And speaking of blogging in general, I decided to go ahead and create a new blog on this account for Japanese: 日本語ッポイ (Romaji: nihongo-ppoi, English: Japanese-ish). It's still under heavy construction, though, so don't expect much. I technically have a website (click) I was using for Japanese blogs already, not to mention mixi and Lang-8, but none offered the kind of optimization that Blogger gets me really excited about. So since I had started before, I went ahead and copied my six existing posts in an attempt to have something to start with and to motivate me to keep going. I'm also going to try to work around a schedule of getting out posts every Tuesday and Thursday, whether that be for my English or Japanese blog, or both. Yay!
From the 7th to the 15th of January I took a trip to Hawaii with my parents and brother and some family friends, staying in a hotel on the beautiful Waikiki beach, in addition to a cabin on base in Waimanalo. Both locations were on the main island of Oahu, the island with the Honolulu airport, where we came through after a good half a day of traveling. Our day started so early that we arrived at the airport before 6, but despite how early it was I resisted the temptation to stay awake overnight. Turns out I am really bad at sleeping on planes, so that's a good thing. lol
Once in Honolulu, we got our rental car and drove into Waikiki, during which I was reminded of some Bennie K songs ("Waikiki, why are you so sweet...". haha Our hotel, the Hale Koa, was nice despite the small room size, but the best part was the view from the balcony of not only the beach, but the mountains and the rest of the city as well. It was hard not to notice the Hawaiian touches that you can't find in a lot of other places, like open entrances void of windows or doors and numerous outside eateries. We had dinner at one such place, and naturally I made sure to order Hawaiian pizza as a first meal. The relaxing evening was concluded with a walk on the beach as the sun set, and I continued to explore once my family went to bed. I actually felt reminded a lot of Guam while there, in the scenery as well as general feel. Of course, Hawaii has got nothing on Guam when it comes to having a Jasmin. I missed her!
The next morning we watched the sun rise with another walk on the beach, as I showed my family some places I had found the night before, like the koi ponds behind the Hilton next door. It was also hard not to notice the sheer number of Japanese tourists, which would be a great opportunity to practice the language! The first chance would come when we went to hike the Diamond Head volcano; I asked some Japanese people to take our picture, and afterward offered to take a picture for them. :D At one point when we were coming back down after reaching the peak, I told a lady in Japanese, "You're almost there! Good luck." After telling my parents what I had said, my mom repeated what she thought she heard: "You said, 'Hello, my little friend' to her?" XD
Full day #2 was our obligatory trolley tour around the island, taking us from the beach, through the city and some museums, and into China Town. We spent some time in China Town with botanical gardens and shrines, one of which was a rather authentic-looking Japanese shrine. I got to show my parents and brother the proper way of behaving at shrines, and it felt like I was practicing for when we all go to Japan together one day. When we finally got back for the day, we relaxed in the pool and took a nap. Not at the same time, mind you, but I wouldn't have minded that either.
Our last day in Waikiki was packed with Pearl Harbor, exploring, finding our way to Waimanalo, and meeting up with the family friends I mentioned earlier. Pearl Harbor was (maybe not surprisingly) the first location where we were not greatly outnumbered by Japanese tourists. Despite this discovery, when I went to purchase an audio tour I made sure to ask for the Japanese version, and this led to an interesting conversation with the Japanese guide as to why I didn't want the English tape. lol I do highly recommend the Pearl Harbor tour. The USS Arizona Memorial is actually completely free to take a boat ride to the remains of the ship, one that was almost entirely destroyed during the attack. The only thing you pay for is an optional audio tour (which I did), or tours on other boats which we didn't do. Oh yeah, and two days later Hillary Clinton arrived to visit the memorial as well, when it was supposedly going to be down for "maintenance."
For lunch we went to a nice Japanese restaurant with rather authentic food in my opinion, after which my dad said, "Now we can cross that off the list." :[ Guess he's not as big a fan of the food (& cost?) as I am. >_< To conclude the Japan theme for the day, we drove into a cemetery, took the road all the way to the back, and semi-hidden among the trees was a straight-up authentic Japanese temple. Not just any temple either, it was a replica of a Kyoto temple called Byodo-In, though not one that I had personally been do. It was another great experience for the day, being surrounded by beautiful natural scenery and simple Buddhist architecture. Made me miss Japan. *sigh* So that's part one of Hawaii. Coming up is part two, which includes my stay in Waimanalo with the family friends I mentioned before. Check it out.
Pictures on Facebook
Pictures on Photobucket
Videos on YouTube
P.S. Sorry about the lack of graphics in this post. My hard drive died recently and I've been trying to get things up and running again. Long story short, until I get a permanent replacement I'm not going to be putting my pictures onto my temporary drive.
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