The first day

A new place. A paradise I’ve been told. It’s hard to tell at 8pm when all is dark outside and you’ve been up and traveling for the last 16 hours. The flight ended well. The islands spread below us, blanketed in thick clouds. The clouds gave an eerie illusion that there was no land below after all. Odd that they should cluster around a bit of volcanic rock protruding when an entire ocean is available.

My roommate picked me up outside baggage claim. Lei in hand. It wasn’t even 9pm by the time I arrived at the apartment and I was already wiped out. But unpacking is quick when you only have two suitcases and two carry-ons to deal with. Needless to say, jet lag is not much of an issue when you are falling asleep at 9:30 locate time and waking up almost 11 hours later.

This morning I explored the local bus system without a hitch. It took me a little while to locate the theatre itself, but still arrived just as my boss was pulling in. A slow day of transitions. First I was treated to the morning performance of Little Mermaid. Nothing reassures a career move more than to see what your place of employment is capable of. The audience was a nearly full house (about 300) of first graders from varying schools in the area. A former classmate may have referred to this job as a “kiddie gig” but nothing I’ve worked on to date has roused a reaction from the audience such as the one this production did. It was refreshing to see and hear so honest a response. The oohs and ahhs, screams and laughter. There was speculation that the Hans Christen Anderson version of this tale may have been a little dark…a little over the youth’s heads. It certainly wasn’t the Disney ‘happily ever after.” How do you explain to a child that even though the leading lady sacrificed and loved, she still dies with a broken heart? But the silence that pervaded over them as the story unfolded suggested they grasped it. And the awkward laughter of release at the earliest possible joke…they got it. They were affected. It was pure storytelling. I am proud to work for a theatre that caters to these young ones.

The rest of the day was mostly spend putzing around the costume shop. Claiming my territory as it were. I perused old paper work, trying to grasp the system in place. I fiddled on the computer…poor ancient beast in need of some maintenance. I compiled a list of frequently used vendors culled from old receipts and expense reports. Not only will I be designing a few lovely shows this year, but also honing management skills. I am overwhelmed. But I am up for the challenge.

The settling in was interrupted by lunch at a local sandwich and coffee bar…the treat of the artistic director. And later by a reading of one of the up coming productions.

Finished up around 5pm. I thought I’d stroll the north end of downtown briefly. Mostly in hopes of finding dinner of a coffee shop with a wireless connection. Neither appeared, but a chain grocer did. The cost of living is substantially higher up here. Particularly many meats, most dairy and a lot of the produce. Items like mangos and fish are incredibly cheap (a mauhi steak cost a mere $3, and I doubt you can really charge much for mangoes when customers can literally walk a block and pluck some from a nearby tree). After purchasing sustenance for the next few days I opted to walk home instead of waiting for the bus. Only a few wrong turns, but honestly, is there a better way to become acclimated to an area than by walking through it?

And the walk home was sprinkled with brief cloudless showers and numerous rainbows. One would blaze across the sky, slowly fade away only to be replace a few minutes later by another, just as brilliant and just as brief. Now the rain is coming down quite steadily. One day has ended. I miss everyone back home terribly. But at the same time I am very happy. Content.