Hawaii 101

I've decided that I will attempt to teach you some things about Hawaii as I learn them. Hopefully it will reinforce my learning and help you learn new things too. Today I will start with the Hawaiin language. Now, I have NOT mastered the Hawaiian language and I doubt that I ever will. I still have a lot to learn, but here are a few things I have learned. There are only 13 letters in the Hawaiian alphabet. The vowels don't sound the same as ours do. I meant to bring my Hawaiian dictionary with me to the internet cafe with me today, but I forgot it, so I will have to tell you what sounds the vowels make another time.

Aloha means "hello" and "goodbye". Mahalo (pronouced ma-haw-low) means "thank you." Keike (pronounced kay-key) means "child." In hawaii, they don't refer to a deck as a "deck." It's called a lanai (pronounced lan-eye.) We have pretty quickly adapted to calling a deck a lanai. We sit on the lanai and have dinner every night. It's great! It's cooler out there than in the house and we have a pretty good view of the ocean too! Most houses over here have a living space underneath or sometimes behind the main part of the house. In Wisconsin we might call that an apartment or a basement. In Hawaii, they call in an ohana (pronounced pretty much like it looks, o-ha-na.) Appetizers are called pu-pu's (pronounced poo-poo). I'm not sure if I spelled that one right.

That's all for today. I know a few more, but I don't know how to spell most of them. I'll write more when I have my book with me.

Not much new to report on. I got a massage from Sandy yesterday. It was great! I also found a chiropractor. In talking with him, I learned that he is into canoeing. He is interested in getting together with AJ sometime to paddle. AJ was just talking about getting wanting to get back into canoeing (sorry if I keep spelling that word wrong. It's a strange one!) so it's cool that I met someone interested in canoeing too! He is doing good. Work has been good too. He is adjusting to his role as foreman pretty well. We are all looking forward to working at the Ironman tomorrow. I probably won't write since the road to this internet cafe will be closed for the race. I'll try to get her on Sunday, otherwise it will be on Monday. So until next time...aloha!