Our New Life

Last Saturday, Brent and I took the bus into downtown to make sure I knew how to get to the Coalition for a Tobacco-Free Hawaii and understand how the bus system works. While there, we discovered I work about half a mile from Ala Moana beach. How handy.
On Monday I officially began my internship. My bus ride in is about an hour and forty-five minutes long. Gives me lots of time to do my homework and rest. The only problem is that there seems to be a lot of stinky people who ride the bus. Some rides are worse than others. Other than that, I'm so excited to be working in the real world of Public Health. It's exhilarating to know that the work I'm doing is not just about me, but it's about providing healthier conditions for the entire community, state, nation, and world.

Classes and school are going great. School seems more enjoyable when you walk from class to class and are surrounded by palm trees, plumeria, hibiscus, and these little guys.These are the birds that walk around campus. Way different than the birds I saw in Provo. You usually can't get within 30 feet of these birds without them flying away, but when there's a lawn mower running on campus, these birds surround it and couldn't care less how close you get to them. The lawn mower must shake up all the bugs in the ground. Some of the birds actually chase the lawn mower around, running along right behind it. It's pretty funny. Thursday night, Brent won tickets for us to go to a comedy show on campus. I decided it should be a full on date night so we went out for dinner and dessert at Ted's Bakery beforehand. Ted's bakery is a must stop on Oahu. It's a little surf shack on the side of the road with ocean murals and surfers painted on the cinderblock walls. Our crab and bacon sandwiches were delicious, but their carrot cake and famous chocolate haupia (coconut milk) pie are unbelievably delicious.
Don't worry, Ted's will be one of our first stops when you all come to visit us.