My Hawaiian Experience
Rebeka Clark
Living in Lihue, Hawaii for eight months was an experience I will never forget. Moving the day after my birthday in the middle of the school year, my mom and step dad were ready to get a divorce, my aunt was ready to leave as soon as she got there because my step dad, and to top it all off my one-year-old sisters had ear infections on an airplane which meant... yay! A lot of screaming. Not only was my step dad ready to leave the not so busy airport, so was the rest of my family. Within the first two days of being on this beautiful green island, I was sick and could barely move, my step dad had taken my phone thinking I was faking being sick, and everyone there wouldn’t stop fighting. During the two weeks we were in the hotel my aunt had gone home to Washington state and my step dad had started working at his new job. His new job was the reason we moved from Colorado all the way to Hawaii. Not complaining that it was bad or anything, well at least the scenery wasn’t, but I am saying that Hawaii is a better place to be visited than it is to live. During this time as well, my step dad had gotten the same sickness I had but still believed that I was faking the entire thing. Even though every time he sat up or even moved from laying down, he would almost pass out. After the treacherous two weeks in the extremely small hotel room, going out every now and then to look at furniture, we finally were able to move into our little condo. At first it was alright despite sleeping on an air mattress till I got my actual bed. It worked for my sisters and I. The days my step dad had to work my mom and I spent painting the walls of the house or putting in some sort of new furniture. We didn’t have any of our stuff from Colorado until about a month after being there, and while we were unpacking was the only time that we realized that in Colorado someone had stolen quite a few of our boxes. Many of our things were gone such as pillows, plates, silverware, cups, some of my mom's stuff and some of mine, and even my dog's ashes, which is weird. Thankfully we didn’t live that far from a Costco which was our go to for the kitchen utensils we needed and some of the clothes as well. We went there often, so much to the point my step dad had to cut us off from going there to get stuff. He also cut my mom off from going to Target, Ross, Old Navy, basically anywhere that required money. So, we got our remaining stuff we needed from Amazon using a different card. Gotta love Amazon, right? After about a month and a half of living there we finally made friends with one of the older ladies in the complex we lived in. She was the one to tell us about the condo that was across from us and why it was always empty. A few years before we had moved there, there was a family that had lived in the condo across from us, a husband, a wife, and a young daughter. One night, the wife was grabbing something from the house before going to run some errands, her husband had gotten mad at her and had shot her. She ended up running out of the house and ran to where my family’s condo is now. Her husband had followed her into the house and shot her again, this time killing her. After shooting himself the cops had taken the daughter, who watched her mother get shot from the car to a foster home. After hearing that story, it explained a lot of things to my mom and I. We often heard footsteps in the middle of the night when everyone was asleep, or we would wake up to our TV playing something that no one was watching, or even around three in the morning, I would wake up to my door being wide open. We learned to live with it but every now and again I would think about it and feel bad for the daughter but wondering if the mother was actually living in my house as a ghost. As the days went on, my mom, sisters, and I went to the beach on a daily basis while my step dad was at work. Randomly, if we didn’t feel like going to the beach but felt like driving around, we would get in the car, go get Starbucks, and drive as far as we could around the island before having to turn around and go back home. This was the time after all the floods happened on the island, as well as the volcano erupting on the big island.
During the rest of the summer, my step sister came down which also meant my step dad was even grumpier and had a short temper with me. We went to the beach as often as we could so she would have less time to tell her mom every detail about her day which took forever. While she was there my step dad had driven us to a beach that not many people knew about because it was a long walk through a tree tunnel, which was beautifully green. As we got to the beach that sunny day there was a sea lion sleeping peacefully on the sand. My sisters had seen it and wanted to touch it, but we didn’t let them, so they decided to play with random sticks they found. My step sister and I were about to go into the water with the oldest of the twins until we were told not to. Small Blue Bottle jellyfish filled the waters. One wrapped around his ankle, and he went to kick it off, but it wrapped around his other ankle. My Step dad also almost threw the younger twin while trying not to get her in the water. We all sat on the sand doing something with the sticks my sisters found while my step dad tried to calm down the burning in his ankles. After about an hour and a half of us being bored or my step sister and I killing crabs, or popping the jellyfish with a log we found, we decided on the long walk back to the car so we could go home and sleep.
On the fourth of July, we went to watch a fireworks show with my step dad’s work friends. You would be surprised at the amount of people that played or were dancing to country music. There were a lot. During this time my step sister and I were playing on our phones because we had no friends in Hawaii nor, did we want to make any. My step dad didn’t like that and took both of our phones telling us to go make friends. What we ended up doing was walking around judging people for an hour and a half before asking him if we could get something from the gift shop tent, they had set up there. I got my mom and I matching bracelets which she ended up never wearing and mine, I broke by wearing too much. During the fireworks my little sisters were sitting in my lap or climbing on me, so I didn’t get to see that much but I was okay with it because I was extremely tired. About three days after the fourth of July, my mom realized we still had a pack of ‘Family Friendly' firecrackers in our car. We ended up going to our favorite beach and starting a bonfire, which I found out we are technically not supposed to do but still did anyway. As we finished up eating KFC and waiting for it to get a little bit darker, we broke out the firecrackers and started to see what some of them did. One looked like a tank and sparkled; another was a color bomb that dyed the sand we dropped it in. I ended up finding one that was like a sparkler but was bigger and it caught my interest. That was a mistake. As the thing started to sparkle, I went to run around my step dad but as soon as I got past him it exploded in my hand. Sitting on the ground in complete shock hearing nothing except ringing I didn’t even realize what had happened until my mom was having to take my ring off my already swelling hand. Cleaning it off from the sand and wrapping it in a towel my mom brought me to the car while they started cleaning up. We got home and I washed my hand the best I could before changing and going to the E.R. with my mom sitting there till about two in the morning. I ended up with third and second degree burns on my pointer finger as well as first degree burns across my hand.
Once my step sister had left my step dad went back to working almost 24/7 while my mom and I were working on rearranging the house to fit more stuff we decided to buy in it. I also started home school considering the public school there wasn’t great. Word of the wise don't home school in Hawaii if you're planning on going to the beach. During one of the days, we happened to get bored and go to the beach I just happened to get stung by the same stupid jellyfish that I’ve been chasing since my step dad got stung. During one of the days, I was mopping the floor and had to move the bench that went to our dinner table. Once the floor was dry, I was moving the bench back when it fell over and landed on my foot crushing and breaking my toenail. After many days of being in pain and hobbling around the house when I walked, my mom took my toenail off. It was an interesting day with me burying my face in a pillow the entire time while my mom laughed. Not only was she laughing but she was taking pictures to gross out my step dad with and show my foot doctor uncle.
Although Hawaii is beautiful to visit, living there was not the best experience for me and my family. I would gladly go back if I was given the chance, but I will be making sure there are no benches or fireworks involved, and always checking for Jellyfish.
During the rest of the summer, my step sister came down which also meant my step dad was even grumpier and had a short temper with me. We went to the beach as often as we could so she would have less time to tell her mom every detail about her day which took forever. While she was there my step dad had driven us to a beach that not many people knew about because it was a long walk through a tree tunnel, which was beautifully green. As we got to the beach that sunny day there was a sea lion sleeping peacefully on the sand. My sisters had seen it and wanted to touch it, but we didn’t let them, so they decided to play with random sticks they found. My step sister and I were about to go into the water with the oldest of the twins until we were told not to. Small Blue Bottle jellyfish filled the waters. One wrapped around his ankle, and he went to kick it off, but it wrapped around his other ankle. My Step dad also almost threw the younger twin while trying not to get her in the water. We all sat on the sand doing something with the sticks my sisters found while my step dad tried to calm down the burning in his ankles. After about an hour and a half of us being bored or my step sister and I killing crabs, or popping the jellyfish with a log we found, we decided on the long walk back to the car so we could go home and sleep.
On the fourth of July, we went to watch a fireworks show with my step dad’s work friends. You would be surprised at the amount of people that played or were dancing to country music. There were a lot. During this time my step sister and I were playing on our phones because we had no friends in Hawaii nor, did we want to make any. My step dad didn’t like that and took both of our phones telling us to go make friends. What we ended up doing was walking around judging people for an hour and a half before asking him if we could get something from the gift shop tent, they had set up there. I got my mom and I matching bracelets which she ended up never wearing and mine, I broke by wearing too much. During the fireworks my little sisters were sitting in my lap or climbing on me, so I didn’t get to see that much but I was okay with it because I was extremely tired. About three days after the fourth of July, my mom realized we still had a pack of ‘Family Friendly' firecrackers in our car. We ended up going to our favorite beach and starting a bonfire, which I found out we are technically not supposed to do but still did anyway. As we finished up eating KFC and waiting for it to get a little bit darker, we broke out the firecrackers and started to see what some of them did. One looked like a tank and sparkled; another was a color bomb that dyed the sand we dropped it in. I ended up finding one that was like a sparkler but was bigger and it caught my interest. That was a mistake. As the thing started to sparkle, I went to run around my step dad but as soon as I got past him it exploded in my hand. Sitting on the ground in complete shock hearing nothing except ringing I didn’t even realize what had happened until my mom was having to take my ring off my already swelling hand. Cleaning it off from the sand and wrapping it in a towel my mom brought me to the car while they started cleaning up. We got home and I washed my hand the best I could before changing and going to the E.R. with my mom sitting there till about two in the morning. I ended up with third and second degree burns on my pointer finger as well as first degree burns across my hand.
Once my step sister had left my step dad went back to working almost 24/7 while my mom and I were working on rearranging the house to fit more stuff we decided to buy in it. I also started home school considering the public school there wasn’t great. Word of the wise don't home school in Hawaii if you're planning on going to the beach. During one of the days, we happened to get bored and go to the beach I just happened to get stung by the same stupid jellyfish that I’ve been chasing since my step dad got stung. During one of the days, I was mopping the floor and had to move the bench that went to our dinner table. Once the floor was dry, I was moving the bench back when it fell over and landed on my foot crushing and breaking my toenail. After many days of being in pain and hobbling around the house when I walked, my mom took my toenail off. It was an interesting day with me burying my face in a pillow the entire time while my mom laughed. Not only was she laughing but she was taking pictures to gross out my step dad with and show my foot doctor uncle.
Although Hawaii is beautiful to visit, living there was not the best experience for me and my family. I would gladly go back if I was given the chance, but I will be making sure there are no benches or fireworks involved, and always checking for Jellyfish.
Rebeka Clark is one of seven children and has lived in many places such as, Hawaii, California, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, and Tennessee.