The Words:
The Rock- the Island. A very large rock it is.
Slippers- what I grew up calling flip flops.
Ha - The breath of life. When ancient Hawaiians would greet each other they would be close enough to feel each others breath, their Ha.
Hauli - a white person. Its original meaning is a person with no 'Ha' as white people wouldn't get close to a Hawaiian in greetings and thus wouldn't feel their 'Ha".
Aloha - Bishop Burton explained it well:
"Aloha means displaying warmth and affection without obligation in return. It means acknowledging the importance of each person for the collective existence of the community. It also means “to hear what is not said, to see what cannot be seen and to know the unknowable.” The Aloha Spirit encompasses beautiful gospel principles—principles of faith, principles surrounding “judge not, that ye be not judged” (Matthew 7:1). It stresses the importance of the individual and compassion." CES Fireside May 2, 2010 David Burton
The Weather:
Hawaii is a humid place, especially on my side of the Island. It rains everyday. It is also hot. Today, the first day of Fall, is as summery as ever. The air is so wet when I try to use makeup only the waterproof kind will do. Otherwise it just melts off. The workout room on campus requires that you have a towel because you will surely sweat a lot here. Sometimes it is so hot that the only solution is to walk out of the house and down to the beach to catch some ocean breezes and enjoy a few buggly-eyed crabs for company.
The Culture:
There is no majority here. Today the word 'foreigner' came up in class and it came out as an odd concept because here we are all from all over. At the front of BYUH campus is a ring of flags. I like to run around them (when I run which I do for exercise and not because I love running). I tell myself "hey, today I ran around the world a few times". BYUH is known as a very multicultural place. I didn't realize the degree to which that would infiltrate my life. It breathes culture here. Last week my teacher starts a story with "as to not offend a person in the room, the Eastern European country will not be named..." Today I sat between a boy from Japan and a girl from Hong Kong. Where else do you walk out of class to some drums ringing over the fence of the Polynesian Cultural Center? Sunday dinner was at a friends house. We had Chicken Adobo from the Philippines made by a girl from the Philippines. We also had Chicken Masala from India and Curry and wraps from Thailand. After the meal we sat around and played the "talking drums" from Nigeria that are used for communication between tribes and among tribes. We used authentic Nigerian drumsticks too made with rubber from rubber tree sap. The conversation was literally jumping all around the world. David O. Mckay prophesied of BYUH “From this school will go men and women whose influence will be felt for good toward the establishment of peace internationally." This was one of the main reasons I came here. Where else do you get to mingle with people who are as interested collectively in such a mission? I was talking to one girl about a project I'd heard an alumni student was involved in and she said "Oh yeah, just like everybody else." I think there are a lot of people in this world interested in what happens internationally. I've lived in some pretty ambitious places. But I don't think it is as common as she thinks, certainly not to the concentration and degree to which I've seen it here. It is really quite remarkable.
