Winter in Hawaii

Unseasonal Weather

The East Coast of the US has been hit by blizzards and subzero temperatures for the last couple of weeks. The winter here in Hawaii has been somewhat milder although it did get down to 22°C last night! We haven't had to bother with any winter clothing (I'm not sure if I even own a pair of long trousers). Nevertheless Isabel got a taste of winter fun with a snow day in Hawaii! Trying to find some winter gloves in Hawaii is as difficult as it sounds. I'm not sure where they found the snow but the kids had a great time in the hour and a half that it took to melt.

The Political Landscape

I have watched with great interest events within the Australian Labor Party from afar. The demise of Mark Latham although not unexpected has been quite entertaining, or so I have thought. Of course I have been relegated to following events via the Internet and the occasional clip that I have watched on broadband. The one thing that has struck me is how civil the Australian press is in comparison to the US. The Liberal versus Labor story is relatively staid although I was interested to note the emergence of commentary like Margo Kingston's during the last election.

It was awesome to sit on the sidelines here in the US during a presidential election year. The Conservatives versus the Liberals is in comparison a more thoroughly entertaining show. I may be strange but there is a lot of entertainment value listening to some of the Conservative commentators on the radio. They make Australian commentators such as Stan Zemanek, Ron Casey or Derryn Hinch appear like choir boys. No subject is taboo and as long as it involves bashing the Democrats then it is open season. All of society's ills, world disasters and the moral unraveling of society can be sheeted home to John Kerry (and now that he has lost the election Senator Kennedy has resumed his position as the Conservative's favourite whipping post). I haven't found any Liberal commentators that are as cutting or as entertaining, but then again my car radio only receives a single radio station.

I hope my view of American politics hasn't been coloured by my choice of car!

The proof is in the ....

Americanization of the Kids

For the fourth time in as many days someone has mentioned that Isabel has a very strong American accent. Well, what do you expect? To be truthful being over here I hadn't noticed any difference and have to listen really closely to even get a hint of the accent. To me it is not so much the accent but the use of specific words which is really noticeable; mom, jelly etc

Liam on the other hand does not appear so afflicted. He still retains a semblance of his Australian twang, although he too has started to adopt popular American idiom. I find it interesting and have refrained from interjecting until I heard "y'all" (I think he meant to say "you all"). I may let him use "y'all" when we visit N'orleans in the summer or if we meet Oprah in Chicago but until then a simple "Mate" will do.

JibJab

For those of you that enjoy great political parody the people at JibJab have just released the third video in an election series to commemorate President Bush's inauguration. If you haven't seen them before I recommend you watch them in the following order:

"This Land", "It's Good to Be in D.C." and finally ... "Second Term"

This way to the jibjab site

Driving in Hawaii

Is it me or is the Ford Explorer not a big car? A little over a year ago I would have thought so too, but not any more. It came to me the other day as I was sitting in the traffic that no, the Ford Explorer is not a particularly big car. The Dodge Ram Truck, GM Sierra Pickup, the Toyota Tundra and Hummer among many others make the Ford Explorer appear rather small! Back home I thought it was considered a fully fledged 4WD but over here it only attains SUV status.

The pickup is king! Oahu has a population of just under 1 million and somehow there is one car for each person (which you realise is not a lie when you get stuck on the H1 during peak hour). Extrapolating even further every second driveway has at least one pickup in it and it is not unusual to see two. Doing the math ……... well I'm not that smart but it equals a lot of extremely big cars. In Australia I used to marvel at the size of the Ford F150 of which you would see once a month, here every second or third car (truck) is at least that size if not bigger.

The funny thing is that the pickup truck appears relatively normal on the roads of Hawaii. The monster truck is something that I thought only ever appeared at the speedway or on the Simpson’s. The unmistakable sound of the monster truck tires whirring only serves to complement the surreal look of a car that you need a ladder to enter!

How the entertainment would look at my do it yourself Luau 

The Entertainment Provided 

The Luau

When Kirsten's sisters, Anouk and the Caitlin, visited us for Christmas they had two priorities. It doesn't take a smart man to work out that shopping is the first priority and they visited Ala Moana shopping centre maybe four times! The second priority was to attend a luau. I had been given at least three months notice that this was high on the wish list. I will be the first to admit that my interest factor was not high and I offered to dig a hole in the backyard and cook the pig in the traditional manner, after all I had managed the Turkey at Christmas. The hula girls presented a problem, however I was willing to buy Isabel and Inez grass skirts and coconut bras.

The Qantas jet arrived at Honolulu and as we picked the girls up at the airport they made their intention to attend a luau very clear. That very day I had no choice but to buy the tickets and accept the fact that I was going to attend my first luau, the only saving grace being the promise of unlimited Mai Tais. As we set out for our "authentic Hawaiian experience" I reflected on the irony of becoming resident and not tourist.

We arrived at Paradise Cove and any illusions of a small intimate luau was soon shattered by the 33 tour buses! Mai Tai number one was tactically presented at the entrance. Ever the cynic I soon found myself threading flowers on a piece of string, weaving grass to make headwear and searching for Mai Tai number two. Liam, Isabel and Inez couldn't get enough of the activities before dinner. Canoe rides, hula lessons, getting Dad to make leis or having Polynesian tattoos inked on various parts of their body. Their enjoyment was infectious!

After an eternity it was time to see the pig prepared. It is the first time I have ever sat in a grandstand to watch dinner extracted from the ground. It took a long stretch of the imagination to believe that one pig was going to feed the 1268 people present that evening. Maybe if I had been on my eighth and not fourth Mai Tai I might have been a believer. I have a sneaking suspicion that they have dug the same pig from the ground for the last seven years. Needless to say the buffet dinner was adequate but only because I was starving after two hours at the luau!

No luau would be complete without the hula dancing. The stage show was colourful, entertaining and met with every expectation that I would have of a Las Vegas stage show! What a disappointment, every cliche was trotted out and no Elvis. It often makes me wonder why you would be one of 23 couples that chose to spend the first night of wedded bliss at a luau? Surely there are better things to be doing on day one!

I survived! The Mai Tais were useful but in reality it was the enjoyment of the kids and Kirsten's sisters that made it worthwhile. However I warn future visitors that if you want to attend a luau I am more than willing to dig a hole in the backyard!

What we really do every day 

A Year in Hawaii

Today marks our first year in Hawaii! Like all those who travel the world we left amid promises of e-mail and letters. As we have sunken into domestic bliss we have been remiss in keeping those promises. The occasional e-mail spurts forth from our computer and even rarer is pen, paper and stamp. The sad thing is I wasn't kidding when I mentioned domestic bliss. Is it because we don't have a grand adventure to post every week that we have been so slack, after all there is nothing sexy or newsworthy about driving to the school three times a day. Is there a belief that we visit 50 foot waves at Waimea when our standard day consists of work, school and shopping for groceries. Is there pressure to write and describe about the hustle and bustle of Waikiki, shopping at Ala Moana and snorkelling at Hanuma Bay? Could it really be that we are just lazy?

Is this blog a true and honest attempt to keep in contact with friends and loved ones? Is it self therapy to soothe the guilty conscience? If no one reads this or comments then obviously it is the latter. I really don't know, in all possibility it's just another passing fad! Now that I've got that off my chest read on and join us for our last year in Hawaii.