Tsunami siren, hula, ginger and garlic adventure

June 14, 2012

I have had over 1,000 page views! WOW! Mahalo (thank you) for reading and enjoying this experience and adventure with me.

My day started interestingly to be certain. At around 5:30 AM the sound of LOUD SIRENS echoing throughout the island woke everyone. I didn't know what it was and figured somebody in the house would let me know if it affected me and promptly went back to sleep. Of course I just incorporated the sirens into my dream and then proceeded to sleep through my alarm. One of my Japanese room neighbors kindly knocked gently on my door, which one little tap and I was AWAKE. Silly me. I found out once I got to work that those were the TSUNAMI warning alarms. YIKES!!!! Would have been nice to know what those were at the time. However, the sirens going off was an error, so no tsunami danger. WHEW! Makes me think though, alarms like that are only effective if people know what they mean. With such a huge tourist population I wonder how many people like me were clueless. Here is a YouTube video so you can hear this hideous noise.

So I woke up at 7 instead of 6, thanked my Japanese neighbor and got ready for work. I arrived at 7:30 instead of 7 so no big deal at all. First off I was very tired from being out and up so late yesterday so I indulged in a cup of coffee. So you think, whooptedoo, people drink coffee all the time. Well, the coffee here is truly a delight. Considering I have 2 talespoons of sugar, about an inch and a half of coffee, and the rest almond milk it is generous to call it coffee. It is caffeinated sweet vanilla milk with a slight excellent coffee flavor. It did the trick and got my dragging self going. As a side note, I had to find a binder clip to use on my pants. I have lost weight so had to fold the waistband to take up some slack and clip it with a binder clip to hold my pants up. I seriously need to buy a belt.

I met with Noella and gave her the copy of the Parent/Guardian information form draft that I am working on for her. She is going to look over it and we'll finish it up likely tomorrow. Ann and I decided in our meeting at 9 to focus on getting the Sexual Health survey (HSHS - my project) final draft done before we start analyzing the DV Fatality Review data. So I met with Leonard (Family Planning director) and we finalized wording on the questions for that section. Rose Marie, Ann and i then walked over to Diamond Head Health Center and met with Venie Lee, who is the Director (I think that is right) for the STD/HIV division. We got input on the questions for that section and had a nice talk with her. I returned to the office and did some research on what we learned from Venie. I then wrote the last questions for the STD section and finalized the survey draft. I sent it off to Ann and she submitted the IRB proposal, consent form, survey and paperwork to the IRB for approval. We should know in 2 weeks. This is SO GREAT to be at this stage of the project.

I had brought leftovers but I was starting to drag a bit so walked to KCC to have lunch in the cafeteria with Susan and Connie. We had great discussions about data and difficulties with working with poorly collected and defined data. It is really helping me learn a lot to see the good and the bad of how data is gathered and utilized in various public health divisions. Lunch was a delicious seafood salad clubhouse sandwich. Think of a triple layer blt with crab salad. YUMMMM.

After lunch Ann had to leave so I wrote, scanned and submitted my second deliverable for my GSIP internship. This one is a progress report on how things are going on the project and which of the analytical tasks set out in the prior deliverable (detailed work plan) are completed. I am thrilled to have it written and sent. We are moving along very nicely and getting everything done. Once the deliverable is officially accepted (probably tomorrow) then they will start the process of getting me my stipend check. Still haven't received the first one yet so that would be nice!!!!

In the afternoon I was getting draggy again. Susan had made chai and shared some with me. It was very good. Creamy, sweet, cardamom and ginger tea. Yum... Very yum.

So now the super fun part of the day begins. When I was speaking to Jeff he asked if I was tired. I said I was very tired, both sleepy and physically tired. Then immediately told him I was going out after work with Susan on this adventure. He laughed and told me I remond him of the Monty Python Black Knight. HEHEHE. So true - I push very hard but am loving experiencing as much as possible here. So on to the evening's adventure...

After work Susan and I literally RAN to catch the #3 bus and went down to Ward Centers for a free hula lesson! Kumu Hula Germaine Kaleolani Haile teaches Beginning Hula from 5-6 pm. She is a lovely woman and a pleasantly firm instructor. I have included a photo I took of her. She is serious about maintaining an environment that is fun, challenging, and embraces the history of hula and the Hawaiian culture. I took a couple of videos of the Intermediate class after the beginning class was over to share. (Please watch both, they are short and VERY different) Let me just say, hula is HARD and exhausting. You do almost everything from a slight crouch with knees bent. My legs got a serious workout. It is a lot of fun. It reminds me of a mix of belly dancing and tai chi. I am sure tomorrow my muscles and back will be killing me but it was SO worth it. The class was held in an outdoor brick courtyard by a stage, it was covered but still outside. The hula was very hard work and I was literally pouring sweat. I have a much greater respect for these women who make this look so effortless. Of course, I also had to keep hiking up my pants, even with the binder clip making the waistband smaller (redneck ghetto craziness strikes again).

When the hula class was over and I'd gotten my videos to share we walked over to the Ward Centers Parking area where the Garlic and Ginger Festival of Hawaii was being held. This was a hilarious advertisement sign for it so I had to share. A garlic lei and an invite saying all non-vampires welcome. Too funny, I love it.

Outside the entrance someone gave me two VIP passes so Susan and I got in for free. The hand stamp was super cute, a garlic bulb and the name. It was neat so here's a photo.

As we were looking around we came across a lady and her dog. There are just some things that should never be done to an animal, this is clearly one of them. The fact that the dog matches her pants is just disturbing on a whole extra level.

By this time we were super thirsty and hungry so we hit up the vendors. It was almost entirely food so we had many options. We each got a ginger ale, which seemed appropriate, but it was just canned soda so nothing special. For my dinner I had the beef and pork garlic sugo baguette  with arugula and garlic vinaigrette. Sugo is basically a stew (beef and pork in this case) that has been cooked down to a thick consistency kindof like a sloppy joe. There are big cloves of garlic int here which are so soft that when you squish the bread to hold the sandwich they just turn into a garlic paste and mix into the whole flavor. It was FANTASTIC. It was also a good size and very filling.

Susan got the spicy ginger chicken slider and the ginger candied bacon. I didn't try the slider but I had a slice of the bacon to try it. It was tasty.

Even though we were both full we had to try the desserts. Garlic ice cream. We were going to skip it first because we were stuffed but then I decided we had to try it. I mean, when am I EVER going to see garlic ice cream again? I took a picture of the folks selling it and of the ice cream itself. It was actually incredibly good. The ice cream itself tastes like rich creamy coconut milk and the garlic is a faint taste that just rounds out the coconut milk flavor. It isn't at all what I expected and is actually a really great combination. We each had a spoonful then sealed it up and I took it home to the freezer. I'll take the rest to work and we can have it tomorrow when we are less full.

Then the culmination of glory for the night. Ginger cotton candy. FREAKING AWESOME WOW. You get a mouthful of sweet fluffyness that dissolves with a slight ginger taste that gets stronger as it dissolves. It is never overwhelming because the cotton candy is mostly air. It is in my top ten list of favorite things EVER. Susan was kind enough to take a photo of me with the ginger cotton candy as big as my head (actually bigger than my head) :) She took a couple of bites and I ate the rest on the walk to the bus. I am a ginger cotton candy PIGLET and proud of it. I didn't care that I was full, I ate it anyway. (OINK ginger OINK)

We caught the #3 and each went to our respective homes. A shower and LOTS of water were my first priorities. Now it is time to head to bed so I can function tomorrow. Tomorrow is the completion of my 4th week of work here! My feet are so incredibly sore and my back is already stiff and sore. I'm going to take an Alleve and hope that helps. I am so very glad I had my new shoes on or it would be even worse! Regardless of the pain it is so worth it :)

Aloha,
~Melissa Eha Wawae (Melissa Sore Foot)