Happy Birthday Debbie!!!

Friday was my Debbie's 25th birthday - yep, Debbie is now a quarter of a century old - so we celebrated. We took Debbie to the Bombay House (Debbie's favorite restaurant in Provo) and then went back to Debbie's house and did cake and ice cream in the form of an ice cream cake. 

Four generations of women at the Bombay house. My grandma and my mom got into town last Sunday so they got to celebrate with us. 

Debbie with her Bombay House birthday mango ice cream. Dani was REALLY excited about Debbie's ice cream and couldn't wait to get some :). 

And back at Debbie's house for cake (chocolate, of course, since that is Debbie's favorite). We also had brigadeiros and beijinhos (Brazilian birthday treats) that Debbie made. My grandma got Debs the tulips that are on the table (also Debbie's favorite). 

How cute are they? :)

And here's a happy birthday song in Portuguese for your enjoyment. 

Happy birthday to Marie's Debbie too who was also born in February of 1984 and is also now a quarter of a century old! :) (Yep, we both have sisters named Debbie born in the same month in the same year, we also both have brothers named Sam and Richard (well, mine is a Ricardo which is the Portuguese version of Richard). Weird huh?) 

Internship Updates...

The results of the match came in Monday morning and...

Marie will be spending next year at CSU. 

Quel will be spending next year at BYU.

We are both pleased with the results of the match and are looking forward to next year. We are also SOOOO glad this stupid process is over and are thankful we survived! Thanks to all of you for your support and encouragement throughout the process!

The last couple weeks have blown by. It has been super busy with the classes I am teaching and at the counseling center. I'm struggling to juggle all my responsibilities there and not work more than I am supposed to (that is an important goal for me). I have a very full client load and we just got done with our Depression Screening Day. I was in charge of organizing, preparing, and executing it. It is a super cool outreach activity, but it took a ton of work. I think it went very well for the students who participated, but there were some really frustrating things about it to. Below is a picture of one of our little tables that we set up with fliers, information, and the screening measures. It was really fun to work the other interns on the project.



Last weekend, I went with a couple friends (Bambi and Liz) to Honolulu to go to a Liz's brother's new restaurant. We got to be part of a practice lunch they were doing. It was very fun and the restaurant is great. That same morning we went snorkeling at Hanauma Bay and then to Ala Moana beach in the afternoon. It was a full day of fun, even if the weather was fickle. The picture above is of Bambi and me at Ala Moana beach. Below is a picture of the beach from where we were sitting and the next one is Liz waving from the water.



President's Day brought a welcome 3-day weekend. We decided that it was important to celebrate the holiday and the day off so we planned a Monday full of activities. Monday morning, Bambi and I hiked Hau'ula Loop trail. It was a nice, fairly short, hike that has a beautiful view of the ocean from within the mountains. Here are some pictures from our hike.





One of my favorite beaches here is Waimea beach. It is along the north shore and is always pretty popular. We went there on Monday and then again this past Saturday. The waves can get big but the water is beautiful and fun to play in. I wish the pictures could capture the size and power of the waves coming in, but they just don't!

These shots (above and below) are taken from the beach, looking into Waimea Valley. It is a beautiful blend of blues and greens, especially when the clouds flit playfully across the brillant azure sky.
Yesterday, we were all feeling pretty goofey and decided to see how far we could walk, standing on top of each other, toward the shore before the waves knocked us over. Below are some shots of our attemps. Steph is standing, with Vickie's help, on my shoulders as we struggled to stay upright while the waves rolled in... good times and a lot of laughs! :)



Here are just a few other pictures of us hanging-out at the beach.




This week should be a fairly normal work week. I will find out Monday morning where I have been matched for internship. I've been trying not to think about it too much or get too worked up about it, but I will let everyone know when I find out where I will be spending the next year of my life!
Time feels like it is slipping by too quickly now. I have visitors coming out soon! My parents and my sister Marissa will be coming out in a few weeks and then Quel will be here at the end of March. I just extended my ticket home from April 21st to May 2nd...trying to soak up as much Hawaiian fun as I can before I have to leave!

Match Day

Friday morning at 6:30 am Utah time (so 3:30 am Hawaii time) we received and e-mail from National Matching Services (I think that's what they are called) informing us whether or not we had matched for internship. Marie wasn't all that stressed out about the matching process but I was freaking out. See, here's the thing, statistically speaking you have the highest chance of matching if you apply to 12 sites and don't limit yourself geographically. I applied to half that many sites and limited myself geographically. So overall, the odds were against me. I don't think I'd EVER been so anxious about anything in my life! I REALLY wanted to match and the chance of not matching felt very real to me. I didn't sleep at all Thursday night (well, that's not completely true I slept from 12:00 am to 1:30 am and then from 3:30 am to 5:00 am) and ate a bunch of junk food for comfort! So anyway, the e-mail was scheduled to come in was at 8:00 am Utah time, luckily it came in earlier or I might have started having panic attacks. The news was good... I matched and so did Marie. I waited until 8:00 am Utah time (yep, 5:00 am Hawaii time) to text Marie to let her know I'd matched and confirm that she had too. It's a good thing Marie loves me enough not to block my number on her phone after 5:00 am wake up texts (I have a tendency to forget the whole time difference thing, although Friday's text was deliberate despite the hour). I'm thrilled and extremely relieved (massive understatements) that I matched! We won't know until Monday where we are going but we know we are going...

So, Friday night Ose came down to Provo with his friend Nicole and helped Debbie move some stuff in his truck. So, we took advantage of the fact that Ose was in P-town and chilled and celebrated matching Cabral style. I had e-mailed my mom a few days before to find out how she made fondue and what types of cheeses she used and we decided to chill/celebrate by making fondue. It had been years since we'd had fondue and it was lots of fun to make (none of us "kids" had ever made fondue) and it was REALLY tasty.  

Ose stopped at the State Liquor Store (the only place we know of in Provo to get anything which higher alcohol content than beer or cooking wine) and Debbie and I went to the store for the cheeses (Gruyere, Fontina, and Emmentaler) and bread. When we lived in Quito we'd go to this place called "El Espanol" to purchase our fondue cheeses and they would shred the cheese for you. The grocery store here, however, won't do that for you because apparently "the soft cheeses ruin their blades."  So, we gathered all the cheese graters we could find at my house and Debbie's and did the grating ourselves. Ose cut the bread and worked up a sweat doing it but blamed it on the fact that Debbie keeps her house too hot and I melted the cheese over the stove and thought the temperature of the house was just right :). So, here are the pictures of our "Fondue Night:" 

  

The "Ose the drunk" picture. 

The "Ose with a knife" picture.

The "Debbie helped Ose figure out how to properly use a knife to cut bread" picture. 

The "Ose looking pleasant while posing with Quel by the stove as Quel melts the cheese in the wine" picture.

The "Cheese, wine, and fondue pot" picture

And finally, the "Three beautiful women with Ose as photographer" picture.

A week of cultural experiences

This is the Byodo-In Temple. It is situated in a place called Valley of the Temples Memorial Park. I initially wanted to go see this place to see if the temple was like the ones I've seen in Cambodia. It isn't much like the Buddhist temples in Cambodia, although it is a Buddhist temple. This temple was built in 1968 as a way of commemorating the first Japanese immigrants to Hawaii. It is a replica of an ancient temple that stands in Uji, Japan. This temple was built entirely without nails and is meant to represent the mythical phoenix.


This is the bon-sho (sacred bell) in its Bell House. The bell is made of brass and measures 5 feet high and 3 tons. The resonant sound of the bell is meant to create an atmosphere of tranquility conducive to meditation. It really was relaxing to feel the deep vibrations of the bell echo throughout the temple grounds. Typically people would strike the bell with the wooden log before entering the temple as a representation of spreading the eternal teachings of Buddha.

Tuesday was a good day for Steph and me to come to the Valley of the Temples because it was kind of rainy and cold (not appropriate for other water activities we had in mind!). The memorial park and the temple grounds were beautiful and very peaceful.

On Friday night, we had another game night. These are a few of our friends that came (several others had left earlier in the evening). Steph hosted it at her house and it was a blast!! We played Cranium, mafia, murder in the dark, psychiatrist, and the sign game. It was really fun and our cheeks hurt from laughing so much! We will probably plan another one soon because every week we get multiple requests to do it again.


No game night (or any activity for that matter) is truly complete without a good pyramid! :) Although our photographer had a bit of difficulty capturing the beauty and form of our magnificent structure in its entirety!

With brains a little fried and feeling a bit punch-drunk, all members of our game-night team headed happily home well after midnight!

This is my friend Manu who works at the counseling center with me. She is a Master's level intern in Social Work. She is amazing! She is awesome to talk to and we just laugh and have a ton of fun. She is from Hawaii and knows about everything cool here. I was fortunate enough to be invited to go with her and her family to a carnival this weekend. This was not just any carnival. This was the Punahou School Carnival! It is an annual event and one that is a very special tradition for them. No matter where they are living, her children try to get back each year to attend the carnival together. Manu and some of her children attended Punahou school and the carnival is a way for students to give back to their community.

We met lots of their friends and classmates there. The carnival was huge! There were booths for games and food. There were rides and a store to buy Punahou appearal and donated items. The food was fantastic! Another point of interest about this carnival and the school is that this is where President Obama went to school. He graduated from Punahou school in 1979 and worked at this carnival for years. I met several of his classmates while I was there.


This is us riding the Fireball, a ride that takes you a round a big ring so you are haning upside down and screaming as you feel all the blood rush to your head! Not sure why we get such a thrill out of things like that, but it was great! I had a great time at the carnival and with Manu's family. I was especially grateful to be included in something that was so special to them.

I didn't get any good pictures of this, but last night when I returned from the carnival I got to participate in BYU-Hawaii's Food Fest. All the clubs make food and sell it to raise club funds. It was really cool to see all their booths and the different types of food from all over the world. It is a big deal here and there were hundreds of people there. I, of course, visited the Cambodian club and saw some friends I haven't seen since I was there on my mission. It was a fun full night.

Things are still going well at the counseling center and in my classes. I have a full case load right now and some very challenging clients that are keeping me busy. I turned in my rankings for internship this week and am now just waiting to find out where this next phase of life takes me. We will know where we are matched for internship on February 23rd. Oh, other random news...I am speaking in church today and teaching the gospel doctrine lesson. I'm exciting to be teaching but hopefully the members of my ward won't get too sick of hearing from me! Other than that the week ahead looks good...still hoping for good weather durning the week (instead of just on the weekends) and looking forward to the President's Day holiday that is coming up. We are trying to plan a camping trip. So the work and play continues as my time slowly runs out.

Fun vs. Nature

Another week just flew by! Things have been crazy at work...my client load is getting pretty full and I'm starting to recognize more of the challenges and problems (maybe even obstacles) we have as a counseling center here. I love the people I'm working with and wish all of you could meet them. There are a lot of really fun things about working here and the people are definitely at the top of that list.
So I had some big plans to get out and do some exploring and go hiking and lots of other things this week, but the weather did not agree. It was really rainy and cold...just yucky really...all week, until friday. This weekend has been beautiful, and yesterday I was able to spend most of the day at a place called Waimea beach. It is gorgeous and the waves are really big. I went with Vickie and we hung-out on the beach and did some boogie boarding and some body surfing. I had a very good taste of how powerful the waves are here. I'm always really careful because I know how dangerous it can be. However, the waves yesterday were perfect! Big enough to shoot you, at break-neck speed, up onto the shore if you caught them right, and only occasionally get pummled by them. There were a couple times I got smashed into the sand and had a thorough salt water cleaning of my sinuses! :) All in all we had a really great time and got some sunshine. That made for a fun and relaxing day.
Last night, I drove into town...to Honolulu...with some friends. We hit Wal-mart, had dinner, and went to see Australia at the dollar theatre. I was really fun and I loved the movie! It was long, but I would definitely recommend it to those who haven't see it yet.
The pictures above and below were taken as the evening sun sunk behind the mountain. We caught these last beautiful rays as we drove along the coast toward Honolulu. You get some pretty amazing scenes with the ocean crashing in a few feet away on one side and the majestic peaks rising up immediately on the other. Wish a picture could capture it, but they all pale in comparison to the real thing.
This week should be busy and full again...especially if the weather stays nice. Hopefully, I'll get to do some hiking and explore a place called Goat Island, as well as hit a couple of basketball games. The big deadline this week is internship rankings. I have to have my sites ranked and submitted to the people that do the internship matches. Then it is all out of our hands and we don't hear where we are matched until the end of the month (February 23rd I think). A little nerve-racking! Hopefully, this week will bring more adventures, stories, and good pictures! :)