No Bettah Local times at home... Waialua
When going over to the North shore part of the island I always thought of warmth and a sort of light heat which was not from the sun itself, but the people. I had never went to beaches much in my life, which is bad, cause living in Hawaii there is plenty of great fun to be had at a beach, but that changed when I went over to the North Shore side to learn about the community up there. I had asked a friend about the North shore in almost a confused way and her name was Chanson Fujioka, a fresh minded kindness that gleemed from her, as we went over to have fun with a few other friends over to the norther side of the island. At that time I thought I was just reaching the North shore, but she would end up telling me that we had arrived at the entrance right before. We arrived at her home where I had for the first time met her parents who were so kind and had a niceness about them I was quite unfamiliar with. Her mother had a warm smile and was very helpful and her father was this quiet man who had closed his eyes and warmly welcomed us into his home. I had looked at it from the evening and it was very strange and spooky with the squeaks of old wood as we walked and grass that was all along the path to these homes that were almost on stilt like pegs. We talked and the man said that the family worked for many years and it was his time to rest. We gathered around the television and played some video games, but while it was interesting to play with friends I was shocked at the atmosphere of what was inside. I was quiet back then and didn't say too much as I looked at the furniture which never looked bought and almost a hand crafted feel. Older plates and a living room that felt as if it had lots of history to it. I would leave there wondering about if I would ever come back and if I would ever get to see my friends family again or even my friend as we were about to move to different schools back then. It would be many years until I would end up in that same area again, when I had exploring with my very own car out in what seemed like the boonies... I went over to go and search out information about the plantation and attended a event that I was invited to be dear friend Barbara Kawakami who was presenting information about fashion in the plantation. I had come across a older haole lady who was talking with her filipino friend who had moved from Hawaii to the mainland and they were talking about how much she misses her home. I sat next to the two ladies as they were on the outside bench as I invited myself to the conversation they were having about the Fujioka Store. What I was about to find out would be surprising. The Haole lady had sat beside her friend eating some dried Japanese scallops that she had gotten from a family member who had just come back from her trip. As all of our feet were on the wood deck on the front she told me that something a young man like me might not know is that the Fujioka store would have a wood deck similar to the building we were at for the event. She went on to explain that it was one of the best places for her growing up as she would see it as a sort of iconic landmark of the area near the Waialua Sugar Mill. I told her that it was very interesting and mentioned that I was friends with someone with the last name and described her father, before I could finish the filipino lady asked if he had brothers, but I did not know considering I never talked to my friend Chanson for years at this time. The plantation lady looked back at me and turned her frown upside down into a smile and removed her cap and told me if I wanted to hear about some memories of great people. So I nodded. Memories are Always Passed Down A special place is the area of Haleiwa and look a bit more down comes the precious times and community that is the old timers of Waialua where the money was at an all time low, but the love was at an all time high. We each have our precious memories and hopefully pass them on to either our very own children or an interested kane (men) like yourself. When we were young it was simpler with dirty roads, candies, and people of diverse trades and backgrounds. Those who started out all the way along the beaches of the North Shore of Oahu are not a wealthy group and the community would be important part that kept everyone together. The happiness was almost heavenly in a community that really took care of each other and I guess you could say was a truly "Local Neighborhood". Hawaii Country Lifestyle The days that we now call the Plantation days are an experience that would be definately a more country way of living with its own little Hawaii Country Lifestyle. The thing that I always remembered was the joy of knowing everyone, the love of giving, and the camaraderie that would not be limited by the crossing language and cultural barriers that kept many others apart in other areas for longer periods of time. But to those of us growing up at this particular area it just seemed so natural and to fall into place. We lived the life back then with experience the catching of streams of the crabs or the cane sugar cray fish and on the hottest of days to just jump in the water. While things eaten to day are more processed and made any which way the fruits of our labor could be eaten. There was oranges, apples, papayas, pineapples, and many more fruits as well as fruit flavored hard candies that would last for a long time and packed in paper bags. It was not easy to get fruits or candies as they were a rare treat back in the day. Local Kine Aloha Many of the children and the families would all go through discipline training or as I call it "Gettin Dirty Lickens" as parents don't always do in todays homes. Lickens with the belt as a whip, the mean slippah, a guava stick, a dirty shoe, or an old shirt. It was not hard to find kids that were under control and always orderly...and everyone was polite...and followed a formality I personally call local kine aloha. My grandkids got disciplined through martial arts programs which still have many similar teachings, but it will never be the same as growing up back then. The thorn that stick through the slippah was always picked out and on the mainland its called flip-flops with a needle in your foot. What I mean is that the place of an individual in Hawaii would have to show their respects as a group-oriented neighborhood which brought a sort of love and compassion and thats why I call it "Local kine Aloha" which is something you just don't really see often with the developments around. The balance would favor neighborhood considerations over an individual in most cases unless there are certain days of celebration. If you noticed other plantations started with a racial conformity, but it was more of a privilege for them. As some had to make it on the plantation quick to know who was who and what to do, the quality or state of being of one another, and all the same in a uniform no fuss way, all of the same kine real quick. There was still those who would stick out in a good way, but those who were not, well they would get disciplined quickly back then. When you slowly got your freedoms it would feel like moving forward and people would earn their way and genuinely appreciate gifts and enjoy in simple pleasures, This was because they were slowly available to us and not given a bunch of privilege all at once. This is probably why those who have no discipline and no structure of slowly gained freedom feel like they are moving backwards. Back then we would barely beable to afford things so something new was great. But, if there is a bunch of free things all at the same time there was no understanding of its worth. Its all up in the mind and connects to the thinking. For example if you know how hard things are to get you begin to understand other peoples hardships and become compassionate. But, the same can not be said from someone who doesn't know the struggle. They do not need to suffer as much as another has, but at least long enough to know the feeling of it. To kids these days it seems instead of moving forward..we have gone the other way. Manners, and genuine appreciation for simple pleasures given, are not as treasured as they were before, so the way we learn has to be remembered in order to pass on the values with different ways in this now different time. The times are changing and were all getting older. Strong families are built off of self sacrifice, but even that has its balance. The Old Fujioka Store I asked the two ladies, so what made it feel like neighborhood that would get so close to one another? because I know that you said it was real close. The Filipino lady responded after she coughed a bit and said that the community would get together on the main floor or the chairs and even the bleachers to all sing along together during the holiday season. She said imagine that when we were working at the Sugar Plantation that the workers and the families would come together to get the detailed information about how many children and their ages for gift giving! Imagine how close people would be if even one entire length of a street did the same thing today the closeness would just be apart of life. She said, you were asking about the old Fujioka store? I always remembered the boys running outside to get their hard candy from a big Japanese lady. She was a cashier at the store and would be in the produce section and is a memory of being a child its a picture that strikes so many memories to me. I can still smell the freshness of the goods, i mean a fishy fish smell and a real meaty smell with the charm of creaking wood under your feet with old floor boards. It was very convenient to many of the families and provided for the plantation community in a much bigger way than they would like to admit. A place of community like the Fujioka store was really needed to bring the community together. There is just something about knowing who you are buying from on a level like that. You shop with more confidence and happy to shop there it is because you know who is giving you the service and you talk to them, which also was the thing back then. Know the people at the shop, know the people at work, and know your neighbors. Like, get to really know them. But, this only could happen because everyone was raised in the local way. Thats why it is a local neighborhood with its own little charm in the tropical breeze. Hawaii Neighborhood The neighborhood worked together because there wasn't alot of money to go around, because as you may know the plantation failed its yield. Workers had to survive, so there was planted rice, corn, beans, and even tobacco and later other sorts of leaves. We all harvested them ourselves with the limited education as a family of bonafide field workers. A way that the multiple families would start talking is trying to play with one another a game, or take a paper and write down a subject and start talking about it, and we did our best not to judge harshly. Otherwise trying to socialize would be poho (or wasted effort). Even making paper leis was a show our communication if we could not speak to one another and show a little aloha. Our parents wouldn't trust other camps at first but the children started to with the beauty of pidgin english that was chopped up. Our parents never knew Hawaii as the only place, but we did, so growing up with one another and seeing each other all the time it felt natural to be around all sorts of ethnicity camps. And it was care free for us as children and the responsibility came only after many of us had families of our own. The camps that mixed would start learning about different places they came from and at the end see what was similar. For example colors is what was shown to me by a Japanese family and this game of getting to know colors was done with the Chinese and then the Haoles and the Hawaiians and each other culture until we could see each others tastes. We would look and observe and ask to see the taste of the culture and then their personal taste and then our shared taste. Always gottah share its the way we make it each going place and not stiff and still like a new work place. Neighboring families had to build their own value with each other. It would be strange and some were shy at first, but enough times you share food and its over, they quick to come talk story.
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