Mahalo. The most important word.

This week has been interesting. While I love the island, I can sense that I will be one of the many people who gets Rock Fever. Rock fever is when you have to get off the island, urgently. It usually happens within the first six months of people moving here if it is going to happen, or so I have been told. For now, I am still making the most of being here and meeting people, and business is picking up so I am getting to see even more varied patients. This is a mixed blessing because I love working with the patients and doing treatments, but more work is more work. And while I love what I do, I want to be careful to not do too much and forget to take care of myself. In fact, after one extra long work day, I had a dream where someone told me that I needed to learn to say no. So I am working on it...

Today is my day off and I spent the morning doing a sauna until the sun came out through the clouds. The rainy season has started, and it appears that the sky is trying to make up for some of the drought. We still need 20 inches of rainfall to avoid setting a new drought record and while I will take sun everyday, the plants could really use the water. I took advantage of the sun and walked to town to have lunch with a friend of a friend who grew up here. It was great to talk with someone who really knows the island and confirm many of my impressions about people and the local culture. After lunch I went to Mauna Loa, the famous macadamia nut factory. The most amazing part was not the factory or the trees, but the hoards of people on tour buses that came through! One minute I was in the store sampling dark chocolate with two other pale faced tourists. The next minute I was surrounded by what felt like 250 people on three large buses buying overpriced souvineirs and taking the 5 minute self-guided tour. It was kind of AMAZING. As I was leaving on foot (I walked probably 8 miles today), a guy picked me up in his truck to give me a ride. Public transportation here is often supplemented by rides from locals. He asked me what I thought of Hawaii and the way people speak here. He was referring to the pigeon slang of the native islanders. I said that so far I could understand everyone, so I must be doing okay. Then, I asked him what the most important word was. He thought for a second, then said, "Mahalo." "Mahalo," I replied as I hopped out of the truck at my corner with a smile in my heart.