Bill 147 Deferred

At the Leeward Planning Commission meeting today, the commissioners voted to defer the final vote on Bill 147 to next month's meeting. That will allow us more time to read through additional materials & more thoroughly digest all the information that was shared with us in the meeting today.

On my way to Kona for the LPC meeting, I generally stop at Juice 101 in the Maunalani Resort to get a Met Rx meal replacement smoothie. I do the chocolate whey powder with peanut butter & chocolate chips. Yes, I know, not really consistent with the diet plan. But it is not a boiled vegetable! So I can technically say it is part of the anything-but-boiled-vegetables plan! Besides, I generally only do it once a month so it should not really impact the overall weight loss journey. 

MetRx meal replacement smoothie on left. Haven't quite figured out how to do this kind of photo yet.

After the planning commission meetings, I run errands in Kona. After all, it is an hour away from home & there are things I can't get in Kohala that I can get in Kona or other parts of the island; since I am already in Kona, I should do it while I am there to reduce my transportation impacts on the environment. I stop at Petco to pick up Moʻo's frozen food. I go to Island Naturals for organic & other natural foods. I go to Office Max to get ink for the printer like I did today or other office supplies. I also go to Hawaiian Fresh Specialties to get fresh poi, poke, & dried aku; but they were closed today since it is Tuesday. (LPC meetings are usually on Thursday which is when they are open.) I also go to get the  car washed & waxed at the Kona Express Car Wash; today I had some free time so I also vacuumed the car.

Then, as I am driving back home, I call Kai & talk with him so the drive is not so boring. Over the past 2 years that I have been on the planning commission, we have discovered where the signal moves from 1 tower to the next & where the dead zones are along the hour long drive. I can usually get to within about 15 minutes of home before I lose him completely. We never call back since we have usually covered everything we need to for the month by that time. Today he enlightened me about my serendipitous decision to start learning Mandarin. He said the State Department rates Mandarin as the most difficult language to learn. But that wasn't quite true. Mandarin, along with Cantonese, Japanese, Korean, & Arabic, is in the Category V group of languages that the Foreign Services Institute of the State Department considers the most difficult for a native English speaker to learn. According to the FSI it takes about 2200 hours or 88 weeks of classes to reach the S-3/R-3 level of proficiency. (That's about 3&1/2 hours per day for 1 year & 9 months. I am doing about 30 minutes per day on Duolingo; which means it will take me at least 12 years to reach that level! I will be happy if I reach Level 25 in Mandarin in a year; that's the level I am at for ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi.)

This is about half of the Asian languages available.

I think this is more for embassy interpreters & translators.

Interestingly, to me, they have more than 1 type of Mandarin lessons. There is a section of courses under the Defense Language Institute; it seems to emphasize reading a lot. I'll let you guess what their main purpose might be. And then there is the Peace Corps course. It probably emphasizes more community-oriented words & phrases. I am thinking may be I should start with that last piece on verb usage patterns; I think I am noticing some as I listen to the shows but it would be nice to have that confirmed.

Under the Oceania section of courses, there is no ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi. So I was surprised to see Pidgin listed! Turns out it is not the Hawaiʻi Creole English pidgin but the pidgin spoken in west & central Africa; which made me wonder, why did they lump it with the languages of Oceania? (My native language is Hawaiʻi Creole English, which is why sometimes my sentence structure in this blog might be a little strange. My 2nd language is Standard American English which I learned when I started grade school. I would say I am fluent in both of these. ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi is the 3rd language I am learning & Mandarin is the 4th; I would like to become fluent in these. I have also dabbled in Japanese, German, Spanish, & Arabic; in that order.)

Not Hawaiʻi Creole English.

Interestingly, I have already thought about moving on to Arabic once I finish Mandarin on Duolingo if they have not introduced more ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi lessons by then. So, Yay! Let's try to learn 2 of the 5 most difficult languages for native English speakers! Why Arabic? I had actually started to learn Arabic at a mosque in Washington because I was doing advocacy work for local Muslims who were fearful of the safety of themselves & their families. What is really cool is that the FSI has on-line courses which have both written & audio portions. And best of all it's FREE! Down side - there is no Hawaiian. Probably because the State Department is not needed here in Hawaiʻi & English is the 2nd official language of the state. Oh well, but it doesn't hurt to check if there might be something for ʻÕlelo Hawaiʻi; like finding out Wikipedia can be shown in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi!  

The fermentation of the sauerkraut & kim chee are coming along great! The red coloring from the Crunchy Garlic in Oil that I added to the kim chee for Kai is turning everything red as the bubbling spreads the color around. The sauerkraut continues to leak a lot more brine. 

Not as much liquid spilled over; color is spreading nicely!

More liquid spilled over; color from red cabbage spreading to everything!

The window for the next episode of the eruption at Kīlauea has been narrowed. It is now anticipated that it will erupt some time between the 6th & the 10th.

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Cathy!