Food Shopping : Day 1

Today was our first shopping day.  We loaded everyone and tons of Rubbermaid bins into the van and ambushed the grocery store.  They reserved a checkout lane for us.  As soon as we filled a cart, we brought it to the lane for them to ring up, then it was off to get a new cart to fill.  We completely destroyed their dried fruit section and put a pretty good dent in the shelf stable tofu.  

Most of the things we got were things to make us happy.  Lots of cookies and crackers and junk food.  Stefan noticed that the fruit snacks were on sale so he put all of them in our cart.  We also got lots of cake and brownie mixes.  The Amy’s soup section is no more.  Ooooh, and I got a bag of chia seeds!!  It was not too easy to find products without dairy in them.  We made sure to hit the produce section for items to dehydrate for the island,which is something I am very happy about.  Onions and strawberries is what we focused on. I guess there are already lots of apples and bananas on the island.  Stefan said to get 15 pounds of onions, so I did.  He saw my onion pile and said, “More onions.”  I told him that it was 15 pounds.  He said, “More onions!”  I didn’t argue.  We ended up with 30 pounds and he said that was a good starting amount!  

As they rang up our items, Stefan was keeping an eye on the cost.  He can’t spend more than $2,500 in one trip (it’s a government thing, I guess).  I think we shopped about two thirds of the store (not including frozen things) when our bill reached $2,4something.  We will have to go back again to finish our list of goodies.  We unloaded all the bins of groceries and pulled out the dehydrater.  Right now it is filled with strawberries!

$2.50 Tuesdays

After spending all day looking at the C&S catalog.  It is confusing.  I found mustard in the beans section.  I have yet to find almond milk.

Soooooo…just got back from Gordon Biersch with $2.50 Tuesday.  Their beer was so good.

I also got the famous garlic fries and veggie burger.

Sorry, I ate half of it before I could take a picture.  We totally had a great time.  Stefan and Hope stopped for appetizer and beers.  When we got back in the van and dropped off Allison, Stefan, and Hope and the Bob Dylan concert.  Is he still a thing?  The Johnston crew headed back to the bunkhouse and tried to do some yoga moves then listened to Colin’s iPhone in a pot (a real pot…for amp purposes) listening to old No Doubt, Hall and Oats, Green Day, Bob Dylan (sorry, Rob).

Clothes, Propane, and Buckets

Yesterday we got up early and went back to the clinic to have our TB test read.  On the way back to the bunkhouse, we dropped off the weekend rental car.  Then we had our fashion show.  We had to go through all the quarantine clothes from the island to see if anything fit to be part of our wardrobe for the island.  A lot of it was hit and miss.  Us girls had a very limited selection.  There are 4 girls on the island now, so I think they have all the clothes.  The boys did a little better, Steven especially.  Poor Colin, he’s so small shaped (he’s a runner) there were hardly any clothes.  Kyle kept trying on clothes that were too long for him.  We found the hat box, too!

After that, Stefan came by.  He is still suffering from pneumonia.  He went over our food inventory and helped us determine which stores to get the stuff from.  He also said that we should increase our almond milk order (yay) and to get more tortillas.  The tortillas have to be a certain brand.  I guess the local Hawaiian brands are too good of quality and they will go bad on the island.  We have to get the ones with more preservatives….eww.  He also helped us with the schedule for this week. Yesterday and today are suppose to be propane tanks and buckets, but we finished yesterday.  The propane tanks had to be sanded to get the rust off the tanks and then spray painted.

  

 

The buckets had to be inspected to ensure lasting quality on the island.  Steve came up with the hug test.  You hug the bucket, if you hear crackling…it’s no good.  

Then they all had to be power washed.  Since we finished that yesterday, we are thinking of going to a restaurant that offers $2.50 Tuesday on beer.

  

Cleaning and Eating

Today consisted of cleaning the bunk house.  There is a weekly check list the be completed.  It didn’t take long to discover that the weekly checklist had not been completed weekly in the past.  When I washed the windows, my paper towels were coming up black…not brown, black.  I had brought about 6 paper towels to clean the windows.  I ended up using about 20.  And then Steve had to follow me to get the streaks off the windows and even he was wiping off black.  The ceiling fans were nasty.  We found nail clippings in the couch.  The floor had dirt ground into the floor, so I think people in the past had just been washing the dirt.  Katrina and Kyle got on their hands and knees and scrub brushed the floor and made mud!  

After the lawn was mowed and raked, the kitchen and bathrooms cleaned, and all the floors mopped we headed out to dinner.  I found a Vietnamese restaurant with a vegetarian menu.  When the food came out, it was so much I knew I would be having leftovers….nope!  I ATE IT ALL!  It was so good. I finally found a place that understands what vegetarian means.  Unlike the sushi place.  I had to order the vegetarian roll without the shrimp…what?!?  Very happy I had a great meal. 

Experiencing Hawaii

Headed out bright and early this Saturday morning to explore the island of O’ahu.  The plan was to drive east and then north along the coast then cut the island in half and drive south down the middle back to Honolulu.  We took the mountain route to get to the east coast.  There was a scenic pull out and it was very scenic.

Then we made it to Kauloa Point and got to see Chinaman’s Hat (Mololi’i).  It was amazing.  It is located about 1/3 of a mile off Kualoa Point.  The water there was so warm and clear.  We stayed there for about an hour walking in the water and taking pictures.

After that we headed to Kahana Bay.  I think it is my favorite place so far.  It was just breath-taking.  The colors of the mountains and the water.  I kind of teared up it was so beautiful.  I have never seen anything close to this.  Even in movies or tv shows just doesn’t do it justice.  The sand was perfect.  Warm and soft and like that into the water…not a rock to be found.

We spent a lot of time there.  I swam for about an hour.  The water was warm and salty…it was perfect.  There were three surfers and the five of us…we had the whole bay to ourselves.  I’m not sure why there weren’t more people there, but I thank them for not being there!  The boys threw the frisbee, Katrina took a bunch of pictures of these camouflaged crabs that were moving a little too fast for my liking.

After that we made a couple of stops to take pictures of the ocean on the way to Shark’s Cove.  We had lunch first from food trucks…cool!  Sharks’s cove is like this giant tide pool.  If you go, wear boat shoes…or don’t climb the razor sharp rocks like I did.  Ouch.  I got some pretty cool pictures, so it was worth it!  Also, might come in handy if you don’t watch your step.  There are tons of sea urchin!  Very pretty sea urchin.

We must have spent a long time there, because before we knew it, it was after 3 o’clock.  We all wanted to get to the Dole Plantation, so we headed out.  Before we even got to the plantation, we were seeing acres of pineapple growing from the road.  A lot of pineapple.  We did the pineapple maze, which I am told is the worlds largest maze, covering over 3 acres and contains over 2 miles of maze route.  It took us just under an hour to complete.  We visited the gift shop and quickly left after seeing the prices.  Today was a great day.  I feel like I got a good since of Hawaii and got to see only a fraction of what it has to offer.  At the end of the day, I came home with a smile on my face along with a pretty nice sunburn.  I am rockin’ the reverse raccoon look right now.  Sorry mom, I tried.

Poking and Prodding

Not much happened today.  Got up early to get the government physical: blood, urine, ECG, chest x-ray, hearing test, eye test, lung function test, TB test, tetanus shot.  Dropped off paperwork so I can drive the government vehicle, which I did today.  We picked up our rental car for the weekend, so I drove the giant van back to the bunkhouse.  Returned the recycling…we made like $23!  More food inventory.  But at least we finished the initial count…only took 4 full work days!  Then we went out to eat.  It was a pretty drive.

Ended up at a Thai place.  It was good.  I got the Pad Thai.  Tomorrow is the first weekend here so far and we have plans to drive most of the island.  I hope to really experience Hawaii then!

Pot of Gold

Okay, so all we did today was go over more food inventory.  We just started at the top of the list and tried to decide how much of that item we were going to need.  Example: Applesauce, how many ounces of applesauce will you be eating from now until December?  Who know!?!  We took a break for dinner and I was considering not posting any blog today because of the non-excitement.  But then it happened.  A rainbow.  Right in our back yard!  The rainbow itself was my pot of gold at the end of a rainbow….that’s deep.

Bucket Lids

Today we did Defensive Driving Training to be able to drive the government vehicles.  Now before you get excited and start imagining me driving a tank or swerving around cones.  It only consisted of 4 hours of online PowerPoints of learning about how to drive responsibly.  4 HOURS!  Then we talked more about food to bring to the island.  We couldn’t decide how many brownie mixes we needed.  Seriously, it was like a 20 minute conversation.  That and Kyle would not let carrot cake go.  Carrot cake, really?  Gross.  After we couldn’t stand that anymore, we went out side to organize bucket lids.  That’s how we transport and store items for the island, in buckets.  So we went through a crap ton of old lids to see if they passed the inspection to be reused.  Most of them didn’t make it…like 85% of them didn’t pass.  Then we had to power wash each lid.

 The lids that didn’t pass were to be thrown away.  But then I noticed that they were stamped with recycle 2s.  So we spent the next 45 minutes to an hour prying out the O rings so that we could recycle the lids.

It was a lot of lids, but they are ready and packed to be dropped off at the recycling center.

I just realized that this all about bucket lids.  But this has been a highlight so far. Actual physical work with the group.  We seem to work really well together and make jokes at the same time.  I think that we are going to make the solitary island time work!

Beach and Sushi

We all walked down to Waikiki Beach tonight to check out the sunset.  Unfortunately, my camera is not showing the awesomeness of it all.  It was so pretty.

The waves were huge and it was really windy.  I think Aunt Kim will either be proud or embarrassed that the only sweatshirt I brought is the El Cajon one!!!!!!

After the beach we had a hard time deciding on a place to eat.  We ended up at a sushi place.  Why does the veggie rolls have to be bigger than my mouth?  Seriously, I am trying to make friends and convince them to be around me for this trip, not gross them out with massive bite sizes.  another thing that is really big around Hawaii is Spam.  One of the crew members, Steve, ordered the Spam sushi.  He loved it.  Weird.

HAWAII

I made it to Hawaii!  It was such a long flight, but I was able to get to know my crew while flying.  They all seem pretty cool.  Defiantly a learning curve for living in this bunk  house.  I have never done the roommate thing with strangers before.  So far I think it is going good.  I am sharing a room with my team leader and she is really nice.  I just have the one photo for now.

 

  

  I was so tired yesterday after 12 hours of flying and going through bunkhouse orientation, then going out to eat at the Fat Greek with my crew mates and people from the bunkhouse.  And today we have to leave bright and early for an all staff meeting.  Good thing I have been up since 4am (10am Michigan time).  I was trying to sleep, but I think it actually hit me, the realization of what I have gotten myself into.  Too late to turn back now and I wouldn’t even if given the chance!