adventures in kauai

Hi, Digg!

2008-10-26T19:01:00.000-07:00

Hello,

I posted a link to this blog in a comment on this Digg story:
http://digg.com/travel_places/Kalalau_Valley_Check_Out_that_Gorgeous_Sky_PIC

If you've come from there, thanks for checking out my pics, feel free to leave comments or email me at metzger [dot] peter [at] gmail [dot] com

-peter

pictures from two weeks ago

2008-07-14T01:51:00.000-07:00

July 4 at Kekaha Beach

What is this? Something nibbling on the line??
oh, it's a shark!
but the sun is still setting and looking beautiful!
but it's a shark!
Niihau is silhouetted in the sunset
And the sun has set.
Time for da small kine fireworks
The moon is but a sliver (full-size it for more detail)
Time for da big ones!
But as you can see I forgot to bring a tripod.

National Tropical Botanical Gardens - July 5

This is where the Raptor nest was in Jurassic Park.

Bon Dance - July 5

This took place outside, at the Buddhist temple
There was a sweet dog there.
We went to help Aunty Shirley's Taiko group with their setup

I'm going to bed now, but I'll put up pictures from this past week in the next day or two.

Another Brief Update

2008-06-27T03:00:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody,

A lot has been happening this week, including trips all over the place, skate ramp designing, brushing up some rusty math skills, practicing for Sunday's worship band, going bowling with the youth, and meeting every morning with several of the youth to read and discuss the Bible.

I will put more pictures up later, but here are five from this past week that I think are fairly good.

2008-06-22T14:54:00.000-07:00

I got some new wheels for my skateboard

Fish with Flashbacks

Rainbow over the church

Taylor, Jason and Me

Kaitlynn with Peter the Hedgehog
Peter with Andrew the Monkey

Toward the start of our hike in Kokee

All of us there

Looking down at the Na Pali coast from Kokee

Why don't I ever have a skateboard when I need it?

Post-Kokee shoes

These pictures are mostly from a hike in Kokee State Park that we went on with the kids from the youth group. The two pictures right after the rainbow are from 'dawn patrol,' when kids come at 7am every morning (weekdays) to read the Bible. Around 8 we get together to talk about what we've read, and then we just hang out for a while at the church.

Other stuff: I edited together a video for the sunday morning service with highlights from the Salt Pond Beach day two weeks ago and the MYF water war of last wednesday. I'll try to get it up on youtube so you can all watch it... This morning I also helped with the "big kidz" sunday school during the service and taught the youth sunday school after church.

2008-06-16T01:23:00.000-07:00

more later...

What I'm actually doing here...

2008-06-03T00:37:00.000-07:00

Hello all, It has come to my attention that some of you want to know what I'm actually doing here instead of just looking at pictures. I guess that makes sense, since "Otherwise, [you] might get the impression that . . . the SCIP internship [is] a 10 week vacation in Hawaii," as my mother so adroitly pointed out. While this is a nice place to be, I am also doing a lot of work while here.

So, let's start with today, shall we? This morning after Jason edited the service from yesterday for CD archiving and online distribution (sometimes he edits it and sometimes I do), I put the sermon online at kalaheomc.org. After this I had some lunch and then Jason, Pastor Ed, Richard (a youth worker) and I all went to the Hanapepe Salvation Army to help with their Monday Soup Kitchen ministry. I chopped onions for the chili, helped clean up the room, and checked through a pantry of canned goods for expired food before the soup, salad, rice, and buttered bread was ready to serve and people were ready to eat. Then I helped serve food to the forty-odd people who came to eat. I recognized one of them as a fellow who also had been at the Food Pantry last Wednesday, but I don't know his name. After everyone had eaten I helped put away the extra food and clean up the kitchen and eating area. After arriving back at the church, I hopped in the car and drove out to a good spot to take sunset photos, some of which I will share below. (I'll also post a couple of photos from Kekaha Beach, where I went last night to take sunset photos.)

More generally, to cover all the mystery time up until this point, I've been going to meetings, working with the youth group, and helping with all sorts of ministries of the church. This includes the Food Pantry, the go-to-a-school-and-give-the-teachers-free-coffee-and-smoothies ministry, the videotape-the-Sunday-service ministry, grounds work, hospital visits, and others.

Regarding my use of music and skating in ministry, I have had some opportunities to do that and it looks like more are in the future. I have been skating around in the parking lot with some of the youth before and after MYF (Missionary Youth Fellowship). Also, it looks like we might be able to build a mini-ramp to set up in the parking lot or somewhere. I got to play my bass for Sunday worship on the 25th of May and will be playing again this coming Sunday. Also, I may have the opportunity to lead worship at MYF a few times before I leave, so I look forward to that.

Just to clarify, my intent hasn't been to keep you all in the dark about the ministries I'm participating in, it's just that they don't typically make for that great of photos (besides, I'm usually too busy doing stuff to pick up a camera!)

Enjoy the photos below, please!

Found this little guy crawling across the ground outside our door...

Who doesn't love Mountain Dew?

Plumeria

The previous three photos were taken a little under one second apart

Visible on the left-central part of the horizon is the island of Niihau, 17 miles away

Kekaha Beach at sunset

The last bit of the sun peeks over the horizon

Sunset from the hills just south of Kalaheo:

Be sure to click on the photos for the full-sized images. These smaller versions hardly do justice to most of these photos, especially the sunsets.

Also, Blogger has a wacky idea of what constitutes the "undo" and "redo" commands, as well as a scarce grasp on basic editing of line breaks and spacing. Just thought I'd throw those out there.

another great weekend

2008-05-27T17:39:00.000-07:00

Pictures from the coast, Salt Pond Beach, and the Kauai Polynesian Festival! As always, you can big up the pictures by clicking

Ocean Spray

Black Rocks, Red Dirt

An Experiment in Composition

Spouting Horn

A Second Experiment in Composition

I think these are CH-10 helicopters?

Everybody Wants to See!

At Salt Pond Beach Park

What is he photographing?

...oh. ("yeah.... 'oh.'")

The rest of these are from the Samoan fireknife competition.

bonus points for anyone who recognized the "yeah....'oh.'" as a quote from the office, and extra bonus points for the first person to correctly identify which character said it :)

What A Weekend!

2008-05-20T16:54:00.000-07:00

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING POST IS ENORMOUS.
PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Also remember, you can make pictures huge by clicking on them!

Part One: The Hanalei River

Looking up (or down?) the Hanalei River

Palm trees on the shore of the Hanalei River

At the mouth of the Hanalei River

At the mouth of the Hanalei River, this is where we learned how to stand-up paddle

Stand-up paddling in the Hanalei River

Part Two: The North Shore and Hanalei Town

The Wet Cave near the end of the road

The Wet Cave, in Perspective

Sage Advice...

One of the oldest churches on Kauai

Epic Van Art

Overlooking the Hanalei River - we kayaked from the mouth of the river, under the bridge, and up to that first building on the river there. Then we turned around and went back.

Part Three: Hiking in Koke'e State Park

This is the river we drove across to get to the start of the trail through Sugi Grove

Looking up at some trees on the trail

Jason and I with John, Jackie, and Amy Jenkins, who housed us for the weekend (thanks!)

This stuff was really springy and on some parts of the trail the ground was covered in it. It was like having a mini-trampoline on the whole trail! Well, almost.

Everything is so green there! Jan, I bet you would love it.

Looking down from the trail, across the river, at part of the road we came in on.

Back at the start of the trail.

Driving out...

Bumpy, fun dirt roads. Now with extra hills!

Can you spot the boar skin?
There it is! There is the boar skin.

How we made it there and back again: a hiker's tale

HEY WOW, LOOK! A CHICKEN!

From the Jenkins' pool deck

Also from the Jenkins' pool deck

Part Four: Comments

I like feedback. What have you got, folks? This part is your turn. Please?

2008-05-18T01:12:00.000-07:00

That's all for now, more updates (and lots of pictures) soon.

how not to stop a fast-moving skateboard

2008-05-12T19:27:00.000-07:00

possibilities include:
sitting down
stepping off the board
doing nothing
running into a wall
going off the side of the road and doing a forward somersault through some brush

me? I chose the last one. I would have been much better off to footbrake or slide, but I thought I might fall if I tried either of those, so I figured I was better off falling into something green than onto something asphalt. I didn't get hurt too badly, just reopened my knee that was nearly healed from my injury sustained while skating at GCC.

Random pictures taken since the last post:

can't believe i've only been here 4 days...

2008-05-11T02:42:00.001-07:00

It's difficult to tell in this picture, but the ocean is about 60 feet below me there. This is from Wednesday (first full day here)... so I'm a little more tan now and I've ditched the swim trunks in favor of board shorts. Ed showed me these board shorts made of some kind of super material that repels water for the most part, but when they get soaked they dry in about 30 minutes. So that's fairly awesome.

quick updates:

So far I have: been to the beach many times, visited a skate shop with a reasonable longboard selection (s9 and arbor, but a good variety of each), attended a church meeting, eaten local food, eaten non-local food, read the book of Luke start-to-finish, gotten up early to serve smoothies, mochas, and coffee to teachers; visited an elder in the hospital, experienced a taste of the Keystone Project, edited together a video, babysat, received a dog bite, experienced the kauai chickens, learned a little hawaiian, seen geckos on a near-daily basis, seen a sea turtle, seen a seal on the beach, discovered giant moths, and met a large number of really cool people.

time for some fast ratings:
Saimin = good
the ocean = amazing
guava juice = okay
"small box lunch" from dally up = DELICIOUS
kama'aina = da kine
(locals) = (I like them and they are kind and generous.)
sea turtles = neat!
seals = chillin'
mario kart wii = classy

also, you can click on any photos to big them up

that's all for now kids, good night.

2008-05-09T02:06:00.000-07:00

my little buddy:

my big buddy:

Hi

2007-12-04T21:12:00.001-08:00

I might use this eventually.