Day 30: Taupo Tour

Saturday, 31/07/10

Woke up around 7:30am to get myself ready and pack for a long day ahead of us to Taupo. From Waikato, Hamilton to Taupo, it is a 2 hour drive. For $60NZD, here is what it included:

Aratiatia Rapids

Honey Hive

Huka Falls

Taupo Lookout

Lakeside Drive

Lake Hot Springs

Souvenir Shopping

Bungy Jump Viewing

So we first went to Ar

atiatia Rapids. Its was so freezing cold! After like 10 secs, your hands get cold fast. Don't know the whole story, but our tour guy who owns the company, was telling us about how the government wanted to build like a water gate. So the Māori iwi that owned that area agreed. In part of the agreement, the gate is supposed to release water 3 times a day: 10am, 12pm and 2pm. There is also a siren incase there is people down there fishing or something. There is also a timer when the flood gates open. The water was so clear, you can see the bottom. At first the water was very calm. When the gates opened, water just rushed out of the gate and all of a sudden you see a raging river. The calm water becomes rough and it starts to rise and cover the rocks.

Next we went to The Honey Hive! Live bees, making honey! Real honey! They have all kinds of products that has honey inside, things like wine, alcohol, lotions, oils, and honey for foods. Off to Huka Falls. It was raging too! There was this HukaFalls Jet boat with a bunch of people inside going for a ride. Pretty fast! It must of been pretty nutz and cold down there close by the fall. Then we went to Lake Taupo. It was pretty awesome! Sat down in this nice thermal pool at the beach.

After this, went to grab lunch and walk around the town for 2 hours. Pizza Hut was pretty busy so we decided to walk around. Then it was off to Taupo Cliff Hanger & Bungy! My friend Pi (pronounced Pie), went to bungy jump from 47 meters! Depends, people do get wet at least half of their body! The water is pretty cold! It costs about $120NZD and that doesn't include pictures or the DVD! Came back to Uni around 6pm and headed off to get dinner. What a day!

For pictures of my Taupo day click on the link:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=190117&id=691568111&l=f7af31afde

Day 29: Friday

Friday, 30/07

It's Friday again! Yes, 3day weekend again! Well didn't wake up until about 10ish, when Aunty Kim texted me. So, pretty much went to see her and then planned to have lunch at 1pm. So I went to go and buy my books for my other class, because I will be continuing my Māori 201 class back at UH Mānoa. So it's somewhat a full load of classes, well once UHM starts up again. I will actually be starting my second year of learning te reo, the second book of Te Whanake, Te Pihinga along with reviewing first year material in Te Kākano here at Waikato. It is pretty good. Then at 1pm went back to Aunty Kim's office. So me and Leo went with Aunty to a pretty good Chinese restaurant. Buffet!!! Haha so Uncle Hotu and Nāmaka was there eating already. So we had a good filling of awesome food, of course better then cafeteria food and just talked story. Very māʻona! Anyways, there is a whole bunch of people here, that wants to have us over for dinner! So I'll have to go an arrange sometime for us to go over hahaha. Probably Fridays, since they always serve fish and chips or maybe Monday, since our class don't end till 7pm.

So anyways, theres going to be a whole bunch of pictures tomorrow. Heading to Taupo tomorrow with the other Hawaiians and international students. Through the International Student Office and Starr Tours, we paid $60NZD for: Aratiatia Rapids, Honey Hive, Huka Falls, Taupo Lookout, Lakeside Drive, Lake Hot Springs, Souvenir shopping, Bungy Jumping viewing. The extra optional things are: Jet Boat ride and Bungy Jumping. So we depart the Uni at 8am and return at 6pm.

Day 28:Rāpare (Thursday)

Rāpare, 29 Hōngongoi

Nō te tekau karaka, ka haere au ki to akoranga mō kapa haka. Etoru haora. Ka ako tonu mātou i, "E ko te tui", "Waikato te awa", "E noho Tūheitia", "I te whitu i te waru". Tino pai! Kāore au ki te mōhio i ngā kōrero katoa. He tino pai! Nō te wha karaka, ka tīmataia te akoranga mō te hitori. Kei te hiamoe ahau!

Pōʻahā, 29 Iulai

I ka hola ʻumi wau i hele ai i ka papa kapa haka! ʻEkolu mau hola! E aʻo mai ana mākou i "E ko te tui", "Waikato te awa", "E noho Tūheitia" me "I te whitu i te waru". Maikaʻi kēlā! ʻAʻole wau i hoʻomaopopo i nā huaʻōlelo a pau. I ka hola ʻehā, ua hoʻomaka ʻia ka papa moʻolelo. Luhi a luhi wau!

Thursday, 29 July

At 10 was my kapa haka class. 3 hours! We still learning "E ko te tui", "Waikato te awa", "E noho Tūheitia" and "I te whitu i te waru". Awesome! I haven't gotten all the words yet! At 4, was my history class! I am so tired already!

Day 27: Rāapa (Wednesday)

Rāapa, 28 Hōngongoi

Nō te tekau karaka, ka haere au ki te akoranga mō te reo Māori. Etoru Haora. Ka ākona e mātou mō te rerengā kōrero "Hei", "Kia", te tinana, te waiata mō Hoani Waititi me tētahi karakia mō te kai. Nō te tekau mā rua karaka, he wā akoako. Nō te rua karaka, ka haere a māua ko Logan ki te akoranga mō Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Ka ākona e māua mō ō māua mahi tuatahi. He pepa mō te ao Māori.

Pōʻakolu, 28 Iulai

I ka hola ʻumi wau i hele ai i ka papa ʻōlelo Māōri. ʻEkolu mau hola. Ua aʻo ʻia mai e mākou e pili ana no ka māmalaʻōlelo "Hei", "Kia", ka māhele o ke kina, kekahi mele e pili ana iā Hoani Waititi a me kekahi pule no ka meaʻai. I ka hola ʻumikūmālua wau i hele ai i ka papa hoʻomaʻamaʻa. I ka hola ʻelua māua ʻo Logan i hele ai i ka papa Palapala ʻAelike o Waitangi. Ua aʻo māua e pili ana i kā māua pepa mua o ke ao Māori.

Wednesday, 28 July

At 10, I went to Māori class. 3 hours! We learned about the sentence structures "Hei" and "Kia", parts of the body, a song about Hoani Waititi and a prayer for food. At 12 was my tutorial, so we further learned more about the sentences. At 2, me and Logan went to our Tiriti o Waitangi/Treaty of Waitangi tutorial. We just talked about our first paper regarding Māori worldview.

Day 26: Rātū (Tuesday)

Rātū, 27 Hōngongoi

A te tekau mā tahi o te ata nei, ka tīmatatia tōku akomanga mō Te Tiriti o Waitangi. No reira, nō te tekau meneti ki te tekau mā tahi karaka, ka oho au! Ka maranga au! I horohoro au ki tōku akomanga. Aue, kei te ngenge au! Nā te kaikao i kōrero mai ki a mātou mō te Tiriti o Waitangi, te reo Māori, ā, te reo Pākehā. Nō te rua karaka, ka haere au ki tōku akomanga mō te hītori o Aotearoa. Ahua pāngu tēnei. Nō te rima karaka, ka kai au i te "stew". I haere au ki te A-Block mō ngā tākaro reo Māori. Tino pai! Kua haere mai ētahi tāngata.

Pōʻalua, 27 Iulai

I ka hola ʻumikūmākahi, hoʻomaka koʻu papa o Ka Palapala ʻAelike o Waitangi. No laila, ʻakahi nō wau a hoʻāla au i ʻumi minuke i koe kani ka hola ʻumikūmākahi. Na ke kumu i ʻōlelo mai iā mākou e pili ana nō Ka Palapala ʻAelike o Waitangi, ma ka ʻōlelo Māori a me ka ʻōlelo ʻEnelani. I ka hola ʻelua wau i hele ai i koʻu papa moʻolelo o Aotearoa. ʻAno manakā kēia! I ka hola ʻelima wau i ʻai ai ka ʻaina ahiahi, ʻo ia hoʻi o ka stew. A ma hope wau i hele ai i A-block a paʻani i nā paʻani like ʻole ma ka ʻōlelo Māori! Maikaʻi loa! Ua hele kekahi kānaka.

Tuesday, 27/07

At 11:00am, my Tiriti class starts. At 10:50pm, I just woke up and jumped out of my bed. Threw on some clothes and rushed to my class. Ahhhh, so tired! The teacher spoke to us about the Treaty of Waitangi, in Māori and in English. Two o clock is my history class. Kinda boring! Five o clock, for dinner I ate stew. I went to A-Block for Māori language games. It was really good! Some people attended.

Here is a video of Spongebob in MĀORI!!! They do this for Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori.

http://www.nicknz.co.nz/SpongeBob/VideoClips/?id=247255

Day 25: Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori

Rāhina, 26 Hōngongoi

This week is nationally known at Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori. Therefore, here and within the other Uni's (Universities), activities and events are organized to recognize, honor and promote te reo Māori. I was trying to look for the article on the website, so that you could all read it, but I'll just summarize how this came to be.

Nexus, Issue 15, 26 July 2010

Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori (Māori Language Week)

Luke Classen, Ngāti Porou

The renaissance era began in the early 1970s. A national petition in 1972 was created for te reo Māori to be offered as a subject in the New Zealand c

urriculum. Around this time, only 18-20% Māori spoke te reo. It was then seen as an endangered language. In 1978, Rūātoki School became the first bilingual school. In 1981, the first Kōhanga Reo (language nest) was established in Waiwhetu, Lower Hutt, Wellington. In 1985, the first Kura Kaupapa Māori (total immersion primary school) was established to cater to those from the Kōhanga Reo and Wharekura (total immersion secondary school). Te reo Māori is now educated from Kōhanga Reo

through Wānanga (University). In 2004, Māori Television was launched. The renaissance of te reo Māori is a result of the protests and dedications.

In 1972, the Māori Language Petition was s

igned by 30,000 signatures and delivered to Parliament on September 14. In 1975, Māori Language Day became "Māori Language Week." During the Māori Language Week of 1980, protests started to have the Māori language equal as English. 1985, Māori Language Claim (WAI 11) was brought before the Waitangi Tribunal by Huirangi Waikerepuru and Ngā Kaiwhakapūmau I Te Reo Māori Inc. (the W

ellington Māori Language Board). They wanted to the crown to officially recognize te reo Māori and the right to speak te reo Māori in courts. The Crown passed the 1987 Māori Language Act that established the Māori Language Commission to promote and protect te reo Māori.

And that was how Māori is commonly now used everywhere! The demise and the renaissance era of Ka ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi is the same.

Here is what the flyer says:

Te Waiora o Waikato

Waikato University Māori Students Association

Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori 2010

Māori Language Week Events 26-30 July

Rāhina (Monday):

He Wahine, He Waiata

Pro Vice Chancellor Māori Office Waiata Series

WEL Performing Arts Academy

Te Whare Tapere 9:30am-12:30pm

Rātū (Tuesday):

Te Waiora O Waikato Lunch

TWW Free BBQ!

Village Green 12-2pm

Rāapa (Wednesday):

"WSU Kōrero Māori for Kai"

Free BBQ Steak and Eggs!

Waikato Students' Union

Village Green 12-2pm

Te Whitiki o Te Kii

Inter-School Debates, Māori and English

Rūnanga Room A.1.01 6pm

Rāpare (Thursday):

He Kura Kōrero

Guest Speakers: Meto Hopa & Rovina Maniapoto-Anderson

School of Māori and Pacific Development

A.G.30 6-8pm

Pākiki!

Quiz

Momento, Village Green 7:30pm

Day 24

Sunday, 25/07

It's Sunday and school is tomorrow. So that means I better do my homework, as much as I can concentrate on.

No report. Haha

Day 23

Saturday, 24/07

The Day of Rest, well more like the weekend. Not much happened, except for sleeping, eating, sleeping, I think I did some homework and Facebook.

No report.

Day 22: 2nd Week Pau

Friday, 23/07

It's my weekend!!! No class! I didn't wake up till 11:30am! Woke and jus waited until lunch was served. Ate lunch and I am out! Headed to town, bought some clothes and new running shoes! Yeaps, cuz I am gonna go hit up the gym. Gotta go and buy a membership. Went to check out Kmart, The Warehouse and then the Shoe Store. So my shoes cost about $57 NZD, that's probably about $40 USD. Headed back to school and bought some stuff at Benetts Bookstore. Needed something to hang up my Hawaiian flag. Went to the library to put money on my student id card so I could use it for printing and copying. That is about it.

Day 21

Thursday, 22/07

Kapa haka class was awesome today! Our teacher, he is a trip. Funny guy! The first chant we learned is called E ko te tui. That's all I can say, don't know what it is used for and the translation yet. Although while chanting it, the rhythm reminded me of another chant that I learned at Kamehameha in my Hawaiian language class. After that, we learned a waiata, I don't know the name. And then we learned a haka. Pretty much everybody already knew it, except for the Pākehā and the Hawaiians. So we just watched and followed them. Ma ka hana ka ʻike (Through working one sees or knows). So got the hang of it, but not the words yet. And so we are having a final performance in October. I can't wait to learn more haka!

Since class ended at 1pm and the lunch back at the cafeteria ends at 1:15pm, I decided to go and buy sushi! YEA!!! I'm pretty sure it was better then what they were serving for lunch! Haha nah I know it was better! After my stomach was satisfied, I when sleep! Haha for about couple hours, because my last class, history class, was at 4:00pm. I really don't care at this time, but I did take notes! It's the only way that will keep me up!

Day 20

Wednesday, 21/07/10

Off to Māori class! This class if fun yet long! But very fun to learn te reo Māori! Ka pai! (Good) Today we learned 2 new patterns and passive. Passive in Māori is called hāngū. Different from Hawaiian, it is a little more complexed, because the ending of the verb has various endings. Certain words may end with -a, -tia -hia, -mia and etc.

The first sentence is Kāore anō...kia... It means not happened yet. Here are some examples.

Kāore anō te wahine kia hoko kai. The woman has not yet bought food.

Kāore anō te pahi kia tae mai. The bus did not arrive.

The second sentence is Kātahi anō...ka... It means only just happened. Here are some examples.

Kātahi anō te ua ka heke mai. The rain just came.

Kātahi anō ngā tamariki ka tatari. The children just waited.

Kātahi anō...ka... can be compared the the Akahi a nō sentence.

After lecture, then it was off to tutorial. Straight 3 hours! So hungary. Didn't make it back in time for lunch at the cafe, so I went to buy a sandwich and sprite at the School of Education cafeteria. Later at 2pm was my tutorial for Te Tiriti. The person running our lectures is Moengaroa Edmonds. She is a teacher in the School of Law, but is helping out in the School of Māori and Pacific Development. Just introductions and going over our first assessment, which is an essay about te ao Māori. Should be easy, I hope! Gotta learn APA style! BLAH!!! It's 12:51am now, time to go sleep and I think I used enough of my internet for today/tonight.

Nite!

Day 19

Tuesday 20/07/10

Finished the rest of the Māori worldview. Then we examined The Declaration of Independence of New Zealand, 28 October 1835. The english and Māori versions are different. Click these links about the declaration.

Background Information

Declaration of Independence

This document is what led up to Te Tiriti o Waitangi, The Treaty of Waitangi. Some did not sign the Tiriti or Treaty.

One thing from the lecture that I thought was really a important point.

"What is the use of a written document, if you come from an oral culture?" Nothing that we come from a oral culture, nothing written down. If you would agree to something, it was said and that was valid enough.

On to History lecture, we had a guest speaker. Giselle Byrnes, a history professor here, came to give a presentation about the time before the arrival of Pakeha (Haole). Very interesting historian points of view, when looking back in time. After what, went on to my first tutorial for History. It isn't compulsory, but the work in tutorial is. I not sure what they say it isn't, yet you gotta do the work for tutorial?! Confused here?! Anyways just did a brief introduction of ourselves, tutorial stuff and went over our first readings.

Day 18: Week 2

Today is Monday, July 19. Oh yea by the way, here, the date is written as 19/7/10. Day, month and then year. It would be better since it has a time sequence. Maybe we should writing our dates like that?

I never seem to go breakfast, because I end up putting my phone on snooze for another half and hour and by 9am, breakfast ends. Anyways, Māori class at 10am. This class is really long! Two hours! Learn lots of things, which is really good, but long. Feels like a grad class, just the time length I'm talking about. Did review of what we learned last week. Also learned kupu hou (new words) and read a story about a taniwha (creature). After that, History. YEA!!! Here's my notes from this class.

Adaption & Diversity

-resource islands

-hunters

-gardeners

James Belich, leading historian

1st set- gathering islands, wood islands, fishing islands

2nd set- stone islands, gardening islands, game islands

moa

Ōtuataua stonefields

Māori treated the land as and archipelago of resources. Māori adapted well.

Here was my notes for the entire hour of the lecture. Haha, the rest I can get it online.

Ok so each class has what they call "MOODLE". It is similar to Laulima, where the teachers can upload different types of resources online for us to access. Another tool that is used in my Māori language class is called "Panopto". It records the lectures and the powerpoints and whatever else that happens in our class. It is really cool. Just incase you miss class, you can watch it online. Really awesome. Maybe this is something that UH can look into. Don't worry I plan to attend all my classes!!! It is pretty cool how this UNI works with technology and tutorial for students to succeed!!!

My late class, Te Tiriti (The Treaty) at 5pm. The latest class ever. This is what time dinner starts, so every Mondays, I miss dinner. While I am in class at 5pm, it is 7pm in Hawaiʻi. Anyways we continued where we left of on te ao Māori (Māori worldview). It is very similar to Hawaiian worldview. We left the class early to hear a presentation by Moana Jackson. A very famous Māori person who attends the United Nations' Indigenous gatherings. Really awesome presentation about the United Nations Declaration of Indigenous Rights. His stories are awesome about how this declaration what started. After the presentation, went up to say hi and mahalo him for his presentation. He knows our Hawaiʻi delegation such as Anakala Kekuni Blaisell, Mililani Trask and Lilikalā Kameʻeleihiwa.

Day 17: Sunday, the day of rest

It is Sunday, not much to do, since tomorrow is another day. That is school. Woke up around 10am and was real hungary. Brunch was at 12am. It was so ʻono! Eggs and ham and toast, wish I also could have gotten hash browns. This was the best brunch ever here! The only thing I would have changed, add more of that on my plate! So little and supposedly breakfast it is the most important meal of the day! Anyways, still hungary after that.

Came back to my room and went back sleep. Pretty much slept half the day. Cruzed with the boys, watching movies. Came back to my room to do some homework and read and went back to watch more movies. Watched the Blindside and a little of Buzz Light Year. Left earlier and now going to sleep. Tomorrow is another day of school. Another adventure!

Day 16: Saturday, July 17

Saturday, not much to do but just stay in and cruz with the Māori boyz. So I live on what they call C-Base. The name of our Hall is College Hall and there are several buildings (blocks). So I am in C block. There's base, ground, 2nd and top. Yea that's how they call their floors. Also the buildings on campus all have letters, so there's is like A-Block, thats the School of Māori and Pacific Development, or L-Block, etc. So pretty much the Māori boyz are cool. We also talk about our similarities between Hawaiian and Māori, here and back home and also the way we pronounce things which is a trip. So pretty much the ground floor called "Hui-Mai-Tātou", that's the Māori floor. Lot's of the people here are 18 or 19. Shoots I am 21!!! Makes me feel a little bit old here. Since majority of the 20+ are all in flats (a house that you share with # of people).

1 week down more to go. I really hope that there will be some Māori from the school that would be willing to do an exchange to Mānoa. Been told that it is hard to get students to go out on exchanges because of monies, but they always accept incoming exchanges. Funny because, they accepted 2 from Mānoa, 1 from Hilo and 2 from Linfield college but there wasn't any outgoing.

Pretty much learning everyday, every minute here either in Māori culture, history, language, comparing it to Hawaiian, New Zealand culture and culture back home.

Day 15: Friday, July 16

NO CLASS!!!

Yes no classes on fridays! That's awesome! Pretty much just ate, relaxed and when to go and buy my books. Oh yea and it rained today! So cold the rain! And when the wind blows, it's cold too! Bought books for my treaty and history class, spent about $150 NZD. I think the currency rate is $1 USD = $1.40 NZD? I dunno haven't really kept up with the exchange rate here.

Not much to do! I love my Fridays. And this here concludes my first week of school at Waikato Uni.

Day 14: Thursday, July 15

Today is Thursday, another school day here in Hamilton, Aotearoa, New Zealand. Only 2 classes today, first class at 10 is my kapa haka paper, Tika 157 (Tikanga). This class is 3 hours every Thursday. Pretty long aye?! Anyway this paper is pretty huge, supposedly about 53 students in this class. So, like in any other Māori class, we began the class with a karakia. Well the kumu did the karakia. We also did introductions of everyone. Many of the Māori here ask me if we have tribes here. Tribes is how they connect to their ancestors, where it be iwi (tribe) or hāpu (sub-tripe). It makes me think how do we, Hawaiians connect to our ancestors. How do we distinguish our ancestors and the lineages we come from. When Māori introduce themselves and they also mention their iwi and/or hāpu. An example may be Ko Tuhoe te iwi or Ko Tuwharetoa te iwi. I'm not really sure if this is correct and if they are iwi. But you get the general idea of this.

I know that we, Hawaiians, introduce ourselves and also recite our genealogy. I just wandered if it was more than just reciting our genealogy. How did we connect to our main aliʻi? We all know that we can chant for quite a while. I am quite sure that we were in tribes. Not sure what a tribe is and from what origin this word comes from. Since, our ancestors were easily able to move from one moku (district) to another moku. Getting back to class, we pretty much did an introduction to haka and what is kapa haka? It is nature or as kumu says it, the environment. We also spent about half and hour (just to kill time), to listen to nature. It is the communication between the land and people. There is many similarities between kapa haka and hula and haʻa. I don't know quite much of haʻa, yet it is being revived and only known to those that chose to learn this way of life. Pretty much hula and kapa haka imitates or replicates how nature lives, or how the environment is. This Polynesian comparison is awesome! I am so glad to be a Hawaiian Studies major and focus on Kumu Kahiki, since not much people have really studied these and compared.

Anyway, I also had history class at 4pm. 4pm!!! So late!!! But this time, I am already tired and not interested. Why would you have class at 4pm?! Oh I also forgot to mention about the times of class. It is weird. So if you have classes in the morning time, say 9am, you actually start at 8:50am and end at 10am. If your class is in the afternoon, then it starts 10 minutes after and end on the hour, start at 4:10 and end at 4pm. So pretty much wasn't into it, so I guess every time when I have this class on Thursdays, its BLAH! So just took notes to stay up and tried to pay attention.

Day 13: Wednesday, July 8th

So since it Saturday here in Aotearoa New Zealand, I thought I just catch up with my writing and inform you on whats the haps.

Ko te Rāapa tēnei, tekau mā wha o ngā rā o Hōngongoi. Nō te tekau karaka, ka haere au ki te akoranga mō te reo Māori.

ʻO ka Pōʻakolu kēia, ka lā ʻumikūmāhā o Iulai. I ka hola ʻumi au i hele ai i ka papa ʻōlelo Māori.

Well that is all I am going to write in Māori and so I also wrote it in Hawaiian. Just to show the some of the similarities between the two.

Only one class today and that was my Māori 112. Two hour class today. It was really good, I really like this class. We go over the sentence structures and practice with our partner. Even though I pretty much went through the whole book of Te Whanake 1, Te Kākano back home at UH Mānoa, it is a really good time for me to review, since I really haven't got a good grasp on it. So we went over on how to request, offe, decline and accept things. This is the pattern "He + subject + māu/māku etc. It is similar to Hawaiian, like the have sentence. But in Māori, it is the future tense marker (māu/māku) that makes it different.

These are just some of it.

māu = for you

māku= for me

māna = for him/her

Then we went over "I a....while". I am kinda relating this sentence structure to Oiai, while.

Example:

While you were talking the phone rang.

Māori:

I a koe e kōrero ana, ka tangi te waea.

Hawaiian:

Oiai ʻoe e ʻōlelo ana, ua kani ke kelepona.

I think this is correct? Haha I haven't used Oiai, so I will double check with this. Don't hold me on this.

Anyway classes are pretty long either 1 or 2 hours. After that, at 12 was tutorial. It is "compulsory" aka mandatory. I am wandering, if we should have something like this back home?! Pretty much in tutorial, we did worksheets and activities to strengthen what we all learned in lecture class.

The rest of the day was a blur, since I didn't have any classes. I pretty much went to go eat and stayed in my room till dinner.

Day 12: Second Day of School

Sorry for the late blogs, but I will catch up and always to remember to try and write something!

Second day of school, only two classes. My first class is the Treaty paper at 11am. I really like this class, it is very interesting to learn about the Treaty of Waitangi, a very important document between the Māori and the British. It makes me wander about the treaties our Hawaiian Kingdom had with many countries. Those treaties must still be valid right? Even though, we currently do not have our kingdom right now. After that, then I had my History paper for about an hour. We watched a short documentary called Bastion Point - Day 507. A short summary is that a group of Māori (hundreds) decided to occupy a land that was "owned" by the crown. They lived on this particular area for 507 days, until police forces came to arrest and tear down their houses. Heres a video on youtube. It's in Māori but there are subtitles. Click here!

It reminds me of the evictions of Waimānalo and Sand Island. Really sad! After that pretty much just cruzed for the rest of the day until dinner. So early! Plus the food isn't that fulfilling!

Day 11: First Day of School

Today we started school, Monday, July 12th.

Woke up at 9am and had class at 10am. So I am nervous and not sure what to expect at a new school, new place and being an international student. So I didn't bring and school supplies with me, so had to buy some at the bookstore. Expensive as I said before! Bought myself a 5 subject notebook, some pens and an highlighter, all came out to $12.48 NZD. Hurried off to my first class, Te Reo Māori (Māori language). Nervous and all entering into a class that is in it's second semester. So pretty much everyone in the class was Māori except me and probably 2 other students. So the teacher wanted us to sit up front and closer to each other. We all introduced ourselves. So I did mines in Hawaiian and a little bit in Māori. Kinna shame speaking Māori in front of them. Interesting, the teacher is pretty cool and nice. We began class with a karakia (prayer). Then she just went over some stuff they did last semester and then went over the course outline. It was about 20 pages. When I got it, I was like wow, thats choke pages and pretty much back at UH theres probably 5 max. LOL!!! This school is pretty rich! Then we ended the class again with a karakia. It was really good! Then I went off to my Hist 107 New Zealand Fresh Histories class. Ok class, aurite teacher, hoping this class would be good in the end.

Was about to head back to grab lunch at the cafe, because class ended at 1pm. Heard the food wasn't great, so I went to buy lunch, sushi! My lunch came out to be about $13. Sushi is expensive. Came back to room to cruz because I my last class didn't start till 5:00pm thats like 7pm in Hawaiʻi! Anyways got bored and it was like 3pm so went around campus to take pictures of the campus. Check out the campus pictures on my FB!

So after that I went again to the sushi place AGAIN! And ate AGAIN! LOL!!! That was my dinner, after couple hours from lunch. Met up with Kara, the other Hawaiian from UH Hilo and was just cruzin till class started. Class started, our kumu is also the associate dean who greeted us when I had my orientation. Nice lady. Anyways there 4 of us Hawaiians in the class (Me, Logan, Leo and Kara). This class is the Tiriti o Waitangi. We started class off with a karakia. COOL! After that, it was introductions again. So it was funny, because she mentioned to the class of our presence as "our Hawaiian visitors". So had us introduce ourselves and then everyone else. After, went over the course outline (10 pages i think?) and then started off with the first lecture.

So it was good for my first day of school here. Pretty much everyone is back, back to school back to the dorms. It's noisy now. Each class is really clean and nice lecture classes. Each class has a computer with at least 2 screens and projectors with a overhead projector or the digital one. Pretty high tech this Uni! Gonna go do homework now. Check out the pictures of the campus! Pretty much every sign is both in Māori and English.

Day 10: Auckland to Hamilton

So it was Sunday and we had to wake up and check out before 10am. So quickly woke up around 9ish and quickly packed (well didn't have much to pack) and got my pillow case, bed sheets and blankets and had to take them to the front desk. After we checked out we went to a small shopping mall area to eat breakfast. I ate McDonalds! Haha and miso soup! After that we had tim to kill because our bus didn't come till about 12. So we went to couple shops, like the Jade store! Pretty expensive the jade necklaces or what the Māori call pounamu or green stone. So went to couple other stores and then I bought a hook necklace not pounamu but it was about $16, pretty cheap and reasonable price! Really nice and big. So we saw our bus back to Hamilton, and there was about an hour left so we decided to check out the harbor for a little while.

Boarded the bus and headed back to Hamilton. There were also choke people going to place like Manakau, Hamilton, Taupo and etc. So another 2 hours on the bus, couldn't sleep so watched the movie, listened to my ipod, close my eyes and just pretty much watched the many places we were passing by. Arrived back in Hamilton about 3:00pm and I was so tired. Headed back to my room and what do I do?! Check my messages! Only because I was like 1 day with out internet. Well there was internet at our hostel but $3 for an hour? I think I can wait to I come back aye?!

Day 9: Auckland

Sorry I haven't kept up with the daily posts. But here it is.

Just to start where I left off. So on Friday night (Day 8), we left for Auckland on the NakedBus about 5:30pm. NakedBus is the name of the company and no, no one was naked! This seems to be the cheapest bus transportation to travel instead of taking intercity buses, taxis or even the plane. Prices start from just $1 and up, if you are lucky enough and the first person to book online to a place, your ride is a $1 plus whatever fee. Anyways we waited out in the cold night for the bus to arrive, there were also other people waiting as well. The bus finally arrived and we were off for 2 hours heading to Auckland. The bus was full and there were many other people from other areas. So I pretty much watch whatever show was playing on the screen or just sleep.

It was 8:00pm and we arrived in Auckland city! YEA!!! So, this is the backpacking. It is mostly used for visitors or student who just travel with a huge backpack. So we went to find out what was the cheapest place to stay, got a map and directions from this nice huge hotel. So we was hungry and went to eat dinner. So we saw this international food place. Talk about international, heaps (choke) of food! Foods like Chinese, Japanese, Indonesian, Malaysian, Thai...those kine foods. So we ate, I had a miso soup and my left over cold Chinese food. After that, we set off to find a place to stay for the weekend. We found a place called Queens Backpackers. It was cheap and was like ok sure! The five of us (4 Hawaiians & 1 from Jersey) each payed $50. A room with a bunk bed, 1 pillow, 1 bed sheet and 1 fleece blanket. So the girls were in 1 room and us guys was in another. We settled in and went walking the streets of Auckland. Pretty huge city will tall buildings. Came back and went sleep. It was a freezing cold nite! One thing we didn't check was if they had heaters!!! So we were cold and freezing while we were sleeping hows dat one?! Really thought they would have heaters or something? The windows were also thin, so you cold hear people outside yelling and the music from the club not from just like downstairs the next building over blasting!

The next day we heading for the Auckland Museum. But before that, we went to Burger King for a quick breakfast. Things here are pretty expensive. Lots of things in Aotearoa are pretty expensive. It cost us $20 to watch the Māori Cultural performance for 1/2 hour and look around the museum. Walked around the special exhibit they had and then headed off to the Māori performance. It was really awesome, but short. See the pictures and the videos! After the performance went around the Māori exhibit and then to the Pacific exhibit. So lots of cool amazing things, there were also things from Hawaiʻi. A kapa, Kauaʻi style pōhaku kuʻi ʻai, niho palaoa, a thing made out of the snout of pigs I'm guessing, I don't know what it is called in Hawaiian and I also saw an ahuʻula. Don't know who's ahuʻula it is?! All of these can be seen, just check out my pictures.

We then had sushi for lunch. Ono! We then caught the link aka the bus around the city and we saw lots of buildings, also the University of Auckland. Anyways we got off and went to the Skytower! It is tall! It is over 1,076 ft! So since we were backpackers and students, we payed $18. Dis Hawaiian has never been any higher then idk feet but went up as high as 610 feet to the main observation deck. Awesome! To see the whole city (see pictures for more information and to see it!) They also have were people can jump off and walk around outside at a higher rate and feet! We stayed there till about sunset. Nice to see the sun set really have! After that, went't back to the room and headed to a restaurant/pub to watch the rugby game! All Blacks vs South Africa! Was awesome though, we all ate a full filling meal and got to watch the cool game of rugby! ALL BLACKS WON!!! CHEE!!! Hoping to catch at least one game live in the stadium!

Was pretty tired so I went hiamoe!

CLICK HERE FOR PICTURES! See towards the end of the album.

Click here fore Pictures album 2!

Aotearoa Day 8

So I am writing this one pretty early, since I don't really write it till minutes before I sleep. I am writing this one early, because I'll be leaving for Auckland in about 2 hours for the weekend. The "Hawaiians" and our friend who is also an international exchange student from Jersey, we decided to head up to Auckland for the weekend. Our hopes is to watch the All Blacks rugby game. So we booked this bus called the NakedBus and No you don't have to be naked to ride it. Weird huh? Thats the name of the bus service and it is pretty cheap too to travel around Aotearoa. Anyways we leave Hamilton at 5 and should arrive in Auckland at 8. We are packing light and will be staying at a cheap hostel. If we can't watch the game then we are probably just going to go around the city and explore this land of the long white cloud. Will be coming back to Hamilton on Sunday around 2pm. So I probably won't have internet during the weekend to keep you all updated daily. But as soon as I come back will definitely fill you all in, especially with the pictures!!!

Anyways today, we had a special orientation by the School of Māori and Pacific Development. Since we asked, so there were only 3 of us from UH, 2 of us from UH Mānoa and the other from UH Hilo aka the Hawaiians!!! It was the first time they every did something like this, since, 1) we were Hawaiians, 2) we are in their School of Māori and Pacific Development and 3) cuz we asked. So pretty much just went over basic Uni (University) stuff, about the school, short introduction of one of the associate deans who will be one of my kumu about the Treaty of Waitangi. Funny thing too is that she will be leaving for Maui because her nephew is marring one of the Hawaiian language kumu at UH Mānoa. So we met the faculty at the school and did a campus tour and they also bought us lunch. Only cuz had 3 of us Hawaiians! The school is really awesome and I hope to see our schools at UH increase and grow and have governance authority. They are really nice people, since many of them have been to Hawaiʻi or have contacts to many Hawaiians back home, usually at the University. They were also hinting to us (me and Leo) to stay another semester because the other girl from UH Hilo is doing a year exchange. We will see about that.....

I really enjoyed today and really can't wait to start school and learn and compare! So I'll take a lot of pictures when I am in Auckland. So stay tune....Aloha for now!

Aotearoa Day 7

So yesterday was a long day, so I am writing it today. Pretty much all we did yesterday was walk around Hamilton Garden. We took the bus and headed over there. It is pretty huge. Took lots of nice and cool pictures. Check out my FB pictures at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=186719&id=691568111&l=3e1b251c3b

After that we was so hungary! We went to this pizza placed called Hell's. Made my own pizza, had bacon, mushrooms, pepperoni, onions, and bacon! Was so ono! That and coke, yea I drank soda! Drank Coke out of the Coke bottle, cool! First time. So was good was 7.5 inch pizza for about $7 I think? Kinda of expensive. The place is kinda weird, weird pizza toppings and stuff.

That was pretty much it! Check out the pictures!

Aotearoa Day 6

So I was reminded to do my blog. I was actually gonna go sleep, but by request or more like a demand, here is my blog. I don't wanna disappoint my readers! LOL! No name such be released due to confidentiality.

Anyways it's Wednesday. I woke up late because of an awesome night with food, talk and dessert. It was the first full real dinner I ever had since being here. So I woke up at 9:30am and I missed my usually breakfast, my hot coco and peanut butter sandwich. All wells, there's always tomorrow morning and the morning after that, pretty much every morning. So we had an international student orientation at 10:00am at the Management School. This university is awesome, all their buildings are nice, clean and well managed! UHM needs to step up! So the orientation was good and informational like any other informational meeting. A little to long, but lunch was good! Wished had more though. Pretty much they covered about important school related stuff, being an international student or more like an immigrant! To services around school, traveling around NZ and the many awesome activities and sight seeing things to do. After that, went back to see my advisor to drop my Geog paper so I could take the Kapa Haka class with my friend. So be really awesome!

Anyways, UHM needs to really kick it up, more then a notch. UHM could really do better with international services, building management and the list goes on and on. By the end of this semester I'm pretty sure I can come up with a recommendation to the UH and the things that needs improvement and things that needs to be established! I really wouldn't mind living here to get my degree, only cuz it takes like 3 years to get your BA. I also heard it is faster to obtain your PhD because you don't have to teach or something and also take classes, it is pure research! I keep hearing on how they are trying to make UHM the worlds leading indigenous university, but they are far from it. Not even close to what Waikato has.

Anyways this is my blog, not much happening. Yet! Hopefully it will be fun tomorrow. Probably do some sight seeing so more pictures soon!

Aotearoa Day 5

Tuesday, July 6th

ʻO kēia ka Pōʻalua a he mea maʻa mau, hele i ka hale aina a ʻai i ka ʻaina kakahiaka. A ma hope, I ke kulanakauhale wau i hele ai, no ka mea, makemake wau i kekahi kelepona i mea e kelepona ai a i ole e text ai kekahi kānaka. Pono wau e kiʻi i ke kālā i mea e uku ai no ke kelepona. No laila, ua hele wau i ka hale o Travelex, he hale no nā kālā like ʻole o ke ao. ʻAʻole i hiki iaʻu ke kiʻi i ke kālā mai iā lākou, no laila, ua kiʻi wau i ke kālā mai kekahi ATM. I ka hale kūʻai kelepono o Telecom wau i kūʻai mai ai kekahi kelepono ʻemi. ʻO ia hoʻi, he prepaid. A ma hope, hoʻi maila wau i ke kulanui a uku no koʻu insurance. Loaʻa iaʻu kaʻu student ID. He haumāna au ma Waikato! Ua ʻike maka wau iā Leo, he haumāna ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi ʻo ia.

Ma hope, makemake wau e kipa aku iā ʻAnakē Kim. Hana ʻo ia ma ke kula o Management. I ka wā ma mua, ua haʻi ʻo ʻAnakē Noe Noe iaʻu e kipa aku iā ia. A no laila, I kēia lā wau i kipa aku ai iā ia. Ua kūkākūkā kākou no hapalua hola paha a kono ʻo ia iā mākou (ka poʻe haumāna Hawaiʻi) i ko lākou hale no ka ʻaina ahiahi. Ua ʻae mākou a hui pū ma waho o kāna hana. ʻO mākou, ʻo Leo, ʻo Kailee a ʻo Logan. Hoihoi a leʻaleʻa, no ka mea, ʻokoʻa ko lākou kaʻa. No laila, noho wau ma ka "passenger seat". Lol! Ua hele mākou i ka hale kūʻai a makemake ʻo ʻAnakē Kim e kūʻai mai i nā mea pono. Noho lākou ma Whatawhata, kanakolu minuke ke kalaiwa. Na ʻAnakala Hotu i kuke i ka ʻaina ahiahi. 5 o lāua keiki. ʻOno loa! Piha ka ʻōpū! He ʻano stew, saleta me ka laiki! ʻAkahi nō wau a ʻai ka huaʻai o kiwi, ʻono ia huaʻai. A ma hope, ʻai iho i ka haukalima. ʻOno ka haukalima o French Vanilla! ʻOiai mākou e ʻai i ka ʻaina ahiahi, kūkākūkā mākou e pili ana i ke kulanui, ke kipa ʻana aku i nā wahi like ʻole, ka mele reggae a pēlā wale aku.

ʻO kēia ko mākou ʻohana i kēia manawa ma Aotearoa. A makemake wau e mahalo aku iā ʻAnake Noe Noe no kona mau "contacts", iā ʻAnakala Hotu lāua ʻo ʻAnakē Kim a me ʻohana no ko lākou aloha, hoʻokipa a me ka ʻaina ahiahi me ka haukalima no hoʻi. Hoʻomaikaʻi wau i ʻimi aku iā ʻoukou. Mahalo nunui!

Today is Tuesday and it’s the same thing, go to the cafe and eat breakfast. After that, went to town, because I wanted to buy myself a phone so that people could call or text me. I needed to get money so I wanted to the Travelex, it’s a foreign exchange place. I couldn’t get money from them, so I went to the ATM to get money. I went to Telecom to get myself a prepaid phone. After, I returned back to the Uni to pay for my insurance. Got my student ID. I am officially a Waikato student! Saw Leo there too.

After, I wanted to visit Aunty Kim. She works at the School of Management. Before I came here, Aunty Noe Noe told me to go and visit her. Therefore, today I went to visit her. We talked for about half an hour and she invited us, the Hawaiian students, to their house for dinner. So we said yes! We met her back at her office about 5 (Me, Leo, Kailee and Logan). Interesting and cool, because their cars are different. So I sat up front, what we call the drivers seat. Weird! Went to the store, because Aunty needed to buy some stuff. They live in Whatawhata, about 30 minutes drive away?! Uncle Hotu was cooking dinner when we arrived! They have 5 children. How can I say this but ʻOno loa! Piha ka ʻōpū! Like stew, salad and rice! I finally tried kiwi, it’s pretty good. After eat ice cream, the French Vanilla is pretty good! While we ate, we talked about all kine stuff, school, places, reggae music, those kine.

This is our family right now in Aotearoa. I really wanna thank Aunty Noe Noe for her contact, Uncle Hotu, Aunty Kim and the ʻohana for their aloha, hoʻokipa and for dinner. I am really grateful that I found you guys! Mahalo choke!

Aotearoa Day 4

Day 4: Monday, July 5th

It's just another day here in Aotearoa, another cold day that is! Went to a short orientation for international students. Meet 2 other students from Hawaiʻi! 2 more Hawaiians in Aotearoa! They both graduated from KS, 2008 and they attend Linfield. I'm not sure where that is. Pretty much it was just a briefing for enrolling into papers (aka courses/classes). After that went to the Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences to enroll into 2 papers: GEOG101-People and Place, Introduction to Social and Cultural Geography and HIST107-New Zealand Histories: Fresh Perspectives. After that, had to go to the School of Māori and Pacific Development for my other 2 papers: MAOR112-Te Reo Māori, Introductory 2; TTWA150; Te Tiriti o Waitangi, An Introduction to the Treaty of Waitangi. I am hoping to enjoy this semester exchange and not have to worry too much about my classes. Instead of MAOR112, I wanted MAOR100, because it was easy and it was introduction. But it clashed with my HIST and GEOG classes. Since I took a year of Māori at UHM, I asked if it was possible to enroll in a higher paper and so I got MAOR112. I hope its ok. I am also debating on whether or not to enroll in TIKA157-Mahi Whakaari Tawhito, Performing Arts, An Ancient Perspective. So pretty much a kapa haka class!

After approving these papers, went to the enrollment office to see if I could get my ID, so I got my enrolment (funny theres only 1 l) agreement form. All I need to do is just pay for my insurance, show my passport and I am officially a Waikato Student!

It was really cold today! I say this was the coldest day! It rained and walking in the cold wasn't fun! Just came back from the famous Warehouse to buy some sweatpants and water and chips! Probably head to town tomorrow! A funny/weird thing, went to lunch and all they gave me a plate of french fries. That's it?! Yeaps, so pretty much had that and ketchup!

ka kite

Aotearoa Day 3

So I forgot to write one for Day 3 so here it is.

Sunday, July 4th

Sunday and there isn't much to do. Ate Breakfast and Lunch. After lunch, decided to head to town. So we caught the bus, #13. Their buses are so nice and cleaner! It costs $3 NZD (New Zealand Dollars), just like back home you also get a transfer for a certain amount of time. So we had about 2 hours until our transfer expires. So on the way to town, we saw that they had KFC, Burger King and Kmart. We got of at the Bus Station and headed towards the shopping centre (aka center). So using the cross walk is weird since they drive on the opposite side. The walking sign makes a funny sound like in a video game. It was pretty cool. So we arrived at the shopping centre and we walked around for couple hours. It's pretty nice and clean! See my FB for some pictures. I didn't take much people I didn't want people staring at me in the picture so, more pictures will come later. They have all kinds of shops, mainly clothes. There is also a food court with different kine foods. There is a phone place, so I'm planning to buy a phone just for here. So if you need to get in touch with me, just email me, FB or Skype! Anyway we got back on the bus before our transfers expired and headed back. The ride was pretty fun, we saw that they have Pizza Hut! YEA!!! Had dinner and pau.

Aotearoa Day 2

ʻO kēia lā ka Pōʻaono, ka lā 3 o Iulai. I ka hola 8 o ke kakahiaka wau i hōʻala ai a ʻai iho wau i ka aina kakahiaka ma ka hale aina. Ua ʻai wau i ka siriala a me ka peanut butter sandwich me ke kokoleka. Na koʻu RA (Resident Advisor) i hōʻike mai iaʻu i ke kulanui o Waikato a haʻi maila ʻo ia e pili ana i nā hale like ʻole. Ua nānā māua i ka pāʻani rugby, hoihoi. Kaulana kēia pāʻaina ma kēia ʻāina. Pehea lākou e pāʻani i ke anuanu?! A no laila, hoʻi wau i koʻu lumi mahana! No ka aina awakea, ua ʻai wau i kekahi meaʻai a lākou i kapa ʻia ai ʻo meat pie, ʻono kēia meaʻai hou. Ua hoʻi ka hiamoe no kekahi mau hola a hele wau i ka ʻaina ahiahi, he meatloaf. ʻAʻohe a lākou laiki!!! ʻAno kaumaha wau! I koʻu manaʻo, ua ʻai iho i ka lā holoʻokoʻa!

ʻO kēia ka hopenapule, aka naʻe, he wā hoʻomaha kēia. No laila, ua hoʻi nā haumāna i ko lākou hale. ʻAʻole kokoke nā halekūʻai. ʻAʻohe hana leʻaleʻa. Pono nā haumāna e hoʻi i aneʻi i kēia pule aʻe. No laila, e hoʻomaha a ukali a hiki i kēia pule aʻe.

Today is Saturday, July 3rd. I woke up this morning at 8 and ate breakfast at the cafeteria. I had cereal and peanut butter sandwich with hot chocolate! My RA (Resident Advisor) showed me around campus and told me about the different buildings. We watched rugby on the field for a little while, interesting. This sport is pretty famous. I don't know how they can play in the cold?! Anyways, went back to my warm room! For lunch, I ate what they called meat pie, it was pretty good. Went back to my room to sleep for couple hours and then it was dinner, about 5:30pm. I ate meatloaf, potato and corn. No rice!!! I am kinda sad. It feels like I ate all day!

It's the weekend, but the holiday. So, pretty much everyone went back home. There's nothing fun yet. Stores are not close by. Everyone should return next week. So, I'll just wait and rest until then.

Aotearoa Day 1

Aloha from Aotearoa! This is my blog so that I can show all of you about my stay here in this land. If I write in Hawaiian, I will leave a translation so you can understand. I will try to also write in Māori when I can. Here is my first blog!

I flew out of Honolulu on June 30, 2010 at 11:15pm on Air New Zealand. This is the first time I am flying out of the Hawaiian Islands/Country. My flight was 9 hours, that is long! We each had our own tv screen and control. So for 9 hours, I watched movies such as Percy Jackson, Clash of the Titans, played games and slept. Dinner was served and it was pretty good, chicken pasta. It was hard to sleep on the plane. We landed in Auckland about 7:00am. Remember the time difference, Aotearoa (New Zealand) is about 22 hours ahead of Hawaiʻi time. So we landed, Auckland Airport is really huge and nice. Had to go through several checkpoints. Finally got to the pick up area and I was with my friend, Leo, who is also on this exchange with me at the University of Waikato. We tried to look for the guy with our names, we didn't see him, so we went outside! It was cold! I cold see my breath! Anyways we went outside and walked around for about 10 minutes looking for the cold, when we went back in, we finally saw our names. We passed the guy. Checked him with him and loaded our luggage in the mini-shuttle van. We had to wait for other students that were flying in. Ate breakfast at McDonalds, but they didn't have Portuguese Sausage!!! WAT?! Haha I decided to eat pancakes and a small orange juice. We waited for couple hours more, by then I was bored and tired. Loaded their luggages and were off to Hamilton. They drive on the wrong side of the road! Nah it's weird to see people driving on the left side and to see the oncoming car driving on the right. The ride was about 2-3 hours, because we had to drop off people at their housing area. Some places remind me of home, the houses look pretty big and mansion looking.

We finally arrived at The University of Waikato. We were dropped of at our housing called College Hall. The campus is huge! It's also nice and spacious. Checked into my hall, I have a room all to myself. I'm located in College Hall C in what they call "the basement", because I had to walk downstairs. So I have a bed, 2 desk areas, a big cabinet, a heater and couple shelfs on the wall. After I checked in, went to eat lunch. Had a small sandwich and pasta. Got to meet some of the local people here, they are pretty much the RA's, because everyone is on a 2 week holiday before the 2nd semester (B Semester) starts. It is pretty awesome talking to them because of their accent. Me and Leo walked around the campus to get a little familiar and to see if we can enroll in our papers (classes) and get our student ID. Couldn't, so we have to wait till next week. We went to a Bennet's Bookstore to buy a internet card, it's weird because we had to pay by the GB. We walked down to "The Warehouse" which is like Kmart/Walmart. Had to buy some stuff. Long walk, well it felt like it. Headed back and waited couple hours till dinner which was around 5pm (7pm HI time). I ate "fish & chips"! Was pretty good, but I've been told that they serve that every Friday night. Just like every Thursday night is steak night at UHM dorms!

Anyways rushed back to my room so that I could skype my ʻohana back home, because my phone has no service. So, I gotta go and buy a phone here. Skype'd with my ʻohana for about 4 hours. Got tired and I didn't unpack yet. But I went sleep!

For pictures checkout my Facebook!