Hawai'i - Day One continued...

Okay, so back to where I left off. I love flying, so getting on the plane and taking off was very exciting. The flight itself was relatively uneventful, though I was sitting next to and amongst a large group of high school girls flying out to Hawai'i for a band competition. The girl next to me wouldn't sit still for the entire five hour flight, and kept taking pictures of herself and one of her buddies. *sigh*.

The approach to the islands was very cool. Five hours of blue ocean and some clouds broken by 30 minutes of flying past really beautiful drops of land. We saw the Big Island first, with its volcanoes, then Maui, then Molokai and L'anai, and finally looking down saw Diamondhead and Oahu. We flew over Honolulu and Waikiki, and past the island, to turn and bank in and down and land in Honolulu. It was a beautiful approach.

I got off the plane, found the rental place, got my car, and with the help of Jeff's navigation device, made my way out of Honolulu and heading towards Waianae (the town where the school is). In a valley next to Waianae is the town of Makaha, where the resort and golf club was that I was staying at. I got there in good time. What I saw on the way up there gave me second thoughts. The beaches all the way up the coast were covered in makeshift tents of all kinds, and old, broken down cars. I'd been warned by the lady at the rental car agency that those tents belonged to homeless people. After a while, the beaches cleared slightly and I found myself in Waianae, passing the high school.

This area looked pretty rough. In my mind I was comparing it to the rundown areas of Delray and Deerfield Beach in Florida, and the shabbier parts of Watts and Santa Ana where my current high school is. A lot of it reminded me of towns I'd seen in Central Texas, as most of the soil on the island is a deep red color, and quite a bit of this area tries to be agricultural. The whole time I was thinking, "where is the tropical paradise I've been reading about?". But I had been forwarned by my readings about this area. I guess I wasn't quite prepared for the reality of it. These things always look different in my head.

The resort was beautiful. The only thing that kept me from totally enjoying it was that it was soooooooo humid. It was hot too, but that had something to do with the fact that I had worn jeans for the flight. But the humidity was oppressive. I mean, I almost think it was worse than Florida, but I'm not sure since I've become so accustomed to SoCal living. I immediately missed the cool, dry air of CDM and the SoCal coast. I'd brought my big Museum Crew jacket with me, and I knew right away that if I moved there, I would never get a chance to wear it. Now I know what that book I read meant when it said that a true islander gives all of their cold weather clothes to the Salvation Army.

Once I got my room, I pretty much passed out (since I'd been up since 4am my time, and that was a long flight) until dinner time-ish. I headed back out for dinner in Honolulu, wanting to explore a bit. I was pretty tired though, and didn't end up doing much exploring. I went back to the resort and that ended my day. The weather was pretty dull, so the sunset wasn't exciting or anything.

That's all for Day One.

Hawai'i - Day One

Last week, I had the great fortune to be able to go visit Hawai'i. However, while I had planned to spend quite a lot of time relaxing, and not thinking of any of my students for 3 days, I wasn't there entirely for fun. I went because I was checking out a job opportunity.

A few weeks ago, I went to a job fair in Long Beach (a job fair for teachers) and I spent quite a while talking to a school from Hawai'i. They got really excited when they found out all the artistic things I can do and teach. The principal of the school, Joann, went off for a few minutes and then returned to tell me that she'd created a class on the spot, a class for Graphic Arts for next year. They were so excited. So, I went home very happy, and very bewildered. How could it be that easy? There had to be something more to it.

Turns out there was. The high school is in a town on Oahu, that has the reputation of being one of the roughest, toughest neighborhoods in Hawai'i. It is mostly native Hawai'ian, and Pacific Islander, and from what I've heard and read, is compared to places like Inglewood and Watts. It is also on the side of the island of Oahu that is the hottest, brownest side -- the Leeward side. I did a lot of reading and researching about the island, the town, and Hawai'i in general. Now it was time to go visit the school.

When I left LA I had the mental position that whatever this job was, it was a job and that is hard to find for an art teacher. I figured that if I had done my student teaching in LA, most likely I would end up at a school that was no different, really. And that is still true. But I wasn't really prepared for what I found.

Um...I'll continue this in another post. I don't want it to get too long, and I have to go keep my grandmother company.

ta!

A Temporary Truce

This morning, upon entering the ceramics room with one of my students, I happened to notice something that would normally disturb the heck out of me. I was getting my pottery supplies out of the cabinet when I saw a spider, calmly hanging from a long strand of web, from the ceiling above the glaze area. This would be the perfect place for someone to walk into the little bugger. It was about a 1/4 of an inch big. So, I got a piece of paper towel, and amidst protest from my student, walked over to the spider. But instead of squishing it, I decided to very carefully tease it into a fold of the towel and walk it outside. I did warn it that I would smush it if it came at me. But it stayed in one spot. I carried it outside, and let it on the ground in the courtyard, by the fence where it would be safe.

The reason for telling you about this is that I NEVER save spiders. I don't like them. I'm pretty sure they don't like me. I haven't been in my loft in months because I know they are up there. And they have completely taken over my cabinets in my kitchen. But this one time...I just didn't feel like killing it. It wasn't until after I rescued it that I realized today was the day that Spiderman 3 came out. I didn't save the spider because of that, I just realized it afterwards. Weird.

So, this post is for you, little eight-legged one, wherever you may be. I wish your cousins were as benign. Then I wouldn't have to wage constant war on them all.

ta.