9 am, January 1, 2017 - Driving to Salt Lake City to catch our flight back to Honolulu.
And...9 am January 2, 2017 looking out our window.
It always amazes us at how quickly we can travel from one place to another one so far away!
We have gotten back into the swing of things here. Back to teaching, back to the Bookstore, back to the sewing center, and back to VOICE. And back to just two of eating dinner, two of us playing games, two of us cleaning, cooking, doing dishes, laundry. It MUCH more fun having family around while doing all of that. We are anxiously looking forward to visits!
Roy and Kathy Harker are coming later this month, Jared and Anne and kids are coming in March, and Adam and Catherine and kids are coming in June. We are still waiting to hear the plans of the rest of the kids, (that's a hint! 😁) ...and friends and family.
We have been doing some ticket taking at the PCC. That is a really fun job for me! We get to meet people from all over the world. Some we can converse with, some we cannot. We just bow.
I had an experience a week or so ago that was really fun. I took a video of it and if you can see it, you will know that I was successful in uploading it - or rather, a link to it.
We were taking tickets at the luau. There is one at 4 and another one at 6. A man with two kids came up to us as we were taking tickets for the 6pm luau and said that his son had left his coconut leaf braided headband at the table during the 4pm luau. "Was there any chance that it was still there, or did we have a lost and found?" We were taught to go the extra mile and exceed the customer's expectations. I went and asked, but because of the short time between the two luaus, the tables have to be cleaned, new tablecloths put on and the dishes set, and it most likely had been thrown away. The little boy was probably about 9. He was obviously disappointed. We suggested that they quickly go back and see if there was still anyone in the Samoan village that could make him another one. The village was closed, but we thought maybe someone was still there. They walked by us again and we asked if they had had any luck, and of course, they hadn't. After they had walked on, I thought that maybe one could be purchased in the Marketplace and went to look. I found some young "island" men and asked them if they could make one. They all knew how, but didn't have any coconut fronds to use. As I was walking back to the luau, I passed KAP. He is a fixture here. He is the "star" of the Samoan village and the show they put on, and he has a shop right outside one of the restaurants where he sells prints of paintings he has done. He stands outside his shop and talks to people as they go by. He is always dressed in a lava lava and lei and he had a bigger, wider headband on. I told him the story and asked him where I could get one of those for this little boy. He looked to see if he had any, and didn't, but said he would get a coconut frond and make one and proceeded to prepare to climb the coconut tree by us. I asked him if I could go and find the boy while he made it, and he told me to go and get the family and they could watch as he climbed the tree and made the little boy a headband. I found them, and brought them to KAP. He then climbed the tree, cut down two coconut fronds and then wove a headband for the little boy. I would say that is going the extra mile and exceeding our customer's expectations! I took a video of it all. I also asked him to paint a picture of the tree so I could buy it to go with our video. Keep your fingers crossed he does!
We went to the beach the other day. It was a Sunday and the waves were supposed to be big. There is a surfing competition going on - Volcom Pipeline. So we went to Pipeline Beach to see if we could see anything. Of course, we weren't going to go swimming, but I really wanted to see the huge waves. I expected them to look like they do on surf videos. They were big, but not that big. I keep getting told that they WILL be. I'm waiting. I walked down to the water's edge to see if I could find any shells. I did. Teeny, tiny ones. But as I was down there, I walked out to where the water came in to see what the water temperature is. It is FREEZING!!! If it is like that everywhere, all the time, I don't know how much swimming I am going to be doing. I like the water warm, like it is in Cancun! The air was cold too. I had on a long sleeved shirt and long pants and was still cold. I am posting a video. You can see that I was not the only one!
We went to the Swap Meet a couple of Saturday's ago, and I saw these birds. Doves, maybe? And either I have never been this close to them, or these are different from the one's I am used to. They have blue beaks and blue around the eyes. I tried to get pictures of them without scaring them away. I wish you could see them better.
We have had some beautiful weather. It has been chilly for Hawaii. I know I will not get much, if any, sympathy from those of you shovelling away at the snow and in the cold. But remember, we don't have a furnace. We have had some storms and wind and clouds and "high surf" and swells. The sun is rising earlier in the mornings and setting later in the evenings. It will never stay light until 9 or 10 pm, but we are noticing a difference.
On the way to school the other day, I noticed a beautiful sunrise as I was turning to go down the hill. I stopped at the entrance to BYUH to take some pictures. The sun had risen even more by then and some of the beauty I wanted to capture had changed. It was gone, but in it's place was another beautiful scene. Here are some of the pictures I got.
After dropping Jerry off, I took some more pictures on the way home. These were taken from the Point.
As we were leaving, the moon was up and shining through the trees. It was a warm, lovely evening.
The next morning, we had sunshine and rain and a double rainbow all at the same time.
This is a lovely land, the people are wonderful, and we are happy to serve.
Happy Valentine's Day everyone! 💘
