Spring

There is a perceptible change of seasons. The waves are calming down. Surfing is something we have to wait to do until the conditions are right. Snorkeling is now what we can do more often. Our classes are winding down too. And the weather is getting a little warmer. 

We started taking a kapa class over in the Honolulu area. Kapa is Hawaiian tapa. We are learning the whole process. At the first meeting, we each stripped the inner bark off our own mulberry tree sapling, and then we pounded it out flat. We'll resume the process next time and eventually have our own shark tooth knife and kapa fabric with our printed design. I am the only guy, as usual. There are five other women besides Linda. The teacher is part Hawaiian who grew up on the mainland, returned here, and started rescuing kapa making from oblivion. During the three hours we worked together stripping and pounding the bark, we learned that she and all but two of the other women are LDS, and that the teacher is the mother-in-law of one of my favorite students. Strange.

We have been seeing whales spout and breach. Sometimes they launch themselves out of the water vertically and then crash back down. It's spectacular to watch. Didn't get pictures, though.

My sister, Kelly, is here. We took her to "culture night" where the campus nationality clubs perform their home music and dances for each other. Lots of fun to see our students do that, but we needed earplugs.

Greg