After a late landing on Monday evening, I’ve only had four days at work this week. They went surprisingly quickly, especially given I was waking up exceptionally early and unable to fall back asleep. I even managed only one, two-cup of coffee day while I was in this state.
I caught up with my colleagues and filled them in on my holiday which is a great way of having another holiday without going anywhere and doing it in significantly less time and obviously for less cost. The more people I told, the more holidays I virtually went on. What a bargain!
The two islands of Hawaii I’ve seen remind me of parts of Australia and in some cases, specifically the Gold Coast. Since that’s where I spent most of my childhood, going to Waikiki is very much like going back home for me. Only without my family.
Most of O’ahu from the South through the West and to the North reminds me of the various parts of the Gold Coast – the great surf, fine white sand, through to the promenade, beach huts, surf stores and restaurants, even the Hinterland-type area, as well as peoples’ clothes. Added to this is the large amount of Japanese tourists this particular area attracts and it very much is like Surfers Paradise in the 1980s.
I don’t normally like to do comparisons while I’m on holidays as I’d prefer to just accept things as they are unless there is an historic reason where a comparison would be useful. This one had no historic reason, just that it seemed so much the same that it wasn’t even like I was comparing, it was like I was there.
It’s both comforting and disconcerting. It’s a long way to go to feel like I’m at home.
Having English in common is surprisingly tiring for me. It takes me a few days before I can tune out background conversations. Since normally when I’m out and about in HK, I don’t hear a lot of English, there’s no need to tune into what anyone is saying as it’s highly unlikely they are speaking to me. In an English speaking country though, I have no idea and it’s difficult to tune out this noise when I haven’t heard it for so long. Cantonese has been my background noise for almost nine years now, switching to English (or any other language that I may understand) and having that fade into the background is surprisingly tricky and usually takes me a couple of days.
Must have been a while since I last holidayed in an English speaking place since I was clearly out of practice.
An aspect of Hawaii that was not similar to either the Gold Coast or HK for me was the exceptional customer service. That’s not to say that there isn’t any in either of the aforementioned places, it’s just harder to find. In Hawaii, it was everywhere except for one woman at the Hawaiian Airlines check-in area so there are exceptions. This means it can’t all be due to people receiving tips either.
Another part of Hawaii that has no resemblance with HK is the colour of the sky at this time of year…
* Thanks to Everything But The Girl for the title to this post.