What Hawaii means to Me

My name is Thanh Nguyen, I was born and raised in Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam. I moved to Hawaii when I was 14. The reason why I moved here was simply because my whole family resides here on the island of Oahu. Eventually, I had to move here and live my family. Before coming to Hawaii, I heard so much about Hawaii on television, news, radio, etc. Back in Vietnam, people called Hawaii a paradise for living. I too had the same thought as well: a living paradise for me. Therefore, I was so excited moving here on this island.

For the first week after moving to Hawaii, I was like “wow”, the air smelled so different compared to Vietnam, fresh air everywhere I went. People are so different in general. Different skin colors and different languages they use for communication. I was in cultural-shock for the first couple months because of the difficulties in communicating with others. Everything was so new and I thought it would be a new chapter in my life moving to Hawaii. In other words, I got to start my life over from learning a new language to changing my life style.

First years living in Hawaii wasn't easy for me. I had no friends beside those Vietnamese guys I met when enrolled in Kaimuki High because of my language barrier. That was the most difficult time of my life. I found it difficult living in a new place especially because the difference in language and culture. My life was miserable back then.

Roughly a year later, I changed my aspect about Hawaii. Being able to speak the language everybody use and mingle into the society make a huge difference in my life. I was able to make many non-Vietnamese friends. And I got to say that Hawaii is the best place to live. Setting aside from the fresh air, the people are friendly. Of course, there are also some bad guys on the island too. But people tend to be friendlier in Hawaii generally.

 When talking about Hawaii, most of non-islander people consider Hawaii to be a destination for vacation, hotel, beach, scuba-diving and dark-skin hula girls. It indeed has all that and more. However, to me, Hawaii means a place to work and live, and unit with my family. As a matter of fact, being living here on the island for 10 years, I got different perspective on how I see Hawaii. To most people, they view Hawaii as a paradise place. However, to me, Hawaii is all about the people. I love the way how the people live their lives here. It is more lay-back compares to other places. Well, except for tall office building and the heavy traffic. In fact, Hawaii is in 4^th place in the American traffic statistic. Other than that, I think Hawaii is a beautiful place physically and spiritually. Now, I consider Hawaii my second country, a place that I come to love.