Day 7

I've been here for almost a week now! =) It's been one of the most enjoyable weeks in my life ever. haha.
Last night we slept late because of the super bad sunburns on our legs... Naomi applied milk on it so it would cool off. It's still tingly and painful but not as bad as yesterday. It just feels like the skin is gonna rip everytime I move. yikez.
This morning we went to New Hope Church near the house. First we went to the 8 a.m. service...

The glowing white figure is the announcement guy... what's with my camera... LOL

Ok these two were SO good. They did a special music kind of thing and sang Jesus Loves Me and the Lord's Prayer in Hawaiian style. It was soooo beautiful. I know this photo is lousy but if you look closely he's playing the ukelele. Wow it was good and you can see they really shine for Jesus when they sing.

The pastor is this Spanish guy, his name was Fernando something I think. He talked about glorifying God in every situation and lifting His Name up. The 8 a.m. service finished and we went outside and met a lot of people. One of them was Kahleo, who's in the youth ministry, he invited us to sit with the youth in the next service... Maria and I attended the 9.30 service thinking that the youth group was going to a separate service but turns out, their youth group moved to Saturday and so we sat through a repeat of the first service. LOL. It was the same except more people and Maria and I were sitting nearer to the front. Anyway, we met up with Jeff after the service and we went outside again to meet Naomi and Priscilla. Said hello to even more people and drank water. LOL. Then Jeffu-ojisan gave Maria and me rainkissed leaves body lotion souvenier. LOL! That was nice and kinda funny

Went to Waikiki (the tourist spot of Hawaii where all the Japanese hang out haha...like me...) and ate lunch with Aunty Jean. She is sooo nice and friendly and she even treated us to Duke's, which was in this really nice hotel... with a great view of the beach... with the whole tropical feel... it was so nice =) Some more she gave me a pink feather lei that she made (!!!) so I wore it then... it is SOOO niceeee and I love it. I'm even wearing it now. LOL. It's fluffy and pink, yayness. =) =)

My feather lei wheeee

Lookie that huge USA sized dessert. Dun worry, I ate it with everyone, so I'm not going to come home as a large fat being

Group photo. There's the ocean behind, but you can't see it now. haha.

Duke, apparently, was a Hawaiian surfer who competed in the Olympics. His profile was on the menu but before I knew it, the waitress took it away T_T

After lunch, Aunt Jean, Naomi, Maria, and I went sightseeing around the Waikiki area. Naomi told me that they cleaned the area up to attract more tourists and have better business, so the whole place looks AWESOME. Just go there with 2 or more people. LOL. 

International Market Place.. I like fountains. haha. See how tourist I look? =)

More of the International Market Place. It's a place with lots of little shops and stalls for tourists... loads of Hawaiian goods. I didn't get anything. LOL.

Maria and me on a uncomfortable but artsy bench LOL

We went to an art gallery too, where they have paintings of dolphins, beaches, killer whales, Disney characters set in Hawaiian scenery, and psycho olives, I kid you not. It was a super nice art gallery too and not to mention it was cooling inside. haha. After the art gallery, Aunt Jean went back and the rest of us walked to the beach. In case you're wondering where Priscilla was during this time, she went to get the car and I think she was sleeping. LOL. 

That's Duke there, with all the leis and his surfboard, how can he be Duke without his surfboard?

More of the Waikiki shopping roads

Why take a boring shot of a chalet-looking house?

Well, it's not a chalet. It's a police box. LOL LOL LOL LOL

The beach. Super crowded...

Short legged. LOL. You can see all the people sunbathing behind me

Sitting in the shade

Returned home for a bit then we went to Naomi and Priscilla's friends' goodbye party. What do you know, they had more food there and I think I was told to eat about 5 times. haha. I had cheesecake, brownies, and soft drinks... yes, this is America. Haha. We saw a lot of their other friends there too, and even Kenny and Debbie from Ericson's dinner. Haha. And there were many cute babies running around. 

Lookie at the elevator...sooo many O.O We only went up to 5th, LOL. Their condo even has a gym, swimming pool, tennis court, and where they held their party was this large open air space. 

The outside is like this. WOW????

Priscilla, Maria, and I went immediately to pick up Marie, the one we ate with last night, and we went to Ward to watch The Mummy 3. Jeff was there too; Maria and I chipped in so that Jeffu-ojisan could get his movie ticket. LOL. 

A view of how a Hawaiian cinema complex looks like.

So the movie... it was... well, it's The Mummy, it was every bit tacky to the point it was hilarious, but it was entertaining. The battle between Jet Li and Michelle Yeow was cool though, but it was a bit too short. The rest... well, the story was the usual Mummy type of plot. Alex, the son, was just terrible and too old. His mother should be played by the original Evy. T_T Brendan Fraser was pretty hilarious though.

After the show we went to Chowder House for dinner. The clam chowder there is great... well clam chowder in general is great. Haha. Had lots of fun... talked a lot and we were laughing for pretty much the whole time.

After the meal, full and happie

Came back and now I'm off to shower. I'm really really really really really REALLY dreading this shower, because the water on my sunburn is really beyond ouch. T_T Off I go now....yelps

Day 6

Day 6 already O.O

Weekend is here and so today was my surfing attempt. Mrs. Sandy picked Maria and me up and we met Jay-san at a beach near Ala Moana mall. 

Condos and trees... I wish Yokohama was like that.. LOL

So we surfed for about 2 hours, and Jay-san and Mrs. Sandy were really good teachers. And of course, really good surfers... haha. Me? I clung to the board for dear life and squatted down on it when a wave caught me and tried to gain balance. LOL. But I've gotta say, once you're in the wave... it's sooooo NICE!! Super fun, like Hawaiian Rollercoaster Ride. Hahaha...

The blue is me, middle is Jay-san, and Maria is the banana

Surfboards!

Maria and me on the beach

After that they treated us to lunch. We had acai, a local smoothie fruit dish, at this very Hawaiian surfer type restaurant... and it tasted sooooo great... yumness

Tropical lunch. haha

The shop where we had our lunch. Smelled like bananas. Do you know the owner's dog is the dog in the TV show Lost? The dog has his own bank account too. ROFL

After that fantastic smoothie lunch we dropped by at their house and said hello to Petrie their bird. CUUUTE! Can even say Bye bye.. haha

Petrie shy

Scratching

Danging upside down

He likes Jay-san the best

Came back and took shower before Naomi took us to Punchbowl Military Cemetry, where Pastor's father's grave is. The whole place is like a park, green and big...and very beautiful and peaceful! All cemetries should be like this, bright and sunny. 

Flowers

Large monstera leaves and me. hehe

The burial grounds

The view from the top of Punchbowl. It has a fantastic view...

Surrounded by ocean everywhere...beautifuuul

Maps showing all the battles fought during WWII and other wars

After that we took a drive into the valley rainforest area of Hawaii, and to the Pali cliff. Pali is where long long ago, one tribe living in Hawaii refused to give up Oahu to King Kamehameha (?) who wanted to unite all the islands, and fought to the end till they fell off the cliff. Ya... rather depressing story but still it has a great view and historical significance.

The banner.

View from the top... can see on and on forever

Maria and me... it's windier than it looks. Oh boy it was SOOO windy... Maria and I were yelling to get ourselves heard LOL

The Chinaman's hat island, something I've always wanted to see.... haha. It was interesting, although I thought it would be a lot bigger. LOL.

Naomi drove through the rainforest road and I got a lot of greenery shots taken. Of course lots of vines

We went to Ward, another area with loads of shops and restaurants... and shopped for about an hour. The Roxy store there is HUUUUUGE!!! I didn't get anything though, haha. We went to Borders (wow I wish Japan had all these stores LOL) and met up with Adam, Naomi's friend, and Priscilla and her friend Oz, for dinner... we had plate lunch, another local dish that's something like obento but tastes better in my opinion. hahaha. 

Adam, Naomi, and Priscilla on one side...

Oz, Maria, and me on the other

After the meal and a few rounds of Japanese hand games (LOL) we went our separate ways. Priscilla, Maria, and I went to the airport to pick up Priscilla's uni friend Marie. 

Do you know they have these rows and rows of lei making stalls at the airport. It was interesting but a bit dark looking for some reason =\ Maria said they're confined to making leis. LOL

Managed to meet Marie and we ate at Chiang Mai. She is a really really nice person and she even treated us to dessert... wow, that was nice. haha. Maria and I had fried ice cream again. heehee... this time we ate it better. haha. We were prepared! =) We dropped her off at her house later on and went in... her house is nice too. Haha. 

Tomorrow's Sunday, gotta wake up earlier than usual if I want to shower and face sunburns and muscle pain from surfing. LOL! byeee

Day 5

Today I had no breakfast, neither did I have lunch.
Instead I had BRUNCH! hohoho
Well since I'm in America, Naomi let me try some American style breakfast. Haha. We went to the Original Pancake Shop and I had the coconut pancakes. Priscilla assured me that the pancakes they serve were ok size and that we could finish it all.

Out of 5 pancakes, I could eat only 2. Super good but how to finish?? T_T But there are people who can finish it. 

Anyway it was super oishii (we were talking today... I have not eaten any dish that I have not liked since I came to Hawaii. Hahaha)

Filled with pancakeness... no such word LOL

More of the city area. I likey this area too. We even passed a large exhibition gallery building displaying all those art pieces and furniture, and even the BUILDING itself looked super nice. Very sunny area

After brunchies, we went to Ala Moana Mall, yes the very big shopping mall with loads of branded shops. We only went to Macy's and Nordstrom, the two department stores, to get necessary things. But it was nice walking through, and I actually heard Hawaiian music being played. LOL. I think in total, I have heard Hawaiian music about 2 times. haha.

Tourist Spot! haha. That includes me...LOL

We also went to WAL*MART (yes there's a star between wal and mart) and got more necessary things. You know it's my first time in Walmart. Ok, not really, cos I went there during that time I went to Texas, but I don't remember it so it doesn't really count. LOL. It's like a fun Konan. More colorful and smells good. haha. Another shop we went to was Long's. It's a large drugstore, but you know me, I like foreign drugstores. They smell good too, like Downy detergent.. LOL.

Returned home and most of my shopping is done. wootsies! =) We were home for about an hour and then went to Priscilla's babysitting house because she was going to drop off some omiyage from Japan. I've got to say, the place where she babysits has a GREAT view of the Hawaiian scenery. They live on the side of the hill so it's quite high up and we had to take a long and winded road, but wow.. the view from their window is amazing. It's like a poster.. LOL. 

Something like this. Telephone pole in the way =_=... did I mention that here, the lines swing extremely LOW?

After that we went to Ericson's house for dinner. He invited us over along with this couple from his church, Kenny and Debbie, and he cooked so much food, and it was all great!! See what I mean about everything being tasty in Hawaii?? LOL. Also we saw his new doggie, Mia! Mia is a 6-month-old SUPER CUTE toy poodle, AWWW. I wanted to take home with me to Japan.

CUTENESS OVERFLOWING! Looks like plushie toy

MIA MIA MIA MIA!

We had loads of good food for dinner, like chicken, tofu, salad, fish, fried zucchini and mushroom, great rice (I was super glad it wasn't those flaky long rice or the mushy rice), and Kenny and Debby brought poke. I think that's how you spell it... and it's pronounced Pokey not just Poke like "I'm going to poke you on the arm." Poke is something like sashimi, except no soy sauce but it's already flavored with salt I think. I loveeeeeeee it. I want to eat it again. LOL! Also with dinner was Ericson's grand tour of the house. I finally got to get on the famous roof. LOL. It was a really great view, especially at night.... so nice!

Maria and me and Hawaii at night

The fireflies on the hill... LOL

Ericson's family's punching bag in the garage. I'm wearing the gloves wrong. LOL.

We also played Apples to Apples, which was first time for me.... it was super hilarious. ROFL I'm just laughing thinking about it. Maybe I will get the game another time... hahahahaha. 

Ericson bought Hawaiian pie. Ok, it's not called Hawaiian pie, but it's some sort of local delicacy, and wow it tastes great. (big surprise there. =P) It was chocolate flavored and also I think one layer was coconut...I am so happy... I am in coconut land... COCONUT! =) =) =)

More of Mia, who finally succeeded in picking up that bottle. LOL

Kinen shashin. Too far but you can see what Ericson's living room/dining room is like. Lookie at cute Mia!

Closer shot this time

Tomorrow is Saturday... weekend already T_T! Haha I was telling Priscilla earlier that it feels like I've been here a long time because they took me out a lot and we've done so much, and well it's been a really good past few days. Hawaii is niceee =)