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| "Travelling Ewa bound, there's an accident on the Leeward side. Going Windward, traffic is slow toward Moanaloa, but picks up towards town." I had turned on the radio to try to figure out what was the trouble with traffic. But I only understood every other word so turned to back off. I may be in America, but sometimes it feels like a different country. I mean, people actually let you into their lane when you turn on your signal during a traffic jam. I didn't know that was possible in the USA.
It's been a while since I wrote anything. Xanga told me it missed me, so I decided to give the old site a visit. I even forgot my password and had to reset it. But I am once again in a tropical climate - beautiful Hawaii. This is the land where surf board racks replace ski racks, shaka replaces a peace sign and people don't chat but they "talk story." West and east turn into Leeward and Windward. I'm a haole. There is no racial majority here in Hawaii. Aiea, though, has the highest percentage of Japanese Americans per capita out of any city in America. My town is only 16% Caucasian - a slight change from Monument, which is 92% Caucasian. I love it ( :
I've been doing some homework on the history of Hawaii. People of Hawaiian ancestry are a minority in their own native land. Thousands died when outsiders brought in smallpox, syphilis and other diseases that the Natives had no immunity to. Missionaries (Presbyterians here on Oahu) banned the hula as a licentious dance. Now however, there are churches that actually incorporate hula into their worship services.
Life is interesting in Hawaii. I'll try to remember to write more as I learn from this fascinating place. In the mean time, I'd challenge you to look at Hawaii as more than just a tourist's paradise. In many ways, it's more of a missionaries' nightmare. There's a lot of racial reconciliation that needs to take place. There's a lot of learning that should happen among all parties.
So aloha and mahalo from my new hale.
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| It's all about perspective really. I still don't know what will come after May 5, but the reason I don't know is not because God is trying to make me go through pain. It's because of His incredible love for me. I stole this from a facebook note:
"Whenever we may wander in uncertainty through intricate windings, we
must contemplate with eyes of faith, the secret providence of God which
governs us and our affairs and leads us to unexpected results."
-John Calvin
I'm wandering, but it's like I'm being kidnapped by some of my closest friends for a surprise party. If someone kidnaps you to take you out somewhere for your birthday, you don't get angry because you can't see where you're going when they put a blindfold on. Instead, you're glad that they love you enough to put that blindfold on so that you can be surprised at where the special place is they are taking you. So God is telling me just to wait, that it's a surprise and He doesn't want to ruin the excitement of that by telling me where I'm going right now. I'm blindfolded because of His love!
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| I have 2 months before I'm graduated from college. I use to think that by this time, I would know what comes after May 5. But even after all my searching and talking to people, I have no idea. How does one know where to go next? I've had three different possibilities go a step further this week. The whole world seems to be in front of me. But I don't know where to go next. I'm not afraid of making the wrong decision, but I am afraid of never having a choice be made obvious. I wish it was alright to leave out a fleece so I wouldn't have to feel like I'm at a cross roads with no road signs. | | |
|  | Currently Watching
Fools Rush In
By Matthew Perry, Salma Hayek, Jon Tenney, Carlos G�mez (II), Tomas Milian, Siobhan Fallon, John Bennett Perry, Stanley DeSantis, Suzanne Snyder, Anne Betancourt, Jill Clayburgh, Angelina Torres, Debby Shively, Mark Adair-Rios, Annie Combs, Shelley Morrison, Mar�a Cellario, Irene Hern�ndez, Josh Cruze, Angela Lanza
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I made the dreaded 20 mile run today. I'm in pain, but I ran the whole way, so I'm happy. That's the biggest run until the marathon. Whew! Now I'm taking it easy for the rest of the day.
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| It was 3:30 in the morning when I left my house. Dad drove me to the Denver airport and we made it by 4:30 for my flight leaving at 5:30. Should be fine. But Delta had no record of me paying for the ticket. They sent me to Northwest, which was actually opperating the flight. But they had not record of me paying either. They sent me back to Delta. The man at the Delta counter tried everything he could think of to find where my ticket information was. They could see the reservation, but they could not see that it was ticketed. The only way they would let me back on the fligh was if I paid for it. . .again. The first time, I paid $160 for the roundtrip. They wanted $330 for this one way trip back to Nashville. Though admittedly not excited about going back to school, I knew it was necessary and decided to pay twice and worry about getting reimbursed for that later once the mistake was obvious.
I got on my plane with little trouble after that and called Delta the next day. They instructed me that they could do nothing and told me to call Frontier, who apparently had the money. I called Frontier, who told me they could do nothing because I booked the flight through Travelocity. I called Travelocity and they told me that I had called too late and they could do nothing; that I needed to talk to Frontier. At this point, I'd been on the phone for nearly an hour and I was frustrated, to say the least. I called Frontier again and finally received help from Lurdes. I still don't have the money back, but I think progress is being made. At least, I'm hoping that is the case.
Anyway, that's just one of the frustrations of life I suppose.
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