Ohana in Oahu: Hawaii

Of all the places to follow Japan, Hawaii could not have come at a more perfect time. Now that I’m really starting to miss Japan, this tropical, Japan-infused America feeds me from both ends. Japanese and American, that is. What are you thinking?

In the week between Japan and Hawaii, everyone has been focused on making very specific schedules for Hawaii, as we will only have ten hours. Finals are happening now, too, so of course, our priority is there, but on top of that, this Hawaii thing has a lot of us tied.

It seems that everyone’s schedule somehow traveled from one mouth to another, because within an hour of docking, everyone I know is at Wal-Mart. Our objective was made so clear, in fact, that a team of Wal-Mart shuttles is waiting at the port, busing people to and from our dear American megastore. I don’t know why I am so easily convinced to follow, considering that I refuse shopping at Wal-Mart on the mainland; I think it’s just the time away that has gotten to me, and Wal-Mart, beyond supplying us with snacks we are missing, serves now as a sort of museum of “Things I Used to Know.” We go through every aisle pointing out the things we recognize, asking, “Do you love this stuff as much as I do?” or realizing, “Oh my god, you eat this with peanut butter, too?!” None of us have been given the privilege of living in America together—which seems odd after sharing so many other countries—so everyone is curious to know what everyone else is usually like. The bonds, superficial as they may seem, substantiate some of our friendships; we happened to like the same strange curry dish in India, but now, you eat Cheerios for breakfast, too! Now I understand why we're friends.

Chris, Kristin, Kelsey and I go to Waikiki Beach, and again, everyone else is sticking to the schedule, too. The beach is swarming with us, many of us on cell phones calling home to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving. We swim, mostly, and I am amazed to find that the Pacific is actually warm in some places. Monterey’s stretch of Pacific is about fifty degrees on a good day. Tired of swimming, we lie on the beach with our eyes closed, blindly reaching our hands into the Cheez-It bag every few minutes.

Eilis and Jen find us and urge us to walk around a bit, so we wander through over-priced tourist shop after over-priced tourist shop until dinnertime. Because it is Thanksgiving, we seek out the heartiest and most delicious food we can find. By the port, in a complex of shops and restaurants, is a sushi buffet that allows us to fill large Styrofoam take-out boxes with fresh fish and other Japanese delicacies. We eat too much food in true Thanksgiving style. When it comes time to re-board the ship, we give the leftovers to some crew people at the bottom of the gangway, and they are thankful for it.