A Quick Jamaica Account

Hey everyone,
I just got back from a missions trip to Jamaica yesterday. It was an experience that I am never going to forget. My relationship with Jesus Christ has exponentially grown stronger. I'm sorry that I can't write much, but I only have today because I leave for Italy very early tomorrow morning. I will write about that and more about this when I get back.

Here is a picture of my team and me.

Falcons, Hawks and Eagles, Oh My!!!

Hey everyone,

This past Thursday, my grandpa and I went to La Jolla Gliderport to a session on falcon/ raptor flying. The people teaching it were really cool. They said that in order to get the best experience with the amazing birds they brought Harris Hawks. Unlike many other birds of prey, these hawks are very sociable with each other and even hunt in groups. It is because of this that we are able to partner with them while they hunt. (Which happens to be the original purpose of falcon flying.) Apparently, hunting with falcons dates back at least 8000 years. Genghis Khan used a falcon to survive before he became a Khan. He was stranded in the desert and was in desperate need of food. 

 

Anyways, they showed us how they feed the birds, how they teach them to hunt with a partner, how the train them, and they even let us call the birds to the glove. The hawks are trained to the glove, not the human. Each hawk is trained in a specific way. When the one we worked with saw the glove and heard, "Gimme Steam" it would fly to whomever called it. A hawk's talons can crush your bones like they were nothing; they can deliver a force of over 700 pounds per square inch. They can easily take down something considerably larger than themselves. The thing that surprised me though, is how lightly they land onto your glove. It only weighs 2 . 5 lbs, but you still would expect some of that force on your arm.

Here are some pictures that my grandpa took.

This is La Paz, the largest of the two hawks. (She's a female)

This is me working my magic. 

Taking that short class has inspired me to do more. I looked on the California Hawking Club website and found how to start being an apprentice. I am going to continue on that and train a hawk or raptor of my own some day.

My Uncle, The Speed Racer

Yesterday my parents and I went with my uncle to watch him drive a McClaren mp4-12c around a track at Qualcomm stadium. It's a crazy fast car. He had the choice of two models of a Ferrari, a Lamborghini and the McClaren. Obviously he chose the McClaren which was the fastest and the coolest.

This is the speedster

We bought him a gift certificate for his birthday the week before. My uncle drove around the track 3 times. I got some pretty good pictures of him while driving, but the video we took doesn't show how fast he was going. He says that the moment that you hit the gas, you are plastered to the seat and you have very little time between the straights and the curves to react.

He had such a great time that it made me really want to try it. He told me that when I am allowed to drive he will buy me a ticket so that I can have that amazing feeling of speeding down a track. I can't wait.

This is the exact car he drove.

We did this with Gotham Dream Cars

Spring Break 2013

Well hey there everyone! It's been forever since I wrote. Sorry about that, I have been so preoccupied with school and other things. Anyways, I'm on Spring Break and I went to Indian Wells over by Palm Springs and got back on Thursday.

My grandparents and I stayed at a Hyatt that was absolutely huge; there were multiple pools, a tennis court, a golf course, and even an area where you are able to play ping pong or volleyball. Yes, the setting was nice, but the best part of my time there was the friends that I made. The first day there I met Nate.

We are the same age and we both have many similar interests... (girls :p) That day, together, we hung out with a group of some girls that ended up being total duds. The next day, we searched for people with whom we could hang out (just recently found out that you are not supposed to end a sentence with a preposition). We found pretty much no one. So the next day we were determined to find someone.

But before that, I did something stupid... I put his phone in the water because I was completely sure that  it was water proof... (it was a Samsung Galaxy s III.) I was wrong. At first his phone was alright but soon after the screen stopped working. I am never doing anything like that again.

We approached a group of girls ( of course...) that were playing volleyball and asked if they minded if we played too. We all played together and had a great time. The main girl (in other words the one that I liked best) was Sally. She was really pretty and cool. We hung out for the rest of the day. It all went well until that night when we got back from dinner and tried to meet up with her and her friends. First, we couldn't find them right away, second, when we did they said that they had to go back to their room and that they were leaving at 6 o' clock the next morning. I never even got to say bye to them properly, but they were just a small part of the great time I had with Nate.