aloha report, v2.2
i am totally blissed out.
7am friday found me at the blossoming lotus cafe in kapa'a, a historic town on the east side of the island, sipping on organic chai tea with S, freshly imported from the north shore of oahu for the weekend. there were little burning sticks of sage brush on the patio, which S informed me is used to cleanse people and places of negative energy, unhappy memories and unwelcome spirits. sounds good to me.
once we were all cleansed, a strange thing began happening. everything started taking on this certain glowy sheen. i don't know ... maybe it's S and his whole surfer spiritual energy connection seek union with the cosmos and be one with the ocean and world thing, or maybe it's the aloha getting to my head, but i swear, this new age crap really works. after an hour or two hanging with the sage at the blossoming lotus, everything kind of just became its most perfect version of itself. i even have photo evidence to prove it. after breakfast, we found ourselves at the kilauea lighthouse, which is the northernmost point of all the hawaiian islands. now, tell me this view doesn't break your heart and then make you feel whole again, all in one breath? anyways. okay. i guess i don't need to tell you how it makes me feel.
we arrived back in princeville for another fantastic vision. momma and poppa choi, off to go "practice" and hit golf balls. my parents literally worked every day of their lives until retiring last fall, and just took up golf in april. i honestly can't think of a sight more precious than this.
more fortuitous things kept happening. at hanalei bay, the sun was just starting to scorch us when a runaway umbrella from the family a few hundred yards away came and bonked S on the head. the mom ran over to apologize, then said oh, we're leaving the island today, do you want the umbrella? why yes, yes we do. here's S assembling aforementioned runaway umbrella, which now lives in my parents garage. the umbrella. not S. 
java kai and delicious tropical fruit smoothies eventually called us back into hanalei. for those of you who remember the aloha reports of 2005, you know how i heart java kai. we returned there later in the weekend so i could have a papaya boat for breakfast — a hollowed out papaya filled with chunks of papaya, pineapple, banana and smothered with shredded coconut, and served with a dollop of yogurt and granola. sigh. have i mentioned i heart java kai? then again, after a few days in hawaii, i kind of start to heart everything. especially when cute boys do this:
and i happen to be sitting across from them doing this. which is to say, doing nothing. except slurping down pineapple smoothie. 
back at home, sometime this weekend — friday? saturday? i honestly don't know — i became deeply obsessed with our neighbor's palm tree. this particular tree sits on the corner of kekuanao'a lane and honoiki street. if i were a giant, i'd pluck it right out of the ground and use it as a fan. as i am not a giant, however, i will just admire it. i like this tree best just before sunset. it gets all ringed with pink. 
S and i went to a beach i'd never been to before, at ha'ena beach park. there are some big surf breaks off of the shore that he'd surfed a couple years back, so he bonded with the lifeguards over cannons and tunnels and i think a break called dumptrucks? there was also a lot of conversation about shark attacks just offshore. sharks? from where i'm sitting it doesn't seem possible. sharks? really?
despite some fairly involved conversations about hungry, carnivorous water animals, we still got in the ocean to play. S taught me how to body surf, but i was approximately as successful as when he taught me how to surf-surf. basically, i got ragdolled every time i attempted a big wave. but no matter. he made sure i a) didn't drown and b) didn't get rolled into the reef drop off, both of which were very good things. an even better thing was this perfect specimen of tourist that showed up at the beach that afternoon. classic: handheld camcorder. fisherman hat. white sneakers and tube socks to the knees. i heart this man. i hope he found whatever he was looking for. 
i found good things at the beach, too. i had wanted to find a new shade of yellow to paint my bedroom in my parents house. and an afternoon's worth of hard work at ha'ena yielded these lovely samples in the perfect buttery shade. 
sigh. i had fun. aloha, elmo. thank you for helping me make new memories, and reminding me that we have to love people for everything they are, and give them everything we have, always. til next time!
now it's sunday night, i am all cosmic peaceful sage-bushed out, full of my favorite soup, made for me by moms, and getting sleepy. tomorrow is my last day on island, then i'm on the red eye to phoenix tomorrow night. on tuesday morning i land in phoenix to get on a plane that will land me at good old newark sometime tuesday evening ... and then i begin the trek to sweet sweet brooklyn.
yay brooklyn. dare i say, i missed you, even in paradise?
7am friday found me at the blossoming lotus cafe in kapa'a, a historic town on the east side of the island, sipping on organic chai tea with S, freshly imported from the north shore of oahu for the weekend. there were little burning sticks of sage brush on the patio, which S informed me is used to cleanse people and places of negative energy, unhappy memories and unwelcome spirits. sounds good to me.
once we were all cleansed, a strange thing began happening. everything started taking on this certain glowy sheen. i don't know ... maybe it's S and his whole surfer spiritual energy connection seek union with the cosmos and be one with the ocean and world thing, or maybe it's the aloha getting to my head, but i swear, this new age crap really works. after an hour or two hanging with the sage at the blossoming lotus, everything kind of just became its most perfect version of itself. i even have photo evidence to prove it. after breakfast, we found ourselves at the kilauea lighthouse, which is the northernmost point of all the hawaiian islands. now, tell me this view doesn't break your heart and then make you feel whole again, all in one breath? anyways. okay. i guess i don't need to tell you how it makes me feel.
we arrived back in princeville for another fantastic vision. momma and poppa choi, off to go "practice" and hit golf balls. my parents literally worked every day of their lives until retiring last fall, and just took up golf in april. i honestly can't think of a sight more precious than this.
more fortuitous things kept happening. at hanalei bay, the sun was just starting to scorch us when a runaway umbrella from the family a few hundred yards away came and bonked S on the head. the mom ran over to apologize, then said oh, we're leaving the island today, do you want the umbrella? why yes, yes we do. here's S assembling aforementioned runaway umbrella, which now lives in my parents garage. the umbrella. not S. 
java kai and delicious tropical fruit smoothies eventually called us back into hanalei. for those of you who remember the aloha reports of 2005, you know how i heart java kai. we returned there later in the weekend so i could have a papaya boat for breakfast — a hollowed out papaya filled with chunks of papaya, pineapple, banana and smothered with shredded coconut, and served with a dollop of yogurt and granola. sigh. have i mentioned i heart java kai? then again, after a few days in hawaii, i kind of start to heart everything. especially when cute boys do this:
and i happen to be sitting across from them doing this. which is to say, doing nothing. except slurping down pineapple smoothie. 
back at home, sometime this weekend — friday? saturday? i honestly don't know — i became deeply obsessed with our neighbor's palm tree. this particular tree sits on the corner of kekuanao'a lane and honoiki street. if i were a giant, i'd pluck it right out of the ground and use it as a fan. as i am not a giant, however, i will just admire it. i like this tree best just before sunset. it gets all ringed with pink. 
S and i went to a beach i'd never been to before, at ha'ena beach park. there are some big surf breaks off of the shore that he'd surfed a couple years back, so he bonded with the lifeguards over cannons and tunnels and i think a break called dumptrucks? there was also a lot of conversation about shark attacks just offshore. sharks? from where i'm sitting it doesn't seem possible. sharks? really?
despite some fairly involved conversations about hungry, carnivorous water animals, we still got in the ocean to play. S taught me how to body surf, but i was approximately as successful as when he taught me how to surf-surf. basically, i got ragdolled every time i attempted a big wave. but no matter. he made sure i a) didn't drown and b) didn't get rolled into the reef drop off, both of which were very good things. an even better thing was this perfect specimen of tourist that showed up at the beach that afternoon. classic: handheld camcorder. fisherman hat. white sneakers and tube socks to the knees. i heart this man. i hope he found whatever he was looking for. 
i found good things at the beach, too. i had wanted to find a new shade of yellow to paint my bedroom in my parents house. and an afternoon's worth of hard work at ha'ena yielded these lovely samples in the perfect buttery shade. 
sigh. i had fun. aloha, elmo. thank you for helping me make new memories, and reminding me that we have to love people for everything they are, and give them everything we have, always. til next time!
now it's sunday night, i am all cosmic peaceful sage-bushed out, full of my favorite soup, made for me by moms, and getting sleepy. tomorrow is my last day on island, then i'm on the red eye to phoenix tomorrow night. on tuesday morning i land in phoenix to get on a plane that will land me at good old newark sometime tuesday evening ... and then i begin the trek to sweet sweet brooklyn.yay brooklyn. dare i say, i missed you, even in paradise?
posted by Amy S. Choi at 3:05 AM
3 Comments:
omigoodness. and how are the newlyweds? enjoying your honemymoon?? LOL. it has rained basically since the day you left, so you haven't missed anything. it's been bleak and dreary - the complete antithesis to where you've been, so be thankful!! i'm ready to eat a whole bottle of prozac...*sigh*
newlyweds.
heh.
just another few days my dear ... i'll bring the aloha. you'll see!
I miss you Choi! miss you miss you miss you.
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