Here are some things I would like to share about Hawaii. Therefore if you ever travel here you already know of some of this states corky habits.
First off don't bother bringing any sweaters. It is 86 degrees, give or take maybe one degree, every single day! Not bad, huh! I use to be a person that brought a sweater everywhere I went because I was always cold. It is so pleasantly warm everyday now that I don't even remember to bring a sweater because I can't imagine that I could get cold. Of course I still do because the buildings are air conditioned yet not air conditioned like the mainland where it feels like you walked into the North Pole. Along with this beautiful 86 degree weather there is this wonderful breeze that is constantly blowing so you never get too hot...that is unless you are running and in that case it gets really hot.
Second, they have the perfect beaches. One of Hawaii's beaches even made MTV's top 5 best beaches! Their reasons were slightly different than mine but either way the beaches here are beautiful. Unlike most beaches I have been too, you can only spend a certain amount of time because you just get so hot. In Hawaii you may think you would get hot but we have the trade winds that blow off the water keeping you nice and cool...not too hot and not too chilly! The water is a perfect temperature and great for floating! I have never been in water that has been so easy to float in. The water is amazing shades of aqua blue and we are surrounded by these gorgeous green mountain ridges.
Third, don't worry about speeding! Or maybe I should say really worry about speeding! On base it is understandable that the speed limits are low...really low (between 15 and 30.) The base is really small and large amounts of it is housing which has lots of kids wandering around. Now off base it is just unacceptable! There are three major highways on Oahu; highway 1, 2 and 3! Not too hard to remember. Most of them don't really have on-ramps; you kind of just drive through a town or neighborhood and the next thing you know you are on the highway...can cause a little bit of confusion until you get use to it. Now back to those speed limits, I was talking about. The highway that takes us from our base to Honolulu reaches 55 mph but only for a small stretch. Most of the highway is between 35 and 45 once again because it is going through residential areas. I promise you that I didn't go over 50 mph in over a month when we first got here. It is a strange thing to get use to. When you know it is a highway it is hard to not go above 40 mph. I guess they just want you to "smell the roses" as my high school cross-country coach would say. It is the Hawaii hang loose attitude.
Fourth, bring your own music! We learned very very very quickly that they are way behind the times when it comes to music. There are three main radio stations, hip-hop, love songs, country. The hip-hop station place the same 10 songs over and over again (Rhianna is much loved here.) The love songs station as Gil likes to call it would be considered the hits from today and years past...most from years past. You would think since they are playing older songs that they would have more to choose from...I mean you have had SEVERAL years to get copies of the songs, yet there are still about 15 main songs that they continue to repeat. I do have to say though that I have heard some songs that I have always enjoyed which aren't played much on the mainland anymore, so that is a plus; lost songs are found again on Oahu radio.
Five, who knew on street needed so many Coach stores! The main strip that goes through Waikiki and Honolulu is the home to every couture store you could ever think of (Louis Vuitton, Prada, Kate Spade, Cartier...the list goes on and on) There are three Coach stores alone! At least that is how many I have counted so far and that isn't including the ones in the malls, which in that case there are several more. I never knew Honolulu would be such a wealthy clientele...at least I assume they do to keep those stores in business.
Sixth, I underestimated the Japanese influence that there would be here. I would say 90% of the tourist have flown in from Japan. Just while on our honeymoon we saw 3 Japanese couples get married. I guess it is a pretty quick and easy flight...at least they make it seem so. Due to the Asian influence there are Japanese restaurants every where. I was totally not prepared to eat a large amount of semi raw seafood when I first got here! After about 2 weeks I begged him to find me an Italian restaurant. Surprisingly we found one! It is right off base and it was actually some of the best Italian food I have had in a while. Although that could also be associated with my want of food that is familiar to me. Either way it was really good. I have learned that they have almost every type of cuisine you just have to hunt a little harder for some. I am not knocking on Japanese cuisine it is just difficult to get use to, at least for me. Actually the first week we were here we found a sushi place with the rotating bar! That was so exciting for me! I have always wanted to go to one. It was a great experience. You just grab the plates and once your done stack them according to the color they are then they come by and tally it all up. It was a great deal. Gil and I actually both ate for less than 20 dollars. It would be really fun with a large group as well.
Well, those are just a few things that we have learned about Oahu while we have been here. Not necessarily Hawaiian culture but the differences between the mainland and our island.
As a side note a Target is coming next year! I am super duper excited about that. I have never been a big Wal-mart goer so I can't wait for Target to arrive. Lets hope it goes up quickly and is close by!
Well, I gotta go get ready for the Marine Corps Ball. Happy Birthday Marine Corps! I will post about it soon, probably while Gil is gone this next week.
ars and I have never gotten to hand out candy. Being on base this year we had tons of little kids stopping by in adorable costumes. I even carved a pumpkin this year. I can't remember the last time I carved a pumpkin, let alone an artistic one. (As you can tell I am very proud of my pumpkin.) Gil kept telling me that pumpkins are suppose to be scary but we are in Hawaii and what is cooler than a sea turtle! I was lucky enough to find a pattern online and it ended up turning out great. We ran out of candy pretty q
uickly but we got to see some very cute costumes. I think the best was this little boy who was probably 2 years old. He was dressed up as a baby duck, he had the big round belly and everything. Very cute! Once we ran out of candy we walked over to our friends house and hung out for a while.
man or totum pole esk thing. Each year the old Marines nominate a new Marine to be in charge of caring for him for the next year, (we are pretty sure Gil got picked just because he went to Harvard.) Which means Gil has to take him to all 2/3 functions....hail and farewell, Marine Corps Balls...the whole nine yards. The hard part is supposedly other Marines will try to kidnap him so you really have to keep a watch out. Apparently Coa also has a log book for when he misbehaves. We had him for only three days when he stole Gils cover (hat.) I personally find it very entertaini
ng. We had to lug him to Honolulu for the Marine Corps Ball then find a safe location for him where they may not find him. We were getting some pretty strange looks getting in and out of cabs with this thing; he is not small or light!
The house is coming along really well. I got the bedroom completely painted. The only thing I have left to do is hang so
me photos. We also recently bought the nightstand that matches our bedroom set. I love our bedroom now that it is complete. I also have the kitchen finished. There are a few things I want to hang up before it is completely finished. I a
m working on the dining room and living room while Gil is gone this week. After that I only have the two additional bedrooms left which I saved till last since they aren't used as much. Once the whole house is done there will be a lot more pictures.
