Part I: My Home

My House

Just like there are very many unique people out there, there are many unique houses out there, too. But this first part is not about a random house, but my own home. I've lived in it everyday in my life, but it's not until now do I really examine it and think about what is special about mine compared to the guy's house in the other neighborhood. 

I would describe the interior of house a bit cluttered in some areas. The floors are clear; however, the tables have piles of stuff that is screaming for organization. There's not really one main theme to my house, so there isn't really anything too unique compared to other houses. However, there is a couple of Korean works and a few family pictures on the walls.

For the "technical" aspects, it's a two-story house (upstairs is the "main" area) with four bedrooms (the fourth is used as a guestroom), three bathrooms, a kitchen w/ dining area, and (sort of) two living rooms. There is a kind of lounging space on both floors. Also, there's a lanai (balcony), pool & backyard, a structure similar to a garage, small driveways with plants and trees on the side. (Another thing is that we have solar panels to heat up our water.)

This house had been here for __ years, which I consider to be a tad old. My parents moved in just before they had my second oldest sister and me, so it hasn't been with us too long. The exterior of the house is just plain white (I think it used to be pink, but I'm not 100% sure), and that is the same as the interior except for my sister's room, which has a green wall. My community has many dogs, so you would occasionally hear a dark barking—however, it is very common to hear birds calling out to each other. I don't notice any distinctive smells—we don't use candles (unless there's a power outage) or use any air fresheners, so it smells the same as it would outside.

I used to spend loads of time downstairs because it is the secluded part of my house (except for at night, when my dad works/plays computer games there), but now, I am usually in the living room area—in fact, I'm here now. I moved from being downstairs to upstairs because my family had was visiting and had to use the guest bedroom downstairs (and I didn't want to bother them by being there), and I kind of stuck to this new place.

The only people who live here are my parents, my second oldest sister (my oldest lives in California now), my dog & fish, and myself. My family is very busy, so it's usually quiet with everyone doing their own thing, but at dinnertime, it can get kind of noisy.

My house is special because it is the place where I grew up with countless, priceless memories—like the time I first learned how to ride a bike or spilt my lip open. I feel like my house and school lives are two different things, and the reason is because at home, I don't really have to live up to a whole bunch of people's expectations.  

Thanks, 

Karen :D

Part II: My Street

Another View of My House

Moving on to my street, here are some details about the street I grew up on:

My home address and zip code is 146 Polihale Place, 96825. The longitude and latitude of my house are: N 21˚ 16' 29.6" W 157˚ 42' 17.4".

My House and Street

The neighborhood I live in is Portlock, and it is unique because it is like on the Southeastern tip of Oahu. My street is pretty quiet because it is "tucked away" and on a hill—if you try to go past on the one road in my neighborhood, you'll end up in a dead end. A few of the houses (including mine) have gates, and about half (or so) have swimming pools (again, including mine). Sometimes, there's an ice cream van that goes around our street for a while, which is pretty cool!

There used to be lots of kids to play with when I was little, but they moved and I'm not sure if any new kids have moved in. I actually don't know my neighbors too well; partly because most of them are older and don't really communicate with us. 

I guess it was better when I was younger because I was a lot more outgoing and played with my neighbors pretty much every weekend. But a lot has changed, and I didn't really keep my interest in playing with neighbors by the time of adolescence. 

Part III: My Neighborhood

(Kind Of) A View Of My Neighborhood

Aside from the street I live on, there are some interesting facts about my neighborhood and its relative location. 

The relative location of my neighborhood is Koko Marina (Koko Head theatre, FoodLand, Jamba Juice, Price Busters, etc) Koko Head Elementary. Hawaii Kai Library is close to my neighborhood as well.

There are 27,657 people (in my zipcode, 96825). The dominant age is 18-65 years old, and the dominant ethnic group is Asian (13,199). These statistics have no been updated since 1999, so I'm sure the populations and (possibly) the dominant age/ethnic group has changed since.

I guess my family fits in with the dominant race, seeing as we are all Asian. However, my family sort of fits in with the dominant ethnic group--my sister and I are teens, but my parents fit into the dominant age group. 

Thanks!

Part IV: The Themes

For this project I am working on, I am suppose to include five themes of geography and compare it to my school, Punahou. The five themes of geography are: place, location, human-environment interaction, movement, and region. 

Location:

Punahou's "Front" Gate

Punahou is located in Manoa Valley, while my house is located in Hawaii Kai. Even though these are two different places, they are still many comparisons.

My House!

Place:

The "Side" Vegetation at My House

(One of) Punahou's Garden(s)

A Garden at My House

Both my house and Punahou have gardens/plants that grow similar foods (like tomatoes).








     

Human-Environment Interaction:

Recycling Bin (at my place)

(One of) Punahou's Recycling Bin(s)

We recycle things like water bottles and paper. Also, we both use solar panels for energy.

Movement:

A Car at Punahou

People Walking

I don't have any pictures of my cars (because we had a loaner car--our real car was in the shop); however I will say that for movement, Punahou and my house both use cars and walking as ways of transportation.

Region:

The view from the living room of my house. (On the Lanai, you could see these tube-like things--it's a "green" irrigation system my dad built)

One of the many views on Punahou's campus

These are pictures of the view I have in both places, which  seem a little different, but there still are some similarities because there is a view of houses and mountains/hills in the background. (There are other similar things, but I didn't take a picture of them)

Even though my home and my school are from different places and environments, there are still many similarities to compare with. Both are private places, grow similar foods, are "green" (solar panels and recycling), use similar ways of transportation, and are around places/things that resemble each other.

Thanks for reading all of my posts!

Just so this isn't a boring blog, I will put this:

This is a funny video of my dog (it's kinda weird, so I don't know if you would want to watch it) :