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Around Thanksgiving was the last time I sat down and gathered my thoughts for writing a post. I’ve found, since coming to Hawaii, that very fundamental things can change over a few weeks time. K and I have grown accustomed to packing up and leaving places we love only to return three months later.
This past season has been the best for me here in Hawaii. Sometimes it hovers around one of the best times of my life in general. I think there will always be parts of NY that I can’t negotiate leaving behind. No matter how ideal the circumstances, I long for how I feel when I’m with friends eating Korean fried chicken in dark places, downing bottles of soju, and arguing about politics or tv shows. Or walking miles around the city with Kat or Eleanor for hours and hours on a weekday afternoon, coming up with unnecessary errands just for an excuse to walk and talk a little longer. I accept that I don’t have that here–and it’s totally ok because I don’t believe that I exist in both places anymore. Hawaii has won me over for the meantime. I love it here. I love being here with K.
I love K.
This year is almost a completely different Hawaii from last year. Due in large part to finding this house. Sometimes I walk up to the front door and I already anticipate missing it someday. Every time we come home my heart surges a little bit and I say to myself I love this place. Corny!
I also never anticipated how much a car would change every aspect of my life. The first day that I had it (and K was working), I was so confused. Even though I had nowhere to go, I kept thinking I had to DRIVE somewhere. I made a special trip to get gas even though I had almost a full tank. Kat explained to me that that wasn’t how it worked. That you buy gas when you’re already out doing things so as not to WASTE gas GETTING gas. These are the sorts of things I didn’t know. I wondered if it was foolish to have a whole separate car for me at all. That feeling dissipated very quickly.
And with that went the era of blogging about frogs at the front door, or giant spiders, or pictures of empty jello cups. I no longer do yoga everyday (or hula) and I haven’t written a poem since the summertime.
Which is all ok. In fact its better.
If I can find a new way to write about all of it maybe I’ll be able to explain why.
Over and out!
Nancy
The family that owns the house we’re living in, lives on the property too. All the units connect but we hardly ever see or hear each other. Downstairs in our house is a staircase that has a little post-it note sign: Please Do Not Open.
This door leads directly into our neighbors apartment. For the first time the other night, we got to see what lies on the other side. B and C had us over for dinner with some friends and neighbors.
I love this family. There’s something so easy and warm about them. The house, in a way, is an embodiment of their spirit.
One of our neighbor’s who came to the dinner also has left a strong impression on me. She is a huge personality and exudes a joyfulness that is so magnetic. She was a firefighter for 18 years. I love her stories. I could listen to them for hours.
We had friends in from out of town recently. Last year only a couple of people came to visit. This year there’s a steady march of people coming in from NY.
My friends, at our suggestion, came into Kailua one afternoon and because of a combination of unfortunate circumstances lost their wallet, iphone, license, money, and credit cards. We felt terrible for them.
They believed that they were bamboozled by locals that had the stereotypical signs of being crystal meth addicts. I have no reason to disbelieve them–they’re very reasonable, level-headed people. I’ve been thinking about it alot because it’s so different from our experience of Kailua. Would I feel the same way about this place if I hadn’t had the opportunity to slowly develop a love for it?
Their misfortune left me a little sad about Kailua but more sad that they would leave associating it with unhappy things. My friend encouraged us to get a guard dog in our new place. His wife added that we might consider a pitbull.
On the flip side we went to a dinner party the other night for a writer that was also visiting from out of town. He and his family had spent his two year sabbatical on Oahu. After his sabbatical ended they came back a couple of months later. This visit is their second vacation here in less than six months.
I asked K if he thought we would be like them after this year is done– coming back to Hawaii every few months because we miss it so much. He answered that he thought we’d probably be busy trying to establish a real home for ourselves in NY.
In the meantime, Kailua continues to be a revelation to me. I’m pretty certain that wherever we go and whatever happens to us I’ll always see this time as key in shaping my idea of home. Despite bouncing from place to place, I feel a sense of belonging here that I haven’t felt anywhere else.
In my short term assessment, Kailua is like a resort town for locals. It doesn’t feel like there are alot of tourists here even though the beach is easy to access golden, quiet, and clean. Maybe it’s that tourists conduct themselves differently here. It’s one of the prettiest and most relaxing beaches I’ve ever been to. We’ve been here for over 3 weeks now and I’ve come to the conclusion that if you can’t find comfort here you’re probably a little crazy.
what to know/ bring to Kailua Beach
- sunblock- nothing beats Le Roche Posay Anthelios spf 50 any formulation
- tan enhancer- Maui Babe browning lotion
- flip flops - reef flip flops can be pretty and you feel like you’re walking on marshmallows (minus being sticky)
- lip balm/sun block- Epicuren lip balm spf 8
note: if you’re not used to the sun you should have a bottle of water with you.
In NY we order takeout or eat out 97% of our meals. In Kailua we’ve cooked every dinner except for one. It’s a refreshing change. One of my favorite things to do here is make breakfast: taro pancakes, bacon and a fried egg. I love breakfast.
how to fry an egg: http://www.ehow.com/how_2637_fry-egg.html
When we were in Shanghai and didn’t have a kitchen I ordered the same thing every morning from Hua Ting Hotel room service: blueberry pancakes, hashbrowns, bacon, congee and a salted egg. Same goes for our four months in Vancouver’s Sutton Place Hotel: pancakes, hash browns, eggs with ketchup and tabasco.
The difference here is that we have a large kitchen with tons of counter space, a dishwasher and a ceramic top stove. I’ve discovered that recipes, like maps aren’t so confounding. If you take the time and patiently do what each step tells you to do, almost anyone can roast a chicken!
favorite recipe: zuni roast chicken: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4401342
These are the things that I haven’t managed to get used to: Hawaii bugs and geckos; how dark evenings are; how quiet it is; and finally people who don’t lock their cars and houses. Pretty much as soon as it gets dark, I lock all the doors and turn on every porch and lanai light. It’s very interesting how menacing a bird landing in a palm tree can sound.
good cheap white wine brands available at Kailua’s Foodland
- Coppola
- Kendall Jackson
- Ecco Domani
Part 3: Kailua: Its little sister Lankai
