Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Back in Europe
So we've left Honolulu and are back in our respective home countries. One or the other of us will endeavour to write about our last few days soon (which were PHENOMENAL) but for now here is a link to our first, second and third Facebook photo albums. You should be able to access it without a Facebook account but let me know if you can't! Happy New Year everyone.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Finals Week
It's Sunday afternoon and we have roast pork in the oven, and a typically corny Christmas movie on the TV (I predict that the male and female protagonists will go from being strangers to falling in love!); the washing up is all done, I tidied up earlier, and Tom is preparing homemade apple sauce while I write this, steal bits of apple, and type up notes for my Gender take-home exam.
Just a few more things for each of us to do, and on Friday evening we're free!
Next Saturday we're hoping to go to the Byoudo-in temple, which we went to ages ago after the temple actually closed. On Sunday we're travelling around the island to see some sights with John (also known as Probably-Tim, one of Tom's friends); Monday is climbing Diamond Head (to ensure that Christmas isn't just jet-lagged and freezing and most likely hungover but also achey), and Tuesday will be spent packing and tidying and generally freaking out.
Oh, that reminds me - dear John and Nancy, Tom keeps telling me that he's going to email you to let you know that he now drinks red wine, and then forgetting to actually follow through! So, consider yourself warned that he will be depleting your stock of alcohol this winter =)
One of my essays was extremely vindictive this week but I have already done copious moaning about it, and it's almost all over now (just have to get the grade back) so I'm not going to bother going into it again. It was horrible. That is all.
Tom is 'revising' (read: basting the pork, turning the potatoes, peeling apples, dancing to Christmas music - basically anything that is actually 'not revising') for his State & Local Government exam tomorrow and his World Politics exam on Tuesday. I have been nominated for a Best Paper competition thingy which has a $500 top prize (yay). We are looking forward to coming home - I in particular am dangerously fed up of the teachers and educational system, what kind of country doesn't ask you to do analytical essays until after you've got a degree?! - but dreading the cold. Christmas present shopping soon, which I am looking forward to.
I love Christmas! I'm so excited!
Just a few more things for each of us to do, and on Friday evening we're free!
Next Saturday we're hoping to go to the Byoudo-in temple, which we went to ages ago after the temple actually closed. On Sunday we're travelling around the island to see some sights with John (also known as Probably-Tim, one of Tom's friends); Monday is climbing Diamond Head (to ensure that Christmas isn't just jet-lagged and freezing and most likely hungover but also achey), and Tuesday will be spent packing and tidying and generally freaking out.
Oh, that reminds me - dear John and Nancy, Tom keeps telling me that he's going to email you to let you know that he now drinks red wine, and then forgetting to actually follow through! So, consider yourself warned that he will be depleting your stock of alcohol this winter =)
One of my essays was extremely vindictive this week but I have already done copious moaning about it, and it's almost all over now (just have to get the grade back) so I'm not going to bother going into it again. It was horrible. That is all.
Tom is 'revising' (read: basting the pork, turning the potatoes, peeling apples, dancing to Christmas music - basically anything that is actually 'not revising') for his State & Local Government exam tomorrow and his World Politics exam on Tuesday. I have been nominated for a Best Paper competition thingy which has a $500 top prize (yay). We are looking forward to coming home - I in particular am dangerously fed up of the teachers and educational system, what kind of country doesn't ask you to do analytical essays until after you've got a degree?! - but dreading the cold. Christmas present shopping soon, which I am looking forward to.
I love Christmas! I'm so excited!
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
December
Happy December!
Yes, so it's over a week into December, and this is my first entry of the month, but we've been really, really busy. In fact, doing this right now is stopping me from writing part of the 20-odd pages I've got to do for Friday. Friday! It's very nice to have a break though.
We've both been doing well in class - Tom did a presentation on Monday, and said that his essay was clearly much better than anyone else's. I did one this morning and it was scary. I'm halfway through a paper of the Iranian media, and a very tiny way into a take-home exam on Islam + revolutions. One big presentation, one little presentation, and two five-ish-page exams due next week. Tom has three exams next week, one paper due tomorrow, and I believe that's about it.
Two weeks today is when we fly back. It will be such a relief to have finished everything. The weather is turning on us, although when I put it into words it just sounds pathetic - we both woke up freezing cold the night before last when it got to about 20 degrees! It's going to be such a shock when we come back, I can't even fathom colder than that night at the moment.
Yes, so it's over a week into December, and this is my first entry of the month, but we've been really, really busy. In fact, doing this right now is stopping me from writing part of the 20-odd pages I've got to do for Friday. Friday! It's very nice to have a break though.
We've both been doing well in class - Tom did a presentation on Monday, and said that his essay was clearly much better than anyone else's. I did one this morning and it was scary. I'm halfway through a paper of the Iranian media, and a very tiny way into a take-home exam on Islam + revolutions. One big presentation, one little presentation, and two five-ish-page exams due next week. Tom has three exams next week, one paper due tomorrow, and I believe that's about it.
Two weeks today is when we fly back. It will be such a relief to have finished everything. The weather is turning on us, although when I put it into words it just sounds pathetic - we both woke up freezing cold the night before last when it got to about 20 degrees! It's going to be such a shock when we come back, I can't even fathom colder than that night at the moment.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Thanksgiving Weekend
Wednesday
After my morning class we decided to spend half the day Christmas shopping at Ala Moana, instead of letting me get on with my work. Despite not actually buying anything (except a green flower hair clip, which is for me, which I wanted because it is pretty and because Monday - tomorrow/today - is the 109th anniversary of Oscar Wilde's death and I wanted to wear a green carnation and geek out over Wilde stuff with my British Literature teacher), it was a lot of fun! Discovered an amazing kitchen shop called Williams-Sonoma - insanely expensive, but still cool. There were pots for over $1100. Toasters for over $300. A one-serving-size jar of carbonara sauce for $17. We lusted thereover, meandered for a while, and then watched a high-school band that had travelled all the way from Arizona just to play in a mall in Oahu. Tom giggled about how many guys had probably joined the band just to ogle the female singer, and I was impressed by the male singer's voice.
Thanksgiving Thursday
Okay, so I got drunk. Of course. I hiccupped. A lot. Maybe for up to an hour. And it hurt, and no one cared! But still, I cooked with Eliza, and the food was great, and sorry that there aren't any photos of the actual meal properly cooked. That was probably me drunkenly forgetting.
Turkey!
Mashed potatoes and stuffing under foil.
Many many pictures of Tom and Will sitting like this have been taken.
I'm very sorry for the red face - Will & Eliza's apartment is always boiling hot, and having the oven on half the day didn't help.
Pumpkin pie!
Sadly unappetizing parsnips.
Black Friday
Something to do with the beginning of the Christmas sales, but the day after Thanksgiving is known as 'Black Friday.' It sounds kind of ominous - and it was. I got up early, talked to my parents, went back to sleep and woke up about 1pm terribly hungover. I crouched to avoid the Hangover Hat but it still got me. Anyway, I recovered towards the evening and we went out to have a drink at Duke's Barefoot Bar on the beach at sunset - virgin daiquiri for me and Orange Cream soda for Tom, both of which were unusual but great for people not yet old enough to buy alcohol - which was lovely. Then we watched the Christmas Parade down Kalakaua (that's what all the really blurry photos are of, sorry!), which was crazy, and then we walked to the Hilton to watch the weekly fireworks display. It was such a lovely evening, and the fireworks were astounding!
Fire-baton-twirlers.
The tinsel covering the instruments amused me.
As did the fairy lights.
A maverick reindeer/motorcyclist pulling along a very scared-looking Santa Claus and whizzing about all over the place, ignoring what the rest of the parade was doing.
And again...
And again.
Roller skaters.
Saturday
After a day of not-much-work-or-anything-else-either-really, we went for the 7pm dancing Christmas tree show at Ala Moana. My GOD, what a disappointment! The trees don't even spin - their lights flash. And the lights were too bright and hurt my poor sensitive eyes. I took some photos but after a while we got embarrassed (the only other adults there had small children) and wandered off. The as-seen-on-TV shop was quite entertaining, though.
Sunday
Then it was today! I had a panic attack around 3am and got up to do some work - we've realized that there are only two weeks of class left and crazy amounts of stuff to do. I have 3 take-home exams, 3 long research papers (although I did one today! Yeah!), 1 major presentation, 1 minor presentation, a 10-question assigment, 2 journals and 3 reading responses; Tom has 4 essays, 1 presentation, and 3 exams in the next three weeks. Obviously I got to sleep late and then got up early to do more work (Tom lay in bed - hands up who's surprised!), and as I have mentioned I completed one of my essays, and made a significant dent in another. We went down to the sea and it rained, yet again, as we got there. The rain has been on and off for the last 24 hours and we've been quite shocked by it! There's a REALLY shallow part of the sea about 60 yards from the beach, which we went to for the first time. It's quite funny to have the sea barely lapping around your ankles while you watch people closer to shore properly submerged. When we came home, Tom made a WONDERFUL roast beef meal (ooh, with homemade Yorkshire puddings - below there is a picture of a Tower of Yorkshires), then I washed up, and that brings us to about now. Phew. Bedtime now, I think. Goodnight!
After my morning class we decided to spend half the day Christmas shopping at Ala Moana, instead of letting me get on with my work. Despite not actually buying anything (except a green flower hair clip, which is for me, which I wanted because it is pretty and because Monday - tomorrow/today - is the 109th anniversary of Oscar Wilde's death and I wanted to wear a green carnation and geek out over Wilde stuff with my British Literature teacher), it was a lot of fun! Discovered an amazing kitchen shop called Williams-Sonoma - insanely expensive, but still cool. There were pots for over $1100. Toasters for over $300. A one-serving-size jar of carbonara sauce for $17. We lusted thereover, meandered for a while, and then watched a high-school band that had travelled all the way from Arizona just to play in a mall in Oahu. Tom giggled about how many guys had probably joined the band just to ogle the female singer, and I was impressed by the male singer's voice.
Thanksgiving Thursday
Okay, so I got drunk. Of course. I hiccupped. A lot. Maybe for up to an hour. And it hurt, and no one cared! But still, I cooked with Eliza, and the food was great, and sorry that there aren't any photos of the actual meal properly cooked. That was probably me drunkenly forgetting.
Turkey!
Mashed potatoes and stuffing under foil.
Many many pictures of Tom and Will sitting like this have been taken.
I'm very sorry for the red face - Will & Eliza's apartment is always boiling hot, and having the oven on half the day didn't help.
Pumpkin pie!
Sadly unappetizing parsnips.
Black Friday
Something to do with the beginning of the Christmas sales, but the day after Thanksgiving is known as 'Black Friday.' It sounds kind of ominous - and it was. I got up early, talked to my parents, went back to sleep and woke up about 1pm terribly hungover. I crouched to avoid the Hangover Hat but it still got me. Anyway, I recovered towards the evening and we went out to have a drink at Duke's Barefoot Bar on the beach at sunset - virgin daiquiri for me and Orange Cream soda for Tom, both of which were unusual but great for people not yet old enough to buy alcohol - which was lovely. Then we watched the Christmas Parade down Kalakaua (that's what all the really blurry photos are of, sorry!), which was crazy, and then we walked to the Hilton to watch the weekly fireworks display. It was such a lovely evening, and the fireworks were astounding!
Fire-baton-twirlers.
The tinsel covering the instruments amused me.
As did the fairy lights.
A maverick reindeer/motorcyclist pulling along a very scared-looking Santa Claus and whizzing about all over the place, ignoring what the rest of the parade was doing.
And again...
And again.
Roller skaters.
Saturday
After a day of not-much-work-or-anything-else-either-really, we went for the 7pm dancing Christmas tree show at Ala Moana. My GOD, what a disappointment! The trees don't even spin - their lights flash. And the lights were too bright and hurt my poor sensitive eyes. I took some photos but after a while we got embarrassed (the only other adults there had small children) and wandered off. The as-seen-on-TV shop was quite entertaining, though.
Sunday
Then it was today! I had a panic attack around 3am and got up to do some work - we've realized that there are only two weeks of class left and crazy amounts of stuff to do. I have 3 take-home exams, 3 long research papers (although I did one today! Yeah!), 1 major presentation, 1 minor presentation, a 10-question assigment, 2 journals and 3 reading responses; Tom has 4 essays, 1 presentation, and 3 exams in the next three weeks. Obviously I got to sleep late and then got up early to do more work (Tom lay in bed - hands up who's surprised!), and as I have mentioned I completed one of my essays, and made a significant dent in another. We went down to the sea and it rained, yet again, as we got there. The rain has been on and off for the last 24 hours and we've been quite shocked by it! There's a REALLY shallow part of the sea about 60 yards from the beach, which we went to for the first time. It's quite funny to have the sea barely lapping around your ankles while you watch people closer to shore properly submerged. When we came home, Tom made a WONDERFUL roast beef meal (ooh, with homemade Yorkshire puddings - below there is a picture of a Tower of Yorkshires), then I washed up, and that brings us to about now. Phew. Bedtime now, I think. Goodnight!
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Punchbowl cemetery
Today we went to the military cemetery in the Punchbowl crater. Tom tricked me into climbing another mountain, and it rained, but it was beautiful and not too hard, either.
One of these pictures is of a 30-odd foot statue of Columbia. I made a comment about the size of her chest, and Tom looked at me disapprovingly before remarking that only a Fiddimore would say something like that.
Tom got 100% on his Logic midterm, which he got back yesterday. We cooked enchiladas for Eliza & Will's at theirs last night, and on Thursday we're doing a Thanksgiving meal together. Because we get 2 weekdays off, Tom won't have class from 12.15 on Tuesday to 5.15 the following Monday! Jammy git. Anyway, we've got a 19lb turkey, which was only $4.99 (yay!), and it will definitely be an experience. It's strange how different the food and food words are over here - it's probably been the greatest point of contention between us and W&E. Biscuits (but they're soft brotchen!), gravy (but it's white!), and yesterday they didn't know what we meant by 'mince.' Weirdos. =)
Christmas is approaching. We went to the supermarket and they'd transformed the car park into a sparkly Christmas tree selling area! I got very excited, and once we got home, went on Amazon and considered many different presents for various people. My list is getting more detailed, even if the only person struck off the list so far is Tom!
Anyway. Yes. It was a lovely day, and I am very happy, and I believe Tom is too. Tom, are you happy? He is nodding silently and looking at me strangely. No different from normal.
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