Week 1

Tomorrow will be the official 1 week mark of my stay here in Hawaii. Truthfully I feel like I've already been here a month just because of all the things I've done and seen! I had a good full 3 work days on the farm picking coffee cherry and doing work in the bed and breakfast, I went downtown a few times, had an AMAZING 4th of July, visited a few great beaches, went to a local Church this morning, and had a couple car problems...

For the 4th, me and some buddies went into downtown Kona and watched the little parade they put on every year. It was pretty small and had a very local feel to it, I had a great time! Later that night we watched the Kona fireworks show which was pretty amazing especially since it was right over the water and we were super close. It may be the best 4th I've ever had!

Today we hiked down to the beach and also to a lava tube which was so incredibly extraordinary in every way... we crawled way down deep into the tube until we reached the water which was practically invisible. I couldn't see the water at all until I saw something floating on the surface. It was about 15 to 20 feet deep and I stood on a flat rock where the water came up to my ankles and I could peer over the edge into the deep pool. It was completely pitch dark in the cave, we turned off our flashlights for a moment and there was literally no difference between opening or closing my eyes. It was also probably the most silent place I've ever been. The whole thing was straight from a movie, I'd never seen anything like it!

As for car troubles... on Friday I had to change the tire on an old farm truck before taking it to the beach and as for tonight... well, lets just say we took the car over some pretty rough terrain and got a flat tire. Luckily we made it to our neighbors house and they had an air compressor to pump up the tire... Sadly as we were filling it with air, the tire blew up right in our faces and my baseball cap flew off and went back about 10 feet. Oh, don't worry, I am fine. I couldn't hear a thing for a couple seconds and my face got a tiny bit blackened, but now I can say I had a tire blow up in my face. That's pretty cool, right? Anyway, we put on the spare tire and got the car home fine. That's my second tire change in 3 days... I guess that's life on the farm!

Overall, my first week was a complete success. Though I feel a littleee bit homesick at times, the joy and independence I get here overcomes it! Hawaii is a beautiful place and there is no where else I'd rather be right now.

PS: I've already had a few people think I was a local here! Goal completed!