On January 2nd several hundred students arrived to begin our January 2020 quarter. On the 3rd we had orientation and then in the evening a Polynesian welcome with the flags flying from the 35 countries from which students came. It is always an exciting evening to bond in these new people.
On Christmas Day, Lisa and I cooked Christmas dinner and invited a couple of our friends to join us for that meal.
On Christmas Eve our church in Kona, Mokuaikaua Church, held its candlelight service. The church building has been going through a restoration process due to damage produced by a major earthquake a while ago. The construction company moved equipment out of the way, so we could set up chairs and have this service in the…
When we arrived back in Kona, we purchased a Christmas tree and began decorating for Christmas. As I mentioned, our daughter Lisa came to Kona to send Christmas with us as well as staying for a month to help with Judi’s care.
While we were still in Britain as Judi was recovering enough to be able to fly back to the States, my mother had her 100th birthday. Though we were not able to attend it, we did call in to extend our best wishes.
Judi and I flew out to Europe, stopping in Britain for a couple of weeks to get over jet lag, before my teaching assignment in southern France. Unfortunately, on October 24th, Judi had a chest pains. At the local hospital emergency room, they determined that she had suffered a mild heart attack. Overnight this changed…
On October, on our way to Europe, we stopped through California to visit with family for a couple of days. We were able to spend an evening with my mother singing hymns with her. Much of her short-term memory is gone but her long-term memory is still okay. When our daughter Lisa mentioned that my…
Judi and I taught in a couple of courses at University of the Nations Kona in early October, the Humanities Core Course and the Trailblazers DTS. It was great connecting with the enthusiasm of the students as we shared.
On Thursday September 26th we welcomed nearly 800 students to the Kona university campus for the Fall quarter. On Friday morning we had a Polynesian Protocol welcome to the island as well as an orientation for the new students. That evening we had a celebration of the 39 nations from which these students came, with…
On September 16th we welcomed several hundred University of the Nations (UofN) staff from around the work for a week of training in preparation for them working in UofN courses. I shared in an interview with several of us about the beginnings of the university 40 years ago.