Thursday, May 31, 2007

Kindness




Yesterday I was late for the staff meeting, which was a mandatory Mexican fiesta. I had a student in my room, which I felt was more important than the taco bar, so I wasn't in a huge hurry to get up there. The security guard/ faculty Scrabble champion, Jay, came and picked me up on the golf cart, which surprised me, never having been allowed that luxury before. I asked her if she was coming to get me because I was late. She said, "No. Because your hapai (Hawaiian for pregnant)." So I jumped on and headed to the faculty meeting, got a big bowl of ice cream and settled in. Hardly had I parked my backside and started stuffing my face with ice cream and toasted coconut when I was called to the front of the room to receive gifts. I was truly overwhelmed with the kindness of my coworkers who made me this quilt and diaper cake. What thought and creativity went into this! Pahoa is a special place and we have loved our school.

Memorial Day Sky




Long weekends are great. Especially Memorial Day. After the long months with no break, that Monday seems like a Godsend. We cleaned feverently on Saturday, pretended to have friends and had them over for dinner, played some scrabble and lost. Good times. Sunday we got up and headed for the other side of the island. We stopped in volcano for sunny 70 degrees with wind. We ate lunch on the side of the road in possibly the most perfect weather ever! We snorkeled at Place of Refuge, one of my favorite places on the island. It felt great to be in the water. Then we ate and took a nap under the palm trees. I don't think that there is anything nicer than that. We meandered all around the island. This was the sky at sunset, which as usual doesn't do justice to how beautiful it really was.