More School in Hawaii

The Laie Elementary School First and Second Grade Classes.  I am on the right, trying to peer from behind a Samoan Girl

There were some things that puzzled me about being in First Grade in Hawaii.

 We had a principal that was very eluding. I hardly saw him. But, I did once see this ping pong paddle made into a spanking paddle, with holes. I thought my sister, D, was trying to freak me out (refer to the My mom is not my mom story) and I can not remember what happened, but I was put in the Principal's Office. The Principal sat me down, and talked to me and showed me his paddle. I never ever did anything at school for getting paddled, I want to make that clear. I was a good student, and I liked my teachers, but this school I did not like. I remember throwing fits having to go there.

  I had a teacher that hated me. I thought she did. She would get angry at us kids and yell. So, there were 4 teachers to a class, and 64 of us. My mom was a "Room Mom" and we had to make cookies and stuff for various class parties, I remember my mom saying, "64 kids in one class? Wow!" My birthdays were usually at the time of year that teachers were preparing for Valentines Day, and so for Valentines my mom was pretty tired doing more treats. I got a choice. I would be allowed to buy my treats for my birthday, or make them and I could not make both for my birthday and Valentines. Because this class was so big, I was only allowed to invite 7 kids to my Birthday party. I asked boys and girls to my Party. I kind of got a bonus.

My mom was best friends with another single mother going to BYU of Hawaii also. Her name was S C and she was Haole like our family. She had 4 sons and they were about the same age as I, we did a lot of things together, and so I invited Susan's boys an still was allowed to invite my 7 class mates!!! My mom, knowing that all 7 kids would not be able to come out witted me, but, it was worth a try.

   So, the day came. The sun was hot and sunny that day. It was a perfect day too!

As my Birthday was on a week day, the Saturday after my actual Birthday was the day of my Party.

I had so much fun! Three doors down from me was a little Chinese Family. They were from Hong Kong. Kim Fi Chan and his wife, Wa. Wa had beautiful thick long black hair! I loved her so much. This person was so beautiful and her husband was a good man.

  Well, Angela their 2 year old daughter was the first one I invited to my party. Here I was turning 7 and my mom said, "Are you sure? She is a baby, you want a baby to your party?" I loved Angela so much, she was like a little sister to me, and I had to have her at my party. Well, She came. I have pictures to prove it, they are in Utah and not in Turkey presently so, I will have to just show the pictures I have.

 It is interesting what a child's mind remembers and does not remember.

 I remember three other people being at my party. One boy named Izumi Kyoto (The rest of his name along with time has been erased). He came to my party.  Izumi was so nice and his mom adored me. I would go to his house to play with his Godzilla action figures and his mom would drive to the other side of the island in Honolulu and she invited me a couple of times. I recall going to the Japanese Gardens and then driving through the mountains into a huge Japanese Market that sold everything from Japan there. I returned with a bunch of Hello Kitty Stickers and candies from said store. His mom bought me a dress that I loved wearing. It was light blue and had a zipper down the front. I still have it put away in my storage in Utah. He made it clear that was not the gift he wanted to give me but that his mom gave it to me. He wanted to give me Godzilla Action Figures, but his mom insisted that a dress was more appropriate for a blue eyed blond haired girl. 

Gretchen was a Haole too. She was one of the few in my classes that was a Haole with me. She was also from the same church as I and so we were able to pal around often. Gretchen came to my birthday party. 

 She had an older sister that had a Maori Friend. That Maori friend and I befriended each other years and years later. 

Time, like water to a sand castle, has slowly eroded my memory, however, it is said over and over that I have more memories of my childhood and of this time than anyone of my family put together. 

 We had great Field Trips. 

 Golden Meadows Milk Farm

Japanese Gardens

Sea Wold in Honolulu

The PCC (Polynesian Cultural Center)

The Beach Across the Street

Honolulu Zoo

Miss Barbara's Horse Ranch (One of the 4 teachers I had had a Horse Ranch)

 I think Her Husband owned GunStock Ranch in Laie. We went there twice and they were her horses. 

D had come home one day from school crying and saying that she went to a Bull Fight that happened to be part of a Rodeo. She described in detail and with horror how the Bull was slaughtered and how the swords of the Matador was pierced into the Bull. I listened to her through tears and after a few minutes my mom went in the room with Danae and Danae came out of the room and never talked about the Bull Fight again. At the point, I stopped eating beef. I never realized before where beef had come from. D used to tell me I was eating Dead Animal and that mom had found it on the side of the road. She would say it joking to me about beef and I believed everything D said.  However, that day I thought about how the fat and the flesh were put together and I would look at the flesh and kind of not in a humane way but I would think this had blood in it and sometimes I would find a vein in my piece of beef, better yet, chicken. When it is in the beef, since the beef is brown, it would sort of blend in but in white meat such as chicken, the veins really are noticeable. The veins would stand out to me and if I found a piece of vein in my chicken I would end my meal fast. It drove my mom crazy. She said I was a picky eater. I was more of a vegetable eater and ate tons of salads. School Lunches killed me. I loved mashed potatoes, but the lunch ladies would ruin it with some kind of beef gravy that looked like chunky snot to me.  They had to give it to us by law, but there was nothing in the law about me pulling my tray away right at the last second and the lunch lady ladling the food all over the service line and none of it hitting my tray. It was instinct for me to pull away. The Lunch Lady would get so annoyed with me but, how could they ruin perfectly good mashed potatoes with horrible gravy. To this day, I can not order gravy anywhere. I have been continually disappointed with poorly made and disgusting looking gravy. Word out there. If you feed me, you better be a better cook than my family, or myself in order for me to eat at your establishment. 

We got Free Lunch in Hawaii. Same with Free Breakfast. All I have to say is, I am living proof that if you are hungry enough, and something looks disgusting, I will not eat it. Just because something is free it does not  mean that I have to eat it, and when something is free, it does not make it good to eat. 

  My mom was a Full Time Student At BYU Hawaii, as well as worked int eh Cafeteria. Kim Fi Chan was her boss. He was in charge of the Cafeteria there and would allow us to eat one free meal there a day. Some of the days that my mom had to work I would go there after school when we did not meet her at the beach, and we would hang out with my mom until her shift was over. We would eat there for dinner. The food was amazing there. And, not one made me eat the horrible booger-y looking gravy. 

Wa would come with Angela, and we would play. Those were the days. 

Another thing that now puzzled me about School in Hawaii. we would have cubby holes. In those cubby holes we would put our projects that were supposed to go home for that day, if we had a jacket we would hang the jacket on the hook under our name that matched our cubby. However, I was never scolded for removing my shoes. I hated shoes and I always removed my shoes, put them in my cubby for the day, and would only bring them out of my cubby when I would step on these horrible stickers that from time to time while playing, I would step on. These stickers were opened, and when a victim stepped on them, the plants' leaves would close up and sting the foot of the victim. I do not know what these stickers were called but I remember the pain. The said plant had tiny purple flowers and the beauty of those flower did not make the pain less bearable. I would slip my slippers on and run back out to play, but kick off my shoes within minutes of putting them on. Another time I would wish I wore my shoes, but within minutes of having them on, attribute my shoes to my pain was when I stubbed my big toes. It seemed to me that on BYU Campus, the concrete was different to that of Salt Lake City. I thought it more rough. Little grooves across the side walks. looking back I think it was because of the rain falls in Hawaii, to keep the side walks from being so slick, they would have little groves horizontally across the side walks. Well, I would stub my toes often and the pain and the toes feeling like they were going to fall off. When I had my shoes on It seemed I stubbed my toes more. My mom always said it was my lack of shoes. But she also understood my disdain for wearing shoes, as my mom is a barefoot lover herself. It must be the Native American blood seeping in my veins that caused me to hate shoes so much and when I returned to the Main Land, many times people around me would say, "This is not Hawaii, put your shoes on". How those words stung. Didn't people understand how bad shoes are? to this day, I take off my shoes every chance I get. And am proud of my bare footed walks in beaches, and everywhere else I can get away with