Odds and ends

May 23, 2012

I just realized that I had not introduced you all to three things that I have learned while I have been here. Two are recurring themes in conversation and I have come to take them for granted that they are just part of everyday speech. The other is just something very different.

The first, is vog. I am going to cut and paste directly from Wikipedia here: Vog is a form of air pollution that results when sulfur dioxide and other gases and particles emitted by an erupting volcano react with oxygen and moisture in the presence of sunlight. The word is a portmanteau of the words "volcanic" and "smog". Most studies of vog have been in areas where vog is naturally present, and not in controlled conditions. Vog contains chemicals that can damage the environment, and the health of plants, humans and other animals. Most of the aerosols are acidic and of a size where they can remain in the lungs to damage the lungs and impair function. Headaches, watery eyes, sore throat, breathing difficulties (including inducing asthma attacks), flu-like symptoms, and general lethargy are commonly-reported. These effects are especially pronounced in people with respiratory conditions and children.

You won't see it other than a slight haze or possibly a slight greying of the skies but you feel your lungs, throat and nose react. The sore throat, sniffles, and slight cough I have had for a few days was caused by vog. I didn't know that at the time, but I feel miraculously fine and sure enough the vog is no longer heavy in the area. I thought it was allergies and in a way it was.

In short, vog pretty much sucks.

The second is a phrase I was introduced to at work. "Making A". When the folks here say this it sounds like "Makena" (may-keen-aye). This is what people say when they are referring to "Making an ass of yourself" such as doing something stupid. Apparently this is a phrase used commonly in not just Hawaii but around the whole area of the Pacific.

We were discussing a rickety chair and people kept saying this phrase. I asked them to repeat the word and finally they figured out what I was asking. After clarification we all got a good laugh. Making A. I am so thankful the folks at work find my curiosity about everything endearing and doing see it as me "Making A"

**GRIN**

The third thing is holidays. Here are the state holidays here:

2011 New Year’s Day ...................Dec. 31, 2010 .... Friday ....... The first day in January
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day ............. Jan. 17 ....Monday .... The third Monday in January
President’s Day ....................................... Feb. 21 ...Monday .... The third Monday in February
Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole Day ... Mar. 25....Friday ....... The twenty-sixth day in March
Good Friday ............................................ Apr. 22 ... Friday ....... The Friday preceding Easter Sunday
Memorial Day ......................................... May 30 ...Monday .... The last Monday in May
King Kamehameha I Day ....................... June 10 ... Friday ....... The eleventh day in June
Independence Day .................................. July 4 .....Monday .... The fourth day in July
Statehood Day ........................................ Aug. 19 .. Friday ....... The third Friday in August
Labor Day ............................................... Sept. 5 ....Monday .... The first Monday in September
Veterans’ Day .......................................... Nov. 11 ... Friday ....... The eleventh day in November
Thanksgiving .......................................... Nov. 24... Thursday... The fourth Thursday in November
Christmas ................................................ Dec. 26 ...Monday .... The twenty-fifth day in December

I will be here for 3 holidays. Memorial Day, King Kamehameha I Day (check this link), and Independence Day. I missed Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole Day (another interesting link).

 
 King Kamehameha I, the Napolean of the Pacific

So, here you get extra days off for extra holidays. Hopefully you don't have to be able to spell them to get them off ;)

A hui hou. (Ah who ee ho) ("See you tomorrow", "Talk to you later", "Until we meet again")
~Melissa

Workday walkabout

May 23, 2012

I woke up and wandered in to work this morning about 7:15. My attack mango lobbed 3 mangoes at me so I took them in to work and put them in the "Please take this home" section where the community garden produce is shared.

Ann had already set up her new office and it looks great. My area was not set up so I started the process of getting my computer up and running. I had to go find adapters. I had a male end on my monitor cable and a male spot for it for the computer. I also wanted to ideally have 2 monitors. So I hunted down the IT guys and got the piece I needed. Then I went to sign in and of course had no sign in ID. This is particularly frustrating because Ann asked the IT guys to set this up over a month ago. I have seen the requests. SO, regardless, we started that AGAIN today.

In the meanwhile I tried something new. They have a canned iced coffee here that I have been told is not bad. not being much of a coffee drinker I was unsure what "not bad" means, but I decided to be brave. I am glad I did, it was pretty good really. So I drank my iced coffee from a can (YEEEAAAAHHHHH CAFFAINE) and since I could do no work while waiting on the IT guys I reupholstered 2 chairs in Ann's office.

I had a chat with the Adolescent health lady on an upcoming conference and we hashed over possible ideas relating to adolescents and domestic violence/sexual assault issues for about 45 minutes. Nearing lunchtime I went back to Ann and we went down and put a boot to the backside of the IT guys to get them working a bit faster on this. Then we went to lunch.

Ann took me on a walk down to Kaimuki Street and Koko Head. This is where a bunch of restaurants and shops are located. It really is only about a 15 minute walk from work. Not bad at all. Here are some pictures of the walk there. I didn't know what these plants were but they are not ones we have at home so I took pictures. The first is a flowering bush of some sort, the second is a ground cover succulent of some type. In the last picture that is Ann's back. I'll get more pictures of her next week. This week is just too crazy with all the moving and rearranging.

We stopped for lunch at a Vietnamese place that I think was Saigon's restaurant. I had a vegetarian sandwich which they call a Ba'Le sandwich. I had BBQ grilled tofu lemongrass. It was very tasty. I apologize for not getting a picture. We got lunch to go and walked back to the office. Here are some more pics from along the way. This is a tangerine or orange tree. We stopped and talked to the owner for a few minutes. The second is a white ginger bush. The flowers smell amazing!

We got back to the office and ate lunch then I went to work on the IT guys some more. I stopped in another office and had a great chat with the new director while several of us sat in her office eating lychees. These are super sweet and juicy with a last bite of tartness. It is a reddish brown outer peel that you peel off. It is very thin and tough, not like an orange peel. You peel this off and inside is this pale juicy fruit with a large hard seed/pit. You pop it in your mouth and it explodes the sweet juice. You try to eat the fleshy part while not hitting the pit. The flesh has a little sour tang to it. Then you spit out the pit (have a paper towel or something handy). They are VERY tasty but it is hard to get over the mental image if an eyeball, at least for me.

Ann will be out till Tuesday with meetings off island and offsite. monday is a holiday so no work for any of us. So I touched base with her before she left. We sent off an e-mail to the CDC to try ti get the survey questions that we need so hopefully they can be getting that to us soon. I am trying to think ahead and get things moving. We went to water the garden and Ann left. IT finally came to get my sign on for the computer set up, but couldn't so we postponed that till the morning. I had already put in over 8 hours ( I stayed late waiting for the IT guy to come back) so I came on home. I took this picture on the way. I have NO idea what this is, some sort of bloom but it looks like a land starfish or something. It looked neat so i wanted to share it.

So I am home, and I've been scanning Amazon trying to find some books to download. I'll probably find a movie on Netflix to watch and head to sleep soon. I'm not hungry, the sandwich was plenty for me today.  Might try to convince myself to have a lettuce wrap or something. Monday is a holiday so this is a long weekend. Any ideas for my weekend's entertainment?

Aloha, Kipa hou mai, (Goodbye, come visit again)
~Melissa

Short work day and pictures

May 22, 2012

Today was a super short day at work. I went in and helped Ann harvest greens from the Community garden. After that we went inside and washed and laid those out for people to take. The movers arrived about then and started making a plan on who to move first. After about an hour of playing musical chairs to try to stay out of their way Ann told me to go on home and enjoy my day. Since we had no computers, phones or access to any of our materials we couldn't get anything done. I made sure she was serious and then headed on home for a relaxing day.

I read, took a nap, and caught up with some friends from home. I walked over to Kapiolani Community College across the street to go to their cafeteria to try to get a sandwich or burger. I was craving meat. NEED PROTEIN. The cafeteria closed at 2 (it was almost 40 so I hustled over tot he next building where there was supposed to be a Subway sandwich shop. I finally found it just before they closed at 4. I got a club, double meat, lettuce, cucumbers salt & pepper, mayo and spicy mustard. I came home and had half, the other half and chips will be lunch or dinner tomorrow. Still not very hungry so when I do get hungry I try to eat.

Why Subway? Simple: they have MEAT. I mainly eat fruit and veggies because that is what I get at the farmer's market. I have the fresh cheeses and butters I get there also with some fresh bread. However, my body wanted protein. I am still healing my blisters on my feet and didn't want to walk far. I am trying to heal those up so I can go walking and exploring tomorrow or later this week. Lots of places I still want to go see and find. So yes, I had Subway. This is the first thing I have had since leaving on my trip that is available back home. So (Scott and Michael) quit giving me grief about having something I could have back home. I'll be back to my hawaiian food tomorrow.

So to share today I took some pictures of some things on my walk to work. The first is the tiny bit of uphill I have to walk up, then the rest is downhill to get to work. makes for an easy trip in :)

Next is the mango tree that decided to lob fruit at me yesterday.

Here are some of the flowering trees and plants:

And a coconut tree. As I have mentioned to come of you before, the coconut trees in public places have to have the coconuts removed. It is a law. Apparently a child was killed at a school here a few years ago when a coconut fell and hit them on the head. So a law was passed that coconuts must be removed from trees in public areas. That is why you see the little holes up the trunks of the trees, from the spikes worn by the people that trim the trees and remove the coconuts. The trees on private land it is up to the owner, but they are responsible if one falls and injures or kills someone. This is a tree with the coconuts still present.

I haven't posted pictures from around the house itself. Here is the papaya tree that grows in the back. Papaya trees are tall with thin trunks that have a pretty pattern to the bark. The fruit are way at the top, dark green right now in this picture.

Here is the apple banana tree that grows out there also. It is short and not much taller than me, with palm frond type leaves. Here is a good image of the bananas it grows. They don't grow to be ong but are super sweet and last a long long time before getting old and icky.

Here is a pretty flower growing in the back also. i have no idea what it is. They are at a lot of the homes around here. The owner (Jill) and the manager (Nikki) are slowly working on the landscaping here.

And finally, my friends the lizards or geckos (whichever they are). Apparently both are all over the place around here. There are no snakes in Hawaii. There are no native snakes at all. Any time there is a report that a snake has been seen which has apparently been brought over either in the landing gear of planes, or brought as a pet and released it is hunted down and killed. They take this VERY seriously. They want NO SNAKES here. Anyway, we have this volcanic rock everywhere, and people make it into walls. The crevices in these walls make perfect little hidey-holes for the lizards and geckos. I love watching them. This may not seem like excitement for people that see them all the time, but it is great fun for me. So here are my buddies the leezards, as my friend Rob and I call them.  ;)

Tomorrow I should get my computer set up at work and hopefully the moving is all finished so I can get started on some work. As for now, I think it is time for some relaxed reading and a shower before bed.

I hope everyone is well! I know it is a pain in the butt to comment on the blog but don't forget you can e-mail or leave a facebook message and I will get those also. Let me know if there is anything you'd like to see and I'll try to get pictures.

A hui hou kakou,  (Until we meet again)
~Melissa

First day

May 21, 2012

Well, I started my internship today. The office is about 3 short blocks away, it takes me less than 10 minutes to walk it leisurely. I was told to arrive sometime around 8... or 9... or 10... I love laid-back Hawaiian time. So I headed in about 8 while it was still cool outside. On my way I was just meandering along and looking at flowers and a mango fell out of a tree and almost hit me on the head! It obviously wanted to come with me so I picked it up and took it with me to work. Apparently there are lots of types of mangoes, this is a new type I hadn't seen. I'll be eating it tonight later for a snack.

I found Ann (Dr. Ann Pobutsky) my boss. She gave me a lovely shell lei!

They are playing musical offices, so we spent the morning talking and getting to know each other while packing her office up. Then I went around and met and talked with several other people. I certainly have no problem talking as anyone who has known me more than 2 minutes can attest to. This is known as talking story here, or Kukakuka. Basically, I found out what people do there and what their projects are that will intersect with mine. After that we had a pot luck lunch. It was delicious. I didn't take a picture because I was too busy eating! We had BBQ ribs, cold cuts and bread, salad, fresh veggies, a noodle salad, two separate types of bean salad which were both really good, chips, cornbread, brownies, and a pear cheesecake bar type desert. These things may sound like things we have back home but everything was slightly different... different seasonings and everything just tasted so wonderful. And to drink, guava juice :)

The afternoon was spent with Ann and I discussing the project while walking around while I saw different desks and chairs and picked what I wanted. We wrangled me a nicer computer and I even managed to get 2 monitors for it. I should be well set now for research. Discussion is ongoing about the project, we have to find some information and get our hands on some things to review before determining any more specifics. So I'll have more on that in a few days once the moving is done.

Tomorrow the movers come and shuffle all the stuff. Then I will clean my area and scavenge office supplies I may need. I am mostly set up though. Ann even made me a nice sign for my door. I step into the hallway which is open to the outdoors and I have a lovely view. I wanted to wait to take pictures until the moving is done and things settled down.

We also have a nice community garden out back. I went with Ann today and we watered plants and harvested some tomatoes, peppers and okra. Tomorrow she says we will harvest some greens and other things. There are fresh herbs back there also, and I tried a couple of new things. I'll have to get the names of those herbs again, they were yummy. I will try to get some pictures of that tomorrow. Today was just so busy with meeting people and running I didn't have a lot of chance to take pictures.

Wednesday the IT folks should have my computer up and running so I will be able to actually start on some work. I am very excited about this project. We are discussing so many interesting possibilities.

Ann was nice enough to bring me home since she had her car today (usually she takes the bus in to work). She offered to take me to the grocery later this week if there is anything I need. Also, tomorrow I will dress super casual and remember my tennis shoes and sunscreen. We are planning to walk down the street to a little food place, as well as to Kaimuki Street (?) to find the restaurants and shops there. We also plan to go to the community college for lunch soon since they have the culinary program there.

All in all a good and exciting first day, while being very laid back and casual. Most everyone is very laid back and easy going. Ann is originally from Detroit and is much more busy and active. She should be a great person to work with on the project. It is a nice blend of people and seems to be a great working environment.

More soon as we start into the project and I get more pictures!

Aloha ahiahi, (Good evening (around sunset)),
~Melissa

Birds at Pearl Harbor

May 20, 2012

Ok, trying something new here. I am going to try to insert a video I took on my phone.

This was at Pearl Harbor. I had a few minutes before I started my tour so I grabbed a danish and some Sprite. I didn't want the whole thing so I was tossing crumbs to the little birds. Then I realized they would come eat right out of my hand!

WARNING: If you are afraid of birds don't open this :)

I have to say, this was pretty neat :) Even if I don't like birds as pets, this was a neat thing to do. Very unexpected also!


Aloha,
~Melissa

Update Kualoa Ranch - Horses and Jungle tour

May 20, 2012

I couldn't take my camera along for the hoseback tour but I did get the picture they took of me. This is me and Hercules. This is me taking a picture of a picture so please forgive the quality. Here is also the overhead vie of the ranch.

Next was the Jungle Expedition. While in Pinzgauer hell we did get to stop for several photos from nice overlooks. Also, we paused and got out and hiked up the mountain to get a breathtaking view of the valley. I am sure you need to be part mountain goat to get up the path. I finally got to the top and took some good pictures.

Aloha,
~Melissa

update Kualoa Ranch - Movie sites and ranch tour

May 20, 2012

The second tour of the day was the Movie Sites and ranch tour. I got a ton of wonderful pictures. The first picture includes some cement bunkers that were built during WWII to protect against attack. These bunkers are found throughout the island and on many places on the ranch.

Of particular note: When the filming of Pearl Harbor started the locals panicked when the bombers were flying through the mountain pass and then the simulated bombing started. this was the actual pass that they came through for the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The locals did not know that this was for a movie and thought this was really happening again. The filming had to stop and a LOT of apologies to the locals were made. The emotional trauma this caused the locals was severe and it took quite a while before filming was able to be started up again.

The last one is an island people call Chinaman's Hat. The coral reef surrounds this island and at low tide you can actually walk out to it. This is not a great idea because it is a ways out and you are almost guaranteed to get stuck out there as the tide comes back. However, it is possible. Also, walking on the coral damages it and it takes years to grow back.

Aloha,
~Melissa