Good morning everyone! Well, it's actually afternoon where all of you are. I'm hanging out in Safeway, trying to update this thing, post pictures, upload the rest of my pictures onto Flickr, download updates and new podcasts...my computer is being stubborn and doesn't want to do everything at once.
I'm going to post some pictures up here, and then put the rest on a Flickr site, so that the blog doesn't get overloaded with my twelve pictures of the North Shore as seen from a moving minivan. Here's the Flickr website http://www.flickr.com/photos/waikikicolleen/
Friday was a bit of an interesting day. I had finally been here long enough that I was feeling homesick, or friend-sick as I've come to think of it, and if I'd been in DC I likely would have sequestered myself in my office and taken some time to recover. Not an option here. I went to have Henry (my boss) sign the form authorizing my bus pass benefits and we chatted about work for a while. He looked at me, full of parental concern, and asked how I was. My eyes welled up and I was instantly mortified and tried to cover it by saying that everything at work was great, that I'm just tired, adjusting, etc. He was very nice about it and I made it out of his office without actually crying. At the end of the day Jen and I were talking in my cube and Henry came in and wrote something down on my notepad -- it was his unlisted home phone number and cell phone number. Jen teased him, saying that he'd never given her his numbers, and Henry was kind enough to say that Jen has parents here and if something happened where I needed help, it would be awfully hard for my parents to get here. He neglected to say, well Jen, you've never cried in my office. I'm to call him if I need anything, even if it's just a restaurant recommendation. He'll even make exception to his "no bail money" policy for me. Because you know if I need bail, something has gone terribly wrong.
I'm going to go see Sex and the City with Jen this afternoon. She's in much the same situation in Santa Fe as I am out here -- you're new, it's hard to make friends, and you work with people decades older than you. It'll be fun to go see it with a girlfriend. Although, I'm supposed to see all cheesy girl movies with Karen, so this might be a poor substitute =)
It's amazing how many hours of the day are beautiful out here. By 730/8 am it's sunny and warm, moving to hot, all the way until 6 or 7pm. It's great because I'm able to come home after work, change, and still walk to the beach and get some nice weather and beach time in.
I spent most of the day down on Kuhio Beach yesterday. As I was walking down there I realized I'd forgotten a book so I stopped at the library and got my Hawaiian library card. It's a statewide library system, so they'll actually ship books over from the other islands if you want them. Crazy. Anyway, it clouded over around noon, so I went and read in Kuhio Beach Park and got lunch, and then it was sunny again. It was a bit of a lonely weekend, but my worst case scenario of laying on the beach and reading really is pretty great. I've read three and a half books this week...looks like I'm back to my old self. I might make a dent in my list after all!
The Department of Interior basically blocks any website that I would want to use, except Gmail and my blog. I don't have any chat capabilities at work, so that's a bummer. Ashley, tell Caitlin they even block Meebo! That being said, it's hard to catch up with all of you on the east coast, so I love the blog comments or emails I've been getting! Keep 'em coming; it's always good to feel connected.
Signing off for now!
I'm going to post some pictures up here, and then put the rest on a Flickr site, so that the blog doesn't get overloaded with my twelve pictures of the North Shore as seen from a moving minivan. Here's the Flickr website http://www.flickr.com/photos/waikikicolleen/
Friday was a bit of an interesting day. I had finally been here long enough that I was feeling homesick, or friend-sick as I've come to think of it, and if I'd been in DC I likely would have sequestered myself in my office and taken some time to recover. Not an option here. I went to have Henry (my boss) sign the form authorizing my bus pass benefits and we chatted about work for a while. He looked at me, full of parental concern, and asked how I was. My eyes welled up and I was instantly mortified and tried to cover it by saying that everything at work was great, that I'm just tired, adjusting, etc. He was very nice about it and I made it out of his office without actually crying. At the end of the day Jen and I were talking in my cube and Henry came in and wrote something down on my notepad -- it was his unlisted home phone number and cell phone number. Jen teased him, saying that he'd never given her his numbers, and Henry was kind enough to say that Jen has parents here and if something happened where I needed help, it would be awfully hard for my parents to get here. He neglected to say, well Jen, you've never cried in my office. I'm to call him if I need anything, even if it's just a restaurant recommendation. He'll even make exception to his "no bail money" policy for me. Because you know if I need bail, something has gone terribly wrong.
I'm going to go see Sex and the City with Jen this afternoon. She's in much the same situation in Santa Fe as I am out here -- you're new, it's hard to make friends, and you work with people decades older than you. It'll be fun to go see it with a girlfriend. Although, I'm supposed to see all cheesy girl movies with Karen, so this might be a poor substitute =)
It's amazing how many hours of the day are beautiful out here. By 730/8 am it's sunny and warm, moving to hot, all the way until 6 or 7pm. It's great because I'm able to come home after work, change, and still walk to the beach and get some nice weather and beach time in.
I spent most of the day down on Kuhio Beach yesterday. As I was walking down there I realized I'd forgotten a book so I stopped at the library and got my Hawaiian library card. It's a statewide library system, so they'll actually ship books over from the other islands if you want them. Crazy. Anyway, it clouded over around noon, so I went and read in Kuhio Beach Park and got lunch, and then it was sunny again. It was a bit of a lonely weekend, but my worst case scenario of laying on the beach and reading really is pretty great. I've read three and a half books this week...looks like I'm back to my old self. I might make a dent in my list after all!
The Department of Interior basically blocks any website that I would want to use, except Gmail and my blog. I don't have any chat capabilities at work, so that's a bummer. Ashley, tell Caitlin they even block Meebo! That being said, it's hard to catch up with all of you on the east coast, so I love the blog comments or emails I've been getting! Keep 'em coming; it's always good to feel connected.
Signing off for now!
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