Summer of 2000 on the island of Oahu
Date published: August 20, 2000
What and interesting summer!
Back in May, I was approached by Jon Parise, a fellow house member, about the possibility of going with him and Joe Sunday to Hawaii to work for some guy. As the title of this post suggests, I accepted. The summer job would count as a co-op (sort of like an internship) for Jon, Joe, and I. To graduate, we all needed at least one co-op. In fact, I still needed 3 quarters worth.
The job was simple enough. We'd be living and working from the boss's house up on a mountain (actually, I think it was a crater) near Honolulu. In retrospect the summer was great. The only unfortunate things were the living and work arrangements. The boss had two kids who were a bit bratty, we basically slept in the hallway (Joe more than Jon and I), and there were like 12 other people in the house. Getting to live in Hawaii for 3 months though, that's a once in a lifetime experience, so I can't speak too negatively about the whole thing.
We basically worked for nothing except that we didn't have to pay for rent or food, and our round-trip airfare was paid too. Let me tell you, I carried that ticket on me at all times...just in case things got a bit too weird at the house. :)
As I said before, living arrangements were a bit odd. We knew going in that it would be "dorm style living" to quote the boss. You'll see what that means and more by checking out the pics from Oahu in my photo gallery. You might also want to use the map of the island below for reference.
Facts about Hawaiian Pronunciation
While in Hawaii, I picked up a handy pronunciation sheet, reproduced below.
The Hawaiian Language has only 12 letters- 5 vowels and 7 consonants. The consonants, H, K, L, M, N, P, and W, are pretty much the same as in English except that the W is sometimes pronounced as a V.
The vowels, unlike English, are always pronounced the same way (with some minor variation of stress for A and E):
| Vowel | Stressed | Unstressed |
|---|---|---|
| a | as in far | as in above |
| e | as in play | as in bet |
| i | as in see | - |
| o | as sole | - |
| u | as in moon | - |
There are no silent letters, unseperated vowels often have no break between them as dipthongs:
ai, ae, ao, au, ei, oi, ou.
Ohana Family Kau hale Home Makua Parent Keiki Child Makuahine Mother Kaikuaana Brother Kaikaina Sister Wahine Woman Kanaka Man Makamaka Close Friend Puliki Hug Honi Kiss Hale Kula School House Kumu Teacher Kumu Kula School Teacher Hoomalolo Recess Aina Awakea Lunch Kanake Candy Lua Bathroom
Waiu Milk La Sun Malama Moon Hoku Star Anuenue Rainbow UA Rain Ilio Dog Popoki Cat Moa Chicken Pelehu Turkey Mano Shark Niu Coconut Pua Flower La Hanau Birthday Hauoli La Hanau Happy Birthday Kalikimaka Christmas Mele Kalikimaka Merry Christmas Kinipopo peku Football