“How’s it brah?”

A few days ago our mailman asked us that very question. A few days ago, we may have honestly answered with tears. We both agree that a few days has made all the difference with adjusting to life here.

Take today for example: in one day we made five great contacts, went to a yard sale, went to the tourist areas, spent a day at the beach, and even anchored ourselves a great first apartment in Maui Meadows. Yeah, and we even saw a rainbow peeking out of the mountains on the way home. What makes it all feel the most like home is doing the mundane things – going to the grocery store, getting around without relying on Google Maps, and going to the beach with nothing but some towels.

Today we went to an awesome yard sale. To our surprise, there were about 15 earlybird cars when we arrived, which was exactly at 8am, the advertised start time. It was a feeding frenzy! We were able to score a great bamboo side table, a teapot, and foot stool and folding solid wood kitchen chairs.  Someone even proclaimed at the sale, “This is the BEST yard sale I have ever been to!” Since it was our first on the island, we felt pretty lucky to be there.

Next we stopped at a little  farmers market where some packaging caught Kent’s eye. It was this great local hot sauce and pickling company, so we stopped by to chat. The owner is from NYC and decided to leave the big city for the Maui way of life. We found it very fitting that we were able to meet a guy that basically is living the life we want to live. It was inspiring to meet him. We bought some hot sauce made from Hawaiian hot peppers and are excited to try it. Plus, we will probably be getting together with him and his wife soon to have a drink or two. We made a friend!

Next, we went to Green Garage, a second-hand/consignment store opened by a couple that moved here in 2003. The owner, Matthew, was very nice and gave us a lot of great info about life here.

Then we decided to have a tourist day in Lahaina/Ka’anapali. We spent a few hours at the beach, first in Ka’anapali. There were very few people on the beach, which made it very quiet and relaxing. Kent took a video that made me realize I really need to work out before he’s taking videos of me in the ocean. It actually felt really good to tread water, I felt like I had a workout (sort of.)

We ended the day in Lahaina, the area known as the touristy area of Maui. We actually really liked it. We met some artists at the art walk under the banyan tree – some of whom were from Illinois. I find it really interesting to learn what brought everyone here. So far, everyone has been incredibly helpful and welcoming. We met a girl that works at the Four Seasons, and she gave me the “in” on where they list job opportunities. Great! We had lunch at Aloha Mixed Plate, where we experienced the traditional plate lunch, usually consisting of rice, some Asian or Hawaiian influenced food, macaroni salad, poi…and, well, it can a bunch of things actually. There are no rules. Usually macaroni salad is involved somehow though. It was great. We even became best friends with some of the birds (especially Scraggly McNubbs.)

We are both starting to feel very optimistic about starting a life here and less stressed about the adjustment process. We are already feeling at home a little. We heard a few times this week that the islands will either embrace you or chew you up and spit you out. Right now we are feeling embraced.