FinchumSung BlogSpot: Aloha!

Day of our arrival. Our hotel view included a view of the Ala Wai Canal.

Dahin greets the ocean on Waikiki Beach at night.

Dahin and Jess with one of the many lei'd statues on Oahu, above, and, below, Dahin and Jess walk on Waikiki Beach in the morning. My dear friend Sang Yeon and her husband were so nice to arrange for Dahin to play with their girls while Sang Yeon and I attended the conference. Their hotel was walking distance from ours, so it was a great way to get some exercise in the mornings, plus see the beach first thing.

Above, view from the Waikiki Sheraton (ah, the good life...). Below, members of our panel: "Pop Culture to Migration: Refashioning Identities in East Asia". The conference was a joint one for the Association for Asian Studies and International Convention of Asia Scholars. I wish all conferences were in Hawaii!

After the panel, we were so relieved to be done! I liked that the panel was on Thursday afternoon, which gave us plenty of time to relax and just enjoy our time in Hawaii over the next few days.

Below, Sue-Je, Roger, and I catch up at the boook exhibits. I also got to see my old co-workers at UC Berkeley. It was so great seeing everyone and catching up, even it was a brief catch-up session.

Meanwhile, Dahin, Ellie, and Nora were the perfect trio. Dahin got to fulfill her fantasy of having a baby sister (something that she's held against me since the boys were born) and Ellie, in particular, loved hanging out with her eonni Dahin. Chieh-han's a doctor, so the girls were in perfectly safe, loving hands during the day. I was really grateful knowing this and could actually relax at the conference.

Our friends Fred and Heather took us out to a great local, organic meal. Dahin really enjoyed her big-girl evening. She got a mango spritzer with her pasta and I got a local brew with an amazing roasted chicken dish. The food was awesome!! Fred is a Professor of Ethnomusicology at U of H and Heather is a curator at the Iolani Palace Museum. They're great people. We also got a chance to meet some local dogs. On the terrace area people were sitting with their dogs while eating. Wow--so different from Korea. It was so nice to be an environment where people don't treat dogs like they're the scurge of the earth. The wait staff was super friendly and seemed to like having the dogs around. We had a great time hanging out.

Then we headed to Fred and Heather's home where we could meet the trans-Pacific Tashi. It was so freaky that Heather named their cat Tashi at the same time we named our dog Tashi and we didn't know about it until Fred mentioned that they got a cat and Heather named it Tashi. So freaky. Plus, the name has the same origin in both cases: meaning "lucky" in Tibetan. Tashi was patient with Dahin's advances. But, you know cats, eventually he broke free.

On our first break from the conference (ok--1st of many, let's be honest), Ellie and Dahin get ready to snorkel in Hanauma Bay. It's a nature preserve and we were lucky to get in. After a first unsuccessful attempt to enter the park, a quick turn around and a few exiting cars meant we got a turn. We played there for five hours.

Dahin and I snorkled, and snorkled, and snorkled. She didn't do so well without a flotation device, so we were lucky that Chieh-Han and Sang-Yeon had an extra pair of water wings. Once she had the wings on, she was good to go. At first, every time she saw a fish, she would scream. I guess it's a little freaky to see a fish that's half the size of your body swimming up to your face mask. She got used to it, though, and really enjoyed seeing the fish swim in the coral. We didn't get to see any turtles, but still it was fabulous.

Under the water in Hanauma Bay--no luck seeing turtles, but Dahin got to see her humuhumunukunukuapau'a, not pictured here (pics borrowed from Chieh-han's camera). The fish above is, I believe, an oval butterfly fish (kapuhili) and the one below is an orange spine unicorn fish (umaumalei).

Views of Hanauma Bay--that coral looks pretty, but it's freaking painful. The pre-Bay excursion video session warned us not to step on the coral but didn't mention you'd spend most of your time desperately trying to find a sandy spot to land in for a rest in order not to get jabbed, scraped, and poked by the coral (bandaids and Chieh-han's meds were my best buddies). Not complaining though (really)--it was so fun.

Me and Sang-Yeon with Suyeon, one of my Ph.D. students at Seoul National. She's in Hawaii for a year writing her dissertation. Hope she gets a lot done--it'd be impossible for me. The place truly is paradise.

Sang-Yeon's girls, Suyeon's boy, and Dahin. Visiting the Bay was the perfect way to spend the day.

Dahin and tiki torches, above, and with VW vans, below. Don't know why the vans were there--didn't stop to find out because we didn't want to be late for the sunset hula show on the beach--but still cool.

What's Hawaii without tropical birds, above, and cheesy beachside hula shows, below.

Walking through Waikiki, you feel like you're just in one huge outside mall or theme park with expensive stuff for sale (and cheap stuff--hello ABC Marts). There are people stationed at strategic points to help Japanese tourists and half the signs are in Japanese and English. Guess Waikiki has followed the money. Below, Dahin gets a bedtime story from another lei'd statue.

The next morning, we walked to the Hilton for breakfast with an old friend and a dip in the Hilton's pool. There, we found pigeons not only bathing in the pool water, but drinking it, too (ewwww).

I loved Pearl Harbor. If we had had more time, it would have been nice to see the other sites besides the Arizona. But, if you're there on a time crunch and with kids, the short documentary about Pearl Harbor, the little museums in the various buildings, and the cool ferry ride to the Arizona's resting place was perfect for a quick history lesson and some beautiful sites.

Riding the Ferry.

Above, Representing the home front is the Tennessee Flag, among other state flags (but who cares about those). The flags represent each of the ships that were on the harbor that day. Our tour guide and park ranger was incredibly good. He just kept telling story after story about the event and about the people who played a part in the event and remembering it. I could have just stood next to him and listened to him the whole time. But, time on the Arizona is short as well, so you really have to break from the pack to get some photos. The girls, below, look at what's left of the Arizona above water.

And, you can see a bit of the Arizona below water. It's turned into a coral reef of sorts. There were tons of beautiful fish swimming there, and we even saw two rays swimming together, but the photos I took didn't really capture the image very well.

The Memorial is so well done. It is just heartbreaking to read all of those names. There is also a small wall in front of this big one that lists the names of crew members who survived the attack but decided to have their remains placed in the wreckage after they died years later.

After visiting Pearl Harbor, we drove to the eastern side of Oahu for some time out of Honolulu. It was a much needed break from the city. There, we drive through little towns and enjoyed the beautiful sites along Oahu's east coast. There were a lot of people fishing there. I loved walking on the volcanic rocks and watching the waves crash up. The kids were sleeping in the car, so this gave us a great chance to take some photos.

Our final destination was Kailua Beach. While the bathrooms at Kailua Beach Park were super nasty, everything else was perfect (including the smell of people barbecuing). The white sand was what we came for. So cozy--felt like we were walking on sugar.

Above, the kids, Sang-Yeon, and Chieh-Han play in the waves as a plane flies overhead. I think Kailua beach is the perfect spot for families. We stayed there for 3 hours, but it felt like only 30 minutes. People were walking their dogs there, families were tossing freesbies, people were cooking and eating barbecue, and the waves were so perfect. Dahin and I had a great time riding the waves.

On our back from Kailua to Waikiki, we tried some down-home Hawaiian drive-in fare at the Rainbow Drive-In in Kapahulu. Around for almost 50 years, the drive-in regularly donates some of its earnings to local schools.Apparently, this is a favorite spot of Obama's. That evening, they were collecting money for the Japan relief effort. Dahin and her beloved rootbeer, below, enjoyed many a time together in Hawaii. We even bought a case in Target and brought it back with us in our huge check-in bag (no, it did not explode).

A farewell breakfast at the Sheraton (thanks Sang-Yeon and Chieh-Han!) overlooking the ocean--ah, bittersweet!

Above, Dahin with coconut trees at the airport. We didn't get to drink coconut milk from a coconut, but will next time! Below, it's back to business--Dahin had to work on her diary for school.