Brad and I both feel just a little more Floridian today. My Florida experience happened as I entered my office from the parking lot this morning. I noticed a lot of frog poop on the ground, a little more than usual, but didn't think much of it. But I had forgotten to look up. As I walked through the doorway a frog jumped down and stuck to my bare bicep. Once I realized what the wet thing was on my arm I made noises I didn't know I could make-- like a cross between a gasp and an audible shudder with some scared lalalalalas mixed in. My heart rate jumped as I brushed the rascal off my arm onto the floor. I got the broom and tried to brush him outside, but he fought me on it and kept jumping back in. Finally I got him outside and shut the door quickly. And then I called Brad and my mother for sympathy. EWWW. And then washed off my arm.
Brad just called to let me know of his success in running errands this afternoon. While he was at Lowe's returning some things, he had his own Florida experience. See, in Florida, people wear whatever they think might be appropriate for their own backyard. It doesn't matter whether they are in the privacy of their backyard or not. Brad spotted one happy Lowe's shopper sporting a remarkable outfit. White shirt, blue Speedos. Thankfully the beer belly hung low enough as to camoflage any, er, bulges.
It's a beautiful day in Florida. What fun experiences have you had today?
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We've started to make lists...
Top 13 Things we can’t understand about Hawaii
1. Fireworks – seriously, you know it’s bad when they sell permits at the grocery store. FYI, you don’t need a permit for most of the stuff I’ve seen before. Apparently rain isn’t a deterrent. They set up rigs with ladders, bamboo poles, and ropes to somehow aid.
2. Mullets. From young kids to old people, I’m here to report the mullet is still alive and well on Hawaii Island.
3. Hitch hikers – pretty much anywhere, in any weather, from all over the world. You’ll find them all over the island.
4. Style of music – remakes of “Friends are Friends Forever” to other songs where the lyrics are “Girl, your body is built like a Chevy, come on and give it to me baby” to “I love those B-I-G Island ladies, their sexy bodies drive me crazy” to “I love you like a mango” to Filipino Christmas songs. There’s a whole genre of “jawaiian music” that I just can’t bring myself to explore (it’s a combo between Jamaican and Hawaiian).
5. Pidgin – Verna’s, a local fast food joint, advertises, “If no can, no can. If can, Verna’s.” Locals understand; I don’t.
6. Trucks - Diesel trucks, lifted trucks, souped up trucks, riding on the highway in the bed of trucks… The bigger the truck, the better.
7. Shirt and shoes optional. The golf course had to explicitly say that a shirt must be worn at all times.
8. Feral pigs, feral goats, wild chickens, and mongoose. There all sorts of animals wandering the islands. Feral pigs, at least, are hunted and usually end up hog-tied in the back of the truck (see #6).
9. Fun multi-syllable Hawaiian words, usually in reference to street names or random regions of the island. We live near the corner of Kawailani and Komohana (fairly easy, right?). Onekahakaha is a nice beach for kids. Shad’s office is just off of Kalanianaole. Jaycie lives off Ponahawai. This usually leads people to describe locations as “next to the old stationer’s store” or “across from the old fire station”– as if I know where that used to be…
10. Taxes – hey, who doesn’t like to pay a newly-added $.12 per gallon to go toward taxes? We love paying $3.00 for a gallon of gas, over $.60 of that going to taxes of one kind or another.
11. Natural disasters – so far, while we’ve lived here, there have been the following: hurricane watch, 7.0M earthquake, 5.0M earthquake, tsunami warning, and flash flood warnings. Thankfully, the volcano eruption is heading away from the city as of now.
12. Perpetual tourist season and the confusion that comes when people find out that two blonde people actually live here. When I was riding my bike around the first few months I was here, people would tell me to hurry, because the cruise ship was about to leave. Thanks. But, the perpetual tourist season has led to a fun game that Shad and I play on road trips where we guess whether or not the cars around us are tourists’ or locals’…
13. Eating in garages/carports. Apparently, a carport is a fabulous place to hold a get-together.
Ok, seriously we love
1. Aloha spirit – the vast majority of people here are really nice and helpful. They’ll go out of their way, get out of turn, or do whatever they can to help you. Even while driving, people are generally courteous (those who aren’t are usually tourists and get “go back to the mainland, bro”) and let other people into their lanes.
2. Great weather – it’s nice defining “cold” as below 60 degrees.
3. Rich culture – I’m learning to hula, Shad’s learning to play the ukelele. I might take canoe paddling classes this spring.
4. The ocean – surfing in particular, but the fun that comes while snorkeling, swimming, or just looking at the beautiful blues. Plus, I saw my first whales offshore the other day.
5. Beautiful land – lava fields, lush rainforests, mountains, beaches… the Big Island has it all
6. Crazy new foods – who knew I’d actually like musubi (an almost-sushi-like thing where rice, eggs, and Spam are wrapped in seaweed), rambutan and all kinds of fish?
7. Waking up and being able to watch a whole host of sports games (this is more Shad than me)
8. Mixing of cultures – I now know that I’d love to take up taiko drumming, and I know what it’s like to pound mochi.
9. The sound of intense rain on an aluminum roof almost every night lulling me to sleep
10. Being able to be secluded from the rest of the world. Being hours behind everything seems to help make it less urgent.
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