Happy Halloween!

Tonight was my first real Halloween. It was just like in the movies with kids going trick or treating, grownups having a good time, and an entire neighborhood opening their homes or sitting outside and giving out candy in scary costumes. Some houses really went all out, for example the haunted house that had a graveyard and a labyrinth with live actors scaring people. It was fun and I couldn't help but thinking that it was all wonderfully over the top and American. :)

My favorite part of the night was he Star Wars house. I even got a picture with Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker! :)

























































































And what about MY outfit? Well, I never got one. I was supposed to but it turned out that I had to work so I didn't have time. This is the best I could do:



A little make-up to make up for my non-existing costume. Jordan didn't have one either but next year we will. Until then...

... May the force be with you!

Location:Kihei

Road to Hana

We took the car and drove around Haleakala. It literally took us all day, from 8am to 8pm, but it was magnificent as always. :)



Jackson chameleon at Alii Lavender Farm in Kula



Ho'okipa beach



Ho'okipa



My secret spot 1



My secret spot 2



Wailua falls



Another waterfall...



Other side of it









Keiki means child in Hawaiian



The grave of Charles Lindbergh






The church next to the grave

Location:Maui

Homeless guy #2

Another homeless guy walked by my bus stop this morning. As he passed me, I offered him the parfait that I had brought for breakfast but he didn't want it. In fact, I think he was a bit offended and I felt bad for asking.

It is so weird how homeless people here look so scary but are so harmless. Most of them just want to be left alone. If I'm walking to work in the morning and one of them is walking in the opposite direction, THEY cross the street to avoid ME. I read in Maui News that more than half of all homeless in Maui finished high school, and about 11% have a college degree. Take a second and think about that. How is that even possible?

How is it even possible to go through intermediate school, then not only pass high school but do it well enough to be accepted into a college, go to college, somehow getting through college and all the costs involved with that, managing to get a degree, and then after all that work, effort and responsibility, end up on the street. How is that even possible? It is hard to get a college degree, almost half of all students end up dropping out. You need to work hard and you need quite a bit of brain to back it up. Plus, you're no kid anymore, you're at least 20 when you get a degree. How come everything is fine until you're adult and THEN things go wrong? For so many people, nonetheless.

I have such a hard time understanding some things...

Location:Bus stop in Kihei

Spotted Dolphins

We saw some spotted dolphins a few days ago. I think that they are my favorite dolphin here in Hawai'i.

And here are some pictures my hard working collegues:



Kevin, doing nothing as usual.



Hollis, my boss. No need to comment. :)



And Chris, captain of Ocean Explorer.

Rescheduled

I came all this way just to book a time at another clinic on Thurday. Luckily I'm off then. All in all, this whole thing went way easier than I would have expected. Although it would have been better if they had answered my calls or called me back (I left messages); that way I wouldn't have had to go all the way to Wailuku.

Wailuku

My ear started hurting after I had water in it for about a week. It didn't hurt for very long, about a day or two, but since it still feels kind of funny and since I spend time in the ocean freediving everyday in my work, I decided to have it checked out. Since I don't have an insurance at the moment (bad idea by the way) I made my way to the free clinic in Wailuku. I came here early (a habit of mine when going to a place I've never been before) and the clinic hasn't opened yet. It took me about two hours to get here by bus but I don't mind. I have my iPhone. :)

I overslept and didn't have time for breakfast so when I randomly passed by a sandwich place I stopped to get one. Happiness!! THEN the guy in the window tells me that they're out of bread! Seriously? At 8 in the morning?

Oh well, I'll just get a manapua then. This is what it looked like:



It's very unhealthy, made of fluffy white bread and fatty pork but I was hungry and normally it's good. This manapua, however, was not. It was horrible! It had quail eggs in it together with some stiff sausage. Yuck!

Oh well... Here are some pictures of my co-workers and me on Taco Tuesday night at a bar/restaurant called Fred's. It was about a month ago.

Location:Wailuku

På Svenska

Jag blev arg på min kapten häromdagen. Han har en vana att prata med folk (läs beordra) på ett sätt som får en att undra om han tror att man är dum i huvudet. Han avbryter när man svarar och han lyssnar inte en sekund men kräver total uppmärksamhet närhelst han har något att säga. Att hans enda alternativ till ovanstående är när han för en gångs skull är nöjd med arbetsdagen och säger "Good girl!" gör inte saken bättre (jag är ingen jävla hund!)

När han för tredje gången i rad förklarar hur man lagar en mask och jag redan två gånger har sagt till honom högt och tydligt att jag har förstått, så blir jag förbannad och säger "God f***ing damn it! I already told you that I'll do it that way!"

Visst hade det effekt (ett litet tag) men jag var ändå lite orolig att det skulle bli jobbigt att jobba tillsammans, så jag bad senare om ursäkt samtidigt som jag förklarade att det är irriterande att bli avbruten.

När jag senare nämner för en kollega att jag blev arg så svarade han "Bra. Säg till honom att han är en j***a skitstövel. För det är han!"

Sen dess har jag insett att jag inte är den enda som blivit förbannad och det får mig att känna mig lite bättre.

Location:Kihei, on the bus

Crew of the Day

I thought I'd post some picks of my co-workers. Here are the ones I worked with today:



Hollis the team leader, so basically my boss. He's cool though.



Marty the musician that plays on our raggae cruises. I just met him today.



Andrew and Dana, both awesome and fun. I love working with them!



Captain Doug. Don't be fooled by his smiley face. He normally looks more like this:



When I jumped onto the dock I met another one of our captains, Jay:



He always looks like that. :) He's a fun old hippie that never gets mad.

My landlord is coming tomorrow so I have to clean the apartment, which I hate more than anything. Oh well...

But hey, we saw spotted dolphins today!!! :)) It was awesome! One of them jumped 3 meters out of the water right next to the boat, it was crazy!

Tired

I had to stay over at work today; something about an engine part that was to be changed. It made me miss the tasting of the new restaurant in the harbor. :/

I hung out with Chelsea after work. Nothing special, just went to the beach and then looked in some clothing stores. Oh, I bought a pair of earrings today. :)))




Yay! :) I like them a lot. Small, silver, marine life related. Perfect.

Then Connie came over and we had tea. Very grown up... I'm so tired right now AND I'm getting up early tomorrow so I'm brushing my teeth and heading to bed. Good night!

Cliffs and Gaps

When I arrived to the bus stop this morning I saw the homeless man once again. He was searching through a trash can, once again.

I wanted to take a picture of him standing there, with a skirt made of stiff fabric, shoes so old that the soles had to be tied up not to fall off, and hair and skin so dirty that it would be impossible to guess his natural colors.

I wanted to post that photo here on my blog together with a photo of one of the houses in Makena to give you guys a glimpse of the extreme differences that exists here in Hawai'i.

I wanted to do take a photo of the man and I was about to, but I didn't. It felt... WRONG. If he'd see me photograph him then he would understand why and the thought created a feeling of shame and guilt. I decided that he's not a circus freak and passed him with my iPhone still in my pocket.

Location:Bus stop by Stella Blues, Kihei

Excited

I have great news! Daniela, the chief researcher at the Pacific Whale Foundation, said that she wants to get me into a paid position at the research department. I wold work there one day a week instead of on the boats. It wouldn't be until December at the very earliest and nothing is for sure or even close to it, but it feels great to know that Daniela wants me there as an employee. Ah, this made my day! I love working in the boats and could easily do it for several years but eventually I do want to end up in research and I want to stay in touch with that part of the field until that time comes. :)

Good Night!

Good night guys!









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