Hawaii Part 3

The other 2 places I wanted to visit were the Temple and the Polynesian Cultural Center (PCC). Here is the Lai'e Temple (pronouned "la ee aa"). I have to say, this is one of the most beautiful temples I've seen. We didn't go inside as we had kids who were too young to go inside, so we just enjoyed the outside.

The missionaries there at the visitors center were couples or sisters. The sisters who serve a Hawaii mission all take turns at the temple. They wear those long flowery dresses (as you picture Hawaiian women wearing) with flowers in their hair. Actually, many women wear flowers behind their ear everywhere you go.



We visited the Temple on the 12th birthday of my friend's son. This pic is of my friend's girls (and her mom's hand--LOL) in the area right behind the temple. There was an area that was created by the trees and they had some benches there. It was secluded and a perfect place for his father and grandfather to ordain him to the office of deacon, which they did. What a wonderful experience. So incredible to be ordained in such a sacred and beautiful setting. I was happy to be a part of that moment.

Here's another shot of the trees in the secluded area behind the temple. The interesting about these trees are, you are looking at their roots. Their roots grow DOWN to the ground and once they bury themselves into the ground, another tree grows. The roots/branches then entwine themselves and forms a twisty looking tree.

After the temple, we visited the PCC. Actually, the PCC, BYU-Hawaii, and the temple are all right next to each other. The church owns quite a bit of land there in Lai'e and uses it to house their educational and ecclesiastical institutions.

Here we are learning a hula dance. The hula is actually sign language put to music. Each action has a meaning. Our hula dance is telling the story of a woman in love and welcoming her lover back from across the ocean. Notice the girly in pink of front? That's one of ours and her face is hilarious--"am I doing this right?" I just look goofy--I was imagining what all of us looked like--including the men shaking their hips.

The PCC is set up to a living museum which demonstrates the culture of the people from the Pacific Islands. Cultures including Hawaiians, Maori (New Zealand), Tongon, Samoa, etc. are demonstrated by BYU students and others. This man was hilarious. He is Samoan and demonstrated how to open and drink the juice from a coconut. He chose our newest deacon as a "volunteer" to partake of the juice. E. was less than excited to try this and his face was hilarious.

A little bit of trivia--when a coconut is opened, the juice inside is just that--juice. It is not milk. Coconut milk is obtained by scraping out the meat of the nut and then squeezing that. I had never had fresh coconut and found that it actually doesn't even taste like coconut! It reminded me of a meaty type of nut such as Macadamia or hazelnut. The flavor is very mild.

And I tried poi. Poi is made from the tarrot root which is quite a bit like a sweet potato, except it's purple. Poi is made by pounding the tarrot and then cooking it (boiling, baking, etc.). Tarrot raw is not able to be eaten--it has to be cooked. They had samples and it had the consistency of a thick applesauce. The flavor is very bland...until the aftertaste hits. Then it is very, very sweet. I found it pleasant to eat, although I don't know what I would eat with it. The Hawaiians eat it with dinners as almost a condiment for their meat, veggies, or rice.

We ate at the PCC for a traditional luau. There were tons of food and it was very, very good. I think my favorite was the "Lomi Lomi Salmon." It's raw salmon with soy sauce, ginger, and other ingredients. It's very good and doesn't taste like raw salmon (I love sushi). The roasted pork was yummy as well. They had one dessert that was...well...just gross. It was some kind of coconut pudding--the texture was like a Jello Jiggler.






They had entertainment for us as we ate and invited all the kiddos up on stage to participate in a hula. We made our youngest members to go--they didn't look too excited to be in front of hundreds of people.

Next stop, traditional Pacific Island dancing.