August 3, 2008

I woke up early to birds chirping outside my window and the scent of flowers in the air. Then I remembered I was staying in a dorm room on the edge of the University of Hawaii Manoa campus. Dorm room or not, I was on the island of Oahu and anticipating another week of adventure.

I went for a walk around the campus. The trees and plants are so different from home. I enjoyed my walk. Then I found a Japanese garden behind the East-West Center. It reminded me of the serence gardens we visited in Japan. It was beautiful and peaceful.

At 11:30 the bus picked us up at the dorm to start the workshop fieldtrip. We started at the Pacific Aviation Museum to give us an introduction to the aviation capabilities of the U.S. and Japan.

Next we toured the USS Missouri. This battle ship is huge and was in the U.S. fleet from the end of World War II until the Persian Gulf War. The official surrender documents were signed to end the war in the Pacific on the deck of the USS Missouri. We also saw a dent in the side of the boat were a kamakazee pilot rant into the ship, but was not successful.

The best part of the afternoon was a boat tour of Pearl Harbor. We were taken around the harbor in a boat driven by a young woman in the Navy. This was a special tour just for our group.

The boat tour ended with a stop at the USS Arizona Memorial. This was very powerful. The list of names etched in the marble wall was so sad. To think all those men died at one time. I had an eerie feeling as I stood looking at the ship sunk in the water.

The day ended with tours of the USS Bowfin submarine that sunk 44 vessels in 9 missions during World War II. I am always amazed when I tour a sub that men can live in such close space and not go crazy.

During the evening we had a welcome dinner under a pavilion by the Bowfin Museum. The sun setting across the harbor was beautiful and peaceful. A very strange irony from the events on December 7, 1941 at exactly the same location.