Saturday, June 14, 2008

Aloha!



Aloha friends and family!

I love and miss you so much! I can’t believe that three weeks have already gone by! I have been so busy and focused on work that the week days just zip by really fast. I love interning for the National Park Service (NPS) at the USS Arizona Memorial, and I just get excited for work every day. Right now Scott, the head curator at the memorial who got me this internship, has me working in the memorial’s small library. You can say I am playing librarian. I am basically starting our library over. I am currently inputting data of books that haven’t already been added into our computer system so we can get our library set up on the dewey-decimal system. The head librarian of the NPS in Seattle, Washington has been helping me a lot with that over the phone. I love this project especially because I am dealing with books all on Pearl Harbor and WWII. I have been writing down the titles and authors of books that I want so I can expand my own library when I get home. It is so hard not to stop and just look at the books. I have to remember to keep on moving on and doing my job… no slacking!

Scott gave me a tour of the visitors’ center and building 416 on the navy base (where I work). It was so interesting and fun because he showed me the coolest stuff. He even took me into the collections in building 416. I was one on one with artifacts from Pearl Harbor; I couldn’t believe it! I was seriously freaking out! I saw a huge piece of a Japanese air plane, a clock and silver from the USS Arizona, medals that men of the military received, buttons supporting Pearl Harbor, and so many other things I can’t even remember. I looked at newspapers, magazines, and pictures dealing with Pearl Harbor and WWII. It was cool because this past week I was able to work with Stan, our museum tech, in the collections and do inventory, which is where I was given a tour when I first arrived. I helped him mark off the items on the list as we checked to make sure we had what we say we have. It was so cool because Stan switched jobs with me and let me handle the artifacts while he checked them off on the chart. I handled photographs, newspaper articles, newspapers, letters, pins, medals, and magazines. My favorite was when I held the sheet music to “Remember Pearl Harbor.” Just imagine me freaking out because that was what I was doing. :o) I learned so much about the artifacts because as we looked through them, Stan talked about them. It was fun!

One thing that I love about working at the memorial is that they try to get me involved with as many events as they can while I am here. I sat in on a private tour around the memorial in one of their tour boats. They took us around Ford Island and would stop at certain spots and explain what happened during the Pearl Harbor attack. Daniel, our historian, was our tour guide… he knows so much! I attended a military funeral for a man who served on the USS Utah who had asked to be returned with his shipmates. The USS Arizona and USS Utah are both still under water and those who served aboard the ship can request to be returned once they pass on. They are cremated, placed in an urn, and returned to the ship by the park’s scuba divers. I attended the Pearl Harbor Survivor Association’s monthly luncheon/meeting. It was so great! There were about ten survivors there and they are so sweet. I was able to meet most of them and hear some stories. Some of these men are volunteers at the memorial and some only attend the meetings.


The U.S.S. Utah

Oil leaking from the U.S.S. Arizona


Kay and myself on the private tour

Even though I am loving work, I really do enjoy my down time. I am up by 6 am, leave for work by 7 am, get there by 7:30 am, work until 3:30 pm, and get home between 4 and 4:30 depending on the traffic. So I am pretty tired by the end of the day. I have been snorkeling four times since I have been here and I love it! I saw two sea turtles and three puffer fish at Hanaumna Bay and one sea turtle, three puffer fish, and a star fish at Kahe Beach. Scott said that star fish are rare in Hawaii… we were lucky ducks! At Pupukia, I saw a snowflake eel; it was a little one, no worries. :o) Thursday we went to Sharks’ Cove and I think that it has the most beautiful coral that I have seen so far. At each beach, I have seen so many different colored, shaped and sized fish. I am still looking for Nemo kids! I found a church that I am getting involved with while I am out here through Kay, who is a secretary in my building for Daniel, our memorial’s historian. I love Calvary Chapel Central Oahu. Last Friday a group of us went to a mission in Chinatown and we served 179 people hot meals in one hour. I had so much fun! My job was to fill people’s cups with fruit punch or water as many times as they wanted for an hour straight. I was kept busy. It was so cool to see how God was working in their lives and I loved seeing them smile. I also made friends with a family that lives around the corner from me. I was taking a walk around my neighborhood, and the boys were playing in the backyard. They saw me, and Patrick, the older brother, introduced himself and his brother to me and I was hooked. Patrick is three and Thomas is sixteen months. They are so much fun to play with and their parents tell me to come over and play whenever I want. I really miss my kids! I was getting so sad walking around seeing all the kids in my neighborhood because I miss the kidos I babysit. Yes, I miss you kids! You are all so special to me!

Snorkeling Trip #1: Hanaumna Bay







Beach Trip #2: Kahe Beach

Myself and Doug, one of my roomates

Beach Trip #3: Pupukia

Can you tell I am surfing?

Pearl Harbor Survivor Association Luncheon

Ray, myself, and Scott



Sterling, myself, and Uncle Herbie

Snorkeling Trip #4: Sharks' Cove


I will update you more about work and my trip as soon as I can, hopefully earlier than three weeks, not like this last time. Feel free to write me on my blog, email me at my Cal Baptist email or message me on myspace or facebook. I love and miss you!