Climbing the Stairway to Heaven...

The first picture is starting out at the bottom...

Next, is from the very top coming down.

Third is the tressel where you have to stay on the tracks or you will fall through (about a 20 ft. drop. Last are the beautiful views of Hanauma Bay and our town of Hawaii Kai.

I am out of shape. I have said it before and I will say it again. I am out of shape. So what the hell was I thinking when I decided to climb the mountain that abuts Koko Head crater. Was it pride? Was it determination? Was it curiosity? Was it jealousy (Elizabeth has already done it)? It was probably a combination of the above with a little added stupidity.

I was working when Elizabeth climbed it about a week ago. I called her at about the time she made it to the top. When she picked up I couldn't understand a thing being said. Her words were blocked by the wind blowing across the mountaintop and her own oxygen deprived gasps. Elizabeth works out. I don't. Sure, I can do this!

So I have my first day off after a long two week shift and decide to spend it killing myself. I don't mind spending days doing myself in, as long as it involves a couch and a beer. I'm Irish remember. So we get in the car and drive about 2 miles to this park that leads up to the mountain. Behind a baseball field the path begins. The first 100 yards are twists and turns up and around makeshift dirt paths that lead to the beginning of the end. The treck up the mountain is actually a nice stroll up a step-like incline made by an old tram car that used to travel up it back in the day. At the top is an abandoned helicopter pad. It is the most intimidating feat I have seen since I decided to go lazyboy. But I attack it with vigor.

Elizabeth sets off behind me. The first 100 or so steps aren't bad. The incline is about 20 degrees. My heart rate is about 50% of maximum. Already! By the way, there are about 1000 steps. After the first 100 or so the incline turns to about 30 degrees. My legs hurt. My breathing is a little labored. I have to rest. We brought 3 water bottles and I have already consumed one.

Back to the grind. About midway there is a small tressel that bridges a 30 yard gap and sits about 10-20 feet off the ground. It is a place we will later witness a grown man crawling across like Vern in Stand By Me. We cross it gingerly. It is old with very visible dryrot and very suspect planks. But we make it. We have crossed about 500 steps. I am nearly spent. And we haven't even hit the hard part.

The next half sucks. There is no better descriptor than that. The incline changes dramatically. it is now at about 60 degrees with various areas probably reaching 65. We have to stop and rest every 25 or so steps. My legs burn. My chest hurts (I think. And no I am not having angina. I think). Elizabeth is huffing behind me and occasionally laughing at me. My pulse has reached its peak. It is going at about 120 and I can feel it in my neck. My pits are drenched and my mouth is dry. The surrounding terraine is like a desert and I think I see a lake. All right, I am being very dramatic here but it did suck. Anyway, after several stops, we made it! What a view. Standing on top of an old, beat up landing pad you could see the the entire south side of the island and clear to the next. The wind blew nearly as hard as I breathed. It was worth it. We stayed up there for about 15 minutes and then had to go because Elizabeth absolutely could not miss Oprah. The way down was a breeze even with Jello legs. I will do it again, but it won't be soon. Tomorrow I think I'll have a beer instead.

Working Girl...and it was tough!!

I have just spent 4 days as a substitute teacher in a Kindergarten class at Koko Head School (only in Hawaii)!! I finally completed all the friggin' paperwork that it took just to be a sub and within a day or two I was called for my first job. I worked last Weds., Thurs., Fri., and today (monday) and it was a challenge, but a lot of fun!

The schools here are so different than the ones on the "mainland", as everyone here calls the continental U.S. As you can see in the picture above, all the classrooms are in long buildings that open up to the outside with big double doors...that is the only way in and out of the classroom...there are no hallways, more like sidewalks! Two things really shocked me...I had 24 kindergarteners and NO aide!! That is totally against the law in every other state (Georgia's K max w/out an aide is 18, I think). Yep, it was just me and 24 5 year olds, so I thought! I learned on Thursday that the cut off date for entering kindergarten is December 1st here, so actually I had 16 five year olds and 8 FOUR year olds. One of those had a #2 accident today that WAS NOT pretty!! This is why I never taught kindergarten!!

The other big shocker is that there is NO air conditioning in the entire school (yes, this is Hawaii!). I had to come in every morning and use a 6 foot window opening pole to pry open all those slatted windows that you see in the picture...and the ones covering the whole back wall!! Seriously, the window opening AND closing every afternoon, was a job in itself! It is so hot during the day that the kids are lethargic and whiny and they get to bring their own waterbottle in each day, which is a management nightmare! Did I mention that there are no screens on the windows and we keep the doors open all day too for ventilation...do you see where this is going? Most of you probably know of my bird "phobia". A bird( and there are plenty around) could have just swooped in to the classroom at any moment. This was always in the back of my mind. Luckily, none flew in, although a few hopped in the door looking for crumbs...but the kids scared them away for me.

The kids really were good for me though and it was fun working with children and in a school again. The class was an amazing "melting pot"...kids from all, over the world. It took me untill today to get most of the names right! Speaking of names...In Hawaiian culture most kids call adult women that are close to them "Auntie" (an-tee). So instead of Mrs. Hogan, which I was excited to try on for size, I was called Auntie and just plain "teacher" most of the time...lovely. Another funny thing...ALL the kids and teachers (awesome!) wear flip-flops everyday. BUT, here they call them SLIPPERS!! The kids all take them off and leave and lose them everywhere! Everytime I said, "whose flip-flops are these?", all the kids would laugh at me and be sure to correct me...it's like they've never heard the words flip flops!!

Overall, it was a good experience and I'm looking forward to doing it again...after I take some days off to recooperate!! Below is a cute pic. of Jayden, Kalani and Sunny giving the Aloha sign. Please note that Kalani's T-shirt gives simple instructions to all of us...and I agree: LISTEN TO BOB MARLEY!!
~Elizabeth (obviously!)

GOOOOOOO Rainbow Warriors!! (sic'em....??)

Hmmmm....Not quite the same...but not too bad!! Opening weekend of college football and I am in neither Athens or Clemson. It was a hard one for me, but was made a little better by the accomplished Hawaii Rainbow Warriors and their(our, I guess) Heisman hopeful QB, Colt Brennan. Late in the week I started feeling sad about no live football for us on opening weekend, so I went on the UH website, figuring the game had been sold out for awhile, but just thought I'd check. Oh no...plenty of $34 tickets left...sweet! So I bought 4 and after watching football all day (literally from the moment we woke up at 9:00) we headed out to Aloha Stadium at about 5:00pm (11:00pm ET) with our friends Charlie and Roisin to watch the rainbow warriors play!

The stadium is about 20 minutes away from our house and it isn't even on campus(the stadium overlooks Pearl Harbor)...I think that adds to the lower attendance....the not on campus part not Pearl Harbor. We hadn't allowed for much tailgating time so we each chugged a lone beer as we left the car. We were a little more than surprised when we got into the stadium and they were selling every kind if beer right there inside...The perks of an off-campus stadium I guess! By the time we made it to our seats (last row in the place, no joke) it was about 5 mins. into the first quarter and Hawaii was already up on Northern Colorado by 21 pts!! Colt Brennan didn't even play the 2nd half and the final score was 64-6 Rainbow Warriors! We had a great time! There really was a big crowd and everyone was super excited and into the game...the alcohol helps in a blow-out like that. We will definitely be back! It's not Athens, GA or Clemson, SC (or State College, PA...had to say it for Matt), but it was pretty cool.

It was a good opening weekend...The DAWGS looked great (thank God the game was on ESPN2, or we would have had to pay like $60 to buy it...and we would have!). It appears that Georgia is going to be really good which is great, but selfishly I wanted them to have a par season and be relegated to come play in the Aloha Bowl...just so I could see 1 game live!! But I'll give up that dream for another SEC championship!! Right now I'm counting down the minutes untill the Clemson Tigers kick-off their season with the Bowden Bowl. Just got off the phone with Reagan who was exiting a port-a-potty outside Tiger Stadium....I'm soooo jealous! Fight, Tigers, Fight...stomp out the rednecks!! HeeHee

Love you & Miss you alot,
Elizabeth

Ask and ye shall receive.....late

We finally got our stuff on Thursday, only 8 days after it arrived in Honolulu. I called on Monday, knowing our stuff was in city limits to ask when it would get here. The women said, "You previously requested this load expedited, correct?" I said "yes". Then she said "When do you want it". Last time I checked, expedited meant ASAP. So I said "ASAP" She then told me we could have it Thursday, which seems more like ASAWeWantToDeliverIt. Had I known this would be the response, I would have called last Wednesday and said I would like it now. Anyway, it is here and we are unpacking. We finally have furniture and kitchen supplies (pics to follow soon). You never realize how much you rely on things until you have them no more.

Right this second we are watching college football. Penn State just crushed lowly Florida International and Georgia is playing right now but we can't watch it because ESPN 2 has to show the rest of the Illinois game. And Michigan just lost to a AA team Appalachian State. Ha! We are also heading to our first UH Rainbow Warriors game tonight to watch Colt Brennan tear apart Northern Colorado on his way to the Heisman. We are going with 2 new friends, Charlie and Roisin (pronounced Rosheen - irish/gaelic). Go Warriors!

We also spent 5 and 1/2 hours leasing a 2007 Jetta for Elizabeth yesterday. It was especially fun and exciting because I hadn't eaten all day, the salesmen was formerly in the "Hospitality Industry", and his partner tried to throw numbers over our heads all day. But needless to say we walked out of there with a fair deal for a 24 month lease. What a day!

And on a funny note, Jersey ran head first into our screen door yesterday, thus beginning what is sure to be a semi-monthly trip to the local hardware store for repair.

Aloha,
Matt