Culture Night

This weekend has been a lot of work but it ended with alot of fun! Our school has an event every year called Culture Night and it is HUGE! It is held in our huge gym and almost every seat is filled with students, people from the community and people from other parts of the island. It is 2 nights where all the different clubs perform for 5-10 min of some sort from the culture. (All the clubs are different cultures..Japanese, Korean, Tongan, Samoan, etc)It's the biggest event of the entire school year and clubs spend months practicing. The clubs are made up of not only people from that culture, but people from all over. There were people from the Mainland dancing with Samoans, and Fijian people dancing with Japanese, it is really neat. There are traditional outfits, and music from all over the world, and customs that are awesome to watch. Most of the clubs dance, but some do skits. It is awesome! Jaliz was in the Samoan Club and they did an AWESOME job. The crowd went INSANE when it was Samoa's turn. They definitely did the best (although I am biased, it's true!) and everyone loved it! I am putting up some photos of the different clubs and then some clips of the different clubs performing also. I love that there is such a diversity here. I read that this school is the most diverse university in the United States. It's so awesome to be able to see this celebration of the different cultures and the acceptance there is of it all. Seeing people join these different clubs when they know little or nothing about that culture is so neat. They get to learn about the culture and do many customs of these cultures. It is such an awesome way to get to learn about other places and people!

Coconut Buns

So I usually make J foods from home, and I never think that they may be "different", but J hasn't had half the things I make until he met me. I had to teach him how to make Mac N Cheese and he said he has never had so much pasta in his life. I told him I want to have something that he has at home then, so he decided to make me a treat from home. He told me about these things called Coconut Buns and I have been bugging him for weeks to make them. So last night we decided to stay at my house and cook and watch movies so J made me coconut buns. He had to call home in New Zealand to get the recipe, and he had never made them on his own before...but they were really good. They are rolls that are baked in a dish of a coconut glazish stuff, so the buns soak it up. They aren't too sweet, just enough to enjoy the coconut and call it a treat. They were soo good! While J did that, I made Spaghetti and Meatballs. IT was fun.
It has been really rainy, windy, and cold since I've been back and so there isn't alot to do outside, which is not common in Hawaii. I am done with Midterms, and now I have one month left for the end of this semester. I got my plane ticket home and I'll be back in Idaho on the 17th of April. I'm going on a study abroad for a month to Asia where I'll go and meet with different businesses in the different countries and go see asia! I'm really excited so I'm just preparing for that right now too. I leave at the end of April for that. I'm not sure exactly where we are going yet, I don't think they have quite finished the itinerary, but I know we are going to Singapore, Tokyo, Hong Kong, and probably Beijing or Shanghai, and a few other places too! I'm very excited about this experience. I'll get some business credits for this study abroad also!

Just more fun

Well, this semester is going really well. My classes are going well, and work is same as usual. David Archuletta came to the PCC and it caused somewhat of an uproar. I had gotten the chance to meet him while I was in Utah with my friends during Christmas break, so it was fun to have him here too. Things have been going well. It's been cold for HAWAII, but there's those sunny Saturdays that I've definitely taken advantage of. I have declared my major as Instructional Design and Development (Graphic Design)with a minor in Business. Right now it's whale season, so I have been able to go watch whales from the shore which has been awesome! For Valentine's Day I got to go to Sea Life park where they have dolphins, turtles, penguins, sea lions, etc. It is the park from 50 First Dates. It was really fun. I have found some new beaches that I LOVE, and I'm just still having alot of fun!

Mele Kalikimaka

The Family Home Evening Crew!Me and Jboy opening presents!
Well, I've been celebrating Christmas as I can with my friends here before we all split up for our holidays. Our Family Home Evening group decided to have a Christmas Party after the Christmas Devotional Broadcast on Sunday. We had Santa bring us all t-shirts with a picture of our "family" and we had a gift exchange.
Our Stockings all hung by the chimney!! This week I decided to introduce Jboy to gingerbread houses. He's never decorated one before. We used whatever sweets we could find for cheap and my left over graham crackers and made a house and shop. "SAnta" brought my house a REAL lil Christmas pine tree, which I decorated with snowflakes. As this week is coming to a close, we have had a huge rain storm since last night, flooding the island of Oahu. I woke up this morning to a lake outside my door and to news that PCC and the school were completely flooded. All the roads here in Laie along with cities all over the island have turned into rivers. Kids on campus are boogie boarding in the flooded hallways of the dorms and cars are filled with water up to the dashboard! Rain is supposed to continue for the next couple days, and we are hoping the roads will at least open! Kids today that have flights to go home can't get to the airport because of the bridges that are blocked off. The end of this semester has turned into an exciting one, but I still had hoped for some sun before I come back to the snow!


These are pics of todayof the streets here in Laie.
It's still raining, and it's only 1.

This is the street in front of the temple

This below is the temple parking lot and the front of the temple grounds.

The Visitors Center is flooded

More of the roads around campus...

Thanksgiving!!

Too poor to go out, so weekends are spent testing my artistic abilities..

Well, Thanksgiving has come and gone, and now it's time for finals, but here's a lil overview of what has been going on...

I've been taking a makeup class, and have made myself look old with makeup, make a bigger nose, and recently we had to do a nonhuman object, so I painted a football on my face. That class is alot of fun!

Grr!

For Thanksgiving I went to the waterpark with a bunch of kids from school for a discount price, and the next day had a dinner together, only AFTER waiting in line outside of Wal Mart for 3 hours to shop the Black Friday sales!

Me N' My roomies

12:30 AM....Headed to Wal Mart!

Lately, with no money-I am a college student after all- I've been just spending time at the beach, and enjoying the Laie Temple, which will be closing for 18 months starting December 28th.

I'm trying to just stay busy with school and enjoy Hawaii before I come home to cold for Christmas break!

Fall Ball

Last friday was the Fall Ball in Kaneohe, a town near by, at the country club. I hadn't planned on going because it had come up so fast. Usually it's in November. Well, anyways, the night of the ball, at 9:35, me and J (Jaliz) decided that we didn't want to be the only ones not going, and so we hurried to put some sunday clothes on, and went to the dance. It was alot of fun to be dressed up for once and to see everyone. Here are a few pictures from that dance... Me and Jay

My group of friends!!

Best friends...and roomies

Kat and I

Me and Jay around 10pm after we decided to go to the ball...

ALOHA!!

Wow, So much has happened and there's so much always going on.....I'm FINALLY going to update!

I'm back in Hawaii, Laie to be exact, for my second year of school. I'm still taking generals, wish I knew what to go into! I'm working back at the Polynesian Cultural Center as a "GReeter"..."Aloha! Welcome to the Center!"...I lei people all day and have my picture taken with people. Super easy! I'm living in a Beach house with 3 of my best friends at school! We have such a blast! We also have a girl living with us from Alaska that we have been able to become good friends with. We are always having a blast at our house. Our house is bright blue, and has just been remodeled. There is another group of girls living above us in a studio, and others living in another "house". In total there are thirteen girls living in the house, but we have a downstairs area to ourselves. We have a cute lil kitchen and living room. Our bathroom is a "luxory" bathroom, our landlords are tilers so they went ALL out with nice tile, and a tile portrait of dolphins in our shower. Haha.

I've just been busy with school so far, and work, and lots of play on the weekends. People still think I'm a local, and it's nice to be back and already know where everything is and what to do. My girls and I have made a tradition of going to the beach together Saturday mornings, which has been a nice way to get rid of stress. I've been missing the fall colors, but I appreciate this beautiful place that I get to live in. I can't wait til mom comes to visit me and I think everyone else should plan to come too!