Katia & Guido arrived in Honolulu early yesterday morning. They had a long layover before continuing on to Kona and so we had a few hours to spend together. They kept saying how strange it was to see me here in Hawaii when they are used to always seeing me in Italy with them. I felt the same way. It was strange speaking my not so great Italian and seeing them here in Hawaii but also so wonderful to be together with them again.
I had planned to take them out to breakfast but they already grabbed a quick bite to eat at Starbucks in the airport and were not very hungry. After leaving the airport, I decided to checking out the views from the Pali Lookout. I had not been there for years now and thought it would be a nice place to go to see some wonderful views of Oahu. It was a little fogged in when we arrived. The fog started to lift just as we were about to leave. They were amazed at the beauty of the area and did not imagine so much "green".
Here are a few views of the windward side of Oahu from the Pali:
'Iolani Palace is the only official state residence of royalty in the United States. I have been on a tour of the palace once many years ago while on a field trip with three 4th grade classes. The palace is well preserved and quite beautiful both inside and out.
I had planned to take Katia and Guido to the palace while they were here visiting Oahu. Friday, August 17th was Admissions Day. Admissions Day is a state holiday in Hawaii, which is celebrated on the 3rd Friday in August to commemorate the day Hawaii became the 50th state (August 18, 1959). I called the palace that morning to see if it would be open for tours. I was hoping to visit the palace on Friday as the Royal Hawaiian Band plays on the lawn of the palace at noon on Fridays and parking would be free and much easier to find since it was a state holiday. I found out when I called that the palace would be open and that special ceremonies would be taking place at noon as well as an open house of the palace when the ceremonies were completed. I later found out that the special ceremonies were not specifically in honor of the state holiday but were in honor of the 125th anniversary of the 'Iolani Palace.
It turned out to be a perfect day to visit the palace! After a few trips around the block to find a parking spot, luck was on our side. We ended up with a perfect parking spot right in front of the palace! When we arrived, the Royal Hawaiian Band was warming up. The palace was decorated with two flags hanging at the entrance and people were lined up along the driveway waiting for the procession to begin.
One morning while up on the North Shore, Katia and I were hanging out on the beach reading our books, while Guido went for a walk. When Guido came back, he said started talking to Katia in Italian. I heard the words "la foca" and knew right away that he must have seen a seal! He said while he was walking, he thought he saw a big rock on the beach, but when he got closer, he realized that it was a seal! So off we went to check out this amazing creature. I have heard of Hawaiian Monk Seals coming up on the beach every now and then but it is a pretty rare sight to see and something I have never experienced in person. The lifeguard was pretty sure it was a girl seal. Isn't she cute?
One quarter down and three to go. The school year is flying by! I am now on break for a week. Finally, I have some time to catch up on posts from my mini-vacation this past August with my friends from Italy.
One of the places Katia & Guido wanted to visit while here on Oahu was the Byodo-In Temple. I had never visited this temple and had only heard it mentioned a few times. I was surprised to find only a few other people that had heard of this temple. Thanks to Google, I was able to get directions and opening closing times. If visiting Oahu, I highly recommend that you put this place on your list of things to do and if you live here, you should definitely make time to visit this beautiful temple. It is very peaceful and serene. A place I could have spent hours at if I wasn't doing the "around the island" tour.
The Byodo-In Temple is a full-scale replica of the 900-year-old Byodo-in Temple located in Uji in Kyoto, Japan. The Byodo-In Temple here in Hawaii was completed and dedicated in 1968 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the arrival of the first Japanese immigrants. The original temple was built entirely without nails and is said to fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. I am not sure if the replica was also built without nails.
I was leaving for Italy in two weeks with tons still to do when I was first asked to start this blog to document my travels. I had no time to think up a "catchy" name. I chose a title that would describe my trip. Once I returned from Italy and started adding posts about Hawaii, I decided it was finally time to change the name of my blog. I wanted something that represented both Hawaii and Italy and so I came up with the idea of "shave ice & gelato" because it represents two unique treats - one relating to Hawaii and one relating to Italy. I hope you like it.
Just about everyone knows about gelato, but I am not sure if everyone knows about shave ice.
So, what is shave ice?
I have heard people trying to compare it to a slush cup or a snow cone. It is neither a slush cup nor a snow cone. It is soooo much better.
Snow cones and slush cups are usually made from ground ice. What makes shave ice unique is the way the ice is cut. You start with a block of ice. As the block of ice spins around, the razor-sharp blade "shaves" the ice making a soft fluffy texture. The "shaved" ice is then packed into a paper cone.
I found this video on YouTube which demonstrates how shave ice is made:
Once the ice is packed into the cone, various flavors of syrup are then poured on top. Because the shave ice is so fine, the flavors absorb into the ice rather than settling to the bottom of the cone.
When ordering a shave ice, you are faced with many choices. First, you must decide if you want a small or a large shave ice.
Next, you need to decide if you want just shave ice, a scoop of vanilla ice cream at the bottom of your cone, azuki beans at the bottom of your cone, or a combo of both ice cream and azuki beans. When I first heard of beans with shave ice, I could not imagine why anyone would want to have beans with shave ice. Once I tried it, I understood. The beans are not like regular beans. They are sweet and so ONO when mixed with ice cream and shave ice.
Finally, you must decide on the flavors. You can usually have three flavors poured on top of the ice. Two of the most famous shave ice places, both located in Haleiwa, on the North Shore are Matsumoto's and Aoki's. You will always find a long line at both of these shave ice stores. Below are the flavors each offer.
Mokoli’i Island, better known as Chinaman's Hat because of the island's shape, is a famous landmark located off the windward side of Oahu.
There is a Hawaiian legend telling how this island came to be. Madame Pele’s sister, Hi’iaka, the goddess of lightening, defended herself by slaying a giant mo’o or lizard. She cut off the tail and threw it into the ocean. Legend has it that this giant tail of the lizard became Mokoli’i Island.
Pictures taken at Kualoa Beach Park on a windy overcast day:
Laniakea Beach, more commonly now known as "turtle beach", which is located on the North Shore of Oahu, is known for the Hawaiian green sea turtles that hang out on the beach on most days. They have been hanging out there during the afternoon and early evenings for about 10 years now that I am aware of. At first, only a few people knew of the turtles. Then the massive tour groups started to arrive. Now tour buses stop at the beach and the traffic near this beach is often almost as bad as a high surf day.
The first time I saw the turtles, I was pretty alarmed with how some of the visitors were treating the turtles. They were touching them, crowding them, and some were even trying to sit on their shells. Now thankfully there are daily volunteers that keep the crowds under control and try to educate the visitors so that the turtles are able to have some peace.
I have been lucky to be at this beach a few times when there were only a few other people hanging out. It is pretty amazing watching the turtles "just be" on the beach. If you are ever visiting Oahu, I would definitely recommend a visit to this beach, but go on a weekday to avoid the larger crowds.
We had a "SNOW DAY" today at school! In Hawaii, a "snow day" means snow will be delivered to your school instead of school is canceled due to snow. Twenty tons of "snow" were ordered and delivered early this morning. After all the rain we have had recently, I was worried about the weather. Fortunately, it turned out to be a beautiful day with rainbows in the sky. The temperature was about 80 degrees. A perfect day for snow!
After the first 10 tons of snow were dumped, the first scheduled, Preschool, Kindergarten, and Grade One came out to play. Each class took a class picture and then everyone went wild!! Santa also stopped by for a visit.
Halfway through our scheduled time, the second truckload of snow arrived. The timing of the arrival worked out perfectly as the students were able to see the snow being dumped. As the truck prepared to dump the snow, the students chanted "dump it, dump it!" and then squealed with delight as the snow was dumped in another big pile.
Channel 9 News came to our school and showed a quick clip of our Snow Day on the evening news, but unfortunately so far, it has not been posted on their website. If they do post it, I will do an update and add the video clip. Because I don't have permission to post pictures of my students and I didn't think to take any distant shots, I only feel comfortable posting the snow shots (without students).
Beautiful December morning in Hawaii at my school:
I took these pictures a couple of years ago one evening at sunset while down at the Ala Wai boat harbor, which is considered to be the beginning of Waikiki. I hope you like them.
Wear RED, post RED, eat RED, drink RED. February 1st is National Wear Red Day to show support for women’s heart disease awareness. My hope is that with this day being targeted yearly to increase women's awareness of heart disease, women will become more aware of how important it is to be aware of staying heart healthy. My mom died of a sudden heart attack in February, 2000. I wish she was more aware of her risks.
* Don't smoke, and if you do, quit. Women who smoke are two to six times more likely to suffer a heart attack than non-smoking women. Smoking also boosts the risk of stroke and cancer.
* Aim for a healthy weight. It's important for a long, vigorous life. Overweight and obesity cause many preventable deaths.
* Get moving. Make a commitment to be more physically active. Aim for 30 minutes of moderate-intensity activity on most, preferably all, days of the week.
* Eat for heart health. Choose a diet low in saturated fat, trans fat, and cholesterol, and moderate in total fat.
* Know your numbers. Ask your doctor to check your blood pressure, cholesterol (total, HDL, LDL, triglycerides), and blood glucose. Work with your doctor to improve any numbers that are not normal.
These are 2 of my favorite RED photos.
The first photo is of a red hibiscus flower. I took this photo for a photography class a few years ago.
The second photo is a photo which was posted on the Boston Globe website this past year. I believe it was taken during Spring Training. We don't have Willy on our team anymore but we still have Manny & Big Papi. GO SOX!!
There are many traditions associated with Chinese New Year, including:
*Each Chinese New Year is designated by one of 12 Animals (in the order of):
the Rat, the Ox, the Tiger, the Hare, the Dragon, the Snake, the Horse, the Sheep, the Monkey, the Rooster, the Dog, and the Pig.
This year is the year of the Rat. Traits of those born in the year of the Rat (1900, 1912, 1924, 1936, 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996 and this year): Quick-witted, excellent taste, organized, meticulous, charming, funny, sharp, compassionate, loyal, generous, greedy, quick-tempered, calculating, intelligent.
(Editing this post to add a link to Vagabond Artist's interesting Chinese New Year post about the 12 animals)
*Sweeping the home before Chinese New Year gets rid of any bad fortune that may have been in the family and makes way for the incoming good luck. Sweeping is never done on the first day of the new year for fear of sweeping away good luck and fortune.
*Staying up all night on New Year's Eve brings longevity to one's parents.
*Eating nian gao (a sticky rice cake steamed in lotus leaves) brings good luck, prosperity, and a successful career.
*Preparing and eating a fish with head and tail intact guarantees continuous good fortune. Breaking the fish is avoided during or after cooking as cutting things up is considered bad luck. The fish symbolizes togetherness and abundance. Many times, half of the fish is served during the New Year's feast and the rest is served the next day. Leftovers symbolize the sign of prosperity; that the family will always have more than enough.
*Wearing and displaying the color red also brings good luck (red clothing, red doorways, red lanterns, etc).
*The red envelopes (known as li see paper), which are often filled with money, are handed out for good luck.
*Popping firecrackers drives away bad luck.
*Lion dances are performed as a symbol of protection and good luck. It is also believed that the noise from the drums, the face of the lion, and the way the lion dances scares away bad or evil spirits.
Our school has been very fortunate to have one of the lion dance associations perform for our students the past three years. I missed the performance last year (was home sick). This year just as the performance was about to start, a big black cloud appeared over head. It started to pour just as the lion began to dance, so the kids had to run for shelter and it rained much of the performance.
Ewa Beach was a little town with houses all built near or along the beach. I don't know much of the history of Ewa Beach
When I first moved to Hawaii, I lived in Honolulu. I worked out in Ewa Beach for one school year, 1984-1985, as a Speech Pathologist, while living in Honolulu. I can remember driving by all the sugar cane fields down Fort Weaver Road to reach Ewa Beach. I even drove through a couple of controlled sugar cane burnings, which were a little scary. The sugar cane fields are now all gone.
After living in Honolulu for a few years, I grew tired of all the traffic and buildings and decided to move out to the "suburbs". At first, I rented in Waipio Gentry and Mililani. After a few years, I finally decided to buy. I purchased my little studio out in Ewa Beach. I have been very happy living in my quiet townhouse community (except for the traffic which I will get to) and have been very fortunate to have wonderful neighbors.
When we all first moved into this new townhouse development, we were warned that Ewa was to be part of the "New Second City". It was something none of us really could imagine. It was such a quiet peaceful area. There were only a few new developments built in the area. The traffic was wonderful, at least until we reached the freeway. It only took about 10 minutes to get to the freeway, 15 when the traffic was really bad. Since then, more and more developments have been built. It now takes me 10 minutes just to get through one stoplight!
Right now there are about 25,000 homes built in the Ewa/Ewa Beach area. There really is no distinction anymore between Ewa and Ewa Beach. There are now houses the entire stretch of Fort Weaver Road where there used to be sugar cane fields.
There are two beaches in Ewa Beach, with one more talked about "being built", whatever that means, and at least four golf courses. I am not a golfer, but I am very thankful for the golf courses, as that means no houses on those sections of land.
Two new schools have opened up since I have moved to Ewa Beach. There are now six elementary schools, one intermediate school, and one high school in Ewa Beach. We also have three shopping centers, one of which is within walking distance from my house. The shopping center by my house has both a Starbuck's and a Coffee Bean, which are located about 20 feet away from each other.
You would think that the roads would have been built as the developments were built. Don't even get me started on this subject. It now takes me 20-25 minutes minimum and sometimes up to 45-50 minutes just to drive 3 miles down Fort Weaver Road, never mind all the extra traffic on the freeway. They are working on widening the road by one lane and building one more road out of Ewa Beach, but the math is just not adding up, not with 35,000 more homes in the works to be built!
I really would love living here forever if I only had a "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" car, but the traffic is definitely getting to me. The problem is the cost of housing everywhere, especially where I would want to live. But someday I will be moving out of Ewa Beach, unless those roads come with those houses.
Here are a couple of photos (taken a few years ago) from one of the beaches in Ewa Beach. It's difficult to see but Diamond Head is in the background of the photo with the little girl.
My class along with two Kindergarten classes went on a field trip today to Ke Ala - The Learning Center, or what we still call "Makaha Farms" (the name has changed a few times). It takes about an hour to get there, with views of the ocean once we reach the Leeward Coast area. Every time we go on this field trip, it brings back memories of my first year living in Hawaii, when I worked out on the coast. I really enjoy the drive with all the memories along the way.
We participate in two activities on this field trip and then have lunch.
The plant unit is my favorite activity. The children learn about various plants, what they need to live and grow, and how to respect the land. They also have an opportunity to taste a few types of fruit, plant something (today we planted lettuce), and pick something (again lettuce).
The animal unit is probably the children's favorite activity. The animals sometimes change depending on the year. This year they were able to see ducks, geese, goats, chickens, a turkey, a rabbit, fish, and turtles. They fed the goats and ducks/geese and touched the rabbit and the chicken. The guide also caught some fish in a net for the children to see and there is a bee apiary on the farm, which we only had a few minutes to visit since it was almost lunch time..
Here are a few photos from the trip. The first one is my favorite.
One of my favorite trees here in Hawaii is the Golden Shower Tree. I was surprised to see that it had already bloomed when driving home last week. I always thought it bloomed in March or April as I remember it blooming around Easter time. I went home, grabbed my camera, and then drove back to take a few photos of the tree. Lucky thing that I did because today already half of the flowers have fallen to the ground.
The botanical name of this tree is Cassia fistula. I have known it for years as just the shower tree or the yellow shower tree. Only since researching this tree on my favorite encyclopedia, google, did I find out that the real name of this tree is the Golden Shower Tree. There are a few varieties of this tree here in Hawaii (golden, pink, & rainbow).
While researching, I found an interesting article in the Honolulu Advertiser that talks about some of the beautiful trees in Hawaii, including the Golden Shower Tree.
To finish out my tree mini series, the first time I saw the Rainbow Eucalyptus, also known as the Mindanao Gum, was a few years ago while I was on the University of Hawaii campus hanging out before my photography class began. I was immediately drawn to the beautiful colors of the bark of this tree.
The Rainbow Eucalyptus is originally from Papua New Guinea. It is grown nearly exclusively for it's amazingly colored trunk.The botanical name of this tree is Eucalyptus deglupta.
I took this photo yesterday evening at Ala Moana from the balcony of the restaurant, Mariposa, in Neiman Marcus. We stopped to use the bathroom in the store before heading out to our cars. When I saw the view from the restaurant, I decided to take a couple of quick photos (since many were staring at me as I was not a customer eating dinner there). The photo is not one of my best - just a view from the mall.
I thought more about Nordstrom last night and have come to the conclusion that the store in Hawaii must not be a complete Nordstrom store. Each department was very limited in their selection. Even the underwear/bra department had only 1/3 of the selection that Macy's has. I think the owners decided to only sell the more expensive items in each department, which I believe is a major mistake. The store was not that much busier than Neiman Marcus (which is always empty) and this was during spring break, a very busy time of year when teachers flock to the mall to shop.
I went to have blood drawn this morning (had to go first thing before I ate) and decided to stop at White Plains beach on my way home to hang out and read my book for a while. White Plains beach used to be a private military beach. It is now open to the public and is about 4 or 5 miles from my house. I parked my car, set up my chair, and started to notice a few people with cameras walking towards a spot a little bit to the left of my chair. I walked over to see what was going on. There, below a little mound of sand was a cute Hawaiian monk seal. I was so happy I remembered to bring my camera. I moved here 25 years ago and this is only the second time I have ever seen a seal on the beach (post on my first seal sighting). I talked to the lifeguard to find out if this was the first sighting of this seal. He said there have been 4 seals hanging out in the area for a while now.
After about an hour or so at the beach, I headed on home. I made a major change regarding my trip...no more Switzerland, and then checked the progress of the "where oh where my new camera could be". After clicking on 4 links to get to the progress of the shipment page, I was thrilled to see that my camera was finally delivered to my school. I jumped in my car and went to pick it up. I am really happy I chose this camera! Of course I just finished charging up the battery and have only taken a few practice shots in my house so far. I am thinking of going back to the same beach tomorrow to see if the seal returns to try out my new camera.
Anyways, here are a few cute photos of the seal on the beach. He or she was inching his/her way up and finally rolled over to snooze for the day.
Tomorrow we are going to Kualoa Ranch. You may recognize the area from films and TV shows. Jurassic Park, Mighty Joe Young, Pearl Harbor, Windtalkers, Godzilla, 50 First Dates, Tears of the Sun, Fantasy Island, ER, and Lost have all been filmed here.
We will be visiting the fish ponds first. We will throw nets in the water and catch little shrimp (and then throw them back). Then we will go to the ranch to feed the cows, horses, sheep, etc.
I am hoping for nice weather. The past two times we have gone it was raining or rained the day before. It can get pretty muddy. I am hoping for a sunny day tomorrow.
I am not a fan of long drives but love the views on the way to the ranch. This area of the island is so beautiful. Although I mostly take photos of my students when on field trips, I try to sneak in a few other shots when I have the chance. These photos were taken at the fish pond area during last year's field trip:
I drove over the H3 to Kaneohe Friday afternoon for an acupuncture treatment. The drive over the H3 is one of the most beautiful drives on Oahu. I made a slideshow with a few photos I took from the drive back to share with everyone.
**DISCLAIMER - All but the first 2 photos were taken on my dashboard through my not so clean windshield while driving. Although they are not the best photos, they will give you an idea of the views when driving over the H3.
The first two were taken outside the office where I had my acupuncture treatment. The second two were taken on the drive up the street. The next 7 were taken while driving on the H3 towards the tunnel. The last photo is a close up of the Koolau mountains above the tunnel. If you ever visit Oahu, this is one drive you should try
not to miss.
