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A Great School Year

Had an amazing 2013-2014 school year at Kamehameha. Looking back, here are some of my memories….

After servicing the elementary & middle school campuses for the past 10 years, I finally moved up to the high school. Blessed to be a part of a great team, the “Bishop Boys.” We started a tradition of Crock-pot Wednesdays.

The highlight of the school year for me was traveling to Beijing, China with Liz and Doug to present at RDFZ Xishan School’s International Summit. It was an amazing experience. The best part was reuniting with good friends, Jessie, Sunny, C.Y., and Raj.

But what makes working at KS so great is our amazing team. We are a family. Here we are at our Christmas party at the Bishop Museum.

Unreal. In February, KS was able to host students from RDFZ Xishan for two days. The RDFZ Performing Arts Team toured Honolulu, L.A., and San Francisco. They stayed overnight in our dorms and performed for our elementary and middle schools. They bonded with many of our high school students. It was a great experience and a total team effort.

In March (and on a Saturday,) our KS EdTech Team held its first annual “Mashup” professional development day for teachers. A Mashup combines the best elements of a conference and an unconference. We received nothing but positive feedback.

Photo courtesy of TEDxYouth@Kamehameha.

Our high school’s TED Talks Club hosted our very first TEDxYouth event on campus. It was a huge success! Already looking forward to next year.

Finally, the year ended with our annual KS EdTech Conference at the Blaisdell Center. It was a great time of learning and collaboration.

Extremely grateful to be a part of Kamehameha Schools. What a great year! Imua.

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Passion Tour 2014

So blessed to have attended Passion 2014 tonight at the Blaisdell Arena. “Passion exists to glorify God – uniting students in worship and prayer for spiritual awakening in this generation.”

And doubly-blessed to have reunited with awesome friends from Hope Chapel Kapolei. This made my night.

I guess I was first online, so I got a great seat (Section BB, Row 1, Seat 1.) Never sat in the front row before. It was pretty cool!

It was an amazing night of worship! This is Chris Tomlin. He’s my 2nd fave worship leader (after my nephew Grayson.) He was joined by David Crowder. The music was incredible. But the highlight for me was the message given by Pastor Louie Giglio. He spoke on the “Prodigal Father.”

My takeaways:
Parable of the Lost Sheep: The shepherd leaves his flock of 99 to find the one who is lost. If churches had 99% attendance, they’d be happy. 99% doesn’t quite cut it for God.
Jesus didn’t come to change our condition (make the “bad,” “good.”) He came to make the dead, alive….

It’s kinda difficult to describe just how amazing it was. Guess you really had to be there….

The night turned into a great celebration.

“I feel alive,
I come alive,
I am alive on God’s great dance floor!”

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Paris Day 1 & 2: Bon Voyage

 

It’s been a longtime dream to travel to Paris. However, I booked this trip on impulse. I also wanted to go solo (YOLO) and enjoy the city at my own pace. I went with only one carry-on bag. It was an amazing adventure and a dream come true….

It was a 6-day trip (2 days of travel) from March 21st-26th. Getting there took over 19 hours, and I lost a day. Expedia flew me to Maui first, to catch a flight to LAX. On my flight to L.A., I met a nice family from Minnesota who was vacationing on Maui. Then I sat next to a couple from Sweden on my flight to Paris. I guess traveling solo frees you up to meet more people.

I didn’t want to stay at a franchise hotel, so I booked a Parisian boutique hotel called the Hotel du Dragon. I arrived in the late afternoon. I was greeted by the staff, a young dude with a cigarette and an iPhone. After telling him that I was from Hawai’i, he became very pleasant.

The building is over a hundred years old. It has no elevator, crooked stairs, and free Wi-fi. I would describe it by saying that it bordered on the fine line between “quaint” and “ghetto.” Haha. I loved it.

The room was tiny with old French furniture like this charming armoire. The bathroom was galley style.

But I selected this hotel based on location. I stayed in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés neighborhood in the 6th arrondissement on the Left Bank. In other words, I stayed in the café district within walking distance of all the attractions. I walked around to orient myself to the surrounding area.

Here are two of the most famous cafés in Paris (the world.) I liked both equally, although I did go to Café de Flore more.

I stopped by this brasserie before returning to the hotel. I picked up a few bottles of water at a boutique market. I felt tired, excited, and happy.

 

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Paris Day 3: Musée du Louvre

Woke up early Sunday morning. It was 36° and clear. Decided to walk down to the River Seine and was greeted by this view. It was magic. At that moment I decided that everything beyond this point would be “icing on the cake.”

I turned around and saw this. Surreal. Needless to say, I stayed, I gazed, and I gawked until the sun came up.

After going back to my hotel (5 minute walk,) I came back across the bridge to the Louvre.

I found a café a block away from the back entrance of the Louvre called Le Palais Royal. I had my first (of many) baguette sandwich in Paris.

So happy to be at the Louvre! I was first in line (this will become an occurring theme.) I met a friendly couple (originally from the Philippines, but now residing in Texas) in line.

Once inside, I beat all the tourists to the Mona Lisa. Mission accomplished. Now I could leisurely take my time and explore the museum.

One of the highlights was the Grande Galerie. I strolled up and down this long corridor a few times.

Another highlight was the sculpture garden. There are three levels. (Maybe four, can’t remember now.)

Here is a collection of large French paintings. I felt amazed, inspired, and somewhat sensory-overloaded.

I got lost (a few times,) and stumbled upon the Venus de Milo by accident.

Here is the view of the courtyard from one of the wings. What an amazing morning!

After exiting the museum, I headed up a dusty trail towards the Place de la Concorde.

There were food booths, souvenir peddlers, and gathering places along the way.

The Obelisk of Luxor.

There were a lot of photo ops along the way (and in all of Paris as well.)

The walk path connected to the Champs-Élysées. This is the Grand Palais.

The Champs-Élysées is a huge boulevard lined with shops, cafés, and even gardens.

After about an hour’s walk, I finally made it to the Arc de Triomphe. Unfortunately, it was under repair. Fortunately, this was the only disappointment of the entire trip.

I was forced to take a “selfie” from under the Arc. After walking all the way back to the hotel, I took a short nap.

I wanted to have one nice dinner in a French restaurant. This place was recommended by the concierge. It’s one of the oldest restaurants in Paris, and it was amazing!

I had escargot for my entrée (starter.) It was buttery, garlicky, and simply awesome!

The bread was really amazing too. I think they have a brick oven to do this.

I had the duck for my plat (main.) The sauce was good and the duck was perfectly cooked. The two “starchy” things were good too. One was “cheesey” and the other was “fruity.”

For dessert I had an assortment of fromages. My favorite was the Camembert. The vin was some kind of Burgundy. It was also excellent.

Relaxed at the Café de Flore before returning to the hotel. Looked over my photos of the day on my iPhone. Wow….