Visualizing Christmas

So, this is the first Christmas I've ever had where there isn't snow, cold, and the surrounding abundance of Christmas decorations. Don't worry. This doesn't mean there is no display of Christmas. There are lights on palm trees and houses and BYU has a really grand light display at it's entrance and a great nativities around campus. But the warmer weather and sandy beaches does make it a very different sort of flavor for Christmas. I say warmer weather instead of warm weather because at night it does drop down sometimes to a whopping 70 degrees and I get cold. This may seem ridiculous to all of you who are fighting 30 degrees or less and some frigid winds. But when you've been in the warm weather so long, your body heat regulation gets lazy from lack of extremes and your blood thins so that your cold temperature tolerance scurries away. I still wear flip flops around town but have donned my socks and added a blanket for several cooler nights. That said, it is a wonderful time of year to be here with wonderful people and events going on. Despite the differences in scenery, it is definitely still Christmas and I've made a little Hawaiian style song to commemorate the most important parts. They are, as you know, constant anywhere you go. I hope you like it.

Trick or Treat at Moana Street

Back in the day Trick or Treating was looked forward to with great anticipation because it was not only the the time to see how much candy I could fit inside of my cavernous pillow case, but it was the time to get together with my siblings, dress up in funny clothes, and go show the costumes to the neighbors. There was a street in my neighborhood you may have heard of named Osmond Lane. It was where all of the Osmond brothers at one time lived and is flanked with a gate and lined with imposing large Mansions. Every year this was the street to go to for gathering the best candy. Cars would line up and down the neighboring road as kids in costume popped in and out of their doors. I don't know if every neighborhood has such a street that draws the masses. If you are looking for it, I have found the trick or treating street of all streets and I doubt you could ever meet its equal.
Moana street is a relatively short street, flat, graced with palm trees and one story homes. It's the church-owned affordable housing for BYU Hawaii's faculty. I had heard more than a month before that this was the place to be on Halloween night (Saturday night for the Mormons). So I got dressed up in my outfit as a giant doll, walked a few blocks, and sat outside my friend Ellen's house to join in the festivities as a candy distributor. The street was completely packed with children in amazing costumes. The air was warm and caressing. One house even had Christmas style lights and spunky Hawaiian music as they passed out their candy. Ellen had 800 pieces and it was gone in just over an hour. It's not just for the candy that these people come. It is probably the safest street on the Island and a largely LDS crowd. The children are from all over the world. One Japanese boy who must have been under the age of two but walking was dressed in an adorable Curious George Bunting with a hood. His big brown eyes peeked up at me. After I dropped the candy into his bucket, he looked up and instead of the usual "thank you" with a little prodding from his dad offered me a bow. I bowed back. What a moment! I did find I had a hard time at first saying "Happy Halloween" instead of "Trick or Treat" but got it down eventually. I've never had so much fun passing out candy!

Liz patting Kei's powdered hair.


Kei, Ellen, a golfer, and I


I loved the Leprechauns!

Halloween

Halloween is coming up this weekend. The best part about Halloween for me is dressing up in costumes. This year I suggested I could be a tourist but my roommate pointed out to me that I would just be blending in with the masses. So it's not a tourist, but will be revealed on Saturday. I must say, without the cold and change in the leaves, there are only a few reminders that it is that time of year. One would be the smashed vegetation in the roads. Oh wait. I guess smashed coconuts are year round. Two would be the calendar. Lastly, Three would be the spooky music and screams coming from the PCC at night. Since the economy went down new and creative ideas have been found to raise a few more dollars. One of them is the Haunted Lagoon. During October, four nights a week, they turn the canoe tour through the villages into a theme park like ride of costumes, story, and scariness. I'm not really into the scariness part of Halloween. Its dark and can get ugly. But I did go on the ride and found they do a really high quality job and some excellent elements. Most of people in it are volunteers too but you would never guess because it is so high quality. My ward went for FHE and below is pictorial proof of it. Allow me to introduce a few people. You can guess who's who, after all it is the season of disguise. The obvious one is my wonderful bishop and his wife. He's from Fiji. There's the boy who on first meeting me asked "how many cows are you?" I walked in on a conversation where he was talking about his claim to fame being his great-great-grandmother as the old woman on Johnny Lingo after the line "eight cows for Mahana!" She gapes her mouth open wide. There's my surfer buddy. My roommate. A girl who served in my mission leaving only a few months before my arrival. My Malaysian teacher. My cowboy friend. My car oil changing comrade. My "I carry my Uke with me like a teddy bear" friend. And quite a few others but that's enough introduction for today. Aren't they beautiful?

The PCC

Over the river and through the woods, well actually across a very small road and a few palm trees from my house, is this big compound with occasional loud noises of booming drums, strange shouts, and lively singing emanating from its walls. Last week I made an appearance there to see what all of this excitement was really about. I was told that the Hawaiian Islands are the most isolated land in the world and if I was to go jump in the ocean and start swimming it would be over 2,000 miles before I was to reach another shore outside these few Volcanic bumps in the sea. But, despite what they said, you'd be surprised with what you can find here.

Family...

family...












and more family.


Actually, if you count Hawaii as part of Oceana instead of it's usual place in North America (I know it's not but just say if it was), two of these found people have stood with me on five continents in the last two years. I think I need to plan a trip to South America and see if they end up there too. I also met people from Georgia, Ohio, Tonga, and my Comm 252 class. Who knew? :)

All that delightful noise? yes, it is a party.



The canoe show. You may ask, "Do they ever fall in?" Well, I don't know if the dancers do but the canoe pushers on one vessel were pushed in by the dancers.

Tongan drum show. They always make sure and grab one person from Japan to come up and join in on the festivities.


Hawaiian royalty. I decided to play paparazzi from afar.


The Iospa ship: what they used to get around from here before all those metal boats and planes were available.




Another recipe to add to your collection. This Tahitian Coconut bread is GOOD!















I played Tongan shuffleboard. They use cool looking wild beans and homemade mats. I want to learn how to make the mat.

I visited all seven villages, made a rose and a fish out of Pandalas and Coconut leaves, watched the fire dancers, ate like a queen at the Luau, and enjoyed the people both new and known. It's amazing what you find when you make an effort to meet the neighbors!

General Conference for me

Last week we had General Conference with the rest of thew World Wide Church. I rolled out of bed at 5:30am on Saturday and 5:15am on Sunday to throw on a dress and go out the door and a short distance down the road to the local Stake Center where it was broadcast from 6-8 and 10-12. It was wonderful to watch it at the same time as so many people I know all over the place! I love conference. I love hearing from Prophets and Apostles. This time around I made an effort to write more personalized notes specific to me along with things that were said I want to remember. The last few minutes of the morning sessions we had an interesting phenomenon where the signal is blocked by the sun and so we got black screened. But I was able to catch up online. During the Saturday afternoon session I had to go to Honolulu for a school assignment for Ghandi's birthday and a celebration of non-violence outside the local zoo. I was sad that I didn't get to sustain the prophets with you all but I came back and watched it online and in the privacy of my own room, raised my hand to support them. Some of the messages that I loved included President Eyring's talk on Trusting God and His word through prophets, music and the spirit. That when we do we can be happy despite our trials. I loved President Monson's talk on Gratitude. President Uchdorf's talk on slowing down and refocusing our lives on the basics gave me another reason to be grateful that I have this time in Hawaii where the pace is slower and time to adjust is abundant. He didn't say be lazy, just slow down the crazy pace. I was sad when conference was over, not only because it's another six months before we have it again, but, like one speaker said, when we gather we feel the Holy Ghost and it was abundant as I felt I gathered with my family and friends to enjoy hearing the words of the prophets. It was definitely worth waking up and watching at 6am and despite a few yawns, I was delighted to be there and grateful that I could watch and listen to it live. I'm excited to get my Conference Ensign.

Here on the Rock

I've been on what the locals call "this rock" now for a month. Here's a collection of some things I've experienced:

The Words:

The Rock- the Island. A very large rock it is.
Slippers- what I grew up calling flip flops.
Ha - The breath of life. When ancient Hawaiians would greet each other they would be close enough to feel each others breath, their Ha.
Hauli - a white person. Its original meaning is a person with no 'Ha' as white people wouldn't get close to a Hawaiian in greetings and thus wouldn't feel their 'Ha".
Aloha - Bishop Burton explained it well:

"Aloha means displaying warmth and affection without obligation in return. It means acknowledging the importance of each person for the collective existence of the community. It also means “to hear what is not said, to see what cannot be seen and to know the unknowable.” The Aloha Spirit encompasses beautiful gospel principles—principles of faith, principles surrounding “judge not, that ye be not judged” (Matthew 7:1). It stresses the importance of the individual and compassion." CES Fireside May 2, 2010 David Burton

The Weather:

Hawaii is a humid place, especially on my side of the Island. It rains everyday. It is also hot. Today, the first day of Fall, is as summery as ever. The air is so wet when I try to use makeup only the waterproof kind will do. Otherwise it just melts off. The workout room on campus requires that you have a towel because you will surely sweat a lot here. Sometimes it is so hot that the only solution is to walk out of the house and down to the beach to catch some ocean breezes and enjoy a few buggly-eyed crabs for company.

The Culture:

There is no majority here. Today the word 'foreigner' came up in class and it came out as an odd concept because here we are all from all over. At the front of BYUH campus is a ring of flags. I like to run around them (when I run which I do for exercise and not because I love running). I tell myself "hey, today I ran around the world a few times". BYUH is known as a very multicultural place. I didn't realize the degree to which that would infiltrate my life. It breathes culture here. Last week my teacher starts a story with "as to not offend a person in the room, the Eastern European country will not be named..." Today I sat between a boy from Japan and a girl from Hong Kong. Where else do you walk out of class to some drums ringing over the fence of the Polynesian Cultural Center? Sunday dinner was at a friends house. We had Chicken Adobo from the Philippines made by a girl from the Philippines. We also had Chicken Masala from India and Curry and wraps from Thailand. After the meal we sat around and played the "talking drums" from Nigeria that are used for communication between tribes and among tribes. We used authentic Nigerian drumsticks too made with rubber from rubber tree sap. The conversation was literally jumping all around the world. David O. Mckay prophesied of BYUH “From this school will go men and women whose influence will be felt for good toward the establishment of peace internationally." This was one of the main reasons I came here. Where else do you get to mingle with people who are as interested collectively in such a mission? I was talking to one girl about a project I'd heard an alumni student was involved in and she said "Oh yeah, just like everybody else." I think there are a lot of people in this world interested in what happens internationally. I've lived in some pretty ambitious places. But I don't think it is as common as she thinks, certainly not to the concentration and degree to which I've seen it here. It is really quite remarkable.

Plopped down and scouting around

A week ago today I hopped on a plane and landed on an island in the middle of the pacific ocean. The trip over was nice. For the long flight I had an exit row seat window seat behind the bathrooms so I had tons of leg room/spread your stuff out room, and the ability to get up without disturbing my neighbors. It was a beautiful arrangement. I especially enjoyed watching the people. Many were Japanese and one girl amused me by looking at the big words on the bathroom door latch (which was currently occupied) and jostled it to see if it would open. 'Vacant' and 'Occupied" really aren't common English words that people from other countries would necessarily learn first in an English conversation class. I arrived safely. I live in a cute little house that is owned by a senior Sister missionary who just left for Germany. I was really blessed to find housing as there is a shortage and they are scrambling to place 350 over-enrolled students who arrive in a few weeks. I will have two roommates and I have met them both. They are really cool girls. One took off for a four day adventure and the other hasn't officially moved in yet so I spent the first four week days scouting out the new surroundings alone. A few random things:

There are geckos here that will eat the ants. They have spooked me several times as I've entered my room. Unfortunately, one died and it took me a little while to find it even though it was sending off quite a lot of SOS scent signals. My room is now dead gecko free.

BYU Hawaii is a SMALL campus. It's about a 10 minute walk from my house and only has a few buildings. I guess that's to be expected for a student population of 2,400. The town of Laie is only about 4,500 from the 2000 census. I've never lived in a place so small. That's not a problem.

I found the Library (where they have a place for you to take your shoes off at the front door), Walmart (an hour away drive), the farmers market, the shrimp farms, the Dole pineapple plantation, a freindly mechanic, and all the closest beach accesses to my house. Yes, the milk can be $7-$8 a gallon.

It rains off and on throughout the day. The driver window on my car is broken so it doesn't stay up while I'm driving. I did get wet the other day. I love the little, good running, clunker car that I get to drive around for the next year. It makes me feel like I fit right in.

I'm also enjoying the extra time to read, write in my journal, and visit with friends back on the mainland.

Hawaii is beautiful! It's also peaceful, friendly, and exudes a very happy spirit. It's happy to be here!

10,300 feet and working

Transition

It's been a month now since I distributed, packed, and stored my un-tote-able belongings and flew on a one way ticket home to Utah ready for a new adventure. I loved my life in DC. I had a great ward, some of the dearest friends I've ever had, and a fantastic job.

I worked as a self-employed freelance ASL interpreter. I loved seeing life as a fly on the wall. I worked in University classes which are fun because I got paid to learn. I haven't really missed school because I feel like I've never left it. The only thing is I had a limited selection of classes and never got to make any comments. Still, if I could have gotten credit for all the classes I've sat through I would have a very eclectic Masters degree, several Bachelors, and even a Phd level class on Population Genetics to add to my real degree. (Someone once said that I hated school and a rumor got around. This if anything should dispel that one. I did have a hard time deciding what classes to take in my undergrad and wasn't a huge fan of the stress of deadlines and due dates but my job solved both those problems.)

I worked around in the government. The Census Bureau was genealogist's delight as it's an important tool for that. The FDA held fun and challenging technical meetings about devices, recalls, and a few trainings. One day I was in a lab and the deaf consumer couldn't get a piece of hair out to look at under a super cool microscope. I lent them one of mine and got to see it magnified 400x! It looked healthy. One of my favorite jobs at NASA was a three day overview of NASA's mission for one of their departments. I worked with the map people, the satellite people, the mining regulators, the Fish and Wildlife staff, the Labor crew, the US Institute of Peace, the FCC, the Pentagon, occasionally a military base, and the Lobbyists on Capital Hill.

I worked in the community. My first job there was at a Farmer's Market where, after sampling the wares, I bought a cloth card holder that became my Metro card's home. I helped give tours at the Smithsonian by hands and voice to people of all ages. One day in the Natural History Museum a school was late so they gave me the tour instead (prep work you see). I worked in private grade schools. I enjoyed watching a Lasik surgery from behind the shoulder of a doctor. He even gave me a detailed explanation of everything he was doing as he did it (the deaf person was fine and couldn't have seen me anyway). I saw tender family moments in hospitals, ones that would make your heart cry. I worked at a Mosque dressed in a white Burka. I volunteered at the White House Easter Egg roll and met Elmo. I did several mom and me classes for toddlers at various locations. Dinners, birthday parties, adoption agencies, rehab and counseling services, personality and technical trainings, several businesses, I got around.

I LOVED my job. Not only was it fascinating opportunity-wise but it let me make a difference in the lives of other people. I loved meeting new people and seeing how their lives ticked, if only for a moment.

So why did I leave? It felt right. I think that was the fastest big decision I ever made. It helped that my arms hurt so bad that I couldn't open a door without some pain. I also found myself so use to repeating whatever was said that I would repeat what I'd heard instead of what I felt when talking to close friends. I was burned out. One day a new person I met told me about a certificate program in Intercultural Peacebuilding at BYU Hawaii. I'd kept the option of going back to school on the back burner to be brought forward if the right program ever came up. This one felt right. The more I looked into it the better I felt. Although with anxiety about people I would leave behind, I went forward with it and everything has fallen into place ridiculously well. It did take some trust (and still does), but I know that "this is good" feeling.

Between DC and Hawaii I am in Utah enjoying my family and working for BYU classes, the MTC, EFY, and a few other freelance jobs. It's good to be home. I missed family the most in DC. There's a good ward here and I'm catching up with some of my old friends. I'd forgotten how amazing the food is my family can make. There's no conversation like family conversation. I agree with George Washington when he said he'd rather be home with his family than before Governments and Kings. (That's paraphrased and the real quote is at the entrance to the Theater at Mount Vernon.)

It will be weird to actually pay to go to class in the Fall but I'm excited to actually be able to raise my hand and make comments and learn from classes that I have picked. I will still work part-time freelancing. I may go back to DC someday. I'm looking into doing a Masters in International Education after Hawaii but we'll see what I can put together, or what opportunities arise. For right now, I'm having a delightful summer. I have a list of goals and a one way ticket to Hawaii for August.

The Hawaiian Sunshine Market

When traveling I like to get the local experience as much as possible. I also really love to try different fruits and foods that aren't available in a typical back home grocery store. That said, the farmers market today was a real treat. Some lady told us to be there by 11:45 even though it opened at noon. I walked up to a crowed of people standing in front of a line of orange cones separating the crowd from a road leading to an unseen land of goods. It resembled the beginning of a race only a very slow-paced courteous one. A man with a big straw hat and a very long gray beard was making announcements. He urged us to make sure and ask about the food, where it was grown, and who grew it so that we could have a connection with it. (After all, this is Hawaii). He had all of the elderly, disabled, and pregnant persons go first so that they could situate themselves and be included in the purchasing. After they had disappeared up the road, he let the rest of us follow to a small area with tables and car trunks and lots of fruit and flowers. We weren't allowed to buy though until the sound of the whistle(didn't I tell you it felt like a race?)Below are my findings:

The Lychee (Lie-chee) fruit has the same texture of a grape once you peel off its' skin but is a lot sweeter and has one big pit in the middle. It looks a little creepy peeled, kinda like an eyeball or something.


These are called Apple Bananas. They taste like regular bananas.







The far right fruits are called Mountain Apples. They may be competing with some Utah company but these are the Hawaiian sibling. I haven't tried them yet.



These last ones were my greatest find. The lady calls them "Wing Beans". She got the seeds from some many from Uruguay. How he got the seeds from Uruguay and through Hawaii customs I don't know. They are bitter and have pea-like seeds in them. they are really rare around here. She may be the only lady who has a Wing Bean plant on the Island. It was a fun day at the market.

Linguistics

I've been looking around at several school programs in the UK lately. Just for fun for right now, but I think it would be a great experience to get a Masters Degree in England. I did my Undergraduate in Linguistics at BYU. Oxford had the best explanation of what Linguists study that I'd seen in awhile:

Linguistics is the study of language in all its aspects. Linguists are interested in the structure and history of languages; the meaning underlying instances of language use (semantics); how languages are related; how children learn language; what goes on when people are speaking; how people understand, mentally represent and generate language; what features are shared by all languages; why languages differ; how language is used in literature, the media and by various social groups; what happens to language abilities when the brain is damaged by stroke or injury; whether computers will ever be able to understand language; how we can model human language use. http://www.ling-phil.ox.ac.uk/prospective

I love linguistics! Yes I did study all that. One reason I did is that it is through language that we learn about all the other things around us and build bonds with other people. That was my undergrad experience and it made me happy to revisit it for a moment and remember the cool things I learned. Someday I hope to know many more languages than I do now. For now though, I enjoy knowing a bit more how Language works in general. Delightful stuff!

Easter

This Easter was like none before.

We had a ward musical fireside with about ten songs performed celebrating the Savior Jesus Christ. I sang "Abide with Me Tis Eventide" in a duet with a friend. It's been a long time since I performed anything singing. It's far more frightening to me than getting up in front of thousands interpreting. After some serious sweaty hands I felt like I'd done well and it was a great evening.



I volunteered at the White House Easter Egg Roll as an interpreter. There were 300 people dressed up in Character costumes. They had numerous activities including Yoga, Hula Hoops, Football, Storytime, and a Music Stage. Most of these I only briefly grazed with my eyes. I was assigned to the music stage, which meant I spend all my time in a secure area with all the visiting talent, the VIP tent stocked with food, and twenty minutes between each show to meet people. Michelle Obama walked past me and tapped me on the shoulder and said "Happy Easter." It took a moment to register who that familiar face was and by then she was gone. I also met Sarah Bareilles, Justin Beiber, The Jonas Brothers, and several Sesame Street Cast members including Maria and Gordon. I found them to be pleasant and personable. Maria was as excited to see how I signed certain things as I was to meet her. By far, Elmo was the highlight of the day. A friend of mine has a niece who loves Elmo dearly. Kevin Clash, the voice of Elmo, kindly made this movie for me when had asked for merely a picture.



Yes, Elmo ate my Blackberry.

I enjoyed a fun Easter Egg Hunt and a big Easter dinner with friends (you are never too old for some things). After all this excitement, I must say that the best part and best celebration of Easter still occurred in a simple Sacrament Meeting at Church as I took the bread and water and remembered Christ's resurrection and Atonement. It was the most powerful experience of all and the most pure celebration of Easter. The cool thing is anyone can have that experience and they don't need a talented voice, a ticket to the White House, or hard boiled eggs to enjoy it.

Mad Hatter Tea party

My laptop has been bobbing in a sea of non-cooperation but all is well now. I'm now posting what I have been planning to for the last little while.



So remember the new Alice and Wonderland movie that came out in March? Well, my friends and I decided to add to the experience of watching it and not just by donning those nifty 3D glasses. We 'fell' into it. After receiving fancy and delightful invitations by mail, guests attended dressed as wonderland characters. We had the Hatter, the Hare, the Doormouse, several Alices, several cards, a flower, the caterpillar, the Cheshire cat, a few random characters, and a killer Queen of Hearts.

The table was made to be slightly chaotic. There were at least seven different colorful tablecloths, white roses spray painted red, mismatched chairs, and mismatched tea cups. A few extra cups were placed at random for a clean cup as needed. The fare included special herbal teas, hot chocolate, cucumber and egg salad sandwiches, petit fours, Beef wellington, scones, and berries, the scones of course being placed far from their complimentary jams and clotted cream. We even had a stuffed white rabbit and a fake pocket watch that we filled with jam and butter. (The best butter of course!)

It was mentioned by many that one of the best parts of the good clean silliness and jovial company was the rotation of seats that sporadically occurred. This was because we had the chance to talk and laugh with everyone at the table and not just those in the near vicinity. We did walk to the theater in costume and don the glasses too. After a lot of hard work by a lot of people it was a tremendous success of fun!

Quantico

Recently I had the opportunity to go on a tour of the FBI Academy in Quantico, VA. It was a fascinating place! I watched them training agents in the famous Hogan's Alley, an urban street built by Hollywood set designers and learned of some of the cool stuff that they are doing to enhance their training (on a very basic unclassified level of course.) We passed by the FBI lab and peeked into the dorms. It's a nifty place. I'm grateful that there are people who are willing and trained to put their lives at risk to help the world be a safer place and go after the bad guys. I wouldn't want that job. I've shot a gun once, at a water bottle filled with sand, and although I hit the target, it wasn't something I enjoyed.

Amidst all the excitement, one thing was the most significant to me. Placed in an otherwise empty courtyard is a Granite monument commemorating September 11th. It was already destined to be something I'd like as that day has a very significant place in my life and heart. I served as a missionary in New York City, and received my assignment to go there the week after it occurred. The base was the Pentagon, the twin towers stood tall in the middle, and an outline of the state of Pennsylvania with a star where flight 93 crashed. In front of it were debris from each of the three catastrophes. It was very well done, created by the Class of 2007. Again, I'm grateful for those who work to make the world a safer place and aid in bringing understanding and resolution when it is not. It was a very enjoyable experience.

A few quotes from the front entrance:

"Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful." Samuel Johnson

"Courage is the resistance to fear, mastery of fear and not the absence of it." Mark Twain

"Prosperity asks for fidelity, adversity exacts it."
Seneca

You Know You Live in Washington When:

1. The traffic report regularly states that the beltway is backed up to the Mormon Temple.
2. When you tell your friend you want to go with her to the mall and ask for directions, she guides you downtown near the capital building instead of to the stores.
3. You get a random paycheck from the United States Senate and it takes you awhile to figure out what you did to earn it.
4. If it snows a few inches the entire town closes down and you can find diplomats sledding with their children in your backyard. Sometimes you can join them too.
5. There are actually more acronyms than can be found at BYU.
6. You can trick-or-treat in many countries just by walking down certain streets. (Embassy Row).
7. Some of what you call work, others would be doing for sightseeing. Yet others would call another some of it sheer boredom and drudgery.
8. Ward cultural events activities include historic sights that most people only read about. i.e. Mount Vernon, Ford's Theater, Shenandoah, etc.
9. You eat lunch with at least one new person a week in entirely different locations.
9.5 You don't have any change for the toll road so your commute time gets doubled because you get lost in the back roads. Then again, a 6 mile stretch can take twenty minutes to traverse sometimes depending on the road.
10. You get to be amongst amazingly bright and talented individuals who make life interesting and thought provoking.