Me doing homework on the bus. Me standing in front of the PCC.
He (I can't remember or pronounce his name) did all of this in less than one minute! Then he told us that men do the cooking while the women gather and care for the children. It takes a lot of strength to make the fire and also to crack coconuts. I learned a lot of things from Samoa:
1) They make everything they need to survive with a coconut tree.
2) I learned how to make a fire... and it's REALLy hard.
3) I learned how to weave.
4) I learned how to crack and shuck a coconut.
5) I learned how to throw a spear
6) I learned how to play the stick game (but this was from Aotearoa island)
I got to go up on the stage to drink the coconut water and see how to make coconut milk. The water was kind of sweet, but the after-taste is a little sour.
Me drinking coconut water.
If you know how, you can climb a coconut tree in less than 30 seconds. Coconuts fall when the are ripe, thought so you don't have to climb for them.
This is after the presentation, I got my picture taken with him. His tattooes are a rite of passage that he went through for him to prepare to become the next chief in his family. He is also a student at BYU - Hawaii. Most of the people who work there are students and all of the money we pay to get in, goes into the center and for the students tuition, books & meals.
Now it was my turn to try some of the things he showed us.
I decided I was going to make fire...
5 minutes later, I wasn't giving up... I made some smoke!
After 10 more minutes, Mom was getting impatient, so I tried a new strategy. I was getting really hot and sweaty too. Finally, everyone made me give up. I'd like to do this again when I get home. The island guys did it so fast. Papa tried it too, but he only got a little smoke and said it was too hard and he'd just use a match.
After my workout trying to build fire, I headed over to learn how to weave. I weaved this fish. By now, I was starting to feel a little sick I was so hot and thirsty - and I'd only visited one of the 6 islands... I was worried I wasn't going to make it. But I got a drink and a snowcone and started to feel better.
In Aotearoa (Ow-tay-ah-rrrrrrow-ah) we had appliques put on our arms like the natives... except theirs are real tattoes. I also learned some really fun stick games - one where you have 2 short sticks and sit across from a partner. While they sang the song, we did a rhythm with the sticks on the ground and them hit them together. Then mom tossed her sticks straight through the middle to me and I tossed my sticks on the outside to her. Then we just kept going. Nana has a picture we'll put in here:
photo from Nana
Another game each player has a 4' stick about 3" in diameter (math!!!). The leader says right or left and you have to let go of your stick and move whichever direction is called out. It gets pretty complicated. When you drop the stick you're supposed to get, you are out.
photo from Nana
We took a break and headed over to the river to watch the canoes come by from all the different islands. They showed us their traditional music and dance. They were different, but there were also a lot of similarities.
The blue raft was Hawaii. The read raft is Fiji.
We sat through a really fun presentation in Tonga. They had some really good drummers and their presentation was funny.
Here are some Tongan drummers. They were really powerful and fast just like almost everything in Tonga.
Next we went to a Tahiti presentation and I learned how the men danced. It was pretty fun. My mom has a video of me dancing but she can't figure out how to get it downloaded here... but here is a picture:
This is me with a girl from Tahiti... she was one of the main dancers in the presentation.I also learned how to throw a spear by chucking it underhanded and straight up into the air. I got it in the target and ended up with a prize. Mom got it in the smallest, center target and wond a big prize.
Here is mom and me sitting in front of a waterfall in the Hawaiian Village. After this, we went to our buffet dinner and relaxed until the big show started at 7:30PM. The show was beautiful and mixed all of the island cultures together to make the story of 'Ha' - which means 'Breath of Life'... it was a story of the life of a man from his own birth, through the birth of his own son. The whole time I was trying to figure out which parts were from which islands... and they are so close in so many ways that it was hard.
\This part was at the wedding. It is traditional to wrap a blanket around the wife and husband after the ceremony and it represents the oneness adn the love they will share. Oh, also, they ask, "Will you ever leave this man?" and "Will you ever leave this woman?" and the answer is, "No," instead of , "Do you pomise to stay with this man or woman...?" and the answer is, "Yes."
This was amazing! They danced with fire torches and moved really fast. Another dance had them hold the fire with their feet, and another one they had big skirts on and had to bounce on the fire without getting burned. The fire part was one of my favorite parts.
This is during the finale... it was a fantastic show!
It was about 9:15PM and we walked across the street to catch the bus. It was FREEZING in the bus and I was really tired. I kept my eyes awake by playing my DS. After about an hour and a half, we had to get off the bus and wait for another one. At least there were about 12 other adventurous travelers who were with us. Finally, we got off the bus about a block from our hotel. We got back and went straight to bed. Tomorrow is going to be a rest and beach day. See ya, Marcus
1 comment:
I remember a little from being in Hawaii. I can't wait for you and mom to take me back sometime and show me all the things you did. I really liked the pictures and would like to learn how to make fire too.
Dad
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