Whann’s in (not always) Paradise

Gordon and Julie Whann

Whann’s In (not always) Paradise

(I will be adding new content to this blog post as I go.)

(We would have starved to death if it weren’t for Top Ramen.)

ALOHA

Hello and Welcome

(Hola a me ka hookipa ana)

Top Ramen w/ Seaweed and Rice Crackers

A Typical Dinner for us in Hawaii

Top Ramen Soup, Rice Crackers, Tea

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This blog is about our lives in Hawaii but also our struggles at times while we were living there. We may have been living in paradise, but paradise is not always wonderful. We have gone through poverty, hunger, shin splints, adjustments to new cultures, foods, island shock, victims of crimes, military life, long deployments, just to name a few. But we also experienced beauty, education, different cultures, introduction to new foods and new ways of life, friendships, watching our children grow up there, and the list goes on…..

I may not get around to talking about it all, but I will talk about what I feel like sharing. I hope you will enjoy as I dive into some of our struggles living in paradise. The up’s, the down’s, the good times, and the hardship’s.

Because Paradise is Never Actually Paradise

(p.s. Some of the roaches are the size of your fist.)

Me, Gordon, and Veronica (One of our Kalikimaka (Christmas) Cards one year.)

Here we are in our backyard in Honolulu.

Mele Kalikimaka

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Lumpia

An Egg Roll from the Philippines

A Postcard Signed by Diana Hansen-Young to Veronica that I Framed

Lumpia, with Sticky Rice and Dipping Sauces

Our New Favorite Dipping Sauce

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My Grandmother in the photo above on one of her many trips to Hawaii.

That is also her milk glass mug that she purchased while there.

My Orchids I Brought to the Indian Shores Beach Condo to Cheer Me

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Christmas Day 1986, Oahu, We Rented Mopeds to Drive Around the Island

Our Christmas gift to each other here was to pay for these moped’s. I remember they were $25.00 each for the day. That was all the money we had.

Sadly, while we were driving around the island I was attacked on this day by 3 local Hawaiian teenagers while on my moped. I was a good distance ahead of Gordon. These guys tried to knock me off of my moped as I was driving by. I was able to avoid it and they weren’t successful. But Gordon saw what happened and stopped and confronted them. That’s when one of them punched him really hard in the face. I knew that Gordon was outgunned here and that those giant teenagers (probably Samoan or Tongan) could squash him so that’s when I started yelling things like, “Gordon, don’t hurt them! Remember how much trouble you got in last time! You almost killed those other guys! Leave those boys alone before you end up killing someone!”

THAT is when they left us alone. Gordon has never hurt anyone in his life, but they didn’t know that. 🙂

You are very welcome Gordon! I saved his life that day. These giant teens were high on drugs and ready for a fight with a hoale.

Luckily, we got out of that scrape, especially since I was pregnant with Veronica at the time. Had those boys succeeded in knocking me off, I might have lost her.

Moral of the story, it doesn’t matter who is the bigger or the strongest, it’s all about the smartest. 🙂

Our Little Veronica in her Daddy’s Sailor Hat in our Backyard in Honolulu

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We had the privilege of living in Hawaii for 13 years. For the first few years it was a big struggle.. We didn’t have much money and always lived paycheck to paycheck. Sometimes food was what we could afford and not necessarily what we wanted to eat.

Top Ramen soup was our staple. They were only 10 cents each at the time, so Top Ramen it was!

But after eating Top Ramen for so long it did get to me.

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I do have to admit that I had my Scarlett O’Hara moment underneath a palm tree, wearing Aloha attire that I waved my fist in the air and proclaimed, “As God as my witness, as God as my witness, they’re not going to lick me. I’m going to live through this and when it’s all over, I’ll never eat Top Ramen again!”

Julie Lancaster-Whann

(That really did happen. But now I eat Top Ramen because I want to and not because I have to. But it was years until I did start eating it again.)

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Me, Visiting the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial 1986

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Pregnant in Hawaii

This is me, around Valentine’s Day 1987, Pregnant with Veronica, in our apartment in Pearl City, Hawaii.

Me, Pregnant with Veronica outside of our apartment in Pearl City.

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Julie, Gordon, and Little Veronica, 1989

When Veronica was born in 1987 I had just moved into base housing in Honolulu.

Julie and Baby Veronica

(We couldn’t afford to buy a real baby mobile so Gordon made everything out of origami and chopsticks and string before he left to go out to sea.)

Gordon was out to sea on the cruiser, The U.S.S. Worden. My mother, grandmother, and two of my little brother’s, Frank and Ben, had flown over to be with me. Veronica was a breach baby so I had a C-Section. Gordon was deployed and in the Persian Gulf at the time. He was sent a telegraph letting him know he was a father and that she was a girl. He didn’t get to see her until she was 3 months old when the ship returned. Veronica had colic the first 3 months of her life. All gone by the time he returned, naturally.

The reason I am posting this is because Gordon was an E-4 in the Navy at the time. A good rank for enlisted, but not much money. I signed Veronica up for the WIC Program at the time. WIC stands for Women, Infants, and Children. It was a welfare program designed to help families like ours. I would go to the commissary with my WIC coupons and buy baby formula, rice, dried beans, and peanut butter.

Veronica was on the WIC program until she turned 5.

WIC was there to help us. I will always be grateful for that. Having Veronica be on WIC meant that we could use other food budget money to buy fresh fruits and veggies. So for awhile we were ‘Poor in Paradise.’ Which is probably how I should have named this blog post to begin with.

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(I’ve added more content to this below entry.)

Our Waikiki Hell Hole, 1986

What few possessions you see of ours in the photo above, we shipped over 13 large boxes prior to our moving to Hawaii. We put everything else in storage. We didn’t know where we would be living when we shipped over the boxes, so we shipped them to my step-brother Scott’s address.

(I can remember one night waking up in the middle of the night on that bed with a large roach crawling across my thigh!)

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Hanauma Bay

We did take the bus to Hanauma Bay a few times. It cost nothing to swim and snorkel there.

So, even when you are poor in paradise you are also rich.

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Waikiki Beach At Night, 1986

I knew that I would write about this someday. It seems right to do it now. In the above photo is Gordon sitting on our bed, in our Hell Hole Rental in the slums of Waikiki, and my step-brother Scott, who happened to live nearby in a nice apartment with a local roommate.

It was after Boot Camp, when I was living in Port St. Lucie, Florida, and Gordon was in Boot Camp in Orlando, Gordon had won the Navy League Award. It was presented to him at his graduation. The Navy League Award is given the the best person out of all the graduates. Kind of like the Valedictorian. That was Gordon. I asked him how he did it, and he said it was just like Boy Scouts. He just knew how to play that game.

When we flew over from Orlando, Florida to Honolulu, Hawaii after his Boot Camp graduation, there were so many mistakes in Gordon’s orders. Although they had paid half of my ticket over, I was told to pay the other half and that I would be reimbursed once we got to Hawaii. That was a lie. Recruiters and many in the military that deal with service members and family’s LIE!

Every single military family that has served 20 years can give you a good 500 horror stories. And NO! I am not making that up or exaggerating!

When we flew over in October, 1986, we arrived on some holiday so no one wanted to do our paperwork to give us what we deserved, temporary housing, as in some hotel accommodations. They told us there was nothing they could do for us? Luckily, my step-brother Scott was already living in Hawaii in Waikiki at the time. So, we called him and took a taxi to his place from Pearl Harbor. (After having taken a taxi from Honolulu TO Pearl Harbor.) Not exactly cheap! Otherwise, we would have been sleeping on the streets. We had no cash left! Gordon didn’t get paid in those 3 months of Boot Camp, and I had quit my job over vicious harassment from my department manager. (17 girls quit in a period of 2 months. That was how bad it was.) So, we had pretty much been living off credit until the military paychecks were to kick in. AND THEY DIDN’T!

Scott had a roommate Jerome, who was never there so we were able to stay on Scott’s couch and floor for awhile. Gordon tried to get things straightened out with the military but no one ever wanted to help us or do the paperwork. I was even on the phone to Captain and Admiral’s wives trying to get help. I did hear a few positive things from these women, but nothing ever got straightened out until months later.

Our story is long and depressing but, we were finally able to leave this Hell Hole and rent an apartment in Pearl City with my step-brother Scott and things did get better from there on. His former roommate Jerome was planning on moving into an apartment with his girlfriend Eve. I liked Eve, she was nice. So, it was no big deal to loose Scott as his roommate.

But, what I wanted you to know about our situation here is that Gordon was only making $400.00 a month. (He was supposed to be reimbursed for many expenses, but the military kept putting us off.) I realized that I was pregnant with Veronica when we had moved to Hawaii and I was sick and throwing up daily. Our rent in that Hell Hole was $350.00 a month. Gordon had to commute to Pearl Harbor for his Dive School training so he would buy a monthly bus pass for $15.00 a month. That would leave us with $35.00 a month for food!

Luckily for us, Top Ramen was 10 cents each!

That means that we ate it every day, every meal, for MONTHS!

I think our tiny Waikiki Hell Hole was probably previously rented to druggies because we would find change everywhere! As in, underneath the coils on the stove top, in the back of the toilet, even shoved in various crevices in the walls. I mean, who does that? Oh hey, we were happy to be finding money everywhere! We needed it!

One day we did splurge for a jar of Peanut Butter and some Bread. I remember that jar of Peanut Butter being $7.00 in Waikiki in 1986. I cannot remember what the bread cost?

I can also remember us buying some hot dogs, and buns once. I was so sick from being pregnant that I remember eating mine plain. While Gordon splurged on his with the Ketchup/Mustard packets we would “steal’ from a local Waikiki McDonald’s or Burger King. We would also take their napkins, and salt and pepper packets.

I believe it was in January, 1987 that Gordon’s grandmother sent him his yearly birthday check for $50.00 to be deposited in some stock of his. WE CASHED IT AND SPENT IT ON FOOD!!! And she never forgave us for that. She also never sent Gordon another $50.00 check for his birthday ever again because he didn’t spend it how she wanted him to. (Explaining to these people that we are starving would just fall on deaf ears. They just couldn’t relate and would dismiss anything that we would try to tell them.)

We know what it’s like to be hungry. Gordon would also bring home everyday a roll of toilet paper from his work bathroom. After all, we couldn’t afford to buy any!

We know what it’s like to be poor. We know what it’s like to be hungry. Which is why we support the poor and middle classes. Sometimes, life just throws you curve balls that are out of your control. That is when you need some help.

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Afraid in the Slums of Waikiki

I just wanted to add that as much as I do tend to joke around about things, living in this poverty was no laughing matter.

I was afraid a lot of the time.

It was nice living only two blocks from Waikiki Beach. On days that I felt well enough I would put on my bathing suit and pareo and head to the beach with my beach bag and a paperback book that I had brought with me to read. However, being a young 26 year old walking alone down the sidewalks to the beach, I would usually pass by a group of young men who would give me the cat calls. When I didn’t respond to their attention, then they would cuss me out and say terrible things as I would walk by.

If I were to smile and say hello to a man that I would pass by, (you know, my Southern Hospitality breeding). then he would usually end up following me back home. Most of the time to avoid that, I would walk to Scott’s apartment to make him think that I lived there.

There was no phone in our place. We couldn’t afford one. We had no A/C. You had to keep your louvered windows open in order to get any breeze. But, keeping the louvered windows open really wasn’t safe. I would sometimes notice a man or two looking at me through my window. I would then close it, and the curtains as well, leaving the place like an oven. We did have a portable fan that I would just train on me but all it did was blow hot air.

One day I woke up to leave and beside our front door was a large bowel movement that some homeless person had done during the night. And at night I could hear them going through our trash cans for food. (You know, as bad as we had it, compared to them, we were the lucky ones. We had shelter and some food, whereas they didn’t.)

One night I was so scared because there was a group of about 5 men not far from us talking about getting them a 15 year old girl to rape. I heard them say, that it will be the best time you will ever have. (Actually, they didn’t say it that way. They were so disgusting in their language that I will not repeat exactly what they said.) It made me sick to my stomach to hear that. I can also remember looking out our bathroom window and seeing them all standing in a circle. I then feared for our safety.

There are just certain things in life that you never forget.

That is one that stays in my head and I will never forget about it no matter how much I would like to.

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Aloha Tower

Here are Gordon and Myself on the overlook of Aloha Tower

The Views From Aloha Tower

(I remember this being free. The only things we could afford to do were free.)

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Hiking, Hawaii

This Was Also Free

As I stated, the only things we could afford for the first few years had to be free.

Me, Veronica, and Gordon Hiking Hawaii

Gordon and Cutie Veronica

So, how did things get straightened out with Gordon’s paychecks, reimbursement, and finally getting military family housing? Stay Tuned! I’ll get to that in the future. But, let’s just say I am the one that got it straightened out in a desperate letter I wrote President Reagan while I was 8 months pregnant and Gordon had just been deployed to the Persian Gulf for 6 months on a Westpac. 🙂

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But, Before I get to the above…..

Being pregnant in Waikiki amongst all those Asians with their many fishy sauces wafting through the air every day just made me SICK!

On a good day, walking into an Asian Supermarket with all the smells that comes with it, is a challenge. But now, do it while pregnant! Let’s see how well you do? I was always on the verge of throwing up! Sometimes I actually did!

When we were staying with my step-brother Scott at his nicer apartment in Waikiki, or even just visiting him, I would be sitting in the living room and then I would notice men standing on balcony’s close to ours in closer buildings, just leering at me. The buildings in Waikiki were very close together. Adjacent apartment buildings were right next to you. I hated all that attention! I just wanted to sit in Scott’s living room and read a book, or enjoy a T.V. Show. But No! There were always leering men! I hated them! But, what could I do about it? I would close my step-brother’s curtains over his lanai, but that just made the whole apartment hotter.

Adjacent to Scott’s lanai, on another building was a old Japanese man that would be naked every single day on his lanai. He never wore clothes! Never! He would do his gardening every day in the buff! He would be shielded by his many plants that he had growing. You knew he was naked, but you never actually saw a penis. His plants would shield him from that, kind of like some Austin Powers movie.

I really didn’t appreciate that I am sitting at Scott’s breakfast bar, eating breakfast, only to see that naked Japanese man most every morning.

Also, the German tourists that were renting apartments in Waikiki would always come back from the beach and then go out on their balcony’s, strip down to nothing! And then place their swimsuits and towels onto the lanai to dry while they showered. Yeah, more naked old people that I could really care less about seeing!

It was truly disgusting to me! And trust me, I will never show anyone my 63 year old naked body. Your welcome, btw!

I have no Earthly idea why there are people out there that would ever assume someone would care about seeing them naked like that?

Waikiki was a total experience that I never could have imagined without experiencing it first hand.

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Desperate In Hawaii And All Alone, ME!

(Me, 1987 in our apartment in Pearl City, Hawaii and pregnant with Veronica. )

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My step-brother Scott had lost his roommate Jerome and he needed to find somewhere else to live. He was attending The University of Hawaii at the time. We too wanted to get out of the slums in Waikiki and get closer to the Pearl Harbor Base, so we decided to get a place together. We found a two bedroom apartment in Pearl City. I think we were on the 3rd. floor. We had the master bedroom that had a lanai. Scott took the smaller bedroom. We only had one bathroom. It was definitely an upgrade so we were not about to complain. It was also already furnished. But, still no car! We couldn’t have a car until we were in base housing and ‘established.’ The military were not about to send our car over quite yet. So, everywhere we went we either had to walk, take the bus, rent a car, or take a taxi.

I can remember us taking the bus to the Commissary to buy food and having to hold the bags on our laps on the bus on the way back to our apartment. One of the bags I was holding was leaking and ruined the skirt I was wearing.

I had to walk from this apartment to the base medical facility for my doctor appointments while pregnant. All of that walking is probably what helped to keep me healthy and trim during my pregnancy. But sometimes it was quite hard on me.

It was shortly after we moved into this apartment that the ship Gordon was assigned to was sent out to sea for a WestPac. That is a 6 months deployment gone!

Not to mention that my step-brother had previously purchased a plane ticket home for about 3 months during his school break so I was left all alone.

I cried for two weeks straight. I think I was having a break down. I had no money, no car, no husband, no brother, and I knew no one. That is when I got out a pen and paper and wrote to President Ronald Reagan. Oh, I knew that he wouldn’t receive my letter, but I knew that someone in his office would. That is when I spilled my heart out to him telling him everything that we had been through. Of all the mistakes made in handling us from day one. Of the poverty, the money that was owed us that we never received, the debt that we were accumulating, etc. Two months later there was a reply. This time to Gordon’s Command, from The White House to his ship’s Captain. His Captain called me up to tell me that everything will be straightened out and that backpay would be paid to us immediately. He then chastised me for not getting in touch with him sooner. Wow. WE DID! How the military works is that you can only go to the person above you. You cannot go to the top. I went to the top and that is why things were finally straightened out.

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When I Was All Alone

With Gordon being deployed to The Persian Gulf, and my step-brother back in Texas, I was all alone and depressed and miserable in our Pearl City apartment. I knew no one, and I had no car to freely get around in.

I took the bus to a used bookstore and bought a lot of cheap books to read. Some romance novels, and a lot of used books about Hawaii. I knew that I had to educate myself on Hawaii because I was depressed by Hawaii. I knew that I needed to find things about Hawaii that I loved. That is when I immersed myself in everything Hawaiian. The history, all of the cultures and traditions that played a role in Hawaii. I learned so much.

One morning I woke up in my bedroom and there was my neighbor leering at me from his balcony. I was in my bedroom in my bed and there was this man looking at me from his balcony. It grossed me out. I was a very large pregnant woman at the time. I was told that black men love pregnant women for reasons I will not state here. I was disgusted, after all I was minding my own business in my own apartment. I never felt safe in Hawaii in our early years there. That is poverty for you. No one poor is safe. Which is why I have a sympathy for those that are poor. I know what it is like. We know what it is like. And I don’t want anyone to ever go through what I did. But I did survive it by using my own smarts. But not everyone has that.

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Gordon and Veronica at the Honolulu State Fair 1988.

I remember this day. We wanted to go to the State Fair but we knew that we only had enough money to get in. We did bring our own food to eat while there. But parking was more than we thought it would be. We needed an extra DIME to park. Gordon had a silver dime that he would keep in his wallet for good luck. We ended up having to turn that dime over to the parking attendant. Gordon was upset about it. I was upset that he was upset, but we did it anyway. It was a fun day. 🙂

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I don’t know what year this was but it would be around 1989, Christmas time.

Backyard in Honolulu, Hawaii 1989

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MORE TO COME!!!

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Orchids and Maps

Orchids are a very sturdy flower that I love specifically for that purpose. Not only beautiful, but very long lasting.

They remind me of The Big Island for some reason.

I painted that coconut. Actually it was the first coconut I ever painted and I thought it turned out really well. The outrigger canoe I bought somewhere, some souvenir shop, the maps I bought on sale at library book sales, and the lovely hand woven crown I bought at a craft fair.

Under the Hula Moon

I do love this book. Living in Hawai’i

By Joyce Fujii

Beautiful Book! Beautiful Orchids! Beautiful and Delicious Macadamia Chocolates!

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All you ever needed on the island was a swimsuit, cover up, beach bag, and flip flops, or slippers, as they called them.

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My Beautiful Hawaiian Women

The latest to add to my collection.

The people of Hawaii are the most beautiful that you can imagine. You see so many mixed race couples there. They make the most beautiful children. It’s as if they took the best features of every race and combined them and created perfection!

You Had me at Aloha!

Just some floral tea that reminded me of Hawaii.

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Puka Shells and Memories

My Wahine Veronica

Real Puka Shells

During our years in Hawaii we spent many a Saturday at the Aloha Flea Market where we loved to shell shop. The very thick shell necklace and bracelet were bought by me at the flea market. But the loose ones in the photo below, were found by me on various beaches. The are real puka shells.