Oh, Hawai'i

Hawai'i can be a confusing place. I think the most confusing thing is the seasons. The changes between seasons are so subtle, only true locals (no donkeys or haoles) seem to notice. This can be confusing, in terms of the inner clock.

For instance, I just realized a few days ago that Halloween is nigh (as in, tomorrow). Costume? Candy? Holiday? Whaaaat? Last year Christmas snuck up on us, and we sort of forgot about what was happening until we ended up in a crew house eating leftover Chinese food and watching re-runs of CSI We may have gone surfing earlier that day, too. Business as usual.

It almost makes one consider being a Jehovah's Witness simply to have a valid excuse to forget and forego all the Fall and Winter season holidays. But then there's the having to do the door-to-door salesperson thing that JW folks do, and sales isn't something that appeals to me in my free time.

This year I am going to try to be more ambitious with holiday preparations. I won't be taking queues from the weather...but I am gung-ho about getting this house into the holiday spirit this year. No take-out.

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In other news, we are finally picking up on Pidgin, local languages, and the local dialect. Sometimes we get little reminders not to say one haole word or another. For instance, the other day my yoga instructor was at our house with her five-year-old daughter. They were feeling a little nervous around the dog (some folks just aren't natural dog people) so I said I would put her on the porch for a few minutes until they were more comfortable. The little girl said, "Mama, what is a PORCH!?" Her mom said, "She means lana'i, sweetheart." Suddenly it all made sense to the little girl, and her eyes lit up when she realized she just learned a new word. 

Here are some words that have worked into our daily vernacular (and don't even sound too ridiculous coming from us anymore):

• [Mainland] Trash/Garbage = [Hawai'i] Rubbish 
• "It's your turn to take out the rubbish."
• Caucasian/tourist = Haole (Not used derogatorily as often as some think)
• "Was the guy in the news haole or local?"
• Unwanted transplant who thinks he is local but isn't = Donkey
• "He thinks those waves are his territory, but he's not even from here, just a donkey."
• Ample/lots/plenty/many = Choke
• "Do you want something to drink? We have choke beers in the fridge."
• Love/courtesy/hospitality = Aloha
• "What a nice lady, she has a lot of aloha."
• How are you?/What's up? = Howzit?
• "Hey, Ike, been a while, howzit?"
• Child/kid/baby = Keiki
• "What a cute little keiki! How old is he?"
• Porch/deck/patio = Lana'i 
• "Let's eat on the lana'i tonight so we don't miss the sunset."
• Flip flops/sandals = Slippers
• "I wear my slippers to the beach, but take them off before I swim I don't ruin them."
• Snacks/starters/appetizers = Pupus
• "Should we order some pupus first?"
• Pee = Shishi
• "Whose turn is it to take the dog out to shishi?"