The real deal

Aloha,
I just wanted to update you all properly, which at the moment involves a rather radical turn of events (that some of you already know about)...

While working at the Sea Life Park I quickly realized something was amiss and I felt kind of out of place, a bit like this giraffe...

I wasn't enjoying myself at all, not because of the staff or other interns (who are all great)- I simply discovered that marine mammal work just isn't for me, at least at a place so commercial.

So I left.

That's not it though. Still wanting to make the most of my time here, have new experiences and get skills, I now do voluntary work at the Honolulu zoo in Waikiki, and I love it. I don't regret my decision to change directions because I am so much happier now, I just didn't tell anyone for a long time because I was ashamed of myself for dropping out and didn't want anyone to judge me. Plus I wanted to get back on track before telling anyone. And now I am.

I work in many areas of the zoo, mainly with the education department, visiting schools, giving tours to children, adults and students, helping out with activity days etc., teaching about conservation, natural history and ecology, etc. Last week we had a Japanese group of animal care students who were with us for 3 days and we did a lot of behind the scenes tours and activities with them, such as doing enrichment stuff for the animals and hand feeding the rhino and giraffes!! I got to feed apples to Kruger, the white rhino, and it was one of the coolest things I've ever done!!!! He is MASSIVE!!! You cue him to open his cake-hole by rubbing his top lip and horn (below).


I'm really enjoying the odd encounters with big animals and I love the feeling of not being able to help grinning (at SLP it was more like work to be grinning maniacally at all the visitors, because my heart wasn't in it)! And I feel like I'm making a difference. On thursdays I work for a brilliant man named Jamison, with some of the reptiles, including all the crocodillians, some of the (huge!) monitors, tortoises and lizards. On fridays I run an education kiosk (with artifacts and stuff on it) in the walk-through African bird aviary where I tell people all about the birds and help them spot them (I can name them all! Below, a buffalo weaver I sketched).

Some of the edu programs are twillight tours and overnight camp outs, and we tour the zoo with red flashlights, it's well cool!!

Anyway there it is. Pics (inc. zoo stuff, bird illustrations, and more 'nalo snaps) will hopefully be on the way soon. Also I apologise for difficulties some of you are having leaving comments on the website, I will try and tweak the settings so you don't have to have your own blog to leave comments.

Oh yes! also last friday we went to a 'white trash bash'- a themed b,day party of one of the SLP trainers, it was really funny seeing everyone dressed up in wife beater vests, baggy jeans or hot pants, fake pregnant bellies, gordy tattoos and trucker caps!! Danielle and Dev picked me up from work at 9.30pm and I got changed in the car on the way (see below)- I smelled so bad 'cos I'd done the morning and night shift at work and in between had bussed downtown to go to a free zoology lecture at the university (free zoology lectures every friday- brilliant!)!!Check out the double mohawk I cut in for Keith!! He loked like he looked just like Keith out of the Prodigy!!

Lots and lots of aloha,

G xx

PS- Mahalo to everyone who has written and emailed me since I've been away, it's great to still be in contact and I love being updated on all the goings on. I'm really missing the changing of seasons, even if the weather is getting scummy in England!

Dead stuff, Lost premiere & Boogieboarding

Hi all,
Sorry its been so long. I wanted this update to be longer as I've lots to tell but have to let Keith back on the computer so here's three little posts to keep you going.
Aloha, G x

Local [dead] wildlife


This red vented bulbul was on my front patch the other day under the plumeria as if it had just dropped dead while perching! I plucked its tail (inc red vent) and stuck it in my sketchbook and am in the process of drawing the body as if its attatched to the feathers.


Now this is a little dashing mongoose that I've seen at the top of my street and drawn in my journal. I saw a huge dead one a few weeks ago and I can't tell you my regret at not getting a photo, as I'm building up quite a collection of various deadies.


Spotted dove, hit by a car across the road from my house.

A small dessicated gecko (tail-less)
Marine toad. Ouch.


Story of a fish: Part 3
Remember that pufferfish? Well I finally retrieved the skull from under ther house and the ants had done a great job of cleaning it up...

so I drew it....And now I'm wearing it (well, part of the beak at least)...



Lost Premiere
The premiere of the new season of Lost was held in Waikiki a couple of weeks ago so we went along and battled with the seething masses to see the stars on the beach and were going to watch the first episode too, but the weather got foul and we were drenched, with nowhere to sit and some of the avid fans were getting aggressive, so we ended up watching the premiere on TV a week later instead!
Above, the back of the dude who plays Syid.
Below, The dude who plays Jin.



Boogieboarding
I Havn't been out on the board much lately because I've been so busy but went out last night to get some pics for you but unfortunately the ocean was really calm and the waves were RUBBISH! Here's me anyway....

This is me on a good day!

'Nalo snapshots

The new beetle... and the old...















Keith's masterpiece. Waimanalo doesn't actually have a Starbucks. The most corporate fat-cat-ness that has reached us is Maccy D's.

















Devons Masterpiece. She's fantastic!
















The collars around the palms are to stop rats climbing the trees and chewing up the coconuts and the leaves. They're usually shiny and silver,but thefolks on this property have painted theirs beautifully with hula girls and hibiscus flowers.




















Nearly every property owns a guard dog. Apparently the house theft is so bad because the robbers can make an easy getaway by running along the beach rather than looking conspicuous going down the street with all the stuff they've nicked.











This house is just beautiful. Completely made of wood (even the roof tiles) it has a really magical feel to it.It's on stilts and has some similarly designed out buildings next to it.




The Garage door of one of the more ordinary houses

Mail boxes

Ok basically the American mail box was invented to save the postman ever having to leave the comfort of the driving seat in his van. All he has to do is lean out the window and stick your post in th box. If you want to send a letter you put it in the box too, and raise the little red flag to let him know and he collects you out going letters. Unfortunately the mail box is rather unsightly and so the clever people of Waimanalo paint pictures, build sculptures or grow plants around the boxes. There are so many cool ones i've seen around, better than what I'm posting now (the one with the wooden frame thing round is just downright weird), but not always in places that are practical for me to snap, short of me pulling the emergency cord on the bus! So I will do my best to update this page as and when.

All creatures great and small

Monday was D's birthday, so on Tuesday we had a spagettii dinner and shindig at our friends beautiful house in Kailua. Before we left I found this MASSIVE snail on our porch step... just look at the size of it!!! Then while we were at the party, Devon found this teeny frog swimming in the pool with her!!! The photo is unfortunately not clear at all, but you can get an idea of the size. I was well chuffed.


Peepo! I had to wait ages for the snail to get brave enough to come out of its shell... check out the one telescopic eye poking out to have a good look around...









What a whopper!!!













Ok, looking at it now this pic is appauling! It looks like I'm chewing on the frogs head! Yes, tht blod is the froggy. it's facing the right hand side, those 2 bumps on top are its eyes. It was about the size of my finger nail, and was just perfect. Hopefully jens photo will turn out better and I can update it later.

Waimanalo Fair

Much to report since the last post! The weekend just been was Waimanalos Sunset on the Beach- much like the regular monthly event in Waikiki but on a much more local scale. There was food, entertainment, more bouncy castles than you could shake a stick at, the local Harley club had some custom bikes on display, there were craft stalls, live music and an open air screening of a locally made film caled The Ride, which was all about Duke Paoa Kahanamoku, the 'father of surfing' and olympic swimmer (see www.sunburntinhawaii.blogspot.com for more in the way of info about him). (top left, Home Girls- Danielle, Devon and Me ready to go to the fair).



This is a poi dumpling. Poi is a traditional food here made from ground up taro root, usually served as a disgusting goop soup but is quite good when deep fried like this.Its purple, and has a very doughey, squishy texture and is sweet tasting. (stick of 3 for $1)


Boxing... these pics are of the middle weights, who just sortof slogged at each other. The feather weights were much more entertaining and exciting spar as they were really energetic










Some of the paint jobs on the beautiful bikes...

Climbing Daimond Head

Yesterday I had to go to Daimond Head to get my TB test read (I'm clear) so while I was there, I thought I'd climb the state monument, Daimond Head, the extinct volcano crater, also known as Leahi, named because it apparently resembles the forehead (lae) of the 'ahi fish. The name also means wreath of fire, because flaming beacons used to be lit along the summit to guide ca noes travelling on the ocean. The name Diamond Head came later, when Western explorers mistook calcite crystals in the rock for diamonds! The trail that leads up the summit was actually built in 1908 as part of the US Army Coastal Artillery defense system.

Devon and Keith came too, and practically sprinted up the trail and 3 flights of 74, 99 and 54 steps while I lagged breathless and sweating behind! (well I'm not used to mountain hikes like them... and am shamefully unfit!)



The pictures (in random order) are of a few of the many incredible views from the top, walking through one of the corridoors mid-trail, a view upwards of the dizzying spiral staircase (54 steps), much welcomed shave-ice that was gobbled at the bottom (half coconut, half passionfruit flavour) - shave-ice is a really common ice-cream alternative, and you can get a virtual bucket load for a couple of dollars!


This is a view if Waikiki from the base of Diamond Head.


The summit, 761 feet above sea level.


As if you'd tip an icecream man!!! He sits on his butt all day eating ice cream!! (Mahalo means thank you).


This is Devon throwing a message in a bottle off blow hole point when we'd finished at Diamond Head. The message was for one of her best friends, Lesley, who's birthday it was yesterday. Lesley died in a car crash just over a year ago. On the anniversary of the crash, Devon wrote the letter, and tried to throw it out to sea but the tide brought it back in. So she figured her birthday woud be an equally good time to throw the bottle. However right after she lobbed it over the cliff, we heard a crunch, so still it didn't make it! Devon said Lesley would have thought it was a riot though, and the thoughts, feelings and ritual was all there.



I've not slept through a single night I've been here and have nightmares most nights. Night before last I had a dream- or an experience- it was so real I couldn't decide if it was a dream or not. I was terrified and hiding under the covers as a girl who I at first thought was Devon entered my room and leaned over me on the bed. She looked surprised and curious and as I cowered beneath her I only saw half her face. The lasting image was her huge, wide eye staring down at me (my covers obscured the other eye). So in the morning I drew it, and never before have I managed to draw something so akin to the picture I had in my head.