Meeting with "ALISI"

October 11, 2010 it was my second day meeting not with our mentor, but our boss lol. This was another great day because Alisi also took me to Dennys, wasnt i just thee luckiest student ever. Two days in a roll to "Dennys". Okay back to business, meeting with Alisi was actually a great one-on-one opportunity to ask questions, fix mistakes, what needs to improved, etc. She gave me a better understanding about our powerpoint in December. Alisi also showed me how to understand myself which was in fact funny.

She also told me her expectations, and what we want to get out of this whole intern.

I really enjoyed the many storys she shared about our community, and how we can make a difference in some areas. All we need is a voice "Ourselves" by doing this we need to be involved with alot of community exposure. So i really enjoyed breakfast with Alisi, she gave me alot of tips on helping others get involved. As well as myself, also to recommend this program to alot of youths and young-adults.

Thanks so much Alisi...Ofa atu!!

Meeting my mentor "LORRAINE"

October 08, 2010 was thee first day i met with my mentor Lorraine. I can truly say that she is an extrodinary person inside and out. I was lucky to have my first meeting at Dennys..mmmmhhh..we discuss so many topics, we also got carried away in our life storys. We talked about the importance of education, and a little bit about time management. But to be honest, we had more fun getting to know each other. Dont worry that is not thee only meeting we will ever do this, but it sure was the first. Getting to know each other plays an importance role in our life, so that meeting was great and it meant alot.

Next, i know we will touch base on more things such as: advice, and help.

Again, i really enjoy having dinner with Lorraine. I got to know more about her and her family. It was really good hearing about her experience in school, and to say that she is still her in 20s with a Master Degree. Now that is a Role-Model!!!

Thanks Lorraine...much love to you and work!!

OCAPICA (Mentor Dinner)

Dinner at the Carson civic center was truely a blessing. Not only having a great program to be in, also having mentors to help us not only on our projects but what we expect to get out of this program. I really love how Alisi put so much work in contacting the mentors for us and sharing some of their fun and exciting programs.

The ice breaker done by Lorraine was also fun as well, not only did we get to know a couple of peoples background but also learning how to in silence under thee pressure lol.

Most, of all thee last part of the day when Lisi seperated us into groups to discuss what we expect or what we want to learn from these mentors. It was a great way to understand the mentors from their own point of view and also see some of their feedback. I loved how "Time Management" was our main focus, something i need alot of help in. Other then the whole dinner, this was by far a great gathering to reunite with our fellow intern as well.

A GREAT program, set-up by GREAT people!! thank you all for makin it happen for us.

Community Exposure: Tai Ko Project (TCSC)

The Tai Kwo project was an event that TCSC was invited to, and they decided to take 80 people along with them because that was the amount of ticket that was given to them for free. So they invited everyone in the community that was willing to go and watch this performance at the Ampe Theatre in hollywood.

80 people didnt show up but at least 60 at the most, that was still more then enough. The best part was the taking the bus all together there, it was a very fun and adventerous trip for everyone to attend. Not only did we get to mingle with a group of students, but also with parents as well. TCSC are very amazing people to do communit exposure with.

The great thing about this event was watching the little kids play professional drumming. It has me thinking! why? i never had such a great talent at a very young age lol. But from the bus ride, to the performance, to the food was great. So a big thank you to TCSC for having us with them.

Community Exposure: Language Literacy (TCSC)

This is a Tongan class that is taken at TCSC for tongan students from the ages 5-18+ this class is taught by Sisi Satini a student at BYU Hawaii, but has recently came to TCSC to do her intern. And one of her intern was to teach the kids that are not only tongan ethnic but other race as well how to talk in tongan in the proper way. This is a 8week class and is taught every wednesday and thursday from 3 to 4:30 or 5 the latest.

My favorite thing about this class is embarssing ourself in front of those student that speaks tongan on a daily basis but it all good, that the whole purpose of this class is to learn right! Also another one of my favorite thing about this class is long the tonga proverbs. Why? because it has so many meaning and different ways to say just a one word. Such as toko, that can mean a stick or a brother or sister or maybe a cane. You see how one word can mean so many things.

I also enjoyed meeting new people that comes everyday to join our class, we got to learn a lil bit about everything about each other. I love our teachers Sisi Satini and Lupe Fifita, they are two beautiful and humble young ladys!!

CSUF (Researcher) 08/05/10

Last Day at CSUF was quiet and lonely. Not only because Mia had finished her hours a day before me but also because no one else was there. Not even the researcher Ruth, she was coming a little bit later around 2pm, because i had arrived to school around 7am. So it was bit loney and quiet and i was just coming towards the end of transcribing my last part.

As i sat there, i was just thinking how am blessed i received this opportunity to work with OCAPICA as a summer intern. Also how am going to miss my warm heart researcher Ruth, and of course Sora but i really didnt get to know her like i knew Ruth. I can say i will never forget this once in a lifetime opportunity so i loved and enjoyed every moment while it lasted.

I LOOOOOOVVVVVEEEE YOU RUTH & SORA...oh and of course AUSTIN lol.

Workshop (Carson Civic Center)

The joint hearing of the Asian Pacific Islander Legislative was really amazing. Not only did we get to hear from the Mayor of carson but also from everyone in the different programs such as: SNNA, OCAPICA, GCN, TCSC, etc. It was just amazing because we not only want to hear from the world, but we want our Pacific Islanders voices to be heard.

My most favorite panel was youth violence. How we have our own people killing each other for no reasons, and it is our job to go and reach out to those people and make a difference. I also enjoyed OCAPICA intern speaker from last year. Sina Fifita, she was talking about her experience in the PIHCPP. I really enjoyed how she said she traveled all the way to sacramento to finsh up her research on youth violence and how she learned so many things from youth out in Sacramento.

This was also a great opportunity to meet with other staff members from different places and also meeting new friends you might need in the future, so this was also a great workshop we attended together.

CSUF (Researcher) 07/04/10

St. Joseph Cancer Care visit was my most favorite day. We got to pay a visit to the St. Joseph Cancer Care Hosiptal and all i can say is this is the most beautiful and well structured hospital i see so far. Why? not only that it doesnt look like any typical hospital, because it looks like and luxurious hotel but it also doesnt have that hospital smell. If you know what i mean. We learned so many great things about this hospital from financial care and how there radiation rooms operate. AMAZING!

This day was to funny as well because Ruth wanted us to try out Tofu for lunch or should i say be a vegetarian for a day lol. I guess that didnt work out so she took us to motherhood to see how everything is healthy and organic. She told us she was just happy we decided to actually come and look at the Tofu instead of sitting in the car. So she drove us to get some Lee Sandwich..mmmhhh..that was a great lunch.

One thing about this hospital, is i will keep it in mind. Because it is now one of my favorite hospital and am so happy Ruth took us here. Thank you so much Ruth!!

CSUF (Researcher) 08/03/10

Today was a very long day. But our only task was transcribing, the whole ten hours. Can you say tired? Yes, we were absolutly tired. Thank goodness for the paddle(a foot button for rewind.fast forward.play) which made life so much easier. Since we really cant talk about transcribing because it is a very personal matter. This was also a great experience, learning and hearing everyone response about HIV/HPV!!

CSUF (Researcher) 07/29/10

Third day with the Reseacher was just Phenominal. Why? because we had a full house. We had Leilani(inter), Risa(inter), Lupe Fifita(TCSC), Sora(researcher) and one of Ruth is all time friend Austin. So today was just amazing because the office wasn't as quite. We had our other interns coming in as well as other people just coming to hang out and talk about the whole internship with us.

Lupe Fifita, a member of TCSC came through to give us a brief orientation about Patience Navigation and why its important. That was also another great thing, me and mia job was to help Lupe figure our some barriers for trying to get the word out about "Getting Checked" for elderly Tongan womans. So they gave me and Mia a job, and that was to go to our mothers and explain to her in the most professional way of getting a check-up and see what their reaction was.

This is where we began the whole transcribing process. Very exciting at the beginning but then your fingers begin to ware out lol. But this was also a great experience and i also learned alot from this. We also had a special visit from our researcher Sora who just dropped by to see how we were doing. So it was so great seening her again. I really enjoyed the presence of Ruth is friend Austin, he is so amazing and loud. He knows how to put a smile on me and mia face, and also make us laugh that our head begins to hurt lol. So he is completly amazing.

CSUF (Researcher) 07/29/07

Second day with the Researcher was great. But we went straight to work, while Mia doing some data entry, i was working with sending files to our own e-mail account we created just for this project. Just so life can be so much easier when Ruth is trying to send us something to view and observe or to work on.

Then, i was given the accomplishment folder from Wincart. My job was to review and look through the folder to see if everything is perfect or if i wanted to make a couple changes. So i grabbed my own sheet of paper and added a little bit of my own thoughts into the bindar. Which was a great experience, not only did you get to see alot of amazing things in the folder but you also got to put your own thoughts into it. So it was really a great experience. I really enjoyed it alot especially having such a great researcher to help you.

CSUF (Reseacher) 07/27/10

WOW!!! First, day working with the researcher was just amazing. Before me and Mia got to the room we honestly were saying in our head "Hopefully they dont make us read novels after novels" but once we enter the labortory Ruth went straight to assigning me and Mia our own office. Yay! so by all means we already knew we will be enjoying this researcher and her plans for us.

The first thing we did after we got our own office. We just sat with Ruth for a little bit and talked with her. Pretty much trying to get to know our researcher and what not, she also asked me and Mia what our expectation about this program, and what we will be wanting to get out of it. All i have to say is i love Ruth, she is a remarkable amazingly and phenominal woman with such a big heart.

We did learn the whole process of transcribing though, and a little bit about Wincart. What amazed me and Mia the most was the way Ruth eats, not physically but the kind of things she eat. We learned so much from it, and is hoping one day we will be healthy just like her lol.

PIHCPP Orientations (CSUF)

Wow!! Orientations was amazingly beautiful. I love everything about it. From the speakers, and meeting new friends. I really enjoyed Alisi presentation with the kava bowl(kumete). Instead, of doing the original kava ceremony Alisi actually had the kumete in the middle with inspirational words in it. She had us pick words out of the kumete and speak from our own perspective how this word relates and what we think the meaning is to our Pacific Islander. My word was HARMONY. I said this word defines who we are, by the way we sing and the harmony in our voices.

Marie Calendar, was a great get together with all the researcher, interns, and staff members from OCAPICA. This showed us how much of a family we are no matter where and what color skin we are. Getting to know the researcher more was also a great opportunity for us, am happy we got to know them slowly. To top it off, the food was great lol.

Dorming with the girls was my favorite. It was a great experience not only learning how the dorm life is but also getting to know our peers more. My roomate were Amelia.Kuuip.Theresa they were amazing and funny girls to hang out with. The best part was when we had company from putu.sani.nikki.bri and we all played a game called "I never & truth or dare" which showed us all our fun side.

Other than that i really enjoyed orientations, meeting new people, and also the speakers were great!!

Workshop (OCAPICA) 07/23/10

This workshop was conducted by my beautiful researcher Sora. This workshop was called the PIHCPP Training, Sora taught us so many things about research and reading journal aritcle. SOra introduce us to Scientific Method, Qualitative or Quantitative method, Data Collection method, and many other things.

I really enjoyed this workshop, not only because i got to know my peers a little more but we got to learn so many new things that we can take with us and put it in our heads if we might need these information later in the future.

The greatest thing about Sora workshop was, she gave us 15min to work on a journal article with a partner. We had to read and skim through the article looking for answers, and these question are not your typical college questions. But, we all got to some point down the line. We later then realized that this was a worksheet Sora had gave her Masters Program student. So we felt so special doing a very high class worksheet, we almost felt as if we were earning our Masters Degree. lol