If you read Part One of my Why I Hate Living In Hawaii Saga in completion, then you know I ended off informing you that part 2 would discuss the food and the bugs here. Before I get to that I must first clarify some things from Part 1.
I want to thank everyone who read my post in completion. I never expected so much feedback here or on the Fb Fan Page. I will say that while I accept everyone’s feedback whether negative or positive, I really can’t accept feedback from those who haven’t read this in entirety. If you read my blog posts I am nice but can be alittle overly blunt at times. That can be a positive or negative thing. With that said…I am completely over the get out and explore the island statement. I made it very clear in part one that I have and that I am a big fan of make the best where you are, but in some places making the best gets old. You see in order to explore somewhere (where ever it maybe) you have to “Want To” and you have to like it. Once your done exploring the things your comfortable with (because everyone isn’t into climbing up the side of volcanic mountains or diving with the sharks) what exactly is left to do?…go the beach…ooops I can’t I did that like 5 million times in one month.
For certain people (and I say certain because I don’t speak for everyone) being stuck on a rock in the middle of the ocean is their thing, it doesn’t phase them. For others like myself confinement does not work. When I get tired of Oahu , I’d like to be able to drive else where. Yes yes… I know what your going to say “But Army Wife 101 you can fly to another island”! Bam you just answered your own question, “it’s still another island! I hope I clarified this for those who think that I am a whiner and don’t get out. Best believe I’ve sought to spread my wings here, but there isn’t that much wing spreading in the world.
This brings me to the issue of food:
As you have seen from my pictures I am a pretty thick chick. One of my pleasures is indulging in different types of food. At the same time and on a military budget their is only so much indulging you can do here. You see before I PCS’ed to the this oh so glorious island, I had the pleasure of being stationed in a place that is a foodies dream…Savannah GA. Home of Paula Deen, home of the buffets and if I got tired of good ole down home country cooking (which by the way I don’t think that’s possible) then I had several options at my disposal. I am from Long Island NY and yes I have had what I like to call my “Sex in the City Moments” where my girlfriends and I wisked off into Manhattan and ate at upscale eateries like Soul Cafe (closed now) Chez Josephine ( that took a whole paycheck) and at the top of the spinning Marriot in Times Square, so I’m used to good food. Then reality set in and I got married and had 2 kids and a hubby in the military. While on the rare occasion we do treat our kids to top notch cuisine, 95% of the time on a Friday night in Savannah you could find us at our local Golden Corral where a family of four could umlimitedly stuff their faces for under $35 and still get dessert.
Let’s just say 2 keikei (That means kids in Hawaiian…see I’m embracing the language)meals and 2 adult meals at your local Chili’s are damn near $60 bucks;forget a dessert. If you love getting a bang for your buck and heading to the nearest all you can eat buffet (that actually taste good) well good luck on that, I haven’t managed to find one, not even a really good chinese buffet. Due to the location of Schofield, the only close options to have a decent family sit down dinner are Chilis and Ruby Tuesdays (that’s if you want more americanized cuisine). Now I would be wrong if I didn’t mention that you will have your fair share of Asian cuisine . This is not a bad thing, but damn can I get a Applebee’s , a Sonic , you know one of those places that Hawaii shows on tv commericals but we have none of them here. Yes Hawaii has a horrible habit of showing eateries that don’t exist here. Lest not forget all the specials that a certain chain restaurant will run but , because where in Hawaii for whatever reasons they don’t honor the special here.
Be prepared for rice with everything, rice with breakfast rice with lunch, rice with snack, rice with dinner, rice with ice cream (I’m kidding but they probably do have something like that). If carbs are not your friend you are going to have a hell of a time avoiding them here. Rice is just the beginning don’t forget the scoop of macaroni salad that comes with everything. If I see one more Blazin Steaks or greasy L&L BBQ I am going to scream (Don’t get me wrong I do eat their food, just tired of it).All I wanna do is have a choice of places to go to with easy parking that I can take a family. I don’t want to have to go to Honolulu all the time to do anything major. I asked several military spouses stationed here the other day where do they get the best Chinese food, no one could give me a good answer. The one place we thought might be ok got closed down for infestation, yes bugs.
Groceries:
All I can say is this truly the one place I don’t think I have ever brought food on the economy, with the exception of a loaf of bread at Walmart. Speaking of Walmart for those of you who have been stationed in the South, do not count on a Super Walmart, none here. I won’t go into alot of detail , as I think you’ve got the point by now. COLA is good , but I still say the prices suck 10x worse here.
Bug Situation:
When I say I am deathly afraid of bugs, I am not being dramatic , I am serious. I cry, hyperventilate and sweat if I see anything bigger then an ant. The first few weeks we were here I was greeted by several centipedes outside. Not a pretty site when you just happen to be walking and come up on one. Thank the lord one has never gotten in my house, you don’t even want to know the outcome of that.
Gecko’s O-M-G if I hear one more person tell me those damn things are good luck!!! They are all over, I can honestly say I have never had one in my house because my kids know that coming in and out the house is a hell to the noooo! If you want to avoid Gecko central I recommend not letting little Johnny hang out the front door or stand there with the door open. Nothing like hopping in the shower , with the thought of being greeted by a lizard.
Flies:
The flies here are in swarms, they fear no one or nothing. They seem bigger then usual. This is the only place that you could not open your door or windows for days and still have flies, they come out of nowhere . Forget sitting outside at a nice picnic they swarm around you and demand your food. The only place that I have seen them kept at bay have been around the yummy shrimp trucks. I don’t know if the smell of garlic keeps them away. I always tell spouses to not let the kids run in and out the house if you want to have an attempt at avoiding them.
Roaches:
The roaches here are the size of new born babies, I swear , their is no smashing them with a shoe. You have to spray them dead. They are big , they fly and they are not scared of you. This may not sound serious to bug lovers , but when your husband is deployed and all you’ve got is yourself and 2 scared kids, this kind of crap will make you hate a place. Lucky for me I haven’t rented a car with roaches or went out to my car at night to get an item from my car , only to open the door and be greeted by a family of roaches. For the record you don’t have to have a dirty home, they just exist here. Lucky for me I recommend keeping the gallon of Ortho Home Defense near by it works.
Maggots are awful here because it is always moist or humid ughhh…I’ll just leave it at that.
Last but not least and I mean no offense when I say this , because I am not Heidi Klume by any means. What really confuses about this place is , a majority of the local women here are sized like linebackers. These chicks are huge , like kick your man’s ass huge. You would think with people this size living here that finding a plus size store would not be a problem, it is. No Lane Bryant’s , no Torrids. My store of choice is Ross.
Because I am who I am , I will say that it is important to make do of where you are. With that said don’t ever feel guilty for not liking a place. Everywhere is not for everyone. I am sure there are people who are stationed in Europe and find it boring after a while too. Just because you are stationed here in what some consider paradise , doesn’t mean it will be paradise for you. Best bet get out explore what your into and at least when people say get out and explore you can say…I have!
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Your experience in Hawaii was much like my experience living in Guam, just toned down. An island is an island is an island – everything has to be imported, so it’s expensive. Guam I can deal with – and wouldn’t mind coming back to visit if it wasn’t so far away. Oahu? Too many people, tourists, trash, lots of crime. Just overwhelming. I would vacation at one of Hawaii’s neighboring islands, not Oahu. I understand Hawaii is “prettier” than Guam, but Hawaii is a state and Guam, a territory – Hawaii has more resources coming in. I feel for the native Hawaiians. Many, I’m sure, see so many people come into their world and utilize it for their own pleasure with no regard for the traditions of this land. It’s sad. The military, the Japanese, the tourists, the businesses, the prostitutes, the drug dealers…..just using up everything and complaining.
Military life is stressful enough…then you have to TRY to feel at home whereever you go…what a challenge. That’s why your spiritual and family life have to be on par so you don’t fall apart. This is a wonderful website and I’m so glad to see the communication between military spouses.
I understand everything your saying my husband just got out of the military and we had to chose where we were going to be moved to. My family lives in South Dakota and my husbands family lives here in Oahu. I thought a change would be great better opportunities, jobs school. The first day it was beautiful I was happy, but now it’s been 6 months my husband had applied for over a hundred jobs and not one will call back. We are living in unemployment, basically homeless but have a roof over our heads because of his father. Our car was suppose to have landed here months ago and is still on its way here and I just found out the school systems here are horrible for my son just horrible. The military is still holding our household goods for us because storage units here are 400-600 dollars to hold three rooms worth of household goods. It’s ridiculous to say the least and our unemployment is ending in two months…we are trying to figure out a way to get off of this island back to South Dakota but no help and hope is running low. It’s everything you say it is and worse it’s a living hell and they wont let him back in the military because that’s hard to do, so what are we suppose to do? It’s definitely not paradise for everyone and if I ever get my family out if here I’m definitely not coming back.
hello im currently stationed at drum and i really was trying to convince my husband to get orders to hawaii until i read your blog. now im soooo nervous. the things im worried about the most are the schools and the bugs. i HATE waterbugs. i literally started itching when i read what you wrote about the flying roaches. im from brooklyn and im not really a beach person but my husband and my daughters are. every time we go back home they go to coney island. the questions i have for you is how much is it to send your car over there and would it be easier to leave your car here and buy one over there? i know a lot of people have said that the natives arent nice, have you had to deal with any of that? we are also an african american family and i wanted to know if we would have to deal with racisim over there. or is it just an native vs american thing? also whats your favorite duty station? if we dont go to hawaii i was thinking about a post in texas. after drum i just really want to go somewhere warm. we’ve been here two years and we probably have to do at least one more year here. thanks in advance for any info.
Yolanda thanks for stopping by!
The Army will ship one car to Hawaii for free and possibly provide discounted rates if you go through the same company for your 2nd car. I am black and never had an issues over there. Many times they say the natives are prejudice against causcasions but I don’t really know how true it is. My husband was in an avionics field so we had to go where ever there is a airfield so my favorite duty station was Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, GA. I loveddddd it! Savannah is warm and sooo much to do there in addition to alot of other things. Hawaii is one island so if you are okay with being stuck on an expensive island for 4 years then you will love it lol!
Best of Luck!
thank you soooo much for responding. we still havent made up our mind about hawaii. im torn between regretting not going and regretting going over there and hating it. UGHH!!!! i wish we could have a trial pcs lol like for three months. we were stationed at benning and LOVED it there. definitely my fav duty station so far. we had friends at stewart and we visited a couple of times. i LOVED the mall there and the scenery. still unsure of what we’re going to do or where we’re going to go but im so glad that now i have this blog to get info. thank you soooo much for taking your time to putting this info out there for us.
Omg….. Your blog cracked me up! I’ve been living in Waikiki for 2 1/2 years. I’m deciding if I want to stay. I miss road tripping, good restaurants, good clothes shopping, variety of nightlife….. And a mixture of people. People all kind of blend into the same kind of beachy hang out and do nothing sort if they are here for too long. I miss the different mixture of people from back home (I’m from LA). However, I am very glad I moved here. It’s been a wonderful experience. Few can experience the daily luxury of a warm, clean ocean and beautiful sunsets. I can swim in my pool year round. And love in sundresses and sandals….. my dream come true. I think Hawaii is about looking good and feeling good. If you harness that sexiness, you never get tired of the beach, or walking, and being active. Hawaii is all about being active. It’s a healthy person’s dream come true. However, if you fall into a funk….(which I am in now) … get off track with working out, eating healthy, and being active.. you start conflicting with Hawaii. Everything you want to do: eat, get dressed up- in real clothes, and start doing other not so active things (shopping, hanging out with friends and family back home)….. you realize Hawaii doesn’t offer any of that. Those aren’t bad things to want either. But when you’re taking care of yourself and eating right and exercising, Hawaii opens itself up to you. You can’t help but see and feel the Love and Beauty that is around you. I’ve been coming to Hawaii since 1996, and permanently relocated almost 3 years ago. The key to happiness here is looking and feeling good about yourself. It’s an odd paradox since Hawaii is known for muu-muus and large people. But those people truly feel healthy and beautiful, and despite their size, they live very active lifestyles. No couch potatoes on this island. So in my haole island opinion, the only way to truly be happy on a rock in the middle of the sea is to be happy from the inside out. Paradise comes from within.
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