Hawai'i
Hey, my name is Steph. I am from Hawai’i, the Aloha State! Naturally, since I come from paradise, I used to wake up in the morning, choose which coconut bra, grass skirt, and lei to wear, and walk about half a mile to school every day from my grass hut on the beach. And after school, I would go surfing in the perfectly blue waves, and sometimes I would even ride my pet dolphin, Pono, to the neighbor islands. I miss Pono. I also miss my staple food of pineapple. It is all we eat in Hawai’i! Did I mention that we just eat on mats that are laid out on the beach? Sand gets into our food a lot, but it gives it a nice crunch. We do not have electricity back home to cook, so we make bonfires every night just to cook wild pigs we slaughter for meals. All this technology is new to me, so please excuse my inexperience. I also had to learn English when I came to UC Irvine for school. I hope my grammar is okay too. I only knew Hawaiian as a child.
Okay, let’s be real now. Hawai’i is a civilized and industrialized place just like any other. People in Hawai'i have jobs, electricity, houses, and cars. In those respects we are just like everyone else in the United States. Not everyone who lives in Hawai'i is Hawaiian or speaks the language. In fact, only about ten percent of people are of Hawaiian decent, and that number is dwindling. On top of that, most Hawaiians are only a very small percentage of Hawaiian, and there are very few or no pure Hawaiians left. Culture is very important to us, and I would like to share some of it with you. The true Hawaiian culture is dying out with the Hawaiian population, and the only way to save it is to teach others about it. Not the fake perceptions of Hawai’i that most people have, but the real, honest Hawai’i that is unlike anywhere else on earth.
Visiting Hawai’i is a unique experience to say the least. Some even claim that it is like visiting a different country completely because a very different kind of culture is fostered by Hawai’i’s isolation. Hawaiian culture is derived from many different countries outside of the United States. It is basically a melting pot of cultures to create something completely new. People call it paradise, but I call it home. Most people have misconceptions about Hawaii, but this website is made to teach you what Hawai’i is really like from an insider’s point of view, and to keep the Hawaiian culture from dying. No one likes to travel somewhere looking like a tourist, so if you are planning a visit to Hawaii anytime soon, use this guide to fit in with the locals!
~Steph
Okay, let’s be real now. Hawai’i is a civilized and industrialized place just like any other. People in Hawai'i have jobs, electricity, houses, and cars. In those respects we are just like everyone else in the United States. Not everyone who lives in Hawai'i is Hawaiian or speaks the language. In fact, only about ten percent of people are of Hawaiian decent, and that number is dwindling. On top of that, most Hawaiians are only a very small percentage of Hawaiian, and there are very few or no pure Hawaiians left. Culture is very important to us, and I would like to share some of it with you. The true Hawaiian culture is dying out with the Hawaiian population, and the only way to save it is to teach others about it. Not the fake perceptions of Hawai’i that most people have, but the real, honest Hawai’i that is unlike anywhere else on earth.
Visiting Hawai’i is a unique experience to say the least. Some even claim that it is like visiting a different country completely because a very different kind of culture is fostered by Hawai’i’s isolation. Hawaiian culture is derived from many different countries outside of the United States. It is basically a melting pot of cultures to create something completely new. People call it paradise, but I call it home. Most people have misconceptions about Hawaii, but this website is made to teach you what Hawai’i is really like from an insider’s point of view, and to keep the Hawaiian culture from dying. No one likes to travel somewhere looking like a tourist, so if you are planning a visit to Hawaii anytime soon, use this guide to fit in with the locals!
~Steph