Settling In

Time to update on a few interesting things, I think.

Since I've arrived, it's rained every day. Not all day, but the only sunshine I saw was right when I arrived on the islands. Everything's either soaked or damp, and the solar panels on the little house are struggling to keep up enough power for the daily household stuff (like charging my laptop to write this blog)









Despite the rain, things have been interesting, and the time has been flying by. Yesterday I met one of my employers, Linda. She and her husband sell koa wood online to surfboard makers, luthieries, and other woodworkers. She seems very nice, and they've got a good operation over there. I'm excited to jump in and start helping out over there.


Also yesterday, there was a nice treat out behind the house. An 'Io, or Hawaiian Hawk, was perched in a tree about 150 feet from the back porch. My puny 3x zoom on my camera really doesn't do it justice:

So I had to get all MacGyver on it. I mean, how often do you get an endangered species hanging around outside your kitchen?

So I took some binoculars that I've borrowed from my dad, and I set the camera to 3x zoom, and the glasses are 10x zoom, and I shot the photo through the binoculars. And SHAZAM! My own telephoto lens. :) The photos came out a little blurry and a little grainy, but the idea's there, and you can tell it's an 'Io. So I'm pretty happy with it.


Despite the pouring rain, this guy sat in that bare tree for over three hours.

I tried some new food yesterday.... it's called rambutan. It's an odd, hairy, red fruit that looks like a sea creature more than typical fruit. You bite through the skin, and peel the top off, and then pop the pulpy fruit into your mouth and chuck away the skin. It's like a giant green grape that's meen peeled, and it has a seed the size and shape of an almond in the middle. It's not as tart or as flavorful as a grape, but it's not bad at all. A nice little snack.

That's about all that's truly newsworthy at the moment. I'm sure once the rain lets up for a while we'll get to work on the yurt. the neighbors have offered to chip in and help set it up when we're ready.

Hawai'ian Word of the Day:

Kaiwiki - "kai" means water and "wiki" means fast, so kaiwiki means "fast water". Therefore the street I live on is named for the many quick streams in the area.