Flash Flood and Finals

Yesterday was crazy. Living here I’ve experienced quite a few flash floods before, but the one that hit Oahu yesterday was nothing like anything I’ve seen before. In one hour we had 100 mm of rain. By comparison, in Denmark it usually rains 450-850 mm annually. In twelve hours yesterday it rained 350 mm which is more than it usually rains in Denmark in six months. And I thought it rained a lot in Denmark!!

At 2 a.m. the rain and wind woke me up the first time. At 4 a.m. I was wide awake again, and around 6 a.m. I finally gave up on sleeping. I thought I would do the last desperate studying before my finals yesterday, but soon I discovered that we had no power. And since I’m on the 10th floor no power means no water. And no elevator… On Kuhio the lights in the intersection were out, and the police had to direct the traffic. However, the power returned by 8.15 a.m. and I was happy to be able to get in the shower before a long day at the university. Well, I could have spared myself the effort… Walking the 100 meters down to the bus stop I was literally soaked. The umbrella was useless because of the heavy winds, and when the bus finally came I had mascara running down both cheeks and I was soaked all the way to my underwear. No fun when you’re on your way to two final exams, and you have to be at the university for at least 10 hours, and there’s heavy air conditioning inside. I walked around the entire day yesterday thinking that I smelled like a wet dog… When I finally made it home by 8 p.m. there was a glass of red wine and tacos waiting for me…Thanks Hege! Exactly what I needed! I was supposed to go to Susanne and Hallvards for juling and bollefest, however, I was too exhausted and fell a sleep on the couch at 9 p.m. while watching a rerun of Grey’s Anatomy…

Anyways, I think both of my finals went pretty well, and now I have five weeks vacation! FIVE WEEKS! And that just for Christmas! Five weeks is what I had annually while working in Oslo. Next summer I’ll have 3 and a half MONTHS of vacation… Nice. I don’t think I’ll ever go back to work. Studying suits me pretty well…

I have 6 days left on the Island before I leave for Scandinavia. Tonight two of my friends have rented a mansion out in Hawaii Kai, and they’re hosting a biiig pool and Jacuzzi party. I think 75 people have been invited, I can’t wait. I don’t have to worry about studying for any finals or getting up in the morning for a change. I’m exited.

I was planning on spending the last six days before I return to Denmark on the beach trying to get a nice tan, however, it doesn’t seem like the weather agrees with me on that idea. I might return home as pale as the rest of you guys – haha…
Gotta go. I’m off to Ala Moana for some Christmas shopping!! See you soon!

The Revival of the Aloha Blog

The Aloha blog wasn’t dead if that’s what you thought… It just went into hibernation for an extended period of time. For many good reasons! Since you heard from me last time, lots of things have happened, and I’m not sure where to start… Let’s try to go with it in chronological sequence.
I think the first thing that happened was Maria visiting from Canada. She was here for five days, and it was great to see her and have the chance to show her around in Hawaii. We rented a car one day and did a circle island tour. We were lucky enough to see a big sea turtle on Laniakea Beach on the North Shore, we got to swim in a waterfall, we ate garlic and chili shrimps at the shrimp wagons, relaxed at Waimea Bay, and went for a walk on the beach where Lost is filmed. We also did some scuba diving and got to see 20 dolphins swimming in front of the boat. On her last days here we went to Hanauma Bay for snorkeling.

Maria left a few days prior to Halloween. Hege and I had decided to invite people over for a Halloween Party, one thing we forgot to discuss, however, was how many people to invite to the party… By accident we invited around 60 people, and by accident… everybody showed up at some point during the evening! In addition our neighbors across the hall had a party going on, so we decided to open the two doors and make two big parties one humongous party. It was good fun, and everybody had dressed up in crazy costumes. At one point it kinda got out of control, and I though I would make people leave. I also thought people were not gonna leave voluntarily, so I started yelling: Get the F*** out of here… NOW! It actually worked… Although the next day I started wondering why I hadn’t just asked people to leave in a friendlier way… Well – it seems as if nobody really took insult… I still have some friends left; what's more, the apartment is still in pretty good shape.

A week following Halloween Christer came all the way to Hawaii from Norway. He was here for two weeks, and I think we got to see and experience a lot of what Hawaii has to offer. We pretty much did all the stuff you’re supposed to do while in Hawaii. Here on Oahu we went to North Shore to see turtles and surfers, Kayaking in Kailua and Lanikai, snorkeling in Hanauma Bay, hiking the Onomana ridge, Pearl Harbor, Waikiki Beach, Muse on a Tuesday for $1 drinks, Chessecake Factory, we watched hula in the sunset, watched baseball, went to down town and china town, Aloha Tower, Ala Moana Shopping Center, etc. But I think the best part was the trip to Kauai – the oldest and northernmost of the Hawaiian Island. I’ve been there three years ago with Sisse. It is called the Garden Island for good reasons. The Island is extremely green… Also for very good reasons! It rains a lot over there, something we also got to experience. We had rented a convertible Mustang (niiiiiice!!) and more than once we had to stop and put the cover back on, so we wouldn’t get soaked… (However, we discovered that if we drove really fast we didn’t actually feel the rain. That theory, however, only applied until it was raining a certain amount of rain, and we couldn’t go any faster than we all ready did…) While on Kauai we went on a boat trip where we were lucky enough to see humpback whales, dolphins jumping in front of the boat and we got to snorkel with turtles. We also did a trip to Waimea Canyon (Grand Canyon of the Pacific – check out the pictures) and hiked the beautiful Na Pali coast.

Christer left two weeks ago, and because I practically did not do any school work while he was here, I’ve pretty much spent the last two weeks catching up on papers and exams, and in three days this semester is officially over! I’ve got my last two finals on Thursday, so I’ve spent the last few day writing papers, doing presentations and studying… If you wanna know anything about The Implementation of Fiscal and Monetary Policies in the US or The Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 – just let me know… I’m the one to ask!!
I’ve started the countdown… In only 9 days I’ll be on my way home to Denmark to celebrate a traditional, rainy Danish Christmas, and I’m so exited… I cannot wait to see family and friends; I’ve been feeling a little homesick lately. I’ll be home for an entire month, and I’ll make sure to spend time both in Copenhagen and Oslo besides my parents place, so I’ll get to see everybody. I just can’t wait!

Now I have to go cause I’m heading over to Susanne and Hallvard to watch julekalender… We’re watching a Norwegian julekalender called Nisserne på Låven (I think…!!) It’s kinda hard to get in the right kind of Christmas mood while there’s 25 degrees Celsius outside (I’m not complaining..!) however, Susanne is making an excellent effort by baking rolls with chocolate inside and serving hot chocolate every time we come over. Gotta go!!