Disaster Preparedness and I do not mix well together!

First, I would like to thank all of my sweet sweet friends who messaged me instantly when they found out about the "tsunami warning". A BIIIGGG HUGGG to all of you:)

As you may know, a tsunami warning was issued in the state of Hawaii at around 2am on 27th of February due to the earthquake that struck Chile(8.8 on the ritcher scale)!!!! A similar disaster happened 50 years ago with the largest earthquake ever reported in Chile(9.5 on the ritecher sclae) which triggered a tsunami that caused alot of damage and 61 lives in Hilo, Hawaii...which I DID NOT KNOW about until I googled it.

The devastation in Hilo when the 1960 tsunami hit

Anyways, this is how my little story went.........being from Malaysia, particularly Petaling Jaya, I have never experienced any natural disaster before, we don't have earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunamis,etc. So, I basically have never even heard of the term "disaster preparedness" before I came here and the first time I came across it was a handout given to me by the resident manager at my dormitories(which I actually threw away), shouldn't have done that!

My old dormitory where I experienced my first earthquake! And almost slept through it....

Basically, when the tsunami alert went off early yesterday morning, I was fast alseep but I received a few text messages on my phone asking me whether I was alright and that they heard about the tsunami. As I was sleeping so nicely, I just glanced at the message and went back to sleep(I know, why would anyone do that right????) Well......I did!!!! Then at 7.30am, a phone call woke me up from my sleep, it was Auntie Janet....the conversation went as follows:

Auntie Janet: Mei, are you sleeping??? Do you know what happened?

Me: Erm..... is it something about a tsunami?

Auntie Janet: Yes, they just issued a tsunami warning to move to higher grounds if you are at the low-lands....

Me: Why????(Forgive me guys, I was in a sleep-induced state)

Auntie Janet: Because a tsunami is expected to hit at 11am and even the Waikiki and Ala Moana area has been evacuated.....

Me: Oh......(wait, then I hear Ala Moana being closed and sat right up), what should I do???????????

Auntie Janet: I think you should get up! Go and stock up on food and pump some gas.....

Me: Why????????(In my mind, it's just a tsunami, it doesn't mean there won't be food right????)

Auntie Janet: Because the electricity might be shut off due to the tsunami and you might not have enough canned food to last you through and the gas is for travelling to higher grounds....go and watch your tv...

So, I finally got up , woke Gen up and drove to the store. In my mind this whole time, I was thinking, "How serious can it get right???"

Well.......I guessed alot of people thought it was serious because the grocery store and gas station was swamped with people, hardly any water,bread or canned food left, and I saw people carrying car loads of food!!! My gosh!!! As for Gen and I, erm....................we bought Oreos, chococolate chip cookies, one can food(which is the item I should buy most but got the least), and a few other dessert items and snacks......(I was contemplating on ice cream)...I know!!! What is wrong with me??????? No sense of urgency!

The story gets better.....................there was this annoying noise when we got back to the apartment, somewhat like a loud siren...Gen and I walked out to our balcony to see what's happening, guess what we did????????? We didn't see anything so we walked back in and carried on with doing our own things, like it was such a normal thing for a siren that LOUD to ring on a Saturday morning......hehehe...(IT was actually a warning siren that the tsunami is coming or something???)

Anyways, I waited for the alleged tsunami to happened but nothing happened at all, just a few normal looking waves hitting the shore. I actually felt bad for the earthquake victims of Chile because all the major news network was waiting for the predicted "tsunami" to hit and airing Hawaii live(e.g., CNN) whereas hardly any news was reported on Chile!!! ANDDDD NOTHING HAPPENED!!! I mean...I am thankful that the state warned us of an impending tsunami but........it is slightly embarrassing that the whole world was watching and nothing happened...................aiks!

Anyhow, my little story here is for people out there to not take things as lightly as me, I thought about it, what if something did happened??????? I experienced my first earthquake here before, and I didn't know what was happening....I was sleeping again, woke up because the room was shaking, fell back alseep because I thought  I was dreaming and didn't even wake up when bottles fell on my head. The only time I woke up was when other dormitory people shouted "earthquake", evacuate the building!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can laugh about it now......but you never know when it is something serious....here is a link I sourced for people who "lack the sense of urgency" like me:

http://www.fema.gov/areyouready/

And as an afterthought, please be prepared with stocks such as medical kits, candles, torchlights and items that will assist you when a disaster or something as simple as an electricity outage occurs(I am telling you this because I didn't have any of those until I experienced an electric outage for almost 15 hours here in Hawaii last year).

A sample disaster preparedness kit

Take care people and be safe:)

xoxo
Meiz

People, STOP jamming your brakes!

Last week was a gem of a week for me! I can finally blog about it without feeling upset all over again.........

As the title hints, it definitely involves cars, and YES, you probably guessed it right, I was involved in a car accident ON the freeway in a traffic jam while I was sick(with a fever and flu)! It happened like this.....

On the way back from the airport , after dropping a friend off, there was traffic on the H-1 Freeway because it was rush hour.... I was basically sticking to my lane waiting for my exit when the car in front of me all of a sudden jammed his brakes. Luckily I stopped in time, buuuuttt the person behind did not and she rammed into me from behind, and the impact was pretty hard that my car jerk forward and tapped into the car in front.

This is how bad the H-1 can get

Do you know why I was sooooo angry? This is because when I first started driving in Hawaii, I realized that people here love to accelerate in traffic and jam their brakes right behind another car especially during a traffic jam!!!!!!! I know this because I had previous encounters with people doing that, and it doesn't just happen here, it happened when I was in Minneapolis and LA. Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't that just ridiculous, accelerating when you see the car in front of you move and jam brake inches away from their rear in traffic???????????????????????????? There is no tapping of brakes to signal they are about to stop but a mere jarring red and they abruptlt stop. How much time do you actually save by doing that?????????

Anyways...........the story gets even more interesting, we pulled over to the side of the road where there was merging traffic and the conversation goes as follows:

Guy in front: Are you okay? Are you hurt?(He probably saw me getting a whiplash)

Me: erm........emm hhhmm

Woman behind: I am so sorry!!!!!

Guy in front: I KNEW THIS WAS GOING TO HAPPEN! I Totally saw it coming!!!(In my mind, I was thinking, If you saw it coming , why didn't you try to prevent it???)

Woman behind: What should we do now???

Guy in front: Take down all her insurance information, my car is fine, yours needs repairs...(indicating at me)

Me: Quietly taking down information(I was pretty shaken and didn't really know what to do)

Awkward silence.........................

Woman behind: You know...my car(which is a huge jeep wrangler with grills in front)  was used to hit deers in Maryland....hahaha...

Can you imagine the fact that she said that???????????????????? The fact that her huge car hit my small compact car was bad enough, she had to add that  her car was used to hit deers?????

I was beyond dismay and was sooo out of it for three days after due to the pain and being sick! I also lost my credit card!!!!! Anyhow, this story is just a lil reminder for people to stop accelerating when they see the car in front accelerate and jamming their brakes right behind another car! It will cause accidents!!!

Everyone has been saying to me...that many good things will happen after a bad streak of events and it has:) yay!!! I got my first two "gam"(tangerines) which shows good luck and prosperity during CNY by my girlfriend!!!hehe..thanks May Li:)!!!!!!!!  Many other great things are falling into place....so wish me luck~

For those who have had a bad day, week or year, don't worry, you will probably be bombarded with good fortune after, so cheer up!!! Cest La Vie!!!

xoxo
Meiz

All I did to celebrate CNY was eat!

Eating is always good.....well...if you are from Malaysia...you know what we do during Chinese New Year???? Besides the usual visiting, occasional gambling and stuff...we eat!!!!!! Actually, let me correct that......Malaysians eat all year round...but don't blame us...our food I have to say is the best in the world!!!!!!

Basically, that was what I did for CNY here, try to re-create some festive mood by gorging myself with food:) The night before Chinese New year which is suppose to  be "reunion dinner" time, I was invited by Auntie Janet and Uncle Arthur for dinner over at their house. That salvaged my whole day after the whole botanical garden fiasco actually because Auntie Janet's cooking was awesome, she made roast duck with home-made sauce..yum...thinking about it makes me drool!! Anyways...enough writing, pictures are a thousand words, you can see it for yourself..hehe

Auntie Janet carving the duck???

Jasmine and I posing with a Chinese take out basket brought all the way from Malaysia!!

Our delicious spread(makes me hungry just thinking about it)

Posing with the chef!!!

On our high stools..pretty regal eh?

One final picture before we leave:) Thank you for the awesome dinner!! We will surely be back!!!!(So tak tahu malu)

The next morning I woke up early to eat dim sum with a few of my Malaysian, Taiwanese, Indonesian, American, Canadian and Argentinian friends??Did i get all of you in???? How multi-racial!! Anyways, the ironic part was Uncle Arthur was asking me..."You can still eat a heavy meal like dim sum after dinner tonight?????????" My answer: A resounding "Yes". I can eat all day even, as long as it is good food, I am there!! But seriously, I really don't know how it can all fit! Dinner + dim sum into my stomach..but somehow I managed!

Waiting outside for our table....

Three people who did NOT follow the CNY colors!! You are forgiven because you took part in the eating festival!!!hehe

I had to take a picture of the food!!! Do you really think that's all...guess again....we had three times more of that!

For those who were there....you know.....why I had to take a picture of this soup based dumpling:)

Mayco was flirting with his lady friend the whole time! Look at his shifty eyes!

A final pic before we leave as a group....

The girls....and guess where some of the guys were? Watching some men gambling by the riverside.....

I was stuffed and happy the whole day afterward.....you know they say..... "A hungry man is an angry man". Well...that applies to me....so if I am fed well...I will be jolly the whole day....~wink~

Thanks guys for celebrating CNY with me...you made it all the more special!!

xoxo

Meiz

Botanical Garden???????????So not! They should just call it a forest.

The title for this post is exactly what it means....... I was super excited when Jasmin asked me whether I wanted to go to the Botanical Gardens in Kaneohe(Hoomaluhia Botanical Garden). You know me, I get excited over pretty things. In my mind, I would see a garden full of flowers of all colors, shapes and sizes like the ones I previously been to in Malaysia and some in Europe.

We took a long drive down to Kailua, another part of the island. That wasn't the long part, the drive from the entrance of the "Botanical Garden" to the parking lot took about 10 minutes which to me was wayyy longer! We then walked to the visitor information counter to get a map and this lady gave us a pamphlet which had the "map" and it looked like this:

How does one read a map like that? No names just pictures! Trust me, it looked even worse on the pamphlet

Interior of the Visitor information centre

I had my hopes up because the interior of the centre was pretty rustic. The lady at the counter then told us to walk down the path to the lake, but when we got to the path(which wasn't really a path), there was just stones all over the place. Our walk to the lake was less than scenic but we finally arrived at the lake.

It was very cooling on that side of the island which complemented the serene feel of the lake

You could see the mountains from the lake, very majestic

Then the "adventure" or rather the "search for flowers" begin. I was getting antsy, all I see were trees that looked like you can get from anywhere with no placards naming what type of tree it is. So, we started exploring....

Climbing futher up, still, this is what you see.....

One last picture of the lake

While walking, we saw many campers that pitch their tents up. I promise you and I am not joking, you only see grass, a few trees, rocky roads and thats it even after walking for one hour!!!!!

So...I started taking pictures of trees that looked remotely interesting to me. A tree shaped liked a christmas treee

A small bush with a few scattered flowers which took me half an hour to find..My first bunch of flowers!

The lady at the counter told us beforehand to walk to the next parking lot because there was a tree with blooming flowers. When she told me that, I was thinking, Why would she say that???? I am sure, there are many trees with blooming flowers!!! Guess again? These were the only ones!!!!!

And then you even see big, brown trees....

Our long journey back to the start. Now you believe me right???? Grass, rocks, green trees...... It's a forest! Jasmin and I wore the wrong footwear because I almost twisted my ankles walking on the rocky gravel path!

This I have to say is beautiful

I am sure...after reading this post, you know where I stand in this particular "botanical forest"! If you are with your family and want to go for a picnic or to camp, I definitely suggest going there because the atmosphere is very peaceful up there. BUUUTTTT, if you are like me wanting to see pretty flowers, please do not go there because that is the only thing you won't see! If any of you know any REAL botanical gardens here, please let me know:)

After that, a cup of tea at starbucks! I was warmed up by this lil picture! he he....see I told you, it doesn't take much to make me satisfied and happy!!!

Happy Valentine's day to all of you:)

xoxo

Meiz

Just an innocent question...............

Before I begin, Happy Chinese New year to all!!!!!! May you have a roaring year of the tiger ahead of you:)

Ever since I came to the United states, one thing I would always do every year would be to call my family in Malaysia on the first day of Chinese New year at 9am in the morning once to wish my father's side of the family(which means the phone gets passed around to my grandparents, uncles, cousins,aunties,etc.), and I would call a second time at 11am to speak to my mother's side of the family. I do this every year because I knew how big a celebration Chinese New Year is to my family(especially to my grandparents).

We went to Singapore with my grandpa over Christmas break

Yesterday, I did the same thing and the phone got passed on to my grandfather from my father's side, he always looks forward to Chinese New year, the biggest event of the year for him. Both him and my grandmother were originally from Jiang Men in China and they are very traditional. Not to be sidetracked, this is how our conversation went in cantonese:

Me: Yeh Yeh, Gong Xi Fa Cai! May you have a happy, healthy and prosperous new year ahead of you!

Yeh-Yeh(Grandpa): I wish the same to you! What are you doing for Chinese New Year over there????

Me: Nothing really......

Yeh-Yeh: Why aren't you celebrating it with your friends???

Me: Because my friends here don't celebrate Chinese New Year, they celebrate Valentine's day.....

Yeh-Yeh asks once again: What are you doing to celebrate the Chinese New Year?

Me: To be honest, I think I am just going for dim sum with a few friends.....

Yeh-Yeh: Then what do you do during the Chinese New year holidays there?

Me: What Chinese New Year holidays?

Yeh-Yeh: You mean the GOVERNMENT doesn't give the Chinese people day offs to celebrate Chinese New Year?

Me: erm..................................................................

Yeh-Yeh: Why not?

Me:...............................................

Me with my grandpa in his hometown in China two years ago(My grandfather is really proud of his ancestry and culture as a "China-man" and he wants to show his children his roots. I am glad he did because I now know where my grandparents originate from, my Choo family village and am thankful for him always guiding and teaching us the Chinese culture)

One of my uncle, aunt, cousings, grandpa with my auntie and cousin from China:)

In front of the Choo family hall in the Choo family village in China! Cool HUh?

Then, he had to go off to greet some of my aunts and uncles....phew........I was seriously thinking long and hard about this....the first answer that came to my mind was........... " Well...the government of the US does not give us a holiday for Chinese New Year because the Chinese or Asians are not the majority of the country????"

And then it got me thinking..................... but.....the Chinese in Malaysia aren't the majority of the country and neither are the Indians but we get holidays to celebrate our own culture's festival(CNY holidays, Deepavali and now even Christmas!)

I even started comparing it to other countries such as here in the USA. The largest minority populations are the Latino Americans, followed by the African Americans than the Asian Americans, and so on and so forth but you do not see any national holidays dedicated to allow these minority populations celebrate their culture's festivals. I understand that the USA is a big country and it would be difficult, so I thought of other countries that consisted of a mixture of different ethnicities and could hardly come up with any significant ones.

I then realize, not only is Malaysia one of the only countries that consist of a mixture of three main ethnicities but each main group are still allowed to practise  and transmit their culture down to their children, plus the government grants us "minority" populations "day offs" or holidays to celebrate our own festivals. Bottomline is, I actually feel blessed that although I am a third generation Chinese in Malaysia, I still know a good deal about my own Chinese culture and the little interesting superstitions we practise for Chinese New year(e.g., clean your house thoroughly before the New year's, don't touch a broom on the first day, wear new red clothes on the first day, reunion dinners, eat vegetarian in the morning on the first day,etc), Mooncake Festival, etc.

I as a Chinese Malaysian am appreciative of this little fact that we as an ethnic group are respected enough that the government does grant us this little holidays so we are able to relax and enjoy this festival with our family and friends. So, those in Malaysia having your holidays, have fun, relax and enjoy your festive holidays!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gong Xi Fa Cai
Meiz

weee!!! Bright lights:)

That 70's carnival was what the Punahou(A private school opposite my apartment and where OBAMA used to go) carnival was titled this year and that was exactly what it was. The whole atmosphere was colorful, brightly lit and please don't forget the food people!!!!

Punahou carnival basically happens once a year for two days at Punahou school and the set up is pretty impressive. They can practically fit a load of stuff in that small grassy area, trust me...you should see the before and after pictures...they take about 2 weeks to set it up.

It was 10am when it opened...look at the amount of people there already!

The ferris wheel....looking at this does give you the carnival feel doesn't it?

At the food stalls..come on..what is a carnival without food?

They even have games which they created themselves..how creative is that?????

These two gals were Ben's friends from Japan, they went on rides with me!!

My favourite ride of all time! I call it the flying chairs(but thats not really the name) because you basically sit on this big wheel where all the chairs fly! Makes you feel like you are flying..yay!

The other ride I soooo wanted to go on which I did:) Its called the cliff hanger...do you realize, i like rides that makes me feel like I am flying!! Maybe I should have just been a pilot!ahaha..nah..I just like the feeling of wind blowing in my face and you just feel freeeeeeeeeeee

Malasadas(a type of pastry with sugar coated around it, tastes like donut but  very popular in Hawaii). They were selling it here, and poor Gen and Jasmine had to wait in line for a long time before we got to eat some...

The view of the carnival from my apartment:)

So.......if you are coming from anywhere else in the world during early February, go check out the Punahou carnival which is usually the first week of Feb:) I love the atmosphere of carnivals because it seems so fun, full of life and laughter...hehe.......for those that didn't make it this year..no worries...there is always next year!!!! I know..............I AM A KID!

xoxo

Meiz

Christmas Wish program

Heeeyyy!!!

Before another person asks me the reason why I am sick, I have decided to post pictures and explain to you my predicament for the past two days! Last Sunday which was approximately two days ago....I volunteered to help a non-profit organization called the "Christmas Wish program".

They basically help homeless children by conducting educational programs(e.g., summer camps) and providing resources for them to go to school with. This time around, we were asked to help them collect donations to help these children buy tennis shoes. I am sure..you are wondering "why tennis shoes?" of all things. They explained to me that in Hawaii, children are not allowed to join physical education without closed toed shoes, can you imagine these homeless keiki(children in Hawaiian)???? They have to sit out physical ed. every single time and they just get to watch. They already have low self esteem as it is because they are poor and now, they can't play with their friends in school!!!! Such a horrible rule btw!

Anyways, when they asked me to participate for this cause, I eagerly agreed because one of my main goals is to help homeless, abandoned and abused children. However...............when I arrived there, I realize that it is not your run off the mill asking for donations(e.g., sell cookies) but rather you literally stand on the side of the road near a traffic light and hold a net to ask for money. It was really interesting, you wouldn't think people would donate but many people did:) Kudos to these kind souls! Here are some pictures of what I meant!

Megan instructing us on what to do

Getting into positions

Just started! waiting for cars to drive by

I was really lucky, when I first came out with my net and sign, I already received a dollar!:)

Me in my horribly mismatched outfit! This was the only cap/hat I had!!!

The flipside to that day was I got home.............and a few hours later...developed a soar throat...and the rest is history! I have been sick for two whole days....I was wondering at first, how did I get sick????????? no signs, nothing????And i realized, I probably got a heat stroke from standing directly under the scorching sun without shade or water for two hours!!! I am such a weakling :(

Peeps in Malaysia, don't be shock by how people asks for donations here. It is definitely feasible over here in Hawaii..not so sure about Malaysia though..do you think people will donate or just stare at you like you were crazy???????hehe.....

Here is a link if you would like to know more about this organization!!

http://www.christmaswishprogram.org/aboutus.html

xoxo

Meiz