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 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)