Aloha and Mahalo (Jeff's Hawaii Adventures)

Hong Kong - Day 1

2011-10-19T14:41:00.011-10:00

What a fun adventure this trip has been thus far! In just a short span of two days, Jamie and I have traveled by car, plane, taxi, bus, two kinds of ferries, a cable car, and subway. Hong Kong has so many efficient and fun ways to get around.

We woke up yesterday feeling refreshed and made our way down to Tsim Sha Tsui (TST) where we walked along near the Avenue of Stars down to the Star Ferry.

We rode the Ferry across to Central and then took the train to Tung Chung. Here are a few pics from the Cable Car from Tung Chung to the Po Lin Monastery.

Here are a few pics from the Monastery:

We made our way back by ferry to Central from Lantau Island and had fun exploring the streets. We had a great meal (our first full meal in HK) and here's what we ate:

Sinaporean Fried Noddles

Baked Pork Chop Fried Rice

After our late lunch, we made our way up to the botanical gardens/zoo on Hong Kong Island and had fun watching monkeys and lemurs play around. We finished by walking back to Central. A great day in all! Miss you guys!

Flying to HK is no short flight

2011-10-18T14:50:00.003-10:00

Hey everyone,

Jamie and I made it safely to Hong Kong after 25 hours of travel time (plus a 12 hour time difference). After leaving from RDU with layovers in Atlanta and Tokyo/Narita, we arrived happily in Hong Kong last evening. We had a taxi waiting for us and quickly got to where we're staying and settled in for the evening. We're off to explore today and will post pictures soon!

Jeff and Jamie

China Here We Come!!

2011-10-16T20:44:00.001-10:00

Going to China isn't anything new to me. However, getting to travel to China with my wife is certainly going to be a fun and exciting experience. As Jamie and I travel throughout China over the next three weeks, I'll try and update this blog to share with you all our insights and experiences.

Talk to you from China!

Dealing with Death

2010-02-11T12:42:00.005-10:00

All of us have to deal with death in our lives at one point or another. I'm very fortunate that my parents and immediate family members are all still here with me.

However, in late 2008, I lost a good friend. Dealing with death is hard. When it is dealt with in your native language and culture, it's hard. But when one of your first experiences with death comes in a totally different language and culture, it's even harder.

Today I heard the song "Angel" by Sarah McLachlan. "Angel" was one of Shi Lei's favorite songs and it got me thinking about him today. I can't recall going to a grave site of a family member of mine in the States to pay respects or deliver flowers. However, I do remember going into the mountains outside of Beijing with Shi Lei's father a few months after his passing. We were ringing in the Chinese New Year without our good friend and son, respectively. As we walked through hundreds of mounds in the ground carrying paper money and food, I really had no idea what I should be feeling. Is it appropriate to cry? Is it appropriate to comfort my friend's father if he starts crying? What are the protocols relating to death? Do they differ between cultures and people? I'm sure they do.

We placed the paper food and money into the huge burners, signifying that we were passing along the food and money to Shi Lei in the afterlife. His father spoke to him as if he could hear us, as if he was right there beside us. I'll never forget it. I knew he wasn't with us, but I went ahead and said a few things anyways as I felt his father expected me too.

He's not with us. He won't be in the future. As the Chinese New Year approaches in two days, I'll be thinking about him.

I can still hear the song coming from his computer when I see this picture

We miss you Shi Lei.

2009-12-06T19:47:00.000-10:00

Beijing has really changed since I first visited in 2002. This picture, although it from one of the most newly renovated districts, brings me back to the drab colors of China in years past. The red lanterns add flavor, but this reminds me of a time when Mao's policies were in full effect.

Living out of a suitcase

2009-10-12T10:50:00.002-10:00

When I return home from China on Nov. 16 I will have been away from home for 6 months this year. This year I definitely have experienced what it means to "live out of a suitcase", except in my case for most of the year, it has been "living out of a backpack". I still enjoy it, but it does tend to get a little old. Your selection of what shoes and clothes to wear is obviously limited. Sleeping in different beds in different cities can be exciting and also tiring. I doubt I'll ever have a year with more traveling than this one. I'll have to write a year wrap-up blog that sums up the travels for 2009. For now, it's back on the road to China I go.

Jeff

Washington State

2009-10-04T19:09:00.004-10:00

I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Seattle and other parts of Washington State. Many thanks to Laura for hosting me and taking me all around. Thanks also to Ben for organizing a sweet hiking trip and for suggestions some sweet shows.

My impression of Seattle was similar to my impression in Portland, both very cool cities. Both also much more secular cities than the religious cities in the Southeast.

My first night in Seattle, Laura picked me up and took me to have the best Vietnamese food of my life:

After dinner, we met up with my old friend Ben at the art museum for "Decibel Festival" - good music and we tried a BLT drink (I don't recommend it). Afterwards, we went and watched the Grand Archives and the Most Serene Republic at a venue in downtown Seattle. You can hear some of the Most Serene Republic's music here: http://www.myspace.com/themostserenerepublic

All in all, I definitely want to head back to Seattle again in the future. I recommend trying to visit if you have the time. To see more pictures from the trip, please visit: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2393059&id=2701328&l=4e3b39938c

Oregon

2009-09-27T21:08:00.004-10:00

My visit to Oregon has come and gone and I wanted to get a few reflections down before they leave me. First of all, if you are interested in checking out some gorgeous pictures, feel free to look at my album here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2392464&id=2701328&l=2fd1341f8e

Oregon was definitely organic. They seemed to grow a lot of everything and not a lot of any one crop in particular. Gabe and Kristina graciously hosted me for 3 nights and showed me not only around downtown Portland, but also along the Columbian River Gorge:

We hiked up Mt. Wind and observed where Indian tribes used to have religious ceremonies.

In town, I got to watch Kristina eat a flower (weird, right? :) ) and I even tried one myself (a bit spicy):

A couple things I learned:

1. Kroger is known as Fred Meyer out there (just as Hardees is known as Carls Jr.)
2. In the grocery stores (at least Safeway), you can actually mix and match your six packs of beer for the price of whatever box you use to hold them in...crazy!
3. There are no self-service gas pumps in the whole state. You don't have to tip them after pumping gas though (wish I knew this in advance).
4. You can ride the public transportation (around downtown at least) for free during the day.
5. There is no sales tax!
6. Oregon takes pride in trying to be more grungier than Seattle - the coffee shop I went to was just that.
7. It's safe to eat wild berries, at least most kinds.
8. Monday Night football is almost always over by 8:30pm...weird
9. Portland's only professional sports team is are the Trailblazers and tickets are pretty expensive.
10. People don't really speed or drive as aggressively out west as they do in the east.

OREGON IS GREAT - I highly recommend a visit sometime.

The Long Drive North

2009-09-24T09:25:00.004-10:00

For those of you who have driven from North Carolina to New York (or other cities in the NE), you know that it is a long, and sometimes, quite trying drive. Traffic on I-95 around D.C. is just about always bad, regardless of the time of day. The Jersey turn pike socks you for a big toll and there are numerous other toll stops along the way (yet the roads still are in far worse shape than our roads in the south which have no tolls...).

My drive from San Francisco to Portland was the total opposite. Besides winding, steep turns at times, this drive was very relaxing and beautiful. Click here to check out a map showing the route I drove:

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&ll=38.822591,-122.530518&spn=2.23394,3.532104&z=8&msid=109410097148112195254.00047457dc21af0cf636a

In total, it was about 758 miles. I left Berkeley (San Fran area) at 10:30am on Sunday, September 20th and got to Portland at 8:00pm on Monday, September 21st.

I took many pictures along the route. If you're interested in taking a look, they can be found here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2392093&id=2701328&l=ecdf49e839

I was on the road for a total of about 34 hours and had a lot of time to reflect and think while driving. I remember while driving thinking that that moment was the calmest I'd ever been. The sun was shining, radio playing Dave Matthews Band (live edition of Crash), the trees were swaying in the wind, cows were grazing, and the surf was pounding. I forgot to put suntan lotion on my arm (nothing new) and so my left arm (the one I hang out the window while driving) is a bit tanner (or burnt depending on how you look at it) than my right arm.

As usual, I decided to make the trip looking up directions myself online and by using maps. I am still pretty anti-GPS, especially not a fan of those people who blindly follow them everywhere. What if it messes up, then what will you do?
Here is the sheet of paper I used to navigate myself to Portland:

It was very freeing just driving and not really knowing how to go or where to stop. It was also a blessing that for most of the trip there was no cell phone coverage. I know that I would have been talking with friends a lot of the trip and not enjoying the serenity and the views. I am a big fan of San Fran's radio station 105.3 - I'll try and stream it once back at home if possible.

I realized that I don't like the smell of skunks. Believe it or not, I thought I did before, but after this drive, I'm confident that I do not. I also thought the drive up the coast was very similar to a drive around the Big Island of Hawai'i. Obviously, the vastness of the west coast makes it different, but the way that parks were labeled, the way people tried to hitchhike, etc etc were all very similar. Oh, that and no one during my journey drove more than 10 over the speed limit the entire way up the coast.

The car that I rented luckily had Sirius radio, which I am now a big fan of. There were many parts of the drive with limited or no radio stations, but Sirius came through and provided great music and talk for hours. The end of my first day of driving put me in the Redwood National Parks. These trees are amazingly big and fun to look at while driving. That night, I slept in the car over night in Crescent City, CA. I pulled in to the lot of a Best Western and fell right asleep. Unfortunately, there was this annoying beeping sound from outside that went off every 7 seconds all night long. Eventually, I decided to drive and park somewhere else to sleep. I slept till 9:00am and hit the road for Oregon.

At 5:06pm when I was in Newport, OR the temperature read 95 degrees. I couldn't believe it. Right after looking at the temperature, I looked toward the water and saw a grey whale...also quite unbelievable. What a great trip!

Jeff

New York, Boston, and San Fran

2009-09-17T22:03:00.002-10:00

Day 8 of the adventure finds me in San Francisco. Days 1 - 4 were in New York, while 5 - 7 were spent in Boston. Thanks to my gracious hosts (Keith, Debbie, Jared, Elizabeth, Sam, and now Stefanie).

I wanted to see different parts of the U.S. and different parts are what I'm seeing. There are big differences between not only weather, but food, culture, attitudes, religion, etc in the 3 cities I've been to thus far. It's eye-opening. In Boston, as far as I could gather, strangers don't converse while waiting to cross the street. In the south, they definitely do. They certainly cuss a lot more in the north.

Boston was beautiful, absolutely beautiful. It seems like a great college town. I don't like the Red Sox or the Celtics or the Bruins, or any of the college sports teams for that matter. Going to the Sox game was a lot of fun though.

Here's some Boston pics: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2390504&id=2701328&l=662493d569

More from San Fran to come later.

New York

2009-09-13T19:10:00.003-10:00

New York has come and gone for me. I'll write my reflections soon. For now, enjoy some pictures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2389405&id=2701328&l=4e2792a258

Jeff

On the Road Again

2009-09-09T20:15:00.002-10:00

For those of you who know me, you know that I really don't spend a lot of money on clothes or electronics or sporting events. I don't buy expensive dinners very often and enjoy shopping at Goodwill. Where most of my disposable money does go towards is traveling. I have a passion for traveling that is not rivaled by any other hobby, not even tennis, speaking Chinese, or eating (well, maybe eating rivals it).

Tonight I left Raleigh for an 18-day journey across the U.S. I realized earlier this year that I've traveled to far more places in China than I have in my own country. I've also traveled to more countries than I have U.S. states and that didn't seem quite right. On this trip, I'll travel to 3 new states and 4 new cities, again putting the number of states that I will have visited (26) over the number of countries (23).

I hope to write a little, maybe each day or maybe every few days, (we'll see how I feel as the trip progresses) while I travel these next few weeks. Traveling evokes a feeling in me that is different than when I'm at home with friends and family. It challenges me. It makes me think differently about things. It opens up my mind to possibilities that I had not seen before. Perhaps that is one of the reasons why I love traveling so much.

Tonight on the plane ride up from Raleigh, I looked out over what was probably New Jersey and saw the lights on ball fields being turned out. It brought back so many memories of not only little league practices, but soccer, high school tennis, and numerous tournaments for many different sports. I thought about many old teammates and coaches who I haven't spoken with in years.

Our sermon in church this past week talked about leaving complacency and going out into the world and accomplishing great things. I feel travel is one catalyst for me for such works.

I'm in Long Island tonight with my wonderful family. It's great to see them and catch up. Every time I come here, it's as if I never left.

Important Takeaways from Church Today

2009-06-28T05:56:00.003-10:00

This morning was quite possibly the best (most fulfilling) service I've been to at my church. I walked out with so many takeaways that I wanted to share a few here as well.

Today's sermon was on the Sabbath and in particular took from Luke Chapter 6, Verses 1-11. Pastor Rodney argued that none of us really follow the Sabbath and that if we were, that would mean we could not walk more than 2000 feet, go shopping, lift anything heavier than a fig, etc etc between sundown on Friday and sundown on Saturday (as opposed to Sunday, which is the day most people think is the Sabbath).

A few takeaways:

1. God doesn't care what you wear to church, he cares what your heart looks like.
2. To provide rest for man, the Sabbath does not take priority over human need - mercy takes priority over ritual obedience
3. There is never a wrong day to do something good.
4. We go to church so that we can be a blessing to the body of Christ, so that we can use our God given abilities to help others.
5. We don't go to church to see what the church can do for us - which is becoming more and more common in this age of religious consumerism
6. Home fellowships are fine, and in fact encouraged, but Christians NEED to go to church.

Are you willing to expand your life and work for Jesus today? Are you being called to do something and not doing it? There's a big world out there, don't settle for anything less than your absolute best. In anything that the Lord calls you do to, the Lord has already provided you with the skills to do it.

Regional Differences in the US

2009-06-22T03:33:00.002-10:00

Having just returned from a nice trip to the midwest, I'm still astonished at how diverse some parts of our country are, while others are white as snow. I remember sitting on the plane heading to Miami a few weeks back and just watching all the other passengers who came on board. An elderly black gentleman, a young white mom with two kids, a college kid with a mohawk, an elderly white couple, an Asian girl wearing a pink backpack and talking on a pink cell phone, a huge man who certainly could not fit in one seat, etc etc. Every person who boarded the plane down there seemed to be totally different from the one in front and behind him. I like this diversity. I don't see this very much in North Carolina, in the midwest (outside of Chicago proper), and definitely not in Asian countries.

When I've been in China, people frequently ask me what the US is like. It is hard to accurately describe a country as large and diverse as the US in just a few sentences. In the traveling that I've done here in the US, I have noticed that the regions vary significantly. Besides, obviously, differences that arise in the food consumed and choice of words and accents throughout the US, I have found that there are other differences that I thought wouldn't exist. For example, this past week in Chicago, we somehow got on the subject of St. Patrick's Day. It turns out that in Chicago they don't practice the custom of pinching someone who isn't wearing green. This was shocking to me and just as shocking to my Chicago friends when they heard that we would pinch others not wearing green on St. Paddy's Day. I called friends in Florida, Texas, Georgia, and South Carolina and they all pinch if not wearing green. Now, I wonder if not pinching is just a midwest thing or if other parts of the US are similar to Chicago.

It also made me think what other differences are out there. I've yet to travel to half of the States in the US - so much to learn and so much yet to see.

Jeff

Foreign Service Exam Prep

2009-06-09T18:23:00.001-10:00

Well, I've done all I'm going to do. Tomorrow morning at 10:30am, I take the Foreign Service Exam for the 3rd time. I've passed 50% of the times I've taken it previously. It was fun reviewing math, economics, geography, domestic and foreign policy, US history, communications, statistics, and management theory in getting ready for the test.

Now, I'm just ready to take it and hopefully prepare for the Oral part of the process.

2009-05-25T19:14:00.002-10:00

So, we moved my sister into her apartment last weekend. I'm so proud of her - out on her own now and starting her third year of college (still with a 4.0 GPA at that). I miss her though and wish she were still at home. Here's a couple shots we took while putting the "Wood Flete" of cars to good use:

My friends and I have begun what will hopefully become a Tuesday evening tradition, trying a different type of cuisine while enjoying each others company. Last week we tried a new Thai place in Preston and tonight we hope to have Turkish:

For Memorial Day Weekend, Andy and I went down to Emerald Isle for a nice relaxing weekend with Jon, Michelle, Jared, Elizabeth, and Jared's sister Rachel and her boyfriend. I realized while sitting on the beach that the beach causes me to have more motivation and drive. It is something about the power of the waves and the water that does it. I realize while sitting there that I can be doing so much more with my life and I'm going to start doing it, starting today. Here's a pic from our trip to Beaufort:

I have just over two weeks before I take the Foreign Service Exam, so I really hope to buckle down and study for that during these next two weeks. I also need to keep doing GRE program and job research.

Jeff

RSS Feeds

2009-05-19T10:42:00.003-10:00

I consider myself pretty technology savvy, but I am just now finally understanding all of this RSS Feed stuff. I have several friends who have blogs and it has been hard for me to know when new blogs are up, especially for those who do not post on a daily basis.

However, I just now figured out that you can subscribe to someone's blog (or other kinds of pages as well, I'm assuming) so that when there is a new posting, you can automatically receive an email alerting you. Pretty cool. I imagine you could do it for my blog as well, but I only see an option to "Follow Blog" through something they call a Dashboard.

So, maybe I still don't fully understand how to follow these blogs, but I am getting there.

Comments on Nepal

2009-05-18T09:55:00.004-10:00

In all honesty, I never thought that I would travel to Nepal. It certainly was not on my top 10 list of countries I wanted to visit. For a country that borders China, nearly no one in the country speaks Chinese (although they all can understand and most can speak Hindi). I didn't notice the dirtiness until my mom pointed it out in the pictures (having been in China for years and now India has thrown off my censors for recognizing what is actually dirty).

I loved Nepal. The people were friendly. They have momos, which are similar to Chinese dumplings, but often filled with buffalo meat. All the temples (both Hindu and Buddhist) were great to visit. The Himalayas are breathtaking (even though we didn't see them while trekking).

I had a 40 minute conversation with a taxicab driver while waiting for our bus to leave for Pokharra. He said he loved his country, but the government just wasn't doing a good job. He was extremely discouraged by the state of things: corruption, opportunities for advancement, and perhaps worst off, the government not really caring about its people. Also, in most of Nepal, there are scheduled power cuts for every town and city for between 8 and 16 hours a day...I had never heard of that having to be done before. I hope that things get better. Turns out, only three days after we left one of the generals got sacked, the Prime Minister stepped down, and the coalition government was in jeopardy of losing power. My new and old friends will continue to be in my prayers.

I hope to make it back for a trekking adventure with Kaji and some other good friends.

Here's one shot that Cathy took while we were trekking through the rural parts outsie of Pokharra. We came across some kids on their way to school:

To check out other pictures from Nepal, please visit them online at:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2349792&id=2701328&l=a08e07ce75
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2349817&id=2701328&l=8b2472c5db

Last comment. Nepal had the strictest and most time-consuming airport security that I've ever experienced. Really not needed. Definitely get to the airport 2.5+ hours in advance.

Back in NC at long last

2009-05-05T05:25:00.003-10:00

Hey everyone,

After over six weeks on the road, I made it safely back to North Carolina last night. I'll be putting up blogs (hopefully one per day) to fill in last month of travel that was not blogged.

Jeff

INDIA!!

2009-04-14T04:45:00.003-10:00

Hey everyone,

I hope that everyone is doing well. It's kind of funny that even though I have never been to India before, when I arrived a few days ago, it felt like I was coming home. Europe was great, don't get me wrong, but Asia is for me. The cars honking, bikes swerving, people everywhere, smells, etc etc brings me back to the first time I went to China back in 2002.

I love Asia, I always will.

For years now, I have been reading articles that compare China and India. Now, I finally get a chance to see first hand both the differences and similarities.

I don't have time to list the differences now, but will do so at a different date.

Talk soon.

Jeff

Prague!!

2009-04-05T11:37:00.011-10:00

Prague was absolutely wonderful. I would have to say that it was my favorite city of the trip thus far. We got into Prague from Berlin around 6:00pm and found the hostel relatively easily. Prague's hostel was also my favorite thus far. We were on the 5th floor (top floor) of a cool looking building. Here's a view from the room:

The room we booked had 10 beds in it, but for the first two nights, it was just Tarik and I (the last night there were several other people checked in there as well). The hostel had free internet and wifi, a fun kitchen and common room, and nice people visiting from all over the world. Every evening we sat around and talked with people from either Spain, Chile, Wales, Australia, Switzerland, the US, and others.

On our first evening, we decided to walk across Charles Bridge (the most famous bridge in Prague) to head to the other side of the river for dinner. We crossed the bridge and ended up eating at a restaurant near the Embassy District. The food we ordered was Czech food and consisted of breads, dumplings (but not like the Chinese ones), roasted pork, goulash, and potato cakes. The food here is kind of heavy and they don't eat many vegetables. Given that the Czech Republic is where lager beers first originated, it is common to see locals throwing down brews for lunch and dinner. Many times, they even come in 4 liter containers like this one:

My overall impression of Czech people isn't very positive. When we first arrived, it took us about ten minutes to find someone to give us change for the larger bill that the ATM gave us. You know in the US how you can pretty much only get $20s from the ATM, well, here, that is not the case at all. Secondly, at our first dinner, the waitor did not inform us that there would be an extra charge for the water, bread, salt, and pepper that we used. Thirdly, many of them just seemed generally unfriendly. When I was trying to buy a loaf of bread at the grocery store, I'm not sure what I did when I was checking out, but the cashier just started speaking to me in Czech, obviously not happy with something that I had done.

The country itself is gorgeous and Prague is no exception. The architecture is amazing. Nearly every building had ornate decorations. At least five bridges spanned across the river that ran through Prague, each one with its own characteristics. Here are a few pics from the bridge:

Prague had a castle that perched atop its hill, also very pretty:

While touristy, I enjoyed the markets that were open in preparation for Easter. Singing and dancing could be seen on stage while trying local delicacies like these:

One afternoon we went and visited a museum of medieval torture techniques...pretty awesome and GRUESOME!

I was very happy to have the chance to meet up for dinner and drinks with three former classmates from Hong Kong. It had been three years since seeing Kathy, and already 5 years since seeing Frederick and Esther. Wonderful times.

On a day trip outside of Prague, Tarik and I decided to go and visit a crypt that contained more than 40,000 skulls and/or bones. Check it out!

Backpacking Culture

2009-04-05T11:36:00.000-10:00

Don't get me wrong, I love backpacking. I really enjoy staying at the hostels and meeting people from all across the world. Of course, it is better to live out of a dresser and drawers as opposed to a suitcase, let alone a backpack. I've realized from the trip thus far that Tarik and I are older than most of the other people in the hostels. Many are in high school, having fun during their "gap" year before college, or on study abroad programs. How quick could I have forgotten that most travellers that age are most interested in things of this world. The most common topics I've heard about while listening throughout Europe are drugs, sex, and getting drunk. As a Christian, none of these appeal to me. It is a blast to meet new people, but I wish that more of them were more spiritually or morally sound.

Taking Trains in Europe

2009-04-05T11:35:00.001-10:00

One thing I've learned while gone these past two weeks are how different the train and metro systems are in different countries throughout Europe. When traveling in France, you just about have to travel on high speed trains, but pay at the wazoo to do so. In Germany, evil ticket controllers will pop into your car right when the door is closing to check tickets. Germany, I suppose, is on the honor system, as these controllers are only seen on average once a month. We purchased tickets each time (or used the rail pass on the S-Bahn lines), but had we wanted to just hop on
and risk avoiding the controller, we could have done so as well. In Amsterdam, we really did not have to worry about paying for the local trams because Tarik's uncle gets free transportation within the city. In the Czech Republic, we boarded a tram, fully prepared to pay our fee to someone or to purchase a ticket once we got on board. However, no such person or apparatus could be found. After asking around, we realized that tickets have to be purchased at small convenience stores near the tram stops before boarding the train and then validated once on the train. I believe Budapest has a similar system to the Czech Republic, we'll find out soon enough.

In terms of the international trains, everything has been pretty smooth thus far. One time we accidentally mistook first class for second class and were kindly asked to move by the controller. Otherwise, there has not been a problem with the rail pass (thankfully). That being said, I feel that if you are planning to visit no fewer than five countries, the rail pass is not worth it. OUr pass is for a total of 21 days (unlimited travel), but we've realized that we will really only be traveling for about ten of those days. If possible, try and opt for a flex pass that lets you travel for ten days in a X day time period.

The trains themselves are very comfortable. We haven't really had trouble finding seats. In fact, normally we end up getting to sit in the middle of the car in the seats that face each other with a nice table (to play cards, eat, etc) in the middle. I wish that trains were a more efficient mode of transportation in the US.

Berlin

2009-03-31T09:50:00.011-10:00

We took a long train ride from Amsterdam to Berlin (approximately 7 hours) and arrived around 8:00pm. I really did not know what to expect from Berlin. I have been to Cologne, Bonn, Stuttgart, and a few other small cities, but not to Germany's capital. On the way to our hostel the first evening, we stopped in a rotisserie chicken joint. Here's the guy serving up the stuff and the finished product:

We got half a chicken and a nice salad for about US $6, not a bad deal - it was darn tasty too. We eventually found the hostel, checked in, and then went out to venture around the city. The neighborhood where our first hostel was located was quiet, but had some cool shops and stores. I sampled a few of the local beers (Berliner's different varities) and enjoyed chatting with some local folks.

We took the S-Bahn train downtown and tried to find bigger crowds, but to no avail. After walking in the cold rain for an hour and a half, we decided to call it a night and returned to the hostel. While there, we chatted with some new friends from Stuttgart and called it an evening.

Day 2 started with a change in hostels (mainly due to the cost, not the quality of the first one). After placing our bags at the new hostel, we set out to find a Russian monument given to Berlin some time ago. It was really awesome and worth the half an hour walk to find it, check it out:

Afterwards, we went and visited the East Side Gallery, where we saw the remains of the Berlin Wall: I also got my passport stamped!

Following, we made our way into a market and checked out some shops, had some lunch, and just walked around the city. We saw a few museums, the Dom, and then went back to the hostel to rest.

The Dom (or Cathedral)

That was Day 1 and 2, I'll have to make another one for the remainder of Berlin soon.

Jeff

Amsterdam (with pics)

2009-03-31T09:17:00.011-10:00

Our first day in Amsterdam we slept clear through eleven, woke up, had an amazing breakfast of bread, cheese, tomatoes, meat, and sauces. We then went with Tarik's uncle's family to see the famous tulip park, called Keukenhof. The park just opened and will remain open through May 20th. While it was pretty this time, they say it gets much better in May when the flowers all grow to be much taller. I'm usually not one to take pictures of flowers, but take a look at a few of the pics from the park:

After the tulips, we made our way into town and just ventured around exploring. Amsterdam's architecture is not nearly as cool as Paris', but it is neat that it has so many canals running through the city.

We stopped at one of them and tried a raw fish sandwich...pretty good actually:

Also, I found it pretty cool that Amsterdam's main mode of transportation was the tram, which were both quick and convenient.

While in Amsterdam, we had several other amazing Turkish feasts, check out these pics:

All in all, I'm not sure if I'll ever make it back to Amsterdam. It is a city of extremes. On one hand, you have the marijuana coffee shops and the red light district (which aren't my cup of tea) and on the other you have tulip gardens and windmills (which, really also aren't for me). Actually, that's about it. It is very touristy and not as pretty as other European cities that we have been to. That, and it goes from being sunny to raining on the drop of a dime.

TAR HEELS

2009-03-29T12:50:00.001-10:00

The UNC vs Oklahoma game is going on and I cant watch it online. It is agonizing! But, at least we are winning!!

Jeff

Belgium

2009-03-28T14:56:00.010-10:00

Upon leaving France, we made our way northeast to Belgium. Nearly all of France's trains are high speed trains and so before we knew it, we were in Brussels. We got out and made our way down to the Grand Place (I thought it might have been Grand Palace, but no, it was Grand Place). We walked around the square and took some pictures:

We found a local waffle shop and had our belgian waffles:

Right beside the shop was the famous statue of a little boy peeing:

We walked around for a bit more, taking a gander at all the marvelous chocolate shops Brussels had to offer when it started to rain.

We hurried back to the train station and then made our way to Castillion Brewery, the oldest brewery operating in Brussels (started in like 1906 or something like that). We got to take a tour of the brewery and learn how they make their famous lambics, gueuze, and kriek.

It was really cool. At the end, we got to sample two of the varities - they were unlike any beer I've ever had.

After the brewery, we hopped on a train for Brugge. We got there and walked around looking at all the midevil architecture and churches. Again, the rain caught us, but not before we got some great shots at the same locations that the movie "En Brugge"
was filmed.

From Brugge, we hopped on another train and made our way to Amsterdam, arriving around 10:00pm. We found an internet cafe and gave Tarik's uncle a call. About half an hour later, they met us at the train station and took us home, but not without firs stopping for some Lacmahun (turkish pizzas) first.

Hit By A Car!

2009-03-27T00:08:00.008-10:00

I looked left, looked right, thought the walking man sign was flashing, stepped out, and BAMMM, my watch goes flying off of my wrist into the air. I didn't quite know what happened. It was all so fast. Apparently, between the time I looked left and then right, a car came flying around the corner off of the Champs S'Elysee. I was extremely fortunate. My wrist sustained a little bruise, my knee was barely bumped, and the very end of my shoe was run over. Really, had my watch not shot off of my wrist, I would not have even known the car hit me. Several minutes later, I was able to pop my watch back together and we were off to eat a fantastic Italian lunch with a classmate from UNC, Helene.

Lunch was tremendous and the French-style afternoon snack at Angelina's was even better. I'm not big on pastries, but the Mont Blonc chocolate pastry and the macarons (one dark chocolate, one pistacio, one berry, and one I can't remember) were incredible.

After snacking we walked up and down the Champs S'Elysee and made our way back to the Lourve (which we had visited the night before...amazing!) to find where the pyramid comes down to through the floor and reaches another small pyramid (picture Da Vinci code).

The other night when we saw the Louvre, it was free for anyone under 26, woo hoo! We spent a few hours wandering through the enormous museum. The Mona Lisa really is small, but Da Vinci was an incredible artist.

After seeing the pyrmamids, we made our way back to the Arc de Triumphe and I climbed the 284 steps to the top. I really enjoy seeing cities from above and Paris is a must see. From the top, I could see all the way down the Champs S'Eylsee, the
Eiffel Tower, a neighboring town called La Defense, as well as the Sacre Coeur (which we are heading to momentarily).

Upon desending from the Arc, we made our way to some stores which we though would be remarkably different from ones in the U.S. We were disappointed to get that same feeling of being in a big mall and quickly left.

After a croissant, we headed for the Latin Quarter to meet Maria (a friend of Bjoern's) and Bastien. We spent the rest of the night chatting and walking with these two wonderful new friends. They took us by the Pantheon, several churches
(including the Notre Dame) and even walked all the way back down to the Champs S'Elysee with us explaining the history of the buildings, etc etc. They also took us to have a wonderful meal at a creperie. We tried gallettes, which are salty
pancakes, as opposed to the sweet ones that most people associate with crepes...delicious. I'm sure that we will be able to see Maria and Bastien again in the future.

Finally, before heading back, we thought it would be fun to check out a local, French karaoke bar. It was great. They ended up singing one song in English (we had no clue who sang it originally or where it came from) as well as several popular French songs. Good times were had by all.

Until next time.

Jeff

Posts might not be real-time accurate, but they are still cool

2009-03-26T14:35:00.006-10:00

The 5:30pm sunshine here in Paris feels wonderful as I sit by a riverside cafe watching people stroll by. We've been in Paris for about 5 hours now and my legs are killing me. We've walked, queued, walked, and walked some more. Before I talk about Paris, let me wrap up London.

On Thursday, we decided to take the morning easy and slept in until about 11:00. We met my friend Xiao Ye at Piccadilly Circus at 1:45 and she kindly took us around to the British Museum (which was a bit of a let down simply because it had nothing British in it at all...it was all borrowed from other countries), Oxford Circus, and Camden Town. Camden Town was definitely my favorite of the three and we enjoyed looking at dozens of markets and shops and sampling some local street food (the pizza wasn't all that good).

We parted ways with her around 6:30 and made our way to a nice Belgian restaurant (per her suggestion). Delicious mussels and rye bread were had over some delicious Belgium beer. The restaurant's layout was pretty neat in that you could watch the chefs in action from above before being seated at your
table.

After dinner, we decided to just head back to the hostel and rest before our early morning departure to Paris. We met up with some friends in the kitchen and discussed soccer and New Zealand's prevalence in the world (or lack thereof). I actually fell asleep at 11:00, only to wake up around 12:00 to hear a mouse getting into my trail mix. I jumped down, shoowed him away, and salvaged the bottom half of the mix. I couldn't really sleep much after as I continuously heard the dodgy litter guys scurrying to and fro on the floor. Here's a pic of one of the bars they got into:

My alarm sounded at 4:00am anyways and we were off to catch the train to Paris.

2.5 hours later (plus one hour for the change in time zones) and we arrived in Paris at 8:50am. The sun is quickly setting and I am scheduled to meet Tarik at the Pyramid near the Lourve at 6:30, so, I better stop for now.

Until next time, GOOO HEELS!!

Amsterdam

2009-03-26T00:36:00.002-10:00

Hello everyone,

I know several of you have expressed a desire to read more blogs. I have a desire to write more and in fact, I've written several, but they are saved on Tarik's computer. Hopefully, once we get to Berlin this everning, I can upload them. For now, let me just say that Amsterdam (and Holland in general) is the most liberal nation on earth. I have seen Amsterdam through the eyes of a Turkish person, not as of Hollander, and it's been great. Holland has more non-native Dutch people than it does native ones (mainly Moroccans and Turks).

When I am able to put pictures up here, I'll write more. Off to the train station for now.

Jeff

London - Day 2 Comments

2009-03-19T02:35:00.003-10:00

Not a lot of time here...so just a few comments from Day 2's activities:

Something, we're not sure what it is, has now gotten into Tarik's Lara bars two nights in a row. He even zipped up the bag this past night, but we awoke to find several packages eaten into...

The London Bridge is really not impressive at all - the Tower Bridge is.

England has a lot of good beer.

Yesterday, at the Tate Modern Museum, we definitely saw the two, non-midget, shortest people in the world. It seemed surreal especially next to all the surreal art.

A huge fire broke out here in the city yesterday. When I asked a cashier at a cafe about it, he replied "You get to used to it, it happens all the time." It was claimed that the fire was in control, but when we were high above the city on the London Eye, we saw the flames dancing away.

Mushy peas are simply mashed up peas with vinegar - and they are pretty good. The bar we ate at for lunch yesterday originated during the Wars of the Roses in the 1460s. It's full of all sorts of awesome history such as the notorious Judge Jeffries being caught outside or when John Banks and Captain Bligh met to inspect the Bounty before departing for their ill-advised trip to Tahiti.

Not every Turkish doner comes as a sandwich/wrap

Brazilian dance clubs are fun.

We found the common room in the hostel and chatted it up with people from Holland, Poland, New Zealand, and a few other random countries - Family Guy is liked the world over.

No time for Day 2 pics today, so, I'll leave you one from Day 1. More pics from Day 1 can be found here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2331770&id=2701328&l=e00e14b3cb

Jeff

Beautiful London!!

2009-03-18T00:33:00.007-10:00

If you think traveling is boring, just try doing it with me. As hard as we tried to get to the airport in Raleigh an hour and a half before the flight, we ended up getting there 45 minutes before. In the end, we still made it to the gate with 20 minutes to spare. Then, once we got to New York, we thought we were in the right terminal, grabbed some dinner, and began wondering why no one was at the gate. About 50 minutes before departure, we realized that we were in the wrong terminal and had to make a mad dash to the gate (they even let us go through the first class security check). We were the last two on the plane, but made it on and landed at Heathrow on time on Tuesday morning.

Yesterday in London was absolutely gorgeous. It was very sunny and around 62 degrees. We found the hostel without a problem.

They claim it is a castle. I'm a bit skeptical as to whether it would actually be called a castle or not, but it is still really cool nonetheless. There is free wifi all throughout, a cool bar, and nice staff. It is also right beside one of the tube stops.

After checking in, we set out to see the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace:

We then walked around the Westminster area and found a great place for lunch (check out my fish and chips):

After lunch, we explored Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus, hopped on a random bus, picked up our train tickets to London at King's Cross, visited the National Gallery and St. Paul's church, went grocery shopping (notice the Krispy Kreme!!) and made our way back to the hostel to drop off our stuff:

With it being St. Patrick's day and all, we decided to grab a quick drink at the hostel bar and Tarik won a quid off of 20 pents. Happy with our winnings, haha, we made our way to watch the Arsenal vs Hull City game!

After dinner, we had a great Indian meal (mmm...butter chicken) and made our way back exhausted.

Day two starts today!

Jeff

Pre-Departure Thoughts

2009-03-15T18:58:00.003-10:00

In looking at the most recent post date, I haven't posted on this site in eight months! I think I will use this venue as a means to write my travel journals over the next seven weeks as Tarik and I trek across Europe and India.

I greatly look forward to visiting with several friends across Europe and India, many of whom I have not seen in several years.

My bag is almost packed and I've done not nearly enough research, but I am really excited about the whole trip. This blog is called hawaiijeff, but we'll just consider this trip as europejeff and indiajeff. Keep us in your prayers while we are gone and I look forward to hearing from you all soon.

Travel Dates:

Europe: March 17 - April 10
India: April 11 - May 3

Talk to you from the other side...

Tennis Abounds

2008-07-20T19:09:00.004-10:00

Hey everyone,

I'm happy to share that I played in a sanctioned tennis tournament in Cary this weekend. My doubles team took first place and I got second place in singles. It was a lot of fun and I look forward to playing more soon. Here's a few pics showing off the hardware I got today:

In other news, Andy purchased a Play Station 3 last week. It is amazing. We have already watched 3 blu-ray movies on it (well on his tv, but playing the movies through the ps3) and let me just tell you it is incredible. Blu-Ray is DVD quality times 10. We're all excited to watch Batman - The Dark Knight later this week and also to possibly see the Forbidden Kingdom at the $1.50 theater.

Work is going well and I'm happy. Write back when you can.

Music suggestions for the week:

Staind - Epiphany
Weezer - The Greatest Man That Ever Lived
Carbon Leaf - Love Loss Hope Repeat
Red Collar - Used Guitars

Long Beach and Music

2008-07-07T18:23:00.004-10:00

Hey everyone,

Work is going well. Last week was a nice break from everything down at Long Beach with dad, Christina, Jessica, and Tarik. Just check out a few of these awesome sunsets:

In other news, I should be in DC next Tues - Thurs. If you are in the area, let me know if you are free to get together.

Favorite songs for the week of July 7:

Flobots - Handlebars
Bombadil - Johnny
Band of Horses - No One's Gonna Love You
The Automatic - Monster

...all inspired by Tarik and his constant listening to 88.1

Jeff

Mid-June Update

2008-06-22T18:39:00.006-10:00

Hello loyal blog readers,

Sorry for not blogging over the past month. I am truly going to try and at least get one entry in per week. It helps me to gather my thoughts and share just a few things that are important to me/going on in my life.

Just a few weeks ago, I celebrated my 25th birthday with family and friends. Here are a few pics from the celebrations:

A recent survey I took about technology has led me to want to share with you some of the songs that I enjoy listening to now. First of all, type in "www.seeqpod.com" in your favorite browser and go ahead and sing up for an account (its free and easy). What this site allows you to do is to listen to just about any song (for free) and even to create playlists online that you can access from any computer.

Some songs I currently recommend are:

Cold Play - Viva La Vida
Death Cab for Cutie - I Will Possess Your Heart
Chris Brown - Forever
Weezer - Pork and Beans
Robert Francis - One by One
The Mountain Goats - This Year

I'll add some more next time and please suggest some that you are currently listening to as well.

North Carolina is great, but I am missing my Hawaii sunsets...

Safe in the US

2008-05-12T12:34:00.001-10:00

Hello Everyone,

I'm back in the US and was not affected by the recent earthquake in China. Thank you for the concern that some of you have expressed for my safety. I'll be writing more here soon to talk about my amazing trip to Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Hawaii over the past 3 weeks.

Jeff

Los Tres Magueyes

2008-04-01T18:11:00.004-10:00

In my last blog, I mentioned that I might start showcasing some of my favorite restaurants and foods that I've encountered across the world. What better fitting start than Los Tres, my favorite restaurant the world over.

Well, my family and I have been frequenting this wonderful Mexican restaurant for as long as I can remember, notably 1991. I've come here to celebrate returning from abroad on numerous occasions. I've also visited here on the night of Hurricane Fran (a Hurricane that kept us out of school for over a week). I grew up practicing Spanish with the staff and they know what I want to order before I even say it. It is just that kind of place.

No matter how many times I eat here, I never grow tired of the food, service, atmosphere, or prices.

I recommend trying the Combo Quesadillas (pictured below) or Combo #30 with a nice cerveza:

TARHEELS, Baseball, and lots of hospital visits

2008-03-30T17:04:00.006-10:00

Hey everyone,

It's been a very crazy two weeks. My mom was in a very serious car accident in Myrtle Beach on Friday, March 14. I've been to Myrtle Beach twice (for a few days each trip) to visit with her and now spend a couple hours with her everyday in the rehab center in Raleigh. Fortunately, there are no broken bones. Unfortunately, she has sustained brain damage and is having trouble remembering things. I'm happy to say that she is in great spirits and getting better daily. I'd appreciate it if you all would continue to keep her in your prayers.

In better news, the Tar Heels defeated Washington State and Louisville this weekend to advance to the Final 4 next weekend in San Antonio! Their next game is against Kansas and should be a great game.

I'm also very excited to report that baseball season has begun again. I love it! Let's hope the Cubs can break their 100 year long streak of not winning the World Series:

I'm also playing softball again for my church this spring. I had my first practice on Thursday, and while I'm rusty, I'm sure I'll get back into form soon.

Here are a few random pics from Myrtle Beach:

Finally, after seeing one of my friend's food blogs, I've decided I'm going to start producing random (and hopefully awesome) blogs on restaurants and foods that
I've eaten across the world. When you see those entries, let me know what you think.

Hope you all are doing well.

Jeff

March Madness in more way than one

2008-03-19T19:16:00.000-10:00

Hey Everyone,

I'm happy to say that UNC won the ACC tournament last weekend and wrapped up the number on seed in the Eastern Region of the NCAA tourney. The Tourney starts tomorrow around noon and will be on throughout the entire weekend. Unfortunately, I won't be able to watch most of it. My mom was in a car accident last Friday and is still in ICU in Myrtle Beach. I'm picking up my sister from ECU and then heading down to be with her. Please pray that she gets better soon. I'll try to write more on Sunday...EASTER SUNDAY!

Jeff

2008-03-09T17:45:00.004-10:00

2008-03-05T19:46:00.009-10:00

2008-02-27T19:45:00.003-10:00

Washington is for Politicians

2008-02-24T17:58:00.002-10:00

Hello from a marvelously nice hotel in Washington DC. Tomorrow begins a week of work from DC and Atlanta, a week I'm very excited and a little nervous about. The hotel I'm staying at, the JW Marriott, ranks among the top 3 I've ever been at (right behind the Shang-ri La Hotels in HK and BKK). It is leagues better than the last one I stayed in while traveling in Harbin with Tim and Doro last October.

For dinner this evening we ventured out of the hotel and found a nice sports bar with in-house humidors for awesome smelling cigars. The food was good and UNC beating Wake Forest was even better...just a few weeks till March madness now!

I will try and write an update or two later this week to let you know how things are going up in DC. I hope to get out and see some of the Mall tomorrow (look for pics next weekend).

Last week was a great week as well. Work was busy getting ready for this week in DC. Melissa, Dad, Jared, Tarik, and Andy all helped Andy and I move into our new apartment in Raleigh (pics to come later). Additionally, the guys and I also went to our good friend Jon Niles' wedding on Saturday evening. It was a great wedding with a beautiful birde and groom.

More to come soon.

Jeff

Feb 10 - 17: Work, Valentines, UNC Bball, and Tennis

2008-02-17T17:31:00.004-10:00

Another week has quickly gone by since the last blogging effort. I really can't believe how fast time is going by now. Unfortunately, I don't have my pictures from the week with me here, so, you'll have to settle with a few of my Hawaii favorites at the end.

Work this week was great. Sandra, Dee, and I are really getting into the meat of the work. We busily made hotel arrangements, rented limousines, booked flights, selected restaurants to eat at, etc. etc. The more I think about it, the more I think this is a great first job. We had umpteen conference calls this week with colleagues in Atlanta and DC, drafted numerous budgets and itineraries, and have been in constant correspondence with Brookings Institute and the Chinese Embassy - I still find it all very exciting.

This past Thursday was Valentine's Day. Melissa and I had a nice evening. We cooked in (bacon wrapped scallops, green beans, and risotto + chocolate covered strawberries and some wine)...very nice. On Saturday, the two of us went to the UNC/VA Tech game to watch UNC manhandle the Hokies. That was great too. I have to also add that I just finished watching Wake Forest demolish Duke (all 5 of Duke's starters fouled out)! College basketball is heating up and March Madness is just a few weeks away!! GOOO HEEELS!

I have other exciting news to report as well. This afternoon I played in my first adult league tennis match. I played doubles with a man named Kirk and after losing the first set 6-3, we rallied to win the 2nd set 7-6, and then the 3rd set tie-braker 11-9 (we were down 4-9 in the breaker). It was intense and a ton of fun. I can't wait for our next match next Sunday.

In other news, my good friend Andy and I have been driving around looking for apartments in the Triangle. We are leaning towards finding one in Raleigh, but should know for sure by the end of the week. I'll keep you updated in the next blog.
Additionally, I have begun to research plane tickets to Beijing later this summer (to possibly watch the Olympics). Unfortunately, from North Carolina to Beijing in August is nearly $2000! I'll have to find some other way to get there, but it seems that nearly every flight into Asia this summer is much more expensive than normal.

As promised, here are a few of my favorite Hawaii pics. I miss Hawaii...all my good friends, the beach, the traveling, and the classes.

More next week!

Jeff

Happy Chinese New Year

2008-02-10T19:35:00.000-10:00

Hello everyone! Happy year of the rat to you all. Tonight I had the pleasure of feasting with some of the most well-known and well-respected American Chinese from North Carolina at a wonderful Chinese restaurant in Cary. Here's a picture of the two people I work with everyday who were also at the dinner:

On Saturday, my dad and I went down to Greenville, NC to surprise my sister at college. We had lunch at Olive Garden and looked at a few apartments for her to live in next fall. Here's a pic of us:

This past Wednesday was a huge day for college basketball fans. Unfortunately, with Ty Lawson hurt and UNC shooting miserably, Duke won the game. Here are a few pics of Melissa, Jon, and I from the bar we were watching from:

Have a great week everyone and I'll write again soon.

Jeff

February Football

2008-02-03T19:05:00.001-10:00

It only comes once a year and its the only time where I make sure to watch each and every commercial. Yep, today was Super Bowl Sunday. The New York Giants upset the 18-0 New England Patriots to take the title. It was an exciting game that came down to the last minute. For those who aren't aware of Super Bowl culture, let me just tell you that it is a day nearly everyone eats and drinks way more than they should. It's great fun with friends and family and when the game is close, like the one today was, it makes for a very entertaining event.

I'm sorry that I haven't written in a while. There has been quite a bit going on and I'll start to go over what has been going in my life over the past month, but I imagine it will take several entries to capture all of it.

First of all, I'm happy to announce that I won a doubles tournament with my friend Justin this weekend. Our opponents forfeited the first match. We won the second 6-0, 6-1 (we played very well). We won the third and championship match 6-4, 6-2. Here's a pic of the winning doubles team:

Here is a picture from a recent trip I took to DC:

In case you don't know, I'm back in NC and won't be heading back to Hawaii unless I can make it back for my program's graduation in May. However, you must know that I have some time to do fun stuff outside of work. I've been to several great UNC basketball games:

and Carolina Hurricanes hockey games with my dad:

and spending quality time with my mom, friends, and girl friend.

More to come soon!

Jeff

Too busy to reflect?

2007-12-09T20:55:00.000-10:00

Hey guys,

Only one blog for the whole month of November is pathetic. I'm sorry that I didn't write more. It is looking like I won't have too many more for the month of December either. I'm making a New Years resolution to write more next year. There has been so much going on. I could easily write for an hour and not capture a portion of everything that has happened since leaving for China (Oct 20 - Nov 4), having dad, Andy, and Jared come visit (Nov 3 - 25), and then trying to get everything done here since then. Life is great, but very busy. I finally got around to writing and sending pictures to all of the new people I met in China. I can't believe it has nearly been two months now and I haven't even reflected on that trip.

China was fantastic. It always is. I had the chance to visit nearly all of my good friends in Beijing (and even met some new ones). Our group had the chance to meet former Ambassadors, many people in the business community, several people in the government, among others. I also traveled to Harbin with my good friends Tim and Doro looking into what China's future might be like. The trip with the two of them was probably my favorite trip of all time. We got along great, ate wonderful food, met amazing people, and did everything without planning a thing. I realized that I don't want to live in Beijing nearly as much as I once thought I did. The pollution somehow has gotten worse and it is bitterly cold from now through March.

After coming back from Beijing, I had the pleasure of spending two wonderful weeks with dad as he was visiting me here in Hawaii. We traveled all over O'ahu and even made it over to Maui, Molokai, and the Big Island for 5 days. We had a great time and I've posted a lot of those pictures on facebook. I look forward to seeing him in two weeks when I return to NC. He's having shoulder surgery tomorrow, so keep him in your prayers.

The day after my dad left, Andy came and then two days later, Jared followed suit. The three of us had a great time on O'ahu and the Big Island as well. Pics have recently been added to my website. Be sure to check them out as Andy's camera takes incredible pictures. They truly are great.

After the guys left, I have been able to finish most of my work. In fact, I hope to go and print out my massive 150-page Portfolio to submit later this week. I took the Foreign Service Exam yesterday and while I don't think it went as well as it could have, we'll just have to wait and see the results. Sadly, late last week, I found out that I did not get a job that I was anticipating/hoping to get back at UNC. So, I'm back to searching once again and hopefully will be able to start somewhere in Jan/Feb.

I have one more week of the program left here and then Tarik will be coming on Friday. He and I will spend one week here and on Kauai before returning to NC on Dec 21. It has been a real busy few months, but they've been great.

I'm looking forward to seeing mom and Tina in a few weeks, that's for sure.

Miss you all!

The link for the pictures is: http://unc.facebook.com/photos.php?id=2701328&l=3f06b

Jeff

In case you were wondering why there have been no blogs for a month...

2007-11-17T01:36:00.000-10:00

Hey guys,

I can't believe it has been over a month since the last time I wrote a blog. I've just been that busy. On October 20th, my program and I headed over to Beijing for two wonderful weeks. I am still trying to digest and sort out all of the wonderful events and memories from that trip. The day I returned from China, my dad was already here in Hawaii and we have spent the last two weeks traveling around O'ahu and even over to Maui, Molokai, and the Big Island. I have tons of wonderful pics to check out and I hope to get them up on facebook soon. My good friend Andy arrives tomorrow and Jared on Tuesday. The three of us will get to spend Thanksgiving together while traveling on the Big Island. I'm really excited about seeing both of them. I'm also somehow supposed to get all of my work finished and submitted by the 23rd. Wish me luck!

Everything is going well though. I'm expecting to hear back about a couple job offers this coming week. I'll keep everyone updated. I'm beat and heading to bed before going to pick Andy up at the airport in the morning.

Will write again soon.

Jeff

Emotional Movie

2007-10-15T21:39:00.000-10:00

During our film tonight about Tiananmen Square, I couldn't help but shed a few tears after seeing several of my Chinese friends crying. We watched a film entitled The Gate of Heavenly Peace tonight in preparation for Beijing on Saturday. The film told the story of the acts leading up to the events on June 4, 1989 when tanks and soldiers shot their way into Tiananmen Square ending weeks of student protests. Two of my Chinese friends who work for a Chinese news agency also attended and neither had heard of any such events. I'm sure they were shocked and are very sad right now. I'll be having dinner with them on Wednesday and maybe we can talk about what they are feeling having learned this new information. The picture below shows what the square looked like when it was full of protesters; however, this shot was taken in celebration of China's Independence Day in 2002.

High Ropes Course

2007-10-14T21:12:00.000-10:00

High Ropes Courses are awesome!! If I ever have the chance to do one again, I'll do it in a second. Today, our entire class was bussed out to where they film/filmed Lost, Jurassic Park, and 50 First Dates. The views were incredible! We had 4 different stations throughout the day. The first one was a Tarzan-like station where we had to swing from rope to rope. The second involved walking with a partner down to V-Shaped ropes. The third was a 3-man operation with one of the three being blindfolded; for this one, we had to climb up through ropes, tires, and planks of wood and then try and shoot a stuffed animal into a trash can. The final and most challenging by far was a two-man event that really tested our physical strength. We had to climb up from balance beam to balance beam using nothing but the beam itself and our partner. My friend William and I were one of only two teams to make it all the way to the top. Have a look at some of the pictures!

Typical Jeff

2007-10-11T00:02:00.000-10:00

Well, dinner tonight was much better. We had burritos, taco salad (with chips), and some rice (thanks Tim and Doro). My streak of crappy dinners has come to an end.

I was up to my old self today at the Homeland Security Conference. After listening to the panel on Terrorism, I found myself in discussion with the President of the East West Center, Charles Morrison. We were having a good conversation and eating ice cream at the same time. I remember towards the end of our conversations, we both went to the trash can to throw out the wrapper, stick, and trash. I simply remember throwing everything I was carrying into the trash. After meeting some other high-profile people, my classmates and I were about to head towards the car when I realized I couldn't find the car keys...

Yep, in the trash. By the time I found it, we had quite a few people helping us, looking under tables and in trash cans. But hey, if the FBI can't find a key, what good are they? Typical Jeff...haha

Missing good food

2007-10-09T22:56:00.000-10:00

I'm getting tired of eating non-satisfying dinners. On Sunday, I had rice and potatoes (Chinese style). On Monday, I had macaroni and cheese. Tonight, I had ziti with sauce and then animal crackers and peanut butter. It's too expensive to buy good stuff and I don't have enough time to go out or to cook complicated things. I'm ready for good food again, that's for sure. I'm tired of job searching too, even though I'm not close to having one for January yet. Wish me luck! I better get to bed. Long day tomorrow (7:30 - 8:30)

Jeff

The Land of Many Many Rainbows

2007-10-08T01:34:00.000-10:00

I had a great weekend. I got a few things done in terms of papers and job searching, but I'm happy that I grew a lot closer to many people in my program and at the East West Center in general. On Friday, we had a potluck and on Saturday there was a huge dinner and music show. It was a blast. 12 days till China and counting!

I got home from church today, looked out my window and look what I saw:

(If you look closely, you'll notice there are not one, but TWO rainbows!)

More this week...

Jeff

The Second Half of an AMAZING Week

2007-10-02T22:43:00.000-10:00

Hello again and before I get on to the second half of last week, let me say a few things on my mind. First of all, the radio station 101.9 in Hawaii is amazing...they play alternative, modern rock, and some other stuff, but it has fast become my favorite station. You can see their playlist here: http://www.star1019fm.com/pages/playlist.html

and can listen live here: http://star1019.com/pages/starstream.html

Also, I realized now that fantasy baseball is over, I spend a lot less time looking at yahoosports and espn.

And now for the second installment of last week...

After coming back from the Big Island, I wanted to make sure that Melissa had a chance to see as much of O'ahu as possible. So, for the full moon, we borrowed James' truck and headed out towards the Makapu'u Lighthouse. I knew the park closed at 7:30 (we left around 9:30), but the gate was still open upon arrival. So, we parked, and began the mile or two treck up to the lighthouse to see amazing views of the island. When we were about 75% up, we noticed a car down below near the truck and then we saw someone with a flashlight looking into the truck. I thought to myself, "Great, it's the ranger and he's going to give us a ticket." Well, he didn't give us a ticket, but he did proceed to lock the gate with our truck still inside. We hurried back down to try and catch him, but by the time we got down, he was gone and we were stuck inside. I had no other choice but to call 911. After about 20 more minutes a cop and the gate guy came back. Both of them were really nice. In fact, the gate guy was happy because since he had to come back, his company was letting him work two extra hours of overtime. We left without a ticket, but without ever making it up to the lighthouse.

The next day we drove around to Hanauma Bay and Sandy's Beach (sunset pictured in previous blog) before driving up to Kailua for the best shaved ice I've ever had and some great pizza. Let me tell you, this shaved ice was to die for. They put a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the bottom and then let you choose three flavors to go on top with the ice. It was incredible.

After Kailua, we drove back through the mountains and stopped at the Pali Lookout. We went to the normal touristy lookout, which was cool and all, but some worn paths that led up the mountain to the right caught my attention. We went up what was by far the steepest climb I've ever done (we had to hold on to roots and trees to make it up), but the view from the top was amazing.

If you look closely, you can see me on top of the rocks:

We also saw an AMAZING sunset while in Waikiki:

There was a lot more done after that as well, but that's all I have time to talk about today. Check out facebook soon for pics.

Jeff

The First Half of an Amazing Week

2007-10-01T21:39:00.000-10:00

Hello my good friends,

I'm sorry that I didn't write any the past week or so. Melissa came and visited me from last Saturday through this afternoon and we've been busy visiting other islands and traveling all over O'ahu. I have tons of pictures to upload on facebook for you to check out when you have some time. I'll be putting them up later tonight or soon this week. I'm back in class now and really going to be searching for jobs during a lot of my free time this week and throughout the weeks before we leave for China on October 20th. Anyways, let me tell you about how awesome the past week as has been:

My friend James was gracious enough to pick Melissa up with me at the airport and even more gracious to let him borrow his truck to go exploring and take her back to the airport. The first day she was here I took her to eat at one of my favorite restaurants around here...The Curry House. We feasted and then walked around to the grocery store where I showed her how ridiculously expensive the prices for groceries here are: $7.99 for milk, $6.99 for Cinnamon Toast Crunch, nothing less than $3.00/lb of chicken, etc etc. The second day we checked out a new church near campus, rode our bikes to Chinatown, had an awesome shaved ice (they call it shave ice here) with dumplings and good chinese food, then rode our bikes all the way back checking out all the beaches. On the way back to campus, I introduced her to the amazing Malasadas at Leonard's. If you ever see Malasadas for sale, don't even think about it, go buy one. You won't regret it, I promise.

Last Monday, we boarded a plane and flew over more than half of the wonderful Hawaiian islands en route to the Big Island. Here is a picture of Waikiki and Diamond Head from the plane. That reminds me, if you are coming to Hawaii, always try and sit on the left side of the plane so you can see this view on your way in.

The Big Island was great. We started in Kona, rented a car and then drove down to the southernmost point of the United States (nope, not in Florida).

Afterwards, we made our way up to the Volcano National Park. Unfortunately, we got there right after 9:00 and all the restaurants were closed. So, we enjoyed Campbell Soup (not warmed) out of the can. I didn't know how much sodium was in one of those suckers. One can equals 93% of your daily recommended sodium...yikes! After eating and changing into warmer clothes (it was 4000 feet up and a bit cooler), we ventured out to find the lava tube. A lava tube is simply a cave (or tube) that naturally formed when the lava cooled. We were able to walk into this tube for about 20 minutes before it dead ended. The coolest thing about it was that when we turned off our flashlight, we could see absolutely nothing. Usually, in most places, you can at least see a hint of light, but in this tube, it was total blackness. That night, we ended up just sleeping in the car since it was too chilly to camp.

The next morning (Tuesday morning) we woke up early and ventured all around the Volcano Park. It was awesome and I look forward to doing it again with Jared and Andy when they come in a month and half. Unfortunately, the day we were there, the lava was not flowing, but there were still some awesome sites to see.

Afterwards, we grabbed a great lunch (Hawaii is huge on plate lunches) and made our way to the beaches of SE Hawaii (the name of the big island is Hawaii). We snorkeled in some tide pools, found a black sand beach, sat in a thermally warmed large hot tub, and even found some natural saunas. It was great and we ended the day driving to Hilo, staying in a nice hostel, and enjoying some Mexican food.

We flew back to O'ahu on Wednesday and I'll continue from there in the next entry.

Until then,

Jeff

South Africa, Cambodia, and China in one day

2007-09-18T01:27:00.000-10:00

Today was by far my heaviest/most despressing day of classes, perhaps ever. We started the morning by hearing first-hand testimony of someone born in South Africa (a white male) who struggled to cope with the situation present in the late 1980s. This male, Keith, told us stories of how he had to sneak in to black townships to help his students recover from the beatings they took from white people. The major difference between South African and American civil rights movements is that in Africa, the White minority (10%) was ruling the Black majority (90%). Obviously, this was not the case in the US. It was very sad and eye-opening to hear Keith's account of how apartheid came to an end and what people in Africa (both blacks and whites) had to suffer through, the Truth and Reconciliation Committee to name one.

After recovering a bit over lunch, we were then thrown into the world of Cambodia during Pol Pot when millions of people were murdered. We watched a video that showed people having being hung upside down, having their stomachs cut (with the skin then hanging down in front of their face), and have their livers removed and eaten. I didn't know a whole lot about the situation in Cambodia before today, but now I do.

Finally, if those 2 weren't bad enough, we watched one last video this evening about Tiananmen Square and everything leading up to it. Some figures have the death toll from June 3-5 at 200 some, while others have it over 2,000. It was a very sad time in China and there is potential for things to get like that again, especially if China's Nationalism continues to grow and foster support across the country.

What a day. I learned so much and felt sick to my stomach. The rest of the week should be better in terms of having to watch/learn about horrible atrocities committed against our fellow humans.

Random Thoughts

2007-09-17T08:38:00.001-10:00

It is truly refreshing being up at 5:30am, driving down to the beach while looking at the stars, and watching the sun come up while paddling out to surf. Granted, it is really really really ridiculously hard for me to get up, but its worth it every time I can manage. I got up on only one wave today, but the view of the sunrise was tremendous.

This past weekend was a good one. Besides the air show and parade described earlier, I finally watched 300 on Saturday night...awesome movie. At church on Sunday, I realized just how different some denominations of Christianity can be. During an altar call, two people fell down (were caught on the way down) when the Holy Spirit "came over them." It was the first time I've seen it and I was a little weirded out by it, but if it truly was the Holy Spirit, then thats awesome. I still greatly prefer my more conservative North Carolina churches than the ones here in Hawaii. Last night, I also had the pleasure of watching the movie Cry Freedom, a 1987 flick with Denzel Washington that portrayed the situation in South Africa in the 1970s and 80s. It was a very moving movie and we will be having a follow up discussion about apartheid in about 20 minutes from now.

I hope everyone has a great week. I'll be writing more with more thoughts throughout the week.

Peace out,

Jeff

Computer is Fixed and Air Shows Rock!

2007-09-15T23:59:00.000-10:00

Hey Hey Everyone,

I am so happy to say that my computer, thanks in part to Yannek and thanks a lot to the IT guys here at UH-Manoa, is working just like it did before. Again, make sure to constantly back up things you don't want to lose. I'll be able to start putting some pictures and movies back in the blogs now since I have my computer back.

This past week was really great. Pretty much the entire week we learned about being better leaders. A guy named Keith Coats from South Africa has been in town giving us lectures and helping lead discussions and it has been great. Also, I have found a few jobs that I will be excitingly applying for over the next few days.

This morning a few classmates and I went down to Waikiki to watch the Aloha Parade. It was fun, but I still prefer the Cary Christmas Parade. After the parade, we went swimming, ate some lunch, and then watched the Air Force put on a great Air Show. It was amazing...barrel roles, flying upside down, barely dodging each other in formation...exciting stuff.

I'll be writing more this week, but I'll leave you with a recent Hawaii sunset to ease your mood and help you relax...

Jeff

Kangaroo, Skimboarding, and Waikiki

2007-09-09T22:54:00.000-10:00

Hello everyone,

Welcome back to Jeff's blog. I really have not been in the mood recently to blog (and am still really not in the mood) because my computer is still hopelessly broken. I shall continue to troubleshoot after surfing in the morning. I've got lots of great pictures to share, but will be unable to do so until I get my computer up and running again.

As the title of this blog reads, I just wanted to mention that I had the pleasure of trying kangaroo last night (thanks Tim and Shelley) during our international potluck here at the dorm. It was delicious (similar to beef I think). Many of the other countries' foods were good as well, but the kangaroo stuck out most in my mind.

Other than that, after a trip to my favorite beach yesterday, I again realized I have a long long way to go in terms of skimming. There were two guys out there yesterday who managed to turn and ride the wave back in nearly every time. I really have to work on one-stepping onto the board (mad props to Tarik for already being able to do it well), but I will get better.

Finally, the other night, 4 classmates and myself finally explored Waikiki after sunset and realized there are a ton of cool shops and restaurants. I'll have to go back and hang out down there some more.

Miss you all!

Jeff

China's Silk Road

2007-09-03T23:56:00.000-10:00

Howdy howdy,

Hard drive and windows cd are still in transit and might not get here until next week (thanks Hawaii). In the meantime, check out this awesome 3-minute documentary about my favorite region in China:

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid452319854?bctid=1155343003

I'm off to prepare for tomorrow's presentation. Wish me luck!

Jeff

Hard Drive Failure

2007-08-29T22:35:00.001-10:00

Take heed of this advice: back up EVERYTHING! My laptops hard drive decided to die yesterday. Luckily, I had 90% of the important things backed up. I'll hopefully be getting a new drive to replace the dead one by next week. Classes and life are both very busy and fun. The job search is overwhelming, but then again, it probably should be.

I'll write more when I get some more time.

Jeff

Hula Dancing Video (with weekly update)

2007-08-26T21:55:00.000-10:00

Hey ya'll,

We've completed one week of classes here and I'm still finding tons of fun stuff to do. Today, I found a trail that starts on a hill near our dorm that goes straight up the mountain. I'll take some pics from up there and post them soon. The view at sunset was incredible. It also looked like they had some good bike trails too, steep, but fun. I went to church today and while I'm still not sure if it is the right one for me, at least it is better than the previous 2 weeks' churches. We have lots of class this week and I hope to get a lot of the work for the semester out of the way. I also hope to apply for many jobs across the world and see what kind of offers come back.

After class, I usually like to try and get some exercise. So far, I've either gone to play basketball, tennis, or have ridden my bike down to Waikiki to swim and watch the sunset. Below is a video of a hula dance that was being performed for all the tourists in Waikiki, enjoy:

I'll try to write more later in the week. I've posted more pics on facebook as well. Check them out at http://unc.facebook.com/photos.php?id=2701328&l=3f06b

That's all for now folks.

Jeff

Surfing is hard hard work

2007-08-23T23:24:00.000-10:00

If you think surfing is easy, you are totally wrong. Actually, standing up on the board and riding the wave IS easy, its the paddling and paddling and paddling and paddling, and then some more paddling that it takes to get out to to where the waves break. By the time I get out there, I'm already ready to go in, haha. I'll have to build up my shoulder and back muscles I guess. I'm sure that this workout beats any gym though. I got up on 2 waves today after class, and yeah, it was worth all the paddling.

Check out a sunset on my favorite beach in Oahu...

Class and more surfing tomorrow...

What's new with all of you?

Osama Bin Laden

2007-08-21T23:31:00.001-10:00

Alright, so in class today we were shown a picture of Osama and asked to write down the first three words that came to our minds to describe him. I wrote down "terrorist, murderer, and elusive." I didn't think much of it. Then, we were asked to get into groups of 5 and as a group decide on 3 words to describe him. Again, I'm thinking no big deal, right? WRONG! Our group decided to have each person share their three words and then come up with a group consensus to report back to the rest of the class. The first guy to speak in my group was from Nepal. Can you guess what his three words were? I bet you didn't guess, "World's Only HERO."

Of course, I was sitting next to him and had to go right after him..."terrorist, murderer, elusive." Goes to show how this program really is diverse and has viewpoints from all across the world. In the end, our group went with "unhappy, clever, and I can't remember the 3rd one."

All of us are getting along great though!

Thought I would share that little bit with you from our first days of class.

Looking forward to comments.

Jeff

China truly is huge...read why

2007-08-18T23:16:00.000-10:00

Hey everyone!

I'm going to begin to make my blogs a little more scholarly. Below, please read over part of one of my reading assignments. I found it very interesting and I think you will as well:

"As incomes have climbed in China, so has consumption. The Chinese have already caught up with Americans in pork consumption per person and they are now concentrating their energies on increasing beef production. Raising per capita beef consumption in China to that of the average American would take 49 million additional tons of beef. If all this were to come from putting cattle in feedlots, American-style, it would require 343 million tons of grain a year, an amount equal to the entire U.S. grain harvest.

In Japan, as population pressures on the land mounted during a comparable stage of its economic development, the Japanese turned to the sea for their animal protein. Last year, Japan consumed nearly 10 million tons of seafood. If China, with 10 times as many people as Japan, were to try to move down this same path, it would need 100 million tons of seafood -- the entire world fish catch.

In 1994, the Chinese government decided that the country would develop an automobile-centered transportation system and that the automobile industry would be one of the engines of future economic growth. Beijing invited major automobile manufacturers, such as Volkswagen, General Motors, and Toyota, to invest in China. But if Beijing's goal of an auto-centered transportation system were to materialize and the Chinese were to have one or two cars in every garage and were to consume oil at the U.S. rate, China would need over 80 million barrels of oil a day -- slightly more than the 74 million barrels per day the world now produces. To provide the required roads and parking lots, it would also need to pave some 16 million hectares of land, an area equal to half the size of the 31 million hectares of land currently used to produce the country's 132-million-ton annual harvest of rice, its leading food staple.

Similarly, consider paper. As China modernizes, its paper consumption is rising. If annual paper use in China of 35 kilograms per person were to climb to the U.S. level of 342 kilograms, China would need more paper than the world currently produces. There go the world's forests.

If the fossil-fuel-based, automobile-centered, throwaway economy will not work for China, then it will not work for India with its 1 billion people, or for the other 2 billion people in the developing world. In a world with a shared ecosystem and an increasingly integrated global economy, it will ultimately not work for the industrial economies either."

The whole article can be found at: www.thinkingpeace.com/Lib/lib011.html

Today was our last day of Orientation and the alumni of the East-West Center put on a great spread for lunch. We had steak, chicken, rice, noodles, watermelon, brownies, cookies, hamburgers, etc etc. It was fantastic. I even got to bring some home for meals later this week. We got out to the park around 10:30 this morning and after eating, I got the chance to play some cricket! I was horrible at batting, but good in the field. I hope that I get to play again some day. After cricket, I lounged around Waikiki until watching a beautiful sunset. Tonight, I went out with a group of 12 people to a local bar. It was great; there was local Hawaiian music and great food. I've got church in the morning, but I look forward to any comments regarding China's role in the future of the world.

Jeff

Hiking up Mountains and Visiting Pearl Harbor

2007-08-15T20:58:00.000-10:00

Good evening/morning/afternoon depending on where you are reading this from. The past few days, just like the ones before it, have been awesome. Our orientation is still going strong with two days to go. Yesterday was a day off, so I went surfing in the morning and climbed a huge mountain in the afternoon. On the way up, we passed some amazing trees and bamboo forests. Some of the pics aren't too good because it rained on us a bit, but have a look:

The hike was pretty tough, but well worth the views at the end. Today, we had a chance to visit the State Capitol building and hear some Senators speak. Some of my classmates drilled them with questions and they answered just like any smooth politician should. After lunch, we headed over to visit Pearl Harbor. It made me feel sad reading about all the people who died. I feel they did a nice job with the museum and memorials...not making the Japanese out to be horrible people, but instead just portraying the history as a neutral party (much the same way the Japanese oriented their Atomic Bomb memorials in Hirasaki and Hiroshima). Here are a few shots from Pearl Harbor:

They had a great video and the museum was well done. I recommend anyone who comes to visit to go and check it out.

Right now I have to begin working on 5 assignments that are due Monday and also truly begin to decide what I want to do come this spring. The program here has given us access to a fairly large database of internships and jobs and I need to begin applying. I have to decide where I want to work first.

For those of you who have not been keeping up with the news, the big island of Hawaii had an earthquake and was soaked with rain from Hurricane Flossi. O'ahu, where I am, was not affected by either. However, there was a major earthquake in Peru today which caused a tsunami and if it is going to hit Hawaii, it will do so in about 6 hours. I'll let you know if anything happens.

Did you know that it doesn't lightning or thunder here? I also found it very interesting that there are absolutely no snakes or bears in Hawaii...makes hiking through heavily-wooded areas a bit easier.

Check out my pics on facebook, http://unc.facebook.com/photos.php?id=2701328&l=3f06b, for the new pictures!

Bye for now!

Hawaiian BBQ and Kailua Beach

2007-08-12T23:33:00.000-10:00

Well folks, I've been here for one week (plus 2 days) and because of all the places I've traveled this past week, it actually seems like I've been here longer than I have. I hope that time continues to go by slowly so that I can get the most out of the next 4 months, but I have a feeling that it will begin to pass faster and faster.

Friday we had orientation all day until about 4:30. Afterwards, I went skimming with my friend Abdullah:

The past two days have been really fun. On Saturday morning, we woke up early to go to the northeast part of the island, where we proceeded to clean a beach for an hour (there was a lot of trash), learn about how fish ponds work, and then learn all about cultivating taro plants. The area we were in has been designated as a cultural reserve and there is no commercial activity whatsoever. Instead, the land is used like it was before all us foreigners began converting prime beach estate into condos and hotels. It was really quiet and serene out there and everyone lived solely off of the fish they caught and taro they grew (as well as a few other crops). They fed us an amazing lunch of Hawaiian BBQ (the pig was cooked underground for a day), chicken with taro leaves, sweet potatoes, rice, and coconut desert. We even made our own plates out of leaves from nearby trees and ate with our hands:

Today (Sunday) after not finding the church I was looking for in the morning, I came back and read the Bible myself for quite a while. It was nice and quiet and I got a lot out of it. Afterwards, my friend Lauren (who I met on the plane coming back from Chicago) returned with my suitcase and we went out to swim and hike in Kailua (about 40 min NE of Honolulu). The beach was beautiful and the hike was even better:

And the sun was just amazing poling through the clouds.

I'll write more later this week. Miss you all!!

Jeff

6:00am Surfing and 20ft Rock Jumping

2007-08-08T23:51:00.000-10:00

What a day today. It's been real long too. I woke up at 5:30 to make it down to the beach with 2 good friends to watch the sunrise from atop our surfboards. Surfing, or should I say paddling, is exhausting. It's a good thing we were only out there for an hour, because my arms were spent after just 40 min. I got up on one wave today at least and I think we'll be going back on Friday morning at 5:30 to do it all over again.

After some coffee (with cinnamom, vanilla, and chocolate powder mixed in...I figured why not?), I met the orientation group to go visit a local high school. This high school is special from most around here in that they don't begin to teach English until the 5th grade and that they mandate each student be fluent in Hawaiian. Everyone had students as their tour guides to take them around the school. These two were mine. The one on the right aspires to be a chef, but already has a two year old to look after:

They were cool though, way cooler than I was in high school at least. After we left the school, we took busses up to the North Shore of Oahu to visit Waimea Bay. This place is home to one of the triple crown surfing competitions in the winter with 20ft waves. However, today, the waves at Jordan Lake were bigger (meaning there were absolutely no waves). It was nice though:

And it was really awesome because they had rock cliff on the left side where many people (including myself) made a 20ft plunge into the crystal clear water. Take a look at these two shots of me jumping:

Overall, a great day. And yes, I will be having to do a lot of work starting in a little over a week. It won't be like this, sadly, once the program really starts.

Miss you all!

Jeff

2007-08-07T01:30:00.000-10:00

This one will be a quick one because it is 1:30am and I'm exhausted. I had an absolutely fantastic day. After a mandatory TB test, I rode my bike down to Waikiki and boarded a bus to Haunama Bay (the best place to go snorkeling on the island):

After snorkeling over the reefs (on left), I made my way to Sandy (or breakneck beach) to watch some awesome skimboarding and take a few-8 foot free falls in the air. Sandy Beach is crazy. I knew it would be too; the waves are huge and they break right next to the shore. So, instead of riding the wave like you normally would towards the shore, you have to ride it parallel to the shore. It's tougher and I'm feeling the pain a little tonight. However, I think one other guy is feeling worse than me. One huge wave caught me offguard and threw me backwards right into this guy. My leg (backside of calf...not very hard) hit his head on my way down. He said he was alright, but I know that it must have hurt. If anyone falls from above on top of you, it's going to hurt.

For dinner, I met some new friends in the kitchen and enjoyed dinner with someone from Thailand, Malaysia, and Argentina. After watching Shrek 3 at the $1.00 theater, we grabbed a Guinness on special at a local Irish bar. I'm beat and turning in.

I hope you all are doing well. My orientation officially starts tomorrow, but I don't think it will be anything too hard.

Jeff

Feeling the jet lag

2007-08-05T22:29:00.000-10:00

Day Two:

My phone rang and rang and rang at 5:15am. I answered and no one was there. So, I won't have my lan line phone plugged in anymore. I woke up at 8:00 on my own power (a rarity when not jet-lagged) to get ready for church. The ride over there was a bit farther (and hillier) than I expected. Since I didn't know what time the service was, I didn't leave until about 8:45 and didn't actually arrive until 9:30 to find out the service ended at 10:00. All the same, I stayed for Sunday School and learned a lot about Southern Baptists.

It never really occurred to me what was actually meant by a contemporary Christian service. In the Sunday School class, they showed us a video from the Southern Baptists Convention of a famous pastor preaching the Great Commission, which basically has Christians to go out in the world, find non-believers, and try and bring them to know Christ. Anyways, apparently the church I went to today recently had a big split because the pastor wanted to incorporate newer music and begin doing short-term missions. A good deal of our class was spent discussing what the church should do now so that it doesn't die off. This made me think of my grandma's church in Winston Salem that has maybe all of 4 people under 40 in the congregation. When my grandma and her friends begin to pass away, so too will the church I fear.

After church, I rode down into Chinatown and bought some new board shorts. I looked for my favorite XinJiang food, but couldn't find any. I eventually settled for a chicken sandwich at McDonalds because it was so cheap compared to everything else. From there, I bought some reef shoes to protect my toes from all the rocks and coral in the ocean here and then made my way to the beach. First, I started at Panic Point, an area that can only be used by bodysurfers:

Right near here were gorgeous rolling hills that bordered the ocean:

And I thought this was a pretty view of a calmer part of the ocean:

I spent a lot of time on the bike and probably rode around 25 miles today. It was fun, but tiring. We all have to get TB tests done in the morning, then I'm thinking I might try and head out to the most famous body surfing beach (known as break-neck beach). If I don't break my neck, I'll write again soon.

Oh yeah, there is this song here that is played on the radio all the time and I was wondering if any of you stateside had heard it. The name of the song is Lean Like a Cholo and the artist is Down aka Kilo. It's interesting to say the least. I also heard this awesome song called "I fell in love with the DJ" by Chenelle, which I do think is playing in the mainland.

That's all for now.

Jeff

My First Day in Hawaii

2007-08-04T22:25:00.000-10:00

First of all, I'm not entirely convinced this blogging thing is something that I want to do. If I get feedback that it is good or bad, I may continue or stop (if no one reads it). That being said, let me talk a little about my first day here in Hawaii. I'll preface it by saying that if my other days here are like today, I probably won't be heading back to either mainland (US or China) for quite some time.

What an amazing first day here in Honolulu. I woke up at 9:00 to watch the clouds come down from the mountain:

I met my Belgian friend Yannek and his girlfriend to set out to the market for groceries at 9:30. We decided to stop in to the welcome center next to our dorm and after meeting literally 40 people from my program and others, we finally set out to shop at noon. I met some great people today from the Philippines, India, China, Japan, and the US.

We walked the two miles to Star Market where I found out that most boxed and canned goods are twice what I pay for them in NC. $1.99 for a box of mac and cheese and $7.49 for a gallon of milk...yikes! Luckily, bananas and bread were still cheap. After walking back to our dorm to drop off the groceries, I rested for a bit, did some research on places to walk to and set out on my own towards Waikiki. This is a tree we passed along the way:

I finally made it down to Waikiki an hour or so after I left and I was amazed at how beautiful the beaches and ocean looked. It truly did look like paradise. I was only surprised at how small the waves were today. I asked around and people said these were the smallest waves in over a month...they must have known I was coming. I was also surprised to find out that the wave break is WAY OUT off the coastline. In NC, we swim out a little bit and then get to the waves. Here, you have to swim for a few minutes before getting to the waves (watch out for the rocks on the ocean floor).

After swimming for a bit, I went exploring in some shops and found a place called Local Motion (turns out to be the same chain store where Tarik and I bought our skim boards 5 years ago). This store didn't have any skim boards, but they did have a nice bar with live music that I intend on going back to in the near future. Next, I met a guy named Ethan and bought his nice GIANT (the brand, not the size) bike, which I am very fond of.

I rode back from Waikiki over the canal and found an amazing Japanese curry restaurant nearly identical to some that Andy and I visited while in Tokyo (except for this one didn't have 8 degrees of spiciness - just spicy or mild). It was unbelievably delicious and after feasting for a bit, I rode back to catch the last 2 innings of a baseball game on campus between a local Hawai'i team and a team of Japanese allstars...needless to say the Japanese team won.

Finally, after getting back into my dorm, I ran into a Chinese guy who also studies Chinese-American relations and we talked about all the people in China (high-up people) that he knew and what his program was like. We each gave our opinions on Taiwan and decided that we'll meet for lunch at least once a week to discuss other key issues in Sino-US relations.

I love this place.

Miss you all!

Jeff