u/IndustriousSeahawk26

I would like the opinion and perspectives from Hawaii born people who left or the mainland (anywhere) and then moved back later in life. Sorry if the word "mainland" is not acceptable anymore, i dont know truely, if the preferred word is now "the continent" that is what I meant, apologies in advance.

For context:

I'm a 5th generation Japanese American guy from Oahu. Moved to the PNW for college, and build a successful life and career over 18 years away. I married a haole girl, and we are seriously considering making a move to Oahu (Kailua, Hawaii Kai, maybe Manoa) so our kids can grow up in Hawaii. I have filled in my wife (who is from Eastern Washington) on the realities of living on Oahu, so she is not one of those starry eyed mainlanders who have a 'dream' of living in Hawaii and gonna be shocked or dissapointed people. She is very kind and respectful, and not someone I would think would draw the ire of locals.

I am lucky enough to have become financially independent through the career I built in the mainland and I do hobby work for social reasons, and my wife does the same and would like to work in a plant nursery, so where we live is not really a big factor, other than wanting to be on Oahu where I am from.

I am primarily curious about how a local Japanese (or any non haole local) coming back with a haole spouse feels, and how your haole spouse felt, and what your experiences were in building a social circle from scratch.

We will get hobby jobs that we enjoy, so my first thought is that we would try making friends at work. Outside of work, is Oahu somewhere you can make friends through social events?

I also have about 5 friends from childhood and high school I still kept in touch with so I'll probably lean into being with them or expanding my circle through them...but they are local Polynesian, asian and haole people...I am just concerned how my wife is gonna fit in, cus I already know that a very kind and quiet, articulate blonde haole woman will NOT fit in with my childhood friends who speak pidgin.

I guess I'm just thinking out loud and pondering, but if anybody wants to share their experience moving back to Hawaii with a haole spouse, and your time acclimating and making friends/ observations about raising kids here vs mainland, id love to hear your thoughts!

Any insight into buying 2 townhomes that are stacked on top of each other?

The entryways to both units are right next to each other on ground floor.

One unit is the upstairs unit . The door opens to stairs that lead to (2 BR 1.5 Bath).

The 2nd unit has 1 floor on ground level (the door opens up to the living room), and 1 floor down a flight of stairs that lead to 2 BR.

If you buy them both , functionally they seem like a 3 floor townhouse with 4 BR and 2 (1.5) baths.

To go upstairs or downstairs, however, you must open the front door and briefly step outside and open the door to the other unit (which is 3 steps away). I kinda view this is basically just going through a doorway (that happens to be outside).

The garages would be next to each other, as are the front doors to both.

We are not tearing down walls to truely connect them, but merely just buy two units that are adjacent and move between each one as if each was just a different floor in a 3BR house.

I was wondering if people ever bought 2 townhouses to do this and "connect" them and if this would be a common or substitute to a single family home.