Hawai'i *
I've decided to revive this dormant journal, mainly for my own amazement and amusement and perhaps for the lone soul who might actually read this thing anymore.
I've arrived in Lahaina, Maui where I will be waiting tables all summer long until I have to leave to go to Germany. And I'm as happy as can be because people here don't really have that much to complain about.
The first interesting thing to note is that the only building I've been in that's had actual walls has been the house. The airport is a big open breezeway where birds can fly in and around at any moment. The airport also looks like the last decorating job it saw was in 1972 and some of the carpets I'm almost sure I've seen at Graceland before, but whatev. The restaurants also are open as well allowing the breeze from the beach to whaft by as you eat. The restaurant where I'll be working, Leilani's, is exactly how you would stereotypically picture Hawaii: waiters in floral shirts, palm trees, leis and seafood entrees all illuminated by tiki torches.
The other thing that struck me was how the air smelled. The perfume from all the exotic flowers makes the air smell very sweet and refreshing. And every once in a while the sugary smell of plumera (of course there are dozens of other sweet flowers that I'm smelling, this is just the only one I know how to spell) will drift into my room and remind me that life is grand here. Natuerlich, my first meal of grilled lobster wonderful and delicious, along with my first Maitai. And just to include all of the senses, it sounds like your in the bird house at the zoo, just not quite as claustrophobic.
* Note: Actually pronounced "Havi-ee". When the missionaries created the Hawaiian alphabet, they chopped the English alphabet in half giving them only 13 letters and the "w" a "v" sound. Familiar?
I've arrived in Lahaina, Maui where I will be waiting tables all summer long until I have to leave to go to Germany. And I'm as happy as can be because people here don't really have that much to complain about.
The first interesting thing to note is that the only building I've been in that's had actual walls has been the house. The airport is a big open breezeway where birds can fly in and around at any moment. The airport also looks like the last decorating job it saw was in 1972 and some of the carpets I'm almost sure I've seen at Graceland before, but whatev. The restaurants also are open as well allowing the breeze from the beach to whaft by as you eat. The restaurant where I'll be working, Leilani's, is exactly how you would stereotypically picture Hawaii: waiters in floral shirts, palm trees, leis and seafood entrees all illuminated by tiki torches.
The other thing that struck me was how the air smelled. The perfume from all the exotic flowers makes the air smell very sweet and refreshing. And every once in a while the sugary smell of plumera (of course there are dozens of other sweet flowers that I'm smelling, this is just the only one I know how to spell) will drift into my room and remind me that life is grand here. Natuerlich, my first meal of grilled lobster wonderful and delicious, along with my first Maitai. And just to include all of the senses, it sounds like your in the bird house at the zoo, just not quite as claustrophobic.
* Note: Actually pronounced "Havi-ee". When the missionaries created the Hawaiian alphabet, they chopped the English alphabet in half giving them only 13 letters and the "w" a "v" sound. Familiar?