Blake and Deborah in Hawaii: Turning Japanese (and Jewish)

Although our official house sitting duties have been over for nearly three weeks, we are back at our host's dwelling – this time as renters. It turns out Waikoloa is a conveniently located base from which to manage the purchase of the vacant land up in Hawi while working with our realtor and escrow company down in Kona. And $100/week is a price we just can't beat. Plus we've grown quite fond of our host family and their menagerie of cats and dogs and chickens. Well, not the chickens so much. Nothing against them, but they are a lot of work and not exactly brimming with either affection or egg production.

The kids in Tamar's family are an unusual blend of Jewish-Japanese. Hawaii is know for its rainbow of mixed ethnicities, but that one has to be one of the least common. Tamar's ex-husband has been back in Japan for several years now, but she has managed to raise great kids as a single mom. They aren't really religious but they do cherish many of the Jewish traditions. Menorahs abound in this house. We were even invited to celebrate with them Shabbat, the Jewish day of rest, with a festive meal, traditional challah bread, ritual washing of the hands, and the recitation of blessings in Hebrew. Strange goings-on for an atheist, but I got to wear a yarmulke, which does a fabulous job of hiding my bald spot. I may convert to Judaism for that benefit alone.

Deborah continues to pitch in beyond the call of duty with respect to cleaning and organizing the house, doing laundry, feeding the dogs, etc. It's not expected of her but much appreciated; besides, she really can't help herself. We also still walk the dogs occasionally and help out with driving the kids to catch the bus or taking the garbage to the transfer station. Cam is the dutiful son who attends the University of Hawaii at Hilo on the other side of the island but still manages to come home virtually every weekend. Mia is the daughter who attends that special science-focused high school I mentioned in a previous blog post down toward the Kona airport. Both very nice kids – sorry, young adults – who are not above playing games like Scattergories and Monopoly with AARP members like us.

As for our lot purchase, we came to an agreed price of $135,000 for the 1/3 acre parcel, but there's still a bit of work to be done before the expected closing date in mid-February. I won't say too much about it until that date, but if all goes as smoothly as we hope the ink will barely be dry when we leave the island for........JAPAN! A last-minute house sitting opportunity opened up there for which we applied and, much to our amazement, were picked for. So we're going to spend a month in Kyoto. The first week will be on our own, then the last three will be the house sit for three cats (yes, only three – not thirteen) in an old wooden Japanese house for a couple of Canadians who are currently living in one of Japan's oldest and most beautiful cities. We've been warned it will be cold there so, having packed only for Hawaiian weather, we've had to have some of our winter clothes shipped to us from home. Well, I did anyway. Deborah had a couple of things shipped, but mostly used this addition to our itinerary as an excuse to buy new clothes here in Hawaii. (Surprisingly, they do carry cold-weather clothing here in Hawaii, where the locals start to shiver during those rare occasions when the thermometer dips to 60F). Deborah denies this, but I swear that wherever in the world we travel, her pre-trip wardrobe collection is never quite right and always in need of supplementation.

Our plan is to fly back to Hawaii from Japan in mid-March and have a couple more weeks here, including another stint of house sitting for Tamar and family who will be heading back to California for a week or so in late March. That will give us a little more time to arrange things for the upkeep and eventual house building on the lot – or more time to search for property if for some reason the current deal falls through. We're hoping for the former.