Island Life.: August 2011

Aloha!

I know that sounds annoying and cliche to people not in or from Hawaii, but that is the formal greeting here. Every time you meet someone they say it. People say it when they go to the pulpit at church... and the congregation shouts it back! However, if you say it in an informal setting, like passing an old lady walking down the street, she WILL laugh at you! So, take that for whatever its worth next time you visit Hawaii.

I watched the movie Blue Crush yesterday. I am starting to reconsider my interest in surfing. If you haven't seen it, its worth watching the last 30 minutes just to see the size of the waves. Terrifying. I did learn, however, that the best surfing is in the winter. The waves are much bigger for some complex scientific reason. Zack and I are looking forward to attending some surfing competitions this winter, just one of the many perks to living on the North Shore.

After being here almost a month, you'd think our skin would start adjusting to the sun. It has not. We went to the beach for like 3 or 4 hours one day and we got fried. Luckily, the humidity in the air is helping us avoid peeling so we're maintaining some sort of tan. Maybe someday we'll just tan instead of burn. Maybe someday.

I didn't take many pictures this week, but I'll upload the two I did.

Mahalo for reading! Love and miss you guys!

A lot of the locals around here are very protective of the land and don't appreciate all the tourists. Every once in a while there are signs by people's houses with funny things on them. We laugh at this every time we drive by!

Our lizard friend! At the bottom of the stairs there is a planter with all of these flowers and the lizards LOVE THEM! There are easily 50 lizards that live in this planter. This guy is one of the biggest ones we've seen!

Two weeks ago Zack and I landed on the beautiful island of Oahu. It was dark when we landed, but as we stepped off the plane we could feel the ocean in the air. The humidity has taken some getting used to, but other than the dripping condensation on the outside of our drinks, we hardly even notice anymore. We pulled up to our new house and could hear the crashing waves.

We are literally on the beach. Its absolutely beautiful. I make sure to take some time each day to sit out there alone. The crashing waves and breeze kind of silence everything else and allow me a minute to breathe. The only downside to living next to the beach is that we're on the EAST side.. which is the side that the sun rises on. At 6:30 every morning the sun reflects off the ocean and into our windows. Also, the neighbors' chickens wake up when the sun comes up. So, as you can imagine its difficult to sleep past 7. Luckily, the night-life around here is... nonexsistant, which makes early to bed early to rise easy.

While we do live in paradise, it hasn't been easy. I think we both went into this move expecting everything to happen quickly and easily, but that hasn't been the case. Its definitely helped me to remember that God has His timetable, and its not always going to match up with mine. I've definitely had to be patient and learn to relax. I'm so lucky to have Zack because he has been so calm and confident through this process and it has definitely helped me. The situation definitely could've put stress on our relationship, but I am so happy to say that it has made us closer.

Last week we decided that we needed to start enjoying this beautiful place that we live! Until my car gets here, we have to take the bus everywhere. This is an adventure in and of itself. The most interesting/bizarre people ride the bus. We were also lucky to have my friend Cece here and she had a car for a week. Between the bus and the car we got to see most of the island. I'll post as many pictures as I have and try to keep posting them more regularly!

I love and miss everyone, but I feel so blessed to be here on this adventure and I'm grateful for your love and support!