Hey y'all!
Here I am in Honoka'a. We don't have internet at home, but we have a computer lab we can get to, so I'll be able to give intermittent updates. Not too much has happened here yet, but here's a bit about where I'm at and what I'm doing.
My Quentin Burdick team is now comprised of three people. The fourth had to drop out because of a medical emergency. It was a sad story, but the important thing is that she'll be able to recover over the summer and get back to school in the fall. So, I'm here with Kristina, who is an Audiologist from California, and Erin, who is a Med student from Hilo (about an hour drive from Honoka'a). I'm the oldest and therefore wisest of the three of us, and they really look up to me. At least, that's what I tell them and I'm sure that the awkward silences that follow such proclamations mean that they're too embarrassed to admit how much they rely on my vastly superior life experience. I mean, I have several years more life experience than them. You can't fake this stuff.
Anyway, they're both cool, though not really into the whole "simple living" thing. Not that they have anything against it, just not what they do. So it surprises me sometimes when they want to go eat at restaurants a lot, and it surprises them sometimes when I bring reused plastic grocery sacks to the store with me. Not that either of those things is strange in any way... just a matter of what each of us are used to and not used to. But the most important thing is that they both enjoy food as much as I do, so I'm sure we'll be eating well.
We're working on updating The Binder right now. It's a user guide for high school seniors to guide them through the process of applying for college... all the stuff they'll need to do throughout the year. Last year's team made it. We're updating the info, plus rewriting it to be more user friendly. Figured that's a good way to upgrade on the awesome project started last summer.
We'll also be helping out with the Asthma Camp, including putting on a skit. Ours will be Indiana Jones and the Temple of Wheeze. Oh, and in addition to mentoring a new group of high school seniors, we'll be meeting with last year's group before they head off to college.
Man, this is the most boring entry ever.
Okay, we went down to Kona the other day and had some fast food sushi with one of Erin's classmates. Then he showed us how to get to a local office supply store, because I refused to let my team shop at Walmart. We actually got into a fistfight over it. Okay, that may be a slight embellishment to the story. It was more like they said, "We can go to Walmart." And I said, "Eh... is there anyplace local?" And they said, "I don't know." And then we asked Erin's friend and he called his mom, who's a high school administrator, and she told him where we could go.
Then, because we were in Kona we... no, we didn't go to the coffee plantations (not yet), but we did go to Kona Brewing Company and had some beer. We got a sampler, which was four small beers (equivalent to two pints). Erin was driving, so she passed up. I'm a lightweight, so I just had one. Kristina can drink a pitcher plus two beers by herself, so she had the other three. We all walked away not drunk, but I was pleasantly... pleasant. AND, the beer I sampled was Kona coffee beer. It was a porter that actually had Kona coffee in it. Very interesting. I'd say good even, but not something I would crave. I'd drink it again, though I wouldn't go out of my way to do so.
Coffee and Beer, married in a happy Kona union.
Also, I saw some old black lava fields. I didn't even recognize them for what they were at first, because I'd never seen that kind of thing in person. People would take white coral and write their names on it. Miles of black with white writing spread out over it. It's crazy interesting to look at. Got some pictures, but my camera's batteries gave out.
And I had left my swimsuit on Oahu, so I bought a new one from the Clearance rack at Kmart. And, I'm still doing PT for my foot. Ev gave me a workout schedule to do which includes squats and split squats, along with balance exercises and heel raises and stuff. I'm hopeful that I'm going to develop a butt, which'll be cool, because I've never had one before. We're not exactly close to any beaches, but I'm sure we'll get to some during the trip, and I'll be able to rock out my twelve dollar bikini and my PT-toned gluts. Ha, oh, and we live on a mountainside basically. Walking down mainstreet is a basically flat walk. Turning left or right off of mainstreet suddenly takes you on a steep climb or decline. Kristina walked a mile downhill (right) and back up yesterday and said she's really aching today. So we have a new goal of being able to walk the breadth as well as the length of the town by the time we leave, without getting winded or overly sore. The walk to the computer lab for instance -- it's only half a mile tops uphill, but it's a very steep uphill. This'll take some practice, but we intend to have nice butts to show for it when all is said an done.
And therein lies the benefit of having an all-girl team. If I was living with boys, no matter how metrosexual, I doubt we'd have come up with that goal for the summer. Oh, I mean, we have other goals too. It's just that that one is the most important by far. Also some other stuff about helping some teens be the first in their families to go to college and silly stuff like that. Secondary stuff. You know.
Anyway, that's what's happened so far, in these last few days. I'll update again when I get a chance, and something interesting has happened. Lots of love, kati
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