3 Surprising Things I Learned When I Moved To Hawaii

When I moved to Hawaii I had nothing. No money, no job, and nowhere to live.

I went into detail about this in another articles. Check the links below to see my other adventures in Hawaii.

After living here for seven years I have a better feel for the island and have gotten used to island life. There was plenty of culture shock, but these were the three things that stood out the most.

Experiencing racism

Growing up as a white guy in America I never experienced any form of racism. I don’t even remember thinking about race, my friend group was pretty diverse. So when I moved to Hawaii and people started making fun of me and making jokes about me being white I was confused.

It wasn’t that bad, the jokes were mostly harmless, there was only one time I felt like someone was being genuinely racist towards me.

I was at work one day and I walked by two people I didn’t know. They were having a conversation and I walked by minding my own business. Then I heard one guy say, “typical haole”.

I have heard two definitions of the word haole, one is a foreigner and the other is no soul. The term technically applies to anyone not from Hawaii but it is primarily used to mean white person.

This term gets thrown around a lot, I’ve even referred to myself as a haole as a joke. However, this time it was different.

The way he said haole had so much hate and anger to it that I was actually offended. I didn’t say anything and just kept walking but it stuck with me. I hear about racism all the time and have even seen it once in a while, but until you are on the receiving end you can’t understand how degrading it makes you feel.

I was able to get over it fairly quickly, but if I were subjected to something like that regularly I could see how hurtful and dehumanizing it is. In a way it was good, it gave me more perspective on how people feel when they are treated that way.

Luckily those kinds of people are few and far between out here, most locals I’ve met have been kind and gracious.

Different Cultures and traditions

There are a few big differences when it comes to holidays. Thanksgiving and New Year stand out the most.

Because there are a lot of Asian and Pacific Islanders out here Thanksgiving isn’t really a thing, and those who do celebrate do it Hawaiian style. One year I went to a friend’s house and her family was eating prime rib and crab. Not a bad spread, but defiantly not the typical Thanksgiving feast.

New Year is also interesting. First of all, fireworks are illegal in Hawaii, yet every year there are huge firework shows all across the island.

The other thing that’s interesting to me is the Chinese New Year. I had never celebrated it before moving here so knew nothing about it. There are many traditions including a lion dance, colorful dragons animated by multiple people going around to local businesses, and are given gifts of food to bring good luck for the New Year. The other thing that blew me away is the celebration last two weeks as opposed to two days like I’m used to.

It is a fun time full of celebrations and gift-giving. If you ever get a chance to see a dragon dance on Chinese New Year I recommend it, it’s quite the show.

Everything is the same, yet different.

When I first moved out here I didn’t know what to expect. I thought it would be a rural beach-type environment. As I rode in a taxi from the airport we went through a town that looked like any other town in America. The same stores and fast food, and businesses.

There are some uniquely Hawaiian things but not as much as I would have guessed.

The biggest difference is the price, everything is more expensive but you can get all the same things out here that you can on the mainland. Although there are big chain restaurants that anyone would recognize the local food is much different than I had seen before.

For example, bread isn’t that popular out here, and when you do find it it’s usually more Japanese style, soft and sweet. Rice is the main starch and fish and pork are the proteins of choice.

Poke is a perfect example of a very Hawaiian food. There are many different styles and flavors, all influenced by the different cultures present in Hawaii. Musubis is the favorite on-the-go snack. A Musubi is rice and either spam or some kind of fish. I’m not a big fan personally but I can’t deny the convince of a musubi. It took a little getting used to but I’m glad to see and taste all that Hawaii has to offer.

And so much more

There are plenty of differences and similarities out here but these are the ones that stand out the most to me.

If you’ve never been I highly recommend a trip to Hawaii. My friends and family that have come to visit have loved it and I enjoy showing them around the island.

I can’t get into all the great things about Hawaii, because I’m still learning. Some of the locals that have lived here their whole lives tell me they still find new things about the island all the time.

It really is a magical place and I’m grateful to be here.

Thanks for reading, here are some other articles I wrote if you want to read more. Or follow me for updates when I post.