Love & Life in Paradise: I Actually Stood Up!

On June 2, 2006 Jun and I wake up and we're still full from the night before...sushi night. We get ready and we go out for a late breakfast, local style. We go to a local joint called Hanafuda and Jun orders a loco moco and I order a chicken katsu sandwich. We totally grind and head off towards Lahaina.

This was the day I was going to learn how to surf. We get to a surf rental place and literally it's a surf business out of some guys garage. Since we're now locals (hee hee) we get kama'aina rates. We rent the board for $10 for two hours! What a deal, plus I have my own personal surf teacher hee hee.

So my "teacher" shows me how to stand on a board and how to prop my body up onto the board before we go into the water. After a few minutes we set out for the waves. At first I'm totally excited. Then Jun starts to take me out, WAY OUT where the big waves are. Now I'm in sheer panic and I'm talking 30 miles an hour. To him these waves are ripples, but to me they are walls of intimidation. I thought I was going to die. So we're heading towards waves that are cresting and my eyes are bulging out of my eye sockets. "How the hell are we suppose to duck under with two people on a surfboard?" I'm screaming at him, "what do I do?!" Before he could answer I jump off the board and dive under. I come up and another wave comes. I do the same thing. Jun comes over and picks me up. We finally pass the set of waves. Then we catch our first wave and I miraculously stand up. But then again Jun is laying on the board and balancing it. My "teacher" takes me to a spot where there's other experienced surfers. I insist we go somewhere less crowded but the current keeps pulling us towards them. We catch a couple of waves and again I do good thanks to Jun's balancing trick. Then all of a sudden a bunch of very large waves, I'm estimating 4-5 feet come our way. I'm terrified, not to surf them but the get past them. With no hesitation Jun guides the board, with me in the front, towards these waves. I get slammed over and over again. Basically the set of waves are continuous and there's no time to think. Jun advises to recompose myself very quickly and continue to paddle because the last thing he wants is for us to get caught in the wave breaks. I listen. Now picture this because unfortunately I couldn't capture this moment, but we are paddling tandemly. So I am in the front on my stomach with my legs spread open to make room for Jun's head. Now, I understand that he is my boyfriend and I shouldn't be embarrassed but I was. It was sure awkward but I got over that very quickly after getting slammed by all the waves. I even kicked him in the head a few times, oops. It got so intense that two of us couldn't stay on the board cause we couldn't duck under. So I had to swim under these raging waves, which is one of the least favorite things I like to do. In the meantime I get a reef cut on my ankle and it starts bleeding. The last thing I want to do is be in the water with a bleeding ankle, especially when a 15 year old boy got bitten by a grey reef shark in the same area a week before. I'm also trying to dodge the couple of surfers coming my way. The last thing I also want was to get my face butchered. Basically, I'm underwater holding my head praying that nobody hits me. I get back on the board, beat up from the waves, skin rubbed off my knees from the board, and a reef cut.

Jun asks a couple of times if I want to take a break and I say no because there was no way I was going to be a quiter, especially in front of my boyfriend. So Jun re-evaluates our situation and realizes the waves are too big and I can't handle them. So he takes me closer to shore where all the beginners are learning. After a half an hour (I think) of getting pounded by waves, the little 1-2 feet waves are ripples to me and very friendly. So I go from hanging out with experienced adult surfers to surfing with 5-12 year olds. This was a piece of cake. It might have been good that Jun took my out to hell cause on those little waves I was able to apply everything he taught me. I had a sense of how to paddle, how to prop my body, how to go over the waves, how to turn the board, and most importantly, how to stand. I had a blast and Jun had a blast watching me stand almost everytime. It was also amusing too cause everytime I stood up I had this habit of picking my ass because it felt like my butt cheek was exposed. Jun had to tell me over and over again not to pick my butt because I looked like a retard with an ass picking problem LOL. But with concentration I managed to stop the ass picking =P. It was an amazing day and I had an awesome time. He was an excellent teacher. He stayed composed and patient, even when I was freaking out. We definitely have plans to surf again. I can't wait!

After surfing Jun and I strolled Front Street, a pretty popular tourist area. It was cool, we snacked on some pupus and enjoyed the sunset.

We stop at a local shop that sells interesting things such as, pot belly pigs. The pigs are so adorable. I totally want one but I resist. They also sell exotic birds that you can handle. Most of them were intimidating but I was brave enough to hold the smaller parrots. Can you see Jun's enthusiasm next to the pretty bird? LOL.