After such a busy two weeks, Ginger and I walked down to the beach last night. There were just enough clouds to make a beautiful sunset. It was indeed. Check out the pictures in my gallery. Of course the pictures don't do it justice, but you get the idea :)

Each sunset is so unique. Again it reminds me of the beauty that God has created for us to be still and enjoy. And it’s all free……

Enough about me and my aches and pains…

It was very interesting to watch the hula competition. The judges chose a “chant” that all contestants must perform. The chant tells a story. The Wahine (female) storyline was a Wahine who was in love with her brother. Her husband was so jealous of the relationship, he had her hunted down and murdered. The chant is the Wahine telling of her love for her brother.

The Kane (male) story line was a young “stud” that ran from Hana (bringing fish) to the west side of the island three times a day. He runs into someone who is very ill. Turns out the “someone” is a ghost. The chant is the Kane telling of his encounter.

Each contestant has to perform two separate hulas. One has to be the chant hula. The other has to be a “modern” hula. The contestants are judged on their proper language (chant is done in Hawaiian language), their adornments, their attire as it relates to the story line, music, and the footwork.

There were seven judges each judging their individual specialty. They were a unique breed as well. The music judge is legally blind. Every time I looked at him he had his head “down on the table.” He was using “pimped out” opera glasses to view the contestants. He literally had his nose on the score sheet to complete it.

Anyway, it was very interesting to see how each contestant performed their chant, the footwork, and their costume. The modern style hula reminded me of a Hawaiian style beauty pageant. The wahines had decked out costumes. By that I mean they had skirts that had fresh strung plumerias attached all over the skirt. They had so many fresh flowers in their hair that you literally could not see their hair. That’s a lot!!!!

Unfortunately I don’t have the ability to describe the competition in words. I wish there was a video or pictures I could show you. It’s nice to see that the Hawaiian culture celebrates their heritage.

Well, I made it through HONK (Hula O Na Keiki) weekend. BARELY. I had to be on property at 7:00 a.m. Friday morning for a quick “briefing.” Well, I showed up for the briefing but the chairman didn’t. He was still in bed. Grrr…. Oh well, time to fly by the seat of my pants.

The Crafters were not supposed to arrive on property before 7:30 a.m. They were standing in line at 7:00 a.m. Grr….

There was a wonderful couple who were volunteering to help us with the crafters. By that I mean help the crafters unload their cars and haul their wares to their designated booth. Turns out the couple are returning guests at the hotel. They are residents of Connecticut and come to Maui every year to volunteer for the HONK and vacation. They have been coming to the hotel annually for about 13 years. I was so amazed that someone would go on vacation to Maui to “work”.

The crafters were not allowed to unload in front of the hotel nor were they allowed to haul their wares through the lobby to the courtyard. We met them at the “service” entrance, unloaded them, and hauled their wares all around the back of the hotel to the courtyard. It was 8:00 a.m. and I was already ringing wet!!!

I knew I would be sweating while we were moving and working with the crafters, so I threw on my overalls, pulled my hair up, and no makeup. What’s the point of wearing makeup, I would just be sweating it all off anyway. I don’t guess I realized how different I look w/out makeup. All of the employees I would talk to would give me the funniest look. It would then dawn on them who I was. All weekend I kept hearing, “Robin, is that you? I didn’t recognize you” My reply was “Yeah, makeup does wonders, doesn’t it?”

We worked with the crafters in the morning. This time of year should be really pleasant here (so I’m told) with the trade winds bring in cool weather. Not this weekend. Not a breeze in sight. At 70+ % humidity and no wind, it can be miserable. I felt sorry for some of the crafters. Although they had overhead tents, the sun was still brutal. Of course, I was ringing wet!!!

On Friday, the Rooms Control group had to report for duty at 3:00 p.m. for a special rehearsal to be performed Saturday evening. Since I was staying on property, my room was used by 3 or 4 other women as the “clean-up” room. We were required to wear “Aloha” attire for the competition performances. So, I showed up in my aloha attire and heels. BIG MISTAKE. As rooms control, we were standing the entire evening ushering, monitoring the crowd, crowd control, etc. Competition started at 5:30 p.m. and I got back to my room about 10:45 p.m. My “dogs” were barking!!!

Saturday was basically the same routine except we had to report for Rooms Control at 2:00 p.m. I was on my feet until 9:30 p.m. By the time I got to bed, my feet, ankles, knees, and back were SCREAMING!!! Ugh…..

I got home Sunday afternoon around 2:00 p.m. Needless to say, my ‘okole (ass) has been dragging all week. In the mean time I’ve come down with a sinus infection and have laryngitis.

It is now the first of November. The hotel will host the annual Hula O Na Keiki competition November 10- 12. (http://kbhmaui.com/culture/hula.html) The employees also volunteer our time to work the competition over the weekend. It is actually a mandatory 6-day work week. The hotel does it as a community service project.

It is a hula competition for keiki (children) ages 5-17 years of age. I’m designated to work the crafters Fri – Sun morning and Room Control in the late afternoon – evening. Rooms control is a nice word for “bouncer” in the competition room.

I’ll have to fill you in on more after I “serve my time”. I’m excited about it. I’ve nothing but great things about the competition.

A Hui Ho….. (until we meet again)

October was a month of “Aloha Festivals” celebrations. Each island celebrates during a specific week. Our hotel celebrated during the first week of October. Our celebration was called “Makahiki”. It consisted of various locals demonstrating the original Hawaiian culture, i.e. coconut shucking, Poi making, spear fighting, ocean net fishing, etc. The Hawaiian Royal Court (King and Queen) made an appearance as well.

As most of you heard, the islands endured a major earthquake on October 15. It was the wildest thing I’ve ever experienced. Thank God it was on a Sunday and fairly early. I thought Ginger was trying to jump upon the bed and kept missing because the bed was shaking. When I finally woke up enough to figure out it wasn’t Ginger, I got up and immediately realized we had no electricity at all. I grabbed my keys and turned my car radio on. Sure enough, it was an earthquake. It was really cloudy and cool that day, Thank you Lord. The electricity finally came back on around 4 p.m. Maui received the least damage of any of the islands. The Big Island (Hawaii) received the worst.

You would think as big as Honolulu is they would be better prepared for such disasters. They were the worst prepared of all islands. The airport was a mess. My boss was on Oahu for the weekend. She was on her way to the airport when the earthquake hit. She was stranded at the airport for over 8 hours. Airlines, airport officials, no one gave updates on the situation. She said it was horrible. So glad I stayed put.

The end of the month was, of course, Halloween. The hotel had a costume contest with cash prizes for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place. The Reservations department has quite a reputation. They are so creative and come up with the funniest costumes. This year we were “Beauty and the Beast”. It was quite funny. Needless to say being the new kid on the block, I was initiated by being the Beast. I’ve attached a picture. Well, as usual we won first place. We only compete because we use the money to fund our department Christmas party.