Fun in the Sun, part 1

Aloha! I've now been in Hawaii for a week and a half and I'm getting into the groove of things while still exploring new places. I hopped back in the rat race with work early on Tuesday (January 18) morning. I'm working slightly modified Eastern Time hours, so I signed on at 4:45am Hawaiian time (HAST) for a 5am HAST/10am EST meeting. It wasn't as bad it as it sounds, since I still hadn't adjusted to the new timezone. For most of the first week, I was going to bed around 9:30pm and waking up around 5am. I have a large window in my apartment and I've left that open so there's a little bit of noise and light from the city that don't disrupt my sleep but make it easier to get up in the mornings. In the early morning hours I work in the light of my computer and desk lamp before welcoming a lovely sunrise over the city. The sun starts sneaking over the mountains in the east (the Koolau Range) a little before 7 and slowly, and then quickly, coats the city in a warm, pleasant glow. The three pictures are from 6:29, 6:49, and 7:01. (The third picture is from a day later, hence the clouds.) The ridge in the distance, towards the center-right of the picture, is Diamond Head Crater, the same landmark I was able to see on my hike the past weekend.

The sun lighting up the island in the morning is a really serene and beautiful way to start the day and definitely makes the early part of the day go by quickly. Around 8am it's quite bright outside and for the rest of the workday I have to adjust my shades so I'm not being blinded or cooked by the sun. I think there's some sort of greenhouse effect going on in my apartment because whenever I reach my arm out the window, the air is cooler and breezier, but right inside my apartment where my desk is, it's much hotter. But I manage with a fan and a positive attitude.

The workday hasn't been flying by quite as fast as I expected it would working morning hours, but I've been wrapping up around 1pm, leaving a better half of a day for relaxing and exploring. After my afternoon nap, I've been heading out around 2:30 on runs to see nearby parts of the city. On Tuesday, I ran east along Ala Wai Canal down to Kapiolani Park. The canal is a nice running spot with no crosswalks and minimal foot traffic, and the park is a nice green area alongside the beach.

On Wednesday I ran in the opposite direction. The start of the run is through a congested area, but after a half mile I made it to Ala Moana Beach Park. The park has plenty of grassy area, tennis courts, and a long flat stretch of beach. It also offers a decent view of the water and Diamond Head Crater from afar.

After these runs, I've enjoyed cooling off in the ocean at Kahanamoku and Fort DeRussy Beaches, the two sections of Waikiki beach nearest me that have become my favorites. Kahanamoku is relatively contained between a small loading dock that I think belongs to the Hilton Hawaiian Village resort and a rock formation that juts out into the ocean, making it good for swimming laps (though it's wide enough that usually just a couple will tire me out). Of course, the sunsets also make the beach an amazing place to be in the evening. I'll try to resist the urge to bombard you with too many sunset photos in the future, but at the moment I'm still taken aback by the beauty and novelty of them, so I'll share these.

At the time of publishing this post, the blog is about a week behind. Don't worry - I plan to catch the blog content up to real time in the next few days. The last several days have been jam-packed full of activity and I think I'll stand a fairer chance at doing them justice in their own post. Stay tuned for another post soon and thanks (or mahalo, as they say in Hawaii) for reading!