wednesday. Hurray!! Then, we will all bring food on Monday and party while we give our anthology presentations. How fun!

Erin and I drove home together; on the way back, we got some takeout food from nearby restaurants. I got Korean food, which I LOVE! Mmmm kimchi! It was really big, though, so I ate it for lunch & dinner today, and it is still not finished.

Among other things I did today, I took pictures of objects that I might use for my next art project. All of them are supposed to be symbolic... and must describe what I am.


Hmm.. what could this be? :)

And these?

I'm not a rose person, but I thought this might come in handy.

After dinner (which was that Korean food again), I studied for my music quiz tomorrow. It's going to be about Indian and Indonesian music. Hope it's not too hard!

Pastor is leaving tomorrow morning.. a very short stay. :( It was wonderful to have him here!

A great and eventful Sunday!

This morning, we all went to the 8:30am service at the Kaimuki church. It had been a few months since we'd gone there last, so it was nice to see the 8:30 people again. Naomi performed a Hula dance with two others, and it was beautiful!

We got back home and started our own service at around 11:30am. Pastor gave the sermon today and talked about what is going on with our churches. It was very encouraging and exciting to hear about all that's going on now. It was close to 1:00pm when we finished, but it did not feel long at all.

We were very hungry, though, so Pastor took all four of us to eat at Dixie Grill. Erin and I shared a fish fries sandwich, because it was too large to eat by myself. The fish was really good! :) Naomi got some catfish, Priscilla had ribs, and Pastor had fried shrimp and fish.

After lunch, we went over directly to Joe's house, where the four of us relaxed (?) and/or played with Nika and Kaila while Pastor talked with Joe. They are two very funny kids, and watching them never gets boring! We watched a part of the Veggietales Jonah and a video of the Land Before Time series. It's so nice that the kids have a TV in their own room (though they can't reach it)! I kinda wish I had that when I was small!

We got home at around 6:00pm... Pastor, Naomi and Priscilla left again during dinnertime, so Erin and I ate at home. Finally, I finished the list of 30 words that would describe me. I am quite confident as I already have in my head a pretty good image of what I want my completed project to look like. The problem lies in whether I can master Photoshop well enough to make it what I want it to be.

Sorry, no pictures again! I haven't taken any good ones in a while..

Relaxing weekend at home

There's actually not much to say about today... I stayed at home all day with Erin. Pastor, Naomi and Priscilla were busy and were out most of the day, so the two of us did the house chores and stuff.

I think that the most memorable thing about today was chatting with my auntie for over 2 hours straight! She must've been bored too.. she kept sending me photos of her favorite actor! LOL It was fun though, because she's available only on weekends.
I also did some of my homework for art class in which I have to find 30 words to decribe me (15 concrete, 15 abstract). I still can't think up 30, so if you come up with any words, please tell me and I would really appreciate it!

While eating dinner, Erin and I watched the first half of the Island.. I like the movie, though the plot kinda doesn't make much sense when you think too much about it.

I'm tired now, but probably only because I've been at home too long...
Tomorrow we have our church service with Pastor!

A little hyperness at Lab class

Everyone seemed to be going in and out of the house today, so I am a little confused about what went on!
This morning, I woke up to find that everyone had gone out already. So I got up and did some homework for my English class, which was yet another response for another Hawaiian poem.
Then I found myself feeling very artistic.. I get that sometimes.. and started practicing on charcoal. This time, I didn't mess up, thanks to the new art tools that I'd bought this week.

This took about an hour to complete: it is the Empress Elisabeth of Austria, the last of the Hapsburg family. It's actually not the portrait of the real Elisbeth, but the actress (Pia Douwes) who played her part in the musical "Elisabeth". I must admit that I think it turned out pretty well!
Do you see any similarity in Elisabeth and Emmy Rossum's Christine when she sang "Think of Me"? That's because Emmy's dress was a complete replica of the historical Elisabeth's dress in her most famous portrait.

Priscilla came back before lunchtime, then left soon after with Pastor and Naomi. I fixed some lunch for myself, and soon after eating lunch I walked to the campus.



Today's geography lab class was about observing the environment and making hypotheses about it. For example, if some change was to come to the amount of sunlight we receive, how will it affect the plants or water supply? Well, towards the middle, my group started to go a little hyper and started making hypotheses like "If no rain comes, the snails will perish".. we just couldn't get serious for a while! Finally, we finished it, and Priscilla and I got to drive home.

Back at home, Pastor, Naomi and Priscilla left before dinnertime, so Erin and I ate dinner together. The rest of the night was mostly spent chatting with people and planning on my English anthology project.

It's getting late, and I have yet to take a shower. So good night everyone!!

A day of crazy classes

This morning's music class took place at the Lama Library so that we could learn how to do reserach on our final essay. Fortunately, that essay is not due until close to the end of April. There were a lot of students who did not show up for this session, so the ones who did attend it got an extra 5 points! :D

During the theatre class, we got to do a simple but fun dance as practice and warm-up. The improvised scene that came later turned out really crazy. I went in and joined as the head of the nuns (there was another nun already in the scene, and the scene took place at a nunnery. As it went on, it got just a little too crazy, and I had no idea what was going on. Hopefully, that didn't show too much.

After having lunch with the theatre group, I went to the library to research a little for my music report. Deadline is still far, but it doesn't hurt to start preparing early! I just like spending time at the library.. it is so quiet and peaceful, and I could just stay there forever, surrounded by books!

Today's geography class was almost like another acting class! We got into five teams: two imaginary countries (Kuma & Moldachi) in dispute over possession of land and water supply, the U.S. mediators, the NGO (emvironmentalists), and... terrorists!! We all sat around and "discussed" the dispute, trying to solve the water problem. Priscilla and I, along with two others, were the NGO, interested only in the environment, plants and animals.. not for humans. Terrorists weren't invited to the "conference", but barged into the room and started kidnapping people one by one (Priscilla was one of those hostages)!

Got back home, cooked dinner for the three of us because Pastor and Naomi were out tonight. Once again, we watched American Idol while eating. Now the contestants are down to 20!

Oh yeah, and Japan FINALLY won a gold medal in the Olympics! Yay for Japan!!

Art project 1 is officially over!!

This morning on campus was a rather hectic one, because I had to prepare the final presentation for my art project. There was much to do: burn a CD of all my files, print out a nice copy of the picture, glue it onto a bristol board, then cut the bristol board with 1 inch margins. I also had to go buy some manila envelopes to enclose everything in. Oh, and I also had to print out a grading sheet. Aaanyway, to put all that aside...

I think my artwork didn't turn out bad, though I have to say that I don't really like the concept of it. The teacher said that a few of the students deserve an "A" for this project... I wonder which ones she was referring to! We are immediately getting into our next project, which is a picture that describes me (Maki), made with Photoshop. This should be interesting!

English class was not very fun, as usual. Five people went up and gave presentations of Hawaiian poems. It's not that the teacher is bad or anything... I just think that English is a difficult subject to make fun and interesting.

I walked home after class, and when I arrived, Pastor had already arrived here! :D It was sooo good to see him, and it feels a little funny because having him here makes me feel a little like being in Japan again!

I spent a few hours of the day doing some homework, including the reaction paper for the African "concert" I'd gone to on Sunday. During dinner, Erin, Priscilla and I watched the latest American Idol, which was the turn for the 12 male finalists to sing. Some were really good, and others were so-so (I'm so picky!). The viewers get to vote for their favorite singer after the show.

Gotta go to bed now to prepare for a long day tomorrow!

Another crazy theatre day

This morning, Naomi dropped Priscilla and me off at campus about 30 minutes earlier than usual. So I went down to the cafeteria, sat down, and stared blankly at the geography book because I wanted to study but was not totally awake yet.

At 9:00am I went to Kalia for my music class. Today was all about Indonesian music, which I did not know much about. Indonesian music is very metallic sounding and interesting. The instruments are mostly gongs or metal pot-like things that are struck. During the class, however, I had a major stomachache and did not feel too well the rest of the morning.

After the music class came the theatre class. Today was me and my classmate Marisha's turn to do a scene. We did a scene of the library, where two high schoolers (us) are bickering over who gets to become the valedictorian for the graduation ceremony. I was the mean, cheating students who says nasty things to Marisha, who is the better student. Priscilla later joined in as my friend, and other people who came in were two guys who were ALSO my friends, a girl who was at first Marisha's friend but later left her, the janitor of the library, and a teacher who came to tell us to be quiet. All in all, it was a pretty crazy scene, but I just had to play along with it.

Afterwards, we had lunch with the theatre people again.. yet another crazy lunchtime.. then I went to the library for one hour and flipped through random books - which I love doing - then went to the geography class through pouring rain.

Geography class was spent mostly watching a video about the dams built on the Colorado River. I like it when our teacher brings a video to watch in class.. I'll bet she likes it too, because she can leave the teaching up to the video.

After we got home, I prepared my art project for display because it's due tomorrow. *gasp* I wonder what my art teacher will think of it!
Finally, while eating dinner, we watched the latest American Idol, which was pretty good.. because it's only the best contestants who are singing right now.


Pastor is coming tomorrow and we're all looking forward to it!! :D

President's Day! (though the president probably doesn't get a break)

This morning, I didn't get out of bed until about 10:30am! I was actually awake for a while before then, because the terrible, noisy garbage truck woke me up. Whenever I wake up late, the day feels very short. Today was a holiday that honors George Washington and Abraham Lincoln (I think), so there was no school!

From late morning up till about 1:00pm, I finished up my art project. I think I'm finished, but there are still some parts which I want to fix. I guess I will never be satisfied, so I'd better just called it finished.

Erin and I went to the swimming pool in the afternoon. The weather was a little cloudy and the water was a little cold at first, but it was still a good, fun exercise! Besides, the public pool was free, and was surrounded by beautiful green hills. I wish we had free swimming pools in Japan. It looks very dark and cloudy in this picture, but it was actually much brighter.

Before going back home, Erin and I went to a French pastries shop and had a light snack there. The turnovers and tiramisu were so good! :P


The rest of the day was spent in front of the computer, doing my geography essay on Scotland. I finally finished it and I'm so happy!

I can't believe tomorrow's school again.. I think I'll have to act out a scene during theatre class. If I do, I will write about it tomorrow! :D

Yaay Japanese food!!

This morning, we had breakfast that Naomi had gotten from Jack in the Box, then had our service. It was Erin's turn to lead the service, and her sermon was titled "Holy Offering". It was about how we easily stray from the original faith and go towards the softer, more human love, and how we must think back to the time of the Old Testament and realize how much harder it was to follow the Laws then.

Soon after the service was over, the four of us left home and walked around the Kaimuki area, looking for a room for our church. There were some vacant places available, and there was one particular place which we liked. We'll have to pray about it to make sure which place is right. We eventually reached a Japanese restaurant called "Bozu" and had our lunch there. The food was real authentic Japanese stuff, and I loved my udon & tempura.

After walking back home and taking a little break, Erin and I went to the Honolulu Academy of Arts, which is a big museum. We went because there was an African Safari going on, and it could count as one of my 5 concerts. Best thing was, it was free! Actually, there wasn't much music... only three percussionists and three dancers/singers. I think that the paper I'm going to write for this one will be harder than the Chinese one I did before.

There were quite a few kids around because they had activities for kids at the place. Erin and I went to the museum shop for some time, then got home at around 4:00pm.



For the rest of the day, I worked a little on my geographic profile of Scotland. It's progressing slowly, but I'm sure I'll finish in time (it's due on Thursday).

Tomorrow is President's Day, and there's no school!! *is excited* However, we don't have any plans, and it's probably going to be very crowded everywhere. Hmm wonder what I'll do...

You know you've been working too hard on one art project when...

(1) You start wanting to trace every object you see and fill them with color.
(2) When you close your eyes, you find yourself drawing images of eggs in your mind.
(3) You become absorbed and lose track of time.

That's what happened to me today, because I worked on the Illustrator for hours ! LOL I do enjoy doing it, but I think I still prefer fine arts, like painting and drawing. With fine arts, I feel like I have more control over what I do. Thankfully, the project is almost finished! :D


Today, Priscilla and I had been planning to go to our school's beach party at Magic Island, but it was canceled a few days ago because of unpredictable weather. Hmm it didn't rain around our house. So we ended up staying at home all day. I was not bored, though, because I took occasional breaks from working on the Illustrator and chatted with some people.

In the evening, I started on my geography project in which I hae to pick a place on the planet that I have never been to and write a 3 page paper about it. I chose....


Scotland! It was actually a convenient choice, because a Scottish friend of mine provided me with a dozen useful links to use as resources. Besides, it's a beautiful place!


For dinner, Naomi cooked shrimp curry... I love it!

I think that I will be a little busier than usual next week, because there are some things that are due. Other things I have to do include performing another one-beat scene at the theatre class and memorizing a monologue.

Playing around with the GPS

I like Fridays.. I have only one class in the afternoon, and that's the lab class so it's not so bad, though it can be dull at times.

Priscilla woke up and left for her Japanese class long before I woke up. There was a plenty of things to do, so I started by continuing my fantasy meal project. It takes a lot of time, but I am getting more used to the software so I'm enjoying it. Time passes so quickly when I work on the project... before I knew it, it was already lunchtime, then I had to leave for my geography lab class.

Today, we got to play around with a device called the GPS (Global Positioning System). It looks something like this thing in the picture here. This device sends out transmission to satellites above, which comes back down and tells you your exact position in latitude and longitude. We actually went outside on campus and walked around, measuring our positions and walking speeds. The GPS can be found on cellphones and cars.

After returning home at around 3:30pm, I worked on my art project.. again. I really should start my geography paper soon, but I want to finish up the art one first! Again, hours flew by while I worked, until after Naomi called us to join her and some other church friends for dinner at Chili's.

There were about 9 people, and a few of them were Japanese students. Today I ordered the "guiltless chicken sandwich", which was a "healthy" kind of dish. The sandwich itself was delicious, but I couldn't finish the big slices of non-flavored green peppers; it was too much even for me. We had a fun time together, but I became very sleepy by the time we were finished.


Now it's pretty late because we came back from Chili's not too long ago.. I'm off to bed!

Fun Day on Campus

This morning, Nichelle picked Priscilla and me up by car and drove us to campus at 9:15am. It was nice to see her again. I think that my schedule for Tuesdays and Thursdays for the next couple months will be like this:


9:15~10:30am: Music class. How fun! We're learning about Indian music right now. I didn't know that Indian dance is so similar in gestures to Hula and Sign Dance.

10:45am~12:00pm: Theatre class!! Sooo much fun! Today, Priscilla performed with another girl, called Amie, and did a good job!

12:00~3:00pm: Eat lunch on campus, usually with theatre students. They are a fun, crazy lot. I later visit the library and spend some nice, quiet time there, surrounded by books.

3:15~4:30pm: Geography class... *groan* Not so bad, but I get sleepy at around this time of day! After this, we get to go home. Yay!


Soon after we got home, I realized that it was my turn to make dinner, so I cooked some potato & bacon and chicken. There was prayer meeting tonight after dinner. For the rest of the night, I worked on my art project.

This is what it looks like right now, but soon it will be a little more different.

Dinner at Macaroni Grill

The classes today were very easy. During art class, we printed out our unfinished artworks, put them up on the board, and did a critique for each of them. Many of the people have really cool ideas, like drowning in a giant cup of chocolate.

English class was even easier.. all I had to do today was listen to other peoples' poetry presentations and give a comment or two. Everyone in that class looked like they forgot to take their morning cup of coffee today.

Priscilla picked me up and took me home at 12:00pm. I watched a part of American Idol with Priscilla, worked on my art project again for about 2 hours, then took an online Geography quiz. Oooh... I think I did so-so, but it seems that the teacher has made a mistake with some of the answers of her quiz, so maybe my score will go a little higher later.

For dinner, we went out to eat at Macaroni Grill, an Italian restaurant, with Aunt Jean. I chose a kind of pasta, which was so good, but in a very large bowl!



Okay I admit I look rather scary here.. but what I wanted to take here was the size of the bowl and the amount of food in it!



















That's all for today. Tomorrow's classes are going to be fun! :D

A full day on campus

Today, Priscilla and I stayed on campus from our 9:15am class until our Geography class, which ended at 4:30pm. I had my music class first. We are learning about Indian music, and it is quite fascinating. I also got my result for quiz 2, which was 29/25 because of the bonus questions! I really like that teacher.

Then came our theatre class. It was the usual thing, and we mostly watched other people perform today. After this class, we ate lunch at the cafe with some of the theatre students and had a good time talking together with them. One of them, Marie, who is Japanese, is taking a choir class, so I tagged along with her after class to take a look at it. I was interested because I am considering that class for next semester. The choir teacher is the same one who teaches my music class, so she recognized me and made me stand as the audience while her 30+ students sang the choir songs.

I stayed at the library for a short while, then went to the geography class, where I met Priscilla. Today we watched a short DVD about tornadoes and played a quiz game on what we learned... so it was more fun than usual.

Came home, had Naomi's spring rolls for dinner, and watched American Idols, which was funny! I have to get ready for tomorrow's art class now.. then to bed!

And so begins another week of school..

This morning, I woke up with a headache... advil and tylenol don't seem to work for this one, so I still have it. How annoying! I hardly felt it during the art class, though, because I was so absorbed in doing my work. It's not finished yet, but we're going to print out our pictures to put them up for a critique on Wednesday. My teacher said today that she likes mine, so I am glad!

I had to do a poetry presentation during my English class, so I ran to the library after art class to make copies of the poem for every student, and made it to class a couple minutes late. Oops. Well, one tardy shouldn't hurt my record. I recited a Hawaiian poem about the nature of Hawaii being destroyed by people coming in. There was supposed to be a discussion about it afterwards, but most students were soooo silent that the air conditioner noise seemed loud. Glad it's finished though. For the next week or two, all I have to do is listen to other people's presentations.

Priscilla picked me and Naomi up at 12:00pm and we went home. Since I had no homework due tomorrow, I read Priscilla's Louis L'amour book.. ah I love his stories! However I will have to start preparing for a Geography project in which I have to choose a certain place on earth that I have not been to and give a cultural description of the place. I'm thinking that I might choose Scotland.. because it's a beautiful place, and I know someone who can give me info on the place.

Not much else to write about for the rest of the day. I'm so glad I have a working computer now! :)

I am back! Sort of...

During the last couple days, I couldn't update my blog because as Priscilla said in her blog, my computer has gone crazy and can't boot up.. so I'm using another computer right now. I'm glad that I can do homework and stuff on this computer though.

Yesterday, I went to Ala Moana beach with Erin and took some nice pictures!

Today, Naomi led our church service. We listened to my father's sermon, titled "What was from the Beginning" or something like that (I wrote down the Japanese title only).

In the afternoon, Erin, Priscilla and I met up with Aunt Jean at Kahala Mall, and I finally got to give her the gifts for her from Japan. After parting with Aunt Jean, we did some shopping at the mall.. I got one page-a-day calendar of Irish scenery for only $1! Amazing how cheap calendars become after a month or so into the year!

After getting back home, Naomi tried to fix my computer but it didn't really work, so she hooked up another computer for me to use for now, and that the one I'm using right now. Oh, and there was the craziest incident while Naomi was fixing up the computer.. it happened like this:

When Naomi picked up the wireless internet adaptor (a little box thing with an antenna) and tried to put it down on the other computer, thousands of tiny ants started to swarm out of it! It was like some kind of horror movie! We were all freaked out, especially Naomi who had discovered them. Eventually, I got rid of all of them, but it took a long time for all the ants to come out of the little adaptor. I can't believe I never noticed it till now.. I'd never seen them crawling outside before, and Naomi says that the adaptor looked perfectly normal when she picked it up. Ooh the thought of it still makes my skin crawl.. and my room still smells of insecticide.

That was the most memorable event of the day.

Off to bed I go now.. tomorrow I give a poetry presentation! Not looking forward to it...

Already Thursday again!

This morning, Priscilla and I walked to school because Naomi had the car. During music class I had a quiz, but fortunately it wasn't so difficult. Besides, the teacher gives us so many bonus questions that even if I get a couple mistakes, as long as I get the bonus right I can get a perfect score! Oh, and I just found out that the music class has no midterm. Hurray!

Theatre class today was one of the best we've had! There were about 15 students today, and we all sat around in one circle. These were today's rules:

1) The teacher puts an object in the middle and calls on two students to act.
2) The object can be used as anything except what it really is.
3) The first of the two students to have an idea must get to the object and start acting. The other must follow along.
4) The 2nd student must not ask "Who are you?", "What's that?", or "What're you doing?" to the 1st student.
5) The two students can call up other people to join in the act. There can be up to four in all.

Marni and I were called up first, and there was a bowling pin on the floor! Marni started by going to the bowling pin and exclaiming "Oh, my cat!" and started treating it like a dead cat. I just had to go there, tell her to bury it, and run off telling her that I will return with a shovel (but I didn't intend to, because I was the one who ran over her cat!). Eventually Marni called up another passerby and a vet, and one of them captured me and forcefully made me confess that I was the culprit. What a crazy story!

This was followed by even crazier stories! Other objects that later appeared were a skateboard, a telephone, a pig's head, and a dress. It was such a funny class and we were laughing most of the time!

We went to the cafeteria and ate lunch there with many of the other theatre students. They were really talkative, and there was much lively conversation.

At 1:30pm, Naomi picked me up and drove me home while Priscilla stayed on campus to join a Japanese tea ceremony practice. That must've been fun! I walked to school again in time for my 3:15pm geography class. We learned about hurricanes today... *yawn* But it was a little interesting when the teacher talked about the question "how natural are natural disasters?".

We walked home (yes, today involved a lot of walking!), then soon after that, Naomi and Erin came home and we went to Gap together. I got a couple of stuff there, because they were at a good price. Got back home and ate corn beef and rice for dinner.

We did praise and worship and opened up a Psalm for the prayer meeting time.

I hope that everyone who's sick in Japan will get well soon! Good night!

More Fiddling with the Illustrator

This morning, I woke up at seven and walked to school in time for my 8:00am class (well, more like 8:15am). Today's art class was really cool as we got to learn how to make things look more 3D and also how to add various effects to the pictures. This is exciting! :)

My Hawaiian English class was, as usual, mostly class discussion again. At least we don't need to take any quizzes or write anything in class. I just found out that there is an Erin and a Naomi in that class! :S However, they don't look at all like my roommates.

I went home with Naomi by car; on the way home, we picked up lunch at McDonalds, because or some reason, we suddenly felt like it. Mmm I luv Filet-o Fish burger! :P

In the afternoon, I concentrated on doing some experiements with Adobe Illustrator. I gotta get used to this software if I want to do a good job on my project. Here's what I made today:

A floating M&M?










A music note... in imitation of the iTunes logo, which is a green logo a long with a CD.


Erin cooked salmon and unagi for us tonight. After dinner, all four of us watched the American Idol on TV, which is an audition for young singers who want to go to Hollywood and become famous. It was pretty funny to watch! Priscilla and I have to watch it because we have to imitate both a singer and one of the judges during our Theatre class.

I shall now go back to study for the quiz for tomorrow's music class.

Please, no more Pidjin English!!

This morning, Naomi had to use the car in the morning, so Erin and I went to school by bus. This was my first time to ride a Hawaiian bus.. yay! Not that it's that special or anything.
The other students and I worked by ourselves during most of the art class, and I got to listen to my MP3 player again. I love this class! The wonderful Italian Phantom of the Opera did not do much to quicken the pace of my work, however. *sigh*

Next came the Hawaiian English class. As usual, we didn't really study anything, but mostly discussed the stories we'd been assigned to read at home. I'm going to have to do a 10-minute poetry presentation next Monday. Aside from a few more stories that I have to read. :S

I walked home by myself after class, then ate lunch while watching "Annie" with Priscilla. All the actors and actresses were good singers and dancers... I loved Berndette Peters, of course. She was hilarious, just like her step-mother role in Cinderella. Her role as the witch in Into the Woods is really stamped as well.

In the evening, Priscilla and I finally got around to washing the car. The paintwork on the hood is pretty messed up, but at least now it's now as clean as it gets.

Before and after dinner (which was gyoza prepared by Priscilla), I read the short stories for my English class. I finished two out of four stories. One of them was in heavy Pidjin English, and I had the hardest time understanding it! I kept tripping over misspelled words... reading the story took forever! :S I guess I'm supposed to get used to this, but I don't wanna start speaking Pidjin.

For example, "kinda" was spelled "kine" and was used in every other sentence. The worst one was "tot" for "thought", because tot = dead in German!

Well, enough of my ranting. I'm going to enjoy tomorrow as Priscilla and I will probably do our beat scene (or skit) during theatre class!

Another 2-day Post

Sorry for not updating yesterday.. my computer went weird last night so I couldn't post anything! :( So I will put up yesterday's pictures here today!

Ericson was kind enough to invite us to go to a carnival with him. This was my first time to go to a real American carnival, so it was an interesting experience. The day was slightly cloudy, but the sun occasionally came out.

<< See the pink & blue standing thing? That's a tiny version of the free-fall device (where the thing you sit on goes to the top, then falls) that we see in big amusement parks.



We decided that it would be better to do the rides before eating lunch. So first we all rode on the ferris wheel, which rotated pretty fast. It was windy up there, but not at all scary.

Next, I rode the pirate ship thing with Priscilla, only it was an Egyptian pharaoh ship. I love this ride, so we enjoyed it immensely! Can you see me on the high end of the ship, raising my hands?

We did a few more rides, then ate lunch at the food area. Next, we went to play the various games, like throwing a basketball into a hoop and throwing darts at balloons. I won just one prize from the balloon game, which is an orange gecko plushie.

Afterwards, we went to a flea market kind of place within the carnival, where all of us put as many books as we liked into one paper bag and got the whole thing for just $5!

Group photo! Ericson's not here as he was the one holding this camera.






Sunday...

We started our service at 10:00am. Today was Erin's turn to lead, and during the worship, she played the keyboards while I played the guitar. We listened to one of Pastor's sermon CDs, titled "Let God be True".

Then from 12:00pm to nearly 6:00pm, we were at Joe & Mercy/Christi & Brandon's house (believe me, it's one house) to watch the Superbowl on TV with some other church friends. Though I don't really care or know much about football, it was fun being with the others. The team I was rooting for lost in the end... too bad. I didn't know Superbowl was such a big deal here until now. I think the parts I enjoyed most were the commercials, which were really interesting.

I was really full and sleepy after we got home, so I didn't eat dinner. Instead, I chatted with my family and started reading one of the used books I got at the carnival.

Tomorrow starts early again, so good night!

Map-making day

Today, I spent almost the entire morning writing a paper for my English class. It was a reaction paper on the local Hawaiian stories I'd had to read. It wasn't easy to write because the stories were soooo boring, but somehow I managed it. Priscilla was away most of the morning at the Japanese Cultural Center for her class.

When Priscilla came back, she brought back sushi for us! :D So we ate those for lunch, then went to our Geography Lab class. Today we had to go outside and make a map of the big green lawn on campus, known as the "great lawn". We did it the primitive way, which involved counting one person's pace on foot and measuring them... the only tool we used was the compass. In the end, we drew the map, and it became something like this:









It's not all that accurate, but it was fun drawing all the extra stuff in it like the dragon (I hope the teacher doesn't mind) and coloring them.

This class took 2 1/2 hours to complete. After it was over, Priscilla and I stopped by at Diamond Head Theatre to look at the script for a play up for auditions, then went home.


In the evening, Naomi, Priscilla and I went to the Kaimuki church. Satoa led the worship service tonight, and Pastor Ron gave the sermon, as always. On the way back home, we stopped by at Jack in the Box to buy dinner. While eating, we watched the movie "Truman Show"... I liked that movie a lot!

Now it's late, so I'm going straight off to bed!

A very short day at school

As I have said on yesterday's blog, there was only one class (art class) today because of my English class teacher's absence. During the art class, we just basically worked silently on each of our own projects and called the teacher whenever we needed help. So it was very quiet. The nice thing is that we're allowed to bring our iPods and MP3 players to listen to while working.

My class finished at 10:30am, so I went to the International Cafe, where I was to meet up with Priscilla and possibly help her with her Japanese class requirement. Unfortunately, there happened to be nothing going on at the International Cafe yet, so we went home after being there for just a short time.


In the afternoon, Priscilla and I both did our homeworks. Well actually all I did was read, but there was quite a bit to read for my English class, all about Hawaiian culture. I think I'm acquiring a better understanding of the Hawaiian culture and the changes that the Westerners and Asians have brought here.

Erin cooked dinner for us tonight.. there was laulau (sp?) and poki, which is basically chunks of flavored raw tuna. I love poki! In the evening, I accompanied Erin for a little stroll to the bridge over the highway near our house. Erin had to tape a video of the place for her project, so I stayed with her and took some pictures. It was fun going outside without using the car!


We get a nice view of downtown from the walkway.



The highway below us.


Erin looking very professional.







Oooh pwetty! (but I actually cheated because I used the "sunset" option on my digital camera)

This was a nice, relaxing day! :) Tomorrow is another day filled with fun classes (well, almost..)! Good night..