2 days in paradise
Trip Start
Jan 03, 2009
1
45
50
Trip End
Ongoing
Waikiki, Hawaii
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
We landed in Honolulu with 2 days to stay there. I was off the ship bright and early, exploring the surroundings (Aloha Tower was where our ship was docked -- very convenient and nice). While Barrett and Matthew slept in, I went shopping and met a nice Hawaiian woman who caught me up on all the american gossip (environmental HI stuff, Obama stuff, economic crisis stuff etc). From there, I went to ....(drumroll please)... Ross Dress For Less. It was heaven! - and I was noticibly back in the states. I bought a couple of "aloha dresses", some new shoes, a skirt and a top for under $30. :0)
I was back to the ship by 1 because I had arranged a Hula Workshop for the students on the ship (they call them FDPs here - Field Directed Practicum). I met with the 12 dancers, and directed them to the bus stop. After waiting 45 (!!!) for the bus (welcome back to poor transpo systems!), we were finally off. We arrived to the workshop about 15 minutes late.
The Kumu (Hula teacher) and I had been emailing for a few months about this event, so when I finally met her, it was like seeing an old friend. The Halau (Hula school) was in a native Hawaiian book and craft store, so we were surrounded by Ipu, pu'ili, pareo, arts and other beautiful Hawaiian crafts.
Auntie Germaine did not pull any punches on these students. She really made them WORK!. We were dancing for well over an hour, and doing mostly uwehe (hard on the knees) almost non-stop. We were saying Hawaiin words and kahea. I loved every minute of it, though I was quite sore the following day(s). (a few of the Aunties hanging out said they could tell I was a dancer since I knew the movements. yes I knew them, but it didn't make doing them much easier!!)
After the dance workshop ended, we had about 2 hours until another workshop would begin. This one was about Hawaiian Instruments. It was a great workshop, and we learned about all the different types of instruments, and were allowed to touch everything from ukulele to pahu to puniu to uli'uli. We mostly learned about Native Hawaiian history and language which was equally as interesting to me.
From there (about 6pm - can you tell I maximize my short time in HI? I was pretty much non-stop) I invited the students to walk with me to Queen's Beach park where Matthew was having a MICE concert, and Les and Judy had created a cook-out. We walked all the way through Waikiki, and when we got there were happily greeted to a serious feast of veggie burgers, fruit of all kinds and all the yummy dorito chip products a person could want. YUM! There was even coconut cake which we ate with chopsticks before walking down the water's edge to dance some of the Hula that we had learned (and been learning in my class). It was really lovely.
We finally made it back to the ship (after another long wait on the bus) around 10pm, but I wasn't ready to go to bed. I tucked Bear in bed, and when he fell asleep (after 5 minutes) I went out to the 7th floor stern for a drink with Matthew. It was a great day.
We woke up early the next day, and hoofed it out to the beach where we spent the entire day. We were out from 9am until 5pm when we had to be back on the ship (on ship time was 6pm - we set sail at 8:30). The day is mostly a blur of sun, sand and surf, but a highlight was the quesadilla and burrito lunch we had at a place called La Cucaracha. Gross name, but was good food - the first Mexican we'd had in months!
