Trip to Big Island

Kau Coffee is getting popular these days in Hawaii. Kona coffee has already a reputation in the world but the Kau is not so famous. It is grown around volcano and the taste is actually almost the same level as Kona coffee. Some people says it is even better than Kona coffee. I don't see the big difference and I like both. We found the Kau coffee place on the way to Green Sand Beach.

Kau Coffee factory

 It was fun to talk with the shop keeper. She designed the label of the coffee and her arts are also in the shop. The designed squash (Hyotan in Japanese) was on the table.

Designed squash in the shop of Kau coffee factory

Later, we went to Green Sand Beach and the Hualalai to look for the xenolith of olivine. Xenolith is a name of the rock which magma took from the part of the mantle. Upper mantle include a lot of olivines (peridotite), and so sometimes we can see such green rock in the lava flow. We, geologists are so excited to find such big batch of olivines.

Olivine Xenolith in the Lava flow of Hualalai volcano

 On second day, we had a break as a volcanologist and had a tourism to Waipio Valley. It is not totally volcanological field trip, while it was a chance to see how volcanoes make beautiful scenery. In fact, it is great to see the variety of nature in Big Island. Local people come to the beach in Waipio Valley with a 4WD car and they enjoy beautiful beach. If we had time and swimming suits, we could have swam there! It's my dream to swim there.

Waipio Valley

Even though I visited Big Island many times, I didn't reach petroglyph. I don't know the age of these petroglyphs exactly but I guess it is not so old. It is quite interesting to have such petroglyphs in Hawaii because their language didn't have own characters for writing, someone said. Is it true??? Maybe they had some writing signs even though it was primitive. These petroglyphs remind me of the evolution of Chinese characters.

Petroglyph

象形文字 (http://baike.steelhome.cn/doc-view-8893.html)

 You can compare these characters from ancient china. They are called Shoukei Moji (in Japanese) and 象形文字 (in Chinese and Japanese).  So there was a possibility that they had own characters in Hawaii.

At last, I would like to introduce a food in Big Island. One of the most popular food is "Loco Moco".I heard one senate (Japanese-American guy from Hawaii) liked this Loco Moco at Cafe 100. This time, I ordered "Kilauea Loco Moco" because I am working for Kilauea Volcano! It was with 2 spams, several small sausages... etc. Heavy!!! I couldn't finish it. The amount of the meal was DYNAMIC as volcanic eruption.

Kilauea Loco Moco at Cafe 100

I thought this might be a last chance to visit Big Island before I leave Hawaii. However, there is another chance Next Week! My friend from Japan will visit me and we will again go to Big Island. It is the period of Merry Monarch Festival. It must be crowded but so fun!!!

Eating is the basics

Okonomiyaki

Today, I would like to report my eating habit. This is an Okonomiyaki. It is like a pan cake but much cabbages inside. 

Saba (fish), Goma doufu (sesame tofu), Miso soupe and rice.

This meal is quite complete as a Japanese home style. I like eating fish and vegetables together. I would like to say that I am happy to get ingredients easily in Hawaii because there are a lot of Japanese food store and they are not so expensive.

Spaghetti alle Vongole

I sometimes cook something not Japanese. One of my favorite foods in Italian is "Spaghetti alle vongole". It has garlic and salty taste.

From time to time, I try new food or new restaurant. Especially, I like to know which is the best restaurant for the burger!!! This time, I tried "The Counter" in Kahala shopping mall. My friend kindly drove me there.

My burger @ THE COUNTER in Kahala shopping mall.

It is so fun to make your own burger with your own choice. This time I chose, "Beef 1/3 lb", ''Gruyére (because this is most popular cheese in Switzerland!)", "Lettuces, Sautéed Onion,  Tomatoes and Sprouts", "Chpotle Aioli", "Wheat Bun". One special topping is "Avocado"!!, my favorite topping for the burgers.

The life in Honolulu is not always easy but I can enjoy a lot.

Bon appetite!

Happy Year 2013

I was in Japan for a New Year's Day.
I went back to Japan on 28th December and prepared traditional meal "Osechi" with my mother and father. Here is our Osechi and Zouni.

Osechi in Ju-bako and Zouni, soup with Mochi.

 Osechi is in the box called "Oju" or "Jubako". There are three "Ju"s. The first is a "Ichi no Ju", the second is "Ni no Ju" and the third is "San no Ju". I put sweet food such as "Kuromame (black beans)", "Kuri-Kinton (Chesnuts)" and "Datemaki (Omelet with Fish paste)" in "Ichi no Ju". There are some salty food and soir food such as "Kazunoko (Fish egg of Nishin)", "Namasu (Vinegared radish and carrot)" and "Renkon (Vinegared lotus root)". All cooked vegetables (cooked with Japanese soup "Dashi" and soy sauce) are in the third "San no Ju".

 Zouni is a soup with vegetables, some meat and Mochi. Mochi is very important. Almost everywhere in Japan, we eat Zouni which is soup with Mochi. Mochi is a paste made from sticky rice. We have so many variation of Zouni soup but we are sure to have some Mochi inside.

Toso (Sake with some spice)

We also have Toso in the morning of new year's days. "San ga nichi" is new year's days from 1st - 3rd January. Toso is sake with some spice. We can buy "Tososan" which spice for Toso at the pharmacy. You see such beautiful pot and sake cup which is called "Sakazuki".

I was so happy to have a new year's day with my parents in Japan because the day is so special for Japanese and it is a day for family (I think). I couldn't come back to Japan last year because I was working for my PhD thesis.

Now, I have a new life. It is not really easy... I was disappointed from time to time last year. I couldn't like a place where I live. However, now I am feeling one thing is very important... HAPPINESS.

It is miracle to be here without any big health problem or any serious problem of family. I have many good friends and we support each other. I have also nice colleagues, now. However, I know that people can easily die. I thought so when my grandmother died. I felt so when my senior died. When I read one book, I really regret that I had considered to suicide myself. I should live and enjoy as much as possible. I have to appreciate my life! The best way to appreciate my life is to feel the happiness, I think.

Sometimes, I can't feel happiness.  I complain a lot and just feel that I am so miserable. NO, I am quite LUCKY!!! My friend made me realize so in the beginning of this year. I appreciate him too.


This year, I would like to try to feel happiness as much as possible. I would like to smile as much as possible. I would like to look for the happiness without complaining my situation. I wish everybody's happiness as well.

Greeting to everyone...

 All the best in your year 2013!!

Christmas in Hawaii (with HULA!)

This is the first time for me to have Christmas in HOT place. Here in Hawaii, they also celebrate Christmas. (For me, it is bizarre to be so warm and sunny in Christmas season).

Christmas tree in front of Ward Center

You can see the blue sky with a Christmas tree. Hmmm, it's summer Christmas.

The entrance of Ward Cinema.

There is a wreath, too.

I came to Ward Center in Honolulu because I wanted to see the Hula dance show.
My friend started to take the lesson of Hula with me (!) and I quit it the second time. But she continues and she is now a good hula dancer. Her Hula school showed up at the stage of Ward Center.

Hula dance of children 1

Hula dance of youngest dancers. So cute!

Hula dance of children 2. Their technique is great and they are pretty.

Here is an adult Hula. My friend is in this group.

Oldest girls? Very beautiful!

In general, I like to see Hula dances. This time, I enjoyed a lot because this is Christmas version. Costumes are decorated and musics are Christmas songs. I don't know the titles of the musics but some of them are Hawaiian Christmas songs. The lyrics about the Christmas in Hawaii. Some musics are also in Hawaiian language. I should have learned the language. As the Hula expression includes a lot of pantomimes with meanings, it must be fun to understand the lyrics and the mime at the same time. Anyway, it was heart warming show in hot Hawaiian shopping center. After the show, I enjoyed the lunch of "Kua'aina" Hamburger with avocado. It's my favorite hamburger. Mmmmmm, delicious!

HAPPY CHRISTMAS !!

Presentation of Ballerinas

I would like to introduce my friends from the same ballet school where I take ballet classes.
This school had a show at the Ala Moana shopping center last Friday. They prepared for more than two months. My teacher kindly suggested me to dance on the stage but I couldn't as I traveled a lot this autumn.
Anyway, here are some photos from the show.

 I loved beautiful costumes. They are hand made by teachers and mothers. What a great job!

Fishes

 I recognized music of cute honey bees. ?? What's this?? I can dance with this music but not the same choreography. Wow, this music was a music for my dance show when I was seven years old. It was my second stage. I started to use point shoes in that show. After that I had a problem with my foot and I didn't dance for eight years until I decided to come back to the ballet class at the age of 15.

Honey bees

You can see my teacher with also black and yellow costume to help youngest dancers (pretty!). She is a great teacher. She is always optimistic and cheerful. She pointed out my weakness and I improved a lot. I really thank her.

Mermaids

 They are mermaids. My friend was in this group. She is an adult woman but she is taking the classes with girls. I was happy that she danced on the stage. I respect her because she is diligently taking classes and enjoying ballet a lot! 

Neapolitan from Swan lake

 From Neapolitan, they are my class mates. Their skills are quite high. Their smiles were so goood!!

Variation of Aurora from Sleeping Beauty

 Here is our star, dancing Aurora. This variation is famous for happy pretty dance. She is the best person to dance this variation, I think.

Variation from Le Corsaire

 Another heroine danced the beautiful and dynamic variation from Le Corsaire. When I was a teenager, my friend danced this variation in the presentation. At that time, I dreamed "One day, I will dance this!".  You can imagine how this dance is attractive!

Pas de Trois

 Again, my class mates. They are great! Look, their timing of arabesque is perfect!

Finish!

To have a great teamwork, you have to be humble and respect others. You cannot skip classes easily. So, I respect them a lot. They smiled in the show. But just before the show, they were so tired by having hard schedules with many classes. I couldn't believe they showed such pretty smile.
Great job! Well done!!!

Conference in Colima, Mexico

A series of conferences named "Cities on Volcanoes (COV)" are quite nice for me because I am interested in hazard mitigation of volcanic eruption. I had already attended COV3 (Hilo, Hawaii, in 2003) and COV 6 (Tenerife, Spain, in 2009). This time was COV7 and it was held in Colima, Mexico. Colima is a city close to the volcano "Colima" (it is also called "Fuego").

A flag of Cities on Volcanoes 7 in the town center.

Colima Volcano

Colina sometimes erupts and produce pyroclastic flows, lava flows and secondly, lahars. Especially lahar occurs very often and people around volcanoes are accustomed to evacuate quickly.

People in the community close to the vent and they have lahars quite often.

We visited the town where the community is well prepared for the evacuation in the case of lahars. Lahar occurs when it rains heavily because there are always some volcanic ashes on the slope of the volcano. So, rain can easily make muddy flow. They are so accustomed to recognize the sound of lahars when it happens. Then they evacuate without any evacuation alarm from civil protection. When someone notice the lahar, they ring the bell of the church and tell all people in community to evacuate.

Police only for us while we are in field excursion.

During the field excursion, our buses are protected by police and civil protections. Actually, they were also around conference venue everyday. I heard that Mexico is a bit dangerous. However, I didn't feel so scary because of their good protection. Also Colima was fairly safe city and even during the night we walked from the university to the hotel (but not alone).

Mexican fireworks at the party on Wednesday

They made "Mexican night" in the middle of conference on Wednesday. There were Mexican foods and drinks. They had folklore dancing show and music. At the end of the event, there were Mexican fireworks. It was great!! This conference series become more and more entertainment. Actually I am not sure that it is really good thing or not?? because much money has been used to make such gorgeous events. If the village or the city is not so wealthy, I guess it is large amount of outgo. Maybe I worry too much...
Anyway, it was wonderful experience including nice discussions with many passionate researchers and related people.

Field of Volcano

When I am alone in the field, I looked up the blue sky.

The cloud was like a cotton candy.

It reminds me of one person.
I thought he was like a blue sky.
Maybe he is like a white cloud floating like this because he sometimes comes up and sometimes completely disappear.

Anyway, I had some quests yesterday.
I took them to interesting points in the national park.
They were happy to see the volcanoes and lava flows, and so I was happy, too.
Their children said "Wow, you know a lot about volcanoes...!"
"Yeah... because I am a kind of specialist", I answered with a smile.

I want to be a specialist of volcanoes. I want to explain well to people who are not familiar with volcanoes. I want to tell everybody how volcanoes are dynamic and mysterious because I am attracted by volcanoes since I was a teenager.

Halema`uma`u crater is active but quietly. Pu`u`O`o  is also active and the lava flow continues towards south east coast.

My field "Kilauea Iki" remains stable. This time, I went into the forest and I was surprised that plants are strong. Even though the field was covered with hot and hard materials, they make forests after 50 years. There were berry trees such as strawberry and raspberry in the forest.

Finally, we went to the restaurant in Volcano village near the national park.

This restaurant is decorated European way. So I felt warm and comfortable. If I were alone, I couldn't have been there. Thank you my guests!

Autumn in Europe 2

I like this café and often went there by myself and with my friends.

  I came here, Geneva for my work.  However, I have many friends here! I enjoyed meeting with them. I went a cafe, where I can eat nice scone with butter and jam. They also have many kinds of teas. I had a chat over cups of tea because the tea is served by tea pot. So, our chat becomes longer.

Parc des Bastions

 Parks in Geneva is beautiful and cozy. Especially in autumn, colored leaves decorates them. One of the most historical parks is this Parc des Bastions. Here, we can see the statue of Calvin who made our university  (Universié de Genève). Also, you can have a nice brunch during weekend.

Carousel at Place de la Madeleine

 Just on the foot of St. Pierre cathedral, there is a carousel. I liked this place and I came many times by myself, but this time, I came with my sister's family. I haven't imagined my niece playing with this carousel! What a happy day!!

I worked a lot in Geneva as it is the purpose of my visit to Geneva. Sometimes, the work is not easy and I am so stressed. However, I know that there are places where I can heal myself in Geneva.

Honestly speaking, I didn't like Geneva when I arrived in 2007. I couldn't be happy easily. After four and a half years, it became my second home town. I dream to come back to Geneva as a professional scientist, one day.

Autumn in Europe 1

This travel is for my work. But it is also for my mental health!
Actually, I missed Europe so much. Especially my second home town, Geneva!

On the way to Geneva, I dropped in on Kiel in Germany.
This was for taking the course and also to meet my friend.

I didn't think so much about the course before. I haven't prepared so well.
However, the course was so interesting. We discussed a lot and some students are quite good for theory and also for microscope work. As I was not good for looking at microscope, I was just amazed with their knowledge and good skill for discussion. I thought my work is more macroscopic study and it must have no relation between my work and microscope. Oh, I was totally wrong. It was related to my work, too! I studied a lot and also I sometimes show my work to participants. I appreciate the professor to give me the opportunity to present my work.

Course Participants and Prof! (I am not in...)

 They are nice! I enjoyed talking with them as one of the students.

After this course, I enjoyed visiting Kiel by myself. It is not big city, but it is organized. I felt safe and I was happy to go out with buses because it was always ON TIME!

The scenery from the bridge on the way from youth hostel to central station.

And, Kiel is a port city. We could see the ship next to the central station.It was fun to walk from Youth Hostel to the station because we can cross the bridge and the scenery from the bridge was nice.

Then,,, my next destination is Geneva!

Field Work

My Field

I worked in the field for one week. My field is in the Volcano National Park in Hawaii Island.

My work

 I dug and...

Bomb

I measured the size of bombs. 

It seems so simple, but to have meaningful data is not so easy.

Sometimes, I am tired and feel like quitting such digging!! However, sometimes I find beautiful flowers, 

Ohia Lehua (Flower of Ohia tree)

 nice view of volcano and steam,

Puu puai and Steam from Halemaumau crater

 and ... wild birds.

Nene (Hawaiian Goose)

They are fed in Military Camp in National Park.

Nenes in Military Camp (KMC)

 However, it looked much better when I found them in my field early in the morning without other tourists.
 It often rains around my field. I always wear rain jacket and pants. When it rains, I feel like crying. What am I doing here alone??? But after the rain, I noticed that there is a rainbow!!!

Rainbow

 It is like a present because I worked in the windy and rainy condition.

Gradually, I learn how this field is made. I felt I advance step by step. "Petit à petit" in French (I like this French phrase!)

I came back to Honolulu on Friday evening. In Hilo Airpot (Big Island), there was a Hula and Hawaiian music show because it was Friday. 90-years-old guy was dancing with the spirit of Aloha (Hello) and E Komo Mai (Welcome). His smile was so charming. His dance has a power of healing people.

 

Hula dance with healing smile in Hilo airport

Conclusion: I was happy to work in the field. 

MAHALO everybody helped me during my field work.

Myself in the crater of fissure eruption