Although Mom is back to work at both the elementary school and preschool this week, it was teacher prep week for both schools. So, that means a lot of meetings and organizing the classroom. At Kamehameha, Mom got to go to some neat in-services, with Hawaiian food lunch two days in a row!
Today, they visited Waipao (located in Kane'ohe, on the windward side of O'ahu), an area preserved by a non-profit organization called Papahana Kuaola. The organization's purpose is to educate the public on environmental restoration and economic sustainability, focusing on Hawaiian knowledge and backgrounds. It was started by one of Mom's high school classmates, who now owns and runs a Native Hawaiian plant nursery. At Papahana Kuaola, they have student interns who learn traditional Hawaiian ways of living. They have over 15 kinds of taro in the lo'i. They are building a heiau. You can walk to a freshwater stream and waterfall. Mom even drank from a freshwater spring.
Today, Mom and her coworkers learned how to make traditional laulau and pound taro to make poi (ku'i 'ai). Then, they got to eat their steamed laulau, poi, and lu'au stew. Since there are 3 hapai (pregnant) women, including Mom, they sat out of the weeding of the lo'i. But, she got pictures of others getting in thigh deep mud to pull weeds. It was a day of learning more about Hawaiian culture and background, which she can use to help teach her students this year. What a great, hands-on "working" day!
What a rich cultural experience! I would just love a 'hands on' retreat like that; it sure beats sitting through hours of before school meetings.
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