My Year as a Kumu

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When I graduated from Purdue, teaching jobs were very slim. I decided to take a risk and apply to teach in the state of Hawaii.

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In Hawaii, all teachers apply to the state, and they assign you to any island that has job openings.

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They interviewed me over the phone and paid my relocation expenses, so I was off to Hawaii!

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I was assigned to teach on the island of Lanai, the Pineapple island. Special apartments were provided for the teachers.

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My class included children from Hawaii, America, China, the Philipines, and Japan.

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We had a kupuna that would come once a week to teach Hawaiian history, the Hawaiian language, and sing songs with an ukulele.

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Later, I visited the Hawaiian Cultural Center to see many of the things we learned with the Kupuna.

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The school day was from 7 AM to 2:30 PM, because the classrooms were not air-conditioned, and got very hot in the afternoon.

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Most of the teachers tried to steal away to the beach after school for the rest of the afternoon.

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Lanai was a very secluded island and was often visited by celebrities due to it’s privacy. Locals were asked to leave them alone.

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Seeing them up close was good enough. I ate dinner next to Billy Crystal.I saw Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan.But the best was watching Kevin Costner on the beach!

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Bill Gates and his wife were married on the beach by the Manele Bay Hotel during the year I lived there.

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I swam with spinner dolphins and sharks at Sweetheart Rock. One of those experiences was a little more intimidating than the other.Transition: Ripple

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Once a month, I would take the short boat trip to the island of Maui. I saw whales on some of the trips.Transition: Wipe Up

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I would spend the day shopping in Lahaina, going to a movie, or just sightseeing. Transition: Page Curl Left

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On Lanai, certain groceries like milk and bread only came one day a week. If you forgot to shop that day, you usually didn’t get any until the next week.

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You can’t live in Hawaii and not attend a luau, so I went to a few of those, too.

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I tried some new foods while I lived in Hawaii. Octopus was very chewy, but didn’t have a bad taste.

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The fried lumpia was absolutely delicious. However, I decided to pass on trying black dog, which is a delicacy in Hawaii.

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I also traveled to the Big Island, Hawaii, on a weekend trip to see the active volcano. This was one of the coolest things I have ever seen!

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May Day is known as Lei Day in Hawaii. My students would give me leis for my head, wrist, ankle, neck, and even leis made out of money.

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The students would also put on a Hawaiiana show for Lei Day. The hula dances were wonderful to watch!

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Kindergarten graduation was a very big deal in Hawaii. This was another day that I was adorned with leis.

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At the end of the year, I decided that Indiana was too far away and I missed my family, so I returned home.

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I have since traveled back to the islands several times with family and to visit my friends.

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Sometimes I try to convince my husband to move back there - maybe one day we will retire in Paradise!

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