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.

Not long after Labor Day, we started having birthdays. Seems like there has been one birthday after another since the middle of September. I have attached a group picture of the “Reservations” girls. The lady wearing a boa was the mid-September birthday girl.

September also brought wild fires on the south and west side of Maui. It was bad. The fire kept jumping the road and the officials kept having to close down the road. It is a one lane road and the only road the gets you to and from the west side of Maui.

I managed to get to work on Friday morning before the fire got too bad. I was stranded at the hotel until 2:00 a.m. Saturday morning. We were at 100%occupancy so I couldn’t stay at the hotel overnight. I called my neighbors in the big house and asked them to watch Ginger until I could get home. The fire burned off and on for over a week.

Yikes!!! I can’t believe it’s been so long since my last posting. Just a reminder of how time flies whether you’re having fun or not. Work has kept me pretty busy. I work with a great group of people.

It has been so hot here. I live on the south side of the island, which is the hottest part of the island. Our rainfall down in this area is about 17 inches a year. It's usually in the mid-80's and the humidity is 70% or higher. When the trade winds are blowing, it is fairly pleasant. However, when the trade winds are not blowing, it's miserable. I live in a 500 Sq. Ft. cottage. There is a window air conditioner which barely keeps the place semi-cool. The electric bill is unbelievable. It's been running around $300. Ughhh.

My neighbors and I got together for a Labor Day cookout. It was nice and relaxing though it went fast. It was fairly cool that day. I attached a few pictures. All of the neighbors know who Ginger is. The neighbor kids come knocking on the wanting to know if Ginger can “come out and play”.