Hawaii Study Away Travel Blog 2012 – 2013

Today we first went to the beach. It was a lovely day, but I couldn’t help but notice how much of the beach seemed to be more or less privatized despite being a public beach. One can pay to be in an area, such as the yellow umbrella area or pink umbrellas area that essentially is off-limits to non-paying customers. I know I could probably also dwell in the area despite not paying, but it’s some form of social kapu. All of the beach should be available to all.

We also had Portuguese breakfast today. The breakfast itself was delicious. It was also another example of cultural diffusion, as I understand it. We now know from some of the readings that the Chinese, Portuguese, Korean and other ethnicities were brought in to work the ever-expanding plantations. Many would stay in Hawai’i after their labor contracts expired, opening their own businesses and often inter-marrying. This would bring about a diffusion of culture. All cultures have foods, and other marks that define who they are. For the Portuguese, I suppose that would include the breakfast offered by Choi’s Kitchen, which is a primarily Korean food stall located in the International Market Place. Then later I found out that the Portuguese don’t actually eat “Portuguese breakfast.” They eat the sausage that is featured in the breakfast, but the eggs and rice is purely Korean and native Hawaiian influenced. That makes sense, because there is also the spam and sausage breakfast. The spam is part of the long history of a military presence on Hawaiian land and the influence of the armed forces in the local cuisine.

Finally, another interesting thing to talk about is that Fausto, a friend on the trip,  and I went parasailing. It was incredibly fun. We met a mother who said she “was playing tourist” for a few days (she is native Hawaiian). She was hilarious, and it’s funny to see a native Hawaiian say that. It reminds me of how my friends and I say when are acting like tourists when we visit a landmark in New York City like the Statue of Liberty.

I arrived in Hawaii at noon yesterday. I endured 21 hours of travel, which included a tumultuous and somewhat frightening lift-off from JFK in New York (thanks, terrible winter weather!), a restless overnight layover in LAX (at least In-N-Out Burger was amazing), and a neverending flight over the Pacific Ocean. But I made it! After looking around, meeting some fo the people, and eating, I promptly fell asleep.

Now today was  much more interesting, I promise you. Today was the first full day of being in Hawaii. There were many peculiar things that I observed during my first full day. First, during our walking tour I noticed that much of what we saw was commercialized to an extent. I almost felt sad to see these great stories about the history of Hawaii somehow end up being woven into the hallways and walls of global commercial brands like the Hilton or the Marriot. It was great to hear about it, but also disconcerting. Perhaps one of the comments that hit me the most was a classmate’s. She said jokingly, “At one point this was the King’s Village and full of royalty and steeped in history and now it houses a Burger King. A Burger King!”

Then again I can’t speak as if I am not a part of this cycle by being a tourist here. I am here for only a few weeks to enjoy the sun and environment that Hawaii has to offer. No matter how much I don’t mean to be a tourist, I am. All I have to enjoy and dwell over are the most fun and enjoyably parts of Hawaii. It is the Bureau of Tourism’s job to see to it that I have fun so I come back after all. As a tourist, I don’t have to have the burden of Hawaii’s problems or concerns with the direction of their state. I don’t have to worry about the homeless people that are on the streets of Hawaii. I don’t have to care or even know about that. That is what separates me from somebody who has to live here. It’s not whether I know or don’t know how to conduct myself or where to find cheaper food that would make me a “local,” it’s whether I am concerned with the well being of Hawaii in the long run. That is when I would not longer be a tourist with the privilege of only having to enjoy the better parts of the state.

As a tourist, I am really sad to see the Disneyfication of the history of Hawaii—I mentioned to a friend that sometimes I felt like I was walking through Disneyland’s version of a city. Kind of like when you go to a tourist-y spot in another country and they orchestrate this elaborate miniature town of what is supposed to be New York City.

What can I do to help stop the increasing commercialization of everything sacred to Hawaii? I don’t know. I thought I made a good decision to eat from the Poi Bowl in the mall, but then I realized it might be as much like a chain as any PF Chang’s or Outback steakhouse. The money won’t go back into the local economy for the most part, it’ll go to a corporation that doesn’t really have an allegiance to anywhere that has their franchise store there.  I don’t know—I guess I will think about this Disneyfication more as the days go by.

Tomorrow, or well, tonight I am embarking on a new journey for 5000 miles from New York to reach Oahu, one of Hawaii’s many beautiful and mysterious islands. From the mainland to Hawaii, aloha for now!