Back to Hawaii

It was partly cloudy when we began our descent onto the island of Oahu. The presence of clouds didn’t stop the sun from breaking through and beating through the plane windows. We hadn’t even touched down and already I could feel the heat. (The fact that there was a good-looking guy sitting in front of me had nothing to do with that.)

It was humid when we disembarked. I immediately wished I’d brought a hand towel. I always had one when I was in the Philippines because it was impossible not to break out in sweat there. I also wished I could’ve worn jeans, but I was told to dress up in case I could get bumped up to first class. No such luck; the flight was full. It was lucky I made it at all considering I didn’t make the previous flight and had to go in to work instead. (Which isn’t as bad as it sounds because there was a lot to do still.) The problem with dressing up was I felt slightly too city-ish for the islands.

That’s one thing I’ve noticed since arriving here - there is a clear distinction between the mainland and the islands. I never thought there was a difference, but there is… at least to the people who live here.

My aunt points out that the island people are much nicer than the mainland population, and as far as I can tell, that’s somewhat true. Road-wise, there is more consideration given to other drivers. Someone even pulled up alongside us to let us know our tire was verging on flat. Of course I was paranoid about the guy still being behind us when we pulled over into a local shopping plaza, but my aunt waved it off, stating it was normal for people to help each other out in Hawaii. (I learned how to pronounce Hawaii properly! Ha va ee! Ha wa ee will also pass the test.) This didn’t stop her from renewing the fear in me later that night about the dangers of going out late at night. The fact that she’s a high school teacher teaching in a bad neighborhood somehow gives her more authority on the matter. Some messed up stuff has happened to her students.

“I don’t want you to become another statistic.” she told me. Throwing up her hands, she added, “I’m so glad I never had any kids!”

Apart from street smart safety and having no kids, there were many other things pounded back into my head. My aunt is the type who can talk about anything under the sun, and then some. Like how meeting your soulmate isn’t really as great as it’s made out to be or how to make a cheese sandwich on the pan. The trivial, the serious, the plain filthy, everything.

So Hawaii has been more about family than beaches so far, but who says that’s any less fun?