2 One year ago...

One year ago Mr. Colten proposed to me, yesterday. Wow how the time flies.

And it has sure flown by here in Hawaii. It has been two weeks of living here, and boy I have certainly learned so much in these past two weeks. I wrote them down the other day..and I thought I would share them on here too.

1. There is no Air Conditioning in our apartment.
2. No Dental offices are closer than an 45 mins away.
3. Laie is a very small city. Most people don't even know where it is.
4. Walmart is the cheapest store here. And that too is an hour or more away.
5. The housing here is very expensive.
6. I can't pronounce a single word right.
7. It is possible to lose golf clubs.
8. People aren't very helpful around here. You have to search for answers or things you want.
9. TVA is a very hard complex to get into. We are blessed.
10. Athletes get priority at BYU Hawaii. It's nice!
11. There is no privacy in our apartment complex. You can hear everything....The windows are permanently open...can get kinda awkward sometimes ha!
12. A lot of the woman here don't like living on the island.
13. Everyone has a child! If you are married. seriously...everyone.
14. I couldn't do this without Colten. I would have an emotional break down.
15. Sand crabs are everywhere on the beach. You must watch your feet.

they are really hard to see too, as you can tell.

16. One hour in the ocean, and you'll be tanner than if you'd go swimming in Utah for a whole day.
17. We have such great families back home. We are so lucky to have their support.

            Samantha bought Colten his "Mooth" because of the one he had, and got stolen with his bag.
                                              It was the oldest thing he had in his bag.

18. I never thought we used microwaves as much as we do.
19. It's rainy season during fall and winter.
20. It rains every early morning, and around 2:00 p.m. each day. ( don't go to the beach. the rain has no mercy.)
21. The sun goes down around 6 p.m. and it goes fast! sunsets don't last very long here.
22. Babies cry ALOT. and scream.
23. You must be a student if you want most of the jobs in Laie or the cities surrounding.
24. Pinterest deceives me quite often.Or being crafty just isn't in my blood.

This is a rug.. I will explain later.

Lets just say, I tried to save us money and make one...

and it was a nightmare!

25. The only way you will survive the night time is with a fan blowing in your direction.
26. Carry a cooler with you when you go into town. Your cold food will spoil by the time you get home if you don't.
27. Any time someone says they're going into town.. get your backpack and GO with them!
28. The wind is different here. Therefore it's harder to golf.
29. It's so much less stressful when you have a job.
30. Don't sit next to someone on the bus who looks tired. They will fall asleep on you.

As you can see.. I've learned a lot! And I'm sure this is just the beginning.  You may notice that my biggest worry in my head is finding a job. I get so stressed just sitting in my apartment. I just can't relax. Good news is... I GOT A JOB!!

Well, I kinda got a job. I have been searching the school and city like a crazy person for a job. Any kind of job. But I got nothing. I applied to the PCC and they kept telling me I looked the part and I could totally work there, but all the jobs filled up because of this Asain Work Program they have. Then I went to apply to be a Photo Poly..which is a person who dresses up like a hawaiian and takes pictures with tourist. The seemed very interested in me..but no phone call yet. They tell me they will call if they need a fill in.

I started to panic. It seemed impossible to find a job here. And with the whole "people aren't helpful here" It's because I would ask around for things, and everyone had a different story or they didn't know what I was talking about. That gets frustrating fast. So then I decide to look into getting a dental assisting job in the city. Because there are tons! I had a few people who already offered me a job, but I was just too nervous to drive out to the town, so I shut them down hoping I could find a job closer to home.

Turns out, it hasn't happened yet. So when I got a call for another dental assisting job in town, I told them I would go out to meet them.  (This took a lot of thinking and prayer, I will share more details in a later post.) I went, I faced my fear of going on the bus alone, and I found the dental office with some confusion. I met with them, and they seem to have great pay, great benefits, and paid holidays and vacation, AND they are flexible with me and my travel. The only down falls are they speak Korean. I can't understand a lick of that. They have crazy hours right now. They said they would be changing as soon and they get more a staff under their belt. But for now they have only been open for 6 months, and they are trying to figure out a good schedule. So with my travel time it looks like I would have to work from 7:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. That is a huge chunk of the day, and I was hoping that I wouldn't have to do that in Hawaii. I wanted to find a part time job, and explore the island. Hopefully I will be able to do that once they get a schedule laid out.

With all these positives and negatives, I got offered the job. But I told them I wanted to do a week trial and not fully commit right now, but to see if I would like the drive, and the office before I do. So I semi-have a job right now. It will give me something to do right now, which I am so excited about! I just hope I can understand them:)

                                       This would be what my drive would look like everyday.

Traffic hits hard once you get the freeway.

Before the freeway its just a one lane road.

Tunnel through the mountain.

I would be driving the coast line

                                                      The scenery always amazes me.

So it has been tough adjusting to some things here, I am sure my list of learning will keep getting longer the more I am here. Every place has its negatives and positives. I am excited to continue to explore the island, and hopefully not get Island Fever for a long time!!

I've never been so excited to open up a package.

We truly do have the best families back home.

It felt like Christmas when the office told me they had packages for us!

We have been getting a lot lately because of Coltens golf clubs coming in.

These were a little extra loving support from our mothers.