Hawaii

Sorry it's been so long but I just got finished with finals. On Thanksgiving we spent about 12 hours in Honolulu to celebrate Thanksgiving. After being at sea for 9 days and having been out of the US for about 3 months we were very excited. I spent the morning serving dinner at the Salvation Army for mainly the homeless and elderly. It was very fun and even though we weren't there for long I at least got some turkey, rolls and pumpkin pie. I spent most of the rest of the day grocery shopping and hanging out on the beach. Waikiki Beach was crowded but beautiful. The weather was perfect and since it's such a tourist destination everything was still open. While it was a far cry from cranberry, mashed potatoes and pecan pie at home, swimming and reading on a tropical beach wasn't too bad.

It was very strange to be back in the US after so long. Everyone was so much louder and more energetic than most of the Asian countries I had just come back from. Everyone was much heavier and more colorful than the Japanese especially. I went to Safeway (it's a big grocery store like Shaw's or Gerdardi's or Alberstons) to stock up for the long haul to Costa Rica and it was a bit of a culture shock. Firstly I forgot that everything is air conditioned so much in the US and all the drinks come with so much ice. When I first walked into Safeway I was, well freezing and also completely and utter overwhelmed with the number of choices. I just wandered the aisles in a daze before I started to get back in the swing of things. I did regress a bit when I decided to get some yogurt and when I got to the dairy section I was overwhelmed with non-fat, low-fat, no sugar, fruit on the bottom, fruit flavored, low calorie, made with Splenda, dessert style, European style, small, medium, large, Dannon, Yoplay, etc. I ended up just getting some plain yogurt, pretzels (which I haven't had since South Africa) and Diet Coke (since the "Coke light" tastes more like Dr. Pepper than Cola in other countries).


After our fuel stop in Hawaii (we also had stops in Puerto Rico, Mauritius and Singapore but we couldn't get off) we were back in the Pacific. The weather was beautiful and we spent most of the days studying for finals or pretending to study and enjoying the great weather while sunbathing out on the deck. I don't actually tan and chill outside as much as people might expect because I'm either too busy or the weather isn't good. Off the Pacific though, the weather was perfect with great sunsets and I even saw some dolphins. Finals are over so we're totally done with school before we get to Costa Rica. I can't believe it's almost over!