Mini Vacation

Its raining cats and dogs outside so i figured this is a good time for a blog update.

Hi Everyone,
Sorry for the long delay in posting anythere here but i have been super busy with work.  I was lucky enough though to be able to go to Honolulu for 10 days for a work trip.  The training was on leadership, which suffice it to say is a strange and complex subject.  One could spend their enitre life talking and learning about leadership and as i found out from some of the speakers, there are people that do just that.

My apologies, my loyal camera of 5 years recently went kaput so i am now in the process of saving up for a nice one.  So no pictures in this blog.

Travelling to Hawaii was a breeze, for some reason there are never enough people leaving the island to fill up the plane, unless there is a party or conference up in Hawaii.  I went to the airport at 9:30 to check in and right as i get there, the system goes down.  The woman behind the desk was saying "I don't know if you'll get on..."  I politely reminded her that there was still about 2 hours to go until the plane was slated to leave.  She then proceeds to tell me that checkin closes at 10 because the baggage handlers need to go home for a funeral.....only in Samoa is there no backup for situations like this.  Anyhow, the computers come back on and i get my ticket, along with an empty seat next to me.  Sweet.

I hate this flight, it is always freezing cold, super dry, operates at this horrendous time of day and is just long enough that you want to sleep but not long enough that you actually can.  The plane leaves American Samoa at 11:20 pm and arrives in Honolulu at 5:20 am.  Although i must admit watching the sunrise as you land in Honolulu is pretty cool.  That and immigration is a snap cause your the first plane of the morning, although the officers are not always the happiest.

The plane ride was ok except for the fact that i couldn't eat because i needed to get a fasting lab done.  American Samoa has lots of good qualities, one in particular is very tasty, if not so good for you, food.  The diet of canned wahoo and corned beef was begining to get to me so i decided i better check to see if my chloresterol levels are too high or if i am becoming pre-diabetic (happy to tell you that neither is the case, btw).  But this meant no eating since 6pm so naturally i was starving.

I arrive at the office where i am supposed to pick up the government vehicle.  My work was gracious enough to let me borrow the GV while i was there so that i could get some of the housekeeping things that i needed to do done (like go to the doctor, etc.).  First time getting onto the freeway was a little scary.  Being used to only being able to go 25 mph tops is a big transistion to going 50 mph.  But after about 2 mins the fear evaporated and was replaced with sheer exhilerance and joy as i cranked that puppy up to 55 (maybe 60 at some points) and cruised into downtown Waikiki.  I checked into my hotel to drop off my bags and hustled over to the clinic.  They did their tests and i went for the most glorious IHOP breakfast i've ever had.  Totally worth it, even if 2 glasses of orange juice cost me $8! 

The rest of the day involved a visit to the State Office where i got to sit with all of my big bosses and talk shop.  Because we are so isolated from our headquarters, they treat me like a foreigner when i come there.  Telling me where stuff is in the office etc.  Little do most know that I've been there numerous times already.  Got a sit down with my director Mr. Figueroa who told me how impressed he was with my performance over the last few months especially considering the fact we haven't had a supervisor until just about a month ago. 

After that my numerous meetings i got suckered into leaving early with the director to go watch the baseball series playoffs.  I gotta say its nice to have a boss that plays as hard as he works...now if only that would translate more in American Samoa.

The training was very good.  It was interesting to meet people from the different agencies that sent representatives.  It was mostly military (only 3 civilian agencies sent 2 reps each), but that is just due to the large concentration of military in Hawaii.  I had been lucky to see my friend Alden from American Samoa as we were transferring between Hawaii, unfortunately the punk gave me this funky Oregon bug that he had got in his travels and i successfully managed to infect 3 other people in the training (one of them actually had to miss a day of the training she was so sick, felt a little bad about that one). 

The training mostly focused on telling us what this course is all about and helping us understand our personality types.  Apparently i am a ENTJ which means I'm Extroverted (shocker), Intuitive (whatever that means), Thinking (i wonder what to cook for dinner tonight?) and Judging (he did what with who?).  Apparently ENTJ is the most common personality type in the US. Something i was surprised to learn, and here i thought i was special....boooo.

Over the weekend i finally got some down time.  I went to the north shore where i saw the biggest waves of my life and the insane daredevils that challenge the glory of mother nature in a fierce battle of wills.  It was all i could do not to scream in horror as i saw one of the surfers fall, thankfully he was ok. 

I also went to the Arizona Memorial (or rather Valor in the Pacific National Monument as it is now called)>  It was very interesting to learn all the details about the attack on Pearl Harbor and how even though it should've been a crushing blow to the US, we manage to survive and prevail.  It all boiled down to this war being the war of the aircraft carrier instead of the battleship.  And thankfully, none of our aircraft carriers were in port the day of the attack (interesting....).

It was nice to see mother nature taking over the old ship hull.  While i understand the need for posterity and respecting of a grave site, you think they could've emptied the gas tanks first before they made it a memorial.  To this day, gas is still spewing out of the sunken ship.  You can see the gas films on the water surface when you look down from the memorial.  I said a little prayer and was on my way.

Saturday night was Halloween.  I was upset because i was missing a party that i had a costume made for in American Samoa.  So i decided to go to this huge Halloween party in downtown Honolulu and check out the bars and music with some old friends from Samoa.  That's the perk of living here, is that the vast majority of people travel through or go to live in Hawaii once they are done with Samoa so you almost always have someone there to see.  Right as i arrive, i hear the sirens go off.  I ignore them and go into the block party, i pay the $5 cover to go see a band i was interested in, and after only 2 songs the cops come and bust up the party saying that there is a tsunami warning and the block party is being shut down.  Man, i had a costume and everything that i had spent $15 on!  I make it back to my hotel and go up to my room on the 30th floor (figured i would be safe from a tsunami up there) and sit in boredom for a few hours, the tsunami waves comes and goes making barely a 4 foot wave, no damage.  But it was funny seeing people rushing to gas stations, food stores stocking up on toilet paper of all things.  Thankfully around 10:20 pm a knock on my door invites me to the suite next door where stranded hotel guests are having their own tsunami Halloween party.  I happily injected myself into their plans and had a blast, plus it was a way closer walk home.

Sunday involved homework and shopping.  Thankfully i was able to get both done.  Its interesting the things your friends ask you to bring back for them when you go to Hawaii.....salad dressing, balsamic vinegar, good beer, stogies and of course KY liquid (we only have the jelly kind here in case you were wondering, which you probably weren't but now you will be prepared!). 

One thing that shocked me about Hawaii was the number of homeless people there were.  There are Samoans who are poor but you never see anyone sleeping out in the streets because there is always a fale (guest house) available and its just Samoan custom to show help to the needy.  Same reason why there are no orphanages here, children just get adopted by family members.  Seeing all of these homeless people made me feel better about Samoa.  It has its problems but at least they are minor compared to Hawaii's.  Way to go Samoa for keeping your culture intact.

Monday involved more work and training but i decided to go to the airport early and get my drink on in the Delta SkyClub bar.  I find that being sufficiently loose helps me deal with plane trips better.  I still love travelling but as i get older i am getting more and more nervous about riding in planes. 

Made it back to Samoa and had an awesome gift waiting for me.......they had finally paved my road!  No longer does my truck have to travel across the Samoan equivalent of the Oregon Trail to get to my house.  It is now a nicely paved road.  While i enjoyed my time in Hawaii i was ready to get back.  An island is an island is an island.  The only difference is one has more people and the other is mine!  Until next time.

Oh by the way, my friend Andrea is coming to visit next week for a month!  So excited to finally have someone from the mainland come and visit my little rock here in the South Pacific, my parents and brother will not be far behind in December.

I just hope the heat stays away until they leave.