somewhere under the sky

a return

due to current travels, i am resurrecting the blog. i guess it never really died, but posts were random and scattered, and perhaps hard to follow. so i will be consistent, at least for this month, until school again smothers me with work.

i am in Hawai'i, on the island of O'ahu, quite near Honolulu and Pearl Harbor. i was told that Hawai'i is magical and i imagine this is so. i have only been here a few days, therefore i still have a lot of exploring to do. however, it's tropical and ancient and modern and beautiful. i cannot deny Hawai'i's lure, it is absolutely beautiful, with palm trees and ferns and trees with thick, gnarled trunks, and luscious vegetation of every variety. after Ecuador i realized that not only do i love diversity in people, but in plants too. Hawai'i offers me both-native Hawaiians and Japanese people live with the U.S. military folk (who come from everywhere), add to that tourists from all over, and its myriad flora, and thank you Hawai'i, mahalo.

my brother-in-law is in the Navy, therefore i am staying in government, military housing. it is Suburban America with a capital S. these houses are all the same, upper-middle class construction with picket fences. everyone owns at least one car. lawns have the same haircut as the military and navy men: buzzed at all times. everything is in order.
the neighborhood next door is a different picture. this is the real Hawai'i. i went jogging there today, and to be honest, felt a bit more at home. the houses are a different style, much more colorful, and some are run-down. junk crowds garages and spills out into the driveways. "works-in-progress" are everywhere. some yards are overtaken with tropical plants. actually, it reminded me of Ecuador, and i loved it.

there are 13 sounds in the Hawaiian alphabet. i am learning some, from a wonderful "instant immersion" program from the library. Japanese may be more useful, i will try to learn a little of that too. this picture is from the plane.

posted by leah v @ 12:29 AM