08-19-2006, 05:58 AM
I also hate driving. Now I came from L.A. so the situation is much better here as far as traffic. but I pretty much spend the same amount of time in a car b/c you can't get anything done w/o driving. Especially considering the lack of services (trash pick-up, mail delivery,...)
So moving to Ashland will take care of my two biggest pet peeves of living here (schools and driving). In Ashland, we are walking distance to an elementary school (from what I understand, top schools in the country) and almost walking distance to the downtown. I could walk it but probably not with three kids in tow. That's why the first thing I'm going to buy us is some bikes. and one of those wagons.
I agree with... somebody. The things that most disappointed me when I moved here where b/c of the ideas I had in my head about what Hawaii should be like. But I got over those. mostly. I didn't find the Aloha that I felt was promised. Especially not from many Native Hawaiians. That took me a few years to get over. But I found it in many local haoles and especially in the filipinos. and within the hippie community.
I found a lot of hipocracy, which I guess will be everywhere. But someone who believes in taking care of the aina shouldn't go around in monster truck or smoky puna beater. People preaching that you should take care of the people shouldn't be threatening their kids while smoking and drinking. Those are the kind of things I found that people where very high and mighty about.
I also think Hawaii is very racist, not just in a bad way, I've never had anyone try to beat me up. But that everything is so race oriented. Every piece of paper asks for your ethnicity. My daughter's birth certificate states all of our ethnicities. And there's an error on mine and everybody is refusing to fix it b/c I don't have three generation of birth certificates. Which wouldn't prove my race anyways since my ethnicity isn't written on anybody else's birth certificate. grrr. but that frustration is probably more beaurocratic than racist.
Now so that I don't come off as too negative, I'll mention some of the things I'll miss the most. The most obvious thing is the ocean. warm clear waters full of interesting things. Every time we went to the beach, I felt like I had gone on a mini vacation. I still haven't seen a lot, so there's a lot of exploring that's been left undone. I'll miss my neighbors who bring by pineapples and bananas and send my mom orchids on her birthday. I'll miss the coquis and how dark it gets at night. the fact that you can actually see galaxies (that really beat L.A.'s 3 nightly stars). I'll miss the brown faces. I'll miss the keiki's calling me auntie and being cute and sweet even when their makuas barely made eye contact with me. I'll miss the bright colors (red roads, green trees, blue skies). I'll miss saying lilikoi. I could go on all day.
But really, I think that if I really wanted to stay I could. But at heart, I'm a traveler and I like visiting new places and living in new areas and meeting different people. And since we can't really afford big vacations, we stay in the US, but in very different areas. To really get to know them. I think my problem is that I don't really have roots anywhere, so I'm looking for that place that feels like home. hawaii might be it, but I have to know for sure. We are keeping our house here though b/c if we sold it we probably wouldn't be able to come back.
enough rambling for now. I have packing to do, kids to feed, movers to call, ....
stef
So moving to Ashland will take care of my two biggest pet peeves of living here (schools and driving). In Ashland, we are walking distance to an elementary school (from what I understand, top schools in the country) and almost walking distance to the downtown. I could walk it but probably not with three kids in tow. That's why the first thing I'm going to buy us is some bikes. and one of those wagons.
I agree with... somebody. The things that most disappointed me when I moved here where b/c of the ideas I had in my head about what Hawaii should be like. But I got over those. mostly. I didn't find the Aloha that I felt was promised. Especially not from many Native Hawaiians. That took me a few years to get over. But I found it in many local haoles and especially in the filipinos. and within the hippie community.
I found a lot of hipocracy, which I guess will be everywhere. But someone who believes in taking care of the aina shouldn't go around in monster truck or smoky puna beater. People preaching that you should take care of the people shouldn't be threatening their kids while smoking and drinking. Those are the kind of things I found that people where very high and mighty about.
I also think Hawaii is very racist, not just in a bad way, I've never had anyone try to beat me up. But that everything is so race oriented. Every piece of paper asks for your ethnicity. My daughter's birth certificate states all of our ethnicities. And there's an error on mine and everybody is refusing to fix it b/c I don't have three generation of birth certificates. Which wouldn't prove my race anyways since my ethnicity isn't written on anybody else's birth certificate. grrr. but that frustration is probably more beaurocratic than racist.
Now so that I don't come off as too negative, I'll mention some of the things I'll miss the most. The most obvious thing is the ocean. warm clear waters full of interesting things. Every time we went to the beach, I felt like I had gone on a mini vacation. I still haven't seen a lot, so there's a lot of exploring that's been left undone. I'll miss my neighbors who bring by pineapples and bananas and send my mom orchids on her birthday. I'll miss the coquis and how dark it gets at night. the fact that you can actually see galaxies (that really beat L.A.'s 3 nightly stars). I'll miss the brown faces. I'll miss the keiki's calling me auntie and being cute and sweet even when their makuas barely made eye contact with me. I'll miss the bright colors (red roads, green trees, blue skies). I'll miss saying lilikoi. I could go on all day.
But really, I think that if I really wanted to stay I could. But at heart, I'm a traveler and I like visiting new places and living in new areas and meeting different people. And since we can't really afford big vacations, we stay in the US, but in very different areas. To really get to know them. I think my problem is that I don't really have roots anywhere, so I'm looking for that place that feels like home. hawaii might be it, but I have to know for sure. We are keeping our house here though b/c if we sold it we probably wouldn't be able to come back.
enough rambling for now. I have packing to do, kids to feed, movers to call, ....
stef