Hawaii, Day 2

[ladysprite]

Day 2
(written Friday, July 14)

I just realized that before I got here, I had never seen the sun set over the ocean. It’s a little thing, and it had never occurred to me living on the east coast, until a day after I saw it.

The Polynesian Cultural Center is wonderful, if you’re a nerd like me. It’s somewhat like a cross between Epcot and Plimoth Plantation – touristy and polished and a little gimmicky, but at the same time an honest attempt at historic reenactment and cultural preservation. The little shows in each area teach you a lot, there are a bunch of hands-on activities, and if you pay attention, it’s even more fun to talk to the behind-the-scenes people.

The luau was ridiculously fun. The food was good, though I’ve learned that I don’t particularly like poi – it tastes a bit like Cream of Wheat that’s starting to go bad. The slow-roasted pig was delicious, lomilomi salmon is my new favorite food, and I’m sure there was a bunch of other good stuff, but I was rather distracted by watching the hula dancers (lakshmi, it reminds me a *lot* of Indian dancing on Valium - similar symbolism and motion-categories, but more slow and vague and flowy. I don't quite have the vocabulary to explain it.).

Then there was the Big Damn Cultural escapade with dance from all the Polynesian nations, and I have a few take-home points from that:
1) The people of Tahiti worry that their best dancers in their sexy hip-shake dance are too sexy for normal mortals to survive watching, so they make the best women wear ridiculous pope-hats, and their men all do the Funky Chicken instead.
2) Fiji is like the semi-feral and possibly psychopathic relative that gets locked in the basement but can kick everyone else’s ass into next week. And their war dance rocks.
3) The people of Samoa are insane. They also apparently invented the pratfall, and they put out fires with their butts.

Let me say that again. They put out fires with their butts. I know they’re the people of Maui, the trickster god, but that’s really a bit much. I can understand the fire-spinning, and things like that. It’s flashy, and showy, and impressive. But how does fire-sitting become a cultural symbol? Not only does someone have to think of it, and convince someone else to do it, but they have to then convince them to do it again, and again, until they figure out how not to get burned in the process.

All in all, I’m both impressed and a bit…. Well, not amused and not scared, but…. They put out fires. With their butts.

Long day, much fun. And now, off to the conference.

Comments

[jtdiii.livejournal.com]

The fire sitting can be explained with one word... alcohol...

Hey look what I can do! Sizzle....

[wcg.livejournal.com]

I wonder how one says "Hey y'all! Watch this!" in Polynesian...

[vettecat.livejournal.com]

Somewhere I have (or used to) a comic book called Dennis the Menace visits the Polynesian Cultural Center. Really. :-)

[pagawne.livejournal.com]

OUCH!

[gyzki.livejournal.com]

I just realized that before I got here, I had never seen the sun set over the ocean. It’s a little thing, and it had never occurred to me living on the east coast, until a day after I saw it.

I had a girlfriend in college who was from Oregon ("Oregon, where the shadows lie" - John Hodgman). One time she was wearing a sweater that represented the flat horizon of the sea cutting halfway across the disk of the sun. She, thinking of it as a sunset, said "I just realized, you've probably never seen this in real life." I, seeing it as a sunrise, replied that I wasn't often awake that early but I wouldn't say never.

[deguspice.livejournal.com]

When I see a sunrise, it's usually because I haven't yet been to bed.

[kestrell.livejournal.com]

1. Fireplay is fun, if you know what you are doing, and still less scarey than swimming with sharks.
2. If you live on an island where there is no where to run in case of fire and limited amounts of fresh water, I suppose learning to play with fire instead of fearing it serves a useful psychological purpose.
3. As for who thought of it, forget alcohol, one need only think of teenage boys with a can of hair spray and a Bic lighter to figure this one out.

[cyan-blue.livejournal.com]

Did they approach the fire from the top or the side of the flame?

[umbran.livejournal.com]

They *sat* on the fire.

[cyan-blue.livejournal.com]

Right, got that bit. So... if they lowered themselves down from way atop the flame, they would feel a lot more heat than if they sat next to the flames and then scooted sideways at it. Because you can touch pretty close to the sides of a flame without feeling heat, but the heat sensation rises pretty high above the top of a flame. So it makes a difference.

[umbran.livejournal.com]

I'm quite aware of the physics involved. I just clearly wasn't being descriptive enough. But can you imagine a way to make scooting around on your butt to sidle up to the flame look dramatic rather than goofy? And setting that to music as part of a dance routine? :)

No, they walked over it and sat down. Squiggled around a bit, then stood up and walked off it. And I should mention that the area of flame was larger than they could cover individually - so they were not just sitting on fire, they were sitting within fire.

[ladysprite.livejournal.com]

Enh, there was scooting too. And somersaults. And... did I mention they were crazy?

[umbran.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm not given to good description of dance. I was going for "accurate, if a bit simplified".

My point - there was precious little careful avoidance of heat. :)

[ladysprite.livejournal.com]

Both. They bounced up and down on it, tumbled over and through it, scooted onto it from one side, and generally scared the bejeezus out of me.

[deguspice.livejournal.com]

lomilomi salmon is my new favorite food

Googling for the recipe turns up a mix of salmon, tomatoes, and onions served on ice. Is that what you had? It sounds interesting (except for the tomato part, I'm not a fan of tomatoes).

[ladysprite.livejournal.com]

Yep - and the salmon is worked somehow to make it soft and buttery and amazing. I could try to make it, but I'm not sure it would be the same....

[melissaagray.livejournal.com]

The key there is you were eating salted salmon, not cooked salmon. It is the cousin of smoked salmon/lox. Basically take to fresh raw salmon, cover it in lots of salt (some fresh dill & pepper is nice too), wrap it in saran wrap and let it sit in your fridge for 2 to 3 days. Brush off the salt, rinse it good, and crumble at will.

Here's a good recipe:
http://www.recipezaar.com/136947

[edschweppe.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you enjoyed it.

I went to a couple of luaus when I was stationed at Pearl Harbor, and I remember that the PCC luau was the best of them all. The only downside to the PCC luau was no booze (due to PCC being part of Brigham Young University of Hawaii) - but the entertainment was fantastic.

Oh, and I don't believe anybody actually likes poi. The locals just talk it up because the expression on our haole faces when we taste that crap is just too funny for words.