[Editor’s note: This story has been corrected. Please see below for details on the correction.]<\/em><\/p>\n Since moving out here, I have always described moving to Hawai\u2018i as moving to a different country. Being from State College Pennsylvania, I had no idea how drastically my palate would change, or my wardrobe would shift. From the screeching mopeds to island fever, I\u2019m going to tell you what the biggest culture shocks are for a Hawaiian newbie.<\/p>\n 1. No worries:<\/strong> The most refreshing thing about living out here was how relaxed and helpful everyone is. Small things that people do to make another person\u2019s day better. Holding the door at the grocery store. Helping someone push their car who ran out of gas. Most people have seen the bumper stickers: \u201cslow down this isn\u2019t the mainland.\u201d Or perhaps a cop has told you that. Either way that applies to life out here, not just driving. Learning that being in a hurry at someone else\u2019s expense is wrong, was a hard one for me.<\/p>\n 2. Slippers:<\/strong> I brought exactly 5 pairs of shoes from Pennsylvania to Hawaii. That\u2019s correct, no slippers. I don\u2019t even think I owned a pair of slippers before coming to Hawaii. I remember in one of my classes the teacher was addressing professional attire for the various guest speakers that would come in. She said \u201cIt is okay to wear slippers. But understand this wouldn\u2019t be okay outside of Hawaii.\u201d Everyone had slippers on the next day. Finding a situation not to wear slippers is more of a challenge.<\/p>\n 3. Pidgin:<\/strong> A big surprise moving out here was pidgin. It was everywhere, the lawyers, doctors, teachers, policemen. This was also a major learning curve. Learning what \u201cshootz(bye)\u201d meant took a while. Including learning to replace \u201cthat thing\u201d with \u201cda kine\u201d or figuring out that \u201cgrindz\u201d was food, which was on various menus and restaurants. \u201cRajah(dat)\u201d is one I hear on a day to day basis along with \u201cno need.\u201d Finally, I learned that you can\u2019t just show up to BBQ and eat food. You must bring some for everyone, so people don\u2019t call you a \u201caku bird.\u201d<\/p>\n 4. Uncle or Auntie:<\/strong> everyone is an Uncle or Auntie. Everyone knows at least one. If you\u2019re having trouble, go to your nearest grocery store. Learning that depending on your age, a person older would be considered an Uncle or Auntie was new. It is so much better than the traditional \u201ceveryone is a sir, or ma\u2019am.\u201d It\u2019s a positive way to start out a conversation and I use just about daily.<\/p>\n 5. Hawaiian shirts and muumuus:<\/strong> I knew Hawaiian shirts were popular. But I didn\u2019t understand how much of the work force wore them. Lawyers, business men, scientists, teachers etc. Watching a Hawaiian shirt take the place of a three-piece suit was awesome. No, seriously. I have yet to see a shirt and tie. I normally associate muumuus with Sunday for church. Although, I recently have learned they are worn during maternity. The various dresses are brightly printed, very long, hanging from the shoulders. Floral patterns are common like the Hawaiian shirts. Learning the role of the Aloha shirts and muumuu\u2019s in Hawaiian culture was a big shock to me.<\/p>\n 6. Did I mention being on an Island is weird?<\/strong> In Pennsylvania, there aren\u2019t many places you can\u2019t drive. NYC and Philadelphia are three to four-hour drives. The only four-hour drive you\u2019re going to have is the one to \u2018Ewa Beach during rush hour. In my experience island fever has been a myth. Having oceans on all sides is a good compromise everyone is willing to make. But occasionally, I feel that longing to drive home.<\/p>\n 7. Mopeds are everywhere!<\/strong> The high cost of living out here makes the moped a perfect means of transportation. They are inexpensive (I got mine used for $250); brand new mopeds go for about $800. As people are aware, mopeds do have a down side. Did I mention that they are extremely annoying and most drivers in cars look down on mopedists. It is not uncommon to get yelled at while driving. Everyone out here has a opinion on them. With mopeds, love or hate, and people will 100 percent let you know on the road.<\/p>\n 8. Delicious new food:<\/strong> I come from a small landlocked town. You would be a bold individual to try our gas station sushi back home. The availability to fresh fish as well as the amazing quality of the different Asian cuisines continues to be one of my favorite aspects of the island. I have discovered a new love for Thai and Vietnamese food. Particularly the Pho and Pad Thai but only if it\u2019s extremely spicy! Not only that but my favorite drive-in spots (Rainbow Drive-in) or plate lunch places. I have redeveloped a love of Mac salad and have it at least once a week. Although the food is never cheap, it is always delicious.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t think there is any other state with this much cultural diversity. It has been a big shock to be behind on so much culture even though I haven\u2019t left the United States. Pidgin, Hawaiian shirts, and new food have been part of that learning curve for me. The more you embrace and dive in to the culture of Hawaii, the more fun you will have.<\/p>\n [Correction: An earlier version of this story mistakingly said that muumuus were worn during paternity. The article has been corrected to state that muumuus are often worn during maternity. We apologize for this error.]<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Kelton Cheney | Contributing Writer [Editor’s note: This story has been corrected. Please see below for details on the correction.] Since moving out here, I have always described moving to Hawai\u2018i as moving to a different country. Being from State College Pennsylvania, I had no idea how drastically my palate would change, or my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":11870,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinions","category-travel","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kapionews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kapionews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kapionews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kapionews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kapionews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11764"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kapionews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11764\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kapionews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kapionews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kapionews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kapionews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}