Almost there...

Aloha friends. I know it's been a month. To be completely honest, I've been waiting until I had some pictures to upload in order to appease Thobeka. Hope you enjoy them! This one is us at Kailua, same as below. We kayaked out to a little island off shore and wandered around. Then Sam managed to drive the kayak around well enough to catch a couple waves along with some surfers! It was really fun. We had a couple friends from our ward with us that day and we had a great time. I'm really not sure why I suddenly have a blue underline that won't go away...
This one is Hanauma Bay, where we went before Kailua. It's an old volcano that now is full of coral reef and therefore, awesome snorkeling. We drove over an hour to get down here only to find it deserted and closed, because some tourist got stung by a jellyfish. Lame.

This is one of our favorite secluded spots, Kawela Bay. You have to park on the side of the road and ignore some "no trespassing" signs to get here, but it's so awesome. There are usually no more than 10 people there, and there are always turtles in the water, popping their heads up and eating off the coral. The water is really shallow, so you can walk out and get really close to the turtles. We once found one lying up on the sand too.




Sam and I are doing great. This coming week is finals week, and Sam is so excited to be done with another semester. He'll be taking a short 8-week spring term starting mid-April, and then he'll be done! I am set to graduate in May, but it looks like I might extend that and take a few more classes in order to have a 60-hour degree, which will expand my options as far as being able to potentially be employed and licensed in more states. Plus, we'll get another student loan payment, allowing us to continue our annoying habit of eating and paying rent.

Speaking of jobs, I have applied for probably 20+ positions, and have been more than discouraged lately. I've received almost zero positive response. The one phone call I got was for an adjuct (part time) position in Greeley, Colorado. Ever heard of it? Yeah, me neither. Plus, I haven't heard back.

The biggest blow to my self-esteem was receiving in letter in the mail from the campus that I work at, telling me that I'm not even going to be considered for an interview, even though I have been volunteering 40 hours a week for this school for the past 9 months. All three of my letters of recommendation were from faculty members. I felt better after my supervisor let me know that they actually flew a guy out from Washington a while ago and had him stay for a few days, and they really liked him a lot. He said they probably just had the intention of hiring that guy, but for legal reasons had to post the position and accept applications. Whatever.

I felt much better after I got a call early Friday morning asking if I could do an interview the next day! Finally some validation! So this morning, Sam and I drove down to Ala Moana and I met with three people from Nova Luna, an eating disorder clinic on Maui. They're opening up Hawaii's first residential treatment center and looking for therapists. I think the interview went really well, and we're kind of excited! I'm just wondering if I really want to take on a job that is almost certainly the most stressful in the field. I guess it depends if I get any other responses...

In other news, my Mom is coming this week! She'll be here on Friday and I'm so excited to show her around. I've been looking for good beaches to take her too, since her favorite thing is to float in calm ocean water. It will be so fun to show her the sea turtles and go snorkeling and give her a good taste of home. Then, when we drop her off, we'll pick up Sam's parents and get to play tour guide again. It will be so good to have family around and be able to share everything we've found here.

P.S. We went to a new beach today and saw a huge seal wriggle his way onto the sand. He hung out a while, then made his way back in, like a giant worm, then scratched his back on some rocks and swam away. First seal we've seen here and we were about 5 feet away. I love it here! :)