Feels Like Home...Again!!

One very small slip of the pen can cause a tremendous degree of frustration and anxiety.

We packed our things up into a container on June 12, 2006, eager to start our adventure and live like we're camping. With a comfortable estimate of date of receipt in hand (July 7) , we felt very happy about our lot in life and continued on our merry way...camp-style. To make a long story short our things FINALLY arrived on July 25 and only because we had some wonderful friends who knew friends in high port places. Our container left Winnipeg by rail to Tacoma port in Washington State. A very "diligent" customs officer at the international border counted 53 units packed, and cleared the container for shipment by barge to Honolulu port. Honolulu port received the container around July 7th, counted 138 units and said...."Whoa...now hold on dere little wahine(missy). Dere's dis biggah misteak. Dey need to findah outah where dese mo' stuff come from! Dey cannah send dis dere, 'til dis is fixed!" Well now, according to our Canadian freight forwarder's papers (which were faxed to the local Hawaiian moving company), there were originally 138 units packed and loaded. So the error was made in Tacoma. Will anyone admit their mistake and correct the error?? But of course not, darling. So, the container sat and sat and sat in Honolulu until a wonderful church member felt so sorry for us that on July 20, she made a few calls. A homeland security officer called us that evening with a few questions and that morning we received a call that our container had been released and had made the barge from Honolulu to Nawiliwili port in Kauai and would be in port by Saturday. It had to be checked and released and would be delivered on July 25th in the am. Yipeeee! So that's the short version. There were alot of phone calls in between with alot of incorrect information between ports that was passed on to us. A bit of an emotional roller coaster.

But the important thing is... Ben now has his 5th appendage and the world is okay again.

It was like Christmas this week as Oceanic Time Warner Cable came the day after our stuff arrived and hooked up digital cable, road runner high speed internet and digital phone service. So if you call us, it flashes on our tv if we are watching it. How cool is that??!! We can screen our calls without getting off the couch!!! Hey, remember...DIS is paradise!!!

Here comes Franklin

Today while Ed was kayaking the fabulous Na Pali coast, the kids and I explored the Poipu and Brennecke beaches of Kauai looking for the awe-inspiring endangered leatherback sea turtle. We hit the beach for a quick swim and then off explore the tide pools amidst the volcanic rock of the southern coastline. We checked every nook and cranny of the tide pools among the rocks but couldn't see any turtles soaking up the sun. We had just met a couple who saw "tons" of them and yet we couldn't find any. Where could they be? Perplexed and anxious to locate these creatures, we continued to explore the rock when all of a sudden we look out into the ocean and saw one head after another poking out from beneath the surface of the water. Just off the rocks there were countless sea turtles frolicking in the ocean flapping their flippers and exposing their shells.as they dove beneath the water. Heads would poke up 3 or 4 at a time to take a lung full of air before diving back in. We were very happy to have experienced this moment with the endangered sea turtle. It was so much fun and we are planning our next visit very soon!

Hey boss...da plane, da plane!!

Wailua Falls...made famous by the ever popular evening soap producer, Aaron Spelling. The show's opening shot zooms in and focuses on the twin torrents of Kauai's liquid sunshine....if you aren't too young, you will have seen this spectacular waterfall on....which show?...can you guess?? A hint is in the title of the blog...ah...let me see now....hint #2 (if you need it)...Herve Villecheze...Mr. Tattoo???? The guests have arrived!! You are correct...if you said, "Fantasy Island". Last Sunday we took a drive up to Kapa'a to spend some money at Cost-U-Less (the equivalent of Costco but with no membership and not as big) and on the way we passed Hanamaul'u where the now famous falls are located. A long winding drive on a very narrow two-way highway and 40 some minutes later, we arrived with camera in hand totally looking like tourists. (we don't have the locals' tan yet!!) No hiking involved (there's even a parking lot)...click...click and you're done. I was hoping for a bit of an adventurous hike.

The culture is totally relaxed and good for the blood pressure. We are learning new things about life, food and language. The local slang language is pidgin. For example.. to say that someone is no longer waiting for you to arrive and has left the area, converts to ...."he no stay dere". When someone is talking full pidgin, it can be quite difficult to understand. I can get easily lost in translation. Food is very different but very tasty (except the poi...yuck...tastes like Lepages glue and looks like it too). I have tried a variety of new things including:

1. lomi salmon (diced raw salmon with onion and diced tomato)
2. sashimi (raw fish)
3. poi (yuck...root staple)
4. poki (marinated raw fish...tuna, I think) Actually quite good.
5. Seared ahi...seared tuna (raw in the middle) Not so good.

Language lesson of the day:

1. puupuus - appetizers
2. shishi - to pee/urinate
3. ono - delicious
4. keiki - children
5. pau - all done
6. slippahs - flip flops
7. mauka - toward the mountain
8. makai - toward the ocean
9. puka - holes in clothes
10. houlies - what we are. People not native to the island.

Our things still haven't arrived...the "Ben" is very frustrated. He is missing his 5th and most important appendage...his computer! After 2 weeks of docking in Honolulu due to a small clerical error, we are finally notified that customs has cleared it and it made the Friday barge to Nawiliwili Port in Kauai. We should receive our container on Tuesday. It does help to know friends who know friends. A friend of ours talked to her friends and the next morning it was on the barge!! It's all in who you know! Thank You Jackie and thank you, Jesus!!!

Ed was invited to kayak the Na Pali coast this a.m. at 5. What an adventure!! If you are unfamiliar with the coast, do look it up on www.napali.com, it is spectacular in its raw beauty. I am so jealous. The kayaking alone is 8 hours so I except him home soggy and exhausted around 8pm tonight.

Not to worry, the girls and I had a Thursday girls night out in Lihue this past week. Seeing "The Devil wears Prada" and munching on puupuus (appetizers) at Dukes in Nawiliwili. It was very timely and very fun. Thanks to Robin for seeing my need and organizing the evening. Next month girls...we are on!!!

Things are going well. Ben is still having some difficulty and wants to go home to Winnipeg. Our structure and routine is nonexistent so we are praying that once our things come and school starts, he will settle down and let himself enjoy life a bit more. He is "training" in the Audio/Visual booth every Sunday morning and hope to be "on staff" there ASAP!!! This is one thing that he is so pumped about and cannot get enough of.

The Kalaheo church community continues to be very warm and receptive. They have definitely been an integral part of our transition to life here on the island. We send our "Mahalos" for their kindness and generosity.