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I am full blood haole (blonde hair and blue eyes!) and I don't ever really feel hatred. Sometimes I feel out of place, but that is to be expected as a transplant...Anyways I was at the beach the other day and this tourist goes OFF on me about how I'm in her way (I was walking my dog, who was on a leash) and that she is trying to snorkel (WHERE THERE WAS NO SNORKELING AND THE WATER IS A FOOT AND A HALF DEEP). And she is screaming, as I am politely trying to tell her that snorkeling is better elsewhere on the beach. Meanwhile, my dog is SO well behaved and we were honestly 10 ft away from her and she was acting like she owns the place. I finally understand why locals can get so frustrated. At my hotel, I had guests who were telling some local kids to leave b/c they were body boarding in front of her and "obstructing her view". The kids were nice at first, but when she got in their faces about it, they told her how they really felt about her attitude and the husband stepped in and got punched. The kids got arrested for assault, but I felt 100% on their side. Well maybe the punching wasn't necessary, but I felt their anger. I understand that tourists fuel the economy, but where is the respect for the people who call the islands home? UGH. (I had a badddd day at work with angry guests,, UGH)
I feel your pain. There are bad apples in every barrel - a few tourists who are creepily obnoxious, and a few locals who go off on people with no reason. And so we have many locals hating ALL tourists (having heard or had experiences with people like that lady you met), and all this talk about horrible racism (because a few people had experiences with obnoxious locals).
I've been here for almost 3 months, and haven't personally run into either kind of problem (bogus tourists or racist locals). I'm not saying they don't happen, but I think they're rare - yet they get talked about a lot, and so perceptions are affected.
Keep on truckin', tomorrow's another day.
Have you noticed any effect, in the area where you work (south shore, right?) from the downturn in tourism? Are hotels/restaurants/shops hurting bad, or just a little bit? Are the people who DO come being tighter with their wallets?
Generally the tourists seem to come with a whole attitude of entitlement. They are on vacation and they paid a lot to have a "perfect" Hawaiian vacation and by golly they had better get what they paid for. The Hawaii tourist bureau seems to encourage this attitude, too. I'm sure these folks are lot nicer when they are in their daily lives and not on vacation but while they are here some of them sure can be a pain. The origination of the tourists seems to make a huge difference, too. Some countries have much politer tourists than others.
I dunno, MarO, next time a tourist snorkeler gets weird on you tell them you were trying to warn them about the shark or eels. That will distract them!
I've noticed a lot of the tourist companies are trying to get local folks to go on their tours now. Most times they don't want to have anything to do with us and either ignore us or try to make us go away and not "get in their view". Now they are hoping we will sign up for their tours? Seems like they are pretty desperate to me! Kama'aina rates are back again. The better they are, the worse the tourism numbers are.
I am a storyteller from small town Iowa. Have been serving as collaborator of some family stories. Fascinating to hear the variations in story of an event shared in time and space but not so much in memory. Just did barn burning and was not there so had only heard about the day littlest brother burned the barn down but did not burn the house down. I could listen as I was not there and had no need to be right. Others relived the trauma while remembering. Anyone else gathering the truths of the past in personal stories?
Good Morning Hawaii!!!!!! it's 10:44 AM here in Indiana
About 10:44 AM here in Dallas, now... Hey gdude, you think the sunrise in Hawaii will be a little nicer than either of ours was this morning? Ten days 'till I get to see for myself!
About 10:44 AM here in Dallas, now... Hey gdude, you think the sunrise in Hawaii will be a little nicer than either of ours was this morning? Ten days 'till I get to see for myself!
Hey! Hawai'i's sunrise is probably much better than this morning. The sun hasnt really popped out from the clouds today
Me being Haole, and grew up in Hawaii from 1980-1995 was a hard time for me. well at least back then it was...I know kids are much meaner than adults and more aggressive...BUT I must say as a kid growing up in Hawaii with the blonde hair and the blue eyes was treated poorly by the other kids. I now as an adult know that is or was not the kids fault because that is the way they were raised and that is how the parents were at that point in time... I'm not saying everyone was like that, just some of the few and yes they in my eyes gave the local kids and some adults a bad name. At first I would never want to go back there because of the bad experience, but you know I noticed here in Texas it is the same here but for other races and I look and think how pittyful, this thing called racism is every where and it wont stop until the parents change their own outlook, no matter where you live.......so my point is being white is not all that is cracked up to be and being Hawaiian and or black or mexican its all the same everywhere and it needs to stop !!!
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Talking in Story
Ten days 'till I get to see for myself!
Hawai'i's sunrise is probably much better than this morning. The sun hasnt really popped out from the clouds today
