Hawaii stylee

Despite deciding to tell people I was moving to Hawaii on April Fool's day, it really did happen.  After messing around in Cedar for a month, I packed up everything I would need for the next year in four bags and flew out of Vegas.  That was a bit of a struggle!

When I first got here I started noticing all kinds of strange things that you don't see on the mainland.
1.  Picked these up at State Farm.  "Sorry, you can't get renter's insurance because you're within 1000 feet of the ocean." And my personal favorite, which I overheard being said to someone on the Big Island, "We can't insure you because you're in the lava zone."

2. When I found gas that was 3.99, I thought that was ridiculously cheap.  Seriously, when I first got here gas was 4.89...

3. The roads are filled with Tourists in rented Mustang convertibles, and Asian drivers.  You do the math.

4. Pidgin.  That's the local language.  I would explain it like Hawaiian ebonics.  There literally is the word "yeah" in every sentence.  I addition to the language, the names of things here literally took me a month to figure out how to pronounce!  It's entertaining, for example, here are some street names - Kamehameha, or Ka'ahumanu.

5.  This is a real common sight, yeah:

Most of the locals have boards strapped to their cars, even in the parking lot at church.  We actually saw a guy on a moped that had rigged up a way to strap his surf board on the side.

Living on an island certainly has its charms, yeah.  You can literally see the ocean from everywhere, including my bedroom window.  I love it, but I had a very strange sense of claustrophobia when I first got here, yeah.  I guess it's the idea of being out in the middle of the Pacific ocean with an airplane being the only means of getting to land that kinda freaked me out.  Honestly I can't believe I've already been here a full month.  I've totally loved it so far, and I'm slowing getting used to the local customs.  I get the feeling I won't ever want to leave!