Abs & Anniversaries at the Polynesian Cultural Center

Another picture post! This one is from day 2 of Rachel's visit. 

I'm sorry I rarely write anything of substance these days. I've been losing followers sort of rapidly so I'm either boring or offending you haha. I will endeavor to be a better blogger.

For now, though,you get pictures!

The second day Rachel was here,we went to the Polynesian Cultural Center. I think it's worth it to go once while here because you learn a TON but it was frustrating because we didn't have enough time to see and do everything (and it's pricey.) Still, we learned so much about the cultures of Hawaii and other Polynesian islands and laughed a lot--particularly at the presentations for Samoa and Tonga. If you go, make sure to see those!

That morning I cooked breakfast. I made little fruit palm trees and then made banana pancakes with macadamia nut sauce and bacon! Just call me Beckie Crocker.

The PCC is run by BYU (they have a campus here on Oahu) and they let students from all over the Polynesian Islands come and work at the PCC in exchange for free or greatly reduced tuition, so people who couldn't have afforded to go to school get to come here,go to school, and accomplish their educational goals. 

So yes,the performers in the Fiji village are from Fiji, the performers in "Samoa"are Samoan, etc. It makes the experience even better knowing you're learning about the cultures from people whose culture it is.

We walked around to the little villages that were dedicated to specific islands. Each one had a presentation during which someone tells you about the country, the culture, and some of the customs.There was usually some dancing or other skills performed (like how to open and shred a coconut, climbing the coconut tree, hula, the use of poi balls, etc.) and you could try things yourself during the day.

We couldn't ever figure out how to be in the right place at the right time for any of the skills except spear throwing. Rachel threw a spear which is potentially the most dangerous thing ever. I do not trust her with pointy objects.

We saw many, many biceps and abs that day.

That was fun.

Oh, and I dressed like a Duggar. I was super comfortable but I have to explain my weird choice of wardrobe. I got these new maxi skirts and wanted to wear one, but I was also having one of those days where you feel gross and all 500 of your shirts are horrible and you just want to not be seen in public..so I picked a t-shirt and belted it. But then the belt annoyed me. And..I dunno. I just ended up with this. 

My favorite part of the day was the luau. We sat across from this wonderful little old couple who were celebrating their 50th anniversary O_O. Only 46 more years to go for me! Haha

The host at the luau had everyone celebrating an anniversary or honeymoon come up to be recognized and to dance. It was sweet...and I am a creeper paparazzi so I decided to go and take some pictures of it for them. I'd probably love being a celebrity and having every second of my life recorded so I figured it would be nice for them to have pictures of this day. I'm getting prints made and sending them out to them soon :)

I have a bunch..I don't want to plaster their faces about the internet though

The food was delicious--I had kalua pork, rice, a (purple) taro roll, purple sweet potato salad, poi,and a bunch more. I also inhaled several servings of haupia (Hawaiian coconut custard/pudding) because I am horribly addicted to it. All in all it was a great day. David and I are taking Krista (my cousin) when she gets here in two weeks. We were able to take advantage of an AMAZING deal our ITR (the military tickets place--they have incredible deals on so many things here) office had and we get to go for super cheap, plus we get to see the show the PCC has after the luau :).