Thanksgiving in Hawaii!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!! It is no longer Thanksgiving for you, but I still have 2 hours =)
Today was absolutely fabulous. I am not going to lie, I missed being with my family, but it was definitely a Thanksgiving I will never forget.
The boat pulled into Hawaii at about 7:00 A.M and I was super excited because my phone was no longer roaming! It had been roaming since August! I called my family, Pa and Maureen, Grandma Loie and Grandpa Bob, and finally my friend Alex from John Carroll. I had not talked to her on the phone since August, so I was able to get the chance to call her!!
        It would have been a lot harder to contact people if I was not in the United States. I walked off the gangway of the boat at 10:00 A.M. and met my friend Ginny’s Mom! Ginny is from Madison, Alabama and is a junior at Birmingham either college or university, I can’t remember. Her grandparents live in Hawaii and her Mom wanted to see them for Thanksgiving as well as see Ginny! Apparently Ginny and her family go to Hawaii a few times a year.
        All right so here are my adventures in a ten-hour time period-
When Ginny saw her mom she immediately ran to her and hugged her so hard! It made me remember how much I loved every second of my parents being in Vietnam and seeing them for the first time in awhile. Her mom gave us all Hawaiian “Leigh?” I have no idea how to spell it and the people around me don’t know either! Anyways, it was really cute! I wish we were able to take them on the boat, but of course they confiscated them! Something to do with bringing foreign flowers and agricultural products on the boat.
Oh yes, and my two other friends were also with us, Ben and Amanda. I have traveling through most countries with them as you may have noted in my other blog posts.
        Okay we then headed to this place called Leonard’s. It was a local pastry shop with THE BEST donut like, sugar pastry. They had a certain name, but honestly I didn’t care what they were called. They were AMAZING. After eating too many of these pastries, we headed to the nursery home to visit Ginny’s Grandma.  Her Grandma has been living in this nursery home ever since she had a stroke ten years ago, but it is great that Ginny gets to see her a few times a year. We were able to talk to her a bit and Ginny’s grandpa who is eighty-eight and still doing everything with lots of energy. The nursery home had an incredible view of Diamond Head from up top the hill. Hawaii is fantastic and I would have loved to spend at least another few days there. The ocean, beaches, and hills reminded me a little of Rio.
        After that, we went to lunch at a place called “Zippys.” I asked Ginny’s Mom if they had any in the “mainland,” and she said that maybe in San Francisco but really just a Hawaiian restaurant. They had things ranging from Japanese to regular American food!! There were a few authentic Hawaii meals, but I decided to opt out on those. (I didn’t eat the Poi Maureen!) Besides the massive amounts of food we all inhaled, I had to get a Starbucks when my friends went and got Jamba Juice.
        Ginny had a few favorite beaches in Honolulu, but decided on one of her favorites where there were not a lot of tourists. We played in the ocean and attempted to tan, except it was a little late in the day.
        Finally we went to Ginny’s Grandpa’s house and got ready for dinner! We went to a country club that her Grandpa belongs to. The buffet was ridiculous!!! They had everything you could ever imagine for a Thanksgiving dinner. It was like the buffet at the Atlantis on steroids! Ginny said it usually is not that crazy, but they really do things up on Thanksgiving. I ate sososososososo much, but it was all so gooood!!!
        It was a very successful day in Hawaii! I can’t wait to come back and spend more time. I want to go back to every country I have been!! I am just so overjoyed that I was able to talk and text people because I am in the USA! Hahah not for long though. My next stop is Costa Rica!!! I am doing an overnight in San Jose where a few of us are zip-lining and drinking coffee in the rainforest =) Coffee Coffee Coffee! Nevertheless, we do have finals in about 5 days. I have four finals but will be done with them when we arrive in Costa Rica. I can’t wait because the after that we have our Ambassador’s Ball!!

There are a lot of activities and academics that are coming up, so if I don’t blog on everything I am doing, I apologize now! I love getting the e-mails and phone calls on people enjoying my blogs. I have honestly really enjoyed putting all my thoughts down in writing. It will be neat to read these down the road ☺

Hope all of your Thanksgiving’s were magnificent!

Love Forever,

Kristen