Changes....

Phew, what a weekend! This last week has by far been the most eventful of any here on Maui…and unfortunately I can’t detail everything because, well, this is a blog. But I’ll just say that things in the romance department have picked up for both Jeanie and me—not that either of us are dating or even close to dating, we’ve just had multiple interesting experiences and both have crushes and pursuers.

So, Friday night Jeanie was kind enough to take my shift so I could go to church. It was good, as always, and I went out afterwards with the usual group (David, Loretta, Onassis, Jesse, Cari) to an Irish pub with really loud music.

Saturday morning Jeanie and I got up early and went on a hike with Brook, this guy we met at Hope Chapel last week, and a bunch of his friends. I was pretty intimidated to join a large group of people I didn’t know, but they were so welcoming I can hardly get over it. I have never felt so invited into a group—they do tons of stuff together and they made sure we were included in all the plans. What made it even better is that a lot of them (including Brook) are actually from here, so they know all the cool local places. The hike was at Twin Falls, an area I’ve been to a couple times but have never gone the route with all the jumping off waterfalls and swimming and stuff. It was sweet. We all got hotdogs (the best in Maui, apparently…and did you know they dye hotdogs red here?) at a little place in Haiku afterwards and then Jeanie and I had to get back so I could go to work.

This morning was early again (it sucks working late and getting up early! Though we’ve been fitting so much more into our days when we cut the nights to six hours). Brook came at seven to take us surfing (he is the first person to not only be eager to teach us but to suggest it himself—everyone else gets kind of possessive about their surfing abilities). Unfortunately, it was storming over the entire island and the water was really weird, so instead we went to this beach in Kaanapali and jumped off a really high lava rock into the ocean. We snuck into a hot tub at a resort and got all nice and warm, then drove back to our place and had mac and cheese. Jeanie and I went promptly to cleaning afterwards and then to Border’s.

I went on my “date” with Chas during my dinner break. It was perfect—and by that, I mean there was only one awkward silence, he didn’t try to plan a second date, and things were left friendly. What a relief.

And then we picked up our first hitchhiker (I feel a little guilty every time I don’t pick one up, so maybe it’s time to start being nice) on our way back from work. It was kind of cheating because we actually know him. His name’s Jose Z and he’s this cute little South American dude with a huge white beard and really tight bellbottom jeans who travels all over the world extracting healing oils from plants. He totally fits here. He gave me some little dried flowers today.

I’m feeling another shift in my relationship with Maui—I know it’s only been three months, but there’s already tension between a strong desire to move on to grad school and a strong love for this island lifestyle…. I know I couldn’t do what I’m doing now permanently, but I want an excuse to stay connected to Maui. It’s getting harder to imagine myself pulling out my baby roots. Then again, who knows? In three more months I might be ready to leave.