C'est la vie in Hawai'i

Cody and I were able to go to the Laie Hawaii Temple this last Saturday.  It was a really wonderful experience.  The temple is absolutely gorgeous- inside and out.  We were also able to participate in some sealing ordinances for married couples who didn't get the chance in this life- I'm glad we can help in this work.

The thing that I love about Hawaii is that when it rains, it's not depressing.  Anywhere else it feels gloomy- but it randomly rains here when the sun is shining.  All of the sudden it will be down pouring, and ten minutes later it will be like it never happened.  There are several times I am on campus and it decides to rain randomly (every day- all the time)  This is me in such a down pour- it's hard to tell it's raining- but it definitely is!

A sign in one of my classrooms stated: "Keep windows closed because of cats".  There are lots of stray kitties on campus.  Here is one that was just chillin' in the tree.

Cody took the following picture in honor of my Grandpa Carl.  In the Ala Moana mall parking lot, there are parking spaces reserved for electric cars, and have the hook up to recharge.  Pretty cool to see how the world is starting to change!

Soak up the Sun

Cody and I had a great long weekend!  One of my new friends from the ward had a groupon for a catamaran ride and couldn't go at the last minute, so she offered it to me and Cody.  I was so excited!  This is something I have always wanted to do, but did not think it would be feasible so soon.

My favorite part was just being on the water.  Something about the ocean soothes me.  Whether it is Waikiki beach, or the bay by Verrazzano Bridge in NYC, I love the ocean.  It was amazing to see how blue the water was!  I have never seen such vivid shades of blue!

In the shallow water, the blue is like a pretty blue-green color.

When you get deeper though, the blue is such a crisp, vivid, navy color.  It's awesome!

(And the lighting was SO good for pictures!)

Cody's favorite part of the boat ride was finally seeing a sea turtle- now he wants to swim with one!

Here's our captain.  Hope he wasn't driving with his feet the entire time!

SURFING.  I wanna go so bad.  Sigh.

That was Saturday.  For Monday, Labor Day, we woke up early and took the bus to Hanauma Bay to go snorkeling again.  It wasn't crowded, which made it even more awesome.

Then later we met up with some friends at the beach for a BBQ.  One of the guys goes spear fishing, and they BBQ'ed some of his catches.  I was kind of grossed out to find one of the fishes I was eating (Parrotfish) was one of the ones I was swimming with and admiring earlier.  (I am so surprised I am not completely vegetarian)

We had a really good time.  We also got to witness a Hawaiian Monk seal.  They are on the endangered list and apparently really rare to see just lying on the beach like this:

In conclusion, Cody and I feel like we're livin' the dream... Catamaran ride in the gorgeous Pacific blue, snorkeling at Hanauma Bay, and BBQ at the beach with friends.  That's the life!

Life as a UH "Rainbow Warrior"

Yes, it's true.  University of Hawaii's mascot is the rainbow warrior.  Rumor says it used to be just the 'rainbows', so this is good.
I do feel so grateful to be going to school here.  In some ways, I like it a lot more than BYU.  I guess there are just pros and cons to each institution.

We have been busy into school and looking for work.  There are some prospects, I will let you know when things are more secure.

Cody's program has been way more intensive and busy than I realized.  Is this what it's going to be like for the next several years, as he completes his Master's and PhD?  I decided I need to get a life, or a little dog.  ;)

This is what I have been doing with my extra time:

Oh my goodness I love it!  I have been waiting so long to read Catching Fire and Mockingjay after I read the Hunger Games a few months ago.  Now I finally get the chance and I am just hauling through them.

One of the classes I am taking is called "Tropical Fruits."  We get to learn about all sorts of different kinds of tropical fruits obviously, and get a taste testing session each class!
Today we learned about fruits of the 'Sapindaceae': lychee, longan, rambutan and pulasan.
We were able to sample 2 different Hawaiian varieties of Lychee and some longan.

My taste buds are totally not used to this kind of stuff.  It was like a juicy, bitter experience.  I think I have this image of myself liking and eating all sorts of exotic fruits, when in reality I am a simple girl.  Give me an apple a day, that's all I ever need.

Cody finally "splurged" and got ice cream.  He was SO happy.  I was glad to see him so happy.  It's crazy that it was cheaper than the milk from Walmart, which is a steal of a deal relatively.

Well despite the lack of care to the grass here, the plants are really neat.  Many of the trees are labeled, telling you what kind they are.  It is an educational experience.  Cody and I came upon a "money tree"- they really do exist!

The Snorkeling Bug

Cody has caught the 'snorkeling bug'.  I have been snorkeling in the ocean before, but Cody never had before.  I knew it would be really exciting, but I didn't know he would become obsessed.  The first full week we were here he signed us up to go on a tour/trip to Hanauma Bay.  Hanauma is the most popular place to snorkel in Oahu.  We had a really good time.  We saw lots of colorful fish, corals, etc.  Cody upgraded my "tour package" so that I would get a waterproof marine life I.D. card.  In all actuality, I never used it but he loved to refer to it and identify all the new fishes he encountered.

That was Friday morning.  Friday afternoon Cody was begging us to go buy our own snorkels and do it again tomorrow.  I gave in because it would be more cost effective and just a better experience if we bought our own gear.
We did lots of research and decided we should make a trip out to Kailua beach.

Apparently we purchased a bus pass through our tuition, so we have been using that to our advantage.  We took a bus ride to Kailua beach, which was about an hour trip from door to door (beach).  It was very cool to take the bus route through the mountains.  It was absolutely breathtaking seeing all of the lush mountains and landscape, with the ocean in the background.  It is sights like that when I think "Wow, I really am in paradise."

Kailua beach was lots of fun.  The sand was so smooth and soft, and yet the perfect sand for building castles.  It was not as crowded as some other tourists spots can get, and there was some good snorkeling (in our opinion).  Initially the lifeguard told us we would not have any luck snorkeling there, that all we would see is a sandy bottom.  However, we ventured out and found a coral reef with all sorts of fun creatures.  It was incredible.

This was all of our vacationing and sight seeing before school started on Monday.  We ate at Waikiki cheeseburger for a date night, and it was soooo good!  Mmmm mmm... (Please notice the little umbrella in the bun)

Monday: school starts.  I can't comment on how Cody's master's program is, but I am loving the classes I am taking and feel so fortunate to be going back to school.  I really do love it!

One of my classes (General ed. requirement) is organic farm crop production.  We spend an hour in lecture, and then spend the rest of the time working on the student organic farm.  This is me on the first day:

This is Cody's Korean studies building.  It looks just like a Korean palace.  It's probably the best building on campus I will admit.

I feel like we are living a very balanced life- we work hard and we play hard! :)

I'm "nuts" for Hawaii

Aloha!  New adventure=new blog.  I am no longer writing under the 'seoul mates' blog and now have this blog, all about ohana (hawaiian word for family) Thiel!

I think Cody is looking forward to Korea, but I am LOVING HAWAII!  I feel like I have found my destiny.  All of my life I have been this half-Japanese girl trapped in a place that's filled with jello, baked goods and white people. (I'm not trying to be offensive or anything, it's just how it is!)  Most of the population are Asians here, especially Japanese, and I feel like I am home in a way.
I am especially excited about the food!  They have everything I love!  Lots of sushi, pineapple, and macadamia nuts.  I'm in heaven.

When we arrived at the airport, we were greeted by a guide, and given a pooka shell necklace.  (It wasn't a fresh flower lei, but still had that aloha touch)  And she helped us find our 4 suitcases at baggage claim, then off we went to our hotel.

Our first full day was apartment hunting and checking out the UH campus.  There are trees here that spontaneously grow flowers.  These flowers had just fallen out of their tree and I put them in my hair.  I love how abundant the tropical floral and fauna are!  Another reason this place matches me so well.

Just walking the downtown of Waikiki.  No walk is ever boring.

"Oh snap!  This is gonna be a problem!" was the first thing I thought when I saw this!  I absolutely love macadamia nuts, especially coated in chocolate.  You would not believe the store displays and the varieties.  They are my weakness!

Cody bought this thing called a "musubi", which is spam, rice, seasoning and seaweed.  He loved it and it has inspired him.  Guess what he has for his breakfasts?

This is our church building.  It is amazing; all of the doors face to the outside courtyard.  And every speaker greets us with a big "Aloooha!"

There is a reason the license plates here have a picture of the rainbow on them.  It hardly rains where we are, but it rains daily in the mountains.  There are frequent rainbows.  This is just one view from our new apartment.

Hawaii really is incredible- way better than I thought it would be.  It's been relieving that it really is not expensive like people "warned" us, so that's been a pleasant surprise. (Keeping in mind we just moved from NYC)  We are minutes away from the beach.  There are fireworks every Friday night at Waikiki.  The blue water of the sea and ocean life is awesome.
And all the little things make me happy too.  Like seeing so many cute Asian babies, or fresh leis for sale at WalMart of all places, and garbage cans that say "Mahalo" (thanks)!