Aloha my friends for paradise!
As I said yesterday today I would tell you about my adventures at the Polynesian Cultural Center.
On our first full day here on O'ahu (mommy and daddy spent Sunday after we got off the plane getting settled at the hotel and then playing at the beach) we hopped on over to Cultural Center. Before we did that though, we made a detour along the way the top of the volcano crater that is part of what formed the island. It's called Diamond Head. It was super long hike for a little froggie like me, but thankfully I've travelled the world enough to know how it's done. Mommy and daddy stopped with me to take a picture about half way up, but didn't want me to fly away at the top so I just had to peek out of mommy's purse.
Our next stop was the Polynesian Cultural Center. It was first opened in 1963 by the Mormon Church as a way to help keep the cultural traditions of the island countries alive and as a way to help young adults from these countries afford a college education. The kids who work at the center are almost all students at BYU Hawaii and in exchange for working at the center, they are able to go to school for free and have the school pay for their food and house. That's pretty neat, because as FP knows from his friend in Fiji, a lot of the island people are quite poor by our standards here in America and would not be able to go to college any other way.
This is a picture of Tina. Mommy and Daddy must have thought I needed to learn a lot about Polynesian culture because they got me my very own tour guide for the whole day. Tina was super nice and made sure I saw all the things a froggie needs to see. She was Samoan but was born in New Zealand (maybe she knows some Hobbits?) and then moved to Australia before come to school in Hawaii. Did you get all that?
Our first stop was to visit Tina's home land of New Zealand. Aotearoa is what the native Maori call it. When we got there they got a little confused and thought that Daddy was a special chief or something because he had to be part of a ceremony where he approached the tribe leader and was accepted into the village as a friend instead of a bad guy. Mom has a movie for when we get home.We also learned two fun games: one is a stick tossing game, and the other is a game that involves swinging balls around on rope.
Next we went to visit the land of Fiji! I looked everywhere for Brother and Sister Sherry, but then Mommy reminded me that we weren't really in Fiji. We learned about music and how they were the last country to stop eating other people! Good thing I'm a frog instead of a person!
In Tahiti we learned how they solve fights. Instead of actually fight each other they had to play a game of sorts. If two people were having a fight over something, like a husband and wife, or brothers, the chief would make them grab two spears and try to throw them into a circle. Kind of like horse shoes. Who ever got their stick closest to the circle was the winner of the fight. Maybe that's what mommy will start doing with my little boys!
In Samoa there are three very important things that all little boys HAVE to know how to do by the time they are 8. So pay attention because my boys need to learn! First is climbing to the top of a coconut tree, second is how to cook (men do all the cooking in Samoa), and third is twirl fire knives.
I wanted to learn to climb a tree so after we watched the Samoans demonstrate it, I gave it a try myself!
As much as I wanted to learn to twirl a fire knife Mommy and Daddy reminded me that I am made of paper and plastic, both of which are things that are not good around fire.
After that we stopped in to visit Easter Island or Rapa Nui as it is natively called. These little models of their ancient homes were just the perfect size for a little froggie, so I perhaps I'll just move in here and stay in Hawaii for a while.
I got to meet a lot of really nice people all over who wanted to take a picture with me.
Soon it was time for some supper and Daddy got us seats right up from to watch the Luau super and show. These men helped pull the big pig out of the pit where it is cooked.
While we ate supper there was a show full of music and dancing. This little boy danced a lot and was even one of the stars of a show later that night. He reminded me a lot of my boys back home!
After dinner Tina took us on a very special back stage tour of where all the performers get ready for the day and for their super big show that is put on at night. We met even more friends there who were getting ready to put on the big show.
These are some of the dancing props for the show.
Even being the amazing frog that I am, I wasn't allowed to take pictures of the show that night, but it was very neat and Mommy and Daddy have a DVD about it for when we get home. After the show Mommy and Daddy got to bring me up on stage to meet the performers and they all wanted to make sure we had a great time and that a little frog like me could get a picture with them.
After that it was time to head home from a long day. I now feel like I could move to Polynesia and blend right in. Ta ta for now!
