I live in Hawaii now

I realize that I haven't posted to this blog in quite a while. I regret that, but I feel that I now have a reason to be writing a blog. I moved to Oahu. I live on a tropical island in the middle of nowhere in the North Pacific. That's gotta be worth something. The following is taken from a short note I wrote to my aunt. It seems to do a good job of expressing some of what I've been experiencing. More detail and fleshing out of themes, ideas, people, places, and things are certainly to follow, but for now this shall suffice as a first foray. So without further ado:

The Aloha State is WONDERFUL! I love it here.

I've been out to North Shore a few times. We went swimming at a place called Waimea Bay. The water is fantastic: usually around 75 degrees and crystal clear. The waves break wonderfully, you can ride them into shore without any kind of board. And the sand is perfectly smooth and soft under you. There's also a really cool sheer face rock formation that you can rock climb on. I brought my shoes last time and it was so invigorating. Volcanic rock under your fingers, ocean spray filling your nose, and tropical sun on your back. There are worse ways to live.

The food: SO GOOOOOOD.
I have never tasted pineapples so sweet in my life. I was sucking the rind after I cleaned them because it was just that succulent and tasty. And they're like a dollar a pound. Also, the best papaya I've ever had is like a dollar thirty a pound. And they have special bananas. They call them apple bananas. They're shorter than normal bananas, but have a much sweeter and slightly tangy flesh that's less mealy and more consistently textured than a normal banana. And then there's poke (poe-kay). It's cubes of raw ahi dressed in soy, sesame, some chili, kukui nut, and all kinds of good stuff. I like mine with avocado. And 7-11 serves sushi here. And it's fresh. And like a dollar fifty. Basically, food's expensive if you want to eat lots of processed foods like a haole (whitey) that lives in Minnesota, but if you eat like you live on a tropical island with super fertile volcanic soil and bountiful fisheries you'll do fine. And be healthier too. Just stay away from the mayo.

As for the other stuff, I work with a pretty cool group of folks, mostly a bunch of girls. It's really interesting to see how the different cultures and ethnicities respond when you help them in a copy shop. Japanese are über thankful and respectful, Filipinos are pretty salty but have a lovable nature once you figure out their rhetorical aesthetic, Polynesians are really soft-spoken and sincere, allowing for some boisterous Samoans at times, and haoles are haoles the world around, but North Shore surfer types from Haleiwa have a certain sense of kama'aina (local) credibility and easygoing to them that's pretty cool.

We finally found a place to live and will hopefully be moving in around the 23rd. I'm really looking forward to moving off my boss' couch.

Until next time, my big ohana (family).
Aloha!