Mar 30th 2010 - City Tour... Dole Plantation... Haleiwa... Sunset Beach... Polynesian Cultural Center... BEAUTIFUL DAY!!!

Aloha!

We started our day with a wonderful breakfast. We sat together and shared our meals and it was fun… bacon, eggs, fruits…

It started raining in the morning, but eventually we had a sunny and warm day. Later on, we took the bus to get to know Hawaii even better and our bus driver was a very nice lady, Jane, who told us a lot of the Hawaiian history and taught us some new words in Hawaiian. Dring the tour, we got to know the capitol of Hawaii… we had a break to take pictures in a couple of places that are famous in Hawaii. The tour was amazing and we experienced many interesting things.

After the city tour, we stopped at Dole Plantation and got the famous pineapple whip… and headed to Haleiwa, a surfers’ town for lunch and some time to walk around and explore the city

We had a stop on the beach, Sunset Beach where the famous surf competitions take place and we had some nice pictures

We also went to the Polynesian Cultural Center, we saw 6 different islands’ presentations: “Tonga, Hawaii, Aotearoa, Samoa, Tahiti and Fiji”. We learned the about the culture, and we got to practice the typical dances in Tahiti and Hawaii.

Dinner was outdoors and delicious. That’s the time we get together and talk about everything that happens in our day.

After dinner, it was unbelievable… We went to a show/theater that was a story about a boy from the time he was born to his adult life… picturing him in 6 different moments and in all 6 different islands. The name of the show was “Ha: Breath of Life”.

In the end we watched “Lilo and Stitch” coming back to the hotel and everybody liked… but we are tired, the day was busy!

So far, it is the best trip ever… It feels like we are dreaming

Gabriela De Almeida - Brazil

Thais Pommer - Brazil

Helena Santos - Brazil

Marina Rocha - Brazil

Polynesian Cultural Center - Show: Ha, Breath of life!

Students with the star for Samoa island.

Learning how to play at Aotearoa (New Zealand)

Hula Class at the Polynesian Cultural Center

Tahiti

Jonas Eskilden (Denmark) showing some Tahitian moves

Johan Paalhed (Sweden) and Eike Langer (Germany)

Our monitor Laura at Sunset Beach

Christian Kroh (Germany) with the Hawaiian flag.

Sunset Beach

Marina, Helena and Thais (Brazil) showing the vintage Volkswagen at Haleiwa.

Some Pineapple whip...

... or a lot of whip...

... but it was important to try.

King Kamehameha's statue in front of the court house of Honolulu.

Capitol

Mar 29th 2010 - Nuʻuanu Pali and Kailua Beach...

The sun doesn’t always shine in Hawaii, but here is beautiful even though it is raining… It makes easier to be active.!

After an amazing breakfast at our hotel, we left at 9am and we went to Pali Lookout. The strong winds blowing 35 m/h made us understand the name of Nu’uanu Pali - breezy and cold wind…

After this stop, we went to Kailua beach… some students stayed on the beach while others went kayaking. It took us almost two hours paddling to get to Mokulua. Once we got to the island, we ate a sandwich (turkey or tuna) to get some energy to go back. We were in the center of a 4 million old extinguished volcano… beautiful place…

On our way back, we stopped on a nice undisturbed beach.

At night, we had a delicious buffet and we had some time to walk around. Now we are back at the hotel and we can’t wait to find out what tomorrow is the day wil be like.

Aloha from all the students in Hawaii…

Hiking Mokulua island

Ocean shower at Mokulua island

Surfing on a Kayak - Eike (Germany) and the instructor

"Hanging Loose"

Memories... picture from Mokulua island.

Kayak instructions at Kailua Beach

Nuʻuanu Pali

Group at Nuʻuanu Pali

Mar 28th 2010 - First day in Paradise... Catamaran and Surf Lessons

Aloha Ohana and hoaloha (family and friends in Hawaiian)

After arrival day, we started our day with a great breakfast at our hotel, which offers everything from stuffed French toast and pineapples filled with fruits of top quality.

We left the hotel at 9am and headed to the beach. We boarded a 45 feet bright yellow catamaran, hoping to see sea turtles, whales, dolphins and other animals, but we didn’t see them, in another hand we had great waves that gave us a great shower while typical Hawaiian music played aboard. After the catamaran, some students went to the famous Hawaiian restaurant named Duke’s (a must-to-go in Hawaii). The name is from the father of the modern surf, Duke Kahanamoku.

Then it was time for surfing! You can’t go to Hawaii without trying surfing! For most of us it was the first time, some struggled a little bit, but everybody enjoyed it very much. After many hours in the sun and on the beach, we went to have some yummy pizza!!! Right after dinner, we had time to explore the streets of Waikiki and shop, of course!

After a great day, people were tired… but it was an awesome day!!!

Aloha!

Elisabeth Holst and Lise Indrehus - Norway

Dinner at CPK

"feel the wave"... Surfing lessons

Get ready...

Practice - Surfing Lessons

Catamaran in Waikiki

Students getting ready for the Catamaran Ride

Hang Loose

Irene (Italy)

Aloha from the Catamaran

Waikiki

Waikiki...