Yew Chung International School

Alooooha! This week we had a group of junior high school joining us for our short-term program. There were 46 students who came to us from the Yew Chung International School from China. Yew Chung is an amazing school that has been providing students with bilingual and multicultural education for over 70 years. They were with us for 10 days, and we did lots of fun activities while they are here.

After they arrived, the students had some free time to explore the island and relax before heading to the Kalama Village to watch the sun set. I have seen the sun set in many places around the world, but I think Maui has the most beautiful sunsets by far. If you ever have been in Maui before, you definitely know what I'm talking about. The next day, they went sightseeing around the island and had a beach excursion. This was followed up by an amazing dinner at the luxurious Dragon Dragon restaurant located at the Maui Mall, which is conveniently located within walking distance from their hotel. The students from Yew Chung will also went to the Maui Ocean Center, a state-of-the-art aquarium facility where you can see a variety of native Hawaiian marine life. They saw things like graceful sea turtles, mysterious jellyfish, and even divers swimming with sharks. After their excursion to the Maui Ocean Center, the students will get to unwind and have some fun at the Maui Golf and Sports Park. They'll played some miniature golf, had fun riding bumper boats, and even tried their hand at rock climbing.

Over the next few days, our students got to experience a lot more of Maui through fun excursions and cultural activities. They participated in lei making workshops, presentations on Hawaiian volcanoes, and even Hula dance classes to immerse our students in the culture of Hawaii. They also went to a traditional Lu'au (a Hawaiian feast with entertainment), a whale-watching excursion, and took a trip to a local senior center to interact with the community here. They also got to travel around the entire island, going to places like Lahaina, Kihei, Haleakala National Park, and Hana.

Speaking of Lu'aus and entertainment in Hawaii, here's a useful Pidgin English phrase that you will probably hear when you come to Hawaii. The phrase is "hana hou." It can mean either "encore" or "to do something one more time." This word is especially useful if you go to a concert with a local band playing. You'll definitely hear this word being chanted right when the band is finishing up their last song (assuming that they were good and you want to hear more). You'll occasionally hear people say this word at other types of entertainment performances (hula dances, comedy shows, etc.) but the overwhelming majority of people use this phrase at local music concerts. So be sure to shout "hana hou!" the next time you want to hear more from you favorite local band.

Hakuoh Students from Japan

This year we will be having a lot of short-term program students joining us from all over the world. Our short-term programs are perfect for visiting student groups that would like to improve their English skills as well as to experience the culture of Hawaii firsthand. The ESL classes and excursions are custom-designed for each group to maximize their learning experience.

One of our first groups for the new year comes to us from Hakuoh University in Japan. They have been going all around the island and breathing in the culture and beauty of Maui. Not only did they get to explore all around the island, but they also went to the beach to feel the smooth Maui sand between their toes. And of course, you can't come to Hawaii without trying some of the delicious food here. They got to try traditional Hawaiian cuisine as well as some local delicacies. If you want to see a sample of the delicious Hawaiian food that they ate here, check out our blog about food. Trust me, you can’t read any of those blog without getting hungry!

I mentioned in previous blog that Hawaii Pidgin English was influenced from the many different cultures that live together here. Today's Pidgin word is a perfect example of how certain words from different cultures were taken and incorporated into Hawaii Pidgin English. The word is "bachi" and it comes from the Japanese language. Bachi carries a meaning of divine punishment, kind of like karma. So if you see someone doing something bad, you can tell them that they will get bachi. Let's take a look at an example conversation to see how this word is used.

Michael: Eh, we go play inside dat graveyard!
John: What? What you like do dat fo? That place is sacred lolo! No do dat bumbai you going get bachi!

Translation:
Michael: Hey, let's go play in that graveyard!
John: What? Why in the world would you want to do that? That place is sacred dummy! If you do that you'll get bad luck.

Wow! That conversation was chocked full of Pidgin English words! We already learned all of these words from past blogs except for the word "lolo." Lolo refers to someone who is not smart, or in more colloquial terms, an idiot or a dummy. Although this word has a negative meaning, it is usually not used to viciously insult someone. It is usually used between friends to lightheartedly say how crazy or idiotic a person or situation is. So if you hear someone say "ai, dat guy is so lolo," it means something like "wow that guy is so crazy!"
It's time for me to say goodbye but another blog update is already on it's way. Until then, aloha!