End of week one

A very cool tree nearl Nu'uanu Pali Lookout

Hard to believe I left a week ago! It's been a pretty cool week. Here's a disjointed account of things I've learned about Hawai'ian culture that I'm pretty sure you wouldn't learn if all you did was stay at a resort. For instance, I didn't realize that Aloha shirts are worn by men all the time. That's what men wear to work. There is nothing kitschy abut it. I also learned that only 10% of Native Hawi'ians get a bachelor's degree. Out in remote areas, little kids might get on a public bus at 5:30 am to be able to get to a good school. It rains almost every single night. It's raining right now, but I'm secluded on my little lanai surrounded by vegetation. Speaking of vegetation, bananas and papaya are never tree-ripened. As they get ripe, birds eat them off the trees. So dont complain about green papaya and banana in the grocery store. If the tree was in your yard, you would pick the fruit and let it sit for days to ripen anyway! We have papaya off the front mountainside/yard tree ripening on the counter now! Tomorrow, the movers will come. That means everyone in the neighborhood will be inconvenienced for a chunk of the day. Not sure how they feel about it, but surely anyone who lives on the side of a mountain would understand that a moving truck will have to block a good portion of the road in order to make the move happen. Not sure how the move will affect my weekend plans to go tailgating and stay with Marie. Fingers crossed!