Lise, don't be jealous yet. It's been raining since I got here, and it's not supposed to clear up for another 3 days. There are flash flood advisories out for the whole island (we're on Oahu); some guy got swept away and died on Maui yesterday. Everything is damp. The humidity level is about 90% here, and nobody has air conditioning because everyone's just used to being hot and damp. All of the pages of my books are curling. The toilet paper feels kind of soggy. Jillian's mom gave us Christmas presents, and the paper didn't crinkle when we unwrapped them. Everything is limp and damp. EVERYTHING. I took a shower at 9 am yesterday morning, and now - more than 24 hours later (we're 4 hours behind you guys, just in case you're wondering) - it's still slightly damp.

Um...the plane ride here was awesome. We got a free upgrade to first class, thanks to Jillian's friend JW over at the Mosinee airport. It was pretty sweet. I think I'm gonna cry when I have to ride coach home. So...I think Jilly wants me to stop playing computer - she's downstairs yelling "Siggy, what are you doing?" - even though the only other option is TV (and her mom is watching soaps, so that's out). I think we're going to venture out into Honolulu later to run some errands...we're going to the post office and the library. Which is fine. I need to learn as much about every day Hawaiian life as possible, since I intend to write my capstone essay on this little "vacation" of mine.

OK. We're going. I'm done now.