dabaam: January 2007

Wanii'igeng miinawaa Agoodoowin

Aaniin ezhichiged a'aw ikwe? Biwaabik odakonaan. Aaniin dash waa-ayaabajitood?

Nashke miinawaa bezhig ikwe, gegoo odoozhitoon. Awegonen dinowa ozhitood? Nagwaagan odoozhitoon. Ominwendaan ezhichiged.

Niiwin nagwaaganan ingii-agoodoomin idash ingii-nagwaanaamin bezhig waabooz eta. Gegaa ojiimaan waaboozoon.

"Wow" ikidowag ingiw ikwezensag. Amik gii-tasoozo. Gii-biboong, niminwendaan wanii'igeyaan.

Gii-biboong, wayiiba onaagoshig bangishimo gimishoomisinaan.

Awenenag ingiw awesiiyag?

Dibishkoo ma'iingan miinawaa mooz izhinaagoziwag.
Nashke awedi miinawaa bezhig ma'iingan biijibatoo!
Niswi dashiwag ingiw ma'iinganag.
Omiigaanaawaan moozoon ingiwedig ma'iinganag.
Ogagwe-nisaawaan moozoon, ganabaj wii-wiisiniwag.

Biboon

Noongom zhebaa agwajiing ingii-inaab.

Gii-tagoshin gaa-bebooniked akiwenziinh, ingii-inendam.

Niminwenimaa a'aw goon. Aapiji mino-naagwad misiwe inaabiyaan.

Mii dash ji-maajii-aadizookeyang.

Miziwe gii-waabishki-inaagwad.

Leaving Hawaii

Upon leaving, I have a few reflections on the highlights of our trip to Hawaii.

When we went to Hilo and visited Volcanoe National Park, I got to see first hand how Creation was created. Lava came up from the ocean and erupted which in turn cooled and turned into rock. Rocks piled on top of each other and eventally became land. Seeing this, it was like standing at the dawn of time and watching creation be created. This was so amazing, seeing how the Creator created creation. I was awed.

The second thing would have to be the immersion efforts that the Hawaiians are involved in. Yesterday we visited another immersion school and met the staff and a special tour of the school. The land is utilized as part of the curriculum and seeing the gardens being fed by natural water flow was inspiring. Seeing the classrooms all written in the Hawaiian language was equally inspiring. Seeing this gave me hope for all Indigenous people of the world.

Next year the NIEA conference is going to ne hosted here in Honolulu and the president of the organization gave us a special invitation to attend who also happened to be our tour guide. She was very gracious in hosting us and took us out to a very expensive restuarant with a table by the ocean. We ate sea food and got to see the sun set from a large picture window while ships passed by in the harbour. This was imoressive.

After supper we took a last stroll down Waikiki beach and bought some last minute items to bring home with us. The weather, the healthy looking people, the good food and good hospitality will stay with me for a long time.

Hanauma Bay is a under water nature perserve where we went snorkeling. Attached are a few pictures of that place.

Visiting Volcano Nation Park in Hilo

Miziwe gaa-inaabiyang, gii-bimijiwan nibi.
In Hilo, there are many waterfalls and the fact that it was raining a lot added to the fresh water flowing.

Waabigwaniin miziwe gii-nitaawigin.
There is a rain forest and plants grow very fast.

Biindig imaa wajiwing ingii-babaa-bimosemin.
We were able to walk inside of this mountain.

Mount Kilawea is the largest mountain in the world and when it erupts, it leaves large caves like this one where the lava flowed and made holes in the mountain.

Mii go apane ji inaabiyan imaa ishpimiing.
You aways have to look up when you are around coconut trees.

Heading to Hilo

Daga izhaadaa iwidi gichi-minising. Mii sa gaa-izhichigeyang. Ingii-pimisemin bimisemagadining. Let's go to the big island. So that is what we did. We flew by plane.
Hawaii is the name of the big island and it is the largest of all the islands. The three airlines are having a price war therefore it was relatively cheap to fly.

Imaa gikino'amaading ingii-izhaamin gii-tagoshinaang. Ingii-nagamotawigoonaan ingiw abinoojiiyensag. Aapiji gii-minotaagoziwag idash gii-jiikinaagoziwag igaye. We visited the immersion school when we arrived. These young pre-schoolers sang to us in Hawaiian as a way to greet us and they were just cute.
Omaamaayan miinawaa odaanisan gii-biinichigewag imaa gikinoo'amaading. Gakina awiiyag wiidookaagewag ji-anokiimagak i'iw gikinoo'amaading. The mother and daughter here help to clean the school. Everone is involved in every aspect of the school to help it run smoothly.

Ingii-waabanda'ig aanind mazina'iganan gaa-ozhitoowaad. Gakina gegoo ozhibii'igaade Hawaiian-imowin. Pila Wilson is showing me some of the curriculum that they have developed here for the immersion school.

Nagweyaab gemaa manidoo miikana Hawaiian anishinaabe-bii'igaade. The colors of the rainbow are named in Hawaiian.

The school is very self sufficient. They raised their own pigs and tend to them daily. It is part of the curriculum. I would say the most impressive part was that everyone was staying in the language and they only switch to english for our benefit. They had me speak to the little ones in Anishinaabemowin and I told them that "Mahalo" is "Miigwech" in Ojibwe.

Giiwedinong Jiigibiij Ingii-izhaamin (Heading to the North Shore)

Gii-gichi-maangaashkaa iwidi

gaa-izhaayaang.

Before Don left, we drove to the north shore of the island where the waves were reported as being 25 feet high. The weather was so great that Laura and I sat in the back of the jeep with the top down and the wind blowing in our air. Hey I was being "Wind In His Hair"

Geget igo michaamagadinoon!

Don was so amazed at how huge the waves were that he tried to measure them.

Gego bagizoken imaa, ozhibii'igaade.

"Strong Current, if in doubt don't go out" is what the signs reads.

Aapichi minonaagwad miziwe

babaa-inaabiyaan.

Check this out. Not the girls but the size of the waves coming in.

Gichi aabawaa imaa minising.

On the Beach

We went snorkeling over there somewhere....

Laura's cousin is in the Coast Guard and was able to get us into a military base where the beach was exclusive for military personnel. We had our own private little beach and the snorkeling was incredible. There was a lot of colorful fish along with various sizes to them and we were able to get up real close to them. As Don put it, "it was awesome."

What's a vacation if you can't lay around on the beach and catch some rays. Trying to get brown.

We had a great supper and afterwards we went and had some homemade ice cream. Everything is great, we are eating good, seeing good sites, have good company and best of all, it is very relaxing.

Sushi for New Year's

We had sushi new year's eve and these were the various reponses.

New Year's eve here is very loud.
The fire crackers start going off around 6:00 in the evening and last until about 12:30

The Hawaiian's have adopted the Japanese beliefs
of tying 5,000 fire crackers to a pole outside their
house and then lighting it to ward off any danger
for the year.

We drove around Waikiki beach in the evening but
could not find any place to park.
It was just packed with celebrators.