Life In Hawaii

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.

New Background

Being in beautiful Hawaii, I don't feel like we have much to complain about, but everybody has been telling me how amazing the fall and changing of the leaves is this year in New England.  Since we don't get fall really, unless you consider more rain than normal average, fall, I decided to change the background so something in my life resembles the change.

As a side note, our stuff arrives tomorrow!  YEAH!  I am also beginning to paint.  As soon as it is all done and the house is complete I will put up pictures of the complete product.  

Another post coming soon: Things you should know about Hawaii. (may take a few days since I will be busy unpacking.)

Aloha!

Poi

Poi (also known as taro) is this interesting purple substance Gil and I learned about during our honeymoon.  It is a staple food in the Polynesian culture.  Apparently it can be eaten just as a paste or liquid but we had it in the wonderful form of pancakes.  

I researched it to find out what it is and it is basically the root of a plant that they cook down to form a paste.  The fresher it is the sweeter it is; the longer it sits the more sour it becomes.  It is still edible as it gets more sour but they switch its use.  If it is sweet they just each it straight (or mix it with milk and or sugar); if it is more sour they will use it with salted fish.  

We never had it in a liquid form but it does make amazing pancakes and dinner roles.  It adds such a sweet touch to the bread and pancakes (it also adds a wonderful purple tint.)  

There are many places online to buy a poi (taro) pancake mix if you want to give them a try.  (www.tropicislemusic.com/food/poi3.htm)

Here is a good website if you want to learn a little bit more about poi:

www.paradisecovehawaii.com/FunFacts/poi.com

Dolphins and Sea Turtles and Sting Rays, Oh My!

Gil and I just got back from our honeymoon and I have so much to tell you. We spent a week in Waikiki/Honolulu. Our hotel was amazing. It looked right out onto the ocean.

We spent the whole week doing all the touristy things as I said in the last post. We first did a submarine dive to see the coral and sea life. The university have been working really hard to develop and grow the life down under. We got to see a bunch of different fish and I even spotted a sting ray. I was really hoping to see a sea turtle but they said the current was too strong. At the very end of the tour the guide did spot one but he had been hiding when we passed by it.

On Friday we saw Cirque Hawaii. At first it seemed like it was going to be a little cheesy but it turned out to be an amazing show. It was a very small production but definitly worth it. I can't imagine what the Vegas Cirque shows look like.

To top off the whole week, the one event I was ecstatic about, was our dolphin adventure, which was definitly worth every penny! We got into a pool with about 8 other people. We got to rub Dalia's ( the dolphin) back, belly and give her fin a little foot rub. I don't really know how describe what they feel like. The best I can do is soft, wet rubber. They took three pictures while we were in the pool we each got to have her kiss us on the cheek then we kissed them on the lips. The best part was when we went intothe deep end of the pool and Dalia swam by and we grabbed her fins and she swam us back to the group.

Below are both Gil and I kissing the dolphin.










We are now back on base and signing our lease for our house tomorrrow. We are hoping we will me able to move in on Tuesday. Wish us luck!

-- Post From My iPhone

Hawaii + Amanda + first 24 hours = SUNBURN

After spending a week visiting family we began our life together. (I don't know why it couldn't wait for a decent hour though.) We were up at 4 am and sitting in a cab by 4:30. After a short flight to D.C.,two 6 hour flights and a 6 hour time difference we finally landed in Honolulu, Hawaii.

We were car-less for only a day which was nice but we have been kitchen-less since we arrived on Saturday. Which means a lot of fast food, and it gets old fast.

Being car-less our first full day we decided to walk around base (for any of you that lived at SHAPE with us it isn't much bigger than that base.) Everything is very accessible. We walked to one of the many beaches on base then stopped by the PX (military version of Target) and Commissary (military grocery store.) By the time we got back to the hotel we had been out for over 2 hours. Of course I wasn't thinking when we left and forgot to put sunscreen on, so if you imagine a lobster, that is what I looked like. To make it worse it wasn't an even sunburn, it was just my arms and neck! I won't make that mistake again.





This is one of our beaches on base.

On Monday we got down to business and checked Gil in and also checked into housing. The previous day we had seen a lot of the housing. Some were beautiful, brand new houses with solar panels while others look as if they were built in the 1950's without central air. Of course I was really hoping the newer homes were for us but they weren't. Once we got to see inside, it wasn't bad at all, plus we got a 3 bedroom.

On Tuesday we packed up our things and got ready for our honeymoon. We also scheduled a bunch of activities for our honeymoon that I am VERY excited about!

First we will be going on a submarine ride over 100 feet under water and they say the path of the sub is frequented by sea turtles and sharks! That night we will be going on a sunset dinner cruise. Friday night we get to have the unique experience of seeing Cirque Hawaii which is apparently the number 1 show in Hawaii. To top it all off on Saturday we will go swimming with dolphins! After the dolphin adventure they take us to go feed sea lions. In between all of these things we plan to enjoy the very uncrowded beach we see out of our bedroom window.








There was a rainbow over Honolulu this morning. (Sorry for the picture being upside down I will try to fix it.)



There will be more posts and hopefully more pictures to come, probably next week.

Aloha!




-- Post From My iPhone

Am I Going To Be Left Behind On The Main Land!?

We said goodbye to my parents yesterday and drove to Albany, NY. Gil thought the goodbye went really well till I got in the car and started crying. Of course my parents know me so well that they called me after we left the house and all my dad said was "You need to stop crying." Which of course didn't help. We will see them again when they come to visit us in Hawaii next spring, which is nice to know.

We only spent one night in Albany. We took Gil's cousin out for ice cream and a little shopping. We were up bright and early this morning to take Gil's car in to the shop. Since we can only bring one car to Hawaii we are leaving his car with his relatives in NY. So, we got it all cleaned out and up to date on all it's check-ups and it is ready to go into hiding for 3 years.

Gil's Aunt was nice enough to drive us to Boston so we didn't have to lug our 4 suitcases on the Greyhound Bus from Albany to Boston. We made really good time and met up with Gil's brother, Anthony before his class. During our drive though we got a call from the travel agent as well as the transportation office in Quantico, Virginia. Apparently they were having a problem issuing my plane ticket for Saturday. The tickets were under my married name but Gil's orders were never changed so they had my maiden name. Of course that doesn't fly with the military and it has to turn into a worst case scenario of me not flying to Hawaii with Gil on Saturday! Lucky us we were able to get in touch with just the right man who had the power to change Gil's order on short notice even though he isn't associated with Quantico anymore. He said he would "take the blow for this." As my parent's like to say, "Welcome to the military." Nothing can be easy with them. I am sure we have many more years of this to enjoy! If our first move is this difficult maybe it can only get easier....right!?

No need to fear anymore. All is well with our flights and we will BOTH be flying to Hawaii early on Saturday morning!

Now that we are in Boston we are just waiting on Gil's youngest brother to fly up from Tampa and we will spend tomorrow with them before we leave.

Now I have to go get ready for dinner because it isn't much longer until the new season of The Office starts! Hope you all watch it and enjoy it!

The Begining

The past year has been full of exciting change. We not only graduated from college but Gil decided to join the Marine Corps and I traveled to Spain to try my hand at Spanish once more. Also, after six and a half years of dating Gil and I finally tied the knot. On top of that we found out that our first duty station will be Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii!

It has been an emotional year with me living in New Hampshire at my parents house, working and planning our wedding and Gil in Virginia going through OCS (Officer Candidate School), TBS (The Basic School), and IOC (Infantry Officer Course.) Now after 4 graduations, Gil is finally done with school...at least for now.

Our wedding took place in New Hampshire at my parents house. It was a perfect day and I couldn't have dreamt of anything more. Both of our families flew in for the occasion. Many of our high school friends who we hadn't seen in years as well as our college friends flew in for our wedding. So many of them put other things on hold to make it to our wedding and we are so appreciative of that! It wouldn't have been the same without them.

After six months of planning the day had finally arrived! The weather was perfect, the chairs were set out, the decorations were up and it was finally time to get married! Everything went off without a hitch. The gathering of old and new friends and family was great. Everybody made the party phenomenal. The food was amazing, the music was great and the storm held off till the very end. We would both like to thank everyone who came out to celebrate with us, it meant a lot.

The very next day Gil and I were up at 4 a.m. taking him back to the airport to get back to IOC! Of course the roller coaster didn't end with our wedding day. He went back to school and I stayed in New Hampshire and packed up all of our gifts. I traveled to Virginia a few days later with my dad and got settled into our apartment. Of course we were only there long enough to get settled when the movers were knocking on our door to pack all of our things back up. Sometimes I wonder why we ever unpacked at all. Now, my little Ford Focus is on a boat headed to Hawaii and all of our things are in crates, which we are hoping will arrive in Hawaii sooner rather than later. We have left our little apartment in Virginia to travel back up to New Hampshire one last time for who knows how long.

We are spending our last week in NH with my parents, NY with his Aunt's and Boston with his brothers. It is bittersweet spending time with everybody because we don't know when the next time we will be back on the main land.

After a very eventful year we are off on yet another adventure...Hawaii! I am not sure what to expect but we are both very excited to begin our life together.

I think that will be it for our first post. We fly out on Saturday and finally begin our honeymoon and hopefully when we return we will have a house waiting for us. I am not sure how much access I will have to a computer since mine is on a boat somewhere but I will update as much as I can. There will be lots of tropical pictures on the way as well.