I've been here about 48 hours now, and I'm finally starting to feel human. The flight was quite tedious: even after a break after our snacks, and a movie, and the sun was down.... and we still had an hour to go. I swear the 6 hour flight seemed longer than the 12 hour flight to New Zealand. Then again, I was asleep much of that flight...
Dave was at the aiport to pick me up, along with Mahina, who apparently is quite the night owl. Knowing it was her birthday party the next day, she kept up steady chatter on the way home - "Can we look in your suitcase? What presents did you bring me? Can I open a present?" I managed to read her to sleep and crash - midnightish Hawaiian time, so 3 a.m. where I'm from. Yikes!
I was still up early the next day, still on pacific time - 6 a.m. here, 9 a.m. there. Mahina's b-day party started at 10 a.m., and the bouncy house guy showed up at 9:30 or so to set up the bouncy house. A pink castle. We also had an inflatable wading pool and a shelter over it - it was hot! Humid too, but I'd guess the heat was around 90. I completely understand how southern cultures evolved siesta...in the middle of the day, you don't want to do anything other than lie as still as possible and try not to sweat.
There were dozens of kids and parents - probably around 30 folks or so at the peak, and maybe 40 people in total. People potlucked in food, and the kids had a book exchange. It was a nice, long party and ended up about 6 in the evening. The thing is, the sun was already going down - and where I am, it's not dark now until about 9:15 in the evening. So I was ready for bed... oh, about 8. Fortunately, Mahina was worn out too and we got her to sleep long around 9 or so. I was not far behind.
This morning was easier. Not quite so hot, not quite so sweaty. We went to Kailua beach, but not for all that long. I took another mid-morning rest, and finally feel like I'm on a bit of a local schedule. Or at least it's 9:15 PDT and I'm not exhausted yet. I wonder if there's some delayed reaction in here to the youth con from last weekend... goodness knows I didn't get enough sleep there.
It never fails to amaze me that we can basically spend the day hanging out with the kids, going to the beach, and fixing dinner, and that will be an entirely exhausting day in itself. Time flows so slowly here. Dave and I talked about this on the way home from the beach: he said it's great as long as you aren't trying to get anything done. Laid-back, beautiful, idyllic.... this is a great place to do nothing, which is pretty much what I'm doing.
I'll try to take photos of the geckos and the lizards and plants... the sheer lushness of this land is always overwhelming. No matter how many houses or people - it seems like we're just borrowing the land, and the land is always ready to take over as soon as you give any ground. It's wild and constantly creeping in everywhere...
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