We arrived in Hawaii on Monday March 5. Immediately when we arrived we went to a local "mall". More like a small city...but it has a great food court and everyone had lunch before re-boarding the buses for a hike of Diamonhead. This was a great hike and an incredible view of honolulu from Oahu's main geographical attraction. After this terrific journey to the top....we proceeded down the mountain only to be met by a flash rainstorm...Soaked but satisfied, we boarded the buses again to the small city of Kailua...We arrived at the church for a great pot luck dinner by the members of the Windward Choral Society and then the students were whisked off with their host families and Jeff and I took a trental car on a drive back to our hotel in Honolulu...
Day 2 un Hawaii we awoke to rain, rain and more rain...We made the drive to Kailua Beach Park where the students were to have a free morning at the beach.......No go....so, we spent our free morning in Kailua for some shopping and lunch.
After lunch we boarded the buses again and went to Windward UCC for rehearsal...after rehearsal we went to dinner (students at host families and Jeff and I went for Korean food withthe Windward director) we came back to the church and had a great concert to an SRO audience.
After the concert Jeff and I returned to Honolulu.
Day 3 in Hawaii I had a busy morningrunning our to Pearl Harbor to pick up tickets and waited for the students to arrive for the tour. Jeff was in town at the local NPR station for an interview.
We toured the Navy base and went out to the Arizona...Very touching tribute to the men that lost their lives on 12/7/4. the "tears of the Arizona" (oil seeping from the Arizona for the past 41 years) made the trip even more emotional.
After the tour the students went of to an outreach event and I went to City Hall to pick up the permit for the use of a local park for banquet.
I met the YGC at the hotel after their outreach and we went onto the town of Laie and the polynesian cultural center for a luau and show.
Back to the hotel for students to check in.
Day 4...free morning and then off to the banquet site for set up....Beautiful location on a peninsula overlooking the Pacific...a little sprinkling of rain, but the banquet went off without a hitch, complete with rainbow.
