Aloha ~ Family of 5 moving to Maui really soon!! (Hilo, Kihei: rent, new home)

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by Sherwoody

Do they still have Saimin on the menu?

I haven't been in a McDonalds in a long time. It's just not the way I normally eat. But every holiday season I usually wind up having a haupia pie at McDs, somehow.

[tdr22]

Originally Posted by Jungjohann

I've never been to Indiana, so I'll have to take your word for it

(But it is friggin cold here this morning)

It is getting quite nippy here, even in Kihei at night & in the mornings so do bring your hoodies. Not really summer all year long as advertised, also just bought 15 pounds of potatoes at Safeway for Six bucks! We do not eat a bit more rice here than we did on the mainland .

Welcome to our forum full of Aloha!!

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by davephan

I occasionally eat white rice. Usually I eat Minnesota wild rice.

"Wild rice" is not actually rice. I think you know that, but lets not confuse the new kids. Hawaiians, on average, eat 4X the national average of rice, but it is the seed of the monocot plant Oryza sativa (Asian rice) they eat, not the grass called Zizania palustris (Northern wild rice).

When you go to a sushi restaurant (or a Chinese, or Japanese, or Thai, or Viet Namese or Filipino or "Hawaiian" restaurant) you get Asian rice, because "sushi" means rice in Japanese, and rice means Oryza sativa. And with all the other Asian cultures that went into the Hawaiian melting pot, including Chinese, and Filipino and Thai, etc., rice is THE staple in Hawai'i.

For those concerned with the glycemic load from white rice, a simple switch to brown rice handles that, and is a heart healthy change as well. It's also an inexpensive switch, typically costing about the same as white rice, or less than 1/4 what "wild rice" costs.

I don't remember seeing salmon on the menu at McDonalds (I think that is what you meant).

No, saimin... Hawaiian soul food... found on some McDs menus in the islands. It's the local Hawaiian version of Asian noodles, kind of a cross between Chinese lo mein and Japanese ramen. Served in a soup with different ingredients. It's one of the basic Hawaiian soul foods every visitor must try on their first visit to the islands or risk losing their visa for return visits. Some of the must-have essentials are: loco moco, poke, lau lau, plate lunch, malasadas, manapua, Spam musubi, kalua pork, linguiça sausage, and a few others.

You did get your food visa punched when you enjoyed each of those traditional island favorites, so you would stay in compliance with local regs, didn't you?

The only place I thought it was cold in Hawaii was at the Volcano National Park on the Big Island. I did not have my coat and long pants there at the time.

Silly, I'm still shaking my head in disbelief over this. Why did you disregard my previous instructions on this point? I always tell people to bring a warm jacket and a hat to the volcano. Kilauea sits up at 4,000' altitude on a pressure ridge that usually has a wind blowing fairly strong, so you don't want to wear beach togs to VNP. And if there's a little rain it feels worse. And in case you're confused, just grab the weather forecast from the internet for Volcano, or wherever you are headed next.

Volcano, HI Weather Forecast from Weather Underground

[Sherwoody]

I found a photo. Definitely not salmon.

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by kalenalea

I was just curious if there is anyone out there that could offer some advice on things I am concerned about and possibly when we get there would like to have dinner! Kind of looking for a friendly face when we get situated! I worry about the loneliness of no family or friends! Thanks so much for reading this and hoping to hear from a friendly soul - looking to make some great friends!

I've been chewing a while on how best to respond to this...

I hope you do find real life contacts and friends from this forum. I know I have, over time, and others have too. But this isn't a chat site, or a social site, primarily, so I'd advise you to temper your expectations a bit. For one thing, you haven't really made yourself known here yet. Why should anyone care enough to reach out to you? Who are you, anyway?

For another thing, and this is something you can read a great deal about in the archives, people are generally quite friendly in Hawai'i, probably more than any place I've ever lived. Yet under the surface there tends to be a certain reserve, a holding back until you have not only made yourself known, but you've actually stuck around for a couple of years. It's a deeply ingrained attitude, in general, due to a couple of hundred year's history of people moving to Hawai'i for a little while, then leaving to go somewhere else, for any of a thousand reasons.

To illustrate, just one very small personal example... As a long divorced and now somewhat hermetic older writer with a very, very full past, I am not currently in active search of wahine companionship, although I am in no way uninterested. Mostly I'm just busy and living remote and secluded these days, and I'm no longer dominated by my own hormones. At least, for the most part.

But somehow rather an extraordinary goddess floated into my orbit a while back, found my writing agreeable and my talking more so, and we slowly and deliciously found ourselves engaged in the early steps of an ageless dance together without either of us consciously starting up the music. Shortly after we mutually recognized what was happening between us, she was hit by a bolt of cruelty from her employer, and had her job, her paycheck, her residence, and her resident visa yanked away from her virtually overnight. In no time at all she was gone, forced to return to her native country with virtually no notice. And most remarkable of all, it's not a remarkable story in Hawai'i.

A lot of people move to Hawai'i but don't stay long, for one reason or another. I think it's for that reason more than anything else that a lot of people in Hawai'i will be a bit reserved about getting too close, all the while being very friendly on the surface, until you have been around a couple of years. I call it "warm and friendly on top, cautious below."

But I think it's entirely understandable. Many of us in Hawai'i have had our hearts broken a few times, one way or another, by people we opened up to, but who didn't stay.

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by Sherwoody

I found a photo. Definitely not salmon.

Right on! That's fast-food saimin.

I have a picture in my files somewhere of McDs linguiça and eggs breakfast. If I can dig it out I'll post it.

[merced mullet]

Originally Posted by Sherwoody

I found a photo. Definitely not salmon.

That's kamaboko...we called it fish sausage growing up as kids...Me thinks its called Japanese fish cake now-a-days... loaded with MSG... not salmon but odds 'n ends of white fish.

[kalenalea]

Thanks for your replies! I have researched quite a bit, and yesvwe have been there. My husband was offered a contract with a large company, and financially we know there are some changes we will have to make, with his salary we will make it, fine! As he is a planner and over thinker, unlike I who am a jump right in kinda girl and figure it out later! But we even each other out. I am totally aware that Maui is NOTHING like Indiana, hence a HUGE reason I have decided to make this move! I am ready to find my place in this world, and when this opportunity presented itself, I decided that I could sit around and talk about my dreams and adventures I was going to have, or I could jump right in! So here we are, thank you all who replied I absolutely appreciate you taking some time out of your day to help me out, and as I see it I could absolutely not like living in Maui, im that case , I can always return home, but the whole vibe and surroundings in Maui feel like I was accidentally dropped in Indiana and should of been in Maui my whole life, so the only one way to know for sure.....

[kalenalea]

I understand all this, but how am I ever going to get to know anyone if I don't make the first step, and this little leap of faith in finding some true friends, was my way of doing that! Plus you never know, from what I have been reading there are plenty of people that are making this same transition in life and maybe by chance it will work out for each of us! If not then I am in same situation I am now! I was by no means trying to offend anyone or looking for instant trust and compassion - but I am a nautral friendly person myself and was honestly just being myself! I totally understand what you are saying and where it all stems from - there is heartbreak and people you trusted leaving in Indiana too-- I am just a lost soul looking for my place in the world! I really hope I did not come off as too forward.... Just figured I would give it a shot! Thanks so much and you have a lovely day!

[kalenalea]

Originally Posted by kiliki

Where are you from in IN? What are you most excited and most worried about?

We are from a rural town called Boswell which is about 40 minutes from Lafayette - I am most worried about our family not being able to fit in and able to make friends - due to all I have read about locals not being to willing to befriend newcomers! I am most excited about the adventure! I am ready to step out into the world and teach my children there is a whole wide world out there - other than small town Indiana!!
Where are you from? What interests you about moving to Maui??