L & L Hawaiian Barbecue

so i just went to my favorite hawaiian take out restaurant again for the 4th time tonight. mind you, each time i get heartburn but i just don't seem to learn my lesson.... i can't help it. it's so worth every painful burning second to have hawaiian/hawaii food again. oh so good. :) plus it helps to cure homesickness.


me flashing a shaka* in front of heartburn attack restaurant

they just got their first write up today in amNewYork:

Aloha to Hawaii's L & L

and each time i have a blast because my pidgin comes out and i'm always with company that understands & speaks it (better than me -- when i do it, i still sound haole**). and then we get a kick out of why our grammar is so bad because all you have to do is take a look around the damn place & you immediately get it.... it's not that people from hawaii are stupid (okay, some are), it's just -- you grow up speaking one way your ENTIRE life and then you go out to the "mainland" and find out -- um. wow. i never learned that... or that.... or ... that.... hmmm.... yeah. or what? that's not a real word? that's pidgin? what? i spelt that wrong my entire life?! crap! no wonder i was spelling bee champ when i was little -- nobody knows how to spell anything! and i can't tell you how many times i've been teased (and i know i'm not alone in this) for saying butt-tin, oh sorry -- didn't know it's buh-in... ask ANYONE you meet that's from hawaii to say button. i dare you. and i BET you they'll say it just like that.

I grabbed this off a website:

Hawaiian Pidgin is spoken by many people who live in Hawaii, but mostly by teenagers. The majority of the words and phrases are versions of English slang, with words from the other languages that make up Pidgin, making it sound like un-grammatical English. An example of a shortened English phrases is no can (cannot), talk stink (speaking bad about someone), and wat doing? (what are you doing?). A Pidgin phrase that sounds like English with bad grammar is "If I come stay go, an you no stay come, wat foa I go?" ("If I come and you’re not there, why should I go?") (www.extreme-hawaii.com). (The pronunciation and accent used in Hawaiian Pidgin is hard to detect in the spelling and written words).

Here's some pidgin examples (although the extreme-hawaii one is pretty funny, i *highly* suggest you check it out):

Pidgin 101

the thing i love most about hawaii is also it's biggest flaw: ohana, otherwise known as: family, or just like family (as defined by the 'Pidgin to Da Max' book). by this, i mean that family & friends are sooooooo valued there that you NEVER do anything without any of them. everyone is ohana -- whether you're actually related or not. that's what i miss soooo much.. there's a closeness there that i just can't describe and i've never found that here. not that i don't love my friends here (and not that i have a lot here), but it's just... different... here, people want to be my friend because i can do something for them or because they know that someday i'll be of some "value" to them... such bull... of course, i do know better so i'm wary of people like that but they're everywhere here! in hawaii, people love you because they love you. you could be living in the gutter (theoretically speaking) and they'd still love you. and vice versa. and i'm not directing this at me -- that's how it is with anyone and everyone there.

then comes the reason why it's a flaw: NOBODY leaves hawaii. very few do. there's just too much attachment. don't get me wrong, i'm totally attached to all my hawaii peeps but hawaii can't do anything for me for what i want to do... and besides, i moved back for a year and wanted to shoot my eyes out... the excuses i hear are always "i'm too scared," "what if i don't like it," "what if it doesn't work out," "i don't want to leave my family and friends," "but it's so far away"... i keeeep telling people, you can ALWAYS move back -- hawaii & your entire family will always be there (and you know they'll send you care packages alllllllll the time -- even if you can get some of the stuff where you live)... expand your horizons, people... but then again, i go back to visit and i admire the fact that people are totally content just the way they are.

so.... i guess i just want more. what i really want is a balance and i could probably get that in california but i'm not quite ready to go there yet. still have some things to do.

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*shaka (shah-kah): a greeting as well as a colloquial stand-in for "hang loose," "stay cool," "take it easy" and so on, usually accompanied by wiggling a raised hand with only the thumb and pinkie extended.

**haole (howl-lee): White person, Caucasian; American, English; formerly, any foreigner.