Peter went to Australia

And he met this guy.

Kevman came, and we were thankful.

What is better than having a friend on your island? Having TWO friends!

(There's more I can list, but I won't stray off-topic just yet)

KEVIN came to visit the week before Thanksgiving, and Pete and I were happy to see him and show him around.

We picked him up from the airport and went out to survey the Thursday nightlife. Pete had the following day off, so we hit the beaches--Maakapuu and Waimea Bay.

At Maakapuu (one of my favorite beaches), the waves are good for body surfing or so I've been told and are fun to dive under. The waves can come at you fast though, and after I got tossed by two the sand in my hair and sea in my nose made me want some air. So I sat and watched these fools try to conquer the water terrain.

When we got to the North Shore, Kevin and I shared some tako poke (raw octopus) we bought on the side of the road.

It was delicious. We took a slight detour on the way to Waimea Bay to give some European girls a ride to a soap factory where they were going to go surfing. Now, I'm realizing I never did put that together.

Geronimoooooo, at Waimea Bay The Big Rock. Of course, I jumped too. This was their second.

After the beaches we went out downtown.

Kevin met a girl at the bar and she invited us back to her place for a bit. We live in a very residential area and Peter initially wanted to live in a high-rise downtown. It was nice to have that kind of view for a little while. (But, I like our spacious house--the apartment was tiny)

The next day we headed out with Helen (housemate) to Pearl Harbor.

It seems America knew what it was doing when it picked Hawaii to station a navy-base. The memorial and museum were informative, enlightening, and sobering.

On the boat to go the the USS Arizona Memorial

USS Arizona Memorial

Part of the ship. When Pearl Harbor was bombed the Arizona was hit the bomb detonated and caused a huge explosion, sinking it so quickly it trapped many of the men who died (over 1100). A lot of the bodies were never recovered and are still with the ship. It also continues to leak trapped oil. This alarmed me, there was information indicating a loss of so many quarts a day--I guess the appropriate environmental agencies would be on it if it were something to be on.

What do you do after you tour of the most historical sights of our nation? Go scuba diving, of course.

The lady next to Kevin in this picture was the only one of our boat to get sea sick. On our second dive, I looked to my left to see some fish going crazy over what looked like food from the boat. When we came up from the dive, I realized what it was and told her what I had observed under the water. Kevin noted that she didn't seem to enjoy talking about the product of her sea-sickness while on the boat. I was relieved to not be next to her.

We went between 40-50 feet deep and got to see a lot of oceanic critters. No sea turtles (though we did see some earlier in the weekend---sorry, I was too busy seeing how close I could get to them to take a picture), but we did see some tako. Scuba diving was so much fun. Next time I go snorkeling, I'll try to get some pics of some of the fish here, I've seen some exotic aquatic[life].

The next day, Peter went back to work and Kevin and I enjoyed a hike in Manoa Valley.

Can you see me?

It was very ferngully-esque. Yes, that's a word.

At the end we met a waterfall. It was probably about 100 feet high. There are other falls on the island that you can get under and swim around, this one was too rocky. The hike was easy, less than a mile, and rewarding, nature is awesome.

I took this picture because of the skyline in the background--it's harder to see here than in person.

That night we went to a Bright Eyes concert at the Hawaii Theater, which reminded me of the Tennessee Theater only with more of a Polynesian influence. Tuesday-Wednesday Kevin went to Maui to visit some friends. I haven't been to Maui but it is more rural than our capital isle, and from what I've heard is beautiful.

Peter went back to work, I tutored some kids and made this, because I'd like to recognize autumn even if the weather patterns here don't.

When Kevin returned we hit the town and ended the night with a cab ride home and foot-long-cheese-steak sandwiches because it was that kind of night.

This is not one of the bars we went to, but I just wanted to document it's existence. There are always people outside of it in cowboy hats handing out free drink vouchers. I'm extremely hesitant to enter it, because I feel like it would be a watered-down version of Paradise Park crossed with The Stage. It may not be as bad as it seems in my head, but then again, judging from other places we've stepped into, it just might be.

The next day was Thanksgiving! We enjoyed a big spread and company in Kailua, our last meal before Kevin flew back to the other South. Evan, one of our roommates, knew some people from Alaska who opened their seasonal home to us.

Alas, the sun must set and so Kevin must go. It was so refreshing having another familiar face around!

Aloha, Kevin!

Aloha

Okay, so I moved 5,500 miles from home a month and a half ago. I moved from a city in Tennessee to a little island that had just as much people crammed onto 1/5 of the land Nashville covers. I was all "yeah---I'll start a blog!", because (duh) that's what EVERYONE does these days when they move 5,500 miles/have a baby/get married/get a terminal disease/start a diet/get a haircut.

So I set up this blog just before moving.

Then I got here. And I continued to live life without blogging. What can I say? That's just my normal. Until now.

So this first post is verrry long. I won't promise (and shouldn't) that updates will always be like this. This is a month and a half of my life. I don't just sit on my thumbs all day everyday, just Monday-Thursday.

A lot of these pics are from facebook, I just put them on here again mostly for my Aunt Lynn and other non-facebook users.

Getting here was pretty smooth. Except that I decided to save money by booking my flight out of Seattle to Hawaii myself instead of sticking with one airline. So I did have some hang ups and ended up staying in Seattle one night (it wasn't fun- in a cheap hotel near the airport, catching a plane at 4 am). Luckily Peter met me at the airport. I was surprised at how humid it was. Honolulu is, as predicted, beautiful. Just enough green, but still very much a city. The diversity of skin tones, food, architecture, dialects, everything is amazing.

It was a long day of travel but I knew I wanted to see as much as possible. After seeing where I would be living, we headed out to The Sandies, where the waves were intense and crashed right up on the shore and the sand looked like cornmeal. After some sun and lunch we headed towards Waikiki.

And met some friends along the way. They were too needy though, we shortly parted ways.

Later, we found out where many of these guys live when they aren't wobbling around scavenging. This house was situated in the middle of Waikiki, surrounded by taller buildings and "Beware of Dog" signage.

The first weekend we relaxed and I didn't really pull out the camera until later in the week; here are some things that caught my eye as I was traveling in my neighborhood and nearby. We live in Kaimuki, which is in the Southeast portion of the island (I'll never escape the Southeast!) just north of Diamond Head.

Here are some pics of the house/yard:

940A 12th ave

The pomegranate tree

The fig tree. We also have a dying dead guava tree and a papaya tree. Peter attempted to bring me back a koala from Australia, but apparently there are rules and regulations about that?!

Hawaiians seems to love dogs (they are everywhere, and people are very affectionate towards them) and fear them at the same time. Most homes in our neighborhood (which is pretty safe) make this claim.

Since I've been here, the idea of a "urban paradise" often comes to mind. You can be walking down a street and come across a patch of land that is so raw and lush, only to be surrounded with the presence of urban decay, and the trash that people are so great at creating. This "trash" often includes old-style box TVs. I think everyone must have gone out and bought a flat screen TV between Halloween and Black Friday, TVs are sitting out all over the place like yesterday's newspapers.

I wish there was a smell-port on computers. Inside this shop there were girls making leis, many of which were stored in the coolers.

(The tall buildings in the background are closer to the ocean. I'm a few miles inland on a major avenue.)

If you are not facing the ocean, you are facing the mountains. They change color throughout the day depending on how the sunlight hits them.

And another Ghandi statue enters my life (The first being at Millsaps). Behind him is an example of my favorite tree here: The Indian Banyan. They are huge, and look like clusters of trees grown together. When you look closely, you can see that roots dangle like thick moss from the limbs and as the tree grows, they anchor themselves into the ground. There are groups of these trees around the parks, a great number of them near Waikiki and in Kapiolani Park (where Pete plays soccer and I don't everyday). The Banyans often emit suspicious smells and noises, and everyday at dusk I see groups of people in a large pow-wow near one or more of them. One day when I'm curious/bored enough I'll join them. I'll report back on my findings.

Turns out I didn't need to bring aloe with me (Mom). The stuff just grows wild all over here. Although our backyard only hosts fig, papaya, and [dying] guava trees, aloe can be found on the side of the road here and there. Not sure why it's red, but the soil is much more red here. This aloe came in use when Pete returned from Australia covered in itchy red bumps. Who knew you could be allergic to the outback?

This was taken at Diamond Head Beach. There were so many surfers. The water feels great here. It's not cold, just warm enough.

A sunset I caught while not playing soccer with Peter.

Peter in Kailua

I've yet to observe a storm here. So far, it's just my thighs that bring the thunder to the island.

Maakapuu, one of my favorite beaches. Peter's talking to Helen, behind them walking is Evan, our two other housemates.

Peter and I share something in common aside from our house: this view is among our favorite.

Halloween in Waikiki was insane in the membrane. But not because of all the crazy costumes, not because of the people upon people situation (though that did have something to do with it), but because of the Asian tourists. Halloween seemed very novel to them, they were constantly stopping people for pictures. It was funny. I went as a butterfly garden, Peter as a tourist?

This is Johnny Sharpe. If you were to look up the polar opposite of what Peter is physically, you would get Johnny Sharpe. It should be noted though, that both love chicken wings. Then again, who doesn't? This was at some bar where there were also models made up as jungle animals. You just have to take things in stride.

Okay, so I grew up in Louisiana. Where the water is soft and the sno cones are shaved sweet cold balls of bliss. But this, this was the best sno-cone ("shave ice") I've ever had. There were lines going out the door for what looked like a general store, but it sold solely shaved ice (and shaved ice-related souvenirs). Heaven in the North Shore (much more rural part of the island).

I'm hoping to make a point to keep this thing updated with mine and Pete's adventures (I'm thinking there will be more of them when football season ends). There's a lot yet to be seen, and I'm looking forward to seeing more and more outside our hood, and beyond this one island (within the scope of reason---some places aren't so safe for us "haoles"). I've never been so good at pulling out a camera to document people and things, but I'll work on it.