Oh, to see ourselves as others do
By Mike Leidemann
Advertiser Staff Writer
This week I'm not complaining. No whining, grumbling or fussing. No heavy sighs. Not a word of protest or criticism.
That's because I'm looking at the world through Cousin Cilka's eyes, and when you're seeing Hawai'i for the first time again, everything looks pretty darn good.
In fact, Cousin Cilka thinks Hawai'i is perfect.
"Oh my God, look at those mountains!" she says as we drive around. "So green! And the water's so blue! I never imagined so much beauty!"
I shrug. This is my daily commute across the Pali.
I drop Cousin Cilka and her traveling companion, my 87-year-old Aunt Rose, in Waikiki one morning. When I return four hours later, they are loaded down with ABC store bags and boxes of macadamia nut candies.
"The shopping!" she says. "Such good quality and everything is so affordable! And the people are so friendly."
We go everywhere. They love all of it. The Kodak Hula Show! Arizona Memorial! The North Shore! Kailua Beach! Dole Plantation! My back yard! Everything deserves an exclamation point!
They are so happy to be here, you'd think they were aliens.
Actually, Cilka is Canadian. One night after dinner she tells me her story. She grew up in Slovenia, terrified by Mussolini's soldiers who wandered in and out of her home.
In 1953, at the start of the Cold War and before she was 21, she and her husband fled communist-occupied Yugoslavia, dodging armed soldiers at night, sleeping in cornfields by day, buried alive once in a hay stack, trudging on an empty stomach for nearly a week to escape into Italy.
They spent nearly two years stranded there before a friendly priest helped them across the border to Austria, and eventually to Canada, where they worked hard, saved their money, bought, fixed and sold several homes, raised a family, wintered in Florida and now are quietly retired, enjoying their grandchildren.
"This is beautiful," she says, sweeping her arms around my Coconut Grove living room and meaning everything else. "Who would have ever guessed we'd be here living the high life, eh?"
Cilka and Rose spend hours in Long's and Liberty House. They spend two whole days exploring every nook and cranny of Ala Moana Center. They buy pineapple soap, pearls in a shell, three-for-$10 T-shirts, mochi crackers, fresh papaya, dried mango, mu'umu'u, post cards, Kona coffee, mosquito punks, hula girl beer openers, aloha shirts, pina colada mix.
Everything is so new, so exciting! They love the spaghetti and chili dinner at Zippy's, Loco Moco at Koa House, take-out sushi, the popovers at Neiman Marcus, rice with breakfast. We get double prints of all their snapshots and make photo albums of their trip.
"So lucky!" Cilka says. "You live in paradise. You sure can't complain, eh?"
Mike Leidemann'can be reached at 525-5460 or by e-mail at mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com.
