Settling in

It has been a turbulent week, as I told Matt on one of our hurried phone calls during all this moving in business. Thursday I got things rolling by taking a taxi to the electric and gas companies to get everything switched on. I learned the very adult thing called a security deposit. No fun for my bank account, haha. The quickest they could get everything switched on was Monday, which wasn’t ideal but it would work. Sydney’s friend/coworker Brian helped us move in on Friday because he has a big truck and he’s just very nice. We stayed the night despite no power, just because we didn’t have anywhere else to go! Roughing it, haha.

Saturday morning we got up early and caught the bus to Waimea to meet with Syd’s family. Her younger brother Chris had his last two baseball games that day and we were going to go together. It was a long day at the ball fields- it kept raining so we were trapped in the Suburban for a good part of the day. But after they ordered us pizza and we all watched E.T. together because Chris had never seen it.

The next morning was Sunday and Sydney had to work at 8 so her mom drove us back to Hilo (about an hour drive) early with a table to put in our kitchen. She hadn’t seen the house yet, so she and I headed there after dropping Sydney off. Then we went to Walmart to take care of my huge list of immediate needs- broom, dish soap, glasses, silverware, trash bags, hangers, towels… hahaha all that stuff REALLY adds up!! By the time we had finished and unloaded everything Sydney was getting off work (about noon) so we went to Island Naturals to grocery shop. It’s an organic food store that’s in the shopping center RIGHT next to where we live. It’s basically the reason we were so eager to move in to this house- a grocery store less than two minutes walking distance?? Yes please! We still had no power so we couldn’t get much, but we got enough to last us. We ate lunch together from Island Natural’s hot bar- delicious organic food!- then Syd’s mom Justine headed home. Sydney, Brian, and I wanted to spend the rest of the afternoon at the beach, but we were obligated to go back to Syd’s old house to help clean up a bit. We were hoping to take off the trash and recycling and then get out of there, but Suzie was there alone, trying to clean and pack for her trip home, and she was really frazzled. So we got stuck there for a while sweeping and going through things. We managed to get a free sleeping bag and a poster, as well as a Buddha lawn ornament :P I love free things!! When we finally escaped we headed to the beach but we went to one we’d never been to and it was very rocky and we hiked along for a while trying to find a good spot to settle down and one didn’t ever come up. We swam for a few minutes in a tidal pool but it was getting late and we were hungry so we left. We went to eat at a Japanese restaurant that’s right around the corner from where we live. It was really authentic, which was interesting. I order sushi, an Alaska roll- raw salmon, avocado, and cucumber. It was SO good- sushi is really growing on me!

Monday morning Sydney went to work and I was stuck home waiting for the utilities guys to come. The electric man came quickly and we got our power, hooray! I had to wait the longest time for the gas man though, which was hard for me because I’ve gotten into the routine of getting up with Sydney at 6:30 and eating breakfast together, then running, then showering and going out for the day to get things done. I had a list of errands I wanted to do before it got too unbearably hot to walk long distances… but instead I just had to wait around at the house. It was okay though because I was able to charge my phone and call mom finally. I don’t have internet  at the house so she searched Craigslist for a bed for me and called with the leads. I called about a queen size bed with a boxspring for $160- such a good price!!- and set up an appointment to go look at it. When the gas man finally came and left, I killed two birds with one stone by running downtown to do my errands. I had to wear a little backpack so I could have my wallet and the library book I needed to return, and it was a bad idea because it moved when I ran and it rubbed my collarbone raw L But I got everything done, plus some browsing in shops, then headed home. When Sydney and Brian got back from work, Brian took me to look at the bed. I couldn’t resist getting it even though it’s used and older because it was a great price and the guy is leaving today so he really needed to sell it. Brian came to the rescue again and got my new bed in the house. Then he left and Sydney and I got down to business unpacking our rooms and organizing the kitchen. We realized that we hadn’t bought any cleaning supplies like we meant to the day before with her mom, so we walked down to Island Naturals and bought a multipurpose cleaner, concentrated dish soap, and laundry detergent. We also bought some fresh frozen ravioli stuffed with mushroom to make for dinner. It turned out delicious- we added angel hair pasta to make it go further, and then made our own sauce by sautéing garlic in butter, adding cut up cherry tomatoes, then putting in some canned tomato sauce and spices. Yummy! We went to bed feeling like we had gotten a lot done.

Yesterday morning Sydney and I had oatmeal, like we’ve gotten into the habit of doing, and she got into her taxi to go to work. I ran my morning run, then showered, washed dishes, talked to Matthew, talked to mom, then finally got out of the house.  I walked to Ross to get bed sheets and a light weight blanket. I had lots of luck and got lots of deals. I got a mattress cover ($17), two sets of sheets ($35), another pillow ($8), a thin soft blanket ($20), a kitchen rug ($7), and a set of wash cloths ($3). I’m not used to spending money on these things, that’s for sure! But it definitely helps me curb my shopping addiction- no more buying clothes for me. I didn’t even look, believe it or not :P I need the rest of the money that I have saved up, especially while I’m jobless right now. I’ve decided to apply at the Subway on the corner because that’s a job that I could do an excellent job at easily. I hope that would mean that I’d get lots of hours, but we’ll see if I get the job first :P

When I was paying at Ross I realized there was no way I could walk home with all that stuff! So I had to call a taxi. Have I talked about taxi coupons yet? I’m not sure, but you can get a book of 15 ‘coupons’ (they’re actually more like tickets) for $30 and each of them is worth 4 miles of taxi driving. It’s a great deal, and the taxi company is open 24 hours a day, so it’s nice to have that as a backup always. I took a nap in my bed to test it out :P When Sydney got home we went to Boiling Pots with Brian and another of her coworkers, Hope. I love that place!! It's so fun to jump into the deep water and swim around by the waterfalls. 

This morning I made scrambled eggs and oatmeal for us to have for breakfast and then I made Sydney  her lunch while she was in the shower. A sandwich spread with pesto, with provolone, cherry tomatoes, and sprouts. Yummy! Then I went on my run, showered, and now I'm at Kope Kope (pronounced ko-pay ko-pay), a coffee shop right by Island Naturals, using their internet. I hope to catch a bus to the beach today while Sydney is working. Then, who knows!

Picture time?

Here is Sydney and Brian hunting for prawns. Remember my first underwater picture, of the crawdad looking thing? That’s a prawn. They are actually quite delicious…we cooked some up in a stir fry one night before we moved out. Yummy :D You catch them with the device in the boy’s hand on the right side- a dowel rod, with three sharp copper nail-like protrusions coming out one end. The other end has a loop for a handle that’s attached to the rod with some elastic. You keep the handle around your wrist, and grip the rod towards the other end so the elastic is taut. Then, when you let your grip go, the rod shoots forward quickly, snagging a prawn! It’s really a neat tool.

My room before:

My room after!:

See the orange at the top of my door? That’s actually stained glass! It’s the only door in the house like it J And the lamp next to it I bought on the way home yesterday from this liquidation place- it was only $10!! What you can see through my doorway is the entrance to the kitchen. I have the middle bedroom, with less windows because I’m not on a corner. I also get a ceiling fan because air flow isn’t very good. No air conditioning or heating in the house, either. It’s old and it’s Hawaii! We keep all the windows in the house open all day, with our thermostat set to outside temperature :P

Kitchen before:

Kitchen after!:

Notice how full our shelves are! We were so lucky to be able to take nearly all of that stuff for free from the last house Sydney lived in. Ashlyn had already moved out, and Suzie was leaving for New Jersey soon, so she didn’t want to keep much.

Our kitchen table, with our impromptu fruit bowl made from a huge wok :) 

Okay, that'ts going to be it for now. I'm going to work on getting internet at our house so I'll be able to keep up with this better. If anyone feels like sending us a package, you should!! We have a huge mailbox so boxes would easily fit and we would love anything at all to decorate the house, or use in the kitchen, or eat as snacks, haha. Email me for the mailing address. I'll get a concerned call from Ron if I put our new address on here :P

Love you all!!

Change of plans :)

So, the landlord of the house I last posted decided not to move as quickly as she said she would, and instead continued to show the house. We were supposed to move out of this house on Monday, but luckily the landlord is letting the three of us left here prorate the rent for these few extra days. (Mom, it'll cost me about $67 to have stayed here with Sydney. Not so bad, right?) But we decided that we should really try to find another place that would be a back up that hopefully would let us move in ASAP. I ended up finding a house wayy closer to school- barely two blocks away!- for a bit more expensive BUT offering free rent for the month of June! Since Sydney and I were going to have to split that month alone, it was going to be expensive, so that will save us quite a bit of money. The landlord is so sweet and she said she'll help us collect furniture for the house, and she has planted native plants all over the yard and said we're free to garden and grow whatever we'd like to :) She just gave me the confirmation this morning that we're good to move in as soon as we need to. I have a list of things I have to do: turn on the electricity, turn on the gas, get renter's insurance, get the lease signed, get boxes so we can pack up this house. Then there's finding furniture, and definitely finding a job because money is going to run out quickly, haha. But it's all very exciting.

So, here's the house! The one that we're actually going to move into, for sure. It's a plantation style house and we get the whole thing, but the basement is mostly unfinished storage space. But it'll be nice to have the whole place to ourselves :)

The front of the house

The side of the house

The back of the house. The hall runs from the back door to the front door with the bedrooms and a linen closet on the left and the 1/2 bath and kitchen are on the right, and the hall opens into the front living room, mostly on the right side. 

The kitchen (which I didn't take a picture of) is a good space except that it has very little counter space.. we're looking for ways to work with that, with maybe a counter-height table. 

The only other drawback is that the shower is in the downstairs, where the white door is on the backside. So to take showers we have to go down that staircase on the outside.. scandalous! :P But other than that we really like the place. I'll get more pictures up as we're moving in :) 

Yesterday I went to the other side of the island with a boy, Jake, that stayed the night. He just moved here too but he bought a car first thing so it was a perfect opportunity for me to get out of the house while Sydney was at work :) We went to what he said was the beach with the very best sand on the entire island. He was so right, it was fine white sand that felt so luxurious, and on top of that the water was crystal clear greenish turquoise, absolutely beautiful. We had to drive over lava field to get there, and then hike on a lava path past quite a few other beaches. It was a strenuous hike to get to there! So it surprised me when there were quite a few families down there. They said it's their favorite beach because it's never crowded and so picture perfect. See for yourself: 

It was totally different on the east side of the island. I think I like the lushness of this side, even if it means lots of rain. But that beach was worth the trip :) 

Hi'ilawe Falls

Yesterday Sydney and I took the bus to meet her friend Quinn and hike into Waipi'o Valley to the base of Hi'ilawe Falls. I didn't know what to expect, so I was amazed when I saw just how massive this waterfall really is! The valley opens up to the water and the waterfall feeds a river running through the valley and into the ocean. See for yourself:

We had to follow a paved road down into the valley that was so steep it was restricted for only 4 wheel drive vehicles. It was narrow and winding and I'm glad I'll never have to drive on it. When we got to the bottom of the road we entered the woods and headed towards the falls. We followed next to the river bank and crossed through the river to the other side often to get on a new path. There are lots of ways to go, so you just navigate as you go along. It was very adventurous, and when we finally got within sight of the waterfall I was amazed. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qf59phq19Sw

There was a pool of clear water at the bottom, so Sydney and I jumped in and swam around. We stood against the wall and let the water rain down around us, it was so refreshing after all that hiking. Then we hiked back and when we finally met the road again we ran into some wild horses! They were very friendly and let us come right up to them, but you could tell they wanted to be fed. When we were done petting on them we tried to walk away, but they followed us right down the street! It was comical, I wish I got it on tape when one bit Sydney's book bag to catch her while she was walking :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjdMDt18XNk
We were so lucky to have someone offer us a ride right as the road started getting steep. It was a loooong way up and it had started to rain, so we hopped in the back of their covered truckbed with their two kids and managed to make it all the way up alive :) Sydney and I took the bus back to Hilo and walked home after that. Her brother came to town and was playing drums downtown so we went to listen to him for a while. Now she's at work and I'm home with not much to do. I think I may read for a while. I've given out five resumes to places around town. One was an online listing for kitchen help at a place that makes Hawaiian treats- that'd be a neat job!
I meet with the landlord today to give her our applications and hopefully convince her to let us start renting soon. She emailed and said she wants to screen for other applicants before she makes her final decisions. She talked to a Realtor friend of hers and that was his advice.. I was bummed because it would have been perfect, and now if she takes too long to decide we have no where to move Sydney's furniture.. I'm hoping it will all come together for us.
I'll keep you updated!

You won't believe this, but....

WE HAVE A HOUSE!!
Yesterday we went to see the house that I put the link up for, but it wasn't 'the one'. It was really old and the doors were all stuck and the kitchen cabinets were bad and the bathroom was tiny. It had astroturf on the front porch :(
So I was very excited to be able to see the house I have liked the most all along- a newly renovated top half of a house located close to school and even closer to downtown. It's a three bedroom place with brand new carpeting, paint, doors, windows, electrical wiring, everything. The owner lives in Honolulu and wants to rent the top half and keep the bottom half to vacation in with her family. She's never rented it out before, her mother used to live there. She wasn't in Hilo, so she had her friend show us the house and it was just perfect. The kitchen is big, with lots of cabinets and counter space. There's a built-in hutch in the dining room area off the kitchen. The hall that has the bedrooms and bathrooms on it has two linen closets. The bedrooms all have HUGE closets, with big cupboards above them for even more storage space. The bathroom is the nicest one we've seen yet. It's just what we wanted!!

The front of the house. Up the stairs where the woman is standing is our entrance. The house is a greyish green color and you can't tell from this but it actually has quite a bit of yard, especially to the left side. And the landlady said she'd let us plant a garden!! We were pleasantly surprised about that because we had been told no before.

The kitchen sink. It was hard to get pictures of the whole kitchen. But right out this window is a Japanese cemetery with a big Oriental style temple. That's what we get instead of a neighbor! hehe

The biggest closet I've ever seen. I'm in heaven!! :P

We filled out the applications and then I called the landlady, and she said she had talked to her friend that had shown us the house and she had a a really good feeling about us. We were the first people to even look at it and she's had it listed for almost a month, and she's ready to get it rented ASAP because of all the money she's put into renovating it... so that works out wonderfully! Sydney's rent where we're staying now runs up this Sunday, and it just so happens that the landlady will be flying into Hilo on Sunday and wants to meet with us to finalize everything and sign the papers! I just can't believe how perfectly it's working out :)
It will be fun but strange to move into our own place.. We have no furniture at all, haha. We'll need a couch, a dining room table, dressers, a washer and dryer... and I'll need a bed and a bookshelf. I suppose we'll have to do that gradually though, as we save up money.
Something else to be excited about- the job I want to get at the flower shop is just down the block!! It is less than a mile, less than a 5 minute walk away :) I can't think of anything more perfect. Wish me luck!!

Black Sand Beach

Yesterday I went to a newly formed black sand beach. It's somewhat close to the volcano, where lava has taken the land. It recently made the old black sand beach inaccessible, but a new one has formed. So the locals have begun planting coconuts to grow palm trees all around this new one:

Here's me down at the beach :) 

Here's an oasis that I found while exploring the lava rock. This was neat to find, because that morning Sydney had told me the Hawaiian word for exactly this. It's "kipuka" and it describes plants that push their way through the lava rock and flourish, forming an oasis. 

I tried to upload a video onto this blog, but I don't think it's possible. So instead I'll be putting any videos I make up on youtube, and link over from there. So here's one of the 360 degree view of the whole beach area. The wind makes it nearly impossible to hear what I'm saying.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nt08dRtKmvs

After the beach, Sydney was finally off work so then she and I hung out for the rest of the day. We ran into a friend of hers and he took us to a boy's house that lives on a fruit ranch and we got to pick lychees right off the tree. (Anyone know what these are? If not, look them up!! They're absolutely delicious. I think fairies would eat them :P They have a hard red shell that you peel off, and then the inside is a fleshy, juicy white with a smooth brown pit. They're sweet and light, so yummy) 

Then he gave us a ride to the grocery store, where we bought ingredients to make a mango birthday cake (I had found a mango tree close to the beach entrance, and I picked them off the ground and ate one as a snack- I couldn't believe just how much better they taste here! The texture is completely different, they're so sweet and juicy. I guess it's because they can ripen on the tree for so long) 

Mom, Bridget: you would be so proud of me! I invented the cake recipe myself. We took a yellow boxed cake mix, and substituted blended mango mush for the oil, and almond milk for the water, and then used eggs like it called for. Then when it was done I made an icing to go over it by getting butter very soft and whipping it with a fork, then slowly adding powdered sugar until it was really thick. We put it on the cake when it was still warm, so the butter melted down into it... yum :) 

We also bought dinner at the grocery store, and some bananas and oatmeal for breakfast this week.

Grocery store sushi and hummus! It was so good, and cheap!

Today I'm going to work on making a resume, so I can apply for a job at a flower shop in town. Also I'll just need it to be applying for jobs in general, that's just the first one I'm going to try for. Sydney is at work again, so I'm not sure what else I'll do today. I may find a big tree to read under :) Her mom is coming to town today to run some errands, and she's going to come with us to look at a house at 2:30. Here it is: http://honolulu.craigslist.org/big/apa/1764714225.html
That's all I have planned for today. More later :)

I made it!

Wow, it's been hectic since my last entry! I can't believe I managed to get almost everything all packed up in my luggage and boxes... boy, am I glad that's over :) The plane flights weren't any trouble, and even my 4 hour layover in Honolulu went by quickly. Here's a picture of the view flying into Honolulu, the first sighting of land in a loooong time:

Sydney met me at the airport, and we're staying at her house with her two room mates. She had to work today, so we got up early and walked to a breakfast place called "Surfboard Cafe." She got a delicious panini- scrambled eggs, pesto sundried tomato cream cheese, and tomato. I got oatmeal with walnuts and fruit, yum :) 

Then she caught a taxi to work and I walked back to the house. I had made plans the night before to go out with a friend of Sydney's that had come with her to pick me up from the airport. We went to "Boiling Pots" where there's a series of waterfalls that feed into these big pools of water, all formed in volcanic rock. It was so neat! We jumped into the water and swam up through the pools to get close to the waterfall. It was so gorgeous..

And here's my very first underwater shot with my awesome birthday present from mom, Ron, and Matthew :D Too cool, right?? I'm so excited to get to use that more.

We also walked around down town Hilo and the farmer's market, went to a used book store, went to the Mauna Lua Macadamia Nut Factory (where they give out free samples, YUM!!), and got lunch at a Thai restaurant. Then Sydney got off work and we tried to go to the zoo, but it was closed. The zoo here is free! We'll make it down there another time. Instead we went on a walk through the Queen Liliuokalani Gardens. They're Japanese styled and absolutely beautiful. I still can't get over the native flora... it is stunning. And even better- when it gets dark there's this chorus of coqui frogs that is overwhelmingly loud- it sounds like you're in the rainforest! I love it, it sounds so soothing, but the locals tend to hate them! Here is a video so you can hear too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5HFtl5EvoI&feature=related And in the morning the birds sound so different than at home.. I woke up in the best mood listening to them.
Overall, I'm loving it so far. The weather is absolutely amazing. In the morning it was cool and a bit overcast, but very enjoyable walking weather. Throughout the day it warmed up quite a bit but there was a nice breeze and the clouds kept the sun from being too harsh. Everyone is so friendly! I struck up conversation with lots of people today. I hadn't thought about how I'm going to be meeting SO many new people, and now that I'm here I realize how fun this is going to be. Sydney and I searched Craigslist and called a big list of people about three bedroom houses for rent close to the school. We left messages, so hopefully we can get that taken care of this week. I'm so very excited about the time to come. I'll try to update this with new pictures as often as I can- I can already tell it's going to be hard to want to come inside and get on the computer! haha :)
I love you all!