Living Aloha

Not only has it been fun and delicious participating in Argentine culture, but it has also been a real kick to introduce these Latinos to the unique traditions we have at home. Being from the U.S. state of Hawaii, I have had the pleasure to grow up with not only all the traditions that we share across the country as Americans, but also the myriad of “exotic (and extremely crowd-pleasing) traditions of the islands.

HAWAIIAN HULA GIRL
Everywhere I go, people have the same reaction when I tell them where I’m from. “Hawaii??? (Big sigh) Ohhh wow. It’s my dream to go there! Why would you leave that tropical paradise and come to our desert?” And I respond, “Because I wanted to experience something totally new and different.” “Well in that case,” they propose, “let’s do an exchange!” They then begin barraging me with questions, first about the weather (“summer all year, right”), then the temperature of the sea, what do we eat in there, what kinds of people live in Hawaii, and why don’t I have dark skin and dark hair like the Polynesians they see in the movies, and suddenly they remember seeing the Hula in one of these movies and they excitedly ask me if I can dance the “ula ula”, as they call it, accompanying the question with the typical hand movements famous around the world.
Luckily, for my wedding, I finally learned a real hula (apart from the Hukilau that everyone learns in grade school) the year before I arrived in Argentina. Thus, I don’t have to let their many requests to see a dance go unsatisfied. In fact, my hula performances at Rotary events were such a big hit that word spread around and I was even asked to dance as the entertainment at an elegant garden birthday party for one of the club’s presidents!

One night I held a “Hawaiian Night” at my house for my host family and neighbors. That night, my host mom and sister brought over three ‘Hawaiian skirts’ they had made out of tissue paper and I taught them my hula! My husband and I also made Hawaiian Lava Flows to drink, Japanese sushi, Okinawan sweet potato dumplings, and Hawaiian fish lu’au (thank goodness for the Ethnic Foods of Hawaii cookbook I brought!) that we ate amidst the music of Ho’okena, Izrael Kamakawiwaole, Keali’i Raichel, the Makaha Sons of Niihau, and Hapa. It was so much fun for everybody and I think will remin in all our memories as a truly special night.

Immersing Myself in Spanish

For the whole month of February I dove into a spanish immersion program in Mendoza. I stayed with an incredible host family and took language classes every morning at the Instituto Intercultural, in downtown. It was a great experience. Below is my spanish class, with my profesor, Enrique in the center.


My host family was composed of two absolutely amazing women, my host mom (or mama mendocina) Maria del Carmen, and her 19-year-old daughter Lula (my hermanita mendocina), who are both now my best friends here. The photo below was taken on my very first day in Mendoza, when my new family took me sightseeing around town, including the Cerro de Gloria where there is a giant monument to Argentina's national hero, General San Martin, who led the army who won Argentina's independence from Spain in 1816.