7/14/2010 – What a difference a Climate Makes…

I realized that there was a huge contrast between my last trip to Hawaii and this one. If I had lived down here in Kona, I think I may have actually been happier with living on the island for the year I was here. I know it wouldn’t have ultimately made a difference in my decision to switch schools, but perhaps I would have been less miserable.

The trip before this one I decided that I would stay in Waimea because I would be close to the school and therefore be able to not only obtain lots of pulses, but have a lot of social interaction with my former classmates. I knew I’d benefit from being in a community. I knew the sacrifice would be a 45-minute commute to the Kona Clinic for observation each morning at 6am – and that this would get very tiring very quickly.

What I found was that my former classmates were not really interested in spending much time with me because they were so busy with their own life and school troubles to the point where they had no energy left after the day to hang out. The interactions I had with them were short and while I wanted to exchange ideas and share with them my experiences in school – the space to share was simply not there. When your mouth is full, how can you take another bite?

I realize now that this is a completely climactic condition based on the school’s location. I’ve always known that Feng Shui was a very powerful art that studies energies of places and determines the causes of behaviors, but I’ve never been so present to its full implications until I began studying Five Element theory. Had I known what I know now, I would have been able to predict more about what lay ahead for the year I lived there. The climatic condition completely determines the outcome for the school and had the school been located in Kona, the world would have been quite different.

Waimea lies on the spine of the Big Island. A town situated at the interaction of two roads; one coming from the North of the Kohala spine, and a main road that cuts the island from East to West. As the town on the spine, it's the highest elevated town on the Big Island at about 2,600 ft above sea level. To the north lies the Kohala Mountain (elevation of 4,500 ft), and the huge looming Mauna Kea to the south (13,500 ft). To the east lies the rain forest, to the west lies the dry barren desert land and lava flows. Waimea is the dividing line between the Wet and Dry side of the island. The road that bisects the town from the north acts as the general dividing line but the climate doesn’t change into dry for another mile or so westward. The cold wet trade winds blow their air over the rainforest from the North East and are met by the hot desert winds from the Western slopes. In the middle the temperature variation holds the clouds at bay causing the rain clouds to churn up and back upon themselves as they loose their payload over time causing a climate wetter than Seattle for 6 months out of the year. Despite the rain clouds being kept at bay by this temperature differential above, the town below is blown about by horizontal rain throughout the day. On the days where it doesn’t rain, the winds move like they're running from the law. Temperature at night can drop to as low as freezing in the winter, and as high as 90 in the Summer.

The clouds move through the sky at an alarmingly fast rate, and seem to soar almost within arm right above the citizen’s heads. The town’s energy affects its residents in a peculiar way. Everybody is a little rushed, overwhelmed and all about business. Unlike the warmth and high heat of Kona which warms the smiles of the residents – the people of Waimea rarely smile in a way that indicates “come, rest a while, relax, lets talk story”. Mostly conversations here are about where people are going, what their various projects are, and the goings on between the Eastern and Western sides of the island. This small town also holds the island’s intelligentsia with the home of the corporate offices of two large radio telescope installations atop Mauna Kea, a very expensive prep school, and a Theatre that sees some pretty stellar guests. This is also one of the more affluent parts of the island with multi-million dollar homes scattered along the northern slopes with grand views of Mauna Kea and the coastland to the West. This is the land of Wood, Metal, and Water. Lacking the warm of Kona residents, the residents of Waimea are far more concerned with mutual respect, cooperation, and getting things done.

My classmates’ classroom is oriented to the East with the whiteboard set on the eastern wall. The students look towards the east during the entire day. I felt through the entire year of my attendance like I was standing in front of a blow dryer of information flying at me from the whiteboard. The class always experienced much anger, resentment, frustration, and much resignation with the curriculum. The school piled on 16 different subjects with 14 different text books in the first trimester if that’s any indication of overload. Asked to grow faster than Bamboo this wood energy completely attacked everybody’s Stomachs and Spleens causing major indigestion of information and disgruntled stomachs. Most people subsisted and still subsist on large quantities of sugar.

This energy can be extrapolated to the whole building and the teachers as well as my stay. The house I stayed at on that trip was on the dry side, but my small private cottage was attacked by 50 mph gusts of wind for the first 2 weeks of my stay, and they subsided to 35 mph thereafter. I’d be pelted with sideways rain, and forced to retreat to the beach es on days where I could get some sanity. The energy scattered my homework efforts and I got very little done.

I felt rejected by the whole island experience, lack of connection, lack of warmth and a deep yearning for a speedy return to Colorado to be with people I missed so badly.

This trip I stayed in warm, relaxed Kona. On the slopes of Hualalai the temperature never dipped below 70, there was only a slight breeze throughout my stay and the daytime temperature never rose above 75. I hung out with my friend Nirlepa almost 3-4 times a week which gave me great company. I also had a roommate in the house I was staying who also provided me with company. I stayed only 3 streets down from the clinic so my commute was non-existent and I had almost no desire to drive 45 minutes to Waimea to visit my friends. I went twice. Both times to get pulses and I left soon after as the energy there had not changed much since the last time I was there.