Sam's uncle picked us up from the airport and we stayed the first few nights with his uncle's family up in Kahuku by the North Shore. They live in a farm similar to the one Sam grew up in and loves to tell stories about, though they have an actual house (plywood) not a schoolbus. Sam's uncle has three little girls (from his second marriage) living with him. The six year old is crazy and talks nonstop! The older girls are more shy. The farm wasn't as shanty as Sam made it out to be, though they are off the grid in terms of electricity and water. But they turned on the generator for us so we had electricity to get our bearings! In the morning we got up and checked out the farm - right now they are growing cucumbers and tomatoes. Then it was off to Walmart to pick up essentials: fins, snorkels, masks, spear! Next priority: plate lunch at the Hukilau Cafe, where we got roast pork and the true Hawaiian specialties of macaroni salad and french fries with gravy. No mutton hangi here! Third item on the agenda, of course find a place to stay long term. Sam's uncle had some new workers coming to the farm and also I was allergic to their cat so we needed a place. Luckily a friend of a friend who manages some rentals hooked us up with a new rental she was working on! This lady was super nice and gave us a good price since she was still setting up. The best part was listening to Sam switch on his pidgin when talking to her since she and her husband were locals. If you've never heard pidgin, it's like this crazy Hawaiian brogue but more comprehensible than a Kiwi accent for sure!That day we also toured the North Shore which was actually breaking. It was small for the North Shore (a little over double overhead) so everyone and their mom who ever wanted to surf Pipe was out, and all the more serious surfers were elsewhere. I took one look and vowed not to get in the water in Hawaii, but Sam promised me he'd take me to easier spots where the worst crowds were too many turtles. Like Pounders beach where Sam was almost paralyzed bodysurfing as a kid! No just kidding, like Castle's and a few other mellow spots.
That night we went to a Laotian New Year's Party on a neighbor's farm. I thought there'd be at least a few non-Laotians but I was the only one! I felt a little out of place but entertained myself eating all the tasty Laotian food I hadn't had in a while: cabbage wraps dipped in spicy sauce, sticky rice, mmm. The dancing was awesome: Sam calls it "Amy style" in which you barely move and just kind of wave your arms a bit. They were really good at karaoke, which came with both Laotian writing and phonetic spelling on the videos - though I still didn't join in because I was too busy eating all the food.
The next day we moved into our beach studio. It had a nice little private yard with sand dunes leading onto the beach. It was heaven! Especially after living in a campervan for two months straight.
We stocked up the kitchen with essentials like King's Hawaiian Sweet Rolls, Mauna Pua, Chocolate Covered Macadamia Nuts, Hawaiian Suns, and of course the meats! We went a little crazy - we still haven't cooked all the dishes we've been wanting! So far we've made: burgers (real ones not fake Kiwi ones), hot dogs, shoyu chicken, kahlua pig, terriyaki beef on King's Hawaiian sweet rolls, chili and rice, squash soup, lemongrass chicken, terriyaki and lemongrass shortribs, mmmm....After so long on soup and grilled cheese sandwiches we are really enjoying our bbq and oven. Not to mention the coffeemaker: I'd never thought I would miss filtered coffee, but I did! (They only have espresso in New Zealand and Australia, which they refer to just as coffee. I believe their term for American filtered coffee is not printable in this blog.)
After we grocery shopped, we grabbed our surfboards and ran out. We were too lazy to paddle out to the real surf breaks which are out by the reef at Genegator's and Goat Island, straight out from our place. We tried to catch the little waves on the inside only to discover the water sucked up to about 3 inches deep over the reef. All in all we escaped lightly with only minor scratches. We tried again later at high tide too, same deal, oh well. Snorkeling for the first few days was a bit stormy but we did really enjoy our high end gear. It was so nice to have good fins and a snorkel that doesn't let in every little splash. Later we drove to Castle's, a good beginners surfing spot, where I actually managed to ride a wave or two.
We had the cousins over a few times when we needed people to eat up all our food. The six year old eats more than everybody else combined, including Sam! They had fun, though it was a little weird to be trying to teach locals how to swim - I guess the poor girls don't get off the farm and out to the beach too much. They are good kids and didn't even complain too much when we made them clean the house afterwards.
To get fresh veggies, we visited the farm and got cilantro, limes and lime leaves, coconuts, cucumbers, and tomatoes. We also entertained ourselves driving the golf cart they use for transporting small loads of veggies and Sam wreaked havoc taking the tractor 4 wheeling.Since then I forgot where the days went! The snorkeling has been especially nice with a few turtles and lots of pretty fishes that we don't know the names of. Altogether it's a blur of swimming, snorkeling, surfing, going for runs on the beach, sketching, napping, reading, repeat....We kind of needed a vacation from our vacation and this is it! Sam keeps repeating "Aah, the life" with a satisfied sigh. It's so nice to have our own little place that we didn't even care too much when it rained for five days straight - since the ocean is still warm who cares? Dad mailed us our laptops so we're keeping busy going through photos. Some of our friends came to visit so we're not too lonely here, though not as many friends as were supposed to come, ahem! That's it for now, we'll post again when something significant happens like Sam finally manages to spear Nemo.
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