I only use Happy Holidays because it is technically Boxing Day right now, and although Christmas is over, it's still "the holidays" until at least New Year's.
Finals are over, grades are in, I'm happy with my 4.0 this semester (I think, pending one class with technical difficulties), and no matter how crazy and stressful the semester was, right now I am perfectly content just to be home... and in one piece after going ice skating in Sacramento. The only bad thing is a sudden urge to eat butter and cheese. 'Cheating' doesn't work so well on food allergies.
I think I am recharging my happy batteries.
I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! Hauʻoli makahiki hou!
Monday, December 26, 2011
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Last Days
The semester is almost at and end... and I am sad.
We have our last day of classes today and tomorrow, so today we said to goodbye to grammar and Japanese. (Until the final, of course, but that's not as fun as the class was, and there is less opportunity to talk story with teachers. And I happen to like those teachers.)
Hawaiian class is also technically over, but only because we have our end-of-semester party tomorrow for the entire Hawaiian college. Hauʻoli nō au no ka mea nui koʻu mau hoaaloha ma ka koleke ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi!
I am mostly sad about grammar class, despite my recent complaints as to the mass confusion it has caused amongst ESL tutoring and essay writing. My teacher gave some lovely advice this morning about writing evil term papers... which boiled down to something along the lines of 'just write the stupid paper'.
It was actually quite helpful to be reminded to not worry about the grammar... at first. Especially since we were covering rhetoric in class and I am now convinced that everything I write is horrible as I write it... and worse, I can see why.
After classes will be a lot of studying. A lot. I am slowly discovering that 'studying' in a group of friends is not the best way to actually get stuff done. We've already been staying up until 4 AM (not as crazy as it sounds, there was good reason!), which inevitably ends with singing, dancing, and/or hugging inanimate objects.
Hula class, Swing club, and my ESL job are all over as well... so now just to wait for finals, packing, and graduation!
Oh, and Christmas. Hahahahaha.
We have our last day of classes today and tomorrow, so today we said to goodbye to grammar and Japanese. (Until the final, of course, but that's not as fun as the class was, and there is less opportunity to talk story with teachers. And I happen to like those teachers.)
Hawaiian class is also technically over, but only because we have our end-of-semester party tomorrow for the entire Hawaiian college. Hauʻoli nō au no ka mea nui koʻu mau hoaaloha ma ka koleke ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi!
I am mostly sad about grammar class, despite my recent complaints as to the mass confusion it has caused amongst ESL tutoring and essay writing. My teacher gave some lovely advice this morning about writing evil term papers... which boiled down to something along the lines of 'just write the stupid paper'.
It was actually quite helpful to be reminded to not worry about the grammar... at first. Especially since we were covering rhetoric in class and I am now convinced that everything I write is horrible as I write it... and worse, I can see why.
After classes will be a lot of studying. A lot. I am slowly discovering that 'studying' in a group of friends is not the best way to actually get stuff done. We've already been staying up until 4 AM (not as crazy as it sounds, there was good reason!), which inevitably ends with singing, dancing, and/or hugging inanimate objects.
Hula class, Swing club, and my ESL job are all over as well... so now just to wait for finals, packing, and graduation!
Oh, and Christmas. Hahahahaha.
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Kapili!
Today I auditioned for the advanced chorus (Kāpili choir) at the university for next semester... and I got in!
I was extremely nervous, but I ended up singing Les Miserables a capella, and since I pretty much know the entire musical by heart, that helped a bit.
Kapili is a relatively small chorus of some extremely good voices, and they were scheduled to tour Japan last year, before the earthquake, performing works from a Japanese composer. A lot also do the Christmas concert and were a part of the Beethoven's 5th performance last semester, so it's a big deal (at least to me) to audition. But I'm really looking forward to next semester! Our teacher was running through some of the things planned, including songs in Latin and Hawaiian and a trip to perform in Oahu. Oh, the horror! :)
I love Oahu, in case you didn't know, and had a lovely Thanksgiving weekend there, relaxing in the sunshine and windiness... and doing homework because finals are coming after school ends next week.
It's actually very sad, especially after our last hula class of the semester, but I don't have time to be sad because I'm too busy battling through all of my homework and memorizing a large amount of information in three languages, keeping them straight, and producing them intelligibly in the right situations at the right time.
I also had to sign up for next semester's classes the day after break, so there was a lot of agonized waffling and unavailable classes, but luckily it all got fixed up so that I am taking two languages, two linguistics courses, japanese history... and now Kapili!
Now back to the study board...
A hui hou!
I was extremely nervous, but I ended up singing Les Miserables a capella, and since I pretty much know the entire musical by heart, that helped a bit.
Kapili is a relatively small chorus of some extremely good voices, and they were scheduled to tour Japan last year, before the earthquake, performing works from a Japanese composer. A lot also do the Christmas concert and were a part of the Beethoven's 5th performance last semester, so it's a big deal (at least to me) to audition. But I'm really looking forward to next semester! Our teacher was running through some of the things planned, including songs in Latin and Hawaiian and a trip to perform in Oahu. Oh, the horror! :)
I love Oahu, in case you didn't know, and had a lovely Thanksgiving weekend there, relaxing in the sunshine and windiness... and doing homework because finals are coming after school ends next week.
It's actually very sad, especially after our last hula class of the semester, but I don't have time to be sad because I'm too busy battling through all of my homework and memorizing a large amount of information in three languages, keeping them straight, and producing them intelligibly in the right situations at the right time.
I also had to sign up for next semester's classes the day after break, so there was a lot of agonized waffling and unavailable classes, but luckily it all got fixed up so that I am taking two languages, two linguistics courses, japanese history... and now Kapili!
Now back to the study board...
A hui hou!
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Sassy!
My roommate likes to use the word 'sassy' (although it might be a local thing - I've heard a few other people say it as well), and recently it's become my new favorite word. I sass people. It's lovely.
What was decidedly not lovely was my week, but I spent a good hour after work finishing off both my sushi and my absolute favorite book for the third time (the book, not the sushi). It might be a good thing that the library isn't open tomorrow; I'm already deciding on my next book and I have a lot of homework.
On the bright side, I am now an official cashier at my job.
However, I doubt they want me to fill that position again anytime soon.
Oh well. At least I have my ESL students!
I've been looking into next semester's classes, but I can't make very many solid decisions as I am waiting for information from several people involving my graduation. I'm not sure if I should graduate as early as possible and go home, which is extremely appealing right now as homesickness sets in with a vengeance.
I do love my Linguistics classes (much more than Japanese, I might add - my next level Japanese class conflicts with a class on second languages, which is SILLY) and taking Hawaiian, and my job as an English tutor, even if I can't explain things very well.
I've also starting diagramming and categorizing my sentences as I write them, which is annoying but helpful. I also correct people. That's more annoying.
And all of this must be decided on the Monday I come back from Oahu for Thanksgiving. I'm not sure who decided on that schedule, but I don't like them very much.
I AM ready for Thanksgiving, though. It's one of my favorite holidays... and I can start playing Christmas music. (Why does no one make Thanksgiving music? I would listen to it for all of November!)
A hui hou!
What was decidedly not lovely was my week, but I spent a good hour after work finishing off both my sushi and my absolute favorite book for the third time (the book, not the sushi). It might be a good thing that the library isn't open tomorrow; I'm already deciding on my next book and I have a lot of homework.
On the bright side, I am now an official cashier at my job.
However, I doubt they want me to fill that position again anytime soon.
Oh well. At least I have my ESL students!
I've been looking into next semester's classes, but I can't make very many solid decisions as I am waiting for information from several people involving my graduation. I'm not sure if I should graduate as early as possible and go home, which is extremely appealing right now as homesickness sets in with a vengeance.
I do love my Linguistics classes (much more than Japanese, I might add - my next level Japanese class conflicts with a class on second languages, which is SILLY) and taking Hawaiian, and my job as an English tutor, even if I can't explain things very well.
I've also starting diagramming and categorizing my sentences as I write them, which is annoying but helpful. I also correct people. That's more annoying.
And all of this must be decided on the Monday I come back from Oahu for Thanksgiving. I'm not sure who decided on that schedule, but I don't like them very much.
I AM ready for Thanksgiving, though. It's one of my favorite holidays... and I can start playing Christmas music. (Why does no one make Thanksgiving music? I would listen to it for all of November!)
A hui hou!
Thursday, November 10, 2011
On language
Well, it's been nearly a month (!!) since I got back from Japan, and I haven't mentioned it at all, so I figured I could start now. :)
I've been noticing that I am mixing up Hawaiian and Japanese (I get sentences like 'ke poho ga aru?') in inopportune moments. Luckily, it hasn't mucked up my testing yet, but trying to think fast in conversations is a bit more strained. Japanese is more natural for me, but Hawaiian is a more intense class... and it's also more fun. I really like my classmates.
Anyway, back to Nanzan. The main purpose of the GP program that did the exchange was to have Nanzan students do a joint research project with Hawaii students, but conduct everything in English! My buddies Miki and Eri were both into food, so that was our research topic, and in Nanzan we gave our presentation that we have been working on since about July, so that was pretty huge.
Not a lot of people were in the audience, BUT there was a television cameraman, which was rather intimidating. We went first and were relaxing during the other 4 presentations when Aya (the wonderful woman in charge) asked me if I would mind doing an interview with the cameraman.
In Japanese.
I managed two complete sentences in hopefully not terribly impolite Japanese on camera, on jet lag, and without falling over!
It was an achievement!
The language in general was interesting, since I don't get a lot of opportunities to talk outside of class. Having taught myself a lot of my Japanese, I love casual speech, slang, dialects, etc., so after visiting with Nagoya and hanging out with a lot of other girls my own age, speaking very casually, it's harder for me to switch back into the formal setting of our classroom. (For those who don't know, Japanese has two distinct styles of speaking - polite and casual. There's about a bazillion other levels of formality, but I like to think of them as two.) As if the class wasn't hard enough already...
Aside from that, my interactions with all the Nanzan ESL students has made me a lot more excited for my ESL tutoring job!
But I have just realized that having two jobs could be why my classes have seemed a lot harder. That and being gone for a week, being sick for a week, deciding not to study because it was my birthday...
Speaking of birthday, it was fun. We went to Black and White Night, a festival-type thing downtown, and got Thai food and drank... tea. I am 21 now, but I like tea. :) And there were a lot of cupcakes, so I was happy.
I've been noticing that I haven't been taking very many pictures in Hilo at all. I take a lot of food pictures, though.
Okay, that's all I have... until I think of something else that's interesting to blog about. Now back to trying to figure out next semester's classes... it shouldn't be this hard, there aren't that many to choose from anymore.
A hui hou!
I've been noticing that I am mixing up Hawaiian and Japanese (I get sentences like 'ke poho ga aru?') in inopportune moments. Luckily, it hasn't mucked up my testing yet, but trying to think fast in conversations is a bit more strained. Japanese is more natural for me, but Hawaiian is a more intense class... and it's also more fun. I really like my classmates.
Anyway, back to Nanzan. The main purpose of the GP program that did the exchange was to have Nanzan students do a joint research project with Hawaii students, but conduct everything in English! My buddies Miki and Eri were both into food, so that was our research topic, and in Nanzan we gave our presentation that we have been working on since about July, so that was pretty huge.
Not a lot of people were in the audience, BUT there was a television cameraman, which was rather intimidating. We went first and were relaxing during the other 4 presentations when Aya (the wonderful woman in charge) asked me if I would mind doing an interview with the cameraman.
In Japanese.
I managed two complete sentences in hopefully not terribly impolite Japanese on camera, on jet lag, and without falling over!
It was an achievement!
The language in general was interesting, since I don't get a lot of opportunities to talk outside of class. Having taught myself a lot of my Japanese, I love casual speech, slang, dialects, etc., so after visiting with Nagoya and hanging out with a lot of other girls my own age, speaking very casually, it's harder for me to switch back into the formal setting of our classroom. (For those who don't know, Japanese has two distinct styles of speaking - polite and casual. There's about a bazillion other levels of formality, but I like to think of them as two.) As if the class wasn't hard enough already...
Aside from that, my interactions with all the Nanzan ESL students has made me a lot more excited for my ESL tutoring job!
But I have just realized that having two jobs could be why my classes have seemed a lot harder. That and being gone for a week, being sick for a week, deciding not to study because it was my birthday...
Speaking of birthday, it was fun. We went to Black and White Night, a festival-type thing downtown, and got Thai food and drank... tea. I am 21 now, but I like tea. :) And there were a lot of cupcakes, so I was happy.
I've been noticing that I haven't been taking very many pictures in Hilo at all. I take a lot of food pictures, though.
Okay, that's all I have... until I think of something else that's interesting to blog about. Now back to trying to figure out next semester's classes... it shouldn't be this hard, there aren't that many to choose from anymore.
A hui hou!
Friday, November 4, 2011
November
I had a blog post typed out and ready to go, and then the thunder started, the lights flickered, and I decided to back away from any and all outlets.
I do NOT do well with thunder.
Of course it has also poured, which is nice when one has tea and cookies but not so great when walking to classes, work, etc.
But I did make soup out of my leftover pumpkin from Halloween! I turned out well enough, with some nice fresh bread to go with it... that burned my hand taking it out of the oven.
So now I can barely move my right hand, and I doubt there will be much homework finished. (I am alsotyping with one hand. Badly.)
Oh well. It was good soup.
Did I mention it's my birthday tomorrow? :) Because it is.
I do NOT do well with thunder.
Of course it has also poured, which is nice when one has tea and cookies but not so great when walking to classes, work, etc.
But I did make soup out of my leftover pumpkin from Halloween! I turned out well enough, with some nice fresh bread to go with it... that burned my hand taking it out of the oven.
So now I can barely move my right hand, and I doubt there will be much homework finished. (I am alsotyping with one hand. Badly.)
Oh well. It was good soup.
Did I mention it's my birthday tomorrow? :) Because it is.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Post-midterms
After finishing with my Japan adventure, catching up to homework, and battling through midterms... I got sick. I'm not sure why this happens, but apparently it's not uncommon to get sick only after stressful periods.
It was a miserable weekend, but I am mostly recovered, I think! And luckily, since midterms are over, sleep-walking through classes was not that much of an issue. Either that or I retain information better when half-asleep.
Taking the weekend off was nice, though. Being sick is a chance to readjust a little (finally being able to read books - 3 of them, to be precise), but I sincerely hope that it does NOT take me three months to recover again.
I also spent a lot of time reading recipes, planning execution of said recipes (that mostly didn't happen, since burners and dizzy spells are not a good combination, and also because I just don't keep cocoa powder on hand), and generally eating whatever I want. I made french toast this morning. It was delicious. Also unburnt, mostly thanks to being an All Star. See, 4-H teaches you life skills!
I should probably get back to reading - this time for literature and grammar classes! (Coincidentally, I have decided to take on an English minor, mostly because I don't have to take any extra classes for it, but also because I would happily take extra English classes if the need arose.)
A hui hou!
It was a miserable weekend, but I am mostly recovered, I think! And luckily, since midterms are over, sleep-walking through classes was not that much of an issue. Either that or I retain information better when half-asleep.
Taking the weekend off was nice, though. Being sick is a chance to readjust a little (finally being able to read books - 3 of them, to be precise), but I sincerely hope that it does NOT take me three months to recover again.
I also spent a lot of time reading recipes, planning execution of said recipes (that mostly didn't happen, since burners and dizzy spells are not a good combination, and also because I just don't keep cocoa powder on hand), and generally eating whatever I want. I made french toast this morning. It was delicious. Also unburnt, mostly thanks to being an All Star. See, 4-H teaches you life skills!
I should probably get back to reading - this time for literature and grammar classes! (Coincidentally, I have decided to take on an English minor, mostly because I don't have to take any extra classes for it, but also because I would happily take extra English classes if the need arose.)
A hui hou!
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Tadaima!
(Tadaima is what Japanese people say when they get home, although it doesn't quite work for me, since it's more 'I'm back here at school'.)
I am back from Nagoya! We arrive in Hilo on Sunday afternoon, after leaving Nagoya at 10 PM... on Sunday.
Fortunately I was expecting it, but the jet lag is much harder coming from Japan than going there, although there were some very sleepy days early on the program, which were probably also a result of not getting much sleep before we left either.
Nagoya was really amazing! Since I've been to Japan before and stayed with families, there weren't as many new experiences this time, so I might seem a little underwhelmed at times, but I think in actuality I was able to be happy with my experiences instead of surprised by new ones, although we did have plenty of adventures. There was definitely less culture shock!
I am hoping to make (many) more posts about my trip, but right now I am busy studying for my surprise midterms (3 of them, only 1 of which I knew about before I left) today and tomorrow and catching up with my homework. Missing a week of class was pretty rough, and my grades are threatening to start slipping...
With that, a hui hou!
I am back from Nagoya! We arrive in Hilo on Sunday afternoon, after leaving Nagoya at 10 PM... on Sunday.
Fortunately I was expecting it, but the jet lag is much harder coming from Japan than going there, although there were some very sleepy days early on the program, which were probably also a result of not getting much sleep before we left either.
Nagoya was really amazing! Since I've been to Japan before and stayed with families, there weren't as many new experiences this time, so I might seem a little underwhelmed at times, but I think in actuality I was able to be happy with my experiences instead of surprised by new ones, although we did have plenty of adventures. There was definitely less culture shock!
I am hoping to make (many) more posts about my trip, but right now I am busy studying for my surprise midterms (3 of them, only 1 of which I knew about before I left) today and tomorrow and catching up with my homework. Missing a week of class was pretty rough, and my grades are threatening to start slipping...
With that, a hui hou!
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Well!
I will be leaving early Friday morning for Japan!
Just thought I'd update while I remember. And while I'm avoiding doing my homework... there is quite a lot of it at the moment, but I am grateful that my teachers are letting me go to Japan and miss class. A lot of class.
We've also started up the swing club in the midst of this craziness - the first meeting was tonight, and we had a good turnout! After a year of about 5 people consistently involved with things, this looks promising.
I also made a pie for my roommate's birthday, which was on Sunday!
I felt very accomplished, especially considering I actually managed to simultaneously study for my Hawaiian quiz.
There was a lot of leftover filling, so it ended up as adorable miniature tarts and crisp-like concoction. Delicious!
And the best part? Nothing was burned or ruined this time!
Well, back to my wonderfully stressful pre-Nanzan planning... I am very tired, very overstretched, and rather snippy at the moment. But our presentation script is done and I do have pie.
A hui hou!
Just thought I'd update while I remember. And while I'm avoiding doing my homework... there is quite a lot of it at the moment, but I am grateful that my teachers are letting me go to Japan and miss class. A lot of class.
We've also started up the swing club in the midst of this craziness - the first meeting was tonight, and we had a good turnout! After a year of about 5 people consistently involved with things, this looks promising.
I also made a pie for my roommate's birthday, which was on Sunday!
 |
| There was supposed to be a Hello Kitty. You can totally see it, right? |
There was a lot of leftover filling, so it ended up as adorable miniature tarts and crisp-like concoction. Delicious!
And the best part? Nothing was burned or ruined this time!
Well, back to my wonderfully stressful pre-Nanzan planning... I am very tired, very overstretched, and rather snippy at the moment. But our presentation script is done and I do have pie.
A hui hou!
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Caffeine!
I'm still alive!
There has been a rather high level of quizzes, tests, homework, Nanzan planning and general studying recently, which has meant lots of staying up late and studying... until today.
Today I think my brain forgot to tell the rest of me to wake up.
After battling through classes (which is usual; very few people are excited at grammar class first thing in the morning), taking a test outside of class and forgetting the rather simple term 'blend', realizing that I had in fact missed a point on my first Japanese quiz because I misread the answer, I dragged myself off to work... an hour early.
Aside from weekends at the dining hall, I work at the juice bar at the gym, and not many people stop by. Or at least there's not a huge line like there is for the coffee stand in the morning. But I'm pretty slow too, so the juice bar is nice. There's also less opportunity to burn yourself, although I have of course managed it once or twice.
Work was extra slow today, so at least I could leaven the mundanity of my boss's day. I said hello and left to go find something caffeinated.
I have come to realize that I have a very low tolerance for caffeine. And, more recently, that I still rely on it very much. Used very carefully, caffeine can be helpful, especially when you have to deal with somewhat finicky customers (what is it with people in a gym?) and move fast. I also get a lot of homework done. And dishes. And cleaning. And random mundane things that suddenly become important tasks.
It's great until the 8-hour-long effects start to get in the way of, you know, sleeping. Or relaxing. It's just a little bit scary.
But this is why I am updating my blog at nearly midnight.
I also got my plane ticket info today! I am officially flying to Japan. Yayo!
A hui hou!
There has been a rather high level of quizzes, tests, homework, Nanzan planning and general studying recently, which has meant lots of staying up late and studying... until today.
Today I think my brain forgot to tell the rest of me to wake up.
After battling through classes (which is usual; very few people are excited at grammar class first thing in the morning), taking a test outside of class and forgetting the rather simple term 'blend', realizing that I had in fact missed a point on my first Japanese quiz because I misread the answer, I dragged myself off to work... an hour early.
Aside from weekends at the dining hall, I work at the juice bar at the gym, and not many people stop by. Or at least there's not a huge line like there is for the coffee stand in the morning. But I'm pretty slow too, so the juice bar is nice. There's also less opportunity to burn yourself, although I have of course managed it once or twice.
Work was extra slow today, so at least I could leaven the mundanity of my boss's day. I said hello and left to go find something caffeinated.
I have come to realize that I have a very low tolerance for caffeine. And, more recently, that I still rely on it very much. Used very carefully, caffeine can be helpful, especially when you have to deal with somewhat finicky customers (what is it with people in a gym?) and move fast. I also get a lot of homework done. And dishes. And cleaning. And random mundane things that suddenly become important tasks.
It's great until the 8-hour-long effects start to get in the way of, you know, sleeping. Or relaxing. It's just a little bit scary.
But this is why I am updating my blog at nearly midnight.
I also got my plane ticket info today! I am officially flying to Japan. Yayo!
A hui hou!
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Nanzan!
Good morning!
Yesterday was the last day of the Nanzan exchange in Hilo, so the students are on their way back to Nagoya.
I, having gotten less sleep than I would have liked (yesterday I got to sleep in until 7!), did not wake up until very late in what may or may not be considered the morning. I seem to have lost my voice as well.
We were crazy busy for 4 1/2 days and I loved it all. It was a lot like being in 4-H again!
I hosted my buddies for two nights each, since I have very limited space, and we did exchange activities, went to classes, ate a lot of food, made cookies, did research, and basically hung out together a lot. Our research is on sustainability, eating habits, and local food, so we went to the farmer's market and interviewed/surveyed over 80 people! We'll be organizing and planning for a presentation when I visit Nagoya in mid-October.
As for the actual stay, I felt really bad that I couldn't take them to see the ocean or around Hilo, but it was still fun! Miki is pretty much my Japanese twin (she is in fact the same height as I am, I was rather shocked), and Eri is amazingly sweet and also gets cold just as much as I do. The other students (10 total from Nanzan, all girls, and 4 other UHH students) were so much fun, and I loved meeting all of them. I don't have a camera still, but everyone else took a billion pictures and we're going to share.
On another note, I absolutely love my roommates. My actually roommate Sharon loves Hello Kitty and cooks excellent food, as does my room-on-the-other-side-mate, a vet student (yay!), who washes my dishes when I'm not looking and made curry for us. Some of the Japanese students had trouble adjusting, so I promised Eri we'd have curry, but we didn't get back until late and it was a wonderful surprise to not have to make it myself.
And now I will go back to my normal schedule of homework and work work, both of which I got to mostly postpone during the week... which is good, because I don't know if I would have survived. So today will be a lot of catching up and reading.
It's also hot outside. I know this only because it's hot inside, and walking to the store sounds very unappealing right now. I don't mind the walking, just the heat!
Yesterday was the last day of the Nanzan exchange in Hilo, so the students are on their way back to Nagoya.
I, having gotten less sleep than I would have liked (yesterday I got to sleep in until 7!), did not wake up until very late in what may or may not be considered the morning. I seem to have lost my voice as well.
We were crazy busy for 4 1/2 days and I loved it all. It was a lot like being in 4-H again!
I hosted my buddies for two nights each, since I have very limited space, and we did exchange activities, went to classes, ate a lot of food, made cookies, did research, and basically hung out together a lot. Our research is on sustainability, eating habits, and local food, so we went to the farmer's market and interviewed/surveyed over 80 people! We'll be organizing and planning for a presentation when I visit Nagoya in mid-October.
As for the actual stay, I felt really bad that I couldn't take them to see the ocean or around Hilo, but it was still fun! Miki is pretty much my Japanese twin (she is in fact the same height as I am, I was rather shocked), and Eri is amazingly sweet and also gets cold just as much as I do. The other students (10 total from Nanzan, all girls, and 4 other UHH students) were so much fun, and I loved meeting all of them. I don't have a camera still, but everyone else took a billion pictures and we're going to share.
On another note, I absolutely love my roommates. My actually roommate Sharon loves Hello Kitty and cooks excellent food, as does my room-on-the-other-side-mate, a vet student (yay!), who washes my dishes when I'm not looking and made curry for us. Some of the Japanese students had trouble adjusting, so I promised Eri we'd have curry, but we didn't get back until late and it was a wonderful surprise to not have to make it myself.
And now I will go back to my normal schedule of homework and work work, both of which I got to mostly postpone during the week... which is good, because I don't know if I would have survived. So today will be a lot of catching up and reading.
It's also hot outside. I know this only because it's hot inside, and walking to the store sounds very unappealing right now. I don't mind the walking, just the heat!
Monday, September 5, 2011
Aha!!
The internet in the dorms (not just mine, ALL of them) has been having a lot of trouble, so I haven't been able to use my own computer for about a week. Of course I have needed to check my email frequently, use my online resources for class, get into my class schedule... but it worked out, and now the internet is BACK!
I'm not sure how much of that has to do with Labor Day and the fact that a lot of students are gone. Yesterday at work it was very empty... I got bored at my job for the first time.
So it may very well die again.
One thing I have decided is to drop a class, which takes me down to 16 units... and two jobs and a rather intense exchange research program. The exchange is the main reason I've been feeling overwhelmed, but I think even if I pulled off all of my classes this semester, I wouldn't be able to do the same in the spring.
This means that I will most likely NOT be graduating next Spring. It's disappointing, but I'm hoping to avoid the excess stress that was a large part of the reason I got so sick last semester. (Of course the other reason is the vog, which by staying I will not be able to get away from... so there's downsides any way I go.)
It's a very nerve-wracking decision, but I want to take more Hawaiian next semester, and now it will fit in my schedule. I LOVE my Hawaiian class, the language is beautiful and the entire program is just really interesting.
Plus, being a Linguistics major puts me under the Hawaiian Language College, so I feel like I should live up to that somehow.
I will now celebrate this holiday by finishing my homework early before I go pick up my first exchange student, Miki, from the airport! We're doing our Hilo-based research and projects this week, and despite getting delayed by a typhoon in the airport, the Nagoya students are coming in today!
Hopefully I can write a little more about our research later, it's really interesting!
It would be a lot less stressful if I had a car or other form of reliable transportation. I hope she doesn't mind walking...
A hui hou!
I'm not sure how much of that has to do with Labor Day and the fact that a lot of students are gone. Yesterday at work it was very empty... I got bored at my job for the first time.
So it may very well die again.
One thing I have decided is to drop a class, which takes me down to 16 units... and two jobs and a rather intense exchange research program. The exchange is the main reason I've been feeling overwhelmed, but I think even if I pulled off all of my classes this semester, I wouldn't be able to do the same in the spring.
This means that I will most likely NOT be graduating next Spring. It's disappointing, but I'm hoping to avoid the excess stress that was a large part of the reason I got so sick last semester. (Of course the other reason is the vog, which by staying I will not be able to get away from... so there's downsides any way I go.)
It's a very nerve-wracking decision, but I want to take more Hawaiian next semester, and now it will fit in my schedule. I LOVE my Hawaiian class, the language is beautiful and the entire program is just really interesting.
Plus, being a Linguistics major puts me under the Hawaiian Language College, so I feel like I should live up to that somehow.
I will now celebrate this holiday by finishing my homework early before I go pick up my first exchange student, Miki, from the airport! We're doing our Hilo-based research and projects this week, and despite getting delayed by a typhoon in the airport, the Nagoya students are coming in today!
Hopefully I can write a little more about our research later, it's really interesting!
It would be a lot less stressful if I had a car or other form of reliable transportation. I hope she doesn't mind walking...
A hui hou!
Monday, August 29, 2011
It's off to work I go...
It is way too early in the semester for me to be this busy.
I am part of an exchange program with a school in Nagoya, Japan, and just looked at the dates to find out that the Japanese students are in fact going to be here NEXT WEEK. Thus I frantically sent out many, many emails. It's a two-part exchange with a research project, so I'll be going to JAPAN in October and doing a presentation among other things. It's a lot of work, but it'll be over well before finals, so that's a plus.
As if that wasn't enough, my classes are a bit difficult this semester. Even the ones that are fairly easy have a lot of homework involved, which I don't have a lot of time for.
My Hawaiian class is probably the hardest, although after the first week of overwhelming information it's actually really interesting and fun, and I'm looking forward to it. We have weekly quizzes on vocabulary, though, so there's a lot of studying there. It's just memorization, and quite boring, really, so I ended up watching movies with my Hawaiian flashcards. My teacher is very nice, and not too tough, although she doesn't go easy on us either.
And on top of that, I've started working at my job with the dining hall and juice bar. It's so much nicer to work when you don't have bronchitis, I've found out. 3 months of dreading working and it really wasn't so bad.
I start my other job tomorrow. It's 1-2 hours a week, and my boss is very sympathetic towards crazy people with too much to do. :)
Of course, if I start wailing and speaking gibberish, you'll all know why...
I am part of an exchange program with a school in Nagoya, Japan, and just looked at the dates to find out that the Japanese students are in fact going to be here NEXT WEEK. Thus I frantically sent out many, many emails. It's a two-part exchange with a research project, so I'll be going to JAPAN in October and doing a presentation among other things. It's a lot of work, but it'll be over well before finals, so that's a plus.
As if that wasn't enough, my classes are a bit difficult this semester. Even the ones that are fairly easy have a lot of homework involved, which I don't have a lot of time for.
My Hawaiian class is probably the hardest, although after the first week of overwhelming information it's actually really interesting and fun, and I'm looking forward to it. We have weekly quizzes on vocabulary, though, so there's a lot of studying there. It's just memorization, and quite boring, really, so I ended up watching movies with my Hawaiian flashcards. My teacher is very nice, and not too tough, although she doesn't go easy on us either.
And on top of that, I've started working at my job with the dining hall and juice bar. It's so much nicer to work when you don't have bronchitis, I've found out. 3 months of dreading working and it really wasn't so bad.
I start my other job tomorrow. It's 1-2 hours a week, and my boss is very sympathetic towards crazy people with too much to do. :)
Of course, if I start wailing and speaking gibberish, you'll all know why...
Monday, August 22, 2011
Ahi and Classes
Well, the first day of school is over! I have successfully registered for the last of my classes (which involved a lot of last-minute paperwork which in itself involved people at opposite ends of the campus who then sent me BACK where I had been five minutes earlier. I don't know how many people can say they've gotten a workout from paperwork.) and survived syllabuses flying and book buying and the internet not working.
I will be taking 19 units this semester, which I need if I want to graduate next semester. It really would only be 18 credits and not require an overload had I not decided to take elementary Hawaiian, which is 4 credits and messes up my count.
I also have two major requirement, only offered in the fall classes that are happening at the same time, so I get to be Hermione Granger-like and be in two places at once. :) Good thing I was homeschooled!
I've also moved into my apartment-style dorm, which has its own bathroom and kitchen and that is good enough for me. I've met my housemates, including my roommate who loves Hello Kitty probably more than I do, so we get along just fine. (So far.)
As for the ahi, I just finished off the last of it in my 5th ahi meal since I got here on Wednesday. For those of you who don't know, ahi is yellowfin tuna, a very delicious dark red fish that is really only good fresh. Seared ahi, ahi sushi, ahi salad, ahi poke...
I probably won't need to eat any more for a long time, which is good, since ahi is pretty expensive.
The internet is really fast here when it works, so I should be able to update this blog every once in a while. Should being the key word here...
A hui hou!
I will be taking 19 units this semester, which I need if I want to graduate next semester. It really would only be 18 credits and not require an overload had I not decided to take elementary Hawaiian, which is 4 credits and messes up my count.
I also have two major requirement, only offered in the fall classes that are happening at the same time, so I get to be Hermione Granger-like and be in two places at once. :) Good thing I was homeschooled!
I've also moved into my apartment-style dorm, which has its own bathroom and kitchen and that is good enough for me. I've met my housemates, including my roommate who loves Hello Kitty probably more than I do, so we get along just fine. (So far.)
As for the ahi, I just finished off the last of it in my 5th ahi meal since I got here on Wednesday. For those of you who don't know, ahi is yellowfin tuna, a very delicious dark red fish that is really only good fresh. Seared ahi, ahi sushi, ahi salad, ahi poke...
I probably won't need to eat any more for a long time, which is good, since ahi is pretty expensive.
The internet is really fast here when it works, so I should be able to update this blog every once in a while. Should being the key word here...
A hui hou!
Friday, August 19, 2011
Oahu!
After a nicely uneventful plane flight from Sacramento on Wednesday, I am now sitting in lovely Oahu listening to the rain. There's a small hurricane approaching Hawaii, so I'm expecting more rain once I get to Hilo. It is Hilo, after all.
I think I do like Oahu better than the Big Island, although I may be biased.
We're flying into Hilo tonight, though, and hopefully will get things settled by Sunday night when my mom flies back out! I wasn't looking forward to moving, since I vaguely remember last year being miserable, but actually having a guaranteed place to stay and things to put in it is quite nice. (I also have a walk-in closet and hopefully more living space. And a kitchen, of course!)
I also hate packing with a vengeance, so having THAT over is a relief. Of course, I didn't pack very well, and staying 2 1/2 days in Oahu means that everything is now half-unpacked again...
But just in case anyone was worried, I did make it over here okay.
I think I do like Oahu better than the Big Island, although I may be biased.
We're flying into Hilo tonight, though, and hopefully will get things settled by Sunday night when my mom flies back out! I wasn't looking forward to moving, since I vaguely remember last year being miserable, but actually having a guaranteed place to stay and things to put in it is quite nice. (I also have a walk-in closet and hopefully more living space. And a kitchen, of course!)
I also hate packing with a vengeance, so having THAT over is a relief. Of course, I didn't pack very well, and staying 2 1/2 days in Oahu means that everything is now half-unpacked again...
But just in case anyone was worried, I did make it over here okay.
Friday, August 12, 2011
Vegans
First of all, my flight is leaving next Wednesday (the 17th) and my classes start the 22nd (a lovely Monday).
But before that is the fair! One of the reasons I stayed at home so long, besides a general tendency to procrastinate, is to at least help at the fair. It will be opening the day I leave, so I won't actually get to go, but I am both entering things and helping sporadically. I was able to help check in youth entries all day Wednesday, which is fun, and then organize them, which is exhausting.
The weekend is off, and starting Monday are the food entries! I've entered vegan banana muffins that are actually delicious and scones.
The book that the scone recipe comes from has a lot of off-the-wall recipes, mostly scones. It's from a tea shop, and a lot of the recipes are based on tea, which is why I bought it. These particular ones are peppermint stick. I've made them before, using almond milk so I could actually taste-test them, and was planning on entering them as such, and so put 'vegan' on my form. A few weeks later I realized that vegan actually includes eggs and started mildly panicking and looking up substitutes, some of which are quite interesting.
As it turns out, there are NO eggs in my scones, so they are still vegan (yay!), but we did run out of eggs this morning, which meant experimenting!
I recommend using eggs.
I'm not sure if it was a combination of 'interesting' pancake mix, almond milk AND half of banana instead of egg, but my pancakes came out thick, burnt, and just plain odd. I ate them anyway, which is why it's a bad idea to experiment when you're hungry.
I really don't understand why anyone would be a vegan by choice. I would happily eat their cheeseburgers for them. But maybe I'm biased.
But before that is the fair! One of the reasons I stayed at home so long, besides a general tendency to procrastinate, is to at least help at the fair. It will be opening the day I leave, so I won't actually get to go, but I am both entering things and helping sporadically. I was able to help check in youth entries all day Wednesday, which is fun, and then organize them, which is exhausting.
The weekend is off, and starting Monday are the food entries! I've entered vegan banana muffins that are actually delicious and scones.
The book that the scone recipe comes from has a lot of off-the-wall recipes, mostly scones. It's from a tea shop, and a lot of the recipes are based on tea, which is why I bought it. These particular ones are peppermint stick. I've made them before, using almond milk so I could actually taste-test them, and was planning on entering them as such, and so put 'vegan' on my form. A few weeks later I realized that vegan actually includes eggs and started mildly panicking and looking up substitutes, some of which are quite interesting.
As it turns out, there are NO eggs in my scones, so they are still vegan (yay!), but we did run out of eggs this morning, which meant experimenting!
I recommend using eggs.
I'm not sure if it was a combination of 'interesting' pancake mix, almond milk AND half of banana instead of egg, but my pancakes came out thick, burnt, and just plain odd. I ate them anyway, which is why it's a bad idea to experiment when you're hungry.
I really don't understand why anyone would be a vegan by choice. I would happily eat their cheeseburgers for them. But maybe I'm biased.
Friday, July 29, 2011
Accomplishment
A lot of my summer is dedicated to not being bored. This isn't to say there isn't a ton of things to do around here (there are), but more that I'm realizing now that I have a month left in California and want to make the most of it. (Actually, there's less than a month now, but I'm refusing to acknowledge that. Yes, this is how excited I am to go back to school.)
Now that the goats are out of State Fair things have calmed down a bit, so I can start sorting out pictures, cleaning my room, and focus on not getting sunburnt. It's quite hot outside. It doesn't bother me, which is probably why I never remember to put on sunscreen.
But yesterday I went and helped my mom label many, many jars of honey. I've been breaking things left and right lately, so no broken jars and a stack of labeled boxes makes me feel very accomplished. :)
Now that the goats are out of State Fair things have calmed down a bit, so I can start sorting out pictures, cleaning my room, and focus on not getting sunburnt. It's quite hot outside. It doesn't bother me, which is probably why I never remember to put on sunscreen.
But yesterday I went and helped my mom label many, many jars of honey. I've been breaking things left and right lately, so no broken jars and a stack of labeled boxes makes me feel very accomplished. :)
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Number 50
According to Blogger, this is my 50th blog post. I'm sure there would be more if I actually updated this more than once a month, but I am lazy, busy, and forgetful, and that doesn't really bode well for blogging. It seems better to blog about a single thing than an update on everything that's happened that I forgot to write about... which is what I'm doing now.
My lazy summer is not so lazy after all, and it seems like I haven't been home for a single Saturday in two months. Last week Mom and I went down to San Diego for a week or so to help a friend move out, which was exciting since I had been wanting to visit there. It was nicer than I expected for a Southern California city! The ocean was really close, the air wasn't bad, and we didn't spend too much time in traffic (except driving home), so it was nice.
I still don't know why anyone would want to be in LA, but that's a different story.
We did go to Sea World while we were there! It was fun seeing all the animals, but the shows were a bit lacking at times. I think the seals and sea lions stole the show, really.
Tomorrow will start the Travel Guide program for the Japan exchange in 4-H - I get to orientate a bunch of Japanese kids before sending them out to their host families. This is my second time, and it should be really fun! I just have to finish the last-minute presentations I was surprised with.
Next week is State Fair, too! That's even more exciting!
My lazy summer is not so lazy after all, and it seems like I haven't been home for a single Saturday in two months. Last week Mom and I went down to San Diego for a week or so to help a friend move out, which was exciting since I had been wanting to visit there. It was nicer than I expected for a Southern California city! The ocean was really close, the air wasn't bad, and we didn't spend too much time in traffic (except driving home), so it was nice.
I still don't know why anyone would want to be in LA, but that's a different story.
We did go to Sea World while we were there! It was fun seeing all the animals, but the shows were a bit lacking at times. I think the seals and sea lions stole the show, really.
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| Me, me! Pick me! |
Next week is State Fair, too! That's even more exciting!
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Summertime!
Well hello there! It's summer, and I conveniently forgot (or tried to, anyway) anything to do with school... which includes this blog. But I'm currently working out money and housing things, which is no fun, so I decided to do something more fun!
I completed my summer classes with considerably less hair-pulling and crying than I thought, and so far have a B+ in Pidgins and Creoles. I would be kind of disappointed in any other class, but here I'm actually kind of proud, although I did a miserable job on my final and could have gotten at least an A- if I had tried really hard. My other class hasn't been graded yet, it's taking its time which is fine with me!
So now I get to focus on summer things... like playing the piano, reading, cleaning my room, sitting around doing nothing because it's finally gotten hot...
And going to fairs:
This last weekend I went to an event in downtown Sacramento, which itself was pretty exciting:
I have also learned that my camera's file size is HUGE, which makes it difficult to upload pictures anywhere. It takes good pictures, though, so I guess that's why.
Next stop: Bakersfield via 5 hour train ride! My last train ride of that length was Russia to Finland with 200 mosquito bites to keep me company. (No, I'm not exaggerating, it was actually 197.) Keeping me fingers crossed for this trip to be better...
I completed my summer classes with considerably less hair-pulling and crying than I thought, and so far have a B+ in Pidgins and Creoles. I would be kind of disappointed in any other class, but here I'm actually kind of proud, although I did a miserable job on my final and could have gotten at least an A- if I had tried really hard. My other class hasn't been graded yet, it's taking its time which is fine with me!
So now I get to focus on summer things... like playing the piano, reading, cleaning my room, sitting around doing nothing because it's finally gotten hot...
And going to fairs:
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| Sunny the fair-travelling goat invades Stockton |
This last weekend I went to an event in downtown Sacramento, which itself was pretty exciting:
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| Our state Capitol! I haven't been there since elementary school. |
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| The view from the 15th floor of the Regency hotel :) |
Next stop: Bakersfield via 5 hour train ride! My last train ride of that length was Russia to Finland with 200 mosquito bites to keep me company. (No, I'm not exaggerating, it was actually 197.) Keeping me fingers crossed for this trip to be better...
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Midterm week!
Since my summer classes are only 4 weeks long, I have two midterms on Friday! I will also be getting ready for a trip to San Jose this Friday, which is horrible timing. I wonder if my teachers will give us Memorial Day off...
I still don't really like studying about gender, but the class itself is interesting and not so bad, and the pacing is not too bad. My pidgin class, on the other hand, required me to watch 2 hours of video, review 2 lectures, and read 45 pages of text... and that just for Wednesday's assignment. Whew.
I might mention here that I got 4 A's and an A- this last semester, which means a year's GPA of something very close to 4.0. I am saying this now because it is looking to go down with this class.
The content of the pidgins class is a little disappointed, since it's now focusing Hawaii and hopefully getting around to the actual creole and how it's used in the islands. This is all very interesting, of course, and I am getting a crash course in Hawaiian history, but I liked my Jamaican English and Bajan accent studies. Although I should be grateful my professor didn't decide to add those on to what we're already studying...
Right now I'm trying to decide if Hawaiian-based terms should be italicized in my assignment. I think it looks pompous. But it is on history and Captain Cook, and he was a little pompous too.
Lalani kahle! (That would be Zulu for 'good night'. It's a very interesting language. Hi, I'm a Linguistics major.)
I still don't really like studying about gender, but the class itself is interesting and not so bad, and the pacing is not too bad. My pidgin class, on the other hand, required me to watch 2 hours of video, review 2 lectures, and read 45 pages of text... and that just for Wednesday's assignment. Whew.
I might mention here that I got 4 A's and an A- this last semester, which means a year's GPA of something very close to 4.0. I am saying this now because it is looking to go down with this class.
The content of the pidgins class is a little disappointed, since it's now focusing Hawaii and hopefully getting around to the actual creole and how it's used in the islands. This is all very interesting, of course, and I am getting a crash course in Hawaiian history, but I liked my Jamaican English and Bajan accent studies. Although I should be grateful my professor didn't decide to add those on to what we're already studying...
Right now I'm trying to decide if Hawaiian-based terms should be italicized in my assignment. I think it looks pompous. But it is on history and Captain Cook, and he was a little pompous too.
Lalani kahle! (That would be Zulu for 'good night'. It's a very interesting language. Hi, I'm a Linguistics major.)
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Summer!
Why yes, that WAS fast.
But I am safely home, despite a less-than-ideal plane flight, although a very nice woman sat next to me and chatted for the bits when I wasn't sleeping or looking half-asleep. It was cold and rainy at home (FIFTY FOUR DEGREES to be exact), but the sun came out today and was quite gorgeous, so I have ventured outside to the barns and pastures.
But mostly I've been sleeping a lot (which is part not having slept very much for a very long time, part jet lag, and part vague insomnia), bothering my family (they missed me, I'm sure), slowly unpacking, playing the piano, planning things to do when I'm more awake, generally recovering... and doing homework.
That's right, summer school started on Monday, so I woke up to a lovely syllabus and pile (figuratively speaking, it is an online class) of homework for Pidgins and Creoles, which is interesting but very confusing in a fast-paced class with a fast-paced teacher. I was fine with this until my other class suddenly woke up and added its work on top of everything.
THAT class is Language and Gender, which I realize now is sociolinguistics, a popular subfield which is probably 3rd on my list of least favorite. The first would be psycholinguistics, because it's psychology, and the second neurolinguistics, which is interesting brain stuff but overly sciency. (I could list all of these subfields and why I do or don't like them, but it would take a long time.)
It is my favorite teacher, though, and she did use the words 'let's have fun', so I'm not too worried.
But I have the feeling that my homework assignments will be subtly hinting at how much I dislike the assignments. Of course, this is only day three. Of course, we only have 4 weeks. Hmm.
But I am safely home, despite a less-than-ideal plane flight, although a very nice woman sat next to me and chatted for the bits when I wasn't sleeping or looking half-asleep. It was cold and rainy at home (FIFTY FOUR DEGREES to be exact), but the sun came out today and was quite gorgeous, so I have ventured outside to the barns and pastures.
But mostly I've been sleeping a lot (which is part not having slept very much for a very long time, part jet lag, and part vague insomnia), bothering my family (they missed me, I'm sure), slowly unpacking, playing the piano, planning things to do when I'm more awake, generally recovering... and doing homework.
That's right, summer school started on Monday, so I woke up to a lovely syllabus and pile (figuratively speaking, it is an online class) of homework for Pidgins and Creoles, which is interesting but very confusing in a fast-paced class with a fast-paced teacher. I was fine with this until my other class suddenly woke up and added its work on top of everything.
THAT class is Language and Gender, which I realize now is sociolinguistics, a popular subfield which is probably 3rd on my list of least favorite. The first would be psycholinguistics, because it's psychology, and the second neurolinguistics, which is interesting brain stuff but overly sciency. (I could list all of these subfields and why I do or don't like them, but it would take a long time.)
It is my favorite teacher, though, and she did use the words 'let's have fun', so I'm not too worried.
But I have the feeling that my homework assignments will be subtly hinting at how much I dislike the assignments. Of course, this is only day three. Of course, we only have 4 weeks. Hmm.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Setting off
Well, here I am getting ready to go HOME.
I got all packed and checked out of my dorm yesterday (STRESSFUL), and my pocket feels so empty without my keys in it... I don't know what to do anymore!
Somehow all of my stuff is in storage somewhere, thanks mainly to wonderful friends who are sticking around over the summer. One of those friends fortunately offered to put me up in her family's rental house until my plane leaves tomorrow, so I'm now in Pahoa listening to the waves right outside the door...
And we had a lovely day going to UHH graduation... and not getting in because it was so packed. So instead we were eating spam musubi and mahi mahi and going last-minute souvenir shopping, then went to the beach to scuttle around on the lava rocks one last time. Okay, I scuttled. Everyone else sat.
Not too horrible. (I'm not being sucked in, Hawaii. I'm still going home.)
I am not sure if I should still update this blog since I am not going to be back in Hilo until (hopefully) August. Although I am taking summer school.
So, until next time, a hui hou!
I got all packed and checked out of my dorm yesterday (STRESSFUL), and my pocket feels so empty without my keys in it... I don't know what to do anymore!
Somehow all of my stuff is in storage somewhere, thanks mainly to wonderful friends who are sticking around over the summer. One of those friends fortunately offered to put me up in her family's rental house until my plane leaves tomorrow, so I'm now in Pahoa listening to the waves right outside the door...
And we had a lovely day going to UHH graduation... and not getting in because it was so packed. So instead we were eating spam musubi and mahi mahi and going last-minute souvenir shopping, then went to the beach to scuttle around on the lava rocks one last time. Okay, I scuttled. Everyone else sat.
Not too horrible. (I'm not being sucked in, Hawaii. I'm still going home.)
I am not sure if I should still update this blog since I am not going to be back in Hilo until (hopefully) August. Although I am taking summer school.
So, until next time, a hui hou!
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Finals week!
In between the finals, trying to pack up my entire dorm room, planning for next semester and trying to get all that stuff done that we never got around to doing during the semester, it's been a nice and stressful lately. Kind of like it has been for the past I-don't-know-how-long...
I think it's funny how the last day of class is always more fun (unless your class is just THAT bad), and you realize that you might actually miss your teacher and classmates. It tricks you into forgetting how much you hated the homework. The exception would be Japanese, because it is hands-down my favorite class, and probably everyone else's too.
On Thursday we had the end of year picnic for the Hawaiian language college, and since Linguistics falls under Hawaiian for some reason we were able to go and perform! We sang a song from East Timor, being the only ones not in Hawaiian, and considering we had barely practiced I think we pulled it off rather well. I missed half the other groups while we were practicing, but the rest were very good! I am excited to take Hawaiian next semester... I might actually understand something next time.
That night our Japanese teacher had a class party at her house, which is in a beautiful rural area south of Hilo, so we all carpooled and had sushi and yakisoba... and pizza. And played games, some of which were suspiciously close to our homework.
One of the sushi types was unagi, which is the Japanese eel. I had been craving it for a while, but I took a bite and all of these facts about eels went flashing through my head, and it was a bit overwhelming. But delicious.
Now to work on my impossible phonology paper until I have to go back to work in an hour... so much for a restful weekend.
I think it's funny how the last day of class is always more fun (unless your class is just THAT bad), and you realize that you might actually miss your teacher and classmates. It tricks you into forgetting how much you hated the homework. The exception would be Japanese, because it is hands-down my favorite class, and probably everyone else's too.
On Thursday we had the end of year picnic for the Hawaiian language college, and since Linguistics falls under Hawaiian for some reason we were able to go and perform! We sang a song from East Timor, being the only ones not in Hawaiian, and considering we had barely practiced I think we pulled it off rather well. I missed half the other groups while we were practicing, but the rest were very good! I am excited to take Hawaiian next semester... I might actually understand something next time.
That night our Japanese teacher had a class party at her house, which is in a beautiful rural area south of Hilo, so we all carpooled and had sushi and yakisoba... and pizza. And played games, some of which were suspiciously close to our homework.
One of the sushi types was unagi, which is the Japanese eel. I had been craving it for a while, but I took a bite and all of these facts about eels went flashing through my head, and it was a bit overwhelming. But delicious.
Now to work on my impossible phonology paper until I have to go back to work in an hour... so much for a restful weekend.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
PAU!
Of all the Hawaiian words I now know, I think pau is the one I use most often, especially after being around some of the girls I work with who have pretty awesome accents.
I realized yesterday that I will probably get home and say things that no one else will understand. Oh well.
Pau means done, although I'm not taking Hawaiian yet so no one has actually explained this to me. The first time I saw it was my Linguistics teacher's 'pau!' sign for our presentations (which she needs when classmates go over 20 minutes on 8 minute presentations), and this semester I've heard tons of people use it, so it has rubbed off on me. I like it. It's a good word. And you can say things like... pau with school!!
Okay, tomorrow's the last day of classes, but aside from finishing up the last touches on my history journals and phonology presentation I am DONE with all of my hard homework!!
Today was our Japanese progress interview, which considering that I was VERY tired and didn't get much chance to practice went rather well. I got two topics on goats and sheep and one more that I forgot halfway through, but then got a chance to explain rather confusedly that no, I don't really want to be an English teacher in Japan, at least, that's not why I'm in this major, I don't really know WHAT I want to do but I want to intern with LABO, which is sort of like being a teacher but it isn't, really.... all in Japanese.
And then there was an Aquaculture final/test that I think I did rather poorly on, but I got an A on my species synopsis that I nearly died over, and I did study very hard when I could, just... not the right things.
I really like my Aquaculture teacher and the other students, though. It was a super fun class. I'm very sad that I can't take animal science next semester.
I am looking forward to sleeping a lot this weekend. Finals, what finals?
I realized yesterday that I will probably get home and say things that no one else will understand. Oh well.
Pau means done, although I'm not taking Hawaiian yet so no one has actually explained this to me. The first time I saw it was my Linguistics teacher's 'pau!' sign for our presentations (which she needs when classmates go over 20 minutes on 8 minute presentations), and this semester I've heard tons of people use it, so it has rubbed off on me. I like it. It's a good word. And you can say things like... pau with school!!
Okay, tomorrow's the last day of classes, but aside from finishing up the last touches on my history journals and phonology presentation I am DONE with all of my hard homework!!
Today was our Japanese progress interview, which considering that I was VERY tired and didn't get much chance to practice went rather well. I got two topics on goats and sheep and one more that I forgot halfway through, but then got a chance to explain rather confusedly that no, I don't really want to be an English teacher in Japan, at least, that's not why I'm in this major, I don't really know WHAT I want to do but I want to intern with LABO, which is sort of like being a teacher but it isn't, really.... all in Japanese.
And then there was an Aquaculture final/test that I think I did rather poorly on, but I got an A on my species synopsis that I nearly died over, and I did study very hard when I could, just... not the right things.
I really like my Aquaculture teacher and the other students, though. It was a super fun class. I'm very sad that I can't take animal science next semester.
I am looking forward to sleeping a lot this weekend. Finals, what finals?
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Research Break
I promised to blog, so I thought I would do it before I forgot. (And tomorrow's Saturday, so I don't know when I'll wake up...)
I appear to have caught a cold (either that or my allergies have crossed some sort of weird threshold), after having some laryngitis for a week, and actually being vaguely sick for a month or so. I'm sure a lot of that is due to stress, but being sick is stressful too, so it doesn't help.
I have been trying to avoid stress and get better by not focusing very hard on school, which has involved skipping three classes this week and calling off work for Saturday. Unfortunately that has backfired and I have a large amount of paper writing to do before next week and have to do it now (in between sneezes). I'm rather confident on two of them, but my Phonology paper doesn't even have a set topic yet (I asked for an extension) and my Aquaculture synopsis is going to be tough. Doable, but tough.
And in the midst of this I am supposed to be signing up for Summer and Fall classes, which is a bit difficult. I have decided as of now to double major in Linguistics and Japanese Studies (because I don't like the JS major anymore but don't want to waste all of the classes I took for it), which means I am dropping my Agriculture minor. That brings my number of Happy Classes down to one... which is Japanese, so I guess I'm doing something right there.
I'm also looking at taking Hawaiian for my Linguistics requirement. It's either that or Spanish, just because Spanish would be easy.
I said I would talk about my Aquaculture tours from last week, but I've already written a lot... so it will go fast.
We have two classes a week, so we used the class times to go on tours of the university farm and Pacific Aquaculture and Coastal Resource Center. It was very exciting! The farm had sturgeon and tilapia, as well as some gorgeous carp and miscellaneous fish. It was pretty small, but nice! PACRC was much more intense, with not only fish but oysters, microalgae, and hydroponics systems. They also have huge tanks that were meant for raising ahi, but it's difficult to raise marine fish in captivity. And apparently ahi die off from running into walls, so that didn't work so well.
Tomorrow is Earth Day at the farm, and I was hoping to go, but between being sick and homework it doesn't seem like a good idea. If I do go it will only be to see the goats anyway. I think that is reason enough.
A hui hou!
I appear to have caught a cold (either that or my allergies have crossed some sort of weird threshold), after having some laryngitis for a week, and actually being vaguely sick for a month or so. I'm sure a lot of that is due to stress, but being sick is stressful too, so it doesn't help.
I have been trying to avoid stress and get better by not focusing very hard on school, which has involved skipping three classes this week and calling off work for Saturday. Unfortunately that has backfired and I have a large amount of paper writing to do before next week and have to do it now (in between sneezes). I'm rather confident on two of them, but my Phonology paper doesn't even have a set topic yet (I asked for an extension) and my Aquaculture synopsis is going to be tough. Doable, but tough.
And in the midst of this I am supposed to be signing up for Summer and Fall classes, which is a bit difficult. I have decided as of now to double major in Linguistics and Japanese Studies (because I don't like the JS major anymore but don't want to waste all of the classes I took for it), which means I am dropping my Agriculture minor. That brings my number of Happy Classes down to one... which is Japanese, so I guess I'm doing something right there.
I'm also looking at taking Hawaiian for my Linguistics requirement. It's either that or Spanish, just because Spanish would be easy.
I said I would talk about my Aquaculture tours from last week, but I've already written a lot... so it will go fast.
We have two classes a week, so we used the class times to go on tours of the university farm and Pacific Aquaculture and Coastal Resource Center. It was very exciting! The farm had sturgeon and tilapia, as well as some gorgeous carp and miscellaneous fish. It was pretty small, but nice! PACRC was much more intense, with not only fish but oysters, microalgae, and hydroponics systems. They also have huge tanks that were meant for raising ahi, but it's difficult to raise marine fish in captivity. And apparently ahi die off from running into walls, so that didn't work so well.
Tomorrow is Earth Day at the farm, and I was hoping to go, but between being sick and homework it doesn't seem like a good idea. If I do go it will only be to see the goats anyway. I think that is reason enough.
A hui hou!
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Hula away
This time instead of complaining about school I have decided to actually write about something interesting. :)
Our hula class was canceled for last week and half of the week before (we only meet twice a week, so this was big), so on Tuesday we were all somewhat out of shape. Of course, our teacher gave us a really tough workout that day, but it was fun and we finished working on our first hula song (Ku'u Wa Li'ili'i).
Thursday he let us off early so we could start learning our new song! I wasn't in the advanced group last semester and only learned one, but so far the pattern seems to be one faster-paced song and one slow.
The name of the song is Pua 'Ahihi, although I'm not sure on the 'okina since I found it both ways, and it is a very slow, very pretty love song.
Unfortunately, dancing hula very slowly and gracefully is MUCH harder. My skirt helps, since it swishes nicely and looks graceful no matter what, even if I'm sure what exactly I'm doing. It didn't help that I was the only semi-beginner there that night, and everyone was much faster then I was.
Despite that, I think I remember most of what we learned, and I'm really excited! Hopefully I'll be able to 'perform' (not well) for people this summer.
I'm going to finish some homework (ha) and sleep, since I'm working at a new place this weekend. I have four papers due the week after next... but only two finals! It all works out, but I'll be very very busy probably until the end of the semester.
Next topic (I will do this regularly!): Aquaculture facility tours!
Our hula class was canceled for last week and half of the week before (we only meet twice a week, so this was big), so on Tuesday we were all somewhat out of shape. Of course, our teacher gave us a really tough workout that day, but it was fun and we finished working on our first hula song (Ku'u Wa Li'ili'i).
Thursday he let us off early so we could start learning our new song! I wasn't in the advanced group last semester and only learned one, but so far the pattern seems to be one faster-paced song and one slow.
The name of the song is Pua 'Ahihi, although I'm not sure on the 'okina since I found it both ways, and it is a very slow, very pretty love song.
Unfortunately, dancing hula very slowly and gracefully is MUCH harder. My skirt helps, since it swishes nicely and looks graceful no matter what, even if I'm sure what exactly I'm doing. It didn't help that I was the only semi-beginner there that night, and everyone was much faster then I was.
Despite that, I think I remember most of what we learned, and I'm really excited! Hopefully I'll be able to 'perform' (not well) for people this summer.
I'm going to finish some homework (ha) and sleep, since I'm working at a new place this weekend. I have four papers due the week after next... but only two finals! It all works out, but I'll be very very busy probably until the end of the semester.
Next topic (I will do this regularly!): Aquaculture facility tours!
Monday, April 11, 2011
Relay!
This past weekend I participated in the college's Relay For Life, which runs from 6 PM to 6 AM. If it hadn't been for the fact that I had been staying up rather late/early all of last week anyway, it wouldn't be a problem, but I was already rather tired and it was actually a relay, which meant a lot of walking. I got there at 9 PM (after an hour and a half of swing dancing, no less) and don't remember sitting down all that much.
But it was really fun! There was music and games all night, and I got to make smoothies and sell cool stuff to raise money for our booth, and I got a shirt, and I am definitely going to try and go again next year.
And if that wasn't enough, this weekend was also a set of workshops for swing dance! We had a world champion couple come (to Hilo!) and give instructions, and our UH club's leader kindly gave the four of us students scholarships to a few of them, so I got to learn boogie and styling moves like swivels and flying lindy (which is every bit as frightening as it sounds) as well as do a lot of just dancing. Dancing with the instructor was one of the most intimidating things ever. It was really hard, but we still had a lot of fun.
I have the feeling that tomorrow will not be fun.
But it was really fun! There was music and games all night, and I got to make smoothies and sell cool stuff to raise money for our booth, and I got a shirt, and I am definitely going to try and go again next year.
And if that wasn't enough, this weekend was also a set of workshops for swing dance! We had a world champion couple come (to Hilo!) and give instructions, and our UH club's leader kindly gave the four of us students scholarships to a few of them, so I got to learn boogie and styling moves like swivels and flying lindy (which is every bit as frightening as it sounds) as well as do a lot of just dancing. Dancing with the instructor was one of the most intimidating things ever. It was really hard, but we still had a lot of fun.
I have the feeling that tomorrow will not be fun.
Friday, April 1, 2011
Fall schedule!
I don't usually post this much (as you've probably noticed), but this was important and school-related. And this way I can find it again when I try to remember exactly what I need to worry about.
The tentative fall schedule was finally posted today! So I immediately looked up all of the problems my classes are going to cause. Japanese has gone down to three days a week but moved to an earlier time which is, so far, messing up everything.
And looking at my different areas, with some squeezing it looks like I could actually manage a double major in Japanese and Linguistics... if I drop my ag minor. Which is depressing, because I was so excited to finally be able to make it into an animal science class (because it's scheduled at 8 AM, not so exciting) AND horticulture.
I might take another semester to avoid killing myself, but I was trying to avoid that.
Of course, my lovely Japanese major is not actually offering any of the classes that I could cross majors and simplify my life. Those are the actual Japanese language-focus classes, so I'm starting to wonder why exactly the major is useful and why everyone says it's such a great program. But that could just be the Linguistics student talking.
Speaking of Linguistics, I got (semi)hired as an English tutor this morning. On accident, because I didn't realize it was an official job interview until he started handing me forms and talking about schedules, but aside from actually turning stuff in, it looks really promising. My other job said they wanted to hire me elsewhere, though, so I might be working more there too. Hmm.
So that was exciting, and it is also Friday, which means no immediate homework! Yay!
Happy April!
The tentative fall schedule was finally posted today! So I immediately looked up all of the problems my classes are going to cause. Japanese has gone down to three days a week but moved to an earlier time which is, so far, messing up everything.
And looking at my different areas, with some squeezing it looks like I could actually manage a double major in Japanese and Linguistics... if I drop my ag minor. Which is depressing, because I was so excited to finally be able to make it into an animal science class (because it's scheduled at 8 AM, not so exciting) AND horticulture.
I might take another semester to avoid killing myself, but I was trying to avoid that.
Of course, my lovely Japanese major is not actually offering any of the classes that I could cross majors and simplify my life. Those are the actual Japanese language-focus classes, so I'm starting to wonder why exactly the major is useful and why everyone says it's such a great program. But that could just be the Linguistics student talking.
Speaking of Linguistics, I got (semi)hired as an English tutor this morning. On accident, because I didn't realize it was an official job interview until he started handing me forms and talking about schedules, but aside from actually turning stuff in, it looks really promising. My other job said they wanted to hire me elsewhere, though, so I might be working more there too. Hmm.
So that was exciting, and it is also Friday, which means no immediate homework! Yay!
Happy April!
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Weekofdoom
It's gotten so infamous that it has been condensed into a single word.
Last night I was rather content on how my tests and various things were going pretty much on schedule. This is a prime example on why you shouldn't DO that.
Today I find out by email that my Aquaculture test got postponed. Which seems like a good thing, but I was darn good and ready for that test!
Yesterday was SUPPOSEDLY a review day, which I skipped because I was feeling under the weather (literally - it rained a lot) and was studying in my room anyway, so I thought I would be fine.
But apparently there was a lecture yesterday. On which subject is a quiz tomorrow. It was on tilapia too, which I was very much looking forward to learning about.
So instead of making my week easier, postponing a test has given me entirely new things to study! Who would have thought?
On top of that, I completely forgot my history homework for this morning's class and now have the honor of presenting our group discussion on said homework on Friday, on top of doing two days' homework AND completing an essay. (To be fair, our group had a good discussion. They just don't like to talk much.)
I was planning on using this weekend to work on my 25 collective pages of research/final papers, but I was planning on using Spring Break for that too, and it didn't go so well.
Ah, college. Once-in-a-lifetime experiences... I hope.
I'll just write my Japanese speech on how to ride a goat now. And get ready for a presentation on foreign accents. Yay!
Last night I was rather content on how my tests and various things were going pretty much on schedule. This is a prime example on why you shouldn't DO that.
Today I find out by email that my Aquaculture test got postponed. Which seems like a good thing, but I was darn good and ready for that test!
Yesterday was SUPPOSEDLY a review day, which I skipped because I was feeling under the weather (literally - it rained a lot) and was studying in my room anyway, so I thought I would be fine.
But apparently there was a lecture yesterday. On which subject is a quiz tomorrow. It was on tilapia too, which I was very much looking forward to learning about.
So instead of making my week easier, postponing a test has given me entirely new things to study! Who would have thought?
On top of that, I completely forgot my history homework for this morning's class and now have the honor of presenting our group discussion on said homework on Friday, on top of doing two days' homework AND completing an essay. (To be fair, our group had a good discussion. They just don't like to talk much.)
I was planning on using this weekend to work on my 25 collective pages of research/final papers, but I was planning on using Spring Break for that too, and it didn't go so well.
Ah, college. Once-in-a-lifetime experiences... I hope.
I'll just write my Japanese speech on how to ride a goat now. And get ready for a presentation on foreign accents. Yay!
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Spring Break
This time it was pointed out to me multiple times that it has been quite a while since I have updated this thing, but since I was on spring break and off doing fun and exciting things (like baking!), I never got around to it.
I stayed at my grandparent's house in Oahu for a week with one of my best friends, and we did so much fun stuff! My favorite was probably baking muffins, cupcakes, pancakes AND chocolate-chip cookies! In a real kitchen! Marcelyn was surprised that we made cookies from SCRATCH, so I made her eat some cookie dough to make up for it.
We also went around the island, to Waikiki aquarium, and to the beach at Bellows for a few days! The whole week was pretty windy, which was nice but made it rather chilly (for Hawaii) and hard to enjoy the beach. I also got quite a bit of homework done. Not enough to keep me from working like a maniac this week, but enough that I am not panicking just yet. It tended to follow me around, since I did go to an aquarium and a fishpond while studying for an aquaculture test on Thursday.
Between all that, I managed to get through two novels while I was there, not counting my book report book for history and aquaculture chapters. This means I'm only in the middle of one book at the moment.
The best part of Oahu was that there was no vog!! A nice long stretch in the ocean waves got rid of whatever allergy stuff was hanging on, and after that I was actually free of any medication for the first time in months!
Just in time to go back to school.
It was very weird; normally I have an extremely limited sense of smell here, so walking through the dorms for the first time makes me very nervous. Hilo is very wet and humid, and it did rain almost constantly over break, or so I was told, so there is most likely a lot of mold flying about. It smells musty. And a bit like laundry soap.
I am also running out of places to put food. Hmm. (This is probably a good indicator that applying for apartment housing was a good idea. I have a miniature pantry in my closet.)
I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but until next time, whenever that may be, a hui hou!
I stayed at my grandparent's house in Oahu for a week with one of my best friends, and we did so much fun stuff! My favorite was probably baking muffins, cupcakes, pancakes AND chocolate-chip cookies! In a real kitchen! Marcelyn was surprised that we made cookies from SCRATCH, so I made her eat some cookie dough to make up for it.
We also went around the island, to Waikiki aquarium, and to the beach at Bellows for a few days! The whole week was pretty windy, which was nice but made it rather chilly (for Hawaii) and hard to enjoy the beach. I also got quite a bit of homework done. Not enough to keep me from working like a maniac this week, but enough that I am not panicking just yet. It tended to follow me around, since I did go to an aquarium and a fishpond while studying for an aquaculture test on Thursday.
Between all that, I managed to get through two novels while I was there, not counting my book report book for history and aquaculture chapters. This means I'm only in the middle of one book at the moment.
The best part of Oahu was that there was no vog!! A nice long stretch in the ocean waves got rid of whatever allergy stuff was hanging on, and after that I was actually free of any medication for the first time in months!
Just in time to go back to school.
It was very weird; normally I have an extremely limited sense of smell here, so walking through the dorms for the first time makes me very nervous. Hilo is very wet and humid, and it did rain almost constantly over break, or so I was told, so there is most likely a lot of mold flying about. It smells musty. And a bit like laundry soap.
I am also running out of places to put food. Hmm. (This is probably a good indicator that applying for apartment housing was a good idea. I have a miniature pantry in my closet.)
I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but until next time, whenever that may be, a hui hou!
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Tea!
It seems I haven't updated my blog since the first of the month. This is partly due to health reasons, as the lovely Kilauea has decided to make new and exciting lava flows, which dumps a huge amount of vog on us up here.
But today was exciting enough that I felt the need to blog about it. The Women's Center on campus had an event for the 100th women's day, which was an international tea party. Pretty much nothing could keep me away.
They had tables for Japan, Korea, Taiwan, India, England, and Hawaii - all with different teas! The English table was set with cookies (biscuits) and saucery cups, and the lady serving was actually British, so that was really exciting. The chai was delicious too.
They also had someone there with cute little tea trees who grows his own tea, speakers on tea and women and sometimes combined, including the owner of a tea plantation right here in Hawaii! There was also a booth with beeswax things made from the school's bee stuff out at the farm, which I will someday be able to visit. They gave out samples of stuff. Not that I can't get it from home already, it was just cool to see and bother them with questions.
And we all got plastic teacups, a honey straw, and teabags to take with us! It was very exciting. The last 'speaker' was actually a koto player, one of the international students from Japan. I really love the koto, so getting to see it played again was really nice!
For anyone who doesn't know, a koto is a traditional stringed instrument from Japan. It kind of looks like a long narrow table with strings on top, and I could go more into how it's played, but I think this blog is long enough already. (This is why I shouldn't write these things late at night. Oh well.)
So that was fun. Then this weekend is the Relay for Life. I will be helping my friend with her team and possibly staying up helping her man a booth. Swing dance club is also part of the entertainment, so we'll be doing that too! I keep getting people that recognize me from our last performance, which is a little odd.
The event lasts from 6 PM to 6 AM, but I've stayed up that late/early before unintentionally, so it's kind of exciting to do it on purpose.
But I might just sleep, because sleep is nice.
I have a Phonology test tomorrow and am supposed to write a speech (!) for Japanese. But it's on sheep, so I should be fine.
But today was exciting enough that I felt the need to blog about it. The Women's Center on campus had an event for the 100th women's day, which was an international tea party. Pretty much nothing could keep me away.
They had tables for Japan, Korea, Taiwan, India, England, and Hawaii - all with different teas! The English table was set with cookies (biscuits) and saucery cups, and the lady serving was actually British, so that was really exciting. The chai was delicious too.
They also had someone there with cute little tea trees who grows his own tea, speakers on tea and women and sometimes combined, including the owner of a tea plantation right here in Hawaii! There was also a booth with beeswax things made from the school's bee stuff out at the farm, which I will someday be able to visit. They gave out samples of stuff. Not that I can't get it from home already, it was just cool to see and bother them with questions.
And we all got plastic teacups, a honey straw, and teabags to take with us! It was very exciting. The last 'speaker' was actually a koto player, one of the international students from Japan. I really love the koto, so getting to see it played again was really nice!
For anyone who doesn't know, a koto is a traditional stringed instrument from Japan. It kind of looks like a long narrow table with strings on top, and I could go more into how it's played, but I think this blog is long enough already. (This is why I shouldn't write these things late at night. Oh well.)
So that was fun. Then this weekend is the Relay for Life. I will be helping my friend with her team and possibly staying up helping her man a booth. Swing dance club is also part of the entertainment, so we'll be doing that too! I keep getting people that recognize me from our last performance, which is a little odd.
The event lasts from 6 PM to 6 AM, but I've stayed up that late/early before unintentionally, so it's kind of exciting to do it on purpose.
But I might just sleep, because sleep is nice.
I have a Phonology test tomorrow and am supposed to write a speech (!) for Japanese. But it's on sheep, so I should be fine.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
March!
I noticed that my blog hasn't been updated in a while, but I really don't have much to say other than that it is midterm week and I only have one test in Phonology. Yay!
And that I have finally joined more clubs than I have classes this semester.
You know you are very tired when you wonder why water is not in your list of nutrients, nearly ask the teacher about it... and then realize that this is Aquaculture.
We also learned about sea monkeys today, which are actually brine shrimp. I am reminded of the summer, when I killed Gretchen's sea monkeys and a few of my platies. I am not sure why I am taking this class.
My Japanese class for next semester is looking like it will most likely conflict with everything (it's still 5 days a week, normally they change it to MWF), so it looks like I may not get my Agriculture minor after all. Which is sad, but then I might just focus more on Linguistics and possibly take Hawaiian because it looks interesting. And where else can you really learn Hawaiian?
I think I will now study furiously before hula, because I have spent too much time lately playing games and reading Sherlock Holmes. We started doing formations last Thursday in hula, which was quite intimidating. But we finished our first song!
And that I have finally joined more clubs than I have classes this semester.
You know you are very tired when you wonder why water is not in your list of nutrients, nearly ask the teacher about it... and then realize that this is Aquaculture.
We also learned about sea monkeys today, which are actually brine shrimp. I am reminded of the summer, when I killed Gretchen's sea monkeys and a few of my platies. I am not sure why I am taking this class.
My Japanese class for next semester is looking like it will most likely conflict with everything (it's still 5 days a week, normally they change it to MWF), so it looks like I may not get my Agriculture minor after all. Which is sad, but then I might just focus more on Linguistics and possibly take Hawaiian because it looks interesting. And where else can you really learn Hawaiian?
I think I will now study furiously before hula, because I have spent too much time lately playing games and reading Sherlock Holmes. We started doing formations last Thursday in hula, which was quite intimidating. But we finished our first song!
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
A Rainy Tuesday
...after a really bright and sunny weekend doesn't seem so bad.
I would just like to say here that I did NOT fail my Aquaculture test, and in fact with the huge amount of extra credit made it to an A. (Although I think my teacher was being nice, because the original, whited-out score before extra credit gave me a C. Hmm.)
I am just thankful that my Aqua teacher assigned the test BEFORE the 3-day-weekend, which just seems much more practical. We're actually doing more of the fish biology and stuff now, like reproduction and genetics, which is easier to handle and more interesting than a huge amount of statistics and water quality parameters.
Now I can focus on a book report about old Japan, phonology report on Old Norse, and copious amounts of kanji. Yay!
I would just like to say here that I did NOT fail my Aquaculture test, and in fact with the huge amount of extra credit made it to an A. (Although I think my teacher was being nice, because the original, whited-out score before extra credit gave me a C. Hmm.)
I am just thankful that my Aqua teacher assigned the test BEFORE the 3-day-weekend, which just seems much more practical. We're actually doing more of the fish biology and stuff now, like reproduction and genetics, which is easier to handle and more interesting than a huge amount of statistics and water quality parameters.
Now I can focus on a book report about old Japan, phonology report on Old Norse, and copious amounts of kanji. Yay!
Sunday, February 20, 2011
I've Got a Dream!
I also have a job, which I have so far failed to mention.
But it's a three-day weekend now, so I have that much more time to put off doing my homework!
I was hired by the campus food... catering... supplier... thing, and so far I've been working at the juice bar in the gym, which is quite fun and something I think I may prefer to working at the coffee cart, which is where I originally applied for.
My first day was last Saturday, and then I worked again today. Since I'm still in training they sent in someone else to help me out. It was very helpful, but she is also a huge Disney fan (and from the LA/Anaheim area of California, which is rather fabulous), and so was playing Tangled in the back room on her computer. And randomly breaking out into song.
I also found out I am allergic to the disinfectant they use, so I had to wash my hands every other minute. It reminded me of constantly washing milk buckets. Just like home!
But between the Tangled and the rather delicious smoothie I made myself, it was a very good day.
Of course, that may be partially due to the rather heavy medication I'm taking this weekend for my asthma. But I'm going to appreciate it while it lasts.
Happy Weekend!
But it's a three-day weekend now, so I have that much more time to put off doing my homework!
I was hired by the campus food... catering... supplier... thing, and so far I've been working at the juice bar in the gym, which is quite fun and something I think I may prefer to working at the coffee cart, which is where I originally applied for.
My first day was last Saturday, and then I worked again today. Since I'm still in training they sent in someone else to help me out. It was very helpful, but she is also a huge Disney fan (and from the LA/Anaheim area of California, which is rather fabulous), and so was playing Tangled in the back room on her computer. And randomly breaking out into song.
I also found out I am allergic to the disinfectant they use, so I had to wash my hands every other minute. It reminded me of constantly washing milk buckets. Just like home!
But between the Tangled and the rather delicious smoothie I made myself, it was a very good day.
Of course, that may be partially due to the rather heavy medication I'm taking this weekend for my asthma. But I'm going to appreciate it while it lasts.
Happy Weekend!
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
International Nights!
This weekend was super busy, partially because the swing dance group performed in the UHH International Nights on Friday!!
You can see the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jDU5cnuDZk
And you can see my bazillion mistakes. We actually had a really awesome performance... at the dress rehearsal. It was really nerve-wracking to be on stage on Friday, but no one tripped and we all were moving, so it was fine. And they gave us food and cake afterwards!
Shiori was in Saturday's performance, so I went to see that one too. It was really really pretty! She and the other dancer who is in my Linguistics classes had regular kimono instead of yukata, it was very exciting.
On Saturday Marcelyn and I got a ride up to Waimea for the Cherry Blossom Festival! Viewing the cherry blossoms (or sakura) is kind of a big deal in springtime Japan, as some of you may know, so it was basically a Japanese festival. We got lost and didn't find the main event area until half an hour before it ended, but we did see the cherry trees, 5 of which actually had flowers (and I fell asleep under them, it was quite pretty and poetic until I got home and was sunburnt), and a sushi demonstration that had some really cool stuff (that I missed mostly because I fell asleep there too), and taiko, and a farmer's market (that wasn't Japanese, we were just lost), and a lot of Waimea.
I've said it before, but I love Waimea. A lot. There's hills and cows and lots of grass and it's just very pretty.
I missed most of the superbowl because it was Marcelyn's birthday and I was off making her a cake and falling asleep (it was a tiring weekend), but they had an on-campus party that looked like a ton of fun. Maybe next year.
And it finally rained today! The weekend was quite warm. So today was nice and chilly and I got to splash in the puddles again.
Our Glee club is now going to be performing on the 23rd. How do I get into these things?
You can see the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jDU5cnuDZk
And you can see my bazillion mistakes. We actually had a really awesome performance... at the dress rehearsal. It was really nerve-wracking to be on stage on Friday, but no one tripped and we all were moving, so it was fine. And they gave us food and cake afterwards!
Shiori was in Saturday's performance, so I went to see that one too. It was really really pretty! She and the other dancer who is in my Linguistics classes had regular kimono instead of yukata, it was very exciting.
On Saturday Marcelyn and I got a ride up to Waimea for the Cherry Blossom Festival! Viewing the cherry blossoms (or sakura) is kind of a big deal in springtime Japan, as some of you may know, so it was basically a Japanese festival. We got lost and didn't find the main event area until half an hour before it ended, but we did see the cherry trees, 5 of which actually had flowers (and I fell asleep under them, it was quite pretty and poetic until I got home and was sunburnt), and a sushi demonstration that had some really cool stuff (that I missed mostly because I fell asleep there too), and taiko, and a farmer's market (that wasn't Japanese, we were just lost), and a lot of Waimea.
I've said it before, but I love Waimea. A lot. There's hills and cows and lots of grass and it's just very pretty.
I missed most of the superbowl because it was Marcelyn's birthday and I was off making her a cake and falling asleep (it was a tiring weekend), but they had an on-campus party that looked like a ton of fun. Maybe next year.
And it finally rained today! The weekend was quite warm. So today was nice and chilly and I got to splash in the puddles again.
Our Glee club is now going to be performing on the 23rd. How do I get into these things?
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Glee!
I seem to be almost over my cold, which is both exciting and slightly worrisome. I've never gotten over something so fast before, ever! Maybe it's compensation for being allergic to the air...
Or maybe it was the magical ginger throat drops that my roommate gave me. I love my roommate.
And today we had our second meeting of Glee club! I am now the secretary, which should be quite fun. (I bet you didn't know Glee had secretaries. Haha!)
We also went over music, and picked out some really awesome arrangements. I'm really excited to try them out!! We have Beach Boys and Beatles and Disney and random jazz... there's also an upcoming performance of Beethoven's 9th Symphony, but that's something entirely different.
The TV show makes it look so easy. They open their mouths and out comes an overly polished, slightly autotuned bunch of voices, as everyone breaks into spontaneous six-count swing on the spot. We spent our meeting running through the pouring rain from the music library to the theater and back again. It was very glamorous. (I don't like TV, so this is all perfectly fine with me.)
Well, I should go back to studying for my Japanese quiz and finishing my composition. Considering I made up my occupation, I think it's pretty good.
Happy February!
Or maybe it was the magical ginger throat drops that my roommate gave me. I love my roommate.
And today we had our second meeting of Glee club! I am now the secretary, which should be quite fun. (I bet you didn't know Glee had secretaries. Haha!)
We also went over music, and picked out some really awesome arrangements. I'm really excited to try them out!! We have Beach Boys and Beatles and Disney and random jazz... there's also an upcoming performance of Beethoven's 9th Symphony, but that's something entirely different.
The TV show makes it look so easy. They open their mouths and out comes an overly polished, slightly autotuned bunch of voices, as everyone breaks into spontaneous six-count swing on the spot. We spent our meeting running through the pouring rain from the music library to the theater and back again. It was very glamorous. (I don't like TV, so this is all perfectly fine with me.)
Well, I should go back to studying for my Japanese quiz and finishing my composition. Considering I made up my occupation, I think it's pretty good.
Happy February!
Friday, January 28, 2011
Well.
I seem to have caught a cold, which has had the rather unfortunate side effect of having no voice. Class today was quite interesting. Running into people I knew was doubly so. I eventually started to just write things down if I needed to say anything. But I have study group and swing dance practice this weekend, and I can't answer my phone at the moment, so I hope it comes back soon.
For now I'm just pretending that I'm the Little Mermaid. (Actually, that probably isn't the best idea...)
Well then. Happy weekend!
For now I'm just pretending that I'm the Little Mermaid. (Actually, that probably isn't the best idea...)
Well then. Happy weekend!
Monday, January 24, 2011
Riceballs!
I seem to be getting the hang of history homework, which is wonderful, as it is currently the source of much procrastination and I really do need to start researching the Japanese eel for Aquaculture. (I kind of wanted either the meagre or the milkfish, but neither of them are in Japan. For the sake of pretending to be a good student in my major, I picked the eel, but it does look interesting. More on that later.)
Today we made onigiri, or Japanese riceballs! Since I do have a rice cooker, quite a lot of rice, and some actual time to cook it, it turned out to be a lot of fun! Marcelyn and Risa came over to help me make and eat some, it made more than I thought it would. And now I have some in the dorm freezer that, hopefully, no one will eat. (I wouldn't eat random strange food. Okay, I might, but it depends on what it was.)
But since it is the name of my blog I thought it would be fitting to write about riceballs.
Aside from being stuck with homework, it was quite a pleasant day, and since I can't remember what else I was going to write about, I'm going to finish trying to work out Japanese passive tenses. I understand how they're formed, I just don't know WHY or WHEN you would ever use them. Especially since they're nearly the same as conditional tenses, which I very much prefer.
I kind of like taking Japanese just because I was listening to a song yesterday and parts of it suddenly made so much more sense. ('He switched verbs! That must mean the subject changed!')
And, on a parting note, did you know that the Spanish 'll' used to be pronounced more like an actual 'l' sound? Historical Linguistics is really quite fun.
First-mate pirate kitty Rachel, signing out. (Except that she nearly put 'singing', and that isn't until tomorrow.)
Today we made onigiri, or Japanese riceballs! Since I do have a rice cooker, quite a lot of rice, and some actual time to cook it, it turned out to be a lot of fun! Marcelyn and Risa came over to help me make and eat some, it made more than I thought it would. And now I have some in the dorm freezer that, hopefully, no one will eat. (I wouldn't eat random strange food. Okay, I might, but it depends on what it was.)
But since it is the name of my blog I thought it would be fitting to write about riceballs.
Aside from being stuck with homework, it was quite a pleasant day, and since I can't remember what else I was going to write about, I'm going to finish trying to work out Japanese passive tenses. I understand how they're formed, I just don't know WHY or WHEN you would ever use them. Especially since they're nearly the same as conditional tenses, which I very much prefer.
I kind of like taking Japanese just because I was listening to a song yesterday and parts of it suddenly made so much more sense. ('He switched verbs! That must mean the subject changed!')
And, on a parting note, did you know that the Spanish 'll' used to be pronounced more like an actual 'l' sound? Historical Linguistics is really quite fun.
First-mate pirate kitty Rachel, signing out. (Except that she nearly put 'singing', and that isn't until tomorrow.)
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Hula!
I am already behind on my homework, which is never a good sign. I should catch up tomorrow though!
But more importantly, we got to start hula this week! Tonight was the first class! Shiori's doing it again, and Carrie who is also my swing dance buddy (we had a conversation about our perfect swing partners, Casper and Jasper - they're invisible, but that's a bit of a tangent), and two or three other people from last semester, but pretty much everyone else is brand new. They're from all over too - Utah, Nebraska, South Dakota, New York, Spain... it was pretty cool.
My legs really hurt now! After three weeks of NOT doing hula and avoiding exercise in general, it was really weird to be in class again! But I didn't fall over this time. Which is good. And no one did duck walks.
As far as Swing Dance goes, the video is here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gVvcynNYQU (There were two dances, but the other one was way more fun to be in than watch.)
I'm the tall one in the back, in case you were wondering. :)
And the one I'll be learning next is here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTkgSfQAu1Y
I have already memorized the song. But it's really fun.
Tomorrow's Wednesday, which means intermittent classes from 10 AM to 8 PM... yikes!
But more importantly, we got to start hula this week! Tonight was the first class! Shiori's doing it again, and Carrie who is also my swing dance buddy (we had a conversation about our perfect swing partners, Casper and Jasper - they're invisible, but that's a bit of a tangent), and two or three other people from last semester, but pretty much everyone else is brand new. They're from all over too - Utah, Nebraska, South Dakota, New York, Spain... it was pretty cool.
My legs really hurt now! After three weeks of NOT doing hula and avoiding exercise in general, it was really weird to be in class again! But I didn't fall over this time. Which is good. And no one did duck walks.
As far as Swing Dance goes, the video is here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gVvcynNYQU (There were two dances, but the other one was way more fun to be in than watch.)
I'm the tall one in the back, in case you were wondering. :)
And the one I'll be learning next is here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTkgSfQAu1Y
I have already memorized the song. But it's really fun.
Tomorrow's Wednesday, which means intermittent classes from 10 AM to 8 PM... yikes!
Sunday, January 16, 2011
First week back!
I've survived Spring semester so far! It's been slightly crazy so far, so I'll try and keep things short. (She says. Ha, ha.)
My classes this semester are Japanese 202, which is just a continuation of last semester's class, Japanese History, Historical Linguistics, Phonetics and Phonology, and Aquaculture. (Only 5 classes, I know, I know. Sorry.) Oddly enough, I am really disliking my history class - the class itself and discussions are fun and lively and informative, but the homework is horrible. And the book is rather dreadful as well. It seems a bit stuffy and pompous, maybe because we're discussing the 16th and 17th centuries and they were all a bit stuffy themselves, judging by the pictures we've seen so far.
But I do love my Linguistics classes. And Linguistics in general. A lot of people are in both of my classes, they're all a pretty friendly bunch. And someone's starting a Linguistics club, which looks more fun than any of my other clubs (they're definitely going up in number), except for swing dance.
The swing dance club was practicing furiously all week for our performance in the Ho'olaule'a this morning! We did three numbers - Shim Sham, Charleston line, and a choreographed dance that I am still learning and didn't perform. I get to do that one in February. I think we looked awesome, although we were first in the morning and not many people were there. The dances are going to be on Youtube, I've been told, so that's exciting!
The event had a bunch of booths and food and shave ice (!!) and a petting zoo and horse rides. I did not do the horse rides, but we tried to get Risa on one... she wasn't thrilled.
I did get to pet goats, though, and had a rather nice ram chew on my arm for a bit. It was just like home!
Unfortunately, the craziness meant that I couldn't go shopping for food until today. But now I have an entire package of Oreos to sustain me. (And healthy food too, don't worry...)
There is a small contingent of ants in my room, and I do not appreciate them.
Until next time...
My classes this semester are Japanese 202, which is just a continuation of last semester's class, Japanese History, Historical Linguistics, Phonetics and Phonology, and Aquaculture. (Only 5 classes, I know, I know. Sorry.) Oddly enough, I am really disliking my history class - the class itself and discussions are fun and lively and informative, but the homework is horrible. And the book is rather dreadful as well. It seems a bit stuffy and pompous, maybe because we're discussing the 16th and 17th centuries and they were all a bit stuffy themselves, judging by the pictures we've seen so far.
But I do love my Linguistics classes. And Linguistics in general. A lot of people are in both of my classes, they're all a pretty friendly bunch. And someone's starting a Linguistics club, which looks more fun than any of my other clubs (they're definitely going up in number), except for swing dance.
The swing dance club was practicing furiously all week for our performance in the Ho'olaule'a this morning! We did three numbers - Shim Sham, Charleston line, and a choreographed dance that I am still learning and didn't perform. I get to do that one in February. I think we looked awesome, although we were first in the morning and not many people were there. The dances are going to be on Youtube, I've been told, so that's exciting!
The event had a bunch of booths and food and shave ice (!!) and a petting zoo and horse rides. I did not do the horse rides, but we tried to get Risa on one... she wasn't thrilled.
I did get to pet goats, though, and had a rather nice ram chew on my arm for a bit. It was just like home!
Unfortunately, the craziness meant that I couldn't go shopping for food until today. But now I have an entire package of Oreos to sustain me. (And healthy food too, don't worry...)
There is a small contingent of ants in my room, and I do not appreciate them.
Until next time...
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Holidays!
Happy New Year! It's also the 12th day of Christmas, so Merry Christmas too!
It has been brought to my attention that I don't blog while I'm home. I have been happily avoiding the computer and anything that resembles school for the 2 1/2 weeks I've been home so far, as well as playing with goats and cleaning horse stalls. Not to mention seeing family, seeing friends, having tea parties... all that good stuff. Plus eating candy like there's no tomorrow.
It's also been quite chilly here - down to 30 degrees last week, or worse. I do, however, really like being able to wear jackets and lots of layers. And especially my scarf that I finally finished! I'm not sure what I'll do with it now, of course...
I'll be going back to school on Sunday, since classes start Monday, and then I will have less than 24 hours to get my books and schedule and unpacking and room all together. Fun stuff!
I also have a performance next Saturday for swing dance. Which I have not practiced at all. Except dancing at a Christmas party, but that doesn't really count.
It will be a fun first week, I'm sure.
I'm leaving right as we're starting to get the first babies of the year! There's three in the house at the moment, and they're very cute. And loud.
It has been brought to my attention that I don't blog while I'm home. I have been happily avoiding the computer and anything that resembles school for the 2 1/2 weeks I've been home so far, as well as playing with goats and cleaning horse stalls. Not to mention seeing family, seeing friends, having tea parties... all that good stuff. Plus eating candy like there's no tomorrow.
It's also been quite chilly here - down to 30 degrees last week, or worse. I do, however, really like being able to wear jackets and lots of layers. And especially my scarf that I finally finished! I'm not sure what I'll do with it now, of course...
I'll be going back to school on Sunday, since classes start Monday, and then I will have less than 24 hours to get my books and schedule and unpacking and room all together. Fun stuff!
I also have a performance next Saturday for swing dance. Which I have not practiced at all. Except dancing at a Christmas party, but that doesn't really count.
It will be a fun first week, I'm sure.
I'm leaving right as we're starting to get the first babies of the year! There's three in the house at the moment, and they're very cute. And loud.
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| She can totally fit in my carryon! |
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