Tag Archives: Hawaii

When my husband went all Tongan on me at the Polynesian Cultural Center

21 Tuesday May 2013

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Tongan man blows into conch shell

You couldn’t get me on stage. No, not even if you promised me a new pair of shoes. I thought husband, Steve, would be the same way. But put big Tongan drums in front of a man and he turns into a boy.

That’s what happened at the Polynesian Cultural Center (PCC) on the island of Oahu. There are villages throughout the PCC, each representing Polynesian islands in the Pacific, specifically, Aotearoa (New Zealand), Fiji, Hawai’i, Samoa, Tahiti and Tonga, and it is the Tongan show that is a big hit with audiences.

The show begins with a man blowing into a conch shell and drummers begin hammering away on the big drums. It’s the hollow beat, beat, beat that swoops through your chest and were it not for my fear of being looked at, I would have stood up, closed my eyes and started dancing.

Tongan Drummer 1

Tongan Drummer 2

The drumming or Tongan ta nafa has five performances a day, Mondays through Saturday.  It’s an opportunity to not just see and hear the drumming, but three lucky individuals from the audience get to try their hand at it as well.

Little did I know Steve had a Tongan drummer spirit within him. Yes, my quiet, engineer-type, bookish husband was called up on the stage and he let loose on the drums.

Oh dear. Take a look at the video below. I think you’ll have a good laugh over this one. Afterward, my mother turned to me and exclaimed, “I had no idea Steve was like that at all!” Nor did I.

For more on the Polynesian Cultural Center, see also my other post, Islands of smiles and brothers connected by an ocean.

Also, visit their website at http://www.polynesia.com.

Islands of smiles and brothers connected by an ocean

12 Sunday May 2013

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This is the first part in a series of blogs about the Polynesian Cultural Center in Laie, Hawaii (on the north shore of the island of Oahu).

Swirling hips. Tossing sticks. Chest beating. Tongues hanging outside mouths. But most of all smiles. So many smiles. The sun is beating down on all these performers and they’re smiling from ear to ear.

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The rapid fire swirling hips of Tahiti

This happens at 2:30 every Monday through Saturday where native Polynesians float down the lagoon at the Polynesian Cultural Center (PCC) in their traditional costumes. It’s a parade and visitors are here to get a sampler plate of the culture represented at the Center as the performers float by.

Stick tossing (Aotearoa - New Zealand - Maori)

Stick tossing (Aotearoa – New Zealand – Maori)

The Polynesian Cultural Center, located on Oahu’s north shore in Laie, Hawai’i is a place for cultural immersion not just of Hawaiian life, but of the Polynesian islands in the Pacific, specifically, Aotearoa (New Zealand), Fiji, Hawai’i, Samoa, Tahiti and Tonga. And it’s not just about putting on a show for visitors. This place is unique and there’s a big reason why you see the smiles.

Tongan smiles

Tongan smiles

Tahitian smiles

Tahitian smiles

The Polynesian Cultural Center is actually a nonprofit center dedicated to helping preserve the cultural heritage of Polynesia while providing jobs and scholarships for students at the adjoining Brigham Young University-Hawai‘i campus. Yes, 100 percent of PCC’s revenue is used for daily operations and to support education.

  • Smiles from Fiji

    Smiles from Fiji

    More smiles of Fiji

    More smiles of Fiji

Many of these students would have not had the opportunity for an education otherwise. Most students attend the University year-round and try to complete their degree in three years–what would take most of us four years to do. They do that because oftentimes they just can’t afford to go home for holidays. No weekend trips to go have mom do your laundry. Not even to go home for Christmas. For most, the next time they go home, they’re going home with a Bachelor Degree and the ability to help their community.

And of course, the smiling faces of Hawai'i

And of course, the smiling faces of Hawai’i

Samoa

Samoa

Where else in the world do you find a University that’s sole purpose is to bring together students from the far reaches of the the Pacific to help educate them and to give them an opportunity to share their culture with others as a means to pay for that education? It’s a true benevolent way of education and the benefits reach far beyond just the classroom.

They look fierce, but they still smile. (Aotearoa - New Zealand - Maori)

They look fierce, but they still smile. (Aotearoa – New Zealand – Maori)

I sat down with Delsa Moe, Cultural Presentations Director at the PCC where she described her own experience with self-identity and learning of different cultures. Delsa, who was born and raised in Samoa calls herself half taro and half potato (her father is Samoan and her mother is from Blackfoot, Idaho). She not only attended BYU-Hawai’i as a student, but also worked at the PCC where she fell in love with dancing and performing, and has now been at the PCC for 34 years.

Video is only two minutes, so worth a look at.

This year, the Polynesian Cultural Center is celebrating 50 years of perpetuating and preserving the cultures of Polynesia. All year, the PCC will have special pricing and promotions, so check out their website at www.Polynesia.com.

The fear of scuba diving and why I do it

09 Sunday Dec 2012

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As I breathe through the regulator, I can’t help but think that if my line gets tangled or caught somehow, or even ruptures I will lose all oxygen and drown.  I will sink to the bottom of the ocean and die.  Maybe Steve will be able to rescue me, but what if he can’t? These are my thoughts, yet the bigger question is, “Why am I even doing this?”

scuba diving in Hawaii

scuba diving in Hawaii

Scuba diving. I never had an interest in it until I was dating Steve, and then, it wasn’t because I was interested in the sport as much as I wanted to impress Steve with my willingness to try something new.  For about a year here’s how the conversations would go:

Steve: “So, do you Scuba dive?”  Me: “Uh, no.”

That little exchange was repeated about four or five times until finally I answered, “No, but I could maybe look into taking lessons or getting certified or whatever.”

“You would?” he asked with excitement in his voice.

And I did. Turns out that even in Utah there was a dive shop three blocks from my home. So, twice a week for a few weeks I took the class, did the drills in the pool and then over a weekend I certified in Open Water Scuba Diving through PADI in a geothermal spring at a crater in Heber, Utah.

All that for love, my dear.

So, let’s make a list to see why I do this

For me, diving is one of the most paradoxical activities I enjoy, endure, do. It’s so conflicting for me that I found myself on dives wondering if I really want to be doing this. So I’ve made a list to figure out where I stand on this whole scuba diving thing.

  • It’s something my husband enjoys so I do it too. His immense curiosity about the world—both above water and below—has opened up my world in discovering and learning so much.
  • I love looking at the earth’s phenomenal underwater world. Did you realize there are really cool things down there in the ocean? Like freaking huge sea turtles, big ass groupers, schools of wildly colorful fish, sea horses, which always seemed mythical to me before I saw one for the first time, eels of all types and even iridescent squid.

    Giant Sea Turtle on the wreck dive we did in Maui

    Giant Sea Turtle on the wreck dive we did in Maui

  • Cool storytelling: We saw a 14 foot Tiger shark TWICE on our dive in Kona, Hawaii (cool story, but a little too terrifying for me. I sucked through my air pretty fast). We also did an amazing night dive with manta rays, which I count as one of the top five things I’ve ever done.
  • I love being on a boat. I don’t get sea sick and I love sitting in the sun with the wind blowing all that hair I have out of my face. Look how happy I am on this boat!

    On our dive boat in Belize

    On our dive boat in Belize

  • I’m still not very good at diving. My buoyancy sucks, I can never remember how to clear my mask and I’m always worried my regulator’s line will have a pin prick in it and I’ll drown.
  • Diving has taken us to some truly wonderful places. Since we’re also birders, we often combine diving trips with jungle birding adventures.
  • It is kind of cool to be able to tell people, “Yeah, I’m a diver.” But the wet suit and neoprene hat, I realize, don’t really make me look cool.  Or do they? Let’s say they do.

    On the dive boat in Kona, Hawaii

    On the dive boat in Kona, Hawaii

  • Diving constantly challenges my fears. Steve is more fearless than I. If I didn’t dive I’m actually convinced I would just stick to routine and become boring in my middle years.

Bottom line, I still like it

I do really like diving. I like that I learned how to do this in my forties and even though it took falling in love with a guy to nudge me to do this, it is one of those things in which I surprise myself. My first real dive (after certifying at the crater) was in Cozumel, Mexico on our honeymoon. Since then we’ve been diving in Belize, Honduras, Costa Maya (Mexico), Cozumel again, Panama and Hawaii (Kona and most recently Maui). The dive companies we go with are as varied as the people we meet on the boat. Some dive companies I like better than others, but overall, I’m glad I’m a diver and I’m motivated to get better at it so I’m not so scared.

But really, it’s not a bad thing to do something that scares you.

Scuba diving on our honeymoon in Cozumel

Scuba diving on our honeymoon in Cozumel

Tales from Oahu: Follow that van!

22 Thursday Nov 2012

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While driving around the North Shore of Oahu we were making our way back to Laie when all of a sudden this guy merges in front of us:

Did you read that? Yes, on the back of that van it says, Coconut Peanut Butter! To my mom who was driving, I hollered, “Follow that van!”

There are two things I love in this world: Peanut butter and coconut and at this moment I thought either the Rapture occurred and I was swept up into heaven or the tropical trade winds were messing with my head and I was hallucinating. The really good kind of hallucinating. Either way, I didn’t care. Follow that van!

Well, we lost track of the van. He turned right and we went straight because we were in search of a bathroom. Seems I have to pee a lot in Hawaii. Not sure why. So the bladder took precedence. (If we had followed the van, wetting my pants would have certainly taken the joy out of the whole thing. Maybe it was a dream, so bathroom won out.)

Mom took us to a little shopping strip mall kind of thing in Haleiewa. Bladder relief, check! And then my mom in all her brilliance asked a kind lady in a Hawaiian tchotchke shop (Hawaiin and Yiddish–I just cracked myself up writing that) if she knew where we could find this mysterious Coconut Peanut Butter.

Please, oh, please let it not be part of my imagination.

It wasn’t! The lady said, “They have it next door, but it’s a little expensive.” I didn’t care if I had to take out a small loan for it. She started to explain how it’s even good just eating it out of the jar with a spoon.

“You think I haven’t already plotted that out?” I thought.

I don’t even think I let her finish talking about it. I was already out her door and into the shop next door. Here’s what the most heavenly thing on earth looks like:

Oh, and by the way, only TWO ingredients: Peanuts and coconuts. No sugar added! I also discovered that if you slather it on a banana it’s really crazy awesome.

Think I’m gonna share? Nope. Go find your own.

Conquering the post-vacation blues

16 Monday Apr 2012

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It happens.

You have a fantastic two-week adventure, trying new foods, meeting new people, getting immersed in the culture, chasing birds (okay, maybe that’s just us), and you come home and BOOM! You’re back at the office digging out of mounds of email and at home going through piles of regular mail you had the post office hold for you so you could be reminded  of the dull things in life like paying medical bills and reading letters promising you better car insurance coverage.

It’s all just so…ordinary.

I travel for two reasons:  For escape and for opening up my world to new experiences, and that’s why I generally have another trip in the queue.  Well, that’s usually the case.  Somehow this time around I was so crushed with other things going on (called “Life”) before our Panama trip that I didn’t have another trip planned before we left.

Egads.  What that means is that when I looked at my cute little (free) “Countdown” app on my iPhone I had nothing in it.  Or as my newly-found Panamanian friends would say, “nada.”

Same goes for my “Fly Delta” app.  There wasn’t a trip in there.  Not even a business trip. My apps were empty and I was feeling the same way.

It got insanely busy at work the moment I arrived back at the office and I was prepared for it. The ordinary life can be draining. That’s not to say that my travels are all about lying on the beach sipping umbrella drinks and reading a book. In fact, you probably won’t ever find Steve and I doing that except maybe after a long flight or at the very end of the trip when we’re just so tuckered out we can barely move.  We don’t scale mountains, but we are both maximizers and we’re up very early in the mornings to chase after birds or get into the water to go diving. We’re on our feet all day when we’re birding and all that hiking–especially in the heat and humidity–often takes a lot out of us. It makes you feel your age very quickly. In fact, after this last vacation we fell into that category of folks who insist on needing a vacation to recover from vacation.

So here I was back at home, all cleaned up and in my own bed and all I could think about were those apps on my iPhone.  I had no trip planned.  It was that same feeling I had in college when I hadn’t declared my major.  It’s the not knowing what was next or what journey I was going to have. Or right after you get married. You come home from the honeymoon and not only is life not centered around you anymore (admittedly, I missed that a lot), but what the heck do you plan for now? Everything before the wedding was all about planning the big event and now that you’re back there’s no more planning. No more obsessing. No more researching.

I’m a planner at heart and I didn’t have anything planned. Was I just to keep going to the office every day with nothing to look forward to? Was I going to just hope that some adventure falls into my lap? What was I going to research now? After nine days back at home I stayed up late one evening after a long day at the office and booked our next trip. I couldn’t take it any longer.

So, the “Fly Delta” and “Countdown” apps both show a trip to Hawaii in our future this year.

Today’s lesson: Always have a trip in the queue and your life won’t seem so ordinary.

(Note: Links on this page are linking you back to relevant posts on my other blog, The Accidental Birder.  You can also get to that blog by clicking the Accidental Birder tab in the menu above.)

No worries on top of the world at Mauna Kea

23 Thursday Feb 2012

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Nothing turns my mood sour faster than when I don’t have control over a situation. I totally get that I need to change that about myself.

Working on it. Promise.

But I pride myself in being such an exceptional planner that if I can’t plan everything I get quite grumpy. Including when I can’t control sunsets. A couple of years ago Steve and I took a trip to Hawaii where we spent a couple of days on Oahu and then spent the rest of the trip on the Big Island scuba diving (natch) and exploring what island has to offer, including trying to chase what few endemic birds are left in Hawaii.

Every guide book raved about Mauna Kea, the volcano on the Big Island, and even recommended taking a guided tour to the summit because it was a steep drive and tour operators provided all the winter gear. Because who really packs a ski parka and gloves when they travel to Hawaii? Not me.

Mauna Kea is huge at 33,500 feet, making it significantly taller than Mount Everest. (That’s measuring the volcano at its base deep into the ocean. So, kind of cheating.) At the summit there are the Mauna Kea Observatories, which are used for scientific research. You’d probably recognize them, as they’re often shown on TV and in film.

So up to Mauna Kea we went, sitting with about eight other strangers in an oversized tour van, strapped in with our seat belts. The trip was a couple of hours up and the seat I was in seemed to only have a thin layer of cushion separating my back end from the springs.

And then there was the weather. Clouds were hovering all over Kona that day and I spent the day a little sour, wondering if we just spent a lot of money on this tour and weren’t going to see a thing. No sunset. No stars. No valley. It will be a bust. I was sure of it.

Thank goodness my husband is a saint and didn’t push me out onto the road what with my unpleasant mood. He kept assuring me, “Oh I’m sure we’ll get a sunset. All this fog will burn off. Don’t worry about something you can’t control.”

Hey, my whole life is designed to be about worrying about things I can’t control. I’m just sort of wired that way.

I worry about if we’ll get in a wreck on the way to the airport. I worry every time I cross a border into another country and think “What if they won’t let me in?” (There’s no reason to think that, but I’ve seen TV shows about that sort of thing. And somehow some girl ends up in a Thai women’s prison where for food they fend for rice that is shoveled off from the back of a dirty pick up.) I worry about not making curtain at the theatre. I worry every time the cat is out late that a predator got her. I worry that… I’ll stop here. This could go on all night.

This little journey  to the top of Mauna Kea taught me a lot.  For starters, it taught me that I should listen to my husband more. He’s right. I can’t worry about things I can’t control. But even more, I learned that I should hope for the best and enjoy every moment that is part of the journey rather than stew about what horrible thing might happen. Imagine what I missed by worrying–I missed meeting new people in our van, I missed seeing a lot that was right before me. I missed a big part of this trip.

Because in the end, there were no worries at the top.

PS: Steve, I’m sorry I was grumpy that day!

Sunset at Mauna Kea

Here are more photos from our Mauna Kea trip.  Click on one and it will take you to a slideshow to view each.