Fearlessly Facing Paradise by DK Coutant

FEARLESS FRIDAY

Please welcome DK Coutant to Discover... Her Fearless Friday post starts more like a dream, but moving across a body of water so far from home can be a frightful adventure. 

Moving to Hawaii… 

Sounds like a dream, right? And it is. But a lot of peopledon’t live there more than a year before packing up and returning from whencethey came. The reality didn’t live up to their dream. And this has someconsequences as mentioned in this article… 

https://www.hawaii-guide.com/moving-to-hawaii

“Malihini (newcomers) to the islands are generally nottaken very seriously in their first year because many return to the mainlandnot long after arrival. In classic Catch-22 fashion, this may affect getting ajob, getting a reasonable price on an apartment, and many other things. Thisisn't meant to discourage you but to keep things realistic when moving to thestate.” 

When my husband got a job offer at the University of Hawaiiat Hilo, and I found at least a temporary position on the faculty, we decidedto made the jump. We did our research, and tried to keep our expectationsrealistic.  We had spectacular encountersbut also some obstacles to overcome. 

It was hard being away from family. And a feast or faminesituation developed. Most of them lived on the East Coast of the US. That meantflights of 14-16 hours one way. (It would have taken less time if we had livedin Europe) We would have long periods of time when we didn’t see our loved ones,but when they came, they stayed for weeks. And beyond family, everyone we hadever known, decided to visit us those first couple of years. I don’t think wewent more than 3 days without visitors for almost a year. We loved our companybut it was a struggle to keep up with our new jobs and trying to make newfriends. 

Luckily with luscious beaches, tropical jungles, waterfallsand Volcano national park, it was easy to keep guests happy and busy. And who wouldn’twant an excuse to hang out at the beach or hike to a favorite waterfall? 

People sometimes underestimate how homesick people can getfor familiar food. As a vegetarian, it was tough to find veggie dishes when wefirst moved there.  Loco moco, laulau,and Kalua pig were the local favorites, and those dishes were heavy on pork. Myhusband and most of our guests loved the food, but I learned to eat more fish,poke and green papaya salad, yum. And the longer I lived there, the more veggieoptions began to appear on menus. 

When collecting information before the move, we found two ofthe biggest reasons, newcomers didn’t last long were 1) the cost of living, and2) difficulty making new friends. We prepared for both those challenges. Forthe first, we had two salaries when we landed, so that helped with the cost ofliving, but we also made lifestyle changes. Locals didn’t dress up, so we livedin a few sets of casual clothes, flip-flops aka ‘slippers’ were acceptedeverywhere, and very inexpensive. Locals didn’t compete to see who had thelatest technology or fancy car, and we embraced that philosophy. While pricesat the grocery could be shockingly high, and shipping costs from onlinepurchases often cost more than the item you considered buying… we made it workand easily lived within our budget. 

The second reason people turn tail and head home: 2)Difficulty making new friends, as described in the moving to Hawaii guide(above). That also required a strategy. 

We benefited from our jobs at the University. We found othernewcomers among the faculty, staff and students, and long-timers who had oncebeen newcomers like us. That helped. But, I wanted to break out of theUniversity bubble, so I joined an out-rigger canoe
club or Halau. I startedwith the University club, but when it closed for the summer, I joined a local Halau.It gave me a chance to absorb the local culture and touch the ocean every day.Fortunately my novice crew was pretty good. To this day, I keep the medals wewon in a special carved box. When we qualified for state championships on Kauaiit was a huge thrill. For state events they bring out the old Koa canoes whichare named and tracked historically.  Itwas an honor to paddle in one of those boats and I’ll never forget that day.  

I paddled canoe for many years and branched out into openwater swim races. I wrote about both of those experiences in Evil Alice andthe Borzoi. I loved reliving the paddling scene with with Cleo, but theopen-water race section was fictionalized - thank goodness! The years I spent participatingin ocean sports in Hawaii was a beautiful time in my life and I’m overjoyed wemade the leap. 

After 16 years though, my parents were getting older and ourkids were settling down to start families. It was time to move back to themainland. Saying goodbye to the island I had come to love, was heart wrenching.But new adventures awaited me. And I hope that will always be the case. 

You can read more about life on the Big Island of Hawaii inmy first Cleo Cooper Mystery, Evil Alice and the Borzoi. Availablewherever books are sold online.

Paradise is shaken when the body of a young woman is dragged onto a university research vessel during a class outing in Hilo Bay. Cleo Cooper is shaken when she finds her favorite student is on the hook for the murder. Danger lurks on land and sea as Cleo and her friends are enticed to search for the true killer. In between paddling, swimming, and arguing with her boyfriend, Cleo discovers all is not what it seems on the Big Island of Hawaii. But will she figure out the truth before she becomes the next victim?

BUY LINK: Evil Alice and the Borzoi 

DK Coutant was a Social/Cross-Cultural Psychology professor in a previous life. Now, she write mysteries, and forecasts geopolitical events. Her mysteries are much more cheerful than her forecasts. She loves to travel with her husband and a dog. One Old English Sheepdog in particular. WEBSITE
Instagram: @DKCandDog for pictures of my travels and my Old English Sheepdog puppy.

DK Coutant twitter: @dkCoutant