I've Got (One) Ticket to Paradise!

So by the end of January, I’ll be in Georgia (the country) settling in for a year of teaching English.  I had decided to use a soon-to-expire ticket credit to visit family in Hawaii first and fly to Georgia from there. Now the program I am working for, Teach and Learn, is having to find a new insurance provider. Bad news? I have to wait even longer to get a better picture of what the next year of my life is going to be. Good news? I’ll probably have at least one extra week in paradise.

And Hawaii really is paradise. 

It’s totally different from Arkansas, yet it feels familiar somehow. Something about the air reminds me of Japan, and the exposed rock of the cliffs jutting out into the water reminds me of Ireland.

 Or perhaps there is just a certain magic that lingers on all islands.  

I flew into Honolulu, on the Island of Oahu. Even with all of the traffic and skyscrapers that accompany human modernity, the island is green and lush. More variations of palm trees than I even knew existed grow throughout the island, even downtown. The sky overhead is a bright and healthy blue with fluffy clouds rolling in from over the ocean.  

Ah, the ocean. It’s gorgeous! From up high, the water is a deep blue that fades into brighter shades as it nears the shore. From up close, you see that it’s really clear. Crystal clear. Even when the sand is stirred up and the waves turn brown, they aren’t a mucky brown like in a mud puddle or pond. It’s more like seeing clouds of brown sand being gathered up and carried to the shore by the clear water.