Life has been a little too exciting for me lately. A week ago Friday we had a horrific storm in the early morning hours. The wind was crazy - ripped up large trees by the roof, and knocked down countless power poles with their attached power lines. Our power went out about 3am and was back on about 7am. We were the fortunate ones. Most of Ewa Beach was out of power for the weekend. At 3:30pm Friday our local electric workers union employees went on strike, and walked off the job, leaving hundreds of families without power.
It is a miracle that no one was injured or killed when all those poles and live power lines when down. The big hot mess was strewn all across the road. Private companies came to the rescue and by Sunday evening all of the power was restored. They have been cleaning up the mess and installing new poles all week. Traffic down Ft. Weaver has been atrocious all week.
Thursday evening, while at a dinner party at church, the tragic earthquake hit Japan. Hawaii immediately went under a tsunami watch. All the adults were talking about the pending natural disaster, discussing ways to be prepared, like filling our gas tanks on the way home, etc. It seems like with any natural disaster here in Hawaii, the first thing to go is the power, and all gas pumps are powered by electricity. Thankfully I had just filled up that afternoon, at a whopping $3.89/gallon - $50 - the most it has ever cost me to fill the tank in my little car. My friend's daughter, in all her 5 year old wisdom, was most distressed. As her mother tried to soothe her, she exclaimed, "but the SALAMI is coming!" Oh, if only it were a giant salami - salami makes a great sandwich.
Around 10pm the warning sirens began to blow to warn those in the flood zone to evacuate. The one closest to us was knocked down and rendered mute by the storm the week previous. Mother nature has brought her wrath upon us in too quick of a succession for a full recovery. Those sirens sound exactly like the tornado sirens from my youth. From elementary school, I have a vague idea of what to do when a tornado siren blows. For tsunami safety you just need to get to the top of the hill, and wait ...
Thankfully the waves came and went with no damage to Oahu. The worst I was inconvenienced was the lack of cell phone service Friday night, and several hours of much needed sleep. Many families in the low lying areas evacuated to higher ground and spent the night much less comfortable than I. The roads were blocked, and they were kept from their homes until we heard the "all clear" around 9am or so.
This morning I saw our little one legged bird friend out front this morning. Amazingly, and thankfully, we are all safe and sound.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Our One-Legged Kolea Friend
A few months ago I noticed a one-legged bird hoping around the front yard. He doesn't seem hindered in anyway by the missing limb. I was curious, so I did a little research to find out what kind of bird he is,etc. He is a Kolea, or Golden Plover.
I snapped some pics of him the other day. He's pretty tame, and I managed to get kind of close before he flew across the street and landed on Mary's roof.
I see him in the yard most days. I guess we are his winter home. Apparently they breed in Alaska during the summer and migrate to Hawaii for the winter. It seems like a good plan, but man, what a flight! and all with only one leg - I'm impressed!
Wikipedia Link - Pacific Golden Plover
I snapped some pics of him the other day. He's pretty tame, and I managed to get kind of close before he flew across the street and landed on Mary's roof.
I see him in the yard most days. I guess we are his winter home. Apparently they breed in Alaska during the summer and migrate to Hawaii for the winter. It seems like a good plan, but man, what a flight! and all with only one leg - I'm impressed!
Wikipedia Link - Pacific Golden Plover
Thursday, March 3, 2011
My house is silent, and that is strange. Ryker's in China, Quincie and Carl are at church, and the dogs are asleep. The only sounds are my fingers on the keyboard, and the faint rustle of wind and rain outside. No music, no TV, no conversation, no dishwasher, no washing machine, no anything to disturb my peace.
The really strange thing is that I'm not asleep. Normally if I get this quiet and still, I'm out in seconds flat. Not tonight, here I sitting, musing in the silence.
It seems like life goes in cycles, or waves, and things never stay the same for very long. This can be good or bad, depending on your perspective, but it is an unavoidable fact. Everything is always in a state of change. Sometimes life moves like a roller coaster - changing so fast that we can hardly keep up with it. Our body is racing forward and our heart and stomach lag behind, leaving panic and terror in the gap. When life is like this, each new challenge comes at us faster than we can process, and we lurch and retch as we struggle to keep up.
Right now it feels more like hiking an unknown trail. I am setting the pace, but I have no idea what is around the next corner, or up the next hill, or even if there will be a corner or a hill. I'm not lurching or flying along in panic, but rather straining forward, to see what is waiting for me. The lack of a map is frustrating, and the fleeting glimpses I occasionally catch of the path ahead are not enough to satisfy my curiosity. I can see the mountain top, the ultimate goal, but the path is obscured, and at times that is maddening. I long to meet someone coming back down the path that can tell me all about it, or find someone that has been up there before that wants to go again, and lead me. But, no, I mostly get to climb the mountain alone. My fellow travelers are few, and just as uninformed.
The challenge is to have patience, and enjoy the journey. There is joy in every step, and too much focus on what is to come, limits the ability to see what is here now.
The really strange thing is that I'm not asleep. Normally if I get this quiet and still, I'm out in seconds flat. Not tonight, here I sitting, musing in the silence.
It seems like life goes in cycles, or waves, and things never stay the same for very long. This can be good or bad, depending on your perspective, but it is an unavoidable fact. Everything is always in a state of change. Sometimes life moves like a roller coaster - changing so fast that we can hardly keep up with it. Our body is racing forward and our heart and stomach lag behind, leaving panic and terror in the gap. When life is like this, each new challenge comes at us faster than we can process, and we lurch and retch as we struggle to keep up.
Right now it feels more like hiking an unknown trail. I am setting the pace, but I have no idea what is around the next corner, or up the next hill, or even if there will be a corner or a hill. I'm not lurching or flying along in panic, but rather straining forward, to see what is waiting for me. The lack of a map is frustrating, and the fleeting glimpses I occasionally catch of the path ahead are not enough to satisfy my curiosity. I can see the mountain top, the ultimate goal, but the path is obscured, and at times that is maddening. I long to meet someone coming back down the path that can tell me all about it, or find someone that has been up there before that wants to go again, and lead me. But, no, I mostly get to climb the mountain alone. My fellow travelers are few, and just as uninformed.
Ryker ate a Chicken Foot
Ryker is in China. He is 19, although in China he is 20, since they start you out at one when you are born. He left about 10 days ago for WuHu in the An Hui province. It is a city of about 2.5 million people, all but 30 of which are Chinese. He is there as an intern teaching English for the next 4 months. There are 7 interns, and he is the only American. The others are from Europe, mostly the UK. He lives in an apartment with 2 other guys, and has his own room and bathroom. He teaches English to kids from 9-17 at a school, and receives Mandarin instructions from a private tutor.
It costs 2 bucks a minute to talk via his iphone, and a dollar a mega bit for data. He used up his 50 texts/month while traveling, and Facebook is blocked in China, soooo .... Skype is how he communicates with those of us here at home. There is a crazy time difference of 18 hours between Hawaii and China. While I write this at 8pm Thursday, he is already experiencing Friday afternoon.
I am waiting for him to email me photos. He only has internet access when he plugs his comp into a data cable in his apartment. The technology disconnect would give me a panic attack.
Here are some of the highlights -
Food is super cheap. He can eat out and have a huge plate of food and a drink for about .50. At one of these meals he ate a chicken foot. I admire his adventurous nature, especially with food. I don't think I could stick a chicken foot in my mouth, let alone chew and swallow it. Shopping and cooking for yourself is even cheaper. He went to WalMart the other day - yes, they have WalMart in China, weird I know - I wonder if all the stuff they sell in China, is made in China, like it is here? Anyway, China in WuHu is in a 7 story high rise, no escalators, just moving ramps, which according to Ryker are skkkeeeeeetchy. The meat department was a couple of guys with saws cutting up cows and pigs - ewww! But, hey, at least you can see where your meat is coming from, and maybe that's better than a massive plant infected with ecoli. If I keep thinking about gross meat I'll never eat meat again. He bought some duck eggs, which he said were delicious.
Crossing the street is dangerous, trucks and buses especially disregard pedestrians, and a taxi ride is cheap. Tons of people are on bikes, rik shaws, and mopeds. Traffic on Oahu can be bad, but is apparently nothing compared to WuHu.
It is late winter there, and has been in the 40's and rainy. He's cold. He took what warm clothes had, which wasn't much, and wishes he had more. WalMart there doesn't carry his size - in anything, so, he'll just have to make due until Spring.
Being one of 30 foreigners in a city of 2.5 million, he gets stared at a lot, especially by children. I wonder what they think when they see him? Last week he went to a kindergarten and taught English a few times. I wonder if when they went home and told their parents that a giant with big curly hair told him how to say "frog" and "duck" they thought they were making it up?
He says the people he works with are super nice, and that he is enjoying the work. I think it's awesome that he has this opportunity to go see one of the far flung places of this world. Ever since he was a small boy he has decorated his walls with maps of the world and made a study of them. Now those maps are going to start getting pins in them, to mark the places he has been.
It costs 2 bucks a minute to talk via his iphone, and a dollar a mega bit for data. He used up his 50 texts/month while traveling, and Facebook is blocked in China, soooo .... Skype is how he communicates with those of us here at home. There is a crazy time difference of 18 hours between Hawaii and China. While I write this at 8pm Thursday, he is already experiencing Friday afternoon.
I am waiting for him to email me photos. He only has internet access when he plugs his comp into a data cable in his apartment. The technology disconnect would give me a panic attack.
Here are some of the highlights -
Food is super cheap. He can eat out and have a huge plate of food and a drink for about .50. At one of these meals he ate a chicken foot. I admire his adventurous nature, especially with food. I don't think I could stick a chicken foot in my mouth, let alone chew and swallow it. Shopping and cooking for yourself is even cheaper. He went to WalMart the other day - yes, they have WalMart in China, weird I know - I wonder if all the stuff they sell in China, is made in China, like it is here? Anyway, China in WuHu is in a 7 story high rise, no escalators, just moving ramps, which according to Ryker are skkkeeeeeetchy. The meat department was a couple of guys with saws cutting up cows and pigs - ewww! But, hey, at least you can see where your meat is coming from, and maybe that's better than a massive plant infected with ecoli. If I keep thinking about gross meat I'll never eat meat again. He bought some duck eggs, which he said were delicious.
Crossing the street is dangerous, trucks and buses especially disregard pedestrians, and a taxi ride is cheap. Tons of people are on bikes, rik shaws, and mopeds. Traffic on Oahu can be bad, but is apparently nothing compared to WuHu.
It is late winter there, and has been in the 40's and rainy. He's cold. He took what warm clothes had, which wasn't much, and wishes he had more. WalMart there doesn't carry his size - in anything, so, he'll just have to make due until Spring.
Being one of 30 foreigners in a city of 2.5 million, he gets stared at a lot, especially by children. I wonder what they think when they see him? Last week he went to a kindergarten and taught English a few times. I wonder if when they went home and told their parents that a giant with big curly hair told him how to say "frog" and "duck" they thought they were making it up?
He says the people he works with are super nice, and that he is enjoying the work. I think it's awesome that he has this opportunity to go see one of the far flung places of this world. Ever since he was a small boy he has decorated his walls with maps of the world and made a study of them. Now those maps are going to start getting pins in them, to mark the places he has been.
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