Welcome to Hawaii

I arrived at the airport in Honolulu at about 2:00 in the afternoon on Friday--or, for those of you in NC, at about 8:00 in the evening.  I was tired and bedraggled, but had reserved my shuttle in advance. So, things would run smoothly, right?  The shuttle company forgot me. So, after waiting a considerable amount of time I called them and they sent a shuttle guy.  It was just me and the shuttle guy.  And, he was lonely.  It took a little more than an hour to reach my hotel and in that time I learned everything about my shuttle guy.  He is 50, he likes orange drink from McDonald's, his second wife dumped him for his best friend and he wanted to kill her so he moved to Hawaii, etc. Luckily, he informed me that since I was married he wouldn't hit on me.  Ugh.

The hotel was nice.  I had pricelined the Hyatt Waikiki.  It was a huge hotel with different towers. I was on the 40th floor.  After checking in, I went down and hung around on the beach watching all the people--and there were a lot of people.  The beach is very different from those in NC.  Waikiki is what you think of when you think of island paradises.  There are huge trees, palm trees but also these beautiful huge old trees that look sort of like giant bonsai trees.  The beach itself has been fixed for different purposes. There are places where people (mostly kids and beginners) surf as there is nothing to block their ride all the way to the sand. And then there are places made safe for kids to swim--there are sort of little sea walls--they look like dark boxes lined up horizontally along the coast about 30 feet offshore--that keep the big waves out.

Up and down the street along the beach there were people playing different instruments (hoping you'll put money in their cans), surfers walking with their boards, and people of every variety.  There are a ton of Japanese and Koreans here in addition to the many natives.  So, there are all kinds of languages whizzing around you as you walk along your way. 

The sunset was magnificent.  Looking over the sea the little white sailboats became fuzzier and fuzzier as the sun started to melt into watermelon shadows.  And then on the curve of the land you begin to notice the little twinkling lights of the city that stretches out around the bends and twists of the sea. 

Back at the hotel I could see the city creeping up the mountain from my lanai (balcony).  And, as there are no mosquitoes or anything here I left the door open all night and let the cool sea breeze in.  It was great--until 2:30 in the morning when a group of drunken men started pounding on my door and cursing at the key card that they couldn't get to work!

There are lots and lots of people staggering around drunk at night around Waikiki.

I'm in the dorm at the University of Hawaii now.  The seminar starts today.  So, I'll let you know how Pearl Harbor is!