Honolulu - Extreme Sports and Friends

Aloha again!! (Figured I mine-as-well greet you like a Hawaiian if I am writing about Hawaii again)

Okay so I heard Edmond got hit by another winter storm?!?! I was talking to my mom and sister who said school got cancelled and everything. Yeah global warming my butt!! It’s Oklahoma not Colorado?!?!?!?!? So comments…Esther – haha well I am glad you are enjoying the blog, and I’m even more glad that I could help you procrastinate chica! Mike – dude heck yeah! That’s tight that your hatred worked haha…I laughed out loud in the computer lab on the trip when I read your comment. You kill me man! And yeah Honolulu was cool but I definitely liked the outskirts and surrounding communities more than the main metro area. But you were right one, Hawaii is legit! Chris – freaking duh we would travel well together! I mean we are so much alike in our interests! We would own Amazing Race…I’m still planning on applying man, keep thinking about it cause that would be soooooo tight to do together!! And yeah I didn’t get to surf but I wanted to mountain bike more lol, and I figure I will get the chance to surf again at some point. Love hearing from you all! Keep it up! Oh and I figured out how to upload pics for a reasonable price so I have added on pic to each of my previous blog posts and there will be on pic on each blog post to come. Sorry about the words on the Hilo one, it was a little bigger than I originally thought haha.

My first day in Honolulu was SOOOOOOOOO TIGHT!!!! As soon as we got into port, Adam, Scott, and I got picked up for a mountain bike tour through Bike Hawaii that we had signed up for independently from Semester at Sea. My parents went on this specific mountain bike tour a couple years ago and said that I absolutely had to do it; so I was like “hmmmmmmm, mountain biking, in a Hawaiian valley…ummmm HECK YEAH!!” So I had been signed up for this tour for the past 2 months and we had called the company 2 days before from Hilo to see if they could add my two friends onto the tour. They said that was no problem and they could totally come; so Adam and Scott signed up over the phone and we were all 3 able to go together. We drove 45 minutes outside of Honolulu and it was like an entirely different part of the island. Very little of the area of the country was developed and it was just these enormous mountains that made up these immense valleys stretching in between. So we park the van and unload and start biking through this valley. It was hard to focus on mountain biking cause we were all drooling at the gorgeous environment that was surrounding us. The tour was a 6 mile ride with the first 4 miles consisting of gravely jeep roads that were slick so that was fun cause our back tires would spin out on us. Then the last 2 miles we had a choice between staying on the jeep trail (lame) or going up onto the mountain side onto a single track trail that was much more “technical” as they say it. Well I don’t even have to say which one me and my buddies chose but I will, we definitely hit up the technical trail and decided to test ourselves; and that exactly what it was…a test. It was by no means easy, there were some places where we had to place our feet down to dodge these huge rocks that our bikes just couldn’t handle going over. Oh and story, at one point, Scott, who had never mountain biked before, was behind me. I kinda slipped off my bike and struggled entering this one forested area and Scott who was waiting about 30 yards back at a hill (we spaced out every now and then to give each other room) started making fun of me cause I slipped and had to walk by bike back up onto the trail. Well, Scott starts to go through next and not only did he do the exact same things as me (karma sucks huh Scott), he kept going into these bushes and ended up flying over the handlebars into these rocks. It was stinking hilarious cause Adam, our guide, and me all got to witness it. Scott didn’t get too seriously injured so it was all good; is say not too seriously because he did gash his knee pretty good but it didn’t even phase him, I mean we call the kid Bear Grills for a reason. He is nuts!!!! But it was definitely worth doing cause it was extremely difficult; and as our guide said, “If you aren’t struggling, you aren’t having fun mountain biking.” Sooooooo true!!

Oh and did I mention that during the entire tour (except the last quarter-of-a-mile) it was raining on us! Not like torrential downpour but just a consistent rain. This was awesome for two reasons…1 – we never got hot, it was very comfortable and no one in our group complained…2 – it made the trails so much more fun. I mean regular gravel and dirt is fun and all, but wet, slick gravel and mud is WAYYYY more entertaining (not to mention a better workout). Oh and by the end of the tour we were caked in mud…like our legs were brown cause we had just nasty amounts of mud on us…and our faces and arms were speckled with mud from the dirt kicking up off our front tires as we went along. Again it just made it all the more worth it and no one complained at all; it was so awesome! Okay so a little more about this valley, since I feel like my words are inadequate to explain it. This valley is the same valley that was used to film numerous Hollywood Blockbuster movies aaaannnnnddddd (this is the best part in my opinion) a significant portion of the tv show LOST!! Yeah be jealous. So here are some of the movies filmed on location, Godzilla (still have his giant footprints in the ground), Mighty Joe Young, Pearl Harbor, Windtalkers (the majority of the movie), Tears of the Sun, George of the Jungle, Jurassic Park, and 50 First Dates (the road where Adam Sandler “re-meets” Drew Barrymore every day, yeah I biked across that road). So now do you have a better understanding of how incredibly beautiful this place was that we were mountain biking in and the enormous mountains on both sides?!?!?!?! Okay so know for all you LOST fans. You know the episode where they time travel back and see the people lowering the Nuke down into the ground, they are using this like wooden tower thing to do it…yeah that tower is still there and I got a picture of it. Then the episode in the earlier seasons when Hurley finds the abandoned van and is trying to jump start it…okay yeah I biked down that hill. Totally went where the van went…it was tight!! Those were the big notable ones but there was also smaller stuff as well. Another random thing in this valley was a World War 2 bunker built into one of the side mountain walls overlooking the coast. The bunker was called Battery Cooper. Our guide was able to open the bunker for us because he has connections and there were like some old ammo crates and stuff in it still. There were also these old framed pictures from Pearl Harbor as it was happening and other days during the war. The bunker also used to overlook a small airstrip that would launch short range fighters; it was also instrumental in launching ship bombers to bomb enemy ships in the battle of Midway. So that pretty much encompasses my entire mountain biking adventure. So next time you watch all those movies, or LOST, just remember that the mountain biking there is freaking intense!!

As I mentioned a second ago, we were filthy dirty after our mountain bike tour so we decided to head back to the ship to shower after being dropped back off in Honolulu. Best shower ever I might add! After showering and changing clothes, we caught up with Austin, Kaylin (AKA – Santa Fe), Sarah, Nicci, Abby, Jacqueline, and Theresa and decided to grab dinner. I suggested that we go to Dukes cause my dad had suggested it and Scott and Adam were like “Well he recommended the mountain biking and that was awesome so let’s do Dukes and just follow Tyler’s dads advice again.” I mean it was “Slick Willie’s” advice (bahahahaha), and man was it right on the money for the second time that day. Duke’s was legit!! It was the perfect setting for a nice relaxed dinner with friends and the food was awesome!! We took our time and just talked and ate for a couple hours. Then for dessert me and Sarah decided to split this “Duke’s famous something-or-another pie” (I forgot the middle word) because we were both pretty full and neither of us wanted to pay the full $6 to only eat half of it, but basically it was an oreo crust, underneath macadamia nut ice cream, covered in chocolate fudge, whipped cream, and chopped macadamia nuts. Everyone at the table was so jealous of the two of us that they decided to order one for themselves. Needless to say there was nothing left of the two desserts after we got through with them. After dinner it was about 9:45 and we walked around for a bit. The rest of the group decided to go chillax on the beach but I decided to walk back to the hotel because I had an Semester at Sea sponsored FDP in the morning at 5:30 in the morning and I didn’t really feel like just sitting on the beach (you know me, can’t sit still haha). So it was 9:45 and the hotel was a little over 4 miles away, I didn’t want to pay for taxi by myself so I said “Well, I’m just gunna walk.” My friends didn’t really like that idea but I basically just walked away while they were yelling at me not to go alone because I really like walking around cities at night cause you get to see different parts of the city in a different perspective, especially on a 4 mile trek from one end of the city to the other. I got to walk all the way through Waikiki beach and then through a part of town where a lot of the homeless people sleep for the night, and also through the hotel part where there were taxis and limos everywhere. It was just cool cause it was like 3 different little cities that I walked through in not too long of a walk. It was about 11:15 when I finally got back to the ship and I went straight to bed, wasn’t too hard after mountain biking and then walking as much as I did haha.

The next morning (my second day in Hilo) I woke up bright and early at 5:15 because I had to meet the bus at 5:30 for my FDP. I guess I should explain what an FDP is huh? FDP stands for “Faculty Directed Practica” and they are simply trips put on through SAS (Semester at Sea) that are led by a teacher. You see every class has 20% of your grade that is composed of strictly out of class work in the countries we are visiting. Most teachers will lead around 7-8 FDP’s throughout our voyage and you can kind of pick and choose which ones you want to do based on price, interest, and availability. Professors are all different in the amount of these trips they require you to participate in but an average number is 3 trips between all the ports added together. This specific trip was led by my Marine Biology professor and was a behind the scenes visit to the United Fishing Agency Fish Auction held daily down at the docks. The specific company this is done through is called NOAA and they pride themselves on being pioneers toward a fully sustainable fishing industry. I won’t go into too much detail, but if you know anything about the global fishing industry, it is anything but sustainable; however, it is possible to change this, and that is precisely what NOAA is attempting to do. Upon arrival, our small group of 19 (my prof., the SAS camera man, 3 life-long learners, the academic dean, and 13 students) was split into 4 groups of 4-5 people. We were then assigned to a guide who took us around the facilities and walked us through the process that takes place every morning. We got to see fish being transferred directly from the holds of the ships to the weighing stations; from there we saw the fish put on slabs and organized by species. They are then covered in ice and displayed for the auction. As all of this is happening outside and inside, there is a group of wholesalers walking around bidding on the fish as they are brought out. Once the wholesaler buys a fish, it is marked with his name and/or company logo and taken outside and put into bins filled with ice and loaded into trucks to be taken to the respected company warehouses. Like I said we got to observe each aspect of this procedure and ask our guide any questions we had. One fish that we saw being bid on was over 150 pounds, was purchased for $7.50 a pound , and totaled over $1000 when it was all said and done. All for one lousy Yellow-fin Tuna?!?!?! That’s intense man!!!! After getting a full tour, we went across the street to a little sidewalk café to grab some breakfast before listening to a one hour lecture on the history and current business dealing of NOAA. It was very interesting and I was actually able to stay awake despite only having about 5.5 hours of sleep under my belt from the night before.

After returning from my FDP I immediately set out to find my way to the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (nicknamed “The Punchbowl Cemetery”). I decided to go by myself because no one from my FDP group was interested in joining me and a group was going up to North Shore to snorkel and surf but I didn’t want to waste my money all the way up there when I can’t surf. Didn’t really see the point lol. The tricky part was figuring out which bus to take because originally it took awhile for the bus to arrive, but eventually is came and I was able to make my way outside of Honolulu and up this mountain side to the cemetery which is settled into a crater, hence the nickname “Punchbowl.” This cemetery is cool because it not only honors those that served and died in WW2, but also the fallen soldiers from Korea and Vietnam as well. It was very touching to walk the grounds and see the plaques left in remembrance for those that so valiantly served our country. The coolest part was a plaque I read that said the following:

“In proud memory of the achievements of her sons and in humble tribute to their sacrifices, this memorial has been erected by the United States of America. These men were part of the price that free men have been forced to pay to defend human liberty and rights. To these men we owe a debt, to be paid with grateful remembrance of their heroism.”

Chilling huh???? Yeah I got the biggest shiver when I read the plaque; it’s humbling beyond description…which is why I provided the quote for you all to read for yourself. So after walking around the grounds and reading the other various memorabilia, I headed back to the bus stop to make my way back into Honolulu. Originally I got onto the wrong bus but I figured out my mistake really quick and was able to get off before I went too far out of my way. After safely making it back down to Honolulu, I walked around a little bit more around the State Capital and surrounding area because I didn’t have enough time to travel anywhere very far from the ship. Cause if you are late you get 3 hours of dock time for every 15 minutes past the On-Ship time and that is just not worth risking if I am heading to Japan. I mean I don’t wanna be stuck on the ship in Japan when all my friends are allowed to get off and explore. That would suuucccckkkkkk!!!!!! So I played it safe and hung around the ship and explored closer areas different from the places I had walked the night before. It was nice getting a little alone time to just wonder around and I feel like I saw/did everything in Honolulu that I needed to.

As a whole, I was definitely not as impressed with Honolulu as I thought I would be. I mean I can totally see why people vacation and honeymoon around Waikiki beach but the city of Honolulu itself just wasn’t as “awe-inspiring” as I thought it would be. I mean as soon as we got out of town, like for mountain biking, I LOVED it. But in the city it was just all really expensive and extremely touristy. I think part of this comes from having gone to Hilo first. Hilo was definitely the type of Hawaii that I liked. It was so much simpler! The people were more chill, everything was spread out, much like a suburb out in the country. I mean “no duh I liked Hilo better,” I’m a country boy at heart!! I would much rather walk alongside the road with friends at 1 in the morning and see the nature and hear the exotic sounds. So yeah Hilo was where it was at in my opinion!!! Definitely hope to return there. Hawaii was awesome and I couldn’t have asked for a better first port. Beautiful scenery and great friends just made it that much more enjoyable. Let the good time keep rolling babay!!!!!!!!

Didn’t write quite as much this time I don’t think lol. Hope you all enjoy!

In the words of the Hawaiians, “E ho’omau ka holo moana” (Let us continue the voyage).

Love you all and God bless. Matthew 28:19-20.

T

Hilo - Live and Let Live

Aloha friends and family!!

Heard Oklahoma is about to get some snow so hope you all have fun with that! So Hawaii was AWESOME!! I have so much to tell you all I have decided to post now while we are in between Hilo and Honolulu and then I will post again after Honolulu. I just have so much to tell you guys!! I have just completed my second day in Hilo, we were here on Monday and Tuesday. Then tomorrow and Thursday we will be in Honolulu, actually as I am typing this we are sailing in between the islands to Honolulu. But I just have so much to say that I am going to make Hilo and blog post and then Honolulu a separate one.

But firsssttttt I will respond to your guys comments from last time! Jt – girl I totally know what you mean with the waves and the music…it is awesome! And thanks for that food tip, I will keep that in mind. Uncle John – yeah yeah yeah I heard about Peyton, and I did hear about Hartley, that was tight! But about the super bowl, dude Saints by 14 at least, if not more. You guys just won’t be able to handle Brees and Bush…it’s just gunna be a shootout…more so than the Vikings/Saints in my opinion. Mike – dude thanks for that website, I have already told people about it and you have made me very popular when I passed on your info. Shirley – have fun in the snow man, I love the snow! And dude I am soooo jealous about Ecuador, definitely praying for you guys and you will have a once in a lifetime trip. Oh and yes, I am a lucky little butt! Esther – yes that is the same Kayln, and for the 3rd time, we have hung out a lot and we have a great time!! Hollis – haha miss you too girl! And don’t you worry, I have so many stories and pics already that it will take me days to show you everything this summer. Nat-attack! – uhhhh yeahhhhh we are going to Mclarens when I get back, no question! Haha I’m not even surprised you tacked on another minor…you crack me up girl! Guys I love your comments!! Keep em coming…it’s like a small taste of home every time I read em!

So Day 1 in Hilo was fantastic because we were all so happy to finally be off the ship AND we were in Hawaiiiiiiiiiii!! As soon as we got off the ship, me and my buddy Austin went to get information on how to get around Hilo and see some of the stuff that our group was interested in. We originally just wanted to see Akaka falls which are these waterfalls that are supposedly the best on the Big Island, which is where we were. So we go over to these vans that are lined up with locals trying to sell all of us tours and sightseeing stuff. I walked up to one of the guys and said “Hey I can fill your van (15 people), how much for you to take us to the Akaka Falls and back?” The guy was like “Well, I can give you a 3 hour tour that includes Akaka, the Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut factory and plantations, and the Black Sand Beaches, all for just $20 a person.” We were all like heck yeah!! So we pack into this van and set off for our adventure. We had a driver and then a tour guide named Jordan. Jordan was in his late 20's so he didn't tell us any of the stuff we didn't care about and told us the information about Hilo and other parts of Hawaii that he thought people our age would want to konw. It was really cool cause it was all really interesting stuff and alot of it was super funny! The falls were first and they were worth the $20 by themselves. We walked on this 1 mile loop trail through the jungle and the falls was like a half mile into it. A lot of us thought the trees and bushes were like the movie Avatar which gave us all a laugh or two. Ok so then me and my other friend Scott (who by the way is the splitting image of nate cole) found these vines that were real thick hanging off this tree. So we were like “shoot man, let’s freaking climb em!!” AND WE DID!! That’s how country boys roll baby!! (in the words of Billy Currington of course!) I have personally never climbed vines off a tree before and it was just like the movies, like definitely more than 25 feet off the ground when we got up to the top. It was soooooo cool cause we were like monkeys in Hawaii! (Sorry mom, but I already did it so you can’t get mad!) Then we went to the Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut factory. I don’t really know what to tell you all, because it was your standard factory tour. The best parts were the free samples (yes I said free) of every type of Macadamia Nut produced by the factory. Then they also had the cookie kitchen right next to the visitor center and I am absolutely not even kidding, we could smell the cookies at least a mile away before we got to the factory. So after looking around and getting the free nut samples, we left again and headed to our last destination of the Black Sand Beaches. We hung out at the beach for about an hour and then the tour guides were happy enough to drop us off right at Wal-Marts front door. And that was our morning.

The afternoon of my first day in Hilo was a much different experience than the morning. We started off by buying much needed supplies at Wal-Mart before we lose the chance for the next 3 months. After Wal-Mart we took the bus back to the port so we could drop off all our stuff in our rooms. Then the group kinda went our separate ways, the majority of the group had paid to attend an SAS lu’au that night but I didn’t feel like it was worth the $80; and side-note, all the people I talked to about it said it was definitely NOT worth it and no one had much fun…so BOOM I saved $80! Ok so they all went to shower and stuff and Scott and me were like wellllllllll let’s go see stuff!! So we asked around if people wanted to join us. Emily, Sarah, and Cosette decided to join us cause they didn’t have plans. And basically we just started walking…we had no clue where we were headed or what we wanted to do…we literally just started walking. Me and scott saw this “break” (this man-made rock wall thing around the harbor that protects the ships from the surf) and it extended like a mile and a half into the harbor. So what did we decide to do? Well we wanted to see how far out on it jumping from rock to rock we could get; and it was high-tide so the waves were crashing into the rock wall that we were hopping across and it was spraying up on the sides. So legit!! Oh and I should also mention that the spray was making the rocks really slick and that just made the whole process more challenging. (again mom…can’t get mad ) So after we got out there about a mile we decided to head back. (the sun was setting so we didn’t think we could make it all the way to the end and back) We re-grouped with the girls who were watching a sea turtle swim around while they waited for us. We decided to just continue walking along the shore/road and seeing where that would lead us. We walked about another mile when a taxi cab pulled over and asked us where we were headed. We politely said we were ok with walking cause we really didn’t want to pay for a taxi, his response literally blew me off my feet. He said, “Well I am headed to pick up a fare a couple miles down the road, I will take you that far for free.” I never in my life would have expected to have a cab driver offer that. We accepted his offer very quickly and had a nice conversation with him on the way. His name was Joe and he was TIGHTTTTTTT. So he dropped us off at this public little beach area and we were decided that would be a perfect place to watch the sunset against the harbor. As we are walking toward the surf we saw a whole-nother group of 5 fellow students who had the exact same idea. We all decided to have pizza delivered to the beach and enjoyed pizza, the sunset, on a beach, getting to know 5 new friends that we hadn’t ever even talked to. Their names were Courtney, Eric, Kaylee, Rorrie, and Grace. Then the 10 of us decided to start the 5 mile walk back to the ship in the hopes of finding some sort of ice cream shop along the way. We had walked about 2 miles just chit chatting and getting to know everyone better, when we decided to try our hand at hitchhiking. We didn’t really expect to because there were 10 of us and we were kinda just joking around…but a truck actually stopped!!!!!!!!!!! They pulled up next to us and were like, “hey you guys going to the ship?” We were like “YEAH!!”...and they were like “Hop on in the back!” So we all piled into the bed of this truck and they drove us right to the entrance of the port. It was just a sweet little couple that had been out for a drive and since the port was on their way they were totally cool with us hitching a ride. Just a really cool group of people! So the only problem was that we still hadn’t found any ice cream and that was not okay with Rorrie. So she, Courtney, Kaylee, and me decided to walk the other direction in search of something. We eventually found some at this local little joint called Vernas. They had homemade Haupia ice cream (kinda like a native coconut) and it was delicious!! So we got ice cream and then trekked the mile back to the ship just talking about any and everything and building a friendship! I definitely bonded with Courtney the most cause we had so much in common. First she has the same name of my favorite person in the world (love you sis!) and she is a fan of FRIENDS!!! Sidenote - I have now found 5 equally devoted friends fans and two of them brought all the seasons so I can fix my friends deficiency…YESSSSS!! But yeah we talked a lot and it was really cool getting to know her. Anyways, by this point it was a little past midnight and we all decided to turn it in for the night and head to ship so we could have energy for our second day in Hilo.

Okay so our second day in Hilo was much more condensed because A, we had to be on ship by 6 o’clock because we are switching ports, and B I was scheduled on an SAS trip that left at 9 o’clock in the morning. So I woke up decently early, like 8 and went up to grab a quick breakfast before meeting our tour group at the bus at 845. It was a trip to Volcanoes National Park and it was a bomb group of people!! Me, my roommate Adam, Nicci, Austin, Mackenzie, Jacquiline, Amy, and Natalie were all on the trip and we just kinda posted up in the back and took over the back 2 rows of the bus. So we did the normal hop-scotch-around the National Park gig and saw all the huge sights so I won’t go into detail about that stuff. But I do have one specific story. The last stop was at this thing called a Lava tube which is a part of the earth where lava once flowed through but doesn’t anymore so it is just a dark tunnel that winds around. We get down into it and its like 300 yards or so with lights on the walls and stuff and our whole tour is just kinda going through and taking pictures and everything. So at the end it like opens up into outside and the steps lead out. BUT there was this little rusted gate off to the side with what looked like another unlit tunnel on the other side. There was a sign and we looked at it and it said “Unlit, untouched, natural tunnel. Extends 350 meters. Enter at own risk.” Well I think you all know what I did. I went in of course…DUH!!!!! I was toward the end of the group so most of the people had already moved on but some of the people left with me at the end were brave enough to go in. Amy, Mackenzie, and our other friend Leigh (pronounced Lee, she definitely has the coolest name on the ship in my opinion) decided to join me. Like I said it was totally unlit, buttttt I had a flashlight cause I usually carry one just in case…and guess what, it paid off!! So we start inching our way in and literally after about 75 meters it has twisted and it is just pitch black in both directions. The girls didn’t really like that so they formed a chain holding onto my free arm and my backpack so they wouldn’t trip or anything. They say that you can never truly experience pitch black until you are in a cave. Well when we got to the end of the cave, yes I made it all the way there, we turned off the flashlight. I have never been in darkness like that before, it was eerie!! All three girls screamed hahaha. So we hiked back out and were like hmmmm I wonder what time it is. Cause you see at every stop, the bus driver had told us what time we had to be back on the bus so we could head to the next stop. Well for the stop we were supposed to be back on the bus at 12:05. So Mackenzie looks at her watch and goes “Uh guys, its 12:04…” Amy was like “Alright we gotta haul butt back to the bus.” So we just took off, like legit running through down this trail weaving in and out of people so that we aren’t late…cause if you are late your punishment is dock time at the next port. Dock time is time that you have to stay on the ship when everyone else is allowed off, basically like port detention. So me and these girls are running through the trails not knowing how far from the end we are and then I was like “Alright I see the bus, GO GO GO!” So we ran up to the bus and he opened the door and we like hop on. Well of course everyone is already on and like sitting down just waiting for us. I looked at my phone and it was 12:07 when we got on the bus so they let that slide as being close enough. But as we are walking down the bus we were getting a wide variety of looks. Some people were pissed and I just ignored them cause I mean it was only 2 minutes; and I mean they are in Hawaii and they are gunna get mad about 2 minutes? Really?!?! C’mon people. Really I think they were just jealous that they didn’t find the secret entrance that we did to the tunnel of exploratory greatness!! Then the people I knew, I would just make weird faces at to try and get them to laugh. It worked…GREAT SUCCESS! So that was definitely the best part of day 2 in Hilo. Unchartered Lava Flow Adventure!!! So we finished the tour and got back to the ship around 1. We were all starving so we decided to hike to lunch. We actually went back to the same place where we got ice cream the night before, Vernas! Our tour guide the day before had recommended we try this traditional Hawaiian dish called Kalua Pork. It is pork that is slow cooked underground and marinated with simple spices and herbs so it keeps its gamey taste. They mix it with cabbage and serve it. I was kinda hesitant because of the cabbage…I have a rule Green Food = yuck...but I ordered it anyway lol. Okay best decision ever!! The pork was definitely one of the top 3 meats I have ever had. It was so moist it was just soaked and was soooooo easy to eat!!! So we ate and walked back to the ship. We had a little more time to kill until “On-Ship Time” (the time we have to be on the Ship) so we made an ATM run, I also bought some native juice drinks cause they are delicious, and then found a place with free internet so we used some of that so that we don’t have to waste our minutes on the ship. It was an awesome day and one I will not soon forget!!

Hilo as a whole was a unbelievable! In 2 days I feel like I definitely saw everything I needed to see and I do not regret any decision that I made (although my mom would probably disagree haha). Between tour guides, hitchhiking, and meeting random locals, I have a whole new respect for the people of Hawaii. They are so friendly and the constant motto I constantly hear from them is “Live and Let Live.” I can honestly say that this is motto that every Hawaiian I met takes to heart. The live in the moment and they make sure that they don’t interfere with us living our lives in the moment. Live and Let Live man!! I mean the let us hitchhike in the back of their truck because the way they see it, they were going that way anyway, why not give some other people a ride? The actually understand that it only takes like 1 minute total of their time because that’s about the combined amount of time it took us to hop in the back and hop out. What if we all thought on a simpler level like that? What if we considered the needs of others in everyday life? Without even trying God again has made himself abundantly evident each and every day in the simplest things. This is a perfect picture of Christ-like love that we as Christians should be sharing unconditionally. Maybe not specifically with picking up hitchhikers but with other similar things that are so easy. This will be different for each and every one of us but the situations will still present themselves.

Another thing that hit me like a ton of bricks while in Hawaii was God creation is a whole different way. Just looking at all the different forms of creations, from waterfalls, to volcanoes, to forests…his hand is evident in indescribable ways that are breathtaking to me. It really made me feel so small and insignificant in the grand scheme of things. I mean God has so many things that praise His name day in and day out and yet he loves me and desires a relationship with me. Two songs describe this in ways that I can’t and they have been on my heart all day. The first is “I need you to love me” by Barlow girl and the second is “How He Loves” by David Crowder. These lyrics are so powerful and Hawaii has made them come alive for me!! Barlow Girl - “I just never saw how you could cherish me…Cause You’re a God who has all things…and still You want me.” David Crowder – “When all of the sudden…I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by Glory!..And I realize just how beautiful You are and how great Your affections are for me...oh how He loves…Yeah He loves us…Ohhhhhh how He loves us…Oh how He loves us…Ohhhh how He loves us…oh how He loves!!” Gahhhhh those songs are sooooo true!! Just wanted to share that feeling with you guys cause right now I feel like I am just riding on clouds!!

Wow I just wrote so much! This is an insane amount, sorry lol. I just really like writing out what I did cause I get to share it with you guys and relive it in a way as I am re-writing it. I hope all of you guys are doing awesome!! If anything was unclear just ask and I will be happy to clear it up. There are also a lot of smaller stories within all these big ones but I mean I gotta leave some stuff to tell you guys this summer when I get back.

Oh and something else I forgot, it is also really cool being on the ship right now because everyone is like spread out talking about their adventures and catching up. Since I sat down in this lounge and started typing this, it has been at least 2.5 hours because I keep seeing people and we tell each all about our days and stuff. It’s just another absolutely amazing part of shipboard life. We all say we are one big family and really that is the best way to describe it. Just a bunch of brothers and sisters…it’s the coolest atmosphere to be a part of and one I will cherish forever!! Well I am off to bed cause I am waking up early tomorrow to hit-the-ground running in Honolulu!

Love you guys and praying for you! Hope all is well!!

T

Reflections on Shipboard Life

Ok so I wanted to take some time to respond to some of you all’s comments. I mean I really like the comments so it would be selfish of me to not respond. Esther – haha yes I definitely miss you beating me in words with friends but you still have plenty of other people you can pick on. Natalie – girl me and Kaitlyn (hope I spelled that right) met day 1…she is one of the people that noticed my hat. I mentioned it earlier I think, but we quickly figured out we were from the same town, oh and we call each other “Memorial” and “Santa Fe,” it’s like our little Oklahoma joke lol. Oh and Nat I met the only other person on the ship from OU and she is a THETA!! Her name is Molly, she has long blonde hair, a little shorter than me, and she is a year older than us; she knew exactly who you were as soon as I said your name! JT – our doctor isn’t the guy you are talking about, although I wish he was. Our doc is very negative and very direct, not many people like him very much. Daryl – dude my roommate is awesome! Our room is a comfortable temp so no worries there. And I can’t help who I happen to meet first, I’m just a social guy. Shirley – dude I know I miss both of you and chilling late on Friday nights and playing settlers, and don’t worry, there are plenty of stories waiting for you till I get back. And despite not having the last name Smith, I still consider you family so it’s kinda the same haha. Dad – thanks for the sports updates, gotta keep tabs on my Sooners! Court – I bet those crappy high school classrooms suck…been there, done that. Oh and I am already getting tan so sorry bout cha!!

So I was trying to think what all I should tell you guys about the ship and everyday life that I hadn’t already and I realized I hadn’t told you about our living conditions. If you have been on a cruise it is just like that but a lot smaller and more compact. It’s actually really cool because you are hardly ever in your room but when you are you feel nice and cozy. Despite the beds being small, they are surprisingly comfortable. I have crashed every night and the waves’ rocking me to sleep is like the best feeling in the world!! It is gunna suck sleeping on land after having a boat rock me to sleep everynight haha!! Our bathroom is tiny but we don’t even really notice it because it doesn’t need to be big. My room is on the inside of the ship so we don’t have a window, at first we were bummed but then we realized that our room is pitch black all the time so that is a huge advantage if we don’t have classes in the morning. Then we have a “room steward” that is in charge a section of our floor. His name is Rommel and he is very friendly and quite efficient. Every day he comes in, makes both our beds (like really makes them, tucks them in and everything), changes the trash bags in our trashcan, restocks our toilet paper and Kleenex if needed, cleans our bathroom like every other day, and even folds any clothes we leave out. It is soooooooooo weird having someone do all that for you!! It’s really cool but at the same time I feel really weird cause it’s like “hey I don’t really need that done for me every day.” So the result of everything Rommel does for us is a very very very very clean room. Another thing that is unique on the ship is laundry. We have assigned laundry days and you get the option of giving them one bag (about the size of a Wal-mart plastic sack) of laundry. You leave it outside your door on the specified night and they clean it the next day and return it. It costs $6 per bag so you pretty much cram as much as you can into 1 bag so you only have to pay the $6. There are no self-service laundry machines on the ship so this is the only way to do laundry in a machine. Some people have resorted to doing laundry in the sink with woolite but I don’t have that much yet and am only going to do that as a last resort. If there is any other aspect of ship life that you all have questions about, comment on it and I will try to answer your questions.

Something else that I thought I should just briefly mention…back home when we go to camps and stuff on charter buses, you always hear people complain (especially the dudes) about going to the bathroom cause the bus is shaking and everything. Well you guys should just try doing that on a ship as you are swaying side to side; let’s just say that I will never complain about going to the bathroom on a bus again haha!! Sorry if this disgusted some of you all but I thought it was something funny that should be noted.

Now about the food, basically all our meals are buffet style…breakfast is every morning from 7:30 to 8:30, lunch from 11:30 to 1:30, and dinner from 5:30 to 7:30. Like I said, it is buffet style and you can come and go whenever during that time. The food is alright but extremely repetitive. After a week of meals, the most common foods are pasta and potatoes. We have had potatoes every meal except two of them (including breakfasts) and there has been some sort of pasta at every meal. The ship definitely caters to vegetarians because there are soooooo many vegetables. I mean since I don’t like vegetables it kinda sucks but at the same time they do have some sort of meat at every meal, and there is usually a type of fish. I’m not complaining at all because it is still decent food that we get as much of as we want!! And at breakfasts I snag a couple of the boxes of cereal so I can munch on them during the day when I get hungry. Most meals are repetitive but every now and then there are dishes that are a nice surprise. Like yesterday we had a baked macaroni and it was absolutely AMAZING!! It was definitely all I ate that meal. Then we had really good brownies one night at dinner so that was a nice taste of home. (miss your deserts mom) It’s funny after only a week how much I already miss American food…and I mean like simple stuff. Like I am totally craving a root beer float…weird right? I mean you can actually buy like cheeseburgers, pizza, hotdogs, smoothies, and ice cream (even root beer floats), at the sun deck grill, but it’s pretty pricey and I know that if I buy one then I will want to eat that food every meal instead of the free food. So right now my plan is to wait until like a month from now when I am really, really craving it and then I will eventually cave lol.

Ok so story. The other night there was an activity put on in the piano lounge called speed friending. As the name would suggest this was a take-off of speed dating. The way it worked is everyone put on a name tag first off; then the MC would say something like “everyone find someone with the same color eyes” or “everyone find someone whose name starts with the same first letter as yours” and we would all run around and find a person like that. Then we would introduce ourselves, say our hometown, college, major, hobbies, etc. After small talk the MC would then say a question that we all had to answer to our partners; some examples were “what superhero would you like to be?” “what’s the craziest thing you have ever done?” (I had a hard time picking just one on that one lol) and “which celebrity would you marry if you could pick anyone?” Some were serious, some were funny, and some were kinda awkward, but that just made it more fun! So in all you had about 2 minutes with each person, and this went on for an hour. I met SOOO many more people it was crazy!! Although it’s easy to meet people on the ship (definitely my favorite part so far), it was just a cool, fun setup that a lot of people got really into and really enjoyed. Oh and my friend Austin followed me around with a video camera all night for a project for his film class. That made the whole process more entertaining cause he was literally right over my shoulder the whole time and it made some people really uncomfortable; but at the same time, by the end of the night everyone was referring to me as “the dude with his own camera-man.” That was definitely the coolest activity so far that we have done.

A couple of night ago, Alex, one of my new friends, turned 20 so we had a birthday party for her at dinner. Her mom had payed for a cake for her so we all had this HUGE cake for dessert which was AWESOME!!! And it was cool because like all the people at the party had just met her a couple days ago cause she was like me and came knowing no one. But at the same time you would have never known cause we were all joking around and acting like we had known each other forever. She even got a hand full of icing in her face from one of our friends Anhil (I know I spelled that wrong), and it was stinking hilarious. Then after dinner we all went out on the back deck and got a miniature astronomy lesson from Anhil. He showed us where Orion’s belt was, which was super bright with a clear sky; then we were also able to see Mars and Jupiter which was stinking awesome! They were so bright and it was very clear that Mars was red and Jupiter was a sky blueish color. I have never really known what I was looking at so it was exciting seeing stuff like that while on a boat sailing across the ocean!

After being on the ship for a week it is really cool seeing how quickly people have adapted to ship board life. People are no longer seasick and there are hardly any people with patches still on. In addition, everyone has met SOOOOOO many people. Like in just 6.5 days I have met an easy 200 people and talked to probably closer to 300. It’s just crazy!! Although keeping up with everyone’s names is so stinking hard, but we are all having a hard time so no one really cares that people forget. It’s just like “hey we met but I forgot your name, what is it again?” and if you have only met them once before then they don’t care cause they have forgotten yours too. But usually after you have met someone twice then you are able to remember their name pretty easily. Another cool thing about life on the ship is the way time goes by. Like I said, we left San Diego/Mexico 7 days ago today, but if you ask anyone on the ship they will all tell you that it feels more like 2 or 3 weeks. We just do so much and hang out with our new friends so much in between classes that it feels like we have known people and been traveling for a week. Me and my friend Nikki were talking the other day, and both of us feel like we have known each other a lot longer than like 5 days. It’s also funny cause the stuff that happens in the morning feels like an entirely different day than like 10 o’clock that night. People will constantly refer to stuff that happened like 6 or 7 hours ago as “yesterday” and someone will be like “dude that was this morning.” The days just seem so much longer that it’s really weird! If any of this is confusing I’m sorry, I tried to explain it as best as I could lol.

I know it sounds weird but it is kinda cool because we have so much time to get to know people and learn about people and have some really interesting discussions since we have so many different personalities in a given group of people. Like the group I have been hanging out with a lot we have people from Florida, Oklahome (just me), California, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa. Then we have a vegetarian, a hunter, a surfer dude, an outdoor enthusiast, and those are just a few. We all have different majors, we all go to different schools, support different political views, and we all have drastically different religious views. All of this stuff combined leads for very interesting discussions and it cool getting to explain my views and why I believe in what I believe and everyone is just so respectful that even if they don’t agree with me, they still respect me and we can have a good time.

Yesterday during the afternoon I went out to one of the side decks and just listened to Casting Crowns and Hillsong for like 30 minutes while looking at the waves rolling in and hitting the ship and just the massive expanse of ocean with the horizon on the distance; oh and random fact, on a clear day the distance to the horizon on a flat ocean is 11.4 miles. But anyways, just listening to those songs while looking at HIS creation is overwhelming each and every day. I mean God is so freaking awesome!! It is so cool!!

I have just completed my sixth day of class (3 A’s and 3 B’s) and tomorrow we dock in HAWAII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Everyone on the ship is really antsy to get off and people are all starting to plan what we are doing the next 4 days in Hawaii. Right now I am actually sitting outside on the sun deck with some friends and it is a little warmer than 80 degrees; no sun because it has been slightly overcast the last couple days but it still feels awesome, especially with a nice ocean breeze all the time!!! I will be updating the blog shortly after Hawaii so I can tell you guys what I did while it is still fresh in my mind.

Wow I just wrote so much haha. Oh well I guess you guys just had a lot to read, hope you enjoyed it!! I hope all of you all are doing well and thank you all so much for your prayers!! They are felt and I am extremely grateful to have friends and family like you all praying for me so much!

Love you guys!

T