Week # 1 has passed.
Our trip here had it's challenges, but we did arrive on our scheduled flight. Our tickets said Toronto - LA - Maui. In fact there was a stop in Denver and a plane change, even though the flight # stayed the same. We had a three hour delay in Toronto - waiting for paperwork confirming tire air pressure, then a valve wasn't opening before they could de-ice, then top up the fuel tank, so we missed our scheduled connection in Denver, but after being re-scheduled and a six minute run through the airport, we did get to LA in time to catch our scheduled flight from LA, and were only 15 minutes late arriving in Kahului, Maui. Our Haggai pickup was waiting for us, and while our luggage didn't arrive until the next morning, it was here by 7:30 am, so not a big inconveience. We have learned to bring necessities in our carry-on.
There are quite a few returning volunteers here, who we have worked with previously, so it is nice to see old friends.
We went on a trip last Saturday to a beach through lava fields, but it was too cool, for us at least, for sun bathing/swimming. In fact, it has been cool all week, and our pool is down around 65/67. Now I know we won't get too much sympathy from those of you in Ontario, but I do feel sorry for some who are only here for a short time, after a long trip.
I will be working three days in the office, and two days in maintenance - Marlene is fulltime housekeeping. I will get a chance to see a different side of Haggai - I will be assisting the Assistant to the VP-International training. My office job involves data input, working with spreadsheets, helping set up schedules, etc. So far it is very interesting and my first week sped by. The participant numbers have been cut back substantially because of funding challenges.
I did get out to Rotary on Wednesday and it was nice to see old faces there also. I took out a "temporary membership" with the Kihei-Wailea Club which they call "Kohola Mai" (returning whale!!)
We were out to breakfast this morning (Saturday) with some other volunteers, a couple from Winnipeg, (she is also a retired CIBC employee, but still works casual) and a volunteer from Indianna. All three were here last year as well.
So it is nice to be back, and we look forward to the next 11 weeks.