Hawaii!!!! Day Three

Today was the "music day" of the trip for the students and we did a bit of traveling for it all. Early this morning we went to The Star of the Sea Elementary School, which was one of the main points of the trip. That school is working on a new music program that should start up next school year, so they were happy to have our students give a mini concert to help get their students excited and more interested in picking up an instrument.
Our kids did great! The elementary kids seemed to have fun too, and the school generously provided lunch for all of us. We got to eat in their cafeteria and it was a fun time.
Here are the kids at the school:

When we were finished there, we took our fancy bus through mountains and a tunnel and along the beach to get to BYU Hawaii so the students could participate in clinics. I wanted to see if I knew anybody who might be attending BYUH but I couldn't get on Facebook to send the word out. If you're reading this, and you are at BYUH, sorry I missed you!
While the students were in their music clinic at BYUH, I decided to make a trip to see the LDS temple nearby. I set out with a general idea of the direction to go, but I quickly lost confidence and asked two girls for directions. They were super cool and helpful! After I repeated back the directions to make sure I knew the way, one girl was like, "want us to just drive you there?" and I said sure. The temple was on the way to their dorms, so it was really nice of them. They were super nice and I didn't feel like they were going to kidnap me, so we all chatted and made acquaintances on the way to their car. They were from Payson and Hurricane, Utah, and named Alexis and Josie. It was great how friendly they were! If everyone were as awesome as those girls, then the world would be a better fun happy place.
They drove me the little ways to the temple and I thanked them sincerely. I'll probably never see then again and they'll probably never see this blog, but they made my day!
At the temple, I wandered around and took some pictures. The grounds were nearly deserted. As I was walking, another girl caught up to me and we chatted for a bit. Her name is Alli and she's a BYUH student. She was going to worship at the temple so we didn't have much time to chat, but she told me she ran the spotlights at the cultural center.

After a few more pictures and feeling the sun bake my neck, I stopped into the visitor center for a moment of shade. The missionaries were on me in seconds and we chatted for a bit. They convinced me to stay for a two minute move called "Because He Lives," which I hadn't seen before. It was a good little message and I admit that I got a little tight in the throat while watching it.
Afterward, I went back to campus, but stopped partway to reapply sunscreen to my neck -it was hot today! - and then made it back to the music building just in time to hear the students pound out the song they had just learned on the Tahitian drums. It was loud and really fun to listen to.

After that, we all walked over to the Polynesian Cultural Center, where we could look around and eat before going to the show. My friends, Jed and Fiona, and I went for a Tongan boat ride that was fun. We were the very last group that got to go. The center seemed pretty empty tonight, but I think it was just because most of it was closing down around 5:00 when we got there.

Fiona and I and some statues of heads.

Jed had a friend that used to live in our neighborhood back in Utah, who was now attending BYUH and working at the Cultural Center, so we stopped by to say hi. His name is Brennon, and we all made plans to meet up again before our trip ended. After that, we ate at a big buffet and I had fish that was so good!
The last part of our day was watching the show "Há: Breath of Life". It was a production that highlighted the dances and culture of the islands of Polynesia. The Tahitian part of the show was really fun, and the drums they used were the same ones that the students got to play with earlier! The fire dancers were my favorite part. The students seemed to really like it too.

This is the stage after the show with the cast posing for pictures. Sorry it's so washed out!

On the hour long trip back to Waikiki, I showed Fiona photos from my trip to London a few years back, which helped pass the time.
Today was busy busy, but really good. I made three new friends and accepted a ride from strangers and got to see the temple and the most green and beautiful scenery. I'm so tired.
Tomorrow I'm going smirking (Ha! My auto text thing put 'smirking' but was supposed to say 'snorkeling' - I'm not changing it) and hiking, so be sure to check back for pictures! See you soon!

Hawaii!!! Day Two

Another day in paradise has come and gone. This morning I woke up way before my alarm went off (which hasn't happened before and will probably never happen again) but I was able to enjoy my big comfy bed for a while before I needed to get up.
After I got up and ready for the day, we all met and then traveled to the Pearl Harbor Memorial. It was pretty cool, and the mini documentary they showed us before we ferried over to the memorial was, in my opinion, very well done. It did a good job utilizing footage from the bombings, but also gave a lot of context to the event.
At the memorial itself, which is built almost like a bridge over the sunken ship Arizona, everything was white and there was little decoration or information signs there. It was a good thing to see and I'm glad I got to go.
We went on a trip around Honolulu on the way home and drove to a national cemetery on a mountain peak that had "punchbowl" in its name.
After that, it was time to go to the beach! My hotel is right on the beach, which is awesome! Here's a picture from the hotel lobby:

I went swimming in the blue ocean for almost two hours but I wore sunscreen and my skin is as white as ever. I get to spend more time at the beach on Saturday so maybe I'll get some color to my skin after all...
There was a farmers market in the evening, which was fun and had lots of food and souvenirs. I tried peanut butter with coconut in it and was so yummy! The sales lady let us try ample amounts before we bought anything, and she kept yelling "No salt, no sugar!" over and over. I mean, that's nice to know, but it was tasty enough that I'd happily eat it even if it were nothing BUT salt and sugar.
The last thing we did today was have the students rehearse for their program tomorrow - it's the whole reason we came here.  It was so fun hearing them play together. They have a lot of talent.
After that, a couple of us grownups went looking for food and ended up with pizza. I'll never stop loving pizza. I wasn't too hungry so I only had a little bit.
Tomorrow is a big day, with a trip to the north side of Oahu to visit BYU Hawaii and the Polynesian cultural center. I think everyone's excited for it - I know I am!

See you tomorrow!

Hawaii!!! Day One

A day on an airplane tires me out more than just about anything. Today, 6.5 hours was worth it though, because now I'm in Hawaii! I'm blogging from my nicely big bed doing my best to stay awake long enough to finish this.
So, I'm a chaperone for a high school band and orchestra that my roommate teaches, and here we are! There are 37 high schoolers and about 10 chaperones. The kids are fun and I think they're as happy to be here as I am.
My plane ride was way smooth, but the guy next to me was rather big and snored a lot. When we landed, we each got a fun lei and a coach ride to our hotel. Here's my lei, telling you how I feel about my trip so far:

We are in Waikiki and like a block from the ocean! The weather is ideal. We all went to a mall down the road from our hotel and watched part of a little show with singers and hula dancers. It was a nice sit-down thing to enjoy. I had sushi for dinner with a couple other chaperones and it was so good! I got so full, it was awesome. At this point my body feels like it's 2am. At least I'll be adjusting to the time difference quickly.

Tomorrow I'm going to the Pearl Harbor memorial and then spending the afternoon at the beach. Did I mention my bed is big and comfy? Come back soon for more!

Updates and Stuff

For months now I've been thinking that I should write a post, but every time I think, "there's so much to catch up on and I will do it later." That's probably why I haven't written in my real-life paper journal since I lived in Korea. (Okay, actually, I just pulled out my journal for fact-checking and it's worse than I thought: I wrote in the airport on my way TO Korea, and once about 6 months after I got back. I didn't even write in it ONCE while I lived abroad! I'm ashamed. I really need to just copy all my blog posts from that time and stick them in my journal...that would at least be a good start, right?)

Okay, so what's happened so far this year....Here are some highlights:
I turned 28! Not that big of a deal, but it still happened. It's funny, I often thought that "28" sounded so natural, like, it's be easy to say that's how old I was whenever asked, even when it wasn't true. Well, now I'm 28 and I still have to think about how old I am if I'm asked.
My baby brother got married! He and his wife are super young and totally in love and like video games and nerdy stuff, so they are basically made for each other. The wedding and reception were both held in my hometown, so I got to go home for that, and that same weekend my first nephew was blessed. It was a busy weekend for sure, but I really like my family, so it was all good.
My Auntie is in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and she's been able to hook me up with tickets a few time, which I've very much enjoyed. She had some extras for a non-public concert that was part of the American Choral Directors Association (?) conference about 2 months ago, and it was so great! There was a downside though, and it was that my car kept dying! I'm not exaggerating when I say that my car died probably 15 times, and in stop-and-go traffic around temple square. It was a nightmare. The other people in my car were jovial and not too concerned because my car would always start right back up, but I was freaking out inside. I couldn't take my mind off it the whole night, and when we left the concert, I was nervous that it would continue to die at every stop light. After dealing with that problem (which continued to happen afterward), I finally took it to a mechanic to figure it out. The sudden-death problem had been happening for around 7-8 months, but only recently it was happening every day. The car-people had my car for like 6 hours, and everything seemed perfect. They couldn't figure it out. They even called me to ask some more questions. I don't doubt their integrity - they've got a good reputation and we've been customers for a long time now. They really couldn't solve the problem.
With that not-good news, I decided it was time to start car shopping. Bring on the stress!
To make a boring story short, I took a half day off and went car shopping with my best friend, and I finished the day with a red 2014 Altima! I honestly love it. I even traded my old car in, which made the whole situation even better. I got a pretty fair deal on my old car, considering its problems.
Just the other day a friend told me that there was a Legend of Zelda symphony concert coming to Salt Lake in October - I can't believe I didn't know about it sooner. Anyway, I looked it up and decided I really needed to go, for the sake of my own fan-boy-integrity, but I couldn't go alone, that would be kinda sad. My Zelda-loving brother's birthday was fast approaching though, so I thought I'd treat him as well! I'm so nice! I had to make sure he could ensure time-off from work and make a commitment 6 months out before I bought the tickets yet, which gave away the element of surprise, but he didn't know what I had planned, mua-ha-ha! I made a Zelda-styled card for him to let him know what his present was, but I had to email him since I only had about 3 days from the ticket purchase to his actual birthday. The toughest part was waiting the 2 days to send him the email because I was so excited too! Anyway, all is in order, and we're going to the symphony!
Here's the card I made for him (I used Canva.com -  they are SOOOO cool and free! I love their program!):

What else is new....
Oh! I'm going to Hawaii in a few days! I'm chaperoning the high school band/orchestra that my roommate teaches. I need to go buy sunscreen! I have a little tablet, so hopefully I'll be able to blog when I'm there. I seem to to my most productive blogging when I'm out traveling.
Lastly, I watched/listened to today's sessions of General Conference, and it was pretty good! I liked Elder Oaks' talk quite a lot. I'm not as knowledgeable about the New Testament as I should be, so it's awesome when I hear really amazing talks on the parables of Jesus Christ - it gives me motive to be more diligent in my scripture studies.

Tomorrow is Easter Sunday, and I hope that it's peaceful and enriching. Stay tuned for Hawaii updates!

Ghost of Christmas Past

So, like my previous post, this one was written a few weeks ago, and I'm only now getting around to publishing it. Enjoy! 
(Also, sorry that there's a white background to the text....I guess that happens when I write my post elsewhere and paste it in here...)


Merry Christmas!
I feel like I've been busy every day this month! Lots of great things have happened too.
First of all, this month has zoomed by! Thanksgiving was only a few weeks ago and Christmas is in four days! I've tried to have the Christmas spirit but its been tricky in some ways. I have been busy with work, and my evenings off I've been trying to do fun Christmas stuff but plans keep changing. I STILL haven't been to Temple Square to see the lights, but I've still done some great things. On December 11th I was able to go to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert! It was grand. Santino Fontana and the Sesame Street Muppets were there! The music was very nice and fun. I saw my auntie in the choir and everything. It was a fun night. When the concert was over there were a million people outside so my friend and I decided to come back another night to see the lights. Well we've tried twice and it didn't work out. We're going this evening so hopefully third time's the charm!
Last week, on Tuesday, Sheena and I were going to go to Salt Lake but she texted me saying she had a surprise I would love. I was kinda nervous; surprises are sometimes scary. Anyway she told me not to worry. I went to her house having no idea what was in store, but when I got there, she showed me tickets to an advance screening of The Hobbit! It was such a wonderful surprise! We also got free popcorn and soda. They even had our ultimate favorite, cherry coke!
The movie was fun and I had a great time. The scene in Dol Guldur was so cool! I love Middle-Earth!
At work, it was decided that locals could sign up to perform music in the library for Christmas. It's been really fun to hear people sing, play their instruments, and collaborate to bring the Christmas spirit.
I even signed up! I thought beforehand that they wanted like five minutes per person but I found out they wanted like 45 minutes to an hour! I decided I could probably do that so I put together a bunch of stuff and practiced like crazy for the few days I had to prepare. So when the evening came to perform, I sat at the piano in the library and was so nervous that my leg shook for like 20 minutes!
After a while though,things started to not be scary and I enjoyed playing the music. It was enjoyable enough (and not too terrible sounding) that I did it 2 more times - on different days - at the request of my co-workers. The second and third time I wasn't nervous at all; I just sat down with my music books and played with a light and airy mood.
It's funny how quickly nerves can vanish. I was so nervous the first time, and the other two were NBD. It was great!


Okay, so that was the end of that post. Now that I'm basically up to speed here, my next post will be current and hopefully soon-ish.
Ttyl!

A Little Overdue...

Ahem....
So I wrote this post last Thanksgiving with the intent of publishing it right away. Obviously that didn't happen, so I'm publishing it now! It's a little dated, but late is better than never right? Anyway, here it is:



I've had a lot of good things happen lately, and there were several times when I thought about blogging, but you know.....
Anyway, here I am!
So, as you may know if you read my previous posts, I moved for a new job and left my poor provincial town. Now I live in a bigger town closer to the shiny city.
So far, things are pretty good. My best friend lives about 20 minutes away and we get together a couple times a week.
A couple weeks ago another friend of mine hosted an open-mic night at her house, so I went and had SO MUCH FUN! Seriously, it was one of my favorite things lately. There were a lot of people there at first, but toward the end there were only about 10 of us and it was really casual. We were just lounging in the living room listening to each other play and sing music. And - get this - I made new friends! It was great. I hope there's another open mic night again soon. I promise though that I'll be more prepared for the next one. We'll see.
Thanksgiving also happened! I went home for it and my friend Emily carpooled with me. It was fun traveling together because she is nice and loves and knows music way, WAY better than I or anyone else I know, so I happily gleaned all that I could. We also had good conversation, which was really nice.
Thanksgiving was great. I got to spend 5 days at home with my family and my super cute niece (who will be getting a super awesome gift from me for Christmas- stay tuned!) and my cousins and grandparents.
The weekend after thanksgiving was great too. My friend Jesslyn had a going-away party because she would be leaving for an LDS mission. I got to see a lot of friends at the get together, including my old roommate Brad. It was nice to all spend time together. Then on Sunday Jesslyn gave here farewell talk in church and she was so enthusiastic and passionate about her mission. It was inspiring. I was reminded of my mission and how I was excited and nervous too. I also saw Jesslyn almost grow up before my eyes. She's only 19 but as I watched her talk I started to see her, not as the kid I've always known her as, but as an adult who is grown up and setting off to do hard things. It's hard to explain, but it's like when you are looking at someone you know, but for whatever reason, you suddenly notice something about their face you didn't realize before. Like, you're seeing them anew, *really* seeing them. I don't know, it's weird.
Anyway, the whole holiday was super.
I finally started playing Halo. Halo is fun! I'm so very bad at it. I set it on easy because I've never really played it, but I still had lots of fun. People who brag about playing on "legendary" mode can go pat themselves on the back and be smug and whatever. I like easy mode and playing casually because it's fun!
This post is long enough. I've got more to write about but I'll save that stuff for my next post, which will be soon!

Coming Soon!

I am not doing so hot at keeping this blog updated. I don't think it's that big of a deal since it's basically only here for my amusement at this point, but if anyone is reading this, there are posts on the way! I have a couple posts saved on my iPod that I just need to upload and stuff. They will be "old-news" by the time I post them, but that's what I get for being a lazy blogger. See you again soon!