adjusting.

it's been two weeks. lot's of things have been accomplished and i am slowly adjusting to my new life. today i had two things happen to me that are so illustrative of hawaii culture. i have learned to fend for myself on the east coast. you want it done, so do it. you want help, won't get it, in fact what you thought would take 15 minutes takes an hour. (now i need the biggest disclaimer right here because there are people in philly who would do anything for me. i experienced an immense amount of God's grace through the loveliness of those who became like family to me.....so this is indeed a generalization about an uptight and fast paced culture)

now that that's out of the way....

hawaii niceness#1: this morning my phone was acting up and not letting me make calls out. i had driven 20 minutes to pick up a surfboard i was buying, but needed to contact the seller about the location of his house.  so being industrious as i am, i found a pay phone at a nearby park, threw in my 25 cents and before i  could even dial, an iphone was being flung in my face along with the beautiful voice of a guy offering for me to use it. he made sure i got my 25 cents back and proceeded to help me make two different calls. he was working, parked with his truck full of surfboards waiting to give lessons or sell a board. i assured him i had a great deal on a sweet board and then i was off to meet mr. surfboard seller. who, btw.... lowered the price without even me asking.

hawaii niceness #2: i was at maui coffee roasters to do some work on my laptop and ordered a decaf (only caffeine in the mornings is my new thing) coffee. i grabbed my two bucks to pay the barista and said he didn't want it. in my state of confusion i said 'for real' and he said yeah 'for real'. reality was that he was going to throw out that pot soon anyway, but he could have easily still charged me.

these seem rather simple, but for some reason these made an impression on me today. i am seeing a need to let my guard down. a need to stop expecting to be taken advantage of. a need to slow to the rhythms of this island.  it's possible that these little things may stop phasing me over time. right now it's stirred up gratitude in me and so i hope to keep my eyes open for more 'hawaii niceness' for a long time to come.

and just so you don't think this is totally paradise, a photography friend of mine just got $3000 worth of equipment stolen!

chow fun.  fair favorite #1.

malasadas. fair favorite #2