Time to Soak in the Beautiful Island of Hawaii!

Kona Art Walk

Could there be something better than an afternoon stroll through an elaborate open-air art exhibition downtown beautiful Kona? Every second Sunday of the month, local artists exhibit their paintings, sell their handmade jewelry and play their music all over downtown and the cars have to find a different way around :)
This is also where I got my ears gaged... just kidding, they are fakes ;)
But seriously: The Art Walk is a wonderful way to indulge in the Hawaiian culture and get some early Christmas presents for your loved ones... and yourself!!

Swimming with Gille Legacy

Do you remember my friend Gille, the Nosepainter, and his wife, Sandi? Gille loves the water but it is not safe for Sandi to get him into the water all by herself -- and therefore he has not been able to get into the water for 25 years. Until two weekends ago when my friend Travis and I took Sandi and Gille to the pier, put him, carried him into the water, laid him onto a floating mat and we all swam together! It was so incredibly wonderful to see him laugh and smile and I felt so honored to be part of making one of this man's hidden dreams come true. If I may quote my dear friend Gille: "It had to take a young girl all the way from Germany to get me back into the water!"
Sometimes it's good to be stubborn, I guess ;)

Lu'au

If you ever get the chance to go to Hawaii, go to a Lu'Au! It's an amazing cultural event that combines good food, wonderful music and colorful dances in one spectacular night! I got the chance to go with all of my roommates, my dear friends Martitza and Travis and take Gille and Sandi as well - the night could not have been more awesome!! And I even learned how to make a fish out of a palm tree leaf...

Two Wheels to Get Around

Guess what -- This is my new way to get around the island:

Well... that was a joke! I love mopeds way too much and so I rented one for super-cheap together with my friend and outreach-companion Evelyne from Switzerland! Ever since, I've been able to do my morning devotions at the beach - what a great way to start the day!

Hilo Side and Mauna Kea Excursion

Our last excursion for the quarter took us first to see the waterfalls on the Hilo side of the island, swim in one of them and get completely rained out ;) Afterwards, at night, we went swimming in a warm pool right by the ocean (where the water is naturally heated up to bathtub temperature) and swam under the stars and surrounded by palm trees... REALLY late at night, we drove up to the volcano Mauna Kea where it was freezing cold and snowy!! We put on several layers and took awesome starry-sky photos and we also learned how to "paint with light."

My Wonderful Friend Sharon (from Switzerland) and I

Dancers Who Dance Upon Injustice :)

My Dance Partner Josiah and I

I'm back in my element - I am leading a dance club :) For the past weeks, I have been able to teach people here on campus how to dance, together with my awesome new dance partner Josiah. He actually already knew how to Swing Dance and he's super fast at picking up any new dance as well - I seem to always be blessed with dance partners who learn so quickly and I am endlessly thankful for that :)

Last Friday, we've hosted a big Swing Dance Fundraiser and raised money for what I like to call our 'Fishing Pole Fund': My vision is to not only go out into the mission field and only be a blessing to the people in South Africa while we are there (like giving them a fish to eat) but to teach them a skill and leave them with something that will be a continuous blessing to the people (like teaching them to fish and leaving them with a fishing pole... in our case this will be school books, disposable cameras or the like).

And you know what's especially great? Josiah is even in my outreach team so we are planning on teaching orphans in South Africa how to Swing Dance... YES, to me, this is what dancing is meant to be!!! I've finally realized that it fulfills me so much more to bring joy to others through my own dance performances or through teaching them how to dance than to "beat someone else" and win the great price in a competition...