Aloha Hawaii… Konnichiwa, Japan! It has officially been two weeks since I left home, so in addition to describing my experience in Honolulu, I just want to quickly reflect back on the last two weeks.
I cannot believe that we have already finished the first stop of our journey, and that Hawaii is done and over with. It feels like so much time has gone by, and yet, we still have most of the semester left. While Hawaii was a lot of fun and helped giveus some insight into the do’s and the don’ts for the other ports we go to that will not be as easy to get around (such as can’t travel in large groups), the other ports are clearly going to be much more interesting to visit. It was a great transitional starting point though.
So, my delayed Honolulu post, sorry about that. I haven’t had time to really sit down and write about it, due to a mixture of lots of stuff going on, homework, and rough seas. The first day in Honolulu, I woke up late and went to try to find some people but everyone was either off skydiving or doing FDP’s. So I went to get some stuff done that I knew I wanted to complete when I was in Hawaii, like getting a Japan Rail Pass, walking around Honolulu and seeing some of the pretty, old buildings, getting stamps at the post office and finding free internet.
I had passed by a café on my way back to the ship to drop some stuff off, so I decided to go eat there. It was delicious, but the weirdest mix of food I have ever seen at one place. They had Japanese food and American food—so sushi, chicken teriyaki, and turkey and chicken pesto panini’s. I guess that explains Hawaii though, since it is a mix of influences from Asia and America. Halfway into my meal, I decided to try to check if I got free wifi on my computer and I did! I was really excited, got to skype with Steph (and at one point Annie and Heidi too all at once). I also filled out my reapplication to Wisconsin.
After I finished eating, I went to meet up with one of my friends and walked around the shopping center next to the port. I got some post cards, souveniers, etc. Finally, at around 2, I met up with the rest of my friends to go to the beach (the one that is filled with more locals than tourists). We walked two miles to get there, and it was awesome. The beach was completely empty, perfectly pretty for me, and definitely worth not going to the more popular beach that we heard later was packed. I couldn’t believe how calm the water was until so far out in the ocean, I absolutely loved it. If you aren’t aware, I love swimming in the ocean but hate waves crashing on me, so this was PERFECT. I learned to play poker that day too.. Jason, we are going to play when I get back.
We stayed for the sunset, which was the best decision ever. It was absolutely incredible, beautiful AND we got lots of amazing pictures out of it. However, staying meant that when we got back to the ship, I had a half hour to get ready to go out to dinner.
We ate dinner at Red Lobster, and then went back to the beach to hang out. (Just a side note- one of the weirdest things for me so far this semester, is the number of not only non-jews I am hanging out with, but the amount of them that have never MET a jew before. Definitely different from what I am used to- especially when I mention that I did a teen tour and no one knew what that was) We got MORE amazing and cool pictures that night, and basically just had a nice time hanging out doing nothing. When I got back to the ship the whole mini bottle fiasco occurred (see last post) and I went to sleep.
The next day I dragged myself out of bed early to go to an FDP at the Hawaii State Hospital, a psychiatric hospital. The morning was way too long but definitely interesting. We got a tour of the facilities, and spoke with a few doctors and staff, but were literally not allowed to have any interaction with the patients (not even able to be in the same room). The most interesting, and clearly Hawaii-influenced, part of the hospital were the Aloha Gardens. The Aloha Gardens were created from a mix of staff, volunteers, and most importantly, the patients. The doctor we spoke with there explained that this type of rehabilitation (working in the garden), showed much different results than traditional rehabiitation. She said that there were patients who showed no improvement in the everyday programs and treatment and when they came to the gardens they were different people. So that was pretty cool.
That afternoon I went to Walmart and the mall with one of my friends. We bought a bunch of things at walmart, then walked around trying to find the mall. After we finally found it, we mailed some things at the post office, at shaved ice (delicious) and headed back to the ship. We grabbed our computers and went back off the ship to find internet and quickly do all we had to before we needed to get back onto the ship. It took me forever to put up just a few pictures so that was sad that I couldn’t get more on facebook or my blog. When we got back to the ship, a few FDPs had just returned to the pier, and we had to wait in line behind them. Also, for some odd reason, only one of the two security stations were set up so we had to wait in line for a while. Got back on the ship finally, wrote my postcards and got them to the desk in time for the crew to mail before the ships doors were closed.
So, that was my time in Honolulu. Definitely not as exciting as Hilo. After going to two different islands in Hawaii, I have concluded that while Honolulu definitely has beautiful beaches, Hilo is an all-around more pleasant place to be. In Hilo, the people were friendly and helpful, it was incredibly safe, it was as if we were in a different place (not in the US), and there was a much bigger feel for being in a community. One example that I have heard a few times now is the cab drivers. In Hilo, the cab drivers immediately were asking questions, friendly, giving good advice, not charging to much, helpful, etc. In Honolulu, they didn’t speak. They drove you around in circles. There was even one girl who said she went to speak to the cab driver and he turned up the music and her friends couldn’t even speak to eachother. Honolulu was just like any other touristy beach city, and to me, and it seems everyone else on the ship, not worth going to when you can go to beaches that are closer and in the mainland US. Well, that’s all for right now. Just an update: I was cleared of all charges with my mini bottles disaster. Aloha!
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