So happy I am on Hawaiian land (aina)

Out of the book 'The lost Poi Pounder"

I am so excited and I can’t hide it!

Kind of a miracle, and it went so easy…but I finished the illustrations for the Hawaiian children’s book “The lost Poi pounder”.

It was such an honor to make this book. It plays in the 1800 and I did a lot of research work to find out how the Hawaiians lived. And being in the energy of Eddie Aikau and his family was such an honor for me.

I can’t tell the story or show the illustrations. I hope you buy the book. But I am happy with the result.

It is my 5^th children’s book I illustrate and I just love to do that!
It was so easy to work with Gerald Aikau, the author. It was great.

I might start another one for another author. This time it will be a dolphin story.

The dolphins are just rooted in my heart. I came to Hawaii on May 7^th 2006 and I stayed on the big Island. I came to participate in a work shop of my friend G. that would take place on Maui; but I thought it was insane to just travel at the other side of the world for only one week; so I searched for another place to stay and to find the dolphins.
That place was on the Big Island. It is a long story that I might write one day, but to tell it short I stayed on land with a Dutch woman. She was never there, she lived somewhere else and so I kind was living all by myself on this big piece of land that climbed the hill from the bay Kaleakakekua towards the high way that connects Kona with the South part of Big Island.

I did work exchange and had to cut grass every day. The piece of land was so big that when I was finished at the end the beginning was long again. My hands were hurting because I had blisters. I was cutting it with a sickle.

I lived in a huge tent. It had the size of a room. The bed was covered with a net against the mosquitoes.
The kitchen was outside, the shower was outside and wide open…ohoh this Belgian girl was so upside down!  I had to shower naked (well yes J of course) where anybody could see me.(the birds, the  mongooses,…J)

I was alone on her land. I just had returned from Maui after the workshop with my friend G.
I can tell so many stories of my adventures on Big Island.
But now I just want to share how different it was in the beginning I was living there. It was so dark!
There were noises everywhere.

I was sitting in the kitchen and got introduced with cockroaches for the first time, mega frogs, mega spiders, centipedes…and I was not from the city in Belgium!!! I was used to work on the farm and to deal with all kind of animals…but everything in Hawaii was so much bigger!

Ok I admit, it kind of freaked me out. Especially the noises at night in the darkness...
it was overwhelming.
 It was as if I was surrounded by many many eyes…and I couldn’t see them!

In the beginning the nights were terrifying. Especially, when I needed to go to the bathroom!
The bathroom was a big trashcan upside down with a hole in and a toilet seat on top. It was a compost toilet. I had to go with my flash light which brought all kind of insects with me. I was always concerned that an insect would bite in my butt. So I always hurried up as fast as I could.
And then I got in my tent and tried to get as fast as I could in my bed! I thought that the only safe place from all those big creatures was in my bed behind the net.
That was what I thought at least…and I still think that…J

The first days I slept with my flash light in my hand. With every noise I turned on the light.
A big spider…I would control it every 10 minutes to see where it was going…I was not laughing…
I heard noises…things crawling over my tent. On top of my tent, on the side…what was that?!

Hup the light on again….
Hmm that spider still sits there.
What can it be?
I don’t see anything…
Ok need sleep…
Light off…
tsatsatsa
Light on…
Nothing…
Light off…
crisssss…
light on…

 I couldn’t figure out what that was.

I was so happy when it started getting light…aaaahhhhh…relieve…

It took me days to find the creature behind the noise. It were gecko’s!!!!

I never heard that ‘tsatsatsa’ before. Once I found where the noise was coming from I relaxed and they became my friends, eating the spiders and cockroaches hopefully J.

I was especially scared from the centipedes. They looked horrible. Yeck. All those long legs.
The Dutch lady was so kind enough to tell me, that I had to check my linens, my pillowcase for centipedes that could have crawled into it…..aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah….

Ok well nothing else to do….

I look from it on a distance, standing on the bed lifting the sheets up with my hand far away from my body….you never know what falls out of it.

Oh man…

Hei wait a minute. It that thing can crawl into it when it is light, it can come at night too!
Oh great…

When I would shower in the morning little worms would crawl out from under the rocks. It looked like centipedes, but I think they called it millipedes…hu…I knew they were harmless...but still I had to get used to it. Bugs would come and from under the rocks….Oh my God I HAD TO GET SO USED TO THIS!

This experience I am writing about is not the chronological time frame I really experienced this.
On May7th I arrived in Honolulu, stayed on Oahu for 3 days, went to Big Island for 5 days(but other people stayed on the land so I felt safe then), then went to Maui for the workshop and then returned to Big Island. I experienced the above when I returned to Big Island and I was all by myself on that big piece of land in the middle of nowhere without any light. I only had flashlight. No electricity. No internet.
I do had solar energy for the fridge.

I worked hard in the day, discovered the land. Was all by myself. It was as if the Dutch woman forgot about me…where was she?
I didn’t have a car. I just worked, ate and slept…well slept…

It was the 3th day I walked down the street to go to kaleakekakua bay to see the sunset…
when I saw to Hawaiian man play a guitar…

Where did you come from they asked?

TO BE CONTINUED…
J

Love tamara rainbow
www.rainbowsheart.com

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