What I learned from living in Hawaii for two years

Siderhurst is on the far right.

Siderhurst is on the far right.

Noah Siderhurst, Editor-in-Chief

In 2012, my family moved to Hawaii for two years. The cause of this move was my father’s work on exotic insects found only in the Pacific region. While I was there, I learned that Hawaii is not what it seems like from across the world.

At first, I was very excited. After all, we were moving to Hawaii, land of sandy beaches, palm trees and surfing. Who wouldn’t be excited? But when we got there, it was an entirely different story. Only the beaches tourists frequented, I quickly learned, had those things, and they only existed on the hot, dry north shore of our island, not the wet south shore which we lived on. The beaches on our side had hot black sand that burned your feet and sent you running for the water. The waves where we lived were minuscule compared to what I had expected, and even if the waves had been big enough, there were only a few beaches on our side of the island that did not have sharp lava flows ready to maul you when the waves carried you to shore.

It wasn’t only the beaches that were not the way I had expected, but also the flora and fauna. I quickly learned that the only place you could find native plants was at high altitudes on the two majestic volcanoes in the center of our island, Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa. Everywhere you looked, you would see unchecked invasive plants forming jungles of impenetrable foliage. We barely managed to keep the forest that was growing at the edge of our property from overflowing into our yard, and we lived in the middle of the second most populous city in Hawaii. Even though this city only had a population of 50,000, it would still be hard to imagine a jungle in your backyard in a place like Harrisonburg, where I live now.

The culture, on our island at least, was very different than what people would expect.

— Noah Siderhurst

 

The ideas about the physical characteristics of the islands were not the only things that surprised me. The culture, on our island at least, was very different than what people would expect. For starters, people in Hawaii are not as rich as you would think. After all, it seems like it would be expensive to live in a place that is known as one of the biggest tourist destinations in the US. Despite this, the cost of living is actually fairly low. Although food is expensive and almost all of it comes from California on a barge, housing, especially for a small family like us, was not very expensive. Part of this is due to the fact that we never needed heating or cooling because of the mild climate. In fact, we did not even own a heater or air-conditioner.

Another large part of the culture is the food. One typical meal in Hawaii is called a mix plate. This consists of rice, some sort of meat like pork, chicken, or beef and a side such as coleslaw or macaroni salad. Another common dish is called a “loco moco.” This is a hamburger patty and eggs on top of rice with gravy covering all of it. Although this sounds terrible, it is actually very good. Sushi was also a common food with a local variation called Spam Musubi. Spam musubi is a thin slice of spam wrapped up in rice with an outer wrapping of seaweed called nori. All of these dishes are very unique to Hawaii and are a major part of the culture. One other thing that is usually not included in a description of Hawaii is the underlying mistrust that native Hawaiians feel towards Haoles, the word for foreigners in Hawaiian. Driving around town, you would see many bumper stickers and even some people with shirts that said “Defend Hawaii,” and had a picture of an assault rifle on them. There were also certain beaches and other places that it was obvious white people were not allowed. A sign of these places was often the Hawaiian flag flying upside down.

This unrest does not come without reason. Although the takeover of Hawaii was many years ago, the Hawaiian people have continued to be robbed of their land and discriminated against. One of the reasons that this has not been stopped is that there are not enough Hawaiians left to make it change. Most of the true Hawaiians died off many years ago because their immune systems could not handle the introduction of all the new diseases that foreigners brought in. Almost all of the people who consider themselves Hawaiian now are actually only part Hawaiian. This and having a government composed of mostly foreigners who choose to turn their back on the mistreatment of the Hawaiians has caused native Hawaiians to lose most of their land. Much like the Native Americans in the mainland US, it is only recently that the Hawaiians have begun to receive their land back and by now it is almost too late to make a difference. The hurt has already been done and it will take a lot to mend it on the part of the US.

I know I will always carry a piece of Hawaii with me wherever I go.

— Noah Siderhurst

This is not to say that I was hated by all Hawaiians, in fact exactly the opposite was true. Many of my closest friends were of Hawaiian descent. In school, we were taught Hawaiian history and I came to have an understanding of how complex the history of Hawaii is. This allowed me to have new respect for the struggles of the Hawaiian people. They never even tried to fight back against foreign rule with violence, rather they tried to keep the peace with foreign powers using diplomacy. When they were taken over, the leaders of the Hawaiian kingdom at the time convinced their people not to rise up in violence because they knew that they could not afford to lose more life than had already been lost. After that the Hawaiian culture was suppressed and it has only been recently that the Hawaiians have been allowed to express their culture openly once more.

Although Hawaii is a part of the US and therefore has many major aspects of the US culture, it is definitely very unique and is like no other place on Earth. After living in Hawaii for two years, we moved back to Virginia. At first it was a cultural shock and I tried to stay the way I had been in Hawaii, but eventually I was forced to change, to adapt back to the culture I was now surrounded by. Despite this I know I will always carry a piece of Hawaii with me wherever I go.