Hawaiian Luau

Today, courtesy of my employer, I experienced my first authentic Hawaiian Luau.  It was one of the few things he said I have to do while I’m in Hawaii.  It was very cultural!  This particular Luau is held every Thursday night on the ocean-side patio of a veryveryvery fancy resort and is said to be the highest quality (and highest priced, I’m assuming!) Luau on the island.  The resort provides a beautiful view of Hanalei Bay:

After arriving and having our car valet parked, we got lei-ed (tee-hee… never gets old) and were seated.  Here’s me in my lei:

The Luau was broken into three segments: Appetizers, Entrée, and Desert.  The Appetizer Entertainment was a fluid, calm hula dance done by three beautiful women (or girls... a couple of them were younger than me, I think.)  Then we were released to get our appetizer course, which was fancy buffet around a large, circular podium.  Fresh pineapple, cantelope, and papaya… corn soup… leafy salad… rolls… and the infamous Hawaiian food called “poi,” which is a brown mush and is known for not having a taste.  My employer described is as wheat-flavored water… and though it is thicker than liquid—more like a pudding—it does sort of have that aftertaste.  Evidently no one ever really eats it, they just serve it as a novelty because everyone “has to try it once!” So I tried it.  I’d eat it if I were starving to death, but there’s nothing appetizing about it!  (Sorry the quality of the pictures isn't the greatest—the lighting was dim.)

The Entrée Entertainment was more hula dancing, this time a more aggressive, tribal dance with drums and intensity.  Following the female presentation, three men did a “slapdance,” which involved them slapping themselves in synchronized, intricate rhythms and contorting their bodies… eh nevermind… I can’t describe it at all.  Ha.  But it was definitely interesting, impressive, and intentionally humorous!  Their faces were painted with dotted and lined designs, and they periodically stuck their tongues out down to their chins and opened their eyes wide… they resembled those stone Hawaiian totem poles with crazy-looking tribal faces.   We then had our main course, which consisted of rices, mashed sweet potatoes (which were bright purple!), shredded pork with some island seasoning, some sort of fish (which I thought was chicken until I was halfway done with it), and some sort of chicken wrapped in seaweed so that it resembled un-husked corn. Sadly, I didn’t noticed the seaweed-wrapped chicken… I would have definitely tried something that unique!

The Desert Entertainment was a story (told through hula) of how the Polynesians originally migrated to Hawaii.  Each segment of the journey was told through a different dance—some rhythmic and energetic—some slow and soothing that finally culminated in an arresting fire-dance.  One of the male hula dancers lit two double-ended fire-sticks, once in each hand, and twirled/spun them in circular patterns to the beat of a drum.  It was quite mystical and intense.  At one point he “ate” the fire, as well.  The desert course were mini cheesecakes, small chocolate cakes with a kiwi baked into the bottom, and pineapple-banana custards in double shot glasses.  Everyone was taking pictures with the hula dancers before and after the luau, and at the insistence of my employer, I got one as well (before the luau, when there was still sunlight):

I may take a couple hula lessons while I’m here just for something to do.  It’s amazing the way the women move their bottom halves (especially during the really fast, tribal dances!) without their top halves even quivering.  It must really take coordination to be so fluid with your arms, shoulders, and neck while your hips are going crazy.

I haven’t really gotten to do much artistic photography yet, but as we were leaving, I got a nice shot of the chandelier in the massive lobby:

When we got home and were walking from the garage to the house, I happened to look up at the sky… I stopped dead in my tracks and stayed there for ten minutes.  Where I live with my parents, there aren’t many city lights around, and the view of the stars is great… but here, with no real “cities” on the island and the only towns being miles away, I could see sweeping waves of galaxies.  In those ten minutes, I saw one for-sure shooting star, and several other maybe-I’m-imagining-it shooting stars.  In any case, star-gazing will now be something I do nightly.  Nothing is more peaceful than staring into the vast outer-space to the soundtrack of crashing waves.  Wow.   

Sorry everyone, but that’s all I have the energy to write for now.  I know it was boring in parts, but truthfully, the reason I’m blogging is for myself… I want an organized way to be able to reflect back on my experiences here.  So far I’ve been working pretty much all day every day—but tomorrow I think I’m finally going to go to the beach!  My employer said that if I didn’t go tomorrow, he was going to force me to go on Saturday.  More blogging to come in the next few days… much aloha… truly miss you all!