Despite outward appearances I'm not having any fun.

So I'm in Hawaii on business which is great. I got here on Friday so that I could have some time to adjust to the time difference as well as enjoy Hawaii a little. It really is awesome. I've taken some killer hikes and had some fun but day four and I'm DREADFULLY lonely. Hawaii isn't the place to be all by yourself.

Today was the first day of the seminar I'm attending. I'd looked forward to today all weekend because I thought I would meet some other course participants (they call us "fellows") and at least have somebody to have dinner with in the evening. However, it seems like a good whack of people on the course are from here and aren't anxious to hang out afterwards. The ones that aren't from here all pretty much came with someone or know other people and haven't really reached out beyond "oh, you're Canadian; bet it's cold there." I spent part of the day making small talk with people (I hate small talk) and a good portion wandering around on my own trying to look like I liked being on my own or hanging out on the margins of other people's conversations with no clue whatsoever about what they were talking about. I'm just not the "hi, how are you, would you like to hang out type."

Because of the time difference calling home isn't easy at all. I'd hoped to be able to use the College's WiFi to Skype with the kids at some point during the day and found out today that that is not possible (I miss them so much that this is a hard blow; it means I won't be able to talk to them until Saturday). Tonight I got back to my condo too late and missed my opportunity to Skype with Daniel. Not a big deal in the grand scheme of things but I was really looking forward to it. I'm on the verge of tears but trying to hold them back just in case he logs on (which is REALLY a remote possibility at this point).

So ya it is possible to be miserable in paradise. Oh and I think I'm coming down with a cold.