Day 15: Surfing

May 21, 2012

After class today we went surfing!

Our instructors were surfers who worked for the Surf the Nation organization that we had helped earlier on our trip. One of the girls, Kristin, employed by Surf the Nation graduated from Cedarville…what a small world.

Upon hearing that Kristen graduated from Cedarville, I thought of the Small World Hypothesis that we learned about in class today. According to the hypothesis, everyone in the world is separated by six people.

It truly amazes me that everyone in the world is connected through just six people. And with the addition of social media, people are only separated by four.

I really wasn’t planning on going since I’m not the best swimmer in the world, but as I was watching everyone else have fun, I decided to give it a try too.

In class we also talked about networking and how people come together. One of the ways people come together is through homophily, people are attracted to other people based on similarity.

Now that I think about it, I applied homophily today at the surfing lesson.

There were five possible instructors: an American woman, two American men, and two men from Bangladesh.

I wanted the women or one of the American guys. And now that I think about it that’s probably due to homophily.

My instructor’s name was Chris, one of the white guys, and he was super nice. My face must have been revealing some nonverbal cues because right a way he asked me if I was scared. I told him about my lack skills but he assured me that everything would be all right.

And it was. I didn’t drowned. I didn’t see any sharks. And I was able to catch a wave.

After surfing we came back to the conference center, ate some diner, and went to bed. We were exhausted!

Day 14: What! Class on Sunday?!

May 20, 2012

Today the girls in my room woke-up to another girl yelling, “You have class in about 2 minutes.”

Miscommunication at its finest.  We thought that we didn’t have class, but our professor thought we did. So like the good students we rushed to get ready and ran over to class.

In class today, we talked about conflict. A few of the girls gave example of conflicts in their lives.

Our discussions made me think about the different conflicts I’ve had in my own life.  

Mostly I’m a drama free person, but I can think of two example of conflict in my life.

1. In high school my two best friends and I had a falling out

2. Freshman year of college one of my best friends all the sudden didn’t want to be friends anymore.

Those are not my favorite memories, but I’ve learned a lot from the conflict.

- Forgiveness is not overrated

- Talking is necessary

So now, whenever a conflict arises I go through a few steps in my head to evaluate if I’m just overacting. Then if I decided that I’m not, I take action.

I talk to the person, and then if it works out, it works out. If it doesn’t, well at least I tried.

After class we walked over the a little Baptist church that took place in the same building as the Samoan church.

This little Baptist church may have taken place in the same building as the Samoan church, but that was basically the only thing that the two had in common.

After church we went to grab a bit to eat at McDonalds.  While we were at McDonalds we talked about the different things we were going to do that day. It was decided that we would go visit a beach where a scene from Pirates of the Caribbean Four was filmed. 

Before we left for the beach we worked on some homework.

After a few hours of homework we piled in the vans and headed to the cove. On the way, we stopped for dinner. I can’t remember the name of the restaurant we went to was, it was a local restaurant. I kind of reminded me of a Paneras type of restaurant because you ordered at a counter then you the brought the food over. It was delicious.

Then we went to the beach and watched the sunset.

Day 13: Eat, Beach, Sleep

May 19, 2012

Even though it is the weekend today, we still had class.  But since it’s the weekend we got to sleep in an extra hour.

After we had class and lunch we went to the military beach, which is about a 5-minute walk from the conference center we are staying at.

Today the beach was absolutely beautiful! It was so sunny and warm. It was the perfect beach day!

We sat on the beach, took naps, talked on the phone, read books and talked to each other.

It is absolutely beautiful here, but I think I’ll be ready to go home in a week. As much as I love the people and love it here, it’s not home. I’m not homesick and I don’t really think that I’m experiencing culture shock, although the culture is different than I expected. I’m just ready to be home and see my family and sleep in my own bed.

Being here has been an amazing experience. Hawaii isn’t the Hawaii I had in my mind. I pictured a lush beautiful Island, fruit at every meal and people that were basically the same as those on the mainland, just a little darker.

I was wrong about all of the above.

The side of the island we are staying on is brown. It hardly ever rains on this side. However there is a green side that fits with my image of a lush beautiful island.

We haven’t had very much fruit while we have been here, but what we have had has been amazing.

The Hawaiian people probably the furthest away from the image that I had in my head of Hawaiian people. I thought that everyone would be one race, except for the occasional white or black person. I wrong.

Hawaii is made of people several different nationalities: Fiji, Japan, China, Pilipino, European, Korean, ect. No one looks the same.

I also thought that the people would speak the same as Americans on the mainland. I was wrong, while they do speak English; they also speak other languages as well. This gives the Hawaiian people an accent like I’ve never heard before.

It is has been hard for me at times to even thing of Hawaii as part of the United States, but then I’ll see someone pay with American money.

After the beach we had dinner, fish and chips. Then we went back to the Bungalow. We tried to watch a movie, The Proposal.

I lasted only about half of the movie. By 9:30 I was dead to the world.

Day 12: Vacation Day

May 18, 2012

Today we spent the day in Waikiki. This excursion was much different than the others we’ve been on. It appears like a completely different world than other parts of the island that we have visited.

I loved Waikiki. I actually felt like I was on vacation while we were walking around.

The whole town is filled with people enjoying life. Most of the people we saw while we were walking around appeared to be in a great mood, probably because they were on vacation. Most people moved at an easy pace, not in a rush at all.

Although the tourist trait was common among the majority of the people we saw, no one looked the same. There were honeymooners, elderly couples, brides to be, sober people, drunk people, children, homeless, locals, sales people and waiters.

With all of these different people it was easy to observe different the nonverbal signs we learned in class.

I noticed lots of different postures.

1. Approach – waiters

2. Withdrawal – people when they walked past homeless people

3. Contraction – the homeless people

4. Expansion – rich preppy guys on vacation

I also noticed that I was beginning to be able to spot the locals. The locals didn’t have the eagerness in their eyes like the locals did. And they usually didn’t look in stores.

Eyes reveal a lot about a person.

Lindsey, Alyssa, our friend Carolyn, and myself were walking through a few stores. In each new store we walked into Carolyn’s eyes would sparkle with excitement.

In one of the stores we convinced her to try on a dress. She didn’t even have to open her mouth her eyes said it all. She was excited, but a bit uneasy. After assuring her she looked great. We asked her why she looked so uneasy. She told use that she usually doesn’t shop much and that she doesn’t own any dresses. So this was all a new experience for her.

In addition to seeing excitement spoken by the eyes, we also able to see fear.

When we were gathering at the van to leave. A homeless lady sat curled up about 15-feet away from our van.

Josh a guy from our group must have felt convicted because he walked over to the woman and offered her a drink and some money.

To his surprise and ours, the women jumped up, started waving her hands back and forth, yelling I don’t want your help. Even though I was about 10-feet away, I could see the anger and disgust in the women’s eyes.

Josh’s eyes were speaking too. His were full of surprise and fear. And I don’t blame him. He was probably expecting compassion and gratitude.

But people really aren’t predictable especially when they live under stereotypes.

Day 11: Rainforest Hike

May 17, 2012

Just like every other day, we started off with class.

Today in class we took a field trip to McDonald’s so that we could get a better Internet connection.

During the two hours we were at the restaurant, there were tons of different people coming in and out. It was fascinating to watch the different interactions between people and to compare them to people I see on the mainland.

Conveniently in class today we were talking about different forms of communication and how language affects culture and forms reality.

The reality is that Hawaii has it’s own culture apart from the Mainland. People on the Island live by Island time, so about 15 minutes late. They also are very nice and kind hearted.

Example:

Today at McDonald’s there was a group of about seven teenagers. They were talking in normal voices, but at one point they got a little rowdy. Moments after the commotion they all looked over and apologized to us for the disruption.

I don’t think a group of teens on the Mainland would have done this…it was a pleasant surprise!

After class, everyone went on a rainforest hike.

Before we left for the hike we were warned about the parasites living in water.  We were told to cover any wounds and to refrain from getting water in our mouths.

As soon as we arrived at the entrance to the trail there was a huge parasite warning sign. This didn’t make me feel very safe.

But we still went in. Some people in our group even jumped off a 50ft. cliff. I didn’t jump off the cliff, but I did win a dollar. Dr. Miller and I had a bet about whether one of the girls would jump off the cliff or not. I won.

Overall, today was another beautiful day in Hawaii!

Day 10: Harbors and Beaches

May 16, 2012

There wasn’t any class today. We took the day off to go to Pearl Harbor and the North Shore.

Since history class in elementary school, I’ve heard about Pearl Harbor. So it was sort of a surreal experience actually being there.

 

It is hard to believe that only a few decades ago, the event of Pearl Harbor took place. 

Our tour started with a 20-minute movie describing what took place December 7, 1941, the day the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.  Once the lights came back on in the theater I noticed that there were several groups of Japanese tourists.

I find it sort of odd that they would come visit the base that their country helped destruct. I really wonder what was going through their minds while they were watching the movie, because since we are in America the movie definitely took the American viewpoint. 

 

We were all shuffled out of the theater onto a boat that took us the remains of the U.S.S. Arizona.

The mood of the group instantly switched from a fun-touring day to a day of remembering the lost and reliving the events. While on the memorial we could still see oil bubbling out to the Arizona into the Ocean. The air smelled like a gas station.

The smell worsened in the middle of the platform where a big square hole was cut out that viewed into the Pacific. Many gathered around the cutout to pay tribute to the fallen by throwing flower petals in the opening.

Past the opening was a room containing names of all who lost their lives due to the tragedy on December 7, 1941. 

After being at the memorial for around 10 minutes we were all herded back onto the boat.

While on the boat I kind of forgot that I was in Hawaii because there were so many military personnel and tourists. For tourists, or those living on the Mainland, Pearl Harbor is a big deal because it is an event we have heard about all of our lives. But as I think about it more, the people on the Island were probably affected even more by the tragedy.

When Pearl Harbor occurred, Hawaii wasn’t even a state yet. I often forget that little nugget of information when talking about Pearl Harbor. The people of Hawaii were basically dragged into the war, and her people were put in harms way.  

I think the event helped unify the Hawaiian people and culture. It also brought them closer to America because both the Hawaiian people and the United States military were both attacked. The two groups were able to relate and suffer together.

Besides the memorial, everything else at Pearl Harbor cost extra money, so as a group we decided to save our money by spending the rest of the day at the North Shore.

The North Shore is on the green side of the Island. It is one of the prettiest places I’ve even been; so green, sunny and the water is amazing!

At the North Shore we had shaved ice, shopped, and went to two different beaches.

The first beach we went to was Turtle Beach. This is not a beach that you go to relax; it is a beach you go to see Sea Turtles. We saw at least four Sea Turtles. It was so cool to see these animals in their natural environment.

After observing these animals for a little while we hoped in the car and traveled about 10 minutes to another beach called Shark Cove Beach.

There weren’t any sharks at this beach but there were plenty of fish and rocks. Lots of people went snorkeling, the rest of us wadded and just cooled off from the sun.

Today was a wonderful day filled with fun adventures and new friends!

Day 9: Leaning to Swim

May 15, 2012

Today we had class then we spent the rest of the day at the beach.

In class today we were learning about attributions, and preconceived ideas and beliefs that we give to cultural groups. Attribution is how we find reason behind an action.

During class we heard a ton of yelling. Some of the members of my class attributed the yelling to the natives attempting to take over a beach.

Before our trip we were warned that sometimes the locals do not react well to tourists so they kick them off the buses or the beaches.

So instead of thinking that the yelling was coming from people having fun at the beach, our minds quickly jumped to beaches being taken over and our afternoon being destroyed. We were planning on spending the day at the beach.

Luckily the beaches were not being taken over, so we were able to spend the entire day at the beach.  

In class today we also learned about egocentric bias. This is when we compare our own behavior to other people. Before class today, I didn’t realize that that is exactly what I do. I use myself as a reference point quite frequently in situations.

Since I like to travel and I plan to do a ton more in the future, I’m thankful that I’ve learned this quality about myself, because now I can work on improvement. I realize now that people are different because of the cultures they grow up in and it is not fair to compare them to myself.

In addition to trying to fix that flaw in my life, I worked on fixing another flaw in my life.

Confession time:

I am 20-years-old and I can’t swim.

I’m not exactly sure how I don’t know how to swim. I took lessons. I guess we must have just moved before I made it to the deep end.

So for the last 20 years of my life I’ve had to make up excuses for not knowing how to swim. I used excuses like:

- “I’m just really tired today”

- “I don’t feel like getting my hair wet”

- “I don’t really like lakes, I’m more of a pool girl”

These were all lies. I was just embarrassed that I didn’t know how to swim, but this summer I’ve decided to overcome this fear.

Today I learned how to tread water, do the breaststroke and do the sidestroke. It was a very productive day.

I learned a lot about myself, and others today. It was also a beautiful beach day!

I love Hawaii!

Day 8: Polynesian Cultural Center

May 14, 2012

Today after class, my class along with the Old Testament class went on an excursion to the Polynesian Cultural Center.

 

To get there we had to travel to the North side of the Island. I’m still in shock at the vast difference between the different sides.

The side that we are staying on (the East side) is very dry and mostly low-income families live here. There really aren’t very many white people on this side of the Island either, so I feel a bit out of place when we go places.  The North side is pretty much the opposite in every way. It is green. Middle to high income families. And there is a mix of races. When we walked into Subway for lunch, I wasn’t stared at or counted. There were other white people too.

The Polynesian Cultural Center not only was in a different culture than the east side of the island, it also contained many different cultures.  The center could be compared to an Epcot. There were six different cultures represented. Each culture had it’s own little village with people dressed in their native attire. These “natives” performed dances and songs, gave temporary tribal tattoos, and provided a taste of local delicacies.

At each different village one of the girls in my class would give a little explanation about the cultural group we were about to enter into.  My culture was Fiji.

In the Fiji village and the other villages, I felt as though the traditions that were being presented were dramatized a bit.  I wonder if the people of those cultures really acted that way and what they would think if they could come back from the past to visit the center.

I do believe that the information that we were given was basically true. I’m pretty sure that it is true that basically all of the cultural groups put an emphasis on music and dance.

I also wonder what people in from these different backgrounds think of the way the cultural center presents their heritage.  Last night when we were at the Samoan church I told one of the women sitting across from me that we were going to the Polynesian Cultural Center.  She just kind of laughed. I’m not exactly sure what she meant by her quiet little smirk, but I’m pretty sure there is something about the center that she doesn’t like.

It could be because the center is basically a tourists dream. It is interactive, outside and a learning experience.

The center was all of those things for me, and more. Even if it was a tourist trap I feel as like I still learned a lot and had tons of fun!

Day 7.5: Happy Mother’s Day (Or White Awareness Day)

May 13, 2012

Today was not the typical day for me. We started with the Aloha Stadium Swap Meet where we saw all different cultures.

After the market we had another cultural experience at a Hawaiian plate lunch restaurant. As soon as we walked in I remembered, “Oh yeah, I’m the minority here.”

Literally every head in the restaurant turned as soon as we walked in. We were the only white people in a crowd of locals. I’ve never felt this way before. I wonder if this is how minorities feel on the Mainland.

After our meal we came back to the conference center for a few hours before we had to walk to the Samoan church at 5p.m.

At 5 we met Dr. Elliot and walked across the lawn to the Samoan church. Even walking through the parking lot made me feel out of place. It is a very small church so clearly they knew we were visitors.

I have to be honest, I expected the people to stare at us because we are different, but I didn’t expect was to be counted.

In the front row of the small church sat a young girl, maybe about eight. When we walked in she and a few other children turned around and stared. I was expecting this, so I just smiled. What I didn’t expect however was to be counted. The little girl stared at us and started pointing and her lips were clearly moving to form o-n-e, t-w-o, t-h-r-e-e, ect. I’ve never felt that way in my life. On the Mainland I'm in the majority.

The only time I wasn’t in the majority was when my family and I lived in Germany for three years. The difference there is that I looked the same as locals, but when I opened my mouth they knew that I was different.

I didn’t feel as different in Germany as I felt today at the Samoan church. I was counted; the majority of the service was in Samoan and people just acted different than they do at churches that I’ve been to before.

During this service, it was like musical chairs. I don’t know if anyone was in the same seat by the end of the service. Little children were running around. People would walk right in front of the stage while the speaker was giving his message. Adults left during the service to go to the store, change, or switch seats. Husbands and wives didn’t always sit by each other. It was like we were at someone’s home and there just happened to be someone on a stage giving a message.

During the service there was not the hushed crowd I’m used to. Instead, everyone was making noise. Literally I think I could have had a conversation with the person next to me and no one would have minded.  

The people may have just been acting this way due to the type of service it was. Today is mother’s day so the service reflected that. The pastor told the church that in honor of mother’s day he was going to call up every couple in the church and the men would have to give their wife's testimony.

Before the testimony time began however, the pastor said, “Before we start, I would like to welcome Pastor Chuck and his students.” That’s right, Dr. Elliot got ordained in a matter of minutes.

“Pastor Chuck come up as say a few words,” said the Samoan pastor.

Dr. Elliott projected non-verbal cues of uneasiness before he ascendant the stage, but he delivered a great little speech that got the crowd laughing and Amening.

Samoan’s are big into Amening. Amen is like saying, “Okay, do you agree?”

The husbands always ended with “Yeah, Amen” but they began by putting a lei on their wife.

Sometimes these leis were candy leis.

To our surprise after the service we were given candy leis and asked to stay for their mother’s day meal. We politely joined even though we had already been with them for about a 3-hour church service.

The meal consisted of a Sloppy Joe, a hot dog, a bag of chips, a bottle of water and a can of soda. Dr. Elliot, or Pastor Chuck, was given a huge plate of seafood instead.

I do not really like meat, especially if I don’t know what it is, but we were given the food so I tried to clean my plate.

I basically had the strangest night that I’ve ever.

When we finally left the church we all broke out into hysterical laughter for at least 5 minutes.

Life is truly an adventure, and all 50 states are not the same!

Day 7: The Aloha Stadium Swap Meet

May 13, 2012

Today the Intercultural Communications class is on it’s own. All of the other classes left us to go to church near Waikiki and on a hike.

Our class stayed behind to have a REAL cultural experience.

The experience started with the Aloha Stadium Swap Meet (http://www.alohastadiumswapmeet.net/).

The swap meet was much different than I expected. I thought that it would be more of a bartering type of market like the ones that I’ve experience in Jamaica and the Bahamas. I was wrong.

This market had fixed prices, which wasn’t what I was expecting, but items sold were what I expected.

The swap meet had about five common tents:

1. Jewelry

2. Luggage

3. Wooden carvings

4. T-shirts

5. Some sort of health food

Although the tents had a common theme the merchants weren’t all the same. I’m pretty sure that all the ethnic groups of Hawaii were being represented.

Another thing that made these merchants different was that they were not pushy. In other countries the merchants are very pushy and ready to give you a “deal.” That was not the case at the Aloha Stadium Swap Meet, the merchants offered a greeting and were around to help, but that was all.

The people shopping at the market were for the most part, what I expected.  I was planning it being a tourist event…I was right. There were probably a few locals here and there but mostly there were tourists.

It is the perfect place for tourists because pretty much every shop has souvenirs.

I even bought a few.

In addition to buying souvenirs, I bought coconut milk to try. It wasn’t my favorite drink, but hey, when in Hawaii do as the Hawaiians do!

The Swap Meet was a different experience than any other market that I’ve been to.

Day 6: Day for Relaxing

May 12, 2012

Today we (Lindsey, Alyssa and I) slept in until 8a.m., that’s right I said slept in…that’s what jet lag will do to you.

We missed breakfast; I thought that I would naturally wake-up at 6a.m. just like I’d done the other days…I was wrong.

I also thought that we were going to have a free day…I was wrong about that too, but life is what you make it!

In fact, that is our class motto.  Everyday before class we listen to Life's What you Make It by Hannah Montana. It’s a great motivation and joke.

Instead of having a free day we helped pull weeds at the conference center. I really didn’t mind. I kind of like pulling weeds, mainly because it is outside. I love being outside when it’s sunny.

Funny thing is, when we finally made it to the beach it wasn’t sunny. It was still really warm though. Luckily the rain only lasted a few minutes. It was a beautiful beach and the waves were huge. It was nice just being able to relax; I needed it after our long week of classes.

After the beach we tried a local delicacy, shaved ice. It was really good, but waiting for them to make about 15 shave ice almost caused us to be late for dinner.

It’s a good thing we weren’t late because if we had then we might have missed the announcement about going to see the Avengers.

At 7pm we left for the theater. I probably should have stayed at the conference center because I feel asleep during pretty much the entire movie. I don’t feel like I miss too much though. I still know the basic plot: good people get together, fight eye patch dude and win…the end.

Clearly I needed that relaxing day!

Day 5: The Best Day Yet

May 11, 2012

I almost got sick this morning!

Today Cedarville’s Alumni Association hosted a luau for us and the alumni on the island. It was luau so of course we had to have a pig.

Last night Dr. Elliot contacted us about a cultural experience. He said that a local would be coming to light the fire for the pig at 7a.m.

So at 7 this morning I watched as several locals prepared a fire that would later contain Little Wilbur, that’s the name I gave to the pig.  I probably shouldn’t have named the pig; it made it a bit hard to eat him later.

Around 9a.m. Little Wilbur was placed into the fire hole. We were in class at the time but our class and the Old Testament class took about a 20-minute break to watch the long process. I never knew there was such a process to smoking a pig, but I learned due to Little Wilbur's sacrifice.

Process for Smoking a Pig:

1. Dig a hole

2. Start a fire with stones, branches and leaves

3. Let the fire burn for about two hours

4. Let the flames die down

5. Prepare the pig

6. Put the pig in the smoking hole

7. Layer leaves and branches over the pig

8. Layer wet sackcloth over the branches

9. Put a tarp over the sackcloth

While the pig was cooking I had a great day, the first free day of the week.

After class Lindsey, Alyssa and I were walking to lunch when we spotted a HUGE centipede right in front of us on the sidewalk. We whipped out our cameras; we didn’t know how fast it would move, it had a lot of legs.  Well it didn’t move at all, odd. So I poked it with a stick. It didn’t move. It was dead.

I picked the dead centipede up; it was prank time. I scared several girls, boys and professors…it was great!

After lunch a bunch of the group went to Turtle Beach. The beach was one of the prettiest places I’ve ever seen.

At the beach we climbed up a huge lava rock formation. It was bit nerve racking for me because basically if I made one wrong slip I would be dead; I’m a bit clumsy so I could see something bad happening.

Luckily only fun and adventures occurred. We saw beautiful waves and wildlife!

Following our hiking adventure, we lived life like normal people would at a day at the beach. We laid out, played Frisbee and we buried each other in the sand.

I’ve been buried in the sand but never like I was today. I literally could not get out of the sand. I couldn’t get out because we dug a hole, I got in, and then I was basically buried alive. The weight of the sand was so heavy that it impaired my breathing.

New Fear: being buried alive

On the way back from the beach Mark, the guy the alumni association sent to work on the luau/our driver for the day, set his shoes on the roof of the car. However, he forgot that he had done that until we were getting out of the car back at the conference center. At that point there was only one sandal left on the roof. Mark was freaking out, “Those are my favorite shoes.”

Alyssa and I hopped back into the car and helped Mark look for his shoe while he retraced the trip to the beach.

He found it!

With the comfort of knowing his shoes were safe, Mark was able to prepare for the luau and so were we.

The luau started at 6 in the evening and continued until about 9. It was very interesting. There was traditional Hawaiian foods and people too, some local women came dressed in long floral printed dresses and danced for us.

After the luau I was hungry so because as I was eating the pulled pork I just kept thinking of poor Little Wilbur. After the celebration was done pretty much all of us students took a little walk to McDonald’s.

Today was basically the best day! It is surprising how close we have come in just five days!

I have also been able to learn a little bit about Hawaiian culture as well. Today in class, we talked about different cultural dimensions. Now I don't claim to know everything about Hawaiian culture yet, but I think that it might be able to fit into Hofstede's Collectivism category. It appears that community is big in Hawaiian culture. It also appears that they are proud of their heritage.  There are different heritages on the Island. The different cultures help form different in and out groups.

That's all that I've noticed so far about Hawaiian culture. I'm definitely not an expert yet, but I can't wait to learn more!

Day 4: I Saw the Only Palace in the U.S.A

May 10, 2012

Today after class we took an excursion to the only palace in the United States of America, Iolani Palace. We also visited the Mission Houses Museum.

The morning started just like most morning here. We got ready in our little apartment type bungalow, that some of the girls call Martha. Then we went to the main house for breakfast and class.

Today in class we talked about personalities, what we in are and the different personalities of people on the trip.

Yesterday on our excursion, all five us girls in the car happened to pile in the car that our professor was driving.  As a communications professor, he noticed our interactions we had with the one boy in the car, the only person in the car not in the Intercultural Communications class.

In class today, Dr. Elliot suggested that we should have a new passenger or “victim” every time we go on an excursion. Today did not work out as planned so we will have to put the plan into action on our next excursion.

Our excursion today led us to the city of Honolulu. All of the sudden out of the clouds and hills popped up a big city. It is very interesting to see how different the landscape and the weather here on the Island is. At one point while we were driving, we could see it raining in one area, sunny in another and hazy in another…only in Hawaii.

Lucky for us it was sunny were we were located.

Our first stop was the Iolani Palace. Before we could enter the palace, we had to put little blue booties on to cover our street shoes. We still aren’t sure what the purpose of these slippers were. Maybe the staff just needed a laugh.

With the light blue booties secured, we were given the typical handheld devises the museums give out. The ones that have a phone like shape, and have numbers that you punch in to correspond with the room you are in.

From number 1 the palace was interesting. The handheld devise explained the Hawaiian culture a bit. It also pointed out the portraits of Americans and Europeans that adorned the walls. I was not expecting to see these in a Hawaiian palace.

After viewing the whole house and learning about the royal Hawaiian culture, we walked a few blocks over to the missionary houses to learn their time in Hawaii and how they integrated American culture into Hawaiian.

The missionary houses were made out of coral dug up from the bottom of the ocean. They also contained wood brought over from the “Main Land.” The house styles were definitely had a New England feel to them.

During our guided tour I learned that the missionaries changed things about Hawaiian culture and introduced things to it as well.

Introduced:

1.     The Bible

2.     Newspapers

3.     Reading

4.     Writing

5.     American furniture (beds)

6.     House building material (wood)

7.     Pastors

8.     The clothes they wore

Through this excursion I learned that missionaries definitely help “Americanize” Hawaii. And I can now say that I’ve been to the only palace in the United States!

Day 3: Life is What You Make It

May 9, 2012

Today after class, we took a field trip to the Bishop Museum.

The Bishop Museum holds artifacts about Hawaiian culture. It helps explain the different cultural influences that make up the Hawaiian people.

While walking through the museum and learning about all the different cultures that make up Hawaiians I began thinking about all the different influences that are in my life.

The “Mainland” is a bigger melting pot. Most people are made up of so many different nationalities it is hard to figure out what someone is, unlike here in Hawaii were it is easier to tell what ethnic group a person originated from.

Since on the “Mainland” it is hard to tell what ethnic group people originate from, I tend to forget that my ethnic group influences who I am, as well as the other groups I am a part of.

Today the museum, and our class discussion prompted me to evaluate who I am.

According to the Jung Typology Test I am:

Extraverted 89%

Intuitive 38%

Thinking 1%

Judging 22%

Most of my life I would not have called myself an extravert at all, but the truth is I love being around people and interacting with them.

In my younger years I was described as shy because I wouldn’t talk since I was afraid of what people would say or think of me. However, I’ve some how come out of my shell more because I’ve realize I will never get what I want in life if I don’t speak up.

This may sound selfish but getting what I want is an important part of my life. Now don’t get me wrong, I love people and I don’t like to hurt people’s feelings, but I view life as a competition. I like to win, but I also believe that life is what you make it. Any situation can be made better if you want it to be. 

For example:

The Bishop Museum had a lot of interesting artifacts, but the fact of the matter is, it is summer break and my brain is a little bit too fried to read a ton of plaques and listen to documentaries.  However, instead of drudging through the museum, my friends and I decided to make our time an adventure and make the best out of the situation. We acted a bit like little children, we touched everything that did not have a DO NOT TOUCH label, we made origami and we took silly pictures. It was a great time because we made it a great time!

Day 2: Time to Meet Some Locals

May 8, 2012

Today was the first official day of class. It was also the first day that we had the opportunity to really interact with some locals.

In class today we learned that there are about six important reasons to study intercultural communications:

1. Technological

2. Demographic

3. Economic

4. The Peace Initiative

5. Self-Awareness

6. Ethical

I was able to apply these reasons today when we when helped pass out food with Surf the Nations.

Surf the Nations is an organization with the goal of reaching out to people in need; it attempts to integrate surfing and humanitarian work.  Surf the Nations has teamed up with the Feeding The Hungry program to feed the hungry in Hawaii. The goal is to reach out to the poor, hungry and homeless, to touch and invest in their lives the way Christ would have.

After lunch, we met up with Surf the Nations at their Wahiawa location, an area known for drugs, alcohol, violence and sex. Our job was to break down boxes, put food in bags, pass out food to the long line of Hawaiians and help them carry their food through the line.

Although it was heartbreaking seeing the long line of people needing nourishment, it was fascinating seeing all the different nationalities of the Hawaiian people. There were clearly backgrounds in Chinese, Japanese, Pilipino, Korean, Anglo-Saxon and African. No one looked the same; the eyes really gave it away.  Demographics have definitely affected the Hawaiian Islands.

The Hawaiian people may have been different than what I expected, they didn’t all look the characters from Lilo and Stitch. However, the surfers employed with Surf the Nation did meet my stereotype. They were the typical laid back, chill guys with long crazy hair.  One of the surfer guys that I met lives in Burlington, Wisconsin, what a small world!

After helping pass out food we came back to the conference center. Lindsey, Alyssa and I did some P90X, that’s right we are getting tan and getting hot bods! 

Later in the evening we had a campfire, during which Dr. Mach explained some of the history of the Island.  

And that was the second day in Hawaii, it was a great day full of new experiences and memories!

Day 1: Welcome to Hawaii...wait, is this really America??

Today was the first official day being on the island.

The island is not exactly what I expected. On the “mainland” there is much more racial diversity. I feel sort of like the odd one out here. I don’t think that I’ve every received more honks, yells or stares in one day. Now, it may have been due to my impeccable beauty, but more than likely it was because I am white.

The day all started around 6:30a.m. Hello, Jetlag!

Breakfast was at 8a.m. After breakfast we met the staff, had a hilarious man from a Hawaii Baptists Convention come talk to us and we met with our professors. It was a laid-back orientation sort of day.

Once the orientation ended, the fun/cultural experiences began. Today, we took an adventure to the local military beach. There were about 12 girls including myself walking to the beach. To the locals this probably looked like a huge group of white girls.

The only other time in my life that I’ve been the odd one out is during the three years I lived in Germany. The difference there is that people only thought I was odd after I tried to talk to them. But that was a foreign country so I was expecting that.

This however, is not. This IS America, yet it is different than the America that I’m accustomed to.

Random Facts Learned Today:

1.     Aloha – a greeting

2.     The motion with your pinky and thumb pointed out with the other fingers in – is a sign of affirmation

3.     Flip-flops – are known as slippers

4.     Appetizers – poo-poo

5.     Island Time – about 15 minutes later than said time

6.     H1,H2,H3 – Hawaii only has three highways

7.     Locals – the people from the island

8.     Natives – the Hawains who dress traditional and live on a remote island

9.     There are no snakes

10. There are tons of mongoose on the island because they were brought over to prey on mice the problem is that they do not have a predator so they are a bigger problem now than mice

11. The cost of living is very high; most families need both parents to have full-time jobs

(picture above is from the sunset today)