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(My sister, from Chicagoland, wrote some of the negatives of living in Honolulu)
1. Cockroaches - That's right. Their may not be snakes on the island, or very many other bugs for that matter, but for what the island is lacking in small gross creatures, it makes up for with it's abundance of cockroaches. And you can't escape them either, they're everywhere.It doesn't matter how clean you keep your apartment or house, they will find a way. I'm scared to get up and go to the bathroom at night, because who knows what's crawling around on the floor. I don't even want to think about it. And do you know some of them fly? I've seen it first hand. It's disgusting!
2. The price of an "average home" - When I say average home, I mean a 3 bedroom, 2 bath house, with the size yard of someone who lives in let's say a very close suburb of Chicago. If you know what I'm talking about, then you know how small of a yard that is, barely anything. The average price for a home like this is $600,000. Not very many people here can afford this, so their is pretty much an upper class and lower class, barely a middle class at all. It's sad to see so many homeless people, and so many people with houses worth millions, not million, millions, living blocks away from each other, it just doesn't seem fair!
3. Drivers - I know where ever you go, you hear people complaining about the drivers in their town, and they think their town has the worst drivers. Well, I'm hear to tell you that this island has the worst drivers I have ever seen. I don't know what the problem is, or where these people took drivers training,or if they have ever had driver's training in their lives, but it's enough to make you scream sometimes!!!!
4. Drugs - This island is filled with drugs and drug users. Crystal meth is HUGE here. It ruins so many people's lives. Marijuana is barely considered a drug here. I smell it on a daily basis somewhere in Waikiki. For people who teach at schools here, they have a three strikes and your out policy when it comes to drug use. Does that sound a little too relaxed to you? Would you like to send your child to a school where their teacher uses drugs and the school knows about it, and still allows them to teach there?
5. Racism - Although it's wonderful to have so many cultures living together in one small place, it also creates tension among races. Haole (this is what they call white people, they say it's not meant to be derogatory, but I think it kind of is) kids have it really bad in the schools. If you live here and you're white, for the protection and safety of your child, you either homeschool them or send them to a private school that costs up to $15,000 a year. It's nuts. I heard of a school that shut down for a couple days recently because fights were breaking out between Hawaiians and Samoans.
6. Commercials - Okay, this is small, but it's a huge pet peeve of mine here. On T.V., I would say almost half of the commercials here are advertising for places that aren't even here, like Kohl's or Target for example. Neither of those stores operate on any of the Hawaiian islands, and yet they play their commercials all the time. And I love Olive Garden, and they keep torturing me with pictures of their delicious food, when they know full well that their aren't any here.
7. Traffic - You would think, on this tiny island, that you'd be able to get anywhere fast, because you can't really go that far anyway, well, you're wrong. Again, if you think traffic in your town is bad, spend a rush hour here. It's a nightmare. On the west side of the island, if you work in Honolulu, which most people do, plan on spending an hour and a half to two hours each way on your commute each day. What makes that sound even worse, it's only 20 miles away, think about that for a little while.
8. Language Barriers - I think this has become my motto here, and I will take it with me for the rest of my life, "Even though you're both speaking English, that doesn't mean both of you are hearing the same language." I have never seen so much miscommunication in my life, and I was not expecting this at all, but it makes sense. Everyone uses their own framework of mind when processing information, and if you grew up in a different culture where words we use as Americans mean one thing, that doesn't necessarily mean that will be processed in the same way by someone else who grew up in another culture. It's hard to explain, but you'll know what I'm talking about if you've been in that situation before, it's definitely a "lost in translation" kind of thing.
9. Relaxed Atmosphere - You might think, "what's so bad about that, that sounds nice and refreshing." Sure, if you're on vacation, but when you are trying to live your everyday life, it's extremely frustrating. Whatever you do in a normal day, plan on getting accomplished half of those things in one day living on this island. Everything takes forever.
10. Island Fever - Even though it's wonderful being in a tropical paradise, it does get old from time to time. I mean, their is only so much to see. I hate to say I feel like I've already taken for granted my beautiful surroundings. Pretty soon we're going to have to start exploring these other islands. It's not like living on the mainland, where if you want to go somewhere, you hop in your car and go. We have to fly where ever we go.
Dear Complainer,
Lets compare your list to my list in NYC.
1) Crime- I don't have enough fingers to count how many times a person has gotten killed, robbed, assulted right in front of me. At the age of 15 a close friend of mine got shot and killed as we stood right outside our front door. At the age of 23 my neighbor's son was killed right outside my bedroom window.
2) Cockaroaches- Try big jumbo rats. How many times hasn't NY had an infestation of rats?
3) Traffic- All I'm going to say is FDR starting at 4pm.
4) Drugs- Lolz we children under 10 years old selling drugs.
5) Racism- I won't touch this one. NYPD you make us proud.
6) Housing- Working families are only a paycheck away from being homeless.
7) Job- two words WALL STREET.
8) Schools- Almost every school has metal detectors in NYC. Providing safety for students from other students. In 2008 1,128 reported crimes and 259 unreported.
9) Relaxed Atmosphere- Enjoy it. For us ever since 9/11 the city will never be the same. So please don't feel free to complain about how "relaxed" your atmosphere is.
10) City That Never Sleeps- we don't sleep not because we don't want to but because we can't.
1) Crime- I don't have enough fingers to count how many times a person has gotten killed, robbed, assulted right in front of me. At the age of 15 a close friend of mine got shot and killed as we stood right outside our front door. At the age of 23 my neighbor's son was killed right outside my bedroom window.
2) Cockaroaches- Try big jumbo rats. How many times hasn't NY had an infestation of rats?
3) Traffic- All I'm going to say is FDR starting at 4pm.
4) Drugs- Lolz we children under 10 years old selling drugs.
5) Racism- I won't touch this one. NYPD you make us proud.
6) Housing- Working families are only a paycheck away from being homeless.
7) Job- two words WALL STREET.
8) Schools- Almost every school has metal detectors in NYC. Providing safety for students from other students. In 2008 1,128 reported crimes and 259 unreported.
9) Relaxed Atmosphere- Enjoy it. For us ever since 9/11 the city will never be the same. So please don't feel free to complain about how "relaxed" your atmosphere is.
10) City That Never Sleeps- we don't sleep not because we don't want to but because we can't.
That particular list was taken out of context - there was another list that went with it entitled "Ten best things about living in Hawaii" or something similar. There are both good and not so good things about living anywhere, and thank goodness that in this country we are free to look around, discover what area/state suits each of us best (our needs, desires, way of life, or other things we are able/unable to handle), and settle where we want.
oh and, Hawaii has rats too - lots of them actually. And with the economy the way it is right now, the housing/one paycheck away from homeless situation could be said about just about everywhere!
Nelli
Location: not sure, but there's a hell of a lot of water around here!
2,682 posts, read 7,569,617 times
Reputation: 3882
Actually some of the WORST things about Hawaii aren't the rats,,,,,,it's actually, the crats!!!!! Just very large rats, well, they kind of look like rats, make this odd "purring" sound every now and then, insist on sleeping on your bed at night, right in the middle!!!!, (I mean, whats up with that????), and, once they move in, THEY MOVE IN!!!!!!!! YOU'RE, LIKE ADOPTED ALREADY!!!!!!! Then, of course, there's the geckos, hanging around on the ceiling, the walls, the windows, just doing whatever they like to do, talking to each other in Geckoese, (which I am patiently trying to translate, I think the three chirps signal means, "That's my mosquitoe!!!!!!", it's also been known to mean, "I saw her first!!!!!!", or, "hey you, get off of my ceiling", more research is obviously required) Then there's the centipedes, get to be up to around five ', I meant five ", long, come in a wide variety of colors, black, brown, brownish red, reddish brown, blackishreddishbrown, brownishblackishreddish, and, Blonde,,,,, the blonde ones have a tendancy to fall right off the ceiling every now and then,,,,, don't know why that is?? Then, there's the blue haired zombies, they're all over the place!!!!! Truly frightening!!! They kind of wander around in a daze all the time, normally in rental cars, you can easily spot them, normally the passenger is looking at a map, and yelling at her fellow zombie, pointing at things, and telling the fellow zombie where to point the car,,, you always know when they are going to make a turn when the windshield wipers go off!!! Which can be a relief,,, they also carry a HUGE amount of luggage,,, just whats in there, I'ld rather not know!!!! And they seem to have a tendency to say "EH", and "O" a lot, was behind some of them at Foodland the other day, they were buying a loaf of bread, and complaining about the price, when one blue haired zombie said to the other,,, "Maybe we should go down to the Ooohtriiger tonight, ehhhh??" Think it may be some kind of special language they use. Then there's the fruity flies, I mean, they are all over the place!!!!! Geckos can hardly keep up!!! And your screen door, well just forget that already!!! It's got so many holes in it from the crats climbing up it chasing the geckos who are chasing the gnats who are probably terrified of the blue haired zombies and who are trying to get into your place for protection, that the screen door is simply of no use anymore....... Of course, the worst thing about living in Hawaii, is obviously the rampant cannibalism, I mean, with the price of groceries???????
Aloha and hauoli maka hiki hou!!!!
And you know, the only rats I've ever seen at my place were "leftovers", normally a tail, and a head, and a fat contented crat calmly sleeping on the lanai table,,,,,,, just showing off!!!!
Tell me where there's a city on earth that does not have cockroaches or drug abuse issues. Also, I visited Honolulu in 1997. I thought it was the most beautiful place I'd ever seen. I cannot wait to return (and possibly relocate) there in the next 2-3 yrs. I also ate in a Red Lobster restaurant there. I loved the Japanese restaurants.
Peace,
Tom
P.S.--The only bad thing about it is it's so bloody expensive (but most places are now, anyway).
1.) They actually taste good if deep-fried and dip in a sauce made of shoyu, vinegar and chili pepper
2.) Hawaii is my paradise...we get by
3.) Yup, us locals are just too friendly and say thank you too much when we help others turn from a parking lot onto the road
4.) Pakalolo, it's just like music or TV, change the channel LOL!...walk the other way LOL
5.) We only frown upon those who make blanket statements, race has absolutely nothing to do with a negative reaction by a local. It's what you do or say, it's not racism or prejudice
6.) I don't watch TV, I'm busy playing with my daughter or having bbq with my local Haole neighbor who happens to be one of my closest friends.
7.) I walk to work, barefoot now that my slippers are broked LOL
8.) I still haven't learned straight English but who cares. Everyone i talk with understands me and I understand them...including my local haole friend I bbq with
9.) I never try to do too much in one day; what's the rush anyway
10.) Yup, we call it island style and it never gets old; family, friends, bbqs, music, dancing and a whole lot of love and aloha. This is our culture, no matter where you stay in Hawaii. Live, local, late breaking from Hilo to Hanalei it's all island style. LOL
(My sister, from Chicagoland, wrote some of the negatives of living in Honolulu)
1. Cockroaches - That's right. Their may not be snakes on the island, or very many other bugs for that matter, but for what the island is lacking in small gross creatures, it makes up for with it's abundance of cockroaches. And you can't escape them either, they're everywhere.It doesn't matter how clean you keep your apartment or house, they will find a way. I'm scared to get up and go to the bathroom at night, because who knows what's crawling around on the floor. I don't even want to think about it. And do you know some of them fly? I've seen it first hand. It's disgusting!
2. The price of an "average home" - When I say average home, I mean a 3 bedroom, 2 bath house, with the size yard of someone who lives in let's say a very close suburb of Chicago. If you know what I'm talking about, then you know how small of a yard that is, barely anything. The average price for a home like this is $600,000. Not very many people here can afford this, so their is pretty much an upper class and lower class, barely a middle class at all. It's sad to see so many homeless people, and so many people with houses worth millions, not million, millions, living blocks away from each other, it just doesn't seem fair!
3. Drivers - I know where ever you go, you hear people complaining about the drivers in their town, and they think their town has the worst drivers. Well, I'm hear to tell you that this island has the worst drivers I have ever seen. I don't know what the problem is, or where these people took drivers training,or if they have ever had driver's training in their lives, but it's enough to make you scream sometimes!!!!
4. Drugs - This island is filled with drugs and drug users. Crystal meth is HUGE here. It ruins so many people's lives. Marijuana is barely considered a drug here. I smell it on a daily basis somewhere in Waikiki. For people who teach at schools here, they have a three strikes and your out policy when it comes to drug use. Does that sound a little too relaxed to you? Would you like to send your child to a school where their teacher uses drugs and the school knows about it, and still allows them to teach there?
5. Racism - Although it's wonderful to have so many cultures living together in one small place, it also creates tension among races. Haole (this is what they call white people, they say it's not meant to be derogatory, but I think it kind of is) kids have it really bad in the schools. If you live here and you're white, for the protection and safety of your child, you either homeschool them or send them to a private school that costs up to $15,000 a year. It's nuts. I heard of a school that shut down for a couple days recently because fights were breaking out between Hawaiians and Samoans.
6. Commercials - Okay, this is small, but it's a huge pet peeve of mine here. On T.V., I would say almost half of the commercials here are advertising for places that aren't even here, like Kohl's or Target for example. Neither of those stores operate on any of the Hawaiian islands, and yet they play their commercials all the time. And I love Olive Garden, and they keep torturing me with pictures of their delicious food, when they know full well that their aren't any here.
7. Traffic - You would think, on this tiny island, that you'd be able to get anywhere fast, because you can't really go that far anyway, well, you're wrong. Again, if you think traffic in your town is bad, spend a rush hour here. It's a nightmare. On the west side of the island, if you work in Honolulu, which most people do, plan on spending an hour and a half to two hours each way on your commute each day. What makes that sound even worse, it's only 20 miles away, think about that for a little while.
8. Language Barriers - I think this has become my motto here, and I will take it with me for the rest of my life, "Even though you're both speaking English, that doesn't mean both of you are hearing the same language." I have never seen so much miscommunication in my life, and I was not expecting this at all, but it makes sense. Everyone uses their own framework of mind when processing information, and if you grew up in a different culture where words we use as Americans mean one thing, that doesn't necessarily mean that will be processed in the same way by someone else who grew up in another culture. It's hard to explain, but you'll know what I'm talking about if you've been in that situation before, it's definitely a "lost in translation" kind of thing.
9. Relaxed Atmosphere - You might think, "what's so bad about that, that sounds nice and refreshing." Sure, if you're on vacation, but when you are trying to live your everyday life, it's extremely frustrating. Whatever you do in a normal day, plan on getting accomplished half of those things in one day living on this island. Everything takes forever.
10. Island Fever - Even though it's wonderful being in a tropical paradise, it does get old from time to time. I mean, their is only so much to see. I hate to say I feel like I've already taken for granted my beautiful surroundings. Pretty soon we're going to have to start exploring these other islands. It's not like living on the mainland, where if you want to go somewhere, you hop in your car and go. We have to fly where ever we go.
Amen! Finally someone speaks up about the negatives! ALL of what you said can be found on the big island as well. I bet it's worse here... Kudos!!!!!!!!!!
Originally Posted by SouperStar34 10 Worst Things about Living in Honolulu
(My sister, from Chicagoland, wrote some of the negatives of living in Honolulu)
1. Cockroaches - That's right. Their may not be snakes on the island, or very many other bugs for that matter, but for what the island is lacking in small gross creatures, it makes up for with it's abundance of cockroaches. And you can't escape them either, they're everywhere.It doesn't matter how clean you keep your apartment or house, they will find a way. I'm scared to get up and go to the bathroom at night, because who knows what's crawling around on the floor. I don't even want to think about it. And do you know some of them fly? I've seen it first hand. It's disgusting!
2. The price of an "average home" - When I say average home, I mean a 3 bedroom, 2 bath house, with the size yard of someone who lives in let's say a very close suburb of Chicago. If you know what I'm talking about, then you know how small of a yard that is, barely anything. The average price for a home like this is $600,000. Not very many people here can afford this, so their is pretty much an upper class and lower class, barely a middle class at all. It's sad to see so many homeless people, and so many people with houses worth millions, not million, millions, living blocks away from each other, it just doesn't seem fair!
3. Drivers - I know where ever you go, you hear people complaining about the drivers in their town, and they think their town has the worst drivers. Well, I'm hear to tell you that this island has the worst drivers I have ever seen. I don't know what the problem is, or where these people took drivers training,or if they have ever had driver's training in their lives, but it's enough to make you scream sometimes!!!!
4. Drugs - This island is filled with drugs and drug users. Crystal meth is HUGE here. It ruins so many people's lives. Marijuana is barely considered a drug here. I smell it on a daily basis somewhere in Waikiki. For people who teach at schools here, they have a three strikes and your out policy when it comes to drug use. Does that sound a little too relaxed to you? Would you like to send your child to a school where their teacher uses drugs and the school knows about it, and still allows them to teach there?
5. Racism - Although it's wonderful to have so many cultures living together in one small place, it also creates tension among races. Haole (this is what they call white people, they say it's not meant to be derogatory, but I think it kind of is) kids have it really bad in the schools. If you live here and you're white, for the protection and safety of your child, you either homeschool them or send them to a private school that costs up to $15,000 a year. It's nuts. I heard of a school that shut down for a couple days recently because fights were breaking out between Hawaiians and Samoans.
6. Commercials - Okay, this is small, but it's a huge pet peeve of mine here. On T.V., I would say almost half of the commercials here are advertising for places that aren't even here, like Kohl's or Target for example. Neither of those stores operate on any of the Hawaiian islands, and yet they play their commercials all the time. And I love Olive Garden, and they keep torturing me with pictures of their delicious food, when they know full well that their aren't any here.
7. Traffic - You would think, on this tiny island, that you'd be able to get anywhere fast, because you can't really go that far anyway, well, you're wrong. Again, if you think traffic in your town is bad, spend a rush hour here. It's a nightmare. On the west side of the island, if you work in Honolulu, which most people do, plan on spending an hour and a half to two hours each way on your commute each day. What makes that sound even worse, it's only 20 miles away, think about that for a little while.
8. Language Barriers - I think this has become my motto here, and I will take it with me for the rest of my life, "Even though you're both speaking English, that doesn't mean both of you are hearing the same language." I have never seen so much miscommunication in my life, and I was not expecting this at all, but it makes sense. Everyone uses their own framework of mind when processing information, and if you grew up in a different culture where words we use as Americans mean one thing, that doesn't necessarily mean that will be processed in the same way by someone else who grew up in another culture. It's hard to explain, but you'll know what I'm talking about if you've been in that situation before, it's definitely a "lost in translation" kind of thing.
9. Relaxed Atmosphere - You might think, "what's so bad about that, that sounds nice and refreshing." Sure, if you're on vacation, but when you are trying to live your everyday life, it's extremely frustrating. Whatever you do in a normal day, plan on getting accomplished half of those things in one day living on this island. Everything takes forever.
10. Island Fever - Even though it's wonderful being in a tropical paradise, it does get old from time to time. I mean, their is only so much to see. I hate to say I feel like I've already taken for granted my beautiful surroundings. Pretty soon we're going to have to start exploring these other islands. It's not like living on the mainland, where if you want to go somewhere, you hop in your car and go. We have to fly where ever we go.
Classic. Your sister from chicago isn't geared toward island living. Your sister from chicago is the type of person that ends up ruining the culture and atmosphere of hawaii when more like her live there. Your sister from chicago obviously would like more commercialization and the rat race(speed for it's own sake) and rushing to your grave. I've heard mainlanders complain about the service in hawaii mainly that it wasn't fast enough. it's a heinous complaint because you for the most part get real humane service, often a genuine smile and it's not too fast or too slow. on the mainland you are rudely hurried through like cattle or given even more patronizing service. a few seconds in time obviously makes a big difference as they are more healthy and actually live at a normal to healthy pace. I had no problem getting things accomplished when i was there. Oh, and the part about exploring on the mainland is so stupid it's not funny since driving around the mainland you will get repeats of your kohl's and olive gardens almost everywhere you go unless you are planning to seek out some very out of the way boonies or go camping, lol. Maybe you should remind your sister she is in hawaii and not chicago on the mainland. LOL You can also take a ferry from island to island in hawaii, even flying from island to island is cheap and you are also close to other asian countries. Those who get island fever for most are not suited for the island, duh. Cockroaches? are you serious? I've been in several places and i never had cockroach problem and never even saw one. maybe you or your sister live in a dump or are not clean. hawaii is one of the few places you don't need air conditioning and can leave the windows open without being plagued by mosquitos and flies. that's one of the benefits of being in paradise, evidently she'd rather be freezing in chicago with smaller cockroaches and unbearable summers. lol
Location: Was in Western New York but now in Hilo Hawaii
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Aloha,
Jung your the best!
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- there was another list that went with it entitled "Ten best things about living in Hawaii" or something similar. There are both good and not so good things about living anywhere, and thank goodness that in this country we are free to look around, discover what area/state suits each of us best (our needs, desires, way of life, or other things we are able/unable to handle), and settle where we want. 
Right on!!!!
