Day 25: House Beach Day and Filipino Food Night (J)

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Sometimes things just feel "right." Today, we headed out to the beach with housemate Tami and her puppy, Oscar, ex-housemates Arlene and Kaimi, my friend Athena, and her friend Beth.  Definitely a family affair.  While Matt and I were doing a little swim lesson out in the ocean, we kind of just stopped, looked around, and shook our heads in amazement and doubt.  Because Waikiki has somewhat become our "local beach," we take it for granted sometimes.  But, as we looked around, saw the mountains, the trees, the clean sand, the resorts, the couple getting married, and a multitude of island visitors frolicking in the crystal blue water, just so happy to be here and take a break from the stressed-out rat-races in their respective lives, we just felt so lucky.  We looked around again, saw Kaimi and Arlene laughing as they paddle-boarded around, Tami playing with Oscar in the gentle shallows, and Athena and Beth chatting about work as they tanned in the always generous sun, and thought: damn, these "locals" are our friends, they treat us like two of their own, and felt really, really lucky.  And, it just felt right.  (Note: I wanted to take some pics, but it felt a little creepy trying to take pics of our mostly female friends.)
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Random Pic:  Athena successfully parallel parks for the first time in Hawaii!  That's me looking on approvingly, with Matt taking the sneaky, somewhat inappropriate picture.
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Later that evening was "Filipino Food Night."  A couple of the girls went shopping in Chinatown earlier in the day, and had everything ready for a feast:  Pork adobo, pinakbet, a couple types of pansit, lumpia and turon.  Of course, the usual side-items of Corona and Bud were also present.  Here are some pics of our family food prep.  I peeled carrots, cleaned some other veggies, and wrapped lumpia and turon. Skills, son.

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(Housmate Justin makes his first blog appearance in the upper right.)
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With island jams running in the background, endless chatter from all the cooks and preppers, the girls laughing at me for incorrectly peeling the carrots, the warm wind flowing through the wide open front and back doors, and the faint sounds of referee whistles coming from the football game in the other room, it, again, just felt right.  When all the food was ready, about ten of us just sat around the dining and living rooms, joking around, further lessons in Hawaiian vocab for Matt and me, drinking and enjoying the veritable feast of very tasty Filipino food.  Afterward, we just chilled and got to know each other better.  (The damage can be seen in the above right pic.)  It really did feel like family and, for the final time, it felt right.   (John)
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