May Day 2016

Aloha my fabulous friends!! This has been one crazy but memorable week!!  If you have followed my blog for awhile you know that May Day is a big deal at my school.  Every classroom works tirelessly to put on an amazing show.  This year was a bit different since my youngest daughter is in the 6th grade.  She would be part of the Royal Court and it would be the last time seeing her perform.

The 6th grade court puts on quite a show and they have a King and Queen who preside over the whole performance.  Well this year my sweetie was chosen (name pulled out of hat, lol) to be the May Day Queen!!!  She was thrilled! I remember her telling me in Kindergarten that she wanted to be the Queen someday!

So for the past month we have been working on getting her dress just right, ordering her leis and leis for the king.  We also made 9 leis out of crown flowers which took quite awhile.  810 crown flower buds to be exact!! But can I just say I loved every minute of it! (Even though Friday afternoon I had to go to the doctor due to an infection in my finger from the flower sap!)

I won't bore you with all the details, let's just get right to the pics of this wonderful day.

This is the stage, which is our kickball field. Parents and staff make this look amazing!!

 The conch shell blowers announce the arrival of the Royal Court.

 Each island has a prince and princess.  Finally the King and Queen arrive.

 They take the stage and the parents come up and present them both with crowns and leis.

Once that is finished the performances begin.

Our staff started off the performances with a hula and then a fun little

number to Bruno Mars' Uptown Funk.

 Preschool did a cute song about Eddie Aukai and the Hokulea.

 Third Grade did a sweet Hawaiian Hula.

 Kindergarten did a Blues Brothers medley of fun songs.

 Fifth Grade did a medley of songs from the 70's to the present.

 First grade did an amazing hula celebrating the Samoan culture.

 The Sixth grade boys come out with the King and do their own hula.

 Finally the king escorts the queen out onto the field to perform her hula.

Luckily I had a front row center seat!

They performed two beautiful hulas, but I was so distracted I forgot to film

the first one!! Luckily I woke up to film the second.

So proud of this beautiful girl and her performance.  I just loved it!!!

 My mother even flew out from Phoenix to see her perform!!

I couldn't have asked for a more spectacular day with family, friends, coworkers and an amazing community.  I feel so blessed and lucky to live and work in such a magical and unique setting.

Mahalo for sharing in my excitement!!!

1

Don' Let Da Pidgin Drive Da Bus

Aloha everyone!!
Today I thought I would give you another little lesson on the  language of Hawaii. Hawaii's population is made up of many different cultures from around the world. There is not a majority or minority of any one culture here.

 Basically if you live here you are either local or you came here from somewhere else. Most people who are considered local would fit into the Asian Pacific Islander category. Filipino, Japanese, Chinese, Samoan, Hawaiian, etc... Usually dark skin and speaking with a more local dialect.

Then you have people that are caucasian who are called Haole (how-lee). You can be a haole who was born and raised here, but you wouldn't be referred to as local by the look of you.

People ask me all the time if I am from here. I have dark skin and a last name that has roots in the Phillipines. The hubs is a haole and my kids are hapa-haole (half-white).

Anyone who lives here in Hawaii is Kama'aina (from the island).

(ka-ma-eye-na)

 So if you go to many places you get the Kama'aina discount. This saves us on paying full price for lots of different attractions around the island.

If you have ever visited here or watched Hawaii 5-0, you know that there is a distinct dialect to the local language called pidgin.

This is a combination of so many languages and cultures that it took on its own life here. I am not an expert at all on pidgin, so I have included a video at the end of my post.

Here are a few local words/sayings you may or may not know:

slippah, or slipper

Mom, I left my slippers at the beach.

 

choke-alot, a huge amount

I have choke avocadoes on my tree.

da kine-the kind-this can mean anything!!

You know, da kine!

 

cockaroach-to steal

Someone cockaroached my slippers!

grind- to eat

Time for grinds!

hana hou (ha-nah-ho)- again-encore

hapai (ha-pie) -pregnant

My auntie is hapai!

Howzit?-How are you?

Howzit brah?

brah-brother

lolo (low-low)-not smart

no can-I can't

I like go, but no can, I gotta work.

ono-delicious

Those were some ono grinds brah!

pau (pow)-finished, done

Teacher I'm pau!

pau hana (pow-ha-nah)-after work drink (happy hour)

Meet me at Cholo's for pau hana!

auntie or uncle-Mr. or Ms.
Auntie do you know what time it is?

Often if you listen to people who are speaking pidgin you can figure out what they are saying, but  it sounds like bits and pieces of words are dropped off of what is being said.

 In the classroom this can be difficult to correct.  Kids will write- "I like go beach", or "I like see."  This is how they would say it at home, so why not in class.   Words like "the and that" are said "da and dat".

The district I first began teaching in offered a PD class to new teachers from the mainland.  It was basically Hawaiian Culture 101.  It taught you all about the language, food and customs.  Basically we sat around talking story (chatting) and eating ono local food! That was a great class:)

If you are interested in more about Hawaiian pidgin, I found a great video on You Tube below. 

I hope this was an informative post! Next time I will delve into more of the local food.

 

6

Snorkeling Anyone?

Today I thought I would take you to a few of our favorite places to snorkel here on the North Shore.  We decided to get up early and head out to Sharks Cove.

It's about a 15 minute drive from our house along Kamehameha Hwy, which follows the coastline.

I didn't think to check the tides to go snorkeling, I only check when I am headed out to surf. It happened to be low tide when we got here:(

Sharks Cove is a mass of volcanic rock that is host to tons of tide pools and underwater caves.  It is a protected area and it is teeming with tons of different sea life.

You always see loads of snorkelers and scuba divers.

Since the tide was so low there was not much to see inside the cove, but my daughters did not want to swim in the open water.

So we hiked in and they found a little pool to swim around in.  It was perfect for them. 

In the water you will find a variety of fish, eels, crabs and other assorted creatures. There are tons more if you swim in the open water, but it is a bit scarier.

 Watch your step!  This is Wana (vah-nah) Sea Urchin.  They are everywhere! I stepped on one once when I first started surfing.  The spines are barbed and get stuck in your skin.  You have to soak your foot in warm water and vinegar to help dissolve the spines.  It eventually comes out in a few weeks.

There wasn't much here so we decided to head out to another spot

 Down the street is another favorite spot locally called Three Tables.  This is a bit more open, but still protected so there are lots of fish swimming here among the reef.

 I have gone out past the tables before  and the fish start to get a bit bigger. That's when I usually turn around and swim back, lol!

Parrotfish are common here and so pretty

The fish above is very common here.  It is our state fish. It is called a

 Humu'humu'nuku'nuku'apua'a. (hoo-moo-hoo-moo-noo-koo-noo-koo-ah-poo-ah-ah)

Hahaha, say that three times.  Kids love telling people the name of this fish.  It is like knowing how to spell Misississippi!!

Once we came here and there was a monk seal lying on this beach.  They are rare and endangered and it is against the law to bother them if they happen to be on an open beach.

 Well we were in the water snorkeling and my daughter grabs me and we come up to the surface.  The seal had woken up and swam right past her:)  She loves telling people that story!

This is really a beautiful spot and I love coming here and  laying on the beach just like this monk seal:)

After a bit of snorkeling, my daughters love to climb up these rocks.   If you climb up and around the rocks you will see Waimea Bay.  But that is another adventure.

After our long day we walk across the street to hit Foodland for a snack.  This is our local chain of grocery stores in Hawaii.  This is the only grocery store for miles around and very expensive!!  It is also the only Starbucks on the North Shore.  I can't even fathom the amount of $$$ I have spent here! Luckily I get lots of Starbucks gift cards from my students, since my school is just down the road:)

My daughters grab their favorite snack:

Have you ever had a Musubi?  Spam musubi is a local favorite of kids and grown ups.  It is a slice of Spam with teriyaki sauce on stickyrice wrapped in seaweed.  It's basically like a big piece of Spam Sushi!  Spam is very popular in Hawaii and its cheap. Usually under $2 a can.  Today the girls decide they want a hot dog musubi.  I'm pretty health concious and don't usually let them eat these, but it's a cheap filling snack.

I opt for regular sushi and we head out the door for a picnic.

Mmmm, this is ono!! (oh-no) delicious! 

I hope you enjoyed our snorkeling tour!! 

If you want to learn a bit more about our Hawaiian Sea Creatures stop by Global Teacher Connect.  I just made my first post on this topic:)

 

20