Mildly Terrified to Move to Oahu After Browsing This Forum (airport, cat)

[Calico Salsa]

Originally Posted by NoMoreSTL

I can literally feel myself calming! Thanks everyone for the great posts... I really do appreciate it.

Now, if I can just get this packing done... Any takers to help me box & tape? Ha, just kidding!

Excellent. Mild freak outs are just a part of the relocation process. Keep packing! I posted my packing/moving tips here:
http://www.city-data.com/forum/hawai...-question.html

[JULANI]

Originally Posted by Weatherguy

My sister lives on the Big Island, which is very poor. The cost of living has gotten so high that you can find many people living in shacks and in tents on parcels of land they bought years ago, thinking they could build a nice house. My sister is one of them, but she still likes living there after 38 years.

One reason people say they like to live there ( Big Island ) is that there’s no air pollution. It would be more accurate to say there are no smoggy industries there. Vog is, uhh . . . air pollution. But hey, it’s “natural!”

Actually the high cost of living in Hawaii helps keep people from moving to the islands

[JuliaHuff]

Whynot-thank you very much for your tips!
I am planning to be very proactive-I will go everywhere and try to meet people, otherwise I will just loose my mind.
I know how hard moving to a new place is-this is the third time I am doing it. But only first time I will be completely outside of Russian community. Usually we would just meet other Russians, which is very easy.
I am glad to know that there are other foreigners on Maui!
Weatherguy, it sucks to be poor no matter where you live!

[ZhugeLiang]

I'll leave it at this. You're going to put up with lots of stuff no matter where you move. All you can do is get perspectives from those that live here from websites like this one.

The traffic actually isn't so atrocious just yet. In Ewa Beach, sure, it's sheer hell on earth like Los Angeles. Otherwise, I've been in much worse in other states.

As a society, Hawaii is still making the transition to the first world. Sorry if some of you think that's an elitest sentiment, but it's the truth. Keep that in mind with all that you see here.

Really, I think you'll both be fine. You still need to keep your wits about you, no matter where you are. Your fiancee being a soldier, would understand that.

[Mililani Gal]

Depending on where you are based, there is a lot of housing priced with the idea that it will be rented to military personnel. As stated by someone earlier, your housing allowance in Hawaii is pretty high. Many of the younger military guys and gals drive pretty nice cars, and I think it's because the housing allowance pays for their housing so they can spend their pay on their cars.

If stationed at Wheeler, or Schofield Mililani Town and Mililani Mauka has a lot of locals and military with a mix of shops, restaurants, and theaters. Mililani is about 15 minutes from base. Also, the commissary and PX allows your dollar to stretch a little further too. During "rush hour" (7 am to 9 am) it may take an hour to get to Honolulu. Not during "rush hour" you can get to Honolulu in 1/2 hour. For higher-end shopping (Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, Macy's...) you can go to Ala Moana Shopping Center.

If stationed at Kaneohe Marine Corp Air Station, the situation would be the same. Except no Wal-Mart. But there's Windward Mall, that is a nice family gathering place.

Always, say "hi" and "thanks" and people will, for the most part, be just as courteous.

Born and raised on Oahu, I would have to say, that when someone doesn't like Hawaii it's because they are not willing to learn the local ways and try to push the "mainland" ways on locals. Hawaii is pretty relaxed, but being a very asian culture, there is alot of unspoken respect. One of our Univ of Hawaii Presidents was practically run out of town because he just didn't understand how to do things the local way. He was too "haole" -- from the mainland.

Oh, and FYI, here are some prices...ground beef at commissary is running about $2.19/lb. 1 gallon of milk at Costco is running $4.90. Produce tends to be pricey, if possible buy produce labeled with Aloun Farms, or Sugarland. Locally produced and always "ono" -- yummy!

Welcome to Hawaii. We're expensive but you can't beat the blue skies, white puffy clouds, green mountans, and cleansing winter rains storms!

[Haolegirl64]

OMG. I truly cannot believe what some people have said here about Hawaii. I have to agree wholeheartedly with Calico Salsa.

You will be fine. Don't think of yourselves as different. Try to learn some things about Hawaii and the culture here. I am Caucasian, had a Local Husband and no one looked at us differently. Hawaii is much more accepting of multi racial couples. There is not really any one Nationality that stands out in Hawaii. Hawaiians, Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Puerto Ricans, Filipino's, Caucasians are all here, living, working, educating their children in public and private schools, and basically living their lives.

You will do the same. Be open minded. As for the quarantine....I believe you will still have to subject your cat to some sort of quarantine. http://hawaii.gov/hdoa/ai/aqs/aqs-checklist-5.pdf
Check out this quarantine list. You may be able to get by with 5 days.

Good luck and Aloha!

[Neko]

Originally Posted by manoagirl

To be honest with if you look for problems, then you just might run into problems. So first I would say give Hawaii a chance first don't judge people on the Islands based upon this forum because it really depends upon your personality and the amount of respect you show for other cultures on the Island. If your personality is rude or displayed as ethnocentric yes you will have problems. The fact that you are in a mix relationship shows that this may not be the case. Most locals do not view mainland culture as a superior culture in fact just the opposite. The fear is that too many people from the mainland will turn the Island into the mainland. If people love the mainland so much, then why not stay on the mainland. When locals move to the mainland they don't try to change it into Hawaii. If you want to live in Hawaii then learn local customs and culture this is taken as a sign of respect. Smile, be friendly and be polite and I am sure you will grow to like Island life. Hawaii was much nicer in the past and more polite when it was not so populated and some locals long for those days. I am not saying that it is right or wrong, but history has shown that the friendlier a culture is the more adapt that culture is to being invaded or over thrown.

Sorry but the good old days in Hawaii included "beat up haole day" at school. Things are changing some but in certain areas of Oahu and The Big Is. it is still a very big problem. Recent example was a law passed against harassing someone at school and the locals call it "the haole" law. I have so many examples of racism against our family I could go on and on. I guarantee someone will answer "if you hate it so bad why don't you leave". Because that is exactly what so many locals would like.

[Neko]

Originally Posted by manoagirl

To be honest with if you look for problems, then you just might run into problems. So first I would say give Hawaii a chance first don't judge people on the Islands based upon this forum because it really depends upon your personality and the amount of respect you show for other cultures on the Island. If your personality is rude or displayed as ethnocentric yes you will have problems. The fact that you are in a mix relationship shows that this may not be the case. Most locals do not view mainland culture as a superior culture in fact just the opposite. The fear is that too many people from the mainland will turn the Island into the mainland. If people love the mainland so much, then why not stay on the mainland. When locals move to the mainland they don't try to change it into Hawaii. If you want to live in Hawaii then learn local customs and culture this is taken as a sign of respect. Smile, be friendly and be polite and I am sure you will grow to like Island life. Hawaii was much nicer in the past and more polite when it was not so populated and some locals long for those days. I am not saying that it is right or wrong, but history has shown that the friendlier a culture is the more adapt that culture is to being invaded or over thrown.

Sorry Manogirl but 2 things you say-say more than you realize "If people love the mainland so much, then why not stay on the mainland." That is one of the biggest problems here. "You can't tell me nothing" attitude closes your mind to other ideas. That other people actually have something to contribute.

And

"When locals move to the mainland they don't try to change it into Hawaii."
If Hawaii is so great why wouldn't want to share it with the rest of the world.

[chs]

See, I'm asian. Was the only one except my brother and sister where I grew up. Had my share of being beaten up and harassed in school, you know the routine (or maybe you don't).
Then went to school in Texas - really, really worried about driving through the south with all those racists. We Yankees like to think there's a huge difference in racial civility north of the MAson Dixon. Actually made sure I didn;'t have to drive thru Mississippi or Alabama - y'know, scary cops like in Missisippi Burning. Weirdly enough, when I was in Texas, I was the cool minority. Don;t think I ever heard a bad word there. People just thought you were some exotic form of white. Now if I had been Latino or black, different story.
Then moved to California - millions of Asians, should be fine, right? Man, people would say all sorts of things rolling down their windows just to harass you right at the stoplight. This in MArtinez, in the SF Bay area. I had a white friend who grew up in the Bay Area and had gone to school in Texas. He did not believe that it was more racist in CA than in TX. I said, like how are you, Mr. White Guy, ever gonna see this stuff? Not like people do it when others who might disapprove are looking.
So the point of the story? YMMV. And if you aren't the target, you won't know if it occurs. And one area 20 miles from another may be totally different. But I do think as a "mixed race couple", you will get a whole lot less surreptitious looks (stink eye) or harassment in Hawaii that almost anyplace else other than NYC or the Bay Area.
And by the way, if you got your cat's rabies titer from the lab in KC >120 days ago, there is no quarantine (unless there's fleas on your cat). I actually told my employer I couln't take the job if my pet would have to undergo quarantine (it's like doggie jail - they're not the same afterwards unless their spirit is really strong)

[Kathymcbain]

Originally Posted by Neko

Sorry but the good old days in Hawaii included "beat up haole day" at school. Things are changing some but in certain areas of Oahu and The Big Is. it is still a very big problem. Recent example was a law passed against harassing someone at school and the locals call it "the haole" law. I have so many examples of racism against our family I could go on and on. I guarantee someone will answer "if you hate it so bad why don't you leave". Because that is exactly what so many locals would like.

I must have totally missed this. I hear the same thing from a lot of haole's, but I live on The Big Island and am about as haole as they come as are my children and they have never been treated poorly. They've attended schools in both Waimea and North Kohala where there is definitely a large population of Hawaiians, but no problems for my 8th grader or my 2nd grader. When my 8th grader started school here a lot of the kids were really interested in where she was from and what it was like, but she says everyone has been very nice to her. I don't doubt it happens...but I've got to think that at least some of it has to do with the attitude of the haole student.