Field trip

Mixed Feelings

From Tove whom I will miss enormously.

Today I woke up feeling sick for what feels like the first time in years. I am so used to being sick all the time in NZ, so this feeling is almost foreign. Sneezing all morning I realized that the day should be spent in doors (even though its beautiful outside and 28 degrees) catching up on things and resting my protesting body. I think the three day bender is realistically the cause of this, but i'm gonna go ahead and pretend it's cause I have been working too hard at school this semester... Yeah right.
A lot of thinking has been done today, mostly about the fact that I am leaving this place in 15 days to spend a few weeks in NZ with my family and friends. Some of you might think that this would bring nothing but joy to me, and it does, until I realize that some of the people I leave behind I will not see for a very, very long time. This makes me really sad. There are a few people here that I have become really close with, and without them I would have been the loner kid from NZ with no friends but herself. I started to write a little something about them all, but it made me too sad. They know they will be missed, but more importantly that they will be visited one day when I travel the world with my ridiculous amounts of money after i am a successful documentary maker lady. But coming home is exciting. Jerry, Family, my Devo ladies, and my other Chicks and Dudes that I love - get ready to smile cause I will SEE YOU IN TWO WEEKS!!   (If I survive the cramming for exams, trips out to pipe masters and crazy amounts of last week partying that is going to occur..)

Chicka chika yeah...

Giving Thanks

Thanks giving.
A holiday where people in America give thanks for all the great things in their lives.
Or, as some have said to me, a day to give thanks that arose because the pilgrims settled and slaughtered the Indians... I am not sure this is something I want to celebrate, but hey, who doesn't want another commercialized public holiday where everyone spends far too much money and eats till their belts burst?

I may sound cynical, but in actual fact this is one of my new favorite holidays. Thanksgiving is definitely rad.
I didn't know much about this holiday, and didn't really know what to expect other then the amazing food that everyone raved about. I was invited to share this day at my Hanai Mom's house with some 27 family members, friends, and my two guests Marissa and Tove.
We arrived, sweaty and excited, to the Lyman residence with a bag full of delicious homemade Swedish cinnamon buns in hand. The house had been rearranged to fit one long line of tables down the middle of the living room. This was accompanied by 27 chairs of assorted colors, shapes and sizes. This was all on a slight, but idyllic lean due to the recent excavation of the basement below. We did the whole meet and greet thing and started on the wine. As you do. Then came meal time.. The food definitely lived up to its reputation. The most tender turkey I have ever eaten (times two), a ham, stuffing, cranberry sauce, salads, sweet potato, bruchetta and most importantly gravy, all lined the bench. The Americans sure know how to put on a good feed!
We ate, drank a little (or in cousin Arthur's case a lot) and talked to a lot of cool people.
All stuffed full of food we had a wee break before desert.. A selection of Marion's amazing homemade pies were the main event. I don't think I have ever tasted something as good as her pumpkin and pecan pie. Delicious.
Needless to say I went home that night with my food-baby of a stomach went straight into a food coma.
Sadly I forgot that I had my camera with me, but Tove got a few photo's of the desert and family at the end of the evening.
This is a holiday I will be bringing back to NZ.
Get ready people, next November 25th is going to be Lucy's attempt at giving thanks the American way.

The Swedish buns

Kaniela, Art and I

Mom and Marissa who was to full to stand

What was left of the pie. SO yum.

brain farts

Sorry for the ridiculous title, but I recently came across a new phrase that I think should be part of the NZ vocab. It may already be, and I may have just never heard it, but it is one worth repeating!

A brain fart. 

More commonly used in a sentence: "Oh man, I am so tired. I had the worst brain farts all day."

Referring to when you can't get your words out, keep making mistakes, or have been saying things that make you sound like a complete idiot.

This has been me the last few days! I think I need to sleep more...

Today I slept from 11am until 3pm, after a late night and a 7:30am class. Not because I was tired, which I really was, but because I started to get a stupid migraine. This was my first case of sickness (besides the dreaded homesickness) away from NZ, and it SUCKED! My head was pounding. I missed a zoology lab, and although I emailed the lecturer, I need a doctors note. I haven't been to the doctor here yet but I am a little scared to. I have a feeling the bureaucracy here is going to be a little more intense then back home. But hey, might as well take advantage of all that money I spent on health insurance, right?!

This weekend was the first weekend of the first surf comp in the triple crown series. A big group of us ventured North and camped at a cute spot called Malaekahana..

Awesome yurts available to hire

This is one of the yurts you can hire. Very cute, just like Em's place but a little smaller and without the wonders of what Em's place holds inside...
However, we had too many people so they upgraded us to a cabin.
I love it that, instead of making a big deal out of the fact that there are a few more of you then originally planned, they accommodate for this and don't even charge extra! Hawaiian people are lovely, especially when you are kama'aina. So we were not sent packing, but sent down the path to this...

Erin outside our weekend cabin

... a cute little cabin where we could all fit in just right! It was an excellent place to stay. We cooked on the open fire each night and Ignacio, our tocan real local, told us some wicked stories. There was no actual comp held due to condition on the Saturday but the weekend was seamless and carried us to what felt like a dream state.

Saturday kicked off with an early start a drive around the top of the North Shore of O'ahu. It was a BEAUTIFUL day. Hardly a cloud in the sky! Our packed out rental with 5 cute chicks set off for Waimea Valley to drop Marissa at her community service day (she was recently caught smuggling little children into the dorm rooms...Weird Aussie....joking...). Marissa had a class trip here to help re-plant the area, which she said was really hard work but definitely rewarding! The rest of us then went to find the others at the beach cleanup that was going on (http://www.dahui.com/club/6th-annual-beach-cleanup/) at Velzyland Park. This was choice. A whole bunch of keen community members gathered with big black bags ready to pick up 'trash'. We were assigned to the group doing Sunset Beach and set off immediately. We also got free t'shirts which was sweet and they even had a nice memorial on the front for the late Andy Irons.
It was extremely hot, and I spent most of the time snapping away on my camera instead of actually getting trash, but hey thats what I was asked to do for the day! Erin and I also had a very cute pro-surfer encounter with two hotties from California. They walked with us and used their pro-surfer charm, but we brushed it off and acted like their profession was no big deal. I think they found it rather refreshing. After the cleanup, we were served a free feed of burgers, drinks and m&m biscuits. We spent the rest of the avo on the beach, toasting in the sun and falling more deeply in love with life in Hawaii. This very cute little girl was our entertainment as she learnt to surf with her gorgeous dad..

That night, we had a few more friends up for the campfire for drinks and kai, but most of us were so tired we opted for an early-ish night.

Sunday morning came all too soon and we struggled to 'rise up'. We searched for coffee and breakfast and ended up at Ted's Bakery. Great choice! It was kind of rainy so we thought we'd just quickly check out Pipe, but maybe head home. Glad we didn't go home cause it was one of the best surf watching days I have ever had! The surfers were incredible. Kids were ripping up, an old man stole the show many times and all the other surfers were just as wicked. We stood on the shoreline watching for a good 5 hours. I was completely transfixed, snap happy and couldn't tear myself away from my spot. Once we get a car here I will be up there every weekend without fail.

I will finish up with a few photos of Sunday, and a small video I made (thanks to my great friend Jerry for the evenings use of his Mac Book Pro! Chur!).

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzlRZUzWrdk&feature=player_embedded
Check it, first one I ever made. It was so fun.

13 year old kid 

ouch

7 years old, I shit you not!

Same kid as above. So cute.

Dad photographing his boys all day. 

More kids join the scene

A lot of them ate it.

A very symbolic piece of board washed up

one day boys..

Lots of broken boards that day. No worries though, he was back out with a new one after ten minutes

Dudes heading out with lei's and flowers to mourn AI

So many people, imagine what Pipe Masters will be like

Our new photographer friend, my babes, and the waves

Yet another amazing opportunity

So, it seems the longer I live here the more amazing things are coming my way. I'm getting slightly worried. Surely all this good luck, or karma, or whatever it is, is going to run out and I will plummet into a pit of horribleness. But things are so great I think I will worry about that when it comes.

So I will get to my exciting news through the wonders story telling, but first a recap of a very cool weekend just because I want to live it again in my mind... And then again on the screen...

Friday night we were feeling in the mood for a nice chill evening. A group of ladies, and our friend Jerry, decided we would go and watch Eclipse and drool over the beautiful men of the Twilight Saga. It was playing on campus on a big projector. It is really nice to attend a uni that feels like a community, rather then just a learning facility. But this was great, then we went home and chilled out. Much needed down time.

The rest of the weekend was not so successful and we ended up partying pretty hard on Saturday, with Erin and I winning a few pool games on the way! Sunday was a great day. It started early after only 2 hours sleep with a nice stoll in the sunshine to my Hanai Moms house for brunch. I got to meet a few more family members and eat an amazing meal! It didn't matter so much that I was so hungover cause Kaniela was too, so we suffered together. I also got to chat with the owner of the Kaisei, the boat I want to go on next summer. She was really nice and when I mentioned I was interested seemed pleased. They have about a thousand people wanting to go on this boat each year, so that is a great connection to have if I plan on going ahead with that journey.
After that, we had Marissa's game of football to watch, meaning I missed out on a lift with Kaniela to Lanikai beach to hang for the day with him and his friends. The game was awesome though, Marissa is a tough little chick! I also convinced Andi and Erin, two of my good girlfriends, to make the trip to Lanikai happen somehow... So we started brainstorming and came up with four options for transport.

1) we could hijack a car
2) we could borrow 2 vespa's and risk getting tickets on the freeway slash die
3) we could bus, not gonna happen as it takes frickin forever
4) we could hitch hike

We chose 4, and it was very successful - Nikki, don't flip out, we were VERY picky with who we got in the car with... A lovely Asian man who talked about his kids a lot :). He was great, even let us stop for beer and chips!
We finally arrived at the beach to find the boys had left. Shit, hitch hiking home from that area was not as safe as the way there... But in the end we got hold of them and they picked us up and took us to one of the boys house. We chilled and drank more, as you do when you're hungover and it's a Sunday. A very fun evening spent with a bunch of very cute local boys! Needless to say I skipped classes today cause I was not feeling on top of the world!
So after this lovely weekend, I was feeling pretty stoked on life. Then today things got ten times better. I went to Papa lucks coffee shop on campus to visit Tove at work. I bumped into a guy that I always sit with when at this awesome spot, and he gave me some WICKED, RAD, AMAZING, SUPER DOOPER, SICK news. Last week he had mentioned he was lucky enough to have an all access media pass to the upcoming world famous surf competitions, and I mentioned that I had been constantly day dreaming about being able to take photos at them and and go to all the cool post event things. So, being a lovely guy with cool connections, HE GOT ME A PASS TOO!

I HAVE AN ALL ACCESS MEDIA PASS TO THE BIGGEST SURF COMPS IN THE WORLD!!

What the hell.

These ones... Yes these ones that everyone dreams of just attending! http://www.triplecrownofsurfing.com/

But wait, it gets better.......

He also said that he needs some photos for his iPhone application and website etc and that he would buy some photos off me. Pressures on to get some good shots but I think having access to the whole place will help. And I get to meet all the pro's. And maybe go to the parties. Wow. And he said if any of my photos are really cool I might possibly get some in a magazine too!! But that'd be way too good to be true. So I will just focus on the amazingness of the above.

It is insane that what I just wrote is actually happening. And to me.
As you can probably imagine I can't wipe this stupid huge grin off my face.


LIFE IS SO RAD!

I will leave you with this... A photo of the weather we had for two or three days just so you're not under the impression that life is actually perfect here. We do have a minuscule amount of not so awesome..

A bit of rain to scare us away from the beach

tricks and treats

The journey continues for me here in the state of HI, but the blog posts seem to thin. My workload has increased two fold and the fun times, as a result, have definitely NOT suffered. I work my ass off in the week, still managing to kick it with the Wainani F crew, and in the weekends we beach and party and play. Drinking beers at the beach while the sun sets was last weeks favorite past time, this week it was our public holiday Tuesday spent at Waimea bay watching the big waves roll on in.

This was an amazing day. It made me immediately get over the fact that my ankle still hurts and promise myself I will get my butt onto a surfboard soon! Not on these waves of course or you would all be flying over for my funeral next week. But it was so exhilarating to watch. The sound of waves crashing is my favorite noise. The sound of waves this big, without stormy winds in the background is even better. Listening to this sound whilst sitting in a bikini on one of the nicest beaches in the world totally takes the cake. This was a wicked cool day watching surfing, topped off with the entertainment of the people risking their lives trying to swim in the shallow, dumping waves. We finished this amazing day sitting down the road at pipeline beach, with one of the most spectacular sunsets I have ever seen.Unfortunately I didn't have my camera, but Frank did and his photos are epic. I shall steal one.

If you cannot tell, today I am feeling very enlightened and in love with my new home. This place is heaven. Even today as I woke up at 6:30am to my busy Wednesday that I always dread. My day consisted of two mid term exams filling up my morning (one was goon and one was definitely a fail), followed by classes and a 4 hour lab in which I had to dissect yet another innocent toad. It was raining and for the first time I had to put on a cardigan as it was 24 degrees and apparently my body now thinks this is cold! Despite this 'shit day', I still loved every minute. It is a nice change to feel this way. Though, even with all this love for my life here, I realize more and more that I call NZ home. It just isn't home right now, it's more of an in between place.

I have made more awesome friends and am learning a lot from the people I am around. Not all Americans are fuck wits, though some definitely are.

Example of fuck wittage:

Tove's room mate said they other day that she did not like Obama. As tove asked why, and explained that he has done some good things like improving their healthcare, she commented "I don't believe in sharing". Narrow minded idiot in my opinion. Tove was, of course, stunned and stood with her mouth wide open. I wish I had been there! Then again, that might not have been so good as we all know I am not good at controlling my mouth when angry.

But the American and Hawaiian people are pretty cool. I have come to love them all, aside from the occasional reminder that some people in the world were not as fortunate as I was to have parents who raised me with an open mind, clear head, loud voice and a lot of questions. I have made it my mission to help open some of these minds to the world outside the states!

All hallows eve was this weekend just been. I don't think I have ever had a better weekend. It started on Friday night with the attendance of an amazing concert of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. The people who played before them were called the Budos band, a 9 piece soul band dressed as pirates with a shit load of attitude and funk. They were awesome! Both bands had great music, an awesome stage presence and put on a real show.

The Budos band 

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros

Unfortunately I forgot that I was under the ridiculously high drinking age in America, and myself and Ant were shunned to the under 21 side of the concert. This was pretty embarrassing as we were actually sectioned off by a big white fence and had to party with the teenagers who all looked about 12 years old. Refer to photo below for proof of the humiliation.

Ant and I on the 'cool KIDS' side of the fence

Erin and Tove on the big kids side. Literally a big fence in between us!

The last song played by Edward Sharpe.. was really cool. The main singer Alexander made half the crown go on stage (to the horror of the power tripping security guards). He then came down into the crowd, made everyone sit on the ground with him, and sang a really lovely slow song. The crowd was very chill after this. This was a nice change after the large amount of stage sprints and crowd surfing that had gone on throughout the show. It was great, I left wanting to let out more of my hippie personality that I inherited form my rents. It was a nice feeling.

The last song

Me with Alexander, the main singer

Lately I have also been going through a Beatles obsession as I finally watch Across the Universe. Oh how I wish my life was a musical. I start each day with a Beatles song and sing it all day long.

Speaking of the Beatles, check this out. It is too cute.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgrrQwLdME8&feature=player_embedded

The following night was the first of the Halloween celebrations for us. We got all dressed up as the peter pan crew (which took a few hours). This was our crew:

I was the Croc

Jerry was Rufio

Tove was Smee

Andi was Peter and Marissa her Shadow

Erin was a very cute Cap Hook

And Tracy (left) was out Tink

We had pretty epic costumes. We rocked up to China Town, which had all its streets shut off for the night. There was people everywhere, stalls, live music and some of the craziest costumes I have ever seen! It was a really wicked night. One of the best.

The next day we were extremely hung over as you'd expect, but a few of us hopped in the car and headed north for an afternoon on the beach. We chilled just along from pipeline and watching our friend Frank surf into the sunset.

Franky surfing

Pipeline sky

The sun setting at Pipeline beach

After this relaxing recovery we headed home to get creative on our second nights costumes. This started off as a bit of a fail as we all felt pretty terrible, but we got cutting and painting and psyched ourselves up. We were aiming to be the colours of the rainbow, but in the end looked more like colours of the wind. And vavoom this is what we came up with..

Colours of the wind. (From left: Tracy, Luce, Marissa, Erin, Tove and Andi)

Erin, myself and Andi all ready to go

We strolled the streets of Waikiki with what seemed like the rest of Hawaii. It was insane. I have never seen so many costumes and excited people. More photos of these costumes on facebook as many have already seen!  http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=238694&id=637091646


Halloween rules. NZ should totally take a leaf out of America's book on this one! Boost the economy a little.
That is life right now, followed by a week of hard work, some relaxing and hopefully another weekend of fun and games...

Peace to you all from the croco-fuckin-dile.