Of space, sea, and sound

It's strange to be somewhere for an extended period of time like a month. The first week you get settled, the second week you are realize it is a longer trip than your usual 10 days and get excited, the third week you feel natural, and then comes the last week. That week is a sad week because it means that the stay on this beautiful island and with wonderful people is coming to a quick and sad close.

Fun things that have happened since last post: 

Stars and space. I was fortunate to join some of our faculty for a behind-the-scenes tour by an employee who is one of HPAF's wonderful volunteers. She works at the Canada-French-Hawaii Telescope which is a part of the Mauna Kea Observatory. I got excited about the instruments and gear of the telescope - we got to see the inside of the dome and see it turn also. Through a secret door and we were on the outside walkway which ran all the way around the dome. The sun was setting as we walked out and the view was marvelous. 

The altitude got to a few of us (13,796") so we ate some food and drove back down the mountain. What's even crazier than a near 14er in Hawaii is that if based on the entire height of the mountain, Mauna Kea is the tallest mountain in the world at 32,000 ft. (they extend wwwaaaaay far down) So.. using that logic, I have been on top of the tallest mountain in the world. I'm pretty dang cool. ha!

A few facts about this cluster of telescopes (see website): There are 13 working telescopes at the top including 9 that are for optical and infrared astronomy, 3 are for submillimeter wavelength astronomy and one for radio astronomy. They include the largest optical/infrared  telescopes in the world (the Keck telescopes), the largest dedicated infrared telescope (UKIRT) and the largest submillimeter telescope in the world (the JCMT). Mauna Kea has a few key components that make it a unique astronomical observing site - the atmosphere is dry which is good for infrared and submillimeter radiation, and also has one of the highest number of cloud-free nights in the world. Mauna Kea is also very far from city lights (island-wide lighting ordinance ensures dark skies).

Sunset through the opening of the dome.

There she is! 

Above and below the clouds

Whatever you do, don't press this button...

Scuba! On our second day off, I was also able to go on my second day of diving and complete #3 and 4 of the required open water dives to be an open-water certified scuba diver! Woo hoo! I don't have as many pictures of this dive because I didn't have a buddy with a camera. But I did see some beautiful fish and eels and sea slugs. Had to buy a book so I could keep track of all the fish I had seen. It's fun to flip through a book of beautiful creatures and most pages say, "Oh! I've seen that fish!!" 

Another cool thing we got to see were green turtles being cleaned in a 'cleaning station'! It really is an area that turtles will swim into just to have their shells cleaned by these little yellow fishes. It was beautiful to watch. 

First dive was 40 ft depth for about 50 min, one hour surface interval and then a 60ft dive for 45 min. 

My dive instructor, Scotty

Turtle Cleaning Point

Phil Mickelson. Ok, so nothing really having to do with Phil himself, but I did decide a new life goal. I think it would be really neat, when age 40 ish, to be able to go golfing with future husband and another couple or two every month or so. Therefore, for me to be able to do that at that point of my life, I have to start learning how to golf sometime. 

So on my day off, after scuba, I went to one of the golf resorts and got a short lesson to help get me started in posture etc etc. It was great and I feel like I could practice for many hours and continue to improve. My instructor told me he saw potential so that's encouraging :) It's fun to start this quest in one of the most beautiful places and courses in the US. (not that I know personally, but I can only imagine that it is)

Chilax. After scuba and golf, I took the afternoon off and just read my book on the beach. I still can't get over how beautiful it is here. God did a really nice job on this one.

Beautiful Mauna Kea beach

Sunsets are a weakness of mine

Robbery. One sad thing did happen - one night while enjoying the waves and full moon with a group of colleagues, two of us realized both our cars were broken into and items stolen. :( I didn't have anything that was of monetary importance but rather sentimental - was sad to lose a necklace for which I had picked out the specific pearl at a pearl market in Beijing, China. I also lost a card holder from my trip to Colombia. They also took a pair of flipflops, makeup, and my blood sugar tester and insulin. Frustrating. My colleague's instruments were stolen which makes my losses comparatively mere pieces of sand on the beach. Things like this are a good reminder of how objects should not rule our lives. They can help us express ourselves but they are not who we are.

HPAF. Last but not least includes the wonderful performances at this festival. The voices are beautiful and inspiring. I had the misconception that more opera singers were divas but I have found that not to be the case with the wonderful people here. In part, it is the environment and the mana of the island (or the creator of, at least). I have definitely developed a more relaxed side of my leadership style. Here in Hawai'i, there is no other way to get things done while maintaining relationships unless you are more relaxed and kind. Being all 'business' is not going to work - it's good for me to learn that.

That's it for now! Tropical Storm Flossie will make an appearance tonight. And then I have two more days left on the Big Island until it's off to Kauai for a few days. 

"The crashing of waves are like deep sighs of our soul."

~Elizabeth 

The Land(s) Down Under

Yesterday was one of two days off! Time to see some fun Hawai'i fun things!

The first thing I got to do was my open water dives #1 and #2 of my scuba certification. It was great - every time I dive, I like it more. Visibility was good, the coral were beautiful, the fish were swimming, and the shark didn't bite.. Yup! A pretty successful scuba dive. :)

On the boat ride there we saw 3 pods of dolphins who swam with the boat for quite a while. Once in the water at our dive site, we got to see them from under the water and very close. I heard them too! First time to see dolphins and it was incredible. Other flora / fauna included black coral, lots of fish whose names I don't remember (but including 'Gill' from Finding Nemo - which is actually a moorish idol fish), and a small shark in a cave we swam into.

We went out to the north west part of the Big Island and loaded up our gear and walked into the water to join in with the water world below us. The dive boat had two dive teams - one group that had been diving throughout the islands all week and then myself, my instructor, and a mother / son pair. Thankfully, the mother had brought her underwater camera and got some great photos that she shared with me after the dive.

diving along - ascent from dive #1

dolphins! 

Fishy

Just keep swimmin', Just keep swimmin'

Doin' alright :) 

so colorful fishies! 

After logging the dive in the logbook (and buying a tshirt), I hurried back up the hill to Waimea to join Jason and Cyndia to join our group going on a hike to see lava. After about 2 hours of driving and getting lost on a 7 mile road 3 times, we finally found our way to the site. We found a guide and hiked over 6 month old lava flow and joined our group who was on their way (but more slowly - such is a hike with middle school kids chatting away).

After 3 ish miles of avoiding a few missteps and nearly missing chunks of lava scraping my legs up into a bloody mess (it happened to someone 2 years ago - but not to me!), we finally made it to the flow. Oh my. What magnificence is ret hot flowing magma. Apparently, this site is the only place in the world where lava is flowing through a lava tube from the volcano and depositing straight into the ocean - no land flow. It was great. Small deposits slowly dripping into the sizzling ocean as the waves crash over the magma cooling a layer which is then pushed into the ocean from the continuing push of fresh lava from the bottom of the earth.

We got to the lava flow while the sun was still up but slowly the sun retreated making the contrast of darkness and the glow of the molten earth more apparent. Waves would crash, lava would spew like fireworks, a constant sound of sizzle and the bright glow of the lava kept me entranced. It was like sitting by a campfire staring and getting lost in thought, but in a much more powerful way - fire is great, but fire from the depths of the earth is even better.

Walking over the barren lava flow

The beauty of magma

Wearing a rain poncho watching the lava

Two completely different 'lands down under'. The view of the land under the sea, and the view of  the lava - the land under the sea = Amazing.


~Elizabeth




Follow @ElizAnnBauman

Big living on the big island

Well it's been two full weeks on the Big Island! And it's been great. Wherever you live, you get to a point of feeling like 'this is just life. this is the way things are'. .. if you know what I'm talking about. People ask me how I'm liking it - and I feel like I'm just living here, in this amazing place with great people and beautiful scenery. Of course I like it. I like living wherever I am whether it's in Dallas with great school and friends, or Hawaii with the beautiful landscapes added in there. Point being: you are who you are, no matter where you are.

Some lists of places / things I've done while here - not relating to work:
Beaches: 
~ 69 - mentioned in my last blog but this beach is smaller, less overall sand which helps cut down on number of people, beautiful trees that are close to the water. A much more intimate and quiet beach.
~ Hapuna - a quite large beach but great for frisbee and or other sport beach activities. Alot of room on sand or grass land to picnic or have group activities so this beach is a little busier.
~ Mauna Kea - drive through private hotel land / golf course to get to this beach which makes the arrival pretty. The beach itself is reminiscent of Hapuna in the depth and length but feels more exclusive and upscale because of the nice resort that is located there.
~ Spencer - part of a state park recreational area so there is a campsite and other type campy things. But overall I think people forget about this beach so I like it. I feel like the sand is not quite so fine on this beach and therefore can slightly avoid feeling like sand has invaded your entire body / life.

Beach 69

Spencer Beach

Mauna Kea Beach

View of the mountains from my house

Mountain view on the running trail

Having fun in the office

Jason and I at a faculty concert

Hawaii Sunset

Athletic: 
~ Scuba - I've done my pool dive for my scuba certification. I knew slightly what to expect because I had done some resort scuba diving days before. But I didn't expect - though should've predicted - getting to learn what to do in 'emergency' situations. I.e. if your regulator blows and you have air free flowing - how to breathe the bubbles (and practicing that in the pool for 30 seconds), practicing being completely out of air and surfacing slowly, etc. It was a challenge but quite fun and made me feel alot safer and better about being under water and knowing what to do in case of rare circumstances. My next dive is on Tuesday with 2 dives in open water, then the next and final dive for my certification is on the 22nd. I'm also going to schedule at least one night dive - that sounds absolutely amazing.
~ Paddling - I've enjoyed paddling in the early morning and learning the correct stroke and form (or trying to at least). Yesterday morning was a bit tougher for some reason and I was sore even on the way out. But it's an excellent way to start the day and do some upper body workout instead of my usual running etc.
~ Running - my boss, Jason (who is also a marathoner) and I have enjoyed a couple of runs out by the neighborhood that we are both staying. It's a 2.5 mile route but half of that is uphill and into crazy kamakani (wind!). it's very much a resistance training on that half of the run. My personal running goal for the short term future is to get back to a long run every week of 10 miles and short runs in the week of 4 or 5. It's something to work toward at least.

As for work, it has been pretty low key - just doing administrative work and concert prep, as well as inventory management and accounting. I'm gaining confidence in my knowledge of the festival and loving being able to help others when I can and do a good job while I'm here working.

My favorite concert so far was Liane Carroll who is an amazing jazz performer from England. Her album 'Up and Down' in 2012 was voted Best Jazz Album of the  Year and Liane was also awarded 'Best British Vocalist'. She is an amazing singer as well as a really cool and fun person to hang out with also. We were quite fortunate to become friends with her while she was here.

That's it for now!

~Elizabeth

Beginning Life on the Big Island

Greetings from Hawai'i!

So far, I love this state. I'm living in Waimea - which is up on a mountain at about 2,500 ft elevation. It is a beautiful part of the island - though not lush with vegetation, the landscape has rolling hills and grassy knolls.

I have been able to get to the beach once since my time here (Beach 69 - which is located near highway mile marker 69.. ) and though it was a bit chilly and overcast, it was beautiful. I can't wait to explore the other beaches that are close to my location. I have also gotten to go 'paddling' which is similar to kayaking but not the same (as I found out). I'll be trying to go with 2 other girls from HPAF every M/W/F. It's definitely a good upper body workout of 2 miles of paddling.

As for work, I'm on day 3 which has been the most productive of all the days so far, in my opinion. At least, I've known what I needed to do before asking for projects, and have completed them at a satisfactory level. I like days that I have alot of 'assignments' to do and can check them off quickly.

That's it for now - I'll post updates and cool stuff I get to do as it comes along. Tomorrow is the 4th of July and I'll do my pool dive for scuba certification in the afternoon.

A hui hou kakou (until we meet again)

~Elizabeth