tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73372665488562528502024-02-18T19:17:59.273-08:00Haole, Y'all!alottamovinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09180455484062706480noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7337266548856252850.post-85661388857370975112013-08-13T10:07:00.003-07:002013-08-15T20:02:52.786-07:00No can talk pidgin? Try look...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6VzMzaGCI15pyROBHyPrC_ZUff0kRrRVeNIVg9sFlUPYz9UHGUyAuCMmfDEI6hyphenhyphenbWmwUmuOuQ2XfgWsMwRotFCNNOfdPqjesqie8TA3QsF7YCa3qQRigJl5eRMVt2g9fRU3g1dKZszns/s1600/pidgin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6VzMzaGCI15pyROBHyPrC_ZUff0kRrRVeNIVg9sFlUPYz9UHGUyAuCMmfDEI6hyphenhyphenbWmwUmuOuQ2XfgWsMwRotFCNNOfdPqjesqie8TA3QsF7YCa3qQRigJl5eRMVt2g9fRU3g1dKZszns/s1600/pidgin.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18px;">Hawaiian Pidgin language evolved from a blend of several languages. Learn how to talk mo' betta here.</span><span style="font-size: 16px;"><span style="line-height: 2em;"><i><b></b></i></span></span></div>
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<i><b>aina: </b></i>originally, meant "extended family", now used to mean "the land"</div>
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<span style="font-size: 16px;"><span style="line-height: 2em;"><i><b>alo:</b></i> to turn/share/ exchange<br /><i><b>aloha</b></i> <i>ah-LOW-ha</i>: to share and be present in breath/ love</span><br /><i><b>a'ole: </b></i>no<br /><i><b>choke</b></i> (</span><span style="font-size: 14px;">adj</span><span style="font-size: 16px;">): an abundance of something</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16px;"><span style="line-height: 2em;"><i><b>da kine</b></i> (</span></span><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="line-height: 2em;">n, v, adj, adv</span></span><span style="font-size: 16px;"><span style="line-height: 2em;">): "the kind"--can be used interchangeably with almost anything </span></span><span style="font-size: 11px;"><span style="line-height: 2em;">ex: whatchamacallit</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 16px;"><span style="line-height: 2em;"><i><b>ha:</b></i> breath</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16px;"><span style="line-height: 2em;"><i><b>haole</b>:</i> without breath/white person/foreigner</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16px;"><span style="line-height: 2em;"><i><b>howzit</b></i>?: hi/ how are you?</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 16px;"><b><i>mahalo</i>:</b> thank you</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16px;"><span style="line-height: 2em;"><i><b>mana: </b></i>spirit</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16px;"><span style="line-height: 2em;"><i><b>ono</b></i>: delicious</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16px;"><span style="line-height: 2em;"><i><b>pua'a</b></i>: pig</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16px;"><span style="line-height: 2em;"><i><b>shoots!:</b></i> cool</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 16px;"><i><b></b></i></span><br /></div>
alottamovinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09180455484062706480noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7337266548856252850.post-88692709524706246462013-08-08T01:35:00.001-07:002013-08-15T12:29:07.224-07:00Feeding the Fish<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0IOwt1UqcgZxXg9Tz_qf5fYPsldLsWUbiV-iFTcGMLVALnM_AjhVlPy2yvJa7SvvbGc1ylqGE4TfVKpJH6ZG2G1V1-pLl5NTc9aDC533AAjIy88I1Dn1nY739CgnWXGjJ8pwciWXVIr8/s1600/frondhats.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0IOwt1UqcgZxXg9Tz_qf5fYPsldLsWUbiV-iFTcGMLVALnM_AjhVlPy2yvJa7SvvbGc1ylqGE4TfVKpJH6ZG2G1V1-pLl5NTc9aDC533AAjIy88I1Dn1nY739CgnWXGjJ8pwciWXVIr8/s200/frondhats.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<h3>
Larry the Hawaiian Santa Clause</h3>
<i>For those who followed my personal blog when I was in Hawaii, <a href="http://alottamovin.blogspot.com/2010/09/quotidian-life-of-fresh-transplant.html">I referenced Larry a long time ago</a>. For whatever
reason, I haven't gotten around to giving him a proper introduction until now. </i><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigI8DsS0zxh0GGYtokP9RAKZeUaC8EIvKfiuamQ-rFnF2ebZQD6UhCbi57Snq2ovgJjNLyxq-CMBfRtIycmwRXNLWQgu9v9x5ow7GxSc5U-SgK9ciG8FTopp0Zy6oDv-AxM2Go5b68hpg/s1600/mr_miyagi-sticks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="138" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigI8DsS0zxh0GGYtokP9RAKZeUaC8EIvKfiuamQ-rFnF2ebZQD6UhCbi57Snq2ovgJjNLyxq-CMBfRtIycmwRXNLWQgu9v9x5ow7GxSc5U-SgK9ciG8FTopp0Zy6oDv-AxM2Go5b68hpg/s200/mr_miyagi-sticks.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
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In September of 2010, I had just settled into my apartment on the North Shore of O'ahu. I went down to the beach to soak it all in, where I found Larry down by the water making hats out of palm fronds. When I first saw him, I wondered if he was homeless. I don't know if it's because his clothes were all tattered, his skin worn by the sun, his unguarded and overly-friendly demeanor, or the fact that he was chillin' on the beach making hats for the tourists at 2 in the afternoon on a weekday. But he also had this sagacious presence that reminded me of Mr. Miyagi from the Karate Kid movies.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRISoWPAoSkwe77FDlqOjDgZ0iBYLGtriu53BZSUdd4FGKuGHioG9F_lZFUqgeMtP4BqDxcDqIPuIIAZBfkZDAiE6ltxpuwFEVbmprAgYSMXCCFe4PrApVOmmax5DzKnTgp7gQsmecUc4/s1600/60050_529951825517_5321517_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRISoWPAoSkwe77FDlqOjDgZ0iBYLGtriu53BZSUdd4FGKuGHioG9F_lZFUqgeMtP4BqDxcDqIPuIIAZBfkZDAiE6ltxpuwFEVbmprAgYSMXCCFe4PrApVOmmax5DzKnTgp7gQsmecUc4/s200/60050_529951825517_5321517_n.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My backyard- Aweoweo Beach Park</td></tr>
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I saw he had a few fishing lines in the water, so we started talking about that. I bragged about how I had become an accomplished spearfisher in Samoa. His response was, <span style="font-size: small;"><i>"oh well me, I don't do all that. I don't even like to say I'm a fisherman. I'm just out here feeding the fish.</i></span>" My boyfriend at the time brought us some beers to celebrate our move, and the next thing you know the sun had gone down and Larry was my friend. Over several months, it became ritual that I surfed after work, but if
it was flat, I'd go "feed the fish" on the beach with Larry.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnz21SX13JY11k6q1-0Jg6gKaldNe1XksUxkkCooYjakhMzYJK81UwRKLMksiw7Ay7CMTfXbZVSTNX4p1xDecRQoSYgn5bRdyYc-C0FFGSiIuB3e8tbRosuA_Aj4qWk8FVGNfdL5JFjEI/s1600/60050_529951765637_2897656_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnz21SX13JY11k6q1-0Jg6gKaldNe1XksUxkkCooYjakhMzYJK81UwRKLMksiw7Ay7CMTfXbZVSTNX4p1xDecRQoSYgn5bRdyYc-C0FFGSiIuB3e8tbRosuA_Aj4qWk8FVGNfdL5JFjEI/s200/60050_529951765637_2897656_n.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The bike path</td></tr>
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One time I was jogging down the bike path and he pulled over
in his white van that had red carpet and always smelled of fish and
incense. He honked a few times, and from his window came a freshly sewn
plumeria lei (pictured below in a dried-out state). He yelled, "<span style="font-size: small;"><i>maybe this help you smell mo betta!</i></span>"<br />
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He was always giving me food-- macadamia nuts, fresh fruit and veggies
from his farm, fish, leftover plates from BBQs, etc. He even hooked up
all these starter plants with local herbs and fruits for my
apartment-garden. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAVWIQv-6PLLAGVN69M-7Dd9_nEEvh8FHShmTmnDnjD63JSZW_W5hGfp_MFTU175rVM32_-Aj4-Du154xwOyUS5a1VvWkKzwl-Icgg5VFeL8bPGzlRam2uGDCENBPMyVXWLeBoJbjmhBI/s1600/IMG_2646.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAVWIQv-6PLLAGVN69M-7Dd9_nEEvh8FHShmTmnDnjD63JSZW_W5hGfp_MFTU175rVM32_-Aj4-Du154xwOyUS5a1VvWkKzwl-Icgg5VFeL8bPGzlRam2uGDCENBPMyVXWLeBoJbjmhBI/s320/IMG_2646.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Starter plants gifted by Larry</td></tr>
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Over time, he taught me how to be a more graceful and patient fisher-woman. I had a
goal that I wanted to become skilled in catching prawn. We went out
several evenings, but we and always ended up
making too much noise to catch anything. Even though I returned many
nights covered in mud and empty-handed, <b>he taught me the skills required of a decent water-person-- patience and grace (sometimes, you're just "feeding the fish"). </b><br />
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He gave me a ride to Costco once, and if pushing a cart around a Costco
in Hawaii during sample hour isn't hard enough, he stopped to talk to
nearly everyone in the store who called him by name. He was a celebrity! He, in turn,
remembered everyone else's name <i>and</i> their kids' names. After he
helped me unload everything, I tried to give him a big tub of macnuts,
some chocolates, and a tub of fresh poke (raw marinated tuna). It was
nearly impossible to get him to accept anything! When he finally did, I
watched him go down to the parking lot to offer the bounty to some
people returning from work. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPQsO1qZDf0nnezxCMb6m82YaVIocdoEzCSl2LK8OVHBX3QlKJsfs2H5psi6gLIxaytCuzv0yu969fef9UtEQTzAsAKeq18WoQhqJd3cut5RZCqWDkj4yrFVHEZuW2TEnSLNWRGWBuh5g/s1600/IMG_2436.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPQsO1qZDf0nnezxCMb6m82YaVIocdoEzCSl2LK8OVHBX3QlKJsfs2H5psi6gLIxaytCuzv0yu969fef9UtEQTzAsAKeq18WoQhqJd3cut5RZCqWDkj4yrFVHEZuW2TEnSLNWRGWBuh5g/s320/IMG_2436.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Waialua Sugar Mill</td></tr>
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After several months of "feeding the fish" with Larry, I found out later from my boss at Surf N Sea that Larry was a reputable legend. He basically ran the electric operations at the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waialua_Sugar_Mill">Waialua Sugar Mill</a> before he and thousands of other immigrant workers (indentured servants) were laid off. <b>The whole history behind<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar_plantations_in_Hawaii"> sugar plantations in Hawaii </a>is heartbreaking.</b> They were bought out by big American companies, and the industry imploded when the supply couldn't match the demand. Waialua, the city where we lived, is something of a "ghost town". <br />
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Why did I think he was a bum? Why/how is the definition of "affluence" so different between Hawaii and the Mainland?<br />
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<h3>
The Economy of Aloha</h3>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5fJUhJeLtA_e3s7cLBuTBkipnIW1SCiywNUsrK1_CrtptaFEl4KOjS1Ipu4I5nII_atmpnDN7yFdsAzoouFtBi7XZ6eW01-BDQplMgIb9qqmaedbfaogyyHCrepv8XtaHlv5N811V7dY/s1600/60050_529951795577_5980080_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5fJUhJeLtA_e3s7cLBuTBkipnIW1SCiywNUsrK1_CrtptaFEl4KOjS1Ipu4I5nII_atmpnDN7yFdsAzoouFtBi7XZ6eW01-BDQplMgIb9qqmaedbfaogyyHCrepv8XtaHlv5N811V7dY/s320/60050_529951795577_5980080_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ray demonstrating how to remove the beak of the octopus</td></tr>
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The more time I spent on the island, the more I realized that Larry's giving nature was not uncommon. <b>There was Ray, the octopus wrangler</b> with blistered hands who would give me his freshest catch. There were the girls at work who made musubi, baked cupcakes, etc. to share with everyone. The guy who appeared out of nowhere, gave me a beer, said "<i>aloha</i>" then walked away when I was crying over a breakup on the beach. The bus driver who pulled over and let me on the bus when it was raining even though I didn't have enough money. I could dedicate an entirely new post to all the random acts of kindness I received.<br />
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With American roots in a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Protestant_Ethic_and_the_Spirit_of_Capitalism">Protestant Ethic, </a>it is easy for tourists and transplants to dismiss these happenings as fate, or good karma returned. But living with this kind of assumption is the reason why <i>haoles</i> have bad reputations. <i>Aloha</i> isn't just a spiritual belief, it's built into the economy. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwBsGr3TWekjcf2q6Kw6V0jpiqYu1l_OxrKLcbHn7Pnf_2N0Y85YZAVPV9fBr_8y4kVWRWm-DUH4I122uMke3dep4tIH8ch8SaWYUGT-sVr-kvCbqTX19kD1vljT6-u8TF8ag_n06H39o/s1600/HIFRUITS.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwBsGr3TWekjcf2q6Kw6V0jpiqYu1l_OxrKLcbHn7Pnf_2N0Y85YZAVPV9fBr_8y4kVWRWm-DUH4I122uMke3dep4tIH8ch8SaWYUGT-sVr-kvCbqTX19kD1vljT6-u8TF8ag_n06H39o/s400/HIFRUITS.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<i>Aloha </i>in itself <i>is</i> an economy. It literally means, to exchange, or be present in breath. <i>Aloha </i>means exhaling as effortlessly as inhaling. It's an economy based on the understanding that the air we breath out serves to nourish the land, and in turn, we are nourished by the land. It's about our relationship to the wealth around us, and understanding that caring for our community and our land <i>is</i> caring for ourselves. <br />
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In America, a land of <i>haoles </i>(not just white people, but literally- "without breath"), I see so many people in an uncertain economy figuratively "holding their breath". What would it take to return to an economy of breath, of abundance, of <i>aloha</i>? <br />
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Maybe it's a solution as simple as "feeding the fish".<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvaUSFqfk2XTGCKtiAd-hUOl58ZRReX1suqyaKNx-kv8yXQqC1ih8Zmt0pZOI1K7pMjocfxo-bdZu2SlLF6rqFeNAoOPYxr2ErIJtkn-spdVacx3tjaCKxDs2g7CpaeH4uDkOg0JaCUzs/s1600/HIhatsnboards.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvaUSFqfk2XTGCKtiAd-hUOl58ZRReX1suqyaKNx-kv8yXQqC1ih8Zmt0pZOI1K7pMjocfxo-bdZu2SlLF6rqFeNAoOPYxr2ErIJtkn-spdVacx3tjaCKxDs2g7CpaeH4uDkOg0JaCUzs/s400/HIhatsnboards.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">one of many hats and leis Larry had given me</td></tr>
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alottamovinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09180455484062706480noreply@blogger.com0