Surf's UP!

This Saturday Mike and I spent the whole day "surfing" with some friends. I RODE A WAVE FOR A WHOLE FOUR SECONDS!!! And after a month of living in Hawaii I'm finally showing a little tan. Mostly I did a lot of bellyflopping, and I have just now recovered. We've decided to make it a Saturday tradition, so I hope to improve on my four seconds of surf record in of six hours of sun (:


Love,
Sammi

Rainy Days

The rainy season is supposed to start in November... but recently there have been a few previews:




Crazy, huh?

Hippo Birdie Two Ewe!

Thank you everyone for the well-wishes, phone calls, cards and packages!!! Despite having to abandon my youth to turn 20, I had a fabulous birthday [:

For those of you who were part of the experience last year... Mike decided to continue the tradition of birthday bread! He surprised me with it when I got home from school.

Not wanting to be wasteful.... I left the carcass to the birds...

We dressed up and went to the Kobe steakhouse for dinner... words can't describe how good it tastes. After dinner we got ice cream from Häagen-dazs and visited with some other students and walked on the beach. A very good day!!!


Love,
Sammi

Snails!

I love snails! If you've ever waited for me to videotape their movement, you know this.
We found some new friends at the beach last night:


For lack of a camera, this photo is borrowed from google. I've been reading about them, and it turns out that Giant African snails make great pets!

For fellow snail lovers, I would recommend this blog:
http://thesnailypage.blogspot.com/
(there are snail jokes!)


-Sammi

Las Políticas

ALI IS IN JAPAN!!!

I'm so happy you are pursuing your dreams! Remember... Giant twinkies talking to cops can't fly without umbrellas. 143.

__________


Otherwise, this past week was the "Festival of Resistance" here. Meaning, politically motivated students decided to publicize their views across campus. It was interesting to watch. There is a lot of support for Ron Paul here. Most of the materials that I have seen are not aimed to generate votes as much as awareness, although the two are obviously connected.

The Ayn Rand book that I am reading included a passage that I thought would be interesting to anyone who has heard Dad preach about the gold standard:

"Whenever destroyers appear among men, they start by destroying money, for money is men's protection and the base of a moral existence. Destroyers seize gold and leave to its owners a counterfeit pile of paper. This kills all objective standards and delivers men into the arbitrary power of an arbitrary setter of values. Gold was an objective value, an equivalent of wealth produced. Paper is a mortgage on wealth that does not exist, backed by a gun aimed at those who are expected to produce it. Paper is a check drawn by legal looters upon an account which is not theirs: upon the virtue of the victims. Watch for the day when it bounces, marked, 'Account overdrawn.' -Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged

Click here for the entire article.

That's all for now! Best Wishes.
-Samantha

At long last!

It's week three in school now. All classes are going very well. Everyone has moved into Ohia now, and school started for the HPU students so everyone is finally on the same schedule. Unfortunately something has been wrong with the internet connection... so I'm writing in the library so I can finally post the photos of the eclipse.

LUNAR ECLIPSE PHOTOS!
These are posted in the correct sequence:

And here I fell asleep... If you click on the photos you will get a bigger picture.

I hope that all is well at home. I heard everyone had a good time at Meemaw's for labor day. Some people grilled out by the pool here.


Love,
Sammi

We made it to the island!

Aloha!

We arrived safely in Honolulu and after a lot of walking and hauling and cleaning moved into Ohia. The first week of classes was excellent. All of the students come from different backgrounds and places around the world and are very interesting (and friendly!) to talk to.

Here are some photos of advenutres so far:

Moving into the dorm...





The hike to Manoa falls after classes on Friday...






And making Hawaiian burgers for dinner in Hawaii!


yum.


Things have been good here so far, although I miss everyone back home!!! I hope you are all enjoying the end of summer there and safely avoiding those UA tornadoes!

Happy Birthday to J.P. and Nettie! Your birthday dinners / ice cream sounded delicious!!! I'm sorry I couldn't be there.


Love,
Sammi