We went to the North Shore today because we felt like garlic shrimp, which were really great by the way (I just got a very bad breath now haha), and on our way back we arrived at Waimea Beach where I wanted to make a few short videos.

While we were still in the car, I noticed some water splashing up from the ocean. I looked again and notified Michelle also and there it was again. I knew almost instantly that it had to be whales, it is still (not for long, though) the whale season and I decided to grab the camera since we were able to zoom in quite a bit with that.

The result? You can find it on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Qky98HxQjA

It is, unfortunately, a short video. This is because we only saw them for a short while. The image might be shaking also and this is because it all happened quite far away from us, which made me zoom into it all so it would be come clear…Anyways, I really thought it was interesting and fun to see this. It is pretty special in my opinion

Yesterday I wrote that we made a video of Queen Mary 2’s departure, I put it on Youtube on the following location: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GX5GGsX5Z6c

The video’s playback is at double speed which I did because it might become quite a boring video otherwise.. It all doesn’t go that quick haha.

The soundsignal which you hear on the beginning of the video is the original signal of the Queen Mary 2 which she made just before she left.. I can tell you that it is a wonder that we’re not deaf yet, so loud! The rest of the video is without the original sound but with backgroundmusic.

Last Friday I read in the papers that today, on sunday, at around 6 AM, the Queen Mary 2 would arrive in Honolulu. I once saw the Queen Mary 2 on National Geographic and I knew it was a very nice ship, so I thought we had to head towards Aloha Tower today where she would be docked in the area until 5 PM.

And so we did.

We arrived around 4.15 PM, so we had enough time to make a few pictures before it would leave. Unfortunately our luck didn’t take that long as it started to rain but thankfully it was just short as it you can see it here more often so we didn’t get too wet. The sky, at the other hand, was very scary, I expected pretty big shower but, as with a miracle, it didn’t rain until the ship left. And even then it wasn’t all that bad, it was a short one again and that was it again… I think the rain fell mostly at the other side of the mountains, as it usually does.

Of course we have some pictures, mostly made by Michelle.. I was more busy making a video of their leave. I will upload a youtube video a bit later

And again I felt a bit artistic:

We saw that the ropes were loosened, the Queen Mary 2 gave some sound signals and the ship slowly backed away from the docks thanks to the strong bow engines. She then slowly went backwards and at the same time it turned 180 degrees around her axes (and no, not vertical, of course haha).

After the Queen Mary 2 was in the right direction, she slowly sailed towards open sea. I have to say that it was a pretty impressive sight. The Queen Mary 2 is the longest cruiseship in the world (not the biggest, by the way, there are even bigger ships but those are higher instead of longer) and I think it was really remarkable that this ship had no problem turning around in such a small water. Ok, there was probably a pilot on board of the ship (which normally happens when a ship of such a size is in the harbor, the pilots know their harbors really well and, for example, know exactly where it is deep enough) but I mean without the help of tugs and such.

After the Queen Mary 2 was even further away, we went towards Aloha Tower to eat a bit. I thought it was really something special to see a ship this size.

Here are three more pictures that we took today near Aloha Tower.. they don’t have anything to do with water or ships, they’re just nice pictures I think (especially the last two since my sister (she is a blonde, so forgif her haha, just kidding sis ) asked me if they also have that kind of buildings here:

A tornado on Hawaii, do you expect that on a tropical island? I don’t think so but apparently it is possible… and not just one tornado, but three at the same time…

The weather was a bit weird I think, it was nice but around lunchtime it started to become very dark and it started to rain.. not the normal small rain as you mostly have here, but pretty big drups and there was also a lot of thunder with some heavy bangs. I instantly was like ‘bleh, another rainy weekend’ but it turned out to be different.. the bad weather left as quickly as it came.

I asked Michelle if she had some rain also and she said that there most likely did fall some rain but from what I understood from her words, there was no thunder and aparently not such a heavy rainfall either. It was apparently nothing special on that side of the island where she works nowadays as it rains almost every day for a bit on that side, it is the rainside of the island and with it also the greenest side of the island.

I didn’t think about it anymore until it became night… I was reading the news and I read that there was a tornado on Hawaii earlier that day, in Kapolei (at the westside of the island). And just now I found out that it wasn’t just one tornado but three even. The tornados weren’t that heavy (or just tornado as the other ones were a lot smaller and cannot really be called tornado I think) but still it was still a tornado, even though it was only a F0. He did, however, pick up a golf car and threw that away again (it came down on a golf terrain).

I didn’t know but they aparently have more sightings of tornados on that side of the island.. some people actually say they seem to become bigger (and from what I saw on the pictures and videos, it did look like a nice one, even though it was ‘only’ a F0).

Anyways, I will stop talking now.. here are some links to some pages where you can find some videos of it all since I expect you want to see them:

- Tornado video - 1
- Tornado video - 2

EAD card? Yep.. that stands for Employment Authorization Document.. as I described before, it was announced that I would receive the card and I also got an AP (advance parole (aka a travel document which I can use to reenter the US again)) awarded. I received the AP last Monday and today I also received the EAD!

When you ask yourself what such a card look like, here’s a picture:

And yes, this is indeed not the card that I received, on my card you will be able to see my own head haha I just didn’t think I should’ve put my own card online with all the personal numbers that it contains

There are also a few little things different on my card, my picture was, for example, taken with me looking into the camera, I also do not have any holes in my card and, well, it is a bit longer valid that this card haha.

Right, now we can officially work.. hooray :S haha j/k

And now towards March 13 for the interview

There we are again haha. Michelle’s mother received a pregnant dog last sunday, most likely to have here temporary since the previous owner (a bit forced due to the current financial crisis) had to move to a place where they do not allow pets.. and what do you think, that animal starts last monday evening with delivery and, all the sudden, we have puppies walking around.

Well, walking… I doubt they will do that soon.

Anyways, the mother dog brought 8 dogs into this world.. and unfortunately there are only 7 left as the smallest one did not survive. Here are some pictures that Michelle took of the dogs:

What we will do with them? I have not the slightest idea… I think they will look where they can put some puppies and that we, in case we cannot place them all, will bring them to the Humane Society (where we are like a regular customer as we still frequently bring feral cats there haha).

Michelle’s mom possibly wants to keep a pup and the mother dog will probably go away later on. We will see

One time you are waiting and waiting and nothing happens, and when you least expect it, you’ll get it all at once haha.

Michelle just came in with the mail and she gave me a letter from the USCIS, the United States Customs and Immigration Service. I thought at first ‘that is quick, my papers already?’ but that wasn’t exactly true.. instead of the papers that I expected, I read that it was the invitation to my AOS (Adjustment of Status) interview.

Unbelievable, I didn’t expect it until summer but I already received an interview date, that is really quick!

I am unsure if I really like it though… of course I am very happy that we will know within one and a half month if I can or can not stay in the United States with Michelle but at the other hand, it is making me seriously nervous. They are really deciding about my future and the outcome of that interview makes all the difference.

Right, the date of the interview is on Friday, March 13… I am a little bit superstitious sometimes but I sure hope that has no grounds.. we’ll see

A few days ago I was telling to my mother and some others that it might take at least a month until I will receive notice about my employment authorization document and my (emergency)travel document (advance parole), and what do you think? I just received two emails with the following announcements from the USCIS:

Application Type: I131, APPLICATION FOR USCIS TRAVEL DOCUMENT
Current Status: Approval notice sent.

and:

Application Type: I765, APPLICATION FOR EMPLOYMENT AUTHORIZATION
Current Status: Card production ordered.

So, in other words: I will receive a card soon which I can use to work and make money and I will also receive a letter (I think at least that it is a letter) which I can use during my adjustment of status to leave the country whenever it is needed. The latter is, by the way, not something which you can use for holidays (it depends how you look at it because some do it but I rather be sure) but something you can use to go to your old country whenever there is an emergency (for example when there is a close relative in the hospital) and still be able to get back into the United States for as long as you are waiting for your adjustment of status.

Now the only thing left is my permanent resident status, or my greencard, I will be able to say goodbye to these two items when I receive that as you can travel and work without problems when you have your permanent residency card.

So we made another step into the right direction, hopefully I will receive my greencard in a couple of months and then I wont have to worry if I can stay or not since, believe me, I am quite worried about the outcome of the greencard.

Ok, it sounds worse than it really was… well, ok, maybe not for the ones involved but fortunately that’s not us. Anyways, I wanted to write a short message since it has been two weeks since I last wrote something.

Of course things happened in our lives here, but yeah, not everything is suitable to write down or fun to write down, and there are also always things that I wrote before.. I could tell you everytime how it was whenever we went to Honolulu but it is not much fun to repeat what I wrote before and is it also fun to read it time after time? I don’t really think so, so that’s why basically haha.

Anyways, the title says fire, so let’s write a bit about that… there is not much to write about the fire itself but oh well.. like two weeks ago, there was a fire nearby, I noticed it since it really smelled badly like smoke and when I was outside, I also noticed a thick layer of smoke by just watching to the cars and their headlights, it looked a bit like fog. Michelle and I hopped into our car and went to see where the fire was. It might sound pretty spectaculair but it wasn’t really much as we couldn’t get close to it.. Michelle did, however, take some pictures from a distance, here they are:

As you can see, there wasn’t much spectaculair to see but oh well, at least I had something write again haha