The past couple of days have been very busy, and I am very tired. Let me see if I can remember everything that happened.
Saturday was the last day of the conference, and my supervisors were actually encouraging me not to attend, but to go out and have fun instead. :) Well, there were a couple of presentations that I wanted to see, so I went ahead and did the rest of the conference, which went through lunch time. I was glad I did! I really enjoyed three out of the four talks I attended, and that ain't bad! One of them in particular stood out in my mind. An academic is (finally) taking a look at Rosetta Stone to see whether it works. The jury is still out since the group that used only Rosetta Stone, the group that only went to class, and the group that both went to class and used Rosetta Stone had statistically similar pre- and post-test scores. However, anecdotally, she mentioned that when she did the final interviews, the two groups that had been in class could actually formulate sentences, while the group that had only used Rosetta Stone could not. Something to think about.
After the last talk I went to lunch with the five new friends I had made the previous night at dinner at the aquarium. We had a great time chatting and joking for over an hour. Then I got ready and finally went to the beach to swim! :D Man, it was great! The water was the perfect temperature, the beach wasn't too crowded (especially when it started to sprinkle a little) and the waves were a lot of fun! And what's more, I got to see a real-life, wild, sea-turtle! I was kind of out by myself and then suddenly, not more than ten feet away, I see a sea-turtle's head poke out for a quick breath! But that's not all, I stayed there and kept an eye out for the next half hour or so, and I saw it come up six more times! Each time it was between 10 and 30 feet away from me. Even without my glasses on I could clearly see the color patterns on its head! It was very beautiful! And I could even see its body underwater when it came up to breathe, it must have been at least two foot long from the tip of its tail to the tip of its nose! I've been informed that having a sea-turtle come up by you is good luck. So guess I've been blessed with seven-times good luck! :D
When I finished swimming, I went and got cleaned up and then went out to dinner with the rest of the COERLL people and their loved ones. Carl treated us all to a wonderful (and expensive) meal at a Japanese restaurant. The food was AWESOME! True, some of it was still moving, but it was soooo good! After dinner we walked around the main strip in Waikiki for a while, and then we split up to go and get some sleep.
Sunday was another fun day! As soon as I got ready I headed out to Diamond Head to hike the famous trail. I was a little burned from swimming without sunscreen the day before, but it was worth it! The view was amazing! The hike was exhilarating! And chortling to myself when I passed people on the way up and when I overheard people on their way up while I was on my way down encourage each other with things like "Don't worry, this is the hard part" ... priceless. :) A lot of people seemed to have been under the impression that the paved sidewalk leading up to the steep hiking trail carved into the side of the old volcano was the hike. Buddy, I wish I could have seen their faces when they hit the cave leading to the stairs leading to the cave leading to the stairs! :) I had heard some stories about how difficult the hike would be, but I must admit I didn't think it was that hard. Sure, I started panting a little after the long set of stairs, but on the way down I had to keep myself from running it felt so good to be alive! They suggest you allot at least two hours to go up and down the trail. I went back and forth from the main street (pretty far from the trail) in almost exactly an hour. Okay, I'll stop bragging now.
After the hike I went to Sams Club. Yes, I'm not a big fan of WalMart and Sams Club, but I had gotten the membership when Jenny and I got separated, and when I checked online I found that they had the best deal as far as chocolate covered macadamias, so went there and got a big ol' box of them! I carried around that big box of chocolates the rest of the day, and during the entire trip back to Austin. I got quite a few laughs and smiles... they were all so jealous! ;)
The trip back was better than the trip there because I didn't have any long layovers, but it was still a long trip. Usually on planes (buses, sidewalks, elephants, etc.) I pretty much keep to myself. Especially when I'm as tired as I was during this trip back (my internal clock didn't like the 5 hour time difference between Austin and Hawaii.) But when I got on the last plane and sat down I noticed that the young lady next to me was crying to her mother on the phone. I could feel that little voice inside me telling me to talk to her, but I really didn't want to. Well, the feeling persisted so when she hung up with her mom I asked how she was doing. As it turned out she had just had a pretty terrible day. So, naturally, I offered her some of my chocolate covered macadamias (which until this point hadn't even been opened.) We enjoyed chatting throughout the flight, and I even got her to laugh a few times. I hadn't gotten anyone to laugh besides family and friends in quite a while, and it felt really good. Anyway, we were both feeling much happier by the time the plane landed. I was glad that I listened to that little voice. I hope that everything works out for her!
And now I'm back! Well, that's about all I can think of to write right now. Here are the pictures I took in case anyone is interested. Hope you are all well!
Oh, and I just realized that my entries are a lot more boring when I'm talking about myself instead of about the kids. Sorry. :)
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