Did You Miss Us?

Aloha everybody!

As promised, here's the latest installment of our blog! Sorry its been a while, we've been pretty busy with classes and meeting people.  But this will be a good post, scout's honor!

I would like to start off by saying that I am a survivor. We had a 4.4 magnitude earthquake the first night we were here, and I was awake for all 10 seconds of it! It kind of sounded/felt like a really large plane flying overhead. But don't let that deter you guys from the shock and awe of it. :) It definitely was a reality check that we're not in Iowa anymore!

So.. our classes are amazing so far!  The instructor for our Hawaiian Language in Action is awesome!  He is super crazy and loves to teach. And do high kicks. We're going to learn how to chant and how to hula (Jon is not looking forward to that).  Our next class is Hawaiian `Ohana, where we're learning about traditions and beliefs, through the Hawaiian family structure.  We're also learning chanting in that class too...super hard.  The best class is definitely Marine Science, though.  We get to go snorkeling every week to identify different plants and animals!  The lecture might be a bit difficult, but its all worth it to be in the water every week.  Needless to say the academic side of things is going good down here.  :)

We've also spent a lot of time trying to get our apartments in living order.  Public transportation is pretty difficult to use and can be very frustrating at times, especially when you have both hands full of bags, it's raining, and the bus decides to show up an hour late.  We will both think twice when complaining about CyRide being a few minutes late after experiencing this!  But shopping here in Hilo isn't bad.  Everything is pretty close; there's a Walmart, Target, Safeway, Macy's, Office Max, and a bunch of other stuff right in the same area.  We are both trying to make time to get to the farmer's market here.  Everyone we talk to says that it's the best and everything is super cheap but with Jon and I having drawn-out schedules during the day, it's hard to get there by 4 when it closes.  But we're looking forward to checking that out soon.  (I'm going to buy out all of their pineapple!!) There's a lot of places to shop here and we can't wait to further our explorations!

Good news on the noteworthy front! Saturday we went to Kona, which is about a two hour drive around the island on the other side with the Student Life Center to a submarine ride!  We went down to about 100 ft. under the surface and saw some corals, fish, and even two small shipwrecks!  It was really cool and we're both glad we did it.  Jon had never touched salt water in his life so we went to a beach that was really small and was made from sand that had been brought in, not natural sand.  Jon and I stepped in the water and walked around a little bit and then headed to do some shopping.  We found a lot of cool tourist-y shops and walked through a few.  They had some cool trinkets and crafts.  Jon shaved his head the night before so we found a straw hat so his head wouldn't burn to a crisp, which was successful.  Kona was absolutely amazing and we're definitely going to have to make a trip back in the future!

Yesterday we went to Hapuna Beach with the Student Life Center.  It was absolutely gorgeous, and we brought our snorkeling equipment to try it out. The waves were HUGE though and we both got taken out pretty bad at the beginning, but it was so fun when we got the hang of it! Jon was barely out of the water for the 4 hours that we were there and I find it really hard to believe that that was his first real beach experience. He dominated those waves! I got fried to a little crisp, of course, but it was totally worth it. I would say the highlight was when we made Jon into a sand mermaid (suuper attractive. :)

This is all followed by more classes today and a good week of trying to see more stuff.  We're going to try to keep this blog updated once a week at the least, but feel free to comment or email either one of us if you want more.  If you have anything you want to say, leave a comment.  If you want more details about one of the things we did or if you have any suggestions, leave a comment.  Please comment, it helps us get a feel of what you all want from us in our writing.  I know a few people have told us that they are traveling Hawaii through us so if that's you, let us know how we're doing and if we need to give more info. We aim to please, people!

Mahalo (thank you) for reading and we'll talk to you all later!

Aloha from Ashley and Jon!

Hawaii bound!

We're finally on our way. We just boarded the plane and let me tell you, it is crowded. Ashley and I are super excited and can't wait to see Hawaii! Ashley just told me she can't wait to lay out on the beach. I can't wait to sleep after this long day of flying. Well, we'll write more later. Wish us luck on our flight!

Jon's first post - I need to go to sleep...

Hello all,

It's Jon here.  It's about 3:00 AM on January 2nd and I'm thinking about going to bed.  I have almost everything packed and my room is cleaned up for it's 5-month vacancy.  I put my beloved car "Sweet Dee" in storage today and it was sad to say goodbye.  It really hit me today.  I said goodbye to some really good friends and that was what made it click.  I talked to Ashley and she thinks it won't hit her until we get to the airport and I though the same about myself but it really sunk in today.

Even though it finally hit me that I'm gonna be on an island in the middle of an ocean for five months, I am super excited.  I don't have anything to be nervous or scared about.  I'm really anxious and excited to finally land in Hilo and get a bit of sleep before starting to explore town and hopefully meet some friends.

It's going to be a great journey and I can't wait for it to start, but for right now it's bittersweet.  Saying goodbye to Sweet Dee and a bunch of my good friends was tough, but hey... I'm going to Hawaii; I can't complain.  I didn't mention, but this might be a good time - it's 7 degrees outside right now in Rockford, Iowa where I live and it's 65 degrees in Hilo.  :)  And one more thing, my writing is not very good - you'll all get used to it soon.

Talk to you all again soon!


Thanks!
Jon Laudner