Aloha!

We arrived on Oahu about a month ago, with no place to live, no jobs, and our car was not coming for weeks. It has been an adventure figuring everything out…. But we are off to a good start!

We knew a couple out here who picked us up from the airport and LITERALLY held our hands the first week we were here. We stayed with them, and they showed us around, cooked for us and gave us their floor to sleep on. Here is their picture. They are amazing, there is no way the transition would have gone this smooth without them! Turns out they also like to play games, so of course we have sucked them into being our new Dominion buddies.

Big shout out to Kelli and Derek Kaye for taking care of us and being our friends!

Jon started going to orientation, and I started looking for someplace to live. We lucked out and found a GREAT studio apartment in the nice neighborhood on the same street as Laie Point.

That is us sitting out there. Just kidding, it might be though because we sit out there sometimes.

This is an aerial view of how the point jets into the water. See those houses in the bottom left hand corner? We live about 10 more houses down.

 Our place is furnished and has new hardwood floors and a red wall, a couch and an Asian inspired partition to separate the bed from where the couch is. Only downside is it’s connected to a big house where 9 college girls live. They (and their friends) are super loud, annoying, obnoxious and inconsiderate at ALL HOURS OF THE NIGHT. I’ll save my full for rant a future post. Here are some quick pics in case you are wondering:

Jon's study desk, and our bed.

Full kitchen. Notice there is no dishwasher. The oven only kinda works and the microwave is on top of the fridge. Compared to a lot of places to live around here, we are living like royalty!

There is no closet, but I just found this fabric closet on craigslist so no more suit cases!

I actually just finished unpacking our last box and suitcase yesterday. It feels like home now that everything has a place. It is only about 450 square ft, but I've found if you don't have much, you don't need a lot of space. This is a new concept for me.

Jon's had the flu for the last almost 2 weeks, and I just came down with it yesterday. Booooooo!  At least I should be over it by the time I start my new job next Tuesday!

That is right, I've been wrestling with 4 different opportunities and finally decided to take a job as a personal banker in the Foodland grocery store a couple blocks away. I figure if I don't like it, I can quit in a year and be a substitute teacher because the certification (that was surprisingly hard to get) lasts for 5 years. The bank has great benefits and opportunities for advancement. I am super excited to have an income again!

Jon is LOVING school and life here seems to be falling into place. We’ve already met some great friends and enjoy the sunshine and beach-line every day. Can you believe that we have not gone on a walk on the beach at sunset? I guess we’ll have to remedy that on Valentines day. :-)