It has been an eventful year. I don’t think I would have believed it. We finished the long-sought PhD degree in four years and two months, and found a job in Hawaii teaching at BYU. I am very pleased to be here. I think I can make a good contribution to the skills and knowledge of my diverse group of students.
It has been a challenge for me to learn the polynesian culture. There is a lack of the hurry that seemed to characterize life on the mainland. Here the focus is on people and their feelings. This is a side of my personality that is much less developed than my skills of logic and planning. Logic and planning do not work here the same as I had grown to expect. So I am learning to walk with new legs. Or rather, I am learning to crawl. Lois is much more in her element and coaches me from time to time. It is still a challenge for me.
It has been nice to be able to walk five or ten minutes to almost anyplace in town. I have not riden my bicycle in months, and seldom drive anyplace. I think the walking has been good exercise for me, and I am losing a bit around the waist but not as much on the bathroom scales as I would like. When it rains, the rain is warm. I have been walking to school in sandals. Lately I have added socks to my wardrobe. Today was actually hot but the past few days have sometimes been cool. Nobody has a furnace here. Air conditioning is the order of the day. Air coolers. Dehumidifiers. Ceiling fans. It is often muggy weather.
One interesting aspect of my job has been the do-it-yourself mentality that is fostered. Back at OGI there was a systems support staff that controlled the computers and set things up. Here that job falls on the shoulders of each person that wants something special. Everything I need help with is special, of course, since if it were not special I would be able to do it easily. I will be building my office computer during Christmas break and into January. I could have ordered one, but it is somehow more rewarding to build it myself from parts, and to decide what parts should be in it.
I am blessed (or cursed) to live an interesting life in interesting times. I hope the same is true for each of you! -- Love, Don
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