WOW its been to long!

So today as I am sitting in the chair next to the window watching the rain fall I thought wow its been a long time since I've updated my blog... Well here is an update... I've been at home in Michigan for a little over a month now. Its been intersting. I've been back and forth between fremont(dads), grand haven(moms) and newaygo(sisters). I've been applying for jobs like crazy and am finally starting to have some hope about a couple. I also applied for this school thing which is exciting but not sure which road to take yet. I really miss hanging at the pool with my friends in Hawaii and wish I could be there in the sun with them... My days are usually extremely boring... I try to practice poi spinning daily. I read, watch tv, play with my nephew, look and apply for jobs-usually online, and watch the west wing... Thats pretty much my life right now... BORING... don;t get me wrong I love spending time with my nephew... he is the cutest.... Next week things get a little more interesting which I will update you on at some other point. But here is a picture of the cutest little kid... and a video of my spinning fire for the first time that I said I would post.... there is another video that I will have to post later... sorry its sideways

So I am back to the mainland now. I got to the canyon last night and it is so good to be back and to see everyone! I've missed this place a lot. Darren and Deanna picked me up from the airport wed. morning and we went and met Lacey, Drew and Whitney for a while before Lace took off for the Hawaii. It was so great to see you all. Its really hard to put into words just yet how my 3 months in Hawaii was. I am still processing through a lot. It was amazing!! to say the least!! I learned a lot about love and acceptance. I went on amazing adventures and made amazing friends. Got a tattoo and learned to spin fire... I definitely have come back a changed person. I miss everyone there dearly already! Its weird my first week there i had no idea how I would ever fit in at a place like that. How do I fit in with a bunch of hippies or the hippy lifestyle. But in the end what I learned was that I fit in just fine. Because we had the same heart and thats all that mattered. In the 3 months that I was there I was able to open my heart up so fast and let people in so fast it threw me for a loop. Over all when thinking about it the hardest yet most rewarding part of my summer came on the last day. I met with the volunteer coordinators for an exit interview and they told me -1- don't go, please stay, 2- that I was a bright light at Kalani, and my light shines brighter than most. And that right there meant a lot to me. They don't know me very well and have had maybe 3 conversations with them the whole time but for them to notice that in me-was great to hear. Not knowing that my bright light is jesus because even though it wasn't talked about they could still see there was something different about me from the way I lived my life. So that was pretty cool. My entire time there was a test of my faith and my beliefs and to come out a stronger at the end is great! So that is a little about my trip. I am in transition right now and am planning on being in the canyon for a week or 2. Then from there still not sure. I've been applying a few places and you never know if none of that works out I may be back in Hawaii soon... I will keep you updated! Hope everyone is doing great!

My last few days at Kalani were pretty hard and sad for me. I didn't really realize how much that place or the people there changed me or impacted me till I was about to leave. It's a pretty magical place. I do want to go back and visit for sure maybe volunteer again. Will see- only time will tell! One of may last days there Rachel took me to Fox's landing to this Lava tube that opens up over the ocean. It was amazingly beautiful!! It a little rough getting into it- seeing how you had to crawl on your hands and knees and squeeze through small spaces... but once you got to the end it was worth it... I will post pictures at some point . my computer is a little sick and is having troubles uploading and doing anything at a decent speed... more later!

I did it! I lit up!

No folks I didn't pick up smoking... but I did however pick up fire spinning. And I was going to light up for the first time this sunday but on a whim with Rachel decided to light up tuesday night. I am so glad I did because Sunday night has turned into my going away party and it sounds like a lot of people will be there so for my first time I wanted just a few people there. It was great because it was just Rachel, Satya, Taylor and I. I spun 3 times that night. It was one of the most amazing, exhilarating feelings I've ever felt. So much adrenaline!! I absolutely love it!!! By the third time I spun quite the little crowd had showed up. But by this time I was a little more confident. I will be lighting up again on Sunday night for my joint going away party!! I really enjoy this and plan to continue learning and spinning in the future.

Earlier on Tuesday morning I had another first. Yup, you heard right- I got a tattoo. It's really small and it says "Love out Loud". For me Love out Loud stands for a lot! I wanted to get something that symbolized my summer here and I wanted to have it done here as well.
There is a volunteer here who gives tattoo's for donation and I thought it would mean more to have someone from my Ohana do it. It took about an hour and a half. It didn't hurt really at all! I love it a lot! Your probably wondering why Love out loud... well -- Love out loud is the name of a song that has been a theme fro me this summer- but beyond that - love has been a huge theme of my summer. I've learned so much about love and acceptance! Love should be loud!

I can't believe that I only have 4 days left!! aghhhh!!! There is still so much to do! The goodbyes have already started. One of my bosses in Housekeeping Annalisa left today for vacation so I had to say goodbye to her last night and Betsy who is one of the managers here also went on vacation and I had to say goodbye to her today! I am not ready for the goodbyes... well I am off to bed.. here is one last pic. Ocean left last week and we had a surprise superhero going away for her. here is a pic of all us superheros and one of betsy, annalisa and I! Hope all is well!!

ahh one week left!

My new thing right now is spinning poi. Or fire spinning. I am not in any place to light up yet but I've been practicing everyday and I am getting pretty good for a beginner. I just started 2 wednesdays ago and I already have learned 8 tricks. Now I am just polishing them. Making them smooth and getting my planes straight. My hope is to light this sunday night at my going away party! I am super excited but at the same time a little nervous. But I will have plenty of experienced people around me to help out and to train me on fire safety. I will have to post video and or pictures after the event.
The other night I went to visit Pele again and it was the best I have ever seen. You could actually see the lava flow into the ocean! It was beautiful! I will post pictures later. My computer is being really slow and I can't really upload anything right now but when I can I will put them up!
So I can't believe that tomorrow is my last day of work already. Ahhhh... it is so crazy. I only have a week left then I will be back in Portland for a while! I am really excited about whats to come next although I don't know what that is yet! Being here has given me this new sense of drivenness.. I am realizing how much of a driven person I am-its pretty crazy. I have this new focus, vision, view on life. Its pretty great! The island is such a magical place. The energy of Pele is insane...
In my last post I mentioned how everyone was leaving and newbies were coming.. well I dropped off yet another friend at the airport this morning and around 13 of the 18 newbies are here already! Its been weird to see the change over happen so fast! I will be really sad to leave all my new friends here that will forever hold a special place in my heart! This place definitely rocked my world and opened it up. I am definitely leaving a changed person! I will write more on this in a later post because right now it is hard to put in words how I am feeling and what I've gone thorough this summer. But I can say its been amazing and I have loved my time here.. I can't wait to see all of you soon! I miss you all!

Off to Ocean's going away party- Its another superhero party! It is going to be so much fun!

Aloha!

I wish every one could wait to leave till I leave!! =:(

This is the week of everyone leaving... it's been a sad couple of days... everyone that I have become really close with is leaving this week for the most part... It started this past Friday! I brought Eliza to the airport on Friday night. She was only a one month volunteer but it seemed like she had been here longer. She is from Massachusetts and just graduated high school. She was leaving here to go to South Carolina for school.
Sunday!- I've been dreading this day. Kayo- she's been here for 2 months and worked in housekeeping with me. She is from Japan and came here to learn english. She is beautiful inside and out. It was hard to communicate with her but she is such a joy to be around. This afternoon Melissa was leaving... this is the departure I was dreading. Ever since day 1 Melissa and I connected and she was just so sweet and turned into be a great friend for me here. She is 19 and is from Vancouver, Canada... I know we will definitely be seeing each other again. it is going to be weird to not have her here the rest of my time here. We hung out quite a bit. She is as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside!
Mon. August 3rd.- Bernard is leaving. Bernard and I never got real close but he has always been a joy to be around!
Tuesday August 4th! Ahhh my roomie is leaving!!! Lauren is leaving to go back to Jersey/NY. She has been the best room mate ever.. Things are looking up for me to not have another room mate in my time here, but will see! Lauren is a beautiful and very wise girl! I will definitely miss her being around! Tom is also leaving this day! Tom has an amazing spirit! Always so happy! We got to spend a lot of time together recently on our Kona trip! I am going to miss his aloha! It just shines out of him! Can't wait to visit you in San Fran!
Wed. August 5th- Kylie is leaving! Kylie is this amazing person from Melbourne, Australia!!! She has taken to me as an older sister! Every morning she walks up to me and gives me a hug! She also has this amazing spirit and energy around her. I will for sure miss her as well! I am so excited to have some where to stay when I come and visit Ausie land!

Kona love

Things have been a little crazy this last couple weeks... I've been taking a lot of time by myself and trying to process through everything. I was in talks to extend here and needed to make a decision. I've been heading out on walks and just taking my ipod and processing. I've also been spending a lot of time in Hale Aloha which is the main front office down by the road that looks out over the ocean. No one really hangs out down here because of the hike but I think its peaceful. And I can process and get things done without distractions. Which is rare... I get distracted so easily! Like I mentioned in my last post Tom's friend and niece are in town and I have been spending a lot of time with them.. I went on an overnight trip to Kona with then which turned into a 3 day trip. It was such a blessing to be with them and on vacation. Kristen (Tom's niece who is my age) was a huge blessing. She knows that I am here volunteering and not making any money and she really wanted me to go away with them so she wouldn't let me pay for anything... and we stayed in this amazing resort-it was beautiful! It was right on the ocean and had an amazing pool and we just hung out and enjoyed living the rich life for a few days! It was definitely a highlight of my time here. And it was exactly what I needed to get me through the rest of my time here... very relaxing and refreshing! But the best part is that our last night there we were at this local Kona mexican restaurant and guess who walks in... Hilary Young (now Melear) and Jake. They were on there honeymoon... It was so good to see her and to just see someone that I knew from where I consider to be home! Definitely made me realize how much I truly miss Oregon and everyone there... So with this said- comes Monday morning and at our staff meeting me and a couple others where called out and asked to give our answers on whether or not we were going to extend by the end of the week. I've been gong back and forth for the last 2 weeks about this and had come to a decision but wasn't making it final yet. I think apart of me wanted to hold onto the possibility that I could stay here if nothing else worked out even though I knew that my season here is ending. But after my time in Kona I realized and came to peace about the decision that I had already made. So I went and talked to the volunteer coordinator and my boss in housekeeping and told them that although I am enjoying my time here when my time is up I will not be extending. They were bummed and told me that they would love for me to come back! So it's nice to have that option! but I am so excited for whatever is next in my journey of life... I have no idea what is next but have been going through that process as well!

Pictures are all from the resort I stayed at... the pool was 2 parts... and had a water slide...

I've just realized that its been a while since my last update. But nothing really new is going on. The last ten days has really been about me focusing on me. I took a break from taking adventures- I was getting exhausted!!! I've now recovered from that and have been hanging out with this volunteer Tom and his friends that are in town visiting. On Sunday I had the day off and I just really needed to get out of here so he offered to take me to town with him to pick up his niece and friend from the airport. So I jumped at that opportunity... It turned into a long adventure because his friend missed her flight and we were in the airport waiting for like 3 hours...His niece and I hit it off right away... I was off the next 2 days as well so have been going on trips with them. On monday we went to the Tide pools for snorkeling and hiked through the Lava tube at the park. Then yesterday I took them to Green Sands beach and south point. I knew south point was the most southern tip of the island but I never realized that it is also the most southern tip of the USA!!! So that is kinda cool... I decided to not jump off the cliff this time. Tom did though!! Today I am working and I ended up taking a vacation day tomorrow because I have friday off anyways. I am going to go on an overnight trip to Kona with Tom and his friends... I am really excited it should be fun!!!

Last saturday was Ohana night... and we had a 70's dance party!!! It was so much fun!!! Everyone looked amazing!!!

Also, these last ten days I have been really meditating and praying about whats next for me. I needed to make a decision on whether or not I wanted to extend here. I am 98% sure that I will be leaving Hawaii on August 25th and
will not be extending. I think Hawaii was a season for me and that time is coming to an end. Maybe one day I will be back...

Green Sands, Southpoint, Volcanoes, and parties!!

A lot has happened in the last 4 days. On Tuesday it was Jane's last day. So Kylie, Fernanda, Michael, Jane and I took a trip. Jane wanted to go to Green Sands beach and Southpoint. We got to Green Sands and started our hike in. It is about a 45 min hike into the beach. It was well worth the hike- it was beautiful!!! Really windy but still beautiful! It was hidden inside a ravine in the middle of a desert. You get to the cliff and look down and you see the green sands and the beautiful ocean hitting it.. We swam for a while then decided to start the hike back but we got picked up along the ride. So great!! We then on the way out stopped at South point. Which is the most southern part of the island. There really isn't much to it except that it is a known place for cliff jumping. I have been hearing its the best place to jump there is a ladder and everything built in there. It is about a 50 ft. jump. We walked around for a bit and took some pictures then decided to check the jump out. I went back and forth a couple times then decided that if I didn't do it I would be disappointed when I got home. So Michael decided to do it as well. I made him jump first... then it was my turn. I walked up to the cliff and almost backed out. but then just jumped-- the whole time I was thinking keep your legs straight and together or it is going to hurt. But once your in mid-air it is hard... I ended up only having one leg straight and the other one was bent a little. As you will notice in my picture. But it stung so bad-and I have quite the big bruise going. But it was totally worth it! And I even think that I would do it again.
Then that night about 20 of us were going to the lava to see Pele' because it was the full moon. We left around 10:30pm and returned around 2am. It was such a long day but was well worth the exhaustion. Wed. I had to get up and work and was so tired... I was giving my shift leader a hard time all day... asking her when my nap time was. It was funny!! She doesn't speak english really clearly so she usually laughs at me and says no and just says my name... That night I was taking Jane to the airport so we left a little early so we could go to Jamba juice before she had to get to the airport. It was sad to see another SFS member go... But we will see each other again! Thursday was another working day. Friday was our staff trip for July. Kimo was taking us to Volcanoes National Park. There was about 15 of us that went.
We visited the museums and then went on a 6 mile hike through the crater. It was pretty amazing!!! We also stopped to give an offering to Pele'. Friday was also Paul's birthday. He is on staff in the kitchen. Amma was planning this special dinner for him. It was actually a dress up dinner. Where there were servers and everything. We even had to wait to be seated. Everyone looked so great! It was so much fun!! Then she also had put together a aquatic dance in the pool. It was pretty much a sequenized swimming routine. It was funny and great. After that we all headed to the field of dreams for a bonfire and Amma, Nathan and Kimo spun fire. It was a great night! So much fun!!! Lets see.. what else is knew.. .so I am going through the process of a possible extension. I am not commiting to anything yet. I am just going through the paperwork for it. I am also checking into other things for after my time here. Hope everyone is doing great!!

Kua Bay and 4th of July!

I hope everyone had an amazing 4th of July!! I did but I will get to that soon! First I want to talk about my adventure to Kua Bay! 4 other volunteers and myself drove about 3 hours to the other side of the Island to go to this beautiful white sand beach for the day! Hands down the best beach I've been to yet! So we were there for maybe 20 mins. I just got into the ocean to go for a swim and I was about to swim to the rock to jump off it with Anny. Then all of a sudden there was this intense shock in my arm then it started to move up and down my arm and up into my neck. It was super intense and hurt real bad. I started to walk towards paul to tell him what was going on and I looked down and saw this blue thing on my arm. I swatted it off right away. Explained to paul what was going on. He was thinking I was having a allergic reaction to my sunscreen or something. So I decide to get out of the water and was freaking out with Sarah on the beach. and then I started to put 2 and 2 together and realized that I was just stung by a jelly fish...right away after I realize this my first thought is I have to pee on myself to get the sting and venom to stop spreading. So I empty a cup of trail mix out and walk to the bathroom where I proceed to pee in a cup and pour it on my arm. Then I grabbed some tissue and padded my neck as well. Amazing!! The sting almost automatically lessened and went away. I decided that I wasn't going to let this ruin my day so I sat on the beach for a while and then decided to get back in the ocean and swim out to the rock and jump off. So we did twice! It was really fun! By the time we left the beach my swelling and reddness on my arm and neck had gone away for the most part. To this day you can still see the faint mark on my arm where it latched to my arm and on my inside forearm you can see the dotted line where the shock traveled. Its like a little zig-zag... Over all it still was an amazing day! It just made our adventure all that more fun and interesting. I don't advise getting stung though... it is pretty painful... I lucked out- some jelly fish are deadly... so thats that... I know right- this would happen to me!
4th of July!! So I had to work but we had an easy fun day of painting because we have no guests right now... Its like camp Kalani right now with just volunteers-its super nice! Anyways I decided to stay around here and Jai and Davey had bought some fire works so we were going to head to the point to set them off. It was very chill and fun! not a lot of people stayed so It was great... Jai also attached sparklers to his poi that he spins and was spinning sparklers. It was really cool! After we lit all the fireworks we walked up to the pool where... mikey, Jai, Satya and Amma spun fire. I watched that then headed off to bed because I had the 6 am shift in the morning all by myself... Well what did you do for the 4th?? Hope you had a great time!
My next adventure is on tuesday and it is Janes day because she is leaving on wed. We are headed to green sands beach and South point! I hear south point is an amazing place to cliff jump... i might just have to try it out...will see.... enjoy pics and the video is jai spinning poi at the pool!

WOW does time fly!

So I've just realized that its been about a week since my last update. Time here goes insanely fast and I have been busy busy busy... so heres what I've been up to! I've had quite a few adventures lately. Last Saturday I went to MacKenzie park and hiked through the lava tube and up along the coast a little bit. It was a lot of fun! The lava tube was a little crazy. Insanely dark- if you ever do it make sure to bring a flashlight ( one thing I forgot)!!! Luckily the other people I was with had flashlights but still made it a little difficult. Boy was I happy to see the light at the end!! I am glad that I did it though! It was pretty cool to be in this lava tube under the ground and the road. After hiking along the ocean we drove over by where the plume of Pele is and hiked to a beach named Fox Landing! It is a beautiful black sand beach that no one really goes to! You can lay on the beach and just see the plume of Pele off to the right! We spent a good couple hours there and almost got taken over by a wave! Funniest thing ever! Then we came home in time for dinner and then went to Hanna's superhero dance party (her going away party). It was so much fun!!
Superheros were in full effect that night. I decided to change up my costume a little from the housekeeping day!
So that was saturday- then on sunday after breakfast I went on the volunteer trip to the other side of the island. Kimo and Wailana (2 staff here) were performing at City of Refuge in the festival. Doing Hula dances. It was beautiful!!! We had a great day at the festival. I whittled a fish hook necklace!!! We saw some great hula dances and this fish catching ceremony. It was beautiful to see the hawaiian culture and to experience it with so many of my ohana (family). There was about 17 of us that went!
Monday- I had to work and it was a little sad because it was Everett's last day of work. Everett is probably the one person that I am closest 2. He is just a great guy and friend!
That night we had our housekeeping party! We were having a mexican themed party. It started out with nachos and drinks at 6:30. We hung out for a while then played the signs drinking game. So funny and super hard to play with like 20-30 people. After the game we changed locations and went to rainbow room for pinata. We lined up shortest to tallest and the person right before be broke it. It was loaded with candy and fake and real money. Whoever gathered the most money won a free day off... Eva won! and took her day the day after the party. After the pinata fiasco everyone broke into a dance party! About 9:30 we headed back to our location and put on a movie. Our night concluded around 11:30... It was so much fun and we had a lot of laughs!!!
Tuesday- For Everett's last day he really wanted to go to Waipio Valley so me and a couple others got the day off and drove 2.5 hours there. Its kinda hard to explain but basically you park at the top then have to hike down this extremely steep hill for 45 mins. It was super intense!!! Once we finally made it to the bottom we had a hilarious run in with some wild horses then we crossed the river and parked it on the beach for a couple hours... The whole time on the beach all we could think was "man were going to have to hike back up" "hopefully we can hitch a ride with someone who had 4 wheel drive" and we did. Perfect timing as we were leaving this guy had enough room for all 5 of us- which doesn't usually happen in hitching. You usually have to split up. It would of taken us an hour, hour and a half to hike up. Instead we got a ride in a truck and we were all scared the whole time! We then took the scenic route home and made just in time for dinner.
Wednesday- started out a little sad. Having to see Everett say his goodbyes to everyone. I was taking him to the airport so I had a couple hours to prepare. We left a little early and went to walmart and went for a coffee/jamba juice before he left. I am really sad that he is gone. As I said before he was the one person I was closest to. But I knew it wasn't goodbye. I will be seeing him soon! We are planning on traveling together to Thailand at some point in the near future! So excited for that!!! After airport run I went to the pool for a while and then had a massage lined up for 5:10pm today. One of the staff Jenn offers her deep tissue 1 hour massage for donations only. So I got an hour massage for 25 dollars today. It was amazing!!! so relaxing!
The thing that has been so amazing for me about being here is that in some ways I feel like a whole new person. I am trying/doing things I never would of. The people here are so amazing that you just can't help but let go. Maybe its the atmosphere and the island magic. but I have never been this open before. These people truly are family. All judgments left at the gate- the acceptance and love is amazing. I am discovering parts of me that I knew where there but at times felt I needed to hide- or things I was at one time embarrassed to do- I am able to let go of and just live this amazing life I've been blessed with! I've never been able to open up and let go this fast any where that I've been! Love you Ohana!!!

Superhero pic

I messed with one of our superhero pictures in photoshop... wanted to share... it really makes me laugh! Enjoy!

14 hours of fun!! Adventure to Pe'e Pe'e falls

So the other day Everett, Jane, Michael and I went on an adventure to Hilo after breakfast. The day started at Rainbow falls. We stopped for 5 mins to look at it then moved on. Next stop was the boiling pots... We park and it starts to down pour. After weighing the pros and cons we decided to leave and go to the beach and come back later. We go to Richardson Park beach. It was a beautiful little place that wasn't really busy so it was nice. We beached it for a couple hours and had a lot of laughs. While in the water i cut my foot on the coral. OUCH! but I wasn't going to let it ruin my day... We then made the drive back to the boiling pots. It started to rain again as we got closer. But I was determined to go. I really want to swim in fresh water and swim near the waterfall. So we hiked down the slippery path. By this time it had stopped raining. Which was great! We hiked to the first pot and went swimming and took lots of pictures and then michael and I decided we wanted to swim to the 3rd pot where the waterfall was. It was hard but totally worth it because it was beautiful to swim near the falls.
It was great on the way back to the first pot because the current was floating us back. We were really tired when we made it back to the others. But so much fun! We decided to start the hike back to the car so we could make it back for yoga. Then to top our trip off we stopped at Jamba Juice. YUMMY!!! We got back with 2 mins to spare for yoga. I took care of my foot and then we all met for dinner and formed the SFS (secret fun society) and planned a secret dance party for that night in the Blue moon room. We figured we would dance until 10pm(quiet hours) or till we got busted. We never got busted so we danced for almost 2 hours then went to the pool for a late night swim. For all four of us it was the best day yet during our time here. The next day we all were exhausted and all had to work at 8:30 in housekeeping... Everyone kept asking us about this secret dance party... man word spreads fast!!

Today was superhero day in housekeeping! I was bummed that I was off today but decided that I would go in for 30 mins at the start of work to participate. After all I am side kick Maidy. Jane is Super Sadie and I am her side kick Maidy. My super power is that I can morph into what ever she needs. For example, if she needs a toilet brush I morph into one or a spray bottle I morph into one etc... Almost everyone who was on shift dressed up so that was fun! We took some great pics and had a good laugh. Especially because they had to service rooms dressed all crazy... haha... I also decided to go to lunch dressed as my superhero... ah such a fun day... reminded me of working in the kitchen last summer during spirit week!!!