Week Three- Oahu

Monday, February 1st, 2010
Another false start today. We were supposed to visit another Hawaiian sovereignty group, but due to a mix up, they thought we were coming another day, so we have to reschedule. However, I vowed I wouldn’t lose a day to another book. I went on a hike into the mountains behind the University, the same one I did on my first day. I took a winding trail through the thick brush overlooking Manoa Valley. It felt great to just be out in nature alone, it can be a very spiritual experience, but it is hard to let those emotions flow when other people surround you. At the top of the trail, I fund a little park and sat myself down. In the shade of giant trees, covered in symmetrical knobs, I wrote in my journal on a moss-covered table surrounded by damp red earth. As I opened my sandwich bag, the bushes began to rustle, and a seemingly endless stream of wild chickens poured out of hiding at the new smell in the air. I was quite literally inundated with chickens. I sat there for about 15 minutes just observing them and taking pictures. It was a strange to see an animal you associate with cages and human domination out in the wild, even if they are an invasive pest. As I was sitting there a loud note broke the silence, and I sat there in shock for a few minutes awaiting some sort of alien invasion before I realized it was a tsunami/bomb signal test. It shook the air and reverberated of the mountains, echoing back and forth. I couldn’t tell if what I was listening to was the same note or just an echo. An oddly shocking sound that left me with my hair and skin raised. If there ever was a good place for me to be during a tsunami I was certainly there. High in the hills overlooking the whole city. After heading back home I headed to the beach for a few hours to relax and cool off. Hiking and beachcombing on the same day, nice feeling, and hopefully something I can continue when I go to Cal Poly.

Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010
Today, we had a lecture on the marginalizing of ethnic groups in Hawaii. The man said that because of the rising costs in education and the fact that 70% of all private jobs are somehow entangled with tourism's empire, immigrant and ethnic groups can no longer move up the socioeconomic scale. Many people think of Hawaii as a model for good ethnic relations, and while looking at violence levels that is true, it is not the same case when it comes to equality. The people that run Hawaii and its economy solve all problems with projects that have tourism as the driving force. Tourism has corrupted them and there problem-solving skills are dependent on the idea of bringing in more people with money. If the state has no money invest in something to bring more tourists with open wallets. Build convention centers and tear down the last remaining “wild” land to build hotels, or even, in the case of the universities, if you have no money look to pull in out-of-staters to attend, for the increased tuition, and add a tuition increase on top. By next year tuition will cost an out-of-stater 18,000 dollars a year. This increase completely destroys the college system base income. Instead of diversifying their income with grants and such they built their system on a rickety base that is now in danger of completely collapsing. The negative side of tourism, unknown to most, an economy so dependant on one thing that with out it a thriving economy would, overnight, become a 3rd world country. After we watched a documentary called “Dividing Waikiki.” Never before have I heard a story with more cronyism, corruption, and conflict of interest. A story of businessmen who overthrew the world’s first recognized non-European country, by tricking their queen and imprisoning her. Men who made the natives pay to have their land stolen from under their feet. The new government, sanctioned by the American Republic, was made up of business partners who had no qualifications to do the jobs given to them. A railroad magnate’s right hand man was Minister of Health, while the magnate himself was governor. A land where pineapples and sugar cane were worth more than hundreds of years of history. A constitution based on that of slave era Louisiana. If it weren’t so utterly revolting it would almost be funny, it could never happen. But it did, and it will again. They paved over and dredged people’s livelihood and made them pay for the dirt that filled in their taro fields and poisoned their water. I spent the rest of the day trying to get the sick taste out of my mouth, the taste of blood, sweat and tears, by planning for Borneo. It’s almost here!

Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010
Today I volunteer at the Learning Center’s food bank. I walked to the bus stop around 12 pm and sat waiting at a bench by McDonald’s for the bus to come. It gave me some time to read “Lonely Planet: Borneo,” that Molly lent me since she is now going to Thailand instead. The more I read, the longer I want to stay. I want to do anything and everything. Just absorb the whole place. There was even a brief moment of resentment that I had to go to Picnic with the Penan, as it would take 2 ½ weeks of my time there. It also looks like time wise I wont be able to go to Indonesian Borneo with the girls, but volunteering in Thailand is worth it. When I got there I met up with Molly, Molly, Elin and Matilda and we gathered at the building across the street where the food would be delivered. There was already a line forming, and tensions were high, and when the food came it seemed like it never ended. A whole truck filled with food. We “mens” did the unloading and the “womens” opened up the packaging. In a lot of these cultures there is a big male/female power vacuum. Once everything was out, it was really shocking. There was a 6 ft pile of sodas, a 20 ft line of boxes filled with vegetables, whole cakes, an industrial amount of ramen and boxes and boxes of other food. At this point all hell was going to break loose as they let the first group of people go at the food. As I started to walk away as the “mens” starting filling up their own boxes one lady shoved an empty box in my hands and told me to take my share. She said not to be too proud to take it, as they do it all the time, and we are no different from each other. To me if you get free food you just take it for what it is, but they were as picky as any normal shopper would be. Perhaps a way to still show they have humanity and worth, just as much as we do. When I was done I was left with a box filled with veggies and apples, two 16 packs of ramen, 4 boxes of Nutragrain bars, a box of cereal, a 6 pack of soda, and that was before they started just throwing stuff in our boxes they decided we needed. In the end, the 5 of us were left with 7 boxes pouring over with food, so much so that we had to leave stuff behind because we couldn’t take it all in one run. Afterwards we baked choklad bullar with the kids. Too much food related activities for one day.

Thursday, February 4th, 2010
I was at the elementary school all day volunteering, but the end of the day made up for a long day of work. After going out and buying some supplies for a salad, we all met downstairs to go to Nick’s house for a potluck party. The bus took us to the corner of a school there and we had to walk for about 10 minutes to get to his house. As we waited for him in the muggy night air, I looked up to the bright stars shining above and tried to put my little bit of astrology and astronomy to good use. I found Orion and his dogs, the queen and the bull, and possibly the twins. After a few hours there of eating and drinking, we sat down to watch a movie called “The Ripple Effect,” it was with Forrest Whittaker so we all thought it would be good. Long story short, we fast forwarded through the movie in about 10 minutes, and nicknamed it “The Nipple Effect” due to its poorly filmed intro that spent about 5 minutes focused on a girl in a skimpy bikini. After the failed movie we decided it was time to leave, so we took filled our bags with beer and headed out. After getting on the wrong bus, which dropped us off in what we thought was the middle of nowhere, 6 of us stuffed ourselves in a taxi and headed back to the university. It turns out we were actually quite close, but none of us knew that at the time. When everyone returned we spent the rest of the night celebrating Madde’s birthday. By the end I collapsed on the bed and fell asleep the minute my head hit the pillow.

Friday, February 5th, 2010
Today was a free day, so naturally it was spent at the beach, Zac and I met up with Elin and Molly F. at Ala Moana Beach, and spent a couple of hours hanging at the beach, soaking up the sun and relaxing in the water. Later that day we were supposed to meet with the whole class to watch the sunset and celebrate Madde’s birthday. So we went back to get ready. After a shower, change, and new hairstyle, I was ready to go. Molly, Elin and I went to the library for a bit before catching the bus. It seems like there is always some ticket to book or person to write to. Then while on the bus we had a long conversation about doing some kind of road trip with each other. The kind of thing Anna did with Martin and Line, a Jack Kerouac style, stopping in every pancake shop, drive through small town America. Elin was starting to get a bit frazzled, convinced we were late and would miss the sunset and her dream shot. Turns out she was right, but it wasn’t our fault, the sunset was underneath a blanket of vog that blocked out all but the orange glow. We all sat on the beach for a while taking picture and talking, and once it was dark we found a place to sit and watch the fireworks that are a Honolulu tradition on the first Friday of the month. After that Zac, Ulla, Robin, Frost, Reza, Madde, C.P. and I went to CPK for a birthday dinner. Afterwards, Madde said she wanted to go to a strip club, for reasons I still don’t understand, so we spent 2 hours walking around Honolulu looking for one. We eventually walked all the way down Waikiki, and after traversing the streets filled with drunks, prostitutes and police officers breaking up fights, we found a club. I honestly don’t see the appeal of watching strangers dance on a table. Perhaps it was because this was certainly not the nicest strip club in existence. For me it was more like observing a model for a drawing class, or a butcher looking at his wares. Just flesh, no sensuality, or sex appeal. When we decided to leave, thanks to a stupid public transportation system where nothing runs after 11pm, we walked the 35 minutes back to school and finally fell asleep at 4 am.

Saturday, February 6th, 2010
I was the only survivor of last night’s escapades, but I wasn’t about to miss today. For those who wanted to, today was an adventure day with Nick and his canoes. The group of us who were going met at 9 am for a true outdoorsy day. Several people were curious as to why we were missing so many people, and after explaining the night before I didn’t hear the end of it all day. The bus ride was packed and I spent half of the two-hour bus ride standing up. When a seat finally did open up, I was lucky enough to get the seat that was just given up by the smelliest homeless person I have ever had the misfortune of setting my olfactory nerves on. The smell of urine and unwashed clothes lingered in my eyes and nose until I was able to scrub it off in the ocean. Before going to the beach we stopped at a funky little general store, one with the old time feeling and gourmet homemade sandwiches. With my purchase of a corn beef sandwich and a cold root beer we set off to find Nick and Linda, who were already at the beach. As we came out on the beach it seemed to stretch out forever with some of the bluest water I have ever seen. The day was spent trying to paddle a Hawaiian style kayak and canoe, trying be the key word, and finally decking out under the sun. I woke up again at about 2pm and we all set off for a short hike. We wound our way up the side of the mountain and came to an old abandoned military bunker. We climbed on top and looked out over the shore, which continued on endlessly in every direction you looked. Afterwards we went out for good Thai food and got back home as Morpheus’ blanket was laid over the land.

Sunday, February 7th, 2010
Today, we had the privilege of volunteering to help preserve and restore King Kamehameha’s summer palace. The small stone building is sitting in what is now thick jungle, but was once wide-open taro fields. Before we could begin, our guide and leader lead us in a Hawaiian prayer to let us enter the sacred place. His haunting chant filled the air, and as the leaves on the trees rustled in response I felt different, as if something in my body was now letting me know I was free to enter. After our tour of the area we spent several hours removing dead trees and wood from the compound to dissuade people to come and make fires there. The palace itself was little more than a small stone shack, nothing like the grandiose estate of Versailles, not that it’s a bad thing. After our work was done Ljungdahl, Molly and I headed to Ala Moana to get some food and look for a small guitar to take with us during our travels. We didn’t find what we were looking for, but how often does that happen? After getting back to school, Molly and I were both not so crazy about going back and just sitting around, so we took a walk around campus and sat it the park for a while. We talked about all sorts of things that we on our minds, and after I felt 10 pounds lighter. As we were getting ready to leave, a praying mantis landed on my arm and stayed there for about 10 minutes. It felt like more than a coincidence to me, more like a sign. But of what? Perhaps it was letting me know that the feeling of stillness and calm I was feeling at that moment, which is the epitome of mantis behavior, is something I need to continue. Spirit guide anyone?