"Welcome to Hawaii"

There have been no postings recently in part because there is nothing terribly exciting to report yet. A works, R goes to the gym. We are working on getting settled before we embark on island adventures.

We can report that we have successfully found and moved into an apartment. We accepted delivery of our household goods on Monday and are working to get the apartment in order before we post pictures. When we posted this picture from our house hunting trip in August, we didn't think we'd be lucky enough to live in a place that would cause us to pass by this really pretty spot every day! More on the apartment in another post.

We obtained Hawaii license plates for our cars and have returned the old plates to Maryland MVA. R also got a Hawaii State Identification Card, which is supposed to prove residency for discounts for Kama'aina at some hotels, restaurants, and other tourist sites. Kama'aina means "long-time resident" and comes from the Hawaiian words kama, which means child, and aina, which means land.

R drove to downtown Honolulu during a weekday lunchtime. Downtown does not look like what you might expect in a state capital downtown.  There were big office buildings and lots of activity from both business people and tourists, but she spotted only two men wearing a shirt and tie and did not hear a single car honk.  She was definitely the only one driving like a mainlander.

Upon getting to the state ID office she found she was the only one in the "express lane" for those who completed the state ID registration online. When she asked the nice state employee why people waited in the long line versus registering online the woman said, "Welcome to Hawaii. Using the computer is a new concept here."

In order to get a state ID R needed to bring her social security card; birth certificate or passport; marriage certificate; and a lease. She also was fingerprinted and had to provide emergency contact information. She gave A's cell phone for an emergency contact. The woman asked for an address to put on the card "so if there is an emergency someone could go to find him." R asked, "Why wouldn't they call?" and she responded, "again, welcome to Hawaii."

The State of Hawaii now has a lot of information about R. Privacy and security conscious A is not terribly pleased, but will happily take advantage of any discounts the card provides.