Sunday 14th September 2008

Our time in Hawaii finally came to an end at 12 midnight. Everyone got up at 4.30am to pack everything into their already crammed suitcases. Supervisors carried out a final inspection of the rooms before we checked out at reception. It was interesting to see that one of the students was happy to leave her wet towels and clothes, old shoes and even her hair straightener in the rubbish bin rather than take them back home as they would have weighed her bags down.

As we gathered in the lobby to wait for our shuttles to take us to the airport, people chatted in little groups talking about what they would miss the most about the paradise that was this beautiful Pacific island of O'ahu, Hawaii. Top of the list for students were the visits to the Polynesian Cultural Centre and our visit to Kahuku High School on the North shore. Supervisors kept an eagle eye on their charges so that nobody would 'accidentally' get lost before we boarded the shuttles. Our group sang a waiata to the hotel staff in the lobby and presented them with a little gift which was a token of our appreciation of their kindness and service with a smile.

We boarded the shuttles, tired but happy to be going home. Arriving at Honolulu airport, we saw the ever watchful security guards signalling to the driver where they could park to let us off. We went through Customs without any hassles. Everyone had to take their socks and shoes (or jandals) off before going through the security doors! At least they aren't too fussed about health and safety - just security. One of our party was stopped but it was only for something like a bottle of sunscreen or lotion.

After we went through the gate, we waited for about half an hour before we were able to board the aircraft. I never thought that I would feel so grateful to hear the sound of a kiwi accent until I went to a place where everyone spoke with an 'American' accent. It was a bit unnerving to hear some members of our group speaking with an American twang after only three days - I believe that it will only be a matter of days back home with people mocking their accents for them to go back to their normal manner of speaking.

We were served a hot breakfast not long after take-off. The two choices were hotcakes with apple filling and fruit salad, tea/coffee/juice or scrambled eggs with portugese sausages, muffin and tea/coffee/juice. Judging from the comments on arrival in New Zealand, the hotcakes weren't very nice, ay Tone?

We arrived in Auckland fifteen minutes before the estimated time. Family members were waiting for some members of our group in Auckland. We got through Customs and MAF in good time, even those of us who had things to declare. Someone had their drinking coconuts confiscated by MAF - the lesson for next time is, get the paperwork from the country of departure! Not easy when there were no Quarantine staff on duty when we left though.

We pushed our trolleys from the International terminal to the Domestic one and we were then one plane trip away from windy Wellington! The last flight home was great. There were a couple of people from our group who kept giggling all the way at the back of the plane - they will remain nameless for now. Coming out of the plane, we saw the excited looks on the faces of parents and family members of our students. Seeing how some of our students had never been on an airplane before this trip made it even more of an achievement for them and their families to see them embark on an overseas trip like this. Some of those students who did not want to leave at the last minute really stood out in Hawaii as being independent, assertive individuals who were able to look out for themselves and participated fully in all activities. We would like to thank Tama Coker and New Zealand Coach Services for picking up everyone at the airport on arrival. Your support has been much appreciated.

We would like to thank all our families, friends, our college and community for supporting this trip. This trip has been a first for Mana College, going overseas for SPEC and Pasifika Studies - and as it has gone so well, I am sure that it won't be the last.

My personal thanks goes to my colleague, Gayleen Hitchon-Parekura. Without Gayleen's vision, determination, stubborness, drive and wonderful Oahu contacts, this trip would have just remained a tantalising dream. Thanks also go to Gayleen and Waata's whanau for their support with supervision. Last but not least, I would like to thank our parent helpers, Fasala Tuineau and Katrina Edwards for their supervision and support.

Things that I will personally miss:

* The blue skies
* Polynesian Cultural Centre - night show and the Samoan village
* The weather!
* The sight of palm trees in the city - everyday felt like I was living in a postcard from paradise.
* Tree lined streets amongst concrete giants
* Iolani Palace
* fresh Dole pineapples
* frangipani, bougainville plants and hibiscus
* seeing people zooming down the motorway on their Harleys with no helmets
* seeing people obey traffic signals
* graffiti free schools
* climate
* Buying 8 t-shirts for $20 at the swapmeet
* People saying 'Aloha!' and 'Mahalo'
* Seeing limousines zooming around everyday
* Seeing the wonder in the eyes of our students as they take in a new world, new way of life, new cultures etc... as we travelled around the island.

Things that I will definitely not miss:

* the scary looking toilets with water levels that go halfway up the bowl
* sweaty guys in hotel lifts wearing no shirts (health and safety risks!)
* the expensive internet cafe which charges US 25cents per minute (I had to type very fast!)
* The radio station that kept playing the same five songs all day, every day. I honestly felt like sending them some new cds just so that we could have more of a variety!
* The overbearing heat during our Swapmeet shopping days.
* Scary security staff at Honolulu airport.

Well, that's it folks! My job of writing this blog has officially come to an end. I really enjoyed writing this blog to keep you all informed and entertained. I hope that you were able to join in on our adventure through reading it. Thanks for your comments and for your support. Till next time!

Mahalo nui loa

Vitoria Faletolu
Teacher of Pasifika Studies

Saturday 13th September 2008

We left the hotel at 9am to go back to the Swap Meet for one last bit of shopping. We had the option of going exploring around the island with supervisors as it only costs $2 to get around the whole island but nobody did as the heat was too much. It was so hot that our sunglasses fogged up after a few minutes and people were getting blinded with their own sweat - okay, that was only me but I am sure that other people were bothered by the heat. Two hours later, we all went back to the vans and headed back to the hotel where most of us did our washing, finished packing and most of the students went swimming to cool off.

In the evening, groups went down the road to have dinner at different restaurants e.g Ihop, Seaside Seafood Inn and good old McDonalds. It was so warm in the evenings, people walked around with shorts, t-shirts and ladies wore sundresses in the middle of the night. We saw someone get a ticket from a cop for crossing the road without waiting for the crossing signal. While most people read in their rooms or watched t.v to relax, some students were visited by their relatives who lived there and who had come by to drop off gifts for students to take back to New Zealand for the family.

Friday 12th September 2008

Aloha to all our readers!

Today, we went to Iolani Palace. This was the home of the last King of Hawaii. We had a guided tour and had to wear special slippers to protect the floor. When we got inside, we could see how shiny the polished wooden floor was. Everyone kind of went, 'Wow!' - and that was just the floor we were looking at. Nobody was allowed to touch anything - even the handles of the doors. We learnt a lot about Hawaiian politics and history. One really interesting fact that we were told, was how Iolani Palace had indoor plumbing (flush toilets, hot and cold running water etc..) as well as electric lights installed and a telephone system in the 1800s before Buckingham Palace and even the Whitehouse! Apparently, King Kalahau had met Thomas Edison on a trip overseas and after striking up a friendship with him, went back home and hooked up the palace!

Next stop was Bishop Museum where we had a brief tour and browsed the souvenir shop before we moved on to Laie for our second visit to Polynesian Cultural Centre. We stopped off on the way to have lunch at a local shopping centre. Some people were shocked to see a fire engine that was bright yellow instead of the usual red. Locals had a chuckle to see our kids posing in front of the fire engine as if they hadn't seen one before.

After our lunch, we went to Brigham Young University (BYU) in Laie. In front of the univesity were over seventy flagpoles flying the flags representing the culturally diverse student body. We sat in the admin building while some people had a look in the bookstore. Meinata won a prize from some student competition that was happening in the centre. It was a great experience for members of the Mormon church and was inspiring for anyone who was thinking of attending university. Meinata, Asher and Nicole all said that they wanted to attend BYU in the future. I hope that these students will remember this visit and use this memory as a tool to inspire them to achieve their best at school with the goal of returning to Hawaii to pursue a tertiary education.

We watched the canoe pageant at the Polynesian Cultural Centre before going to watch the Samoan village presentation which was very entertaining to say the least. The hosts demonstrated how to make fire with wild hibiscus wood (fau), how to climb a coconut tree in under ten seconds,how to husk and crack a coconut as well as how to make coconut cream. We went to the Fijian village where some people had a close up look at the traditional temple buildings of Fiji and the strip of 'masi' or tapa that hung from the ridgepole of the house that the gods would come down through to talk to the people. We toured all the villages and got tattoos, learnt how to do the Hawaiian hula, the Tahitian tamure, we wove fish made from coconut leaves and observed a Tongan drumming session.

After the tour, we came back to the hotel, quickly got changed and went out to dinner at Perry's (a local Waikiki Smorgy restaurant). It was a $11.50 all you can eat buffet - so as you can imagine, all the kiwis had a great time having dinner. We had a few presentations starting with Renee's birthday - we all sang Happy birthday to her and she received a couple of prezzies from the group. We stayed on even though the restaurant had closed as we had more speeches and presentations from students and supervisors. I hope that somebody left a tip for the restaurant because we were there for a good hour after they had closed. Something tells me that we shouldn't go back there tomorrow night.

Most people walked back to the hotel while a couple caught a bus and witnessed the nightlife of Waikiki. Some students went swimming before going to bed. Tomorrow is our last day - back to the Swapmeet to finish off our shopping.

Thursday 11th September 2008

Aloha people!

Today we went straight to Hawaiian Waters Adventure Park - it is a huge theme park with lots of different water activities e.g Surfing pool, Wave pool, Spa, Tornado where four people slide down through a funnel and get whirled around what looks like a gigantic concrete mixer. It started raining for the first time since we arrived but it was still nice because the rain was warm. Students rushed around trying out every ride at least twice. Most of the supervisors tried out the tamer water activities, the most popular one for adults required the ability to lie on a inflatable as you drifted around an island watched by at least ten lifeguards. We had lunch in the carpark only because you can't take any food inside. After lunch it was back to swimming until the park closed at 3pm.

It was then on to a very exciting part of the day for the girls - retail therapy! You should have seen the looks on their faces as we pulled into the car park of Waikele Premium Outlets to see Outlet stores for Levis, every shoe brand imaginable, sunglasses, clothing brands - you name it, this place had it. Some people found great bargains - $150 shoes for $10, Levis for $15, Adidas shoes for $12.50 the list goes on... After people had shopped themselves silly (as budgets would permit) we had lunch at local fastfood places etc.. KFC, McDs while some people tried sushi from a sushi place. Those who went to KFC were very disappointed to learn that they did not have chips like in NZ and everything tasted different to what we have back home. McDonald's people did not have any complaints especially as they had ninety nine cent burgers.

After our early tea, we went on to visit Walmart. If you think people went crazy at the outlet stores, they went crazier in Walmart! Nofoaga found the third and fourth books from the Twilight series. She could not resist even though I told her that our library had already ordered these books which would be ready for her (or Fetu)when we got home. At least I could see that they were still cheaper than their NZ prices. I think that it is safe to say that everyone got something for family and friends back home - for anyone that gave them some money or did something nice for them so look out when we get home! Tomorrow we are off to Iolani Palace, Bishop's Museum and back to the Polynesian Cultural Centre.

Wednesday 10th September 2008

6am: We left the hotel to go to the Arizona Memorial a.k.a Pearl Harbour. When we got there, there were only ten other people lined up in front of the gate. By 7.15am, the queue had stretched to the main road and right around the field in front of the Memorial. We were so grateful to be there early! There was a notice saying that no cameras, cellphones etc... were allowed on the memorial as it was disrespectful so we left all our gear in the vans. What happened when we got to the Memorial? We were the only ones there without cameras! Such a disappointing moment for everyone.

After Pearl Harbour it was straight on to the Aloha Swap Meet - everyone perked up then and it was shop, shop, shop till we almost dropped! Everywhere you looked you could see tent after tent of stalls with t-shirts emblazoned with 'Hawaii' this and 'Aloha' that. There were stalls were you could buy gold or silver jewellery, some food stalls with ice cold coconuts, fresh island fruit precut and in ziplock bags ready to enjoy. There was even a place where you could get a tattoo and another place (at least three stalls) where you could have teeth whitening with laser treatment for only $97! If you can imagine the Westpac Trust Stadium with stalls going right around it, that was what this was Swap Meet was like. I thought that it was just a short walk and back to the car but I kept walking, and walking and walking and it just went for miles!

The next place we went to was Sea Life - we watched dolphins perform tricks and saw people hand feeding stingrays, turtles, sharks and all sorts of marine life. That was a lot of fun. We went back to the hotel after that and the students all went swimming in the hotel pool while some soaked in the jacuzzi. It was on to dinner at a local restaurant and now it's back to the pool before everyone goes to bed.

Tomorrow we go to Walmart, Hawaiian Water Adventure Park and Iolani Palace.

Tuesday 9th September 2008

Aloha to all our family, friends and teachers!

Today we left the hotel at 6am so that we could get to Kahuku High School on time. Schools here in Hawaii start at 8am and finish at 2.20pm (well, this one does anyway). Kahuku High School is a state school and their roll is 2000 plus. They are very multicultural but mainly Polynesian.

We were welcomed to the school by the Hawaiian Indigenous immersion classes and students. They have a very strong immersion programme here and this year will see the first lot of students to graduate from high school. There are a lot of similarities between Hawaiian language and the Samoan and Maori languages. We spent a whole day there and were taught traditional Hawaiian games which they used to prepare themselves for battle. We all participated in lessons in which everyone learned the names of objects in Hawaiian. Rachel, Lynda-Jane and Renee did very well in the Hawaiian language.

Our students had lunch in the school cafeteria which did not go down very well with most of them (they still rate Mana College canteen food as the best!) We were given a tour of the campus which included an agriculture department. The students are taught hydroponics (not a good idea in our hometown perhaps) amongst other agriculture related things. We were invited to help ourselves to ripe pawpaw, oranges and anything we could find in their plantation. They didn't have to ask twice! We were in and were shaking those trees around like there was no tomorrow. Quite a few people even bought uniform items from the Kahuku uniform store - hoodies, caps, t-shirts etc... It was great to see our kids so keen to get into uniform, even though the uniforms were not Mana College ones.

We performed a few cultural items in front of an assembly during Period 6. The girls looked great in their Samoan uniforms (thanks to Hana, Lana and Ami). After the assembly we bid farewell to our new Hawaiian friends and headed to Turtle Beach where people had a swim and played volleyball on the beautiful white sand. It was back to Waikiki after the beach and that was a very long journey (hour and a bit) because the traffic was crazy.

We had a brief meeting and then went downtown to have dinner at a local restaurant. The one annoying thing about Waikiki is the lack of parking spaces - everywhere we went we would see signs saying 'No Parking at all times'. Not very helpful when you have two vans you need to find parks for!

Tomorrow we are going to Pearl Harbour, so it is another early morning start. We leave here at 6am because it will take an hour and a half to get to Pearl Harbour. After Pearl Harbour we will be hitting the markets! (Renee is still thinking about what she is going to get her little nephew and everyone else.) The students are still coming to terms with the currency here and 'What is a dime?' is still a question that I hear everyday as they sort our their coins and dollar notes etc.. I will let you all know how Pearl Harbour and the shopping went tomorrow night.

Monday 8th September 2008

Today we all got up early (well,most of us) and after a light brekkie headed off to Laie to the Polynesian Cultural Centre. We stopped off at a local supermarket to buy some food to make lunch with e.g bread, chicken, lettuce, tomatoes etc... That shopping trip turned out to quite an exciting event for the students as they could not believe their eyes when they saw the variety and the sizes of packets of biscuits, chocolate bars and drinks and how cheap they were compared to NZ. Well, of course they hadn't converted prices to the NZ dollar but they were still blown away to see all their favourite snack foods available for so little. I don't think that the supermarket staff had ever seen a group of people so excited about doing grocery shopping before!

After everyone had stocked up on their favourite snacks etc... we went on the Polynesian Cultural Centre. We were welcomed on to the New Zealand marae (which is beautiful! of course) and had something to eat before the centre actually opened for business. We went around PCC doing cultural activities - Tone, Nicole, Nofoaga and Fetu tried to make fire in the Samoan village the traditional way. Nobody actually made fire but Nicole swears that she saw smoke rising from her piece of wood - unfortunately,she was the only one who saw it. Tone and Fetu were up on stage raising the Mana College banner high for all to see as they demonstrated a Samoan ipu popo (coconut shell) dance.

Quite a few members of our group received a traditional tattoo from the Fijian and Tahitian villages (the washable kind for those of you who are wondering). It was such a great experience to wander into villages where people from each culture would be teaching traditional dances, handicrafts, performing dances, preparing food the traditional way. We all watched the canoe pageant as each Pacific island group floated down the lagoon/river and performed their traditional dances and songs. There was a even a little canoe which sold icecream to everybody watching before the pageant. After the canoe pageant, we had a ride in the canoes and were given a informative and fun tour of the whole centre as we floated by each village.

At five o'clock, we all met for the 'Luau' which was a dinner with a variety of Hawaiian food e.g purple taro, raw fish marinated in coconut cream, pork and chicken and salads. There was great entertainment during this dinner. Tone was again up on stage doing a dance with other volunteers to the song 'Pearly Shells'. There was a birthday call and all the 'September babies' stood up to have the crowd sing 'Happy birthday' to them - our very own Renee Horua stood up as well and turned bright red to have over two hundred people sing happy birthday to her! It was great. The last event of the night was the show 'Horizons - where the sea meets the sky'. This show was spectacular and featured all the Polynesian island cultures performing their traditional dances and songs. It was truly an amazing night for all of us. Tomorrow we get up at 5am to get ready to go to Kahuku High School to spend a day there.

Messages from our crew:

Katrina Edwards sends her love to her babies. She is having a great time Kriselle but she is missing you all. Shoneece is having a wonderful time.

Renee wants her Mum not to worry about her as she is fine. She misses everyone back home and was looking around the shops figuring out what to buy everyone!