To do, To do

Superbowl takes place tomorrow, but I couldn't care less. However, at a minimum I will try to read up on the advertisements and which team won in order to be informed.

I really admire writers who can evoke feelings and emotions with their writing. I also admire people who can be funny when they write. The folks at Salon.com are good examples of writers who are witty. Whenever I write, it tends to be very dry and factual, which somewhat reflects my personality. Ha ha!

By the way, I read somewhere that many foreigners think that there is no customer service in Germany and apparently there is a historical basis for this. According to the book, shopkeepers in Germany were traditionally of a higher social class than their customers. As a result, it was seen as an honor for the customers to be able to interact with the shopkeepers. I'm not sure if this is an accurate explanation for the phenomenon that the Germans term "Servicewueste". I have personally experienced this lack of customer service a multiple times. For example, once I went shoe shopping and had to literally chase down a saleswoman for some help.

Friday Musings

Coffee House

Starbucks is closing branches because it's much too saturated and people are giving up expensive lattes. I'm partial to Peet's myself. Starbucks tastes like brown water and its chai is too sweet. Can you say disgusting?

The Game of Life

Signage

A scene from my office yesterday: Partner challenges a manager and associate to a contest. Let's see who can type a message on the Blackberry the fastest! The sentence will be "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." The three of them get set and then go. After about 10 seconds or so, the partner says he's done. Manager goes over and checks the partner's message. Apparently the partner typed "jumped" instead of "jumps" and also did not put a period at the end of the sentence. In other words, did the partner really win if the sentence was not grammatically correct? The associate who was working with a Blackberry Storm was stuck at the word "The". Finally they quibbled over whether the partner's win was valid. Very funny as this all happened in the morning. Seems like an episode straight out of the TV series "The Office".

Knock out!

I went out for a walk this afternoon and was somehow struck by these two people sitting by themselves on benches, each facing the Bay. What were they pondering? Why were they sitting there alone? Are they tourists enjoying the view or office workers needing a break from their
colleagues? What would happen if I

Eigenbroetlerin_________________________________________ Eigenbroetler

had settled myself down on the bench next to them? Would they get uncomfortable and get up eventually?

When I got back home, I boxed against two avatars - Chris and some guy with a Japanese name that I don't recall right now. I KO'ed Chris, but the second guy was a tough opponent! The boxing was so vigorous that my middle back is still sore from all that leaning forward and violent jabbing. By the way, I ordered a second Nunchuk and will be ready to box humans soon!

On a totally different topic, I found a nice guide to dim sum restaurants in San Francisco. It was a story on sfgate this evening. Enjoy!

Secret Garden

Just when I thought I knew the Financial District like the back of my hand, I find something new! Now feel like Christopher Columbus "discovering" America.

As I was walking on my favorite street, I glanced up at a sign posted on an office building. (See first picture above) It indicated that a public garden terrace was on the 6th floor of the building and was accessible to the public. Being one of the "public" referenced in the sign, I decided to head to the elevator bank, entered the elevator, pressed the button for the 6th floor and waited with bated breath to discover what awaited me.

As the elevator doors opened, I glanced left and right until I spied the garden terrace in the middle picture above. It's a quiet little space with some trees and plenty of seating. At the time I arrived, there was only one person sitting there. The view from the rooftop terrace is portrayed in the rightmost picture above. At that level, I definitely saw things from a different perspective. I heard that San Francisco's Financial District has many more such hidden jewels on rooftops. I wonder where they are. Oh, I think I just found some more here!

Firecrackers!

Lion Dancing

Es ist schon wieder ein ruhiger Tag hier im Buero. Vielleicht liegt es teilweise daran, dass es chinesisches Neujahr ist und einige Mitarbeiter heute frei genommen haben. Aber ich glaube vielmehr, dass die Stille, die in dem Grossraumbuero herrscht, auf das schlechte Wirtschaftsklima zurueckzufuehren ist. Zur Zeit wollen Unternehmen einfach kein Geld fuer Projekte ausgeben. Daher sitzen wir Berater Daeumchen drehend in unseren Cubes. Naja, ich kann nichts dafuer. Es ist nicht als ob ich nicht arbeiten will.

Zu einem erfreulicheren Thema, wie oben erwaehnt, ist heute der erste Tag im chinesischen Neujahr - das Jahr des Ochsen. Eigentlich haette ich etwas Rotes heute anziehen sollen, aber ich habe es vergessen. Stattdessen habe ich einen langweiligen grauen Pulli gewaehlt. Um es wiedergutzumachen habe ich in letzter Sekunde einen rotfarbigen Ring getragen.

Es gibt zum chinesischen Neujahr eigentlich viele Gebraeuche, die man ausueben sollte. Aber in der Praxis haben viele Familien keine Zeit dafuer. Bei mir zu Hause essen wir Abendessen zusammen und die Kinder erhalten rote mit Geld gefuellte Umschlaege. Es werden auch traditionelle Neujahrssuessigkeiten gemacht wie Neujahrskuchen. Ein traditionelles Rezept findet man hier.

====================================
Gung hay fat choy!

As you probably know, today is Chinese New Year. The website Yahoo celebrated by decorating their logo with a bull and fire crackers. Whenever you hovered over the bull with your mouse, it would do weird things like flex its muscles or wave. Google, however, was a bit slow to acknowledge the holiday. Only this afternoon did I see their logo with a paper cutting of an ox. Now I checked the Google website and it's gone again!
I wonder why the lack of spirit? My sister decided to boycott Google today because of the lack of decoration. I don't think we're the only ones disappointed about this as a little web search revealed. I can see the Wall Street Journal headlines now: "Google drops the ball on Chinese New Year and loses marketshare to Yahoo!"

It's playtime

Joining the mainstream for one of the few instances in my life, I have purchased the Wii game console and the Wii Fit to go with it. It cost me a small fortune. Nintendo created the Wii, which has since been a hit with non-typical gamers such as women and older people. The Wii comes with a console, a Wii remote, a Nunchuk, some pre-loaded games and batteries.

I played some of the pre-loaded Wii games such as boxing and tennis, which was a blast. You need to swing the Wii remote to hit a virtual tennis ball across the court. For the boxing game to work, another peripheral called a Nunchuk needs to be attached to the Wii remote. I thoroughly enjoyed the boxing game because you get to pretend to jab and dodge blows. It's a great way to let off some steam in a non-destructive way. I'm considering purchasing another Nunchuk so that I can "box" a human opponent instead of just playing against the machine.

As for the Wii Fit, this is a separate balance board and a disc, which includes games such as Yoga, Aeorobics, Strength training and Balance games. The addictive part about the Wii Fit is that it scores your performance in each of the games, so it gets the competitive juices flowing. Plus, you get the added benefit of some physical activity. That's one way that the Wii distinguishes itself from other video games, which just require gamers to sit zombie-like in front of a TV, pressing buttons to see bloods and guts fly.

Some more fun included creating an avatar, called "Mii's" to represent yourself. Each player has the option of selecting to be represented by a male or female avatar. Physical traits can be chosen such as a the size and shape of your body, nose, eyes, eyebrows and hair color. If desired, you could even give your avatar a double chin, wrinkles, freckles or ruddy cheeks. In the picture below, the avatar creation process is portrayed.

Overall, the Wii has been quite fun and addictive. It also a great party game to break the ice and get people interacting with one another. This afternoon, I plan on trying out virtual golfing and other games.

A Mii in the Making

===========================

Eine Frage an meine deutsche Leserschaft: Sind Wii's in Deutschland genauso angesagt wie in den USA?

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

Why do people visit museums?

I asked myself this question as I was wandering through various galleries at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMoMA). Here are just some of the ideas that came to my mind:

- To appear cultured when you go back to the office on Monday and a co-worker asks you what you did over the weekend
- To be exposed to novel things and different ways of seeing the world
- To get inspiration for your own artistic endeavors
- To check out the stuff they call modern art, that looks like stuff you could do if you just put your mind to it and work in a large enough scale to be impressive

I visited the photography exhibit at the museum, but it did not impress me because the photos were too documentary. Also, some of the photos that were blown up in a large format and hung on the wall did not even look that professional! I was disappointed.

Then there are always those paintings hanging on the wall that lead you to wonder why they call that art. For example, painted squares of canvas often pass for art. You just need self confidence to call it such and others to support you. In addition, there was a urinal on a pedestal that was supposed to be art and people were spending time looking at it and studying it. Art is such an ambiguous concept.

Currently they have an exhibit on participatory art going on. Some fun exhibits included microphones that captured what you said and replays it at a later point in time, usually in combination with what someone previously spoke into the mike.

The museum store at the SFMoMA is definitely worth a visit because it carries many unique items and gifts. It's also a great place to buy San Francisco souvenirs.

BTW, I hope you enjoy my video. If you're wondering what the black forms are in 2 of the photos, those are black poodles circling a baby in the middle by German artist Katharina Fritsch. Aren't the poodle behinds cute?

Poetry

Little Red Riding Hood

A Poem
By frankfurtsanfrancisco

Cats crying outside my window in the backyard sound like babies.
Maybe they are?
To do lists, things to accomplish on the weekend.
Why must it always be about accomplishments?
Eyes tired from staring at screen all day and more at night.
Why do ppl disclose so many details on Facebook? Don't they know that the whole world can view their albums?
Be afraid of weirdos. Be very afraid!
I heart old fashioned trolleys.
Especially fire-engine red ones.

The End

Cheap

Sign of the Times

I saw this sign in the window of Liz Claiborne, a women's clothing store in the building complex near my office. Elegantly sums up what's happening to many businesses in the US. The economy is seriously retracting. The question is when it will hit the bottom of the barrel. I'm waiting...

By the way, song tip of the day - John Legend's "If You're Out There". Very inspirational and has a good message.

Silence! Silenzio! Ruhe!

BlackBerry Bold

At my workplace, you could go through a whole day without speaking to anyone if you really wanted to! Sometimes it's so oppressively silent in the office that you wish someone would just make some noise.

By the way, the BlackBerry Bold I ordered finally arrived today in the office. It's my first BB device ever. Now I can feel like I belong in the club of people who are chained to their devices/work 24/7. Yay! (Please note the sarcasm) This is strictly my work phone. I make personal calls on an old fashioned candy bar shaped Nokia. (Aside: Americans love flip phones, aka clam shell phones, whereas Europeans tend to favor the candy bar shaped mobile phones) I haven't discovered all the different bells and whistles the Bold has, but I can take pictures with it, surf the web, check my work and personal emails, use it as a GPS device, alarm clock, calculator, etc. The phone has a huge selection of ring tones to boot! So far I've settled on one called "Star Chime". Ha ha ha! I find it kind of funny, absurd and sad at the same time that I need to rely on ring tones to add color into my life. :-P They do say that laughter keeps you healthy and I think we shouldn't take ourselves so seriously anyhow.
=======================
Ich erinnere mich als ich in Deutschland gearbeitet habe, dass nur Managers und hoeher BlackBerrys bestellen konnten. Ist das immer noch der Fall? BlackBerrys waren damals und bleiben immer noch Statussymbole der Geschaeftsleuten.

Time in the Sun

The POTUS*

Happy Obama Day everyone!
Today, Obama is the name on the tip of everyone's tongue. Everyone is talking about him.
Here on the West Coast we watched the ceremony in the morning around 9 AM. Since most of us were at work, most workplaces arranged for televisions to be tuned into the inaugural ceremonies. On my floor, around 15 people gathered to watch. Some even clapped after he was sworn in. Most of us dispersed after he gave his speech.

I thought his speech was really long, but I still listened raptly to what he had to say. My favorite part was the excerpt below in which he indirectly addressed the issue of torture:

"As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and we are ready to lead once more."

In addition to the gravity of the moment, all eyes were of course glued on Michelle's wardrobe. What would she wear to the inauguration and then the 10 inaugural balls in the evening? During the swearing-in ceremony she wore gloves from J. Crew and the kids were dressed in Crewcuts. I'm sure J. Crew is just loving the attention. For the inaugural ball she wore a gown by a 26-year old Chinese guy. Wow, he has just become an overnight sensation as well, joining the Cuban American designer of her yellow outfit this morning.

Well, I hope they enjoy the honeymoon and parties while they last because tomorrow there will hard work awaiting him.

*POTUS = President of the United States

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Inside Ferry Building

Today is Monday, Jan 19 and Martin Luther King Jr. Day here in the US. Schools, banks and some other organizations were closed today. I still had to go to work though. Nonetheless, it was nice that the traffic, both vehicular and human was lighter today.

What a juxtaposition of days! Tomorrow we'll be swearing in the country's first African American president and 50 years ago blacks were still fighting for their civil rights.

By the way, I'm growing fond of this video thing on my camera. It's fun capturing moving pictures. Steven Spielberg had better watch out! ;-) Kidding aside, it's fun on my little camera, but it must be better with a dedicated camcorder because then you have the ability to zoom in. I can't seem to zoom in with my camera.

Stagnant

Window to the World

Without a class to give me assignments, I'm feeling stagnant in my photography. I know that if I were really motivated, I could give myself assignments. Maybe I need to do just that or somehow find an active photography club that I could join. Sometimes I just need exposure to new people and ideas that help me move forward in this art form.

Educated

Pear & Gorgonzola Salad

I prepared dinner today for my parents because it was their Christmas gift. First course was a pear and gorgonzola salad with toasted walnuts and cranberries. Yum! Main course was Linguine & Scampi. Yum Yum! You'll see pictures of my handiwork above and below. I must say it was quite tasty. Afterwards I even washed up. What a good daughter am I. Ha ha ha!!!


Onto another topic...

To be an educated and well-rounded individual requires time. You need to be in the know about current trends as well as culture.

What's sorely missing from my education is music and films. For example, I don't know how to read music or play an instrument. It would be difficult, I think, but not impossible to start learning now. However, it's not a priority of mine to learn how to play. If I were to play an instrument, I'd like to learn the cello.

As for my film education, that's easy enough to catch up on. All I have to do is start borrowing films from the library or subscribe to Netflix and hunker down in front of the TV to watch them. I was kind of daunted at first as to where to even start, but after doing some online research, I found a decent website. If you have any "must see" film recommendations, I'd encourage you to send them my way.

You may ask yourself, why bother watching all these films? Well, it's a part of being included in a broader society. If the people around you make references to films or start quoting film lines and you don't have the faintest idea what they're talking about, you seem ignorant and culturally provincial. To avoid that, you need to educate yourself!

How to unwind

Lanterns

How to Unwind on a Friday Evening

1. Change out of whatever costume you wear to work into something comfy and unrestrictive
2. Grab your favorite mug
3. Pour hot water into mug
4. Place a green tea bag in the hot water in your favorite mug
5. Let steep for as long as you like
6. Remove tea bag
7. Sip on green tea
8. Read the Wall Street Journal for the day
9. Unwind

Et Voila!

P.S. - Chinese New Year is approaching and my mother has a new hobby - making Chinese lanterns out of red envelopes. Here are some samples of her handiwork.

Innovation

I'm experimenting with something new today - a video clip. I used my little Canon Powershot G6 to shoot a video of people hustling and bustling as they make their way home after work. It's not a very exciting video, but just wanted to try my hand as a director.
I was actually inspired by a friend on Facebook who uploaded a video made up of his photos and some music that he selected. If he can do it, so can I! That's what friends are for, to inspire you to do different things.

Oink

Piggy Bank

I got a pleasant surprise in the office this morning. It's nice to be recognized for hard work once in a while.

Recently I've been using Livemocha to refresh my French because I'll need it on my next trip. The other users on the website seem to be normal. When I submit my sentences to be evaluated, they catch my errors and correct me. That's the best way to learn. Because you want to try to avoid embarassing yourself next time, you remember the rules better. It's a great website that I encourage others to use.

You may be asking yourself why I took a picture of a pig today. Well, I wanted to blog about saving money today, so a relevant picture is of a piggy bank for saving money. Everyone is talking about how to save money these days. For example, the Wall Street Journal wrote in a blog that you could forgo cable TV if you watch hulu.com for instance.

Personally, I've always been pretty frugal, but now I am pinching my pennies even more. For example, I try to cut down on my visits to Peet's coffee and try to bring lunch from home more. Even those who are still employed and are earning money don't want to spend because the somber mood is contagious. Slowly, Americans' spendthrift ways are coming to a halt.

Daeumchen drehen - Crazy quiet

The Taste of Sweetness

Another crazy quiet day in the office. When will the madness end? Everyone's on edge.

Random thought #1: It's nighttime and a lamp is on in the kitchen where I'm sitting. I spy a moth on the window screen that divides me from the creepy crawlies. Methinks it wants to come in and do a deadly dance with the hot light bulb.

Random thought #2: If you have any customer loyalty points that you accumulate by using your credit cards, etc., you should consider redeeming them for merchandise ASAP. According to an article I read in the WSJ, holding onto those points in this shaky economic environment is not a good idea. So folks, go out and redeem your points! I plan to.

Topsy-turvy

Ticktock

Die Finanzkrise ist jetzt fuer mich konkreter denn je, denn ich habe gerade erfahren, dass meine Mentorin nun arbeitslos ist. Und das obwohl sie ein ziemlich hohes Tier bei einer privaten Bank war. Keiner ist gegen die Wirkungen der Finanzkrise immun.

Bei uns im Buero ist die Stimmung auch sehr gedaempft. Es gibt da draussen einfach keine Kunden, die jetzt Geld fuer Projekte ausgeben wollen.
=========================

This is economic environment is getting creepier and creepier as the days go by. I just found out that a friend of mine lost her job although she is very experienced. No one is immune. Only time will tell how much longer this will last.

Three Faces of A Robot - Die Drei Gesichter eines Roboters

Macro___________________Wide-angle____________________Telephoto

So langsam sollte ich meine Beitraege wieder auf Deutsch schreiben, sonst vergesse ich alles, was eine echte Schande waere!

Heute als ich meinen woechentlichen Spaziergang im Golden Gate Park gemacht habe, ist es mir aufgefallen wie fruehlingshaft, nein sogar sommerlich das Wetter war. In solchen Momenten bin ich dankbar, dass ich in San Francisco wohne.

Dieses Semester belege ich keine Kurse an der City College of San Francisco. Das heisst, dass meine samstags voellig offen sind. Einerseits ist es wunderschoen, dass ich samstags ausschlafen kann, aber andererseits vermisse ich die Struktur von meinem Fotografie Kurs.

Apropos Fotografie, um meine Kenntnisse zu ueben, habe ich einen kleinen Roboter mit 3 verschiedenen Objektiven fotografiert. Makro-Objektive sind spezialisiert darauf, Motive stark heranzuholen. Weitwinkel Objektive sind genau wie der Name andeutet. Damit kann ein größerer Bereich abgebildet werden; die Gegenstände werden jedoch kleiner abgebildet, da „mehr“ auf das Bild gelangt. Dagegen dient das Teleobjektiv dazu, weiter entfernte Objekte ähnlich einem Fernglas zu vergrößern und so näher 'heranzuholen'. Charakteristisch für die Abbildungseigenschaften von Teleobjektiven ist auch die geringe Schärfentiefe; sie wird genutzt, wenn nur das eigentliche Motiv scharf abgebildet werden soll.*

Uebrigens, der Roboter ist nicht nur suess, er kann Bleistifte anspitzen!
==================

Now I remember why I only blog in English when I'm pressed for time. :-) Writing/researching the little passage above took me much longer than if I had written it in English. Basically I wanted to describe the different effects of using various lenses when I photographed the robot. However, it was difficult because I didn't know the German words for the specialized lingo used in photography. Luckily the omniscient Wikipedia helped me out.

I've noticed one of the more difficult parts of writing in German for me are the transitory words. How do you gracefully connect one sentence to the next. How can I segue seamlessly from one paragraph to the next?

Quelle: Wikipedia

Japantown

Japantown - Pagoda - Shopping Center - Ikebana

The weather is really nice today with temperatures hovering around 70 degrees outside. Wanting to take advantage of this, I decided to visit Japantown on the spur of the moment with little planning. (Yes, that doesn't really sound like me, but I try to be spontaneous once in a while! LOL)

Being the "green" person I am (okay, I just like the luxury of not having to drive), I took the bus out to downtown and then waited for the bus lines 2, 3 or 4 on Sutter Street. These buses all go along Sutter up to Japantown. I got off at the intersection of Sutter and Laguna, or once I started seeing Japanesy architecture in the buildings around me.

Japantown consists basically of a shopping center, a pagoda structure and the Peace Plaza. I went into the shopping center, which has many stores selling stationery items, Japanese food restaurants and stores selling videos.

I saw some people in the shopping center, but it really wasn't that busy. That could either be a factor of the economic downturn or the shopping center itself just doesn't attract people. Overall, the Peace Plaza was relatively clean. However, when I went to use one of the restrooms in the mall, it was surprisingly dirty looking.

In my book, Japantown doesn't rank high on my list of must-see places in San Francisco. If tourists want a taste of Japan, I would recommend they instead go to the Japanese Tea House in Golden Gate Park.

Traveling tips

Please Do Not Disturb

This will the last day I blog about my Hawaii trip, so I wanted to close off this week-long series with some useful takeaways for my loyal readers.

When traveling, I've come to find that good ideas always come to me about things I wish I had brought on my trip in order to make life easier or just a little more convenient. You can benefit now from my trip errors because here are some tips that might improve your next trip:

1. Money - Before you go on your trip make a trip to your local bank and ask them to break your large denomination bills into bunch of $1's. These will come in very handy in the US where you have to give people tips. People who expect to be tipped include the luggage handler, your tour guide, housekeeping at the hotel and other miscellaneous instances. If you bring the $1 beforehand, you can avoid going to the ATM and incurring a charge because you're using an ATM that's not from your bank.

2. Health - Bring pre-moistened wipes for your hands to kill germs. Purell also works. Sometimes you want to clean your hands before you eat something, but there are no restrooms close by. Well, the next best thing to clean your hands would be pre-moistened wipes.

3. Food
- Bring a plastic container and plastic utensils for left over food. These come in handy when you buy food from the grocery store and need a container in which to store the leftovers, or if you feel like packing a snack for your day trip in an environmentally friendly manner.
- Locate a grocery store so that you can purchase travel essentials such as fruits, veggies and cheap bottled water. I've discovered that cherry tomatoes make great snacks during the day because they are juicy. Store them in the above mentioned plastic container so they won't be crushed in your day pack.
- Pack an empty plastic water bottle so that you can fill it with tap water in your hotel. This is one way to avoid buying expensive bottled water. Note: Only do this if you think the tap water is potable. Don't do it if you start seeing things swimming around your drinking water! ;-)

4. Luggage - Pack as light as you can because your luggage will be a burden to you as you travel around. It's best to pack clothing that can be mixed and matched so that you can create different looks with a small number of items.

Do you have any travel tips that you'd like to share?

Hawaii Itinerary

Iolani Palace

My itinerary the 6 days, 5 nights I spent in Hawaii was as follows:

Day 1 - Arrival at hotel, explore the immediate surroundings
Day 2 - Hike to Diamond head. Originally we planned to visit Iolani Palace, but it's closed Sundays!
Day 3 - Polynesian Cultural Center (PCC) This was a pretty fun living museum that actually taught me some new things about Polynesia. For $15 dollars our host the lava lava wearing "Cousin Ken" led us around the huge grounds of the PCC. There are Polynesian "villages" representing the major islands that make up Polynesia (Tonga, Fiji, Tahiti, Hawaii, New Zealand, Samoa among others). Each island had performances featuring the dance or song of each respective island. The Samoa village had a jokester, who kept everyone in stitches with his quips. That village had the most exciting demonstrations such as fire making, coconut tree climbing and coconut cracking. After the performances, I opted in for a luau and the night show called "Horizons". I spent the whole day there. We were picked up close to our hotel around 10 AM and then we were driven back to the same spot by 10 PM. Transportation to and from hotel costs $20 extra. The entire day of fun cost me around $115. I think it was worth it for all the shows.
Day 4 - Iolani Palace, built by the Merrie Monarch
Day 5 - Lounging on the beach in beach chairs and under an umbrella. I spent only 3 hours on the beach because the sun was getting too hot for me around noon. Catamaran ride with Outrigger. It was supposed to cost $30, but we found a $10 coupon. We opted for the supposedly "high speed" cruise, but the actual cruise was actually slow and relaxing. False advertising if you ask me.
Day 6 - Exploring Ala Moana shopping center. Originally we also wanted to visit Lyon Arboretum, but since it was New Year's Day, the bus system was on their reduced holiday schedule. The bus we were waiting for never even came after we waited close to 1 hour. We just decided to look around the Ala Moana shopping center and then visit the Duke statue on Waikiki. Alright, that was a lesson learned, I guess. Don't take the bus on Sundays, or the holidays when in Hawaii.

Rude tourists

It's a Jungle Out There

When I go on vacations, I try to be as humane as possible, but sometimes the other tourists are just SO incredibly rude.

At Iolani Palace backpacks were not allowed, so I had to put it in a locker. All of the functional lockers were taken, so I waited for someone to arrive to clear their stuff out. Finally a Japanese woman came to retrieve her items from a locker. I was glad and waited her to her finish up. Suddenly, another woman showed up and stood close to the Japanese woman too. I thought this other woman was waiting her turn to take stuff out of a locker. However, to my utter shock, she proceeded to place her bag in the locker!!

I was just so shocked that I did not say a word. Sometimes I am really annoyed at myself for not asserting myself. I was there first! A part of me wants also to avoid confrontation and so I do not create a scene. Anyway, what's past is past. It was a minor blip that I will not let ruin my vacation. Plus, I believe in karma, i.e. what goes around comes around as Justin Timberlake sang, so she had better watch out.

Then there are cases of people just being very inconsiderate of others. They think they own the world. I was walking down the street and I noticed this phalanx (okay, maybe I'm exaggerating - a row) of 4 teenaged girls walking arm in arm coming towards me. Don't they realize that they are forcing all the other pedestrians to yield to their little group? There are other people in the world aside from you, you know.

What goes around comes around

Memorable Moments

Top of the World

One of the more memorable moments of my trip to Hawaii was finally reaching the top of Diamond Head and looking at the vast scene in front of me. The hike to the top is supposed to take around 1-1.5 hrs. The difficult part of the hike is that the path is uneven and it's quite steep at certain points. When you get close to the top, you have to crouch in order to get to the viewing platforms outside. It's hard to describe.

In addition, I enjoyed sitting on the veranda to watch the sun set. It was very comfortable to sit there in cushioned lounge chairs and admire the dazzling sunset sky. Just for a moment the golden light made me forget about my concerns, worries, etc. and allowed me to focus on the beauty of the moment.

Finally, memorable in a not so good way was the sheer number of times that I was mistaken for a Japanese person. Once I was at the food court looking at a menu posted on the wall when the girl behind the counter helpfully volunteered that they have Japanese menus. Then on the catamran, the guy asked if we understood English. Uh ... I would hope so!
Another instance was when I was in the hotel gift shop and I wanted to ask the saleslady if they sell postage stamps. She asked, are those postcards going to Japan? Uh... No! And please don't assume that just because I look Asian that I am Japanese!!

Finding a cockroach in my room was memorable too, but in a negative way. Ha ha!

Lifelong learning - Hawaii

Do the hula!

My trip to Hawaii was not only relaxing, but I also learned new facts about the 50th state to join the union. Here is just a sample:

- In the Hawaiian language, Hawaii is actually pronounced as if the 'w' sounded like a 'v', kinda like in German.
- The way that America took over Hawaii is quite dubious. Based on what I've read and heard, it sounds like powerful plantation owners and business people led by a guy with the last name of Dole (as in the big pineapple producer) underhandedly usurped the power of the queen of Hawaii.
- Most people mistake Tahitian dances for Hawaiian dances. Tahitians wear elaborate and very high headdresses shaped like a pope's mitre, whereas Hawaiians tend to wear crowns of greenery as in the picture above.
- There are many many Japanese tourists on the island of O'ahu
- Hawaii's public transportation system (aka The Bus) is not very reliable or timely, especially on Sundays and holidays. For example, my sister and I wanted to visit Lyon Arboretum on New Years Day, but the darn bus No. 5 did not arrive.
- It's quite common around Waikiki for people to walk barefoot and just wear a bikini on the public streets
- One of Hawaii's king's called King Kalakaua came to San Francisco around 1890 to find a cure for an illness, but the chill in San Francisco worsened his condition so much that he died in San Francisco

Moana Surfrider

Das Hotel bei Nacht - The Hotel at Night

We took a five hour flight on Hawaiian Airlines from SF to Honolulu. The airline is unique these days because meals were served! Can you believe that? On the way there they showed the movie "Ghost Town" starring that British funny man Ricky Gervais.

The airport in Honolulu looked like something out of the 70's. Actually most of the Waikiki area and hotels had a 70's ish look to it. We took the Roberts of Hawaii shuttle to our hotel. The shuttle ticket cost $15 for a round trip, which was a steal considering that a taxi into Waikiki would be more expensive. Only downside is that it takes a while to get to your hotel since they need to drop off other passengers at their respective hotels as well.

We had a woman bus driver, who was an interesting character. She played tour guide once we were in the bus and talked about different sights as we drove into the city. However, her annoying tick was that she repeated "Aloha and Mahalo" over and over. Yes, I know we're supposed to be in the aloha spirit, but that's overdoing it to the point that it gets disgusting.

Finally we got to our hotel, the grand dame of Waikiki known as the Moana Surfrider a Westin Resort and Spa. We were greeted by a grand white colored building with columns and a front porch populated with rocking chairs. When we first arrived, there was a couple of newly weds trying to be photographed in the threshold of the hotel entrance. There would be many more weddings that day as Hawaii is a popular destination for weddings.

Anyway, as we checked in, the front desk staff told me that they did not have the exact room as we originally requested it, but they would try to work something out. Because they could not provide me with an upgrade, they made it up by giving me a breakfast voucher and free local calls. Ultimately they gave me a room with a small view of the ocean, which was definitely better than the original room with a city view that they assigned us. In addition, we were greeted with leis when we checked in, which was nice.

The room had a balcony that was pretty clean, a coffee maker and a refrigerator. The bathroom was fairly ordinary. Every morning we got the Honolulu Advertiser. The first morning at the hotel we ate breakfast at the hotel restaurant. I had waffles with syrup and enjoyed the breakfast buffet as well. If we had to pay, it would have cost $28 per person, not including tip!

The hotel has a long history as it is the oldest hotel on Waikiki. The commons areas are very clean and relaxing. The front porch has rocking chairs that are fun to rock in the day or in the evening. Then there's the veranda in the back that faces the beach bar, the pool and the private piece of Waikiki beach that belongs to the hotel. Every evening there were Hawaiian musicians and a hula dancer to entertain the guests.

The hotel staff people were really friendly without being too insincere. They accomodated most of our requests. The only two incidents that were black marks against the hotel were the leaving of a bag of trash on a chair and the appearance of a cockroach in our room!

Regarding the trash, when I called housekeeping and asked them to remove the trash, they promptly did so and even apologized by sending flowers afterwards. Regarding the cockroach, I had the luck of discovering something black that scampered under a heavy chest of drawers when I moved my backpack. At first I thought I was hallucinating, but after we came back from dinner, the cockroach made a new appearance, this time closer to the bed. At this, we called housekeeping to kill the bugger, which dashed under the bed somewhere.

Knock, knock! That was housekeeping armed with a broom and bug spray. He looked under the bed, in a bed side drawer and finally behind the headboard where our little buddy was hiding. Suddenly when its cover was blown, the bugger ran for its life toward the air conditioning vent. The guy from housekeeping chased it to the vent and then sprayed in the vicinity of the vent. He told us that the cockroach would likely be dead because of all the spraying. Anyway, the cockroach had plenty of room to run around in the vent system so it most likely would not come out to our room.

Skeptical and scared out of our wits, we nonetheless called reception and asked for a new room. We packed in a mad rush and tried to dash out of the room as soon as possible. As I was surveying the room to make sure we did not leave anything behind, the cockroach had the nerve to scamper out again! It probably just wanted to spite us since he now had the room to himself!

Aside from the cockroach and the trash, it was a good hotel.

Paradies pur - Aloha from Paradise

Bliss

Imagine you are on the island of O'ahu where it's comfortably warm, the waters are calm and a gentle breeze caresses you. The people are friendly and helpful and you have no worries. The only thing you have to think about is where you'll be relaxing next. That was my trip this past week.

I have to admit that I was initially doubtful of whether I would enjoy an island vacation because I usually like to have a busy itinerary filled with visits to cathedrals, museums, ancient buildings and squares. But I ended up pleasantly surprising myself because it was great having a slow vacation for a change where I didn't have to rush from location to location.

In the upcoming week I will feature pictures that I took during my trip to Hawaii and accompany the picture with observations organized as follows:

- About the hotel
- New things learned about Hawaii
- Memorable moments
- Places visited
- Rude tourist stories
- Traveling tips
=======================
Stelle dir mal vor, dass du auf Oahu bist, wo das Wetter warm ist, die Einheimischen freundlich sind und eine leichte Briese dich streichelt. Klingt paradiesisch, oder? Das war kurzum mein Urlaub der vergangenen Woche. :-)

Der Urlaub hat mir echt gut getan, denn ich war krank und mein Arm tat mir weh wegen zu viel Zeit verkrampft vor dem Laptop. Nach der Woche Auszeit bin ich meinem nervigen Husten endlich los und ich fuehle mich entspannt. Mein Laptop habe ich sogar zu Hause gelassen, damit ich wirklich "unpluggen" konnte. Okay das Wort unpluggen habe ich erfunden, denn auf Englisch sagen wir "to unplug", was bedeutet, sich von den vielen modernen Kommunikationsgeraeten wie Telefone, Blackberrys, Computer, Laptop usw zu entfernen.

Happy 2009!

I'm baack as the Terminator once said. More on my Hawaiian adventure tomorrow!
:-)