What, Where, and Wen!

With an early start to our Hawai’i part of tour, a good chunk of us (chunk? Really?) just stayed up all night. Oh, and have you seen 27 Dresses with Katherine Heigl in it? No comment… kept me awake, at least. Ok… ’twas charmingly cliche. The first thing I noticed on Hawaiian Airlines: the flight attendants. I don’t know whether to be a little put-off or a little engaged into the expectations of the Hawaiian culture and its personalities. I mean, they were wonderful and nice, just… very poignant and forward. HIM: “What’s it gonna be for ya?” ME: “Was that some type of passionfruit or guava juice?” HIM: “Yea, both.” ME: “Hey that’s great. I’ll have that, thanks!” HIM: “Yea. Here.” (Oh, very heavy voice indeed though. Think Laurence Fishbourne. Mad.)

The one thing that probably still gets to my head is this juxtaposing disparity between man, civilization, buildings on this tropical backdrop with surreal blockbuster-material mountain tops. Somehow it works.

Our first afternoon + second day here essentially were free days. We got to explore, take it all in. Definitely took advantage of that with the best $40 I’ve spent in a long time. One word: MOPED. Yes, Mo-ped!

With our liability forms signed away cards charged, Eric, Jessie, Michael and I probably had our most incredible tour experiences to date within the first few hours of reaching the Waikiki Beach area!!! To take it out for a spin, we readily challenged our new-found mo-ped skills on Highway 72 (they do max out at about 30 mph) and went around the southeastern corner of the island of Oahu. The further we went, the more I was at a loss of words. Without fail, every hill we went over completely unfolded a grand horizon of blue skies, ocean, and green cliffs that were majestically incomparable. Open air, open road, open to the wind in your face and the smells of the middle of the Pacific Ocean! I though this only happened in movies, especially cruising downtown Honolulu in the night. The lights were glamorous, the buildings towering; it was us in Vice City the game. WOW.

Of course, we can’t be selfish and not share this joyous experience with other guys… so the next morning, six more joined our little moped gang. Quite a sight to see ten guys in line, riding across down in these little things… today however, we stopped around a couple incredible spots as well. I must say, I held up alright considering ten of us stayed together on Highway 61 through the inland mountains with a minimum speed requirement at 40 mph. Oh, and I was just about empty on fuel. Going uphill. With a scenic spot to stop at, of course. (We made it to the next city. And I did so barely)

And so the evening came, and for what seem like days of not seeing each other, the whole chorale finally convened for our first event in Hawai’i. We met with Aaron Mahi, director of music and many other things at the Kamehameha Schools. He led us through a few of our Hawaiian centered songs wonderfully and filled us in on some background information on the pieces.

Among the parents present, APU’s Dean of Student Life, Terry Franson, joins us for a couple days, and of course, Andrea from the Office of Advancement is with us. She tirelessly made this tour happen. Period. Her connections spurred on great events, invitations, and performance opportunities we could not have imagined. Incredible woman that we owe much gratitude towards.

Click here for more photos from our tour!

Well, here’s a little video summary. Hope to do more of these, whaddya think?