We depart by charter bus at 7am for a tour of O'ahu. The buses are from two different companies; sometimes gold Royal buses and sometimes buses splashed with advertising for the Polynesian Cultural Center. More on that advertising later. Our driver and guide today is Carlos. The students quickly take a liking to him as he balances a microphone in one hand, points out sights with the other, leaving the bus to steer itself for brief periods (minutes, but seemingly longer). He is very enthusiastic and soon tells us his life story through his tour: that's where I was born, that's where I went to middle school, there's my high school. He also points out his favorite restaurants including Leonard's, a bakery known for its Portuguese fried dough (malasadas). We later have plain ones (dipped in sugar) delivered to our lookout stop, but learn that we have missed the filled versions especially the guava filled. According to Carlos, the best. As we pass the community college Carlos tells us that he went there to study hospitality and he loves what he does. He's a good driver and a natural tour guide: serious, warm, funny, and earnest about his duties. He is apologetic at the end of the day because the students have now asked if he will be their guide for the entire trip and he is at the beck and call of his company to assign him. He leaves us with a "let's hope," but, in fact, we never have Carlos as our driver again.
The lookout point is over a beach where many vans are unloading passengers and snorkeling equipment. Had this been a family vacation that might have been me. It was a brilliant day and the shades of blue and green on the water are breathtaking.
The Bishop Museum tour and Iolani Palace are on the agenda for the day. The seniors are expected to chant for the person who will decide if we are to gain admission. Not a guarantee, but a test of intention and sincere interest. The students, a little unsure knowing that they are not the glee club singers, do well. The tour guide is efficient and thorough and, as the students had been forewarned, they don't question anything he says. In fact, they may have taken it to the extreme and don't ask any questions at all. After the tour, however, we have an hour to walk around to view the exhibits in more detail. A few things that stay with me from the museum are the use of feathers in traditional garments and leis, the connection between Taiwanese and Hawaiian languages, and discovering that the ulu (breadfruit) is actually larger than a grapefruit.
I have a print at home that I brought back from Tonga. As I'm studying a tree outside the museum I have a realization that the print is not a fruit the size of a lychee as I'd always assumed, but it is this fruit in front of me, ulu. It is the fruit that is also on wall murals on the outside of the Kamehameha high school.
The feather cape belonging to Captain Cook and displayed in the Bishop Museum is on loan from New Zealand's National Museum Te Papa Tongarewa. The cape and a matching helmut were given to Cook by Hawaiian Chief Kalani'opu'u in 1779. It has been over 200 years since the garment has been in Hawai'i. The guide told us that the Bishop Museum is hopeful that this long-term loan will end up as a permanent return of the items to their collection. The cape is made up of 3 million feathers from 20,000 birds. Only a few feathers were taken from each bird and they were then released back into the wild. A woman demonstrating the making of feather leis told us that it took 150 years to collect the feathers. True evidence of the Hawaiian concept of generations being connected; that you are never separate from the ancestors who came before you.
We head to lunch at Ward Village, a shopping mall and restaurants. I eat with two teachers at Piggy Smalls, a Vietnamese restaurant created by chef Andrew Le. We start with a half-dozen oysters on the half shell and then I have a bowl of pork belly noodles.
After lunch we go to Iolani Palace. The seniors chant once again and we are received on the first attempt. The chant, or oli, is used to communicate important information, often revealing information that establishes a relationship between the chanter(s) and the responding chanter. The words to the chant written for HM are below. The notes are from a practice session that Tim ran for faculty before the trip. The reference to "twin rivers" are the Hudson and East Rivers that surround NYC. The text is the single most important aspect of chants. The chant, like the hula, is the oral storytelling language of Hawaiian culture.
Iolani Palace is where Queen Liliuokalani, who rose to power following her brother's death in 1891, was imprisoned in her room in 1895. A provisional government was established after an unsuccessful attempt to reinstate the Queen marking the end of the Hawaiian monarchy. The quilt she sewed while imprisoned is on display in her room. It's a patchwork of embroidered pieces, some from her own garments, showing many aspects of her life and the names of people in her family.
The last stop for the afternoon is Diamond Head. It's the first time we impress upon the students the need for water bottles, sunscreen and hats. The Hawaiian sun is beating down and already we're watching the students who are flirting with sunburn. I stay behind with one other teacher who has also chosen not to do the hike. We take the opportunity to have pineapple shaved ice and a smoothie while sitting under the shade of the trees. It's a nice chance to chat and cool off in the warm breeze of Hawaii. The students are quick going up and coming down and have about 45 minutes at the end to gather under a gazebo, play music and sing their hearts out. The group grows in size with each student coming down from the mountain and the music grows louder. As we move the group to return to the buses a woman walking near me says, "That must be some bus ride!" All joyful energy.
We end the day with a leisurely dinner at the Pagoda Restaurant, a Chinese buffet and a restaurant build over a fish pond of koi. I looked over the railing of the bridge and saw a real life version of the screen of swimming fish on Lumosity, the brain game, that trains your eye to follow individual movement amidst the constant movement of a group of koi. Challenging on the screen; challenging in real life.
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