"How Did You Get Here?"

That's what everyone wants to know after watching my obviously Caucasian face and 5'8 body (6'2 with heels) cruise through a hostess bar filled with Koreans and other Asians. A Korean hostess club in Honolulu, for anyone unfamiliar with them, is much like a sports bar except there are women there, mostly Korean obviously, who are available to sit and entertain customers in exchange for $20 drinks, out of which which they receive a sizable commission. The really successful hostesses regularly convince their customers to buy them $100+ bottles of champagne or to make use of the Karoke Room, which is at least $100 to rent while buying bottles or $300+ when ordering regular drinks.

Anyways, this is what I tell the curious: I graduated from college and wanted to move somewhere exotic where I wouldn't need a Visa = Hawaii. Then my hours at the coffee shop where I was working were cut and another Haole (the local word for white) friend invited me to visit her at the bar where she worked.

That's the short version. The long version is that I went and was immediately captivated by the mysterious and, to me at the time, glamorous atmosphere. I didn't understand most of what was going on, but I understood the $30 they gave me just for talking to a couple of older Asian gentlemen. My Mom is a great listener, and people are always ready to take advantage of her. I feel like I share in her curse sometimes, but now I was actually getting paid to listen to people!! $30 is a paltry sum, but so is pay at a coffee shop, the bar promised me minimum, and told me I would be building up my clientele. Work at the coffee shop was going downhill and I needed something else ASAP, and like I said, I was captivated by this strange new environment that paid in cash and required me to look my sexy best. Hadn't I left Indiana just for these kinds of opportunities? Actually no; I left Indiana to live simply, go to the beach, and be the cute barista flirting with all the military guys. I've lamented that lost vision many times.

Still, my life is far from boring, and I'm excited to share life inside a hostess bar from a unique perspective (i.e. an American White Girl). I recently bought a small notebook which I keep with me in the bar and write down the events of the evening as they happen. I'll probably also recount past events as I think of them.