Making Friends

First and foremost, turns out you’re not supposed to bring your car down from the mountain on Waimea Canyon Road, you’re suppose to come down the Kekaha way. Any local will tell you that. Otherwise your brakes will smoke. Secondly, you’re supposed to bring your car down in a low gear, not in overdrive. How am I supposed to know that? Iowa has no mountains for me to learn that lesson… Still need to get it checked out, but I’m not as concerned as I was.

On to making friends. I’ve been trying to meet a lot of different people at work to see what they have to teach me about the island and what it has to offer. One day I sat with Rhian and she invited me to hang out and watch the sunset with she and her friends on any given Tuesday. Naturally, I accepted. So Tuesday evening I headed to the Salt Pond Beach in Hanapepe to meet her. The beach is protected by rocks to break the surf and the spray carries and locals make salt in little ponds not far from the beach (thus the name). Anyway, I went snorkeling along the rock and it wasn’t Gucci but it was still cool. I need to get some sort of guide so I can identify some of the fish. Some were familiar, but not all. I got out of the water to see the sunset (sorry, forgot the camera) and then I met Rhian’s family and friends. There were maybe 20 of us all together and we sat around talking—it was great. They were really nice and I even got invited to a movie night on Thursday night. I’m sure that I’ll be going there more Tuesday evenings than not.

I finally got introduced to my crew at work. We were finally all in one place at the same time and not busy. They seemed like a good group of guys. I’ve worked with all of htem at one time or another and will work with them again soon. But for now I’m working alone trying to get a project done by Monday. Anyway, after work on Wednesday I headed down to where the river meets the ocean for paddling practice. Paddling is a huge deal out here—there are teams everywhere and it’s really competitive. It’s the off-season right now and they only practice once a week so I decided to give it a try (during season they practice 3 times a week and race every Saturday). Their canoes are not your typical girl scout camp aluminum canoes like back home. The canoes are a lot skinnier and deeper with the outrigger on the left side (though I can’t remember what it’s called) and really heavy. They seat six. The whole operation is amazing. There were 16 people there and we all worked together to pick up 3 canoes one at a time, slipped some wheels under them, and push them to the water. Two of the canoes headed up the river on training while the coach helped me and another new guy learn technique in the beginner boat. At first I thought it was really easy but then I learned that I wasn’t doing it right. You’d think that paddling wouldn’t be so hard but you have to move your feet and it’s a lot of rhythm and timing more than strength. My technique felt better at the end, but I’m already sore. It was amazing to watch the other two canoes come back downriver and see how fluidly they moved as one. I’m sure I’ll get thrown in one of the competitive boats soon—I hope I can hold my own.

Anyway, that’s my story. Meeting people, keeping busy. I was talking with Rick the other day about money and it made me realize that we’re all here for different reasons. Nicole is all about the job. If she can make it here a few years, she can get any job she wants back on the mainland. It’s all she talks about. Rick is here because the job put him here. He figured the money’s good, why not? He’s perfectly content going with what life throws him even if that’s a lot of alone time in his house in Hanapepe. And I’m here for the experience. I’m here to meet people and take in the island—to see all it has to offer. To allow it to change me. To see who I am on my own. To see who I will become. I'm not here for the job or the money--I'm here for me.