You like go beach or what?

In Hawaii, pidgin English is common, sometimes to the bewilderment of my kids who whisper to me, "I didn't understand half of what he said." And it's not just the pidgin grammar and syntax; the mixed vocabulary of Hawaiian, Japanese, and Chinese words and phrases in the local dialect add to the confusion for a visitor. For example, in Honolulu, the cardinal directions are not north, south, east, and west but Diamond Head (a landmark at one end of Honolulu), Ewa (a town at the other end of Honolulu), makai (towards the ocean), or mauka (towards the mountains). It's fun when my kids ask about local words or phrases, because I get to view the culture through their Minnesota eyes and ears. And they love trying to pronounce some of the local words (the street name in the photo is pronounced aka aka ava using the short a sound).

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As for the beach, I believe we went almost everyday. There's so much to do in the ocean. We kayaked out to Flat Island, snorkeled at Pupukea and Hanauma Bay, went night swimming at Waikiki Beach, fished and explored the Waimanalo tidepools, and boogie boarded at Kalama and Waimanalo Bay. Boogie boarding was the fave activity and the 1' to 4' waves were perfect for us. Everyone had great rides and big wipeouts. Andrew improved so much over the two weeks; his best day by far was the last day of vacation when he caught so many good waves. Jeffrey went out the farthest and caught the longest and biggest waves. He showed a real skill for the sport. In addition to the above activities, Elizabeth tried surfing for the first time. Her cousin Emma took her out and Elizabeth managed to catch a few waves at Waikiki Beach.

Andrew's Birthday in Hawaii

Andrew blushes after receiving an orchid lei and a kiss

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Andrew celebrated his 12th birthday at Buca di Beppo in Hawaii. His early present was a boogie board from Grandma and Grandpa Ching, a gift he used often over the vacation. He also received two beautiful gyotaku (Japanese fish prints) from Uncle Curtis and Auntie Ruth. Andrew loves the prints, one of three manini and the other of a he'e (octopus). The delicious guava chiffon birthday cake was also a big hit.

Hiking Maunawili Falls

On Sunday, niece Emma, the kids, and I joined friend Andy Yamaguchi on a beautiful hike to Maunawili Falls (click to see photos). The hour-long hike took us past stands of bamboo and through a a couple of stream crossings. The hike ended at Maunawili Falls, a small waterfall with a deep pool. Emma, Elizabeth, and Andrew took the opportunity to jump into the water from a ten foot high ledge by the falls.

Valleyfair Visit

We used our Valleyfair season passes (gifts from Santa) for the first time this year.  It was a beautiful Saturday, the skies a deep blue and cloudless. We decided to hit the main rides first to avoid the extra long waits later in the afternoon. First stop, Steel Venom (right), Andrew's favorite ride and one that I will not ever be riding. I also passed on Power Tower and the Xtreme Swing (above), though I do think that ride is really cool. I did try the Wild Thing for the first time. It's a very high coaster with a 200 foot, 60˚ drop. I still haven't decided if I enjoyed it, but I did have to buy the photo of Andrew and me on it.

Broad-winged Hawk

This morning, I heard the birds chirping their alarms again, so I knew the hawk was still around. Sure enough, I spotted it perched on the chainlink fence, peering at the nicely mowed lawn. It wasn't admiring the artistic rows (euphemism for not straight); it was searching for food. I saw it alight to the yard and snatch up a big nightcrawler in its curved beak. It flew back to the fence, grasped the worm in its talon, and ate it in a couple of bites. 
After looking at images and descriptions of raptors, I think it's probably a Broad-winged Hawk. It does have the white band on its tail and is at home in the trees. Also, its keening call fits that of the Broad-winged Hawk. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology has a great website for easy bird identification that includes pics, sounds, and video.

Hawk in Backyard Video

Here's video of hawks in our backyard. As you watch, you'll see the hawks get harassed a couple of times by songbirds. I had seen and followed the first hawk for a while, even walking under where it was perched and taking photos. I was surprised to see the second hawk show up. I love our backyard.

Hawk in Backyard

A young hawk was hanging around our backyard this evening. First, I noticed the songbirds making a racket, then I heard the hawk's screechy call. From my bedroom window, I spotted it perched on the side fence. I headed outside to get a better look and it flew up into one of the oak trees. The hawk stayed around, occasionally flying to another tree, oftentimes harried by the squawking robins.

Spring Break Snow

Typical Minnesota spring weather:

• Monday: dry and cool
• Tuesday: rainy, windy, and chilly
• Wednesday: over 3" of wet snow with gusting winds

At least Andrew and his friend Jay made the most of it by going sledding and snowskating in the new snow. Yesterday, this hill had no snow on it.

Carleton College Visit

The kids and I visited Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota. Elizabeth is checking out colleges and is interested in Carleton. The tour was great. The campus is nice, and we were impressed with the student life. It's a smaller college, only 2,000 students, so there seems to be a lot of student-faculty interaction. Small class sizes are the norm; there are almost no big lecture classes which struck me as so different. Half my classes at NU were lecture classes with over 75 students. Jeffrey was also impressed with the college.

Here are a couple of fun quirks at Carleton:

• The library has 4 floors, each designated with a different noise level. The top floor is coffee shop conversational, the bottom floor is monastery quiet.
• Frisbee is one of the big sports on campus. Carleton was the collegiate Ultimate Frisbee champs and has different levels of teams.
• The professors interact with the students and get to know them personally. Quite different from undergrad life at NU. In Evanston, I interacted much more with the profs when I bartended for them than when I was their student.

New Corn Snake

Here's our new corn snake, as yet unnamed. She has a beautiful pattern with a cool marking on her head.

Click on the picture to see more photos of the corn snake.

February Snowstorm

After a week of spring-like temperatures (30˚- 50˚ for us qualifies as spring-like), we were hit by another big snowstorm, this one dropping over 12" of snow in twelve hours. The driving conditions were terrible; the gusting winds and snowfall greatly reduced visibility and the snowplows did not seem to be out in force. At least it hit on the Sunday before Presidents' Day, so there was less traffic.
In the photos, you can see how the snow accumulated over a 12 hour period. Elizabeth's friend Yumna ended up staying the night because the roads were impassable.

Why I Teach

Yesterday, I met with Marie, a former student from Walker School in Evanston. It's been 20 years since we've seen each other! Elizabeth had to interview someone working in her field of interest (environmental science/chemistry), so I contacted Marie. She was in my first group of students when I piloted the science lab program at Walker and was one of the science helpers that took care of the animals. It was great seeing her, and we had fun chatting. I brought along a few photos from her 5th grade year, and we tried to name some of her classmates. One of the pictures shows Marie studying pond life at camp, a good precursor to her present position as an environmental scientist studying wetlands.

Apparently, Elizabeth's interview went really well. She said that she was more excited than ever about the field and that she would love to have a job like Marie's. Looks like we may have a future scientist in the Ching family.

And nothing's so gratifying to a teacher as seeing how well former students are doing.