Aloha Aikane (friend)!

I apologize for not getting an email out sooner, but I think a week into being here is pretty good! It is crazy that today I have been here exactly one week already! Time goes by so quickly. I really like it here so far. It is very different from Utah, everything from the climate to the people to the food you can buy. Speaking of food you can buy, I went to the grocery store and about died at the prices! I’d heard it was expensive but you don’t really understand that until you see it for yourself. I think the bugs will take a bit to get used to. I have bites all over me. Yesterday I went to get into my box of cereal and it was completely infested with Ants, delicious way to start your day. I now store all of my things in ziplock bags that little ants can’t get into. I have yet to see any large roaches in my apartment, but a girl I met has been battling them daily. I did see one outside though, it was over two inches long. They call them 7-47’s here. They can be like 4-5” long. Ew.
I have three roommates all together and share a room with a girl who is never here. She has yet to spend the night here and I don’t mind at all! She is a local Hawaiian from Hilo. In the other room is a girl from Alaska who enjoys partying a lot and I am pretty sure knows every other person on this small campus. Everyday she brings over someone new. On Saturday she threw a party in our apartment and at one point or another just about every person from the campus was here I think. The third girl is from a smaller Hawaiian Island. She said they rely highly on tourists for their income and the man who invented McAfee has a lot of homes there. He buys land for a low price and sells it at a much higher price, which makes it hard for the Hawaiian people to have ownership of their land. It’s a problem all over the islands. She is also Hawaiian, and the two girls both speak Hawaiian fluently. One of them told me they usually use Hawaiian to talk crap about people who cant speak it, which made me feel really good because when I met her she was speaking a lot of Hawaiian with her friend! I have come to discover this strange way they speak Ive heard called chicken scratch. It’s a combo of English, Hawaiian, Pigeon, Japanese and I think whatever else they want to throw in. The pigeon language confuses me also, its just a slang way of talking, which they think you understand. So far a word I learned is choke which means a lot. The dorm isn’t exactly what one would call nice, but it works and it is really close to the campus. It is weird to me that they only have screens on the windows, it makes it really noisy, especially at night.
I have discovered that most of the time, the people here are all very nice. I have had a lot of really good experiences with kindness from others. It is part of the way they live here, and it seems that people try to listen to you. I have met a few people already. I met two girls on the airplane and I see one of them just about everyday. She got a car yesterday, which I think will be super fabulous! We went for a drive yesterday and it was so great to just get off the campus. On Sunday I am going Kayaking in the ocean! At the housing office they have fun things you can sign up to do every weekend. There is also a BBQ on the beach that Saturday I might go to. Next weekend there is a trip to Kona, which is on the other side of the island (its drier and more touristy). On the trip you get to go in a submarine! I haven’t signed up for that yet but I have plans to.
I just had a rather hilarious thing happen. There was this guy that I met in line at the store and for some reason I mentioned I was from Utah and it turns out he is from Utah to. He just transferred from Westminster. Anyway I see this guy 2 or 3 times everyday on campus. It is the strangest thing. He is pretty cute and so I would get rather excited on these encounters. Well.. today I went to the gay pride club meeting.. and guess whos there! Mr. Utah! So Donny… you are right.. they really are all gay. Even though we wont be smooching we are going to dinner and bowling on Friday night. We are going gay bowling. Im not quite sure what that is, but I guess you haven’t bowled until you have gay bowled. Its actually quite crazy, he knows some people that I know, it’s a small world.
One of the girls from the airplane and I have been getting along with really well. We have a loco moco Friday night now. I had no idea what loco moco is but around here it’s extremely popular. It is rice, with a choice of meat (everything from fish to spam, the most common is hamburger), covered in gravy with eggs on top. She loves it, and Im not such a big fan. I don’t really like those ingredients on their own so combining them into a dish rather disturbs me. You can find it all over the place here, even in the school cafeteria.
I just asked my Hawaiian roommate to cook me Spam sometime. I haven’t ever had it. I have always been a little scared to, but I figure she would know how to prepare it the best. She said she ate some today for breakfast. She is currently playing the ukulele, isn’t that cool! Someone below me plays it just about all day long, which I don’t mind too bad, but I would enjoy a break. In this culture you share things, especially food. It is very rude to be eating something and not offer it to other people. Learning all of these new culture rules is going to take a while. I am taking a class called the History of Hawaii. I realized when I got here and was called a Haole (white foreigner from the mainland, which can be used very rudely and can also just be used to describe you) that I don’t understand where the prejudiced we have towards one and other really comes from. In order for me to understand I feel I need to know the history. I had no idea that Hawaii was full of plantations and that we locked up the queen. Being here makes me feel very fortunate to be white, but also ashamed at the same time. I realize I didn’t force their people into slavery, nor did any other white person around here, but my people did. People that I came from did that, and regardless of how accepting we all are we have these issues that go way beyond our time with problems our ancestors created for us that we cant begin to solve. Here in Hawaii there isn’t a majority race, you see all kinds of people from all over the place. Its very refreshing to sit in class and be with people who are so different from you. One reason I find education here to be so empowering is that we all sit in class from different parts of the globe, but its all for a common reason of seeking knowledge to better our lives and communities.
I have been eating loads of Macadamia nuts. I love them! They are so expensive on the mainland but here they are pretty cheap. They grow them right outside of Hilo, Id like to go there. Apparently the nuts aren’t native to the island. They brought them over from Australia back in the forties. My roommate told me once you live here long enough you don’t want to eat them anymore, but for now I will eat as many as I can. The chocolate toffee covered ones are amazing! I went down to the Hilo Farmers Market. It was really cool! Foods that they grow here are really cheap and so tasty! I ate a pineapple that was so good. I also bought fresh lima beans, Id never seen them fresh before. They have really fun dresses and jewelry at the market. I had to refrain from buying it all.
I miss knowing where I am. I really have no idea where I am right now, nor what is around me. I miss everyone a lot. Its different not really knowing anyone here. It is nice though because a lot of people are in the same boat and so people are very friendly and want to meet new people to. I have found some belly dancers here but they meet down town which wouldn’t be too far of a walk, but Id have to walk back in the dark so I won’t do it. I’m going to call the lady and see if maybe someone else comes from campus. I am still looking into getting a bike or a scooter. There is so much I want to see on this island! It is an amazing place, and is so very beautiful. Outside my bedroom window is like a jungle. The dorm I live in is called Hale Ikena which means “room with a view” (some of the rooms have a terrible view so I don’t quite understand the logic there). All night you can hear the crickets and these little frogs. In the morning these loud birds wake me up really early, along with some lovely construction trucks.
I love and miss you!
-Olivia-