Exploring the Manoa Ahupua`a

Thank you so much for joining us for dinner on Friday and pitching in to help! We hope you had a good time. I know that the kids sure did. The displays that you saw were a visual representation of the research that the children have been doing. Students will continue to research and compile their information to create a glossary for the opera.Our field trips were so full of wonderful moments, that I think I will just pick one from each of our stops and let the pictures and your children tell you the rest of the story.

As we walked through the Manoa Chinese Cemetery, the students discovered that it was the same cemetery where Obake, the HTY play that we saw in the beginning of the year, took place. In Koganji, the Buddhist temple, your children were respectful, quiet, and asked so many good questions that they even stumped our guide on a few of them.  At the lo`i kalo at the Hawaiian Studies department of the University of Hawaii we got to sit in an actual hale and hike upstream to where they divert the water into their intact auwai system. We got to see how the water was transported to the lo`i, flowed through the first patch to the patch downhill, and through each of the patches until it reached the lowest patch and emptied back into the stream. It was a very powerful lesson on the importance of clean water.

Next, we walked through Waikiki, including portions of the beach, where I got to watch your children’s very funny reactions to all the interesting people that we saw. On the catamaran ride, we got to travel to the outer edge of our ahupua`a, which we learned was either to the edge of the reef or a mile out to sea. We definitely went there — and beyond!  As we sailed back and were approaching the waves, the children connected back to the first version of Kahala `o puna that we had read and asked if I thought that was where Kauhi had paddled Kahala `o puna out on his surfboard. Although we arrived back to school late due to some problems with the transportation, our parent still greeted us with very patient, smiling faces!

The next day, before we made lei for you, I reminded them that whatever they were talking about, or thinking, or feeling went into the lei that they were making for you. It was one of our most pleasant hours as they put all their love into the lei that they gave you that evening.

Even though it rained on us at the Polynesian Cultural Center, we were still able to enjoy playing Hawaiian games, tasting poi, and getting very tattooed. As we watched the canoe parade, the Tahitian canoe was waiting to paddle out, and they chatted with our kids and asked them to cheer extra loud for them. Did we ever! The kids were rewarded with waves during the performance and lots of special attention.

All in all, it was an amazing two days. Thank you for you support!

Posted on April 14, 2008 11:48 AM | Permalink