My Hawaiian kumu (teacher) has a habit of playing slack-key guitar while we're taking big tests. (I say habit, but we only had three tests last semester...) It's really relaxing, and I have started rather hopefully listening to it while I study for Hawaiian. Slack-key always makes me feel like I'm in the airport, and I expect highly-conditioned air, noise, uncomfortable seats, and a lot of 'Mahalo's. I also expect to be going home. Maybe the guitar was not the best idea.
It IS really realzing though, partly because I can't stop laughing at my Hawaiian book. It's continuously in the process of being written, and changes every year much to the dismay of former students with outdated books, so every once in a while there's mistakes and typos that we get to fix.
The best part is the vocabulary choice and sample sentences. Our 'theme' for the last chapter was apparently wild pig hunting as a part of Hawaiian culture, and so we get sentences like these to translate:
How much does your bucket of wild pig blood weigh?
I want you guys to fasten this pig jaw to the wall of your house.
This thigh is mine.
And so on. Using words from our vocabulary list (blood, jaw, liver, smoked pig meat...).
It's really helpful for memorization, though. A lot harder to forget things like these.
As for the whales, this morning I went to Puna to participate in the first Whale Count of the season! There are three, one each month, and this being the first and early in the season, we saw no whales. None at all. Sitting for 4 hours in hot, sunny lava rocks and straining to see anything... I'm pretty sure there were some whale hallucinating going on by the end of it. Certainly a lot of hysterical giggling.
It was really fun, although I don't know that I would want to do it again.
Now, off to listen to some lovely Schubert mass movement for Kapili! A hui hou!
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Kona!
The problem with having 7 classes (and 2 jobs, and 4 clubs, and...) is that I am constantly forgetting my homework. Even if it's just reading a single page or listening to a single song, SOMETHING gets left out... purposely or not.
So today I wrote a list and told myself that if I finished 3 I would make muffins and read Catching Fire. It's actually working. Muffins are a powerful force.
The strangest thing to me is that my hardest class (aside from Japanese) is actually Kapili choir. It's hard. It's very hard. I am kind of enjoying the challenge, but it's also very stressful to try and memorize 150 pages of music all at once and then sing it without passing out. In any case, it is currently taking up a large chunk of my homework time.
It didn't help that I spent most of yesterday in Kona!
The school had a submarine day trip, and since I'm currently free on weekends I am taking full advantage of it. There were a few rough patches, but we saw a ton of fish and two shipwrecks under Kailua Bay and got to walk around the shops on the shoreline. Came back exhausted and rather burnt, but happy.
Onward to muffins!
So today I wrote a list and told myself that if I finished 3 I would make muffins and read Catching Fire. It's actually working. Muffins are a powerful force.
The strangest thing to me is that my hardest class (aside from Japanese) is actually Kapili choir. It's hard. It's very hard. I am kind of enjoying the challenge, but it's also very stressful to try and memorize 150 pages of music all at once and then sing it without passing out. In any case, it is currently taking up a large chunk of my homework time.
It didn't help that I spent most of yesterday in Kona!
 |
| Beautiful Kona weather... I really don't see what the big deal is. |
Onward to muffins!
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Ginger and... more ginger.
I have finished the first two days of classes, which means I have been to all of my classes and am now in a lovely state of 'syllabus shock', as my voice instructor so nicely put it. It seems manageable, but we'll see.
I am also definitely coming down with something, which could have had better timing. Of course, it could have been at a time that was much WORSE, too, so I'm not complaining too much, except that I don't think I should have to get sick once a semester. Do normal people do that?
I always think with my colds that I'll be able to catch the next one early, but... nope. I've had a sore throat since I landed, and only now is it in the 'hello you're sick' phase. Hmph.
Anyway, that is not the point of this blog! The main point of this blog is a natural remedy that I've been meaning to try out for some time. (I have a generous supply of Airborne and cough drops, but they can only go so far.) It's basically a mix of hot water, fresh ginger, cayenne pepper, lemon juice, and honey. Sounds delicious, right?
The best part? It WORKS. I bought quite a lot of fresh ginger at the Farmer's Market, since it's Hawaii and you can do that, and so actually had all of the ingredients on hand for once. Despite being rather spicy (sort of like being punched in the throat with every sip), I now feel somewhat better. Enough to stop moaning and write a blog, anyway.
Another reason I was so excited was that, after catching a cold in Japan, my host mom gave me several things, one of which was ginger-flavored and all of which were fantastic. I have been looking for recipes ever since, but never got to try them out... until now. I feel very accomplished.
I think I shall go and sleep now. Good night.
I am also definitely coming down with something, which could have had better timing. Of course, it could have been at a time that was much WORSE, too, so I'm not complaining too much, except that I don't think I should have to get sick once a semester. Do normal people do that?
I always think with my colds that I'll be able to catch the next one early, but... nope. I've had a sore throat since I landed, and only now is it in the 'hello you're sick' phase. Hmph.
Anyway, that is not the point of this blog! The main point of this blog is a natural remedy that I've been meaning to try out for some time. (I have a generous supply of Airborne and cough drops, but they can only go so far.) It's basically a mix of hot water, fresh ginger, cayenne pepper, lemon juice, and honey. Sounds delicious, right?
The best part? It WORKS. I bought quite a lot of fresh ginger at the Farmer's Market, since it's Hawaii and you can do that, and so actually had all of the ingredients on hand for once. Despite being rather spicy (sort of like being punched in the throat with every sip), I now feel somewhat better. Enough to stop moaning and write a blog, anyway.
Another reason I was so excited was that, after catching a cold in Japan, my host mom gave me several things, one of which was ginger-flavored and all of which were fantastic. I have been looking for recipes ever since, but never got to try them out... until now. I feel very accomplished.
I think I shall go and sleep now. Good night.
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Weekend!
Although I wish I could have stayed a little bit longer at home, I have to say, it's pretty relaxing to get here early and have a free weekend. I have textbooks (all three of them, for a whopping 7 dollars, thanks to winning a bookstore gift card!), food, and lots of books.
A friend and I even went to the movies yesterday, thanks mostly to more gift cards! We saw Sherlock Holmes 2. I was kind of on the fence with the first one, since it's a very different Sherlock than what's usually seen, but this one was very nicely faithful to the books, while still keeping the feel of the original. A few awkward moments and superfluous explosions aside, it was a really good movie... and this is saying a lot, because I don't normally care for movies. Or TV. Or anything to do with screens. (I could start a rant about 3D, but I won't.)
Campus is closed for the weekend, which is partly why it's so relaxing - everything I still need to do HAS to wait until tomorrow. I was accepted into an introductory voice class, which brings me up to 19 credits (3 of which are singing, in my defense) and requires paperwork, but I'm looking forward to it! I haven't sung seriously in a very long time, so practice will probably be a good thing.
There's a lot of cleaning going on right now - mine is mostly done, but two of my roommates are still MIA, and the third only got here yesterday.
Back to work! A hui hou!
A friend and I even went to the movies yesterday, thanks mostly to more gift cards! We saw Sherlock Holmes 2. I was kind of on the fence with the first one, since it's a very different Sherlock than what's usually seen, but this one was very nicely faithful to the books, while still keeping the feel of the original. A few awkward moments and superfluous explosions aside, it was a really good movie... and this is saying a lot, because I don't normally care for movies. Or TV. Or anything to do with screens. (I could start a rant about 3D, but I won't.)
Campus is closed for the weekend, which is partly why it's so relaxing - everything I still need to do HAS to wait until tomorrow. I was accepted into an introductory voice class, which brings me up to 19 credits (3 of which are singing, in my defense) and requires paperwork, but I'm looking forward to it! I haven't sung seriously in a very long time, so practice will probably be a good thing.
There's a lot of cleaning going on right now - mine is mostly done, but two of my roommates are still MIA, and the third only got here yesterday.
Back to work! A hui hou!
Friday, January 6, 2012
Back in Hilo.
I really don't have anything interesting to say besides the fact that I am back from a wonderful but very short Christmas break, after spending 11-ish hours traveling. I am very tired, but luckily, I'll be able to wake up early tomorrow... in theory. And go buy food.
Plenty of people are coming back late, as in just in time for their classes. I'm suspecting my roommate is one of them, as the apartment is currently deserted. Which is fine with me, I can blast my Adele music to my heart's content (and speaker's capacity, which is not terribly) I'm happy I have time to get settled and get books and work sorted out before scrambling to get to my four classes on Monday.
My classes this semester are:
Early Japanese History
Hawaiian
Japanese
Languages of Hawaii
Critical Applied Linguistics
Kapili choir
if anyone was curious. I'm excited for all of them so far.
It's a bit of a shock to come from ice skating and fires and fuzzy lambs to a nice overheated stuffy dorm, but apparently the weather today was unusually pleasant. I appreciate it. :)
A hui hou!
Plenty of people are coming back late, as in just in time for their classes. I'm suspecting my roommate is one of them, as the apartment is currently deserted. Which is fine with me, I can blast my Adele music to my heart's content (and speaker's capacity, which is not terribly) I'm happy I have time to get settled and get books and work sorted out before scrambling to get to my four classes on Monday.
My classes this semester are:
Early Japanese History
Hawaiian
Japanese
Languages of Hawaii
Critical Applied Linguistics
Kapili choir
if anyone was curious. I'm excited for all of them so far.
It's a bit of a shock to come from ice skating and fires and fuzzy lambs to a nice overheated stuffy dorm, but apparently the weather today was unusually pleasant. I appreciate it. :)
A hui hou!
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