ROTARY HAWAII EXPEDITION 2010

Feb 26th - Snorkeling / Luau / Guru's Birthday!

2010-02-28T01:36:00.000-08:00

Vinicius and the Fiji dancer

Arnaud (Belgium)

Students showing their Hula skills at the Luau

Carolin (Germany), Catalina (Colombia), Marina (Spain) and Sthefania (Brazil)...

Juline (France) working on her headband...

Hanauma Bay

Laurenz (Austria) at Hanauma Bay

Jonas (Germany)

Hanauma Bay

Group that walked up the mountain to watch the sunrise.

Shadows from the students...

Sunrise

Students watching the sunrise

Sunrise from Diamond Head

The last day of our trip to Hawaii started really early in the morning when some of us walked to the bottom of the Diamond Head to see the sunrise. We had to hurry up the walk because at 6:15am the sun was about to rise, but we made it in a perfect timing. We could see on of the most beautiful sunrises of our lives.

We left the hotel again at 9am to Hanauma Bay. It’s hard to describe that beach, because it looked like a scenery of a dream, with all the clear water, colorful fish, turtles and the coral reef. The bay originally was a volcano but then the water overflew the crater and the bay was born. The best way toe explore this beautiful day was snorkeling J.

After that, we came back to the hotel for a shower and went to Paradise Cove for a typical Luau. The place was beautiful and they had a lot of activities ad shows that made us feel and enjoy the Aloha spirit. We had some Polynesian tattoos, flower necklaces, danced hula and watched a big show.

For Guru (Norway) it was even more exciting because it was her 18^th birthday and everyone sang Happy Birthday to her in their own language.

Back at the hotel, we exchanged some pins and cards. We all were a little bit sad because we had to say goodbyes to our new friends. Throughout this experience we had memories that will last forever.

Mahalo!!!

Ida Bucic – Croatia

Camila Satolo de Canto - Brazil

Nele Broer - Germany

NEWS FROM OAHU

2010-02-27T19:03:00.000-08:00

Hello RYE Host Parents and Parents of RYE Students on Hawaii Expedition,

Greetings from Belo USA Travel!

Regarding the tsunami warning, Belo USA Travel worked directly with the Civil Defense in order to understand the circumstances and make sure the all the students were safe. Our hotel was not in the evacuation zone but as a precaution, we left the hotel at 9:30 am on a bus to a higher location, where they would be able to eat and be safe.

At 2 pm we were informed that the tsunami warning was over and we were able to get back to our program. Some students were taken to the airport and the students that are leaving on later flights were taken back to the hotel, where they are able to rest and prepare for their trip back to their host communities tonight. Some flights were slightly delayed by 1 hour and the flights that were canceled we were able to manage them to confirm with another airline or a different flight.

Once again, we would like to let you know that all the students are safe. If you have any question, or you would like to contact us today or during the weekend, we will be available at +1.312.972.2010.

Aloha and mahalo,

Raphael

Feb 25th - Pearl Harbor, USS Missouri, Blow Whole, City Tour... alooooohaaaaaa

2010-02-26T01:54:00.001-08:00

Waimanalo Beach

Our bus

King Kamehameha's statue.

USS Missouri

Vinicius and Guilherme from Brazil. The USS Missouri behind

Pearl Harbor - USS Arizona Memorial

Dear Moms, Dads, brothers, sisters, friends… who read the blog and follow us on this incredible experience…

We are going to talk about our day in Oahu. We have been here just a few days but it really seems like we just got here. Everything is going sooooo fast! We are totally having the time of our lives.

Today was a really exciting and memorable day. We left at 8am and we went to Pearl Harbor in the morning. We arrived there at 9am and we got in a boat that took us to the Arizona Memorial. This place made us feel so open minded, we were so interested and we really wanted to learn everything about it. We saw a video that showed us exactly what happened on Dec 7, 1941, the Pearl Harbor attack. We were glad that we had the opportunity of being there and learn.

Right after leaving the USS Arizona Memorial guided us to the USS Missouri. We worked as volunteers, divided in 3 different groups and we helped them in different tasks. After our work was done, we took a tour around the boat and learned that the ship was also the place for the end of the Second World War. Such an interesting place made us fell that we were part of the history.

After all this activities, we were hungry and we went to a mall to eat. In the afternoon, we had a city tour in Honolulu and we stopped at the Iolani Palace and the King Kamehameha’s statue.

After that we took of to go to the beach!!! We went to Waimanalo beach! The weather was a little cloudy, but we had a great time. Some of us swam and others played volley.

Back at our hotel, we went for dinner at 7 in this amazing place. It was a buffet and the restaurant was really cool. After eating we had some time in Waikiki.

An amazing day is waiting for us and we will enjoy it as much as we can.

That is everything for today, but remember to continue reading tomorrow!!!

Guilherme Souza – Brazil

Jacopo Scafura – Italy

Marina Rodriguez – Spain

News from the STAFF...

2010-02-25T02:27:00.000-08:00

Aloha from the ROTARY Hawaii Expedition 2010!

Welcome to the US newest state. When people say that Hawaii is a Paradise, they are not lying... beautiful view and temperatures are around 70 F (or 25C).

My name is Raphael and I’m the trip coordinator. I've been working with international students since 1999, when I first joined Belo USA Travel! As part of the team, John Blair, our Rotarian chaperone and our Belo Monitors Agata and Susan are enjoying the happiness of the group!

It has been a few days that you've been sharing this experience with us, with pictures and lot's of comments from the students. Thanks for joining us and hope you are having a great time!!

We also would like to hear from you: families, host families, Rotary members, friends… Please let us know or send a message to your student. Write us to exchange@belousa.com and we will transmit the message. You can also leave a comment on the blog!

We wish you all the best, or as we say in Hawaii... ALOOOOOOOOHA!!!

Raphael

Belo USA Travel Team

Feb 24th - Diamond Head and Ala Moana Shopping Center - "Day 4ever"

2010-02-25T02:13:00.001-08:00

Lena (Ukraine), Ade (Belgium) and Pieter (the Netherlands)... Honolulu behind!

Paulina (Chile), Cezar (Ecuador) and Mai (Thailand)

Flags on the top of Diamond Head...

Sthefania (Brazil), Hugo (France) and Catalina (Colombia)

Going up Diamond Head... and our 252 steps

Aloha!!!

Another beautiful day in Hawaii. It’s day 4 and it feels that time is flying by.

Today was a really exciting day. We began our adventure with stretching and getting ready for a hike. People here are really nice and welcoming and so two nice elderly Japanese ladies joined us while we were warming up. We started walking towards Diamond Head Mountain where we were going to hike.

We haven’t been here too long, but seems everybody knows each other for a long time, so we walked with our new friend singing and enjoying the walk.

We took a break at the half way and we found out that we had 250 more steps to go. People who were tired, got excited and started counting the steps. When we finally got to the top… it was the most beautiful view ever! We had a whole view of Waikiki and Honolulu. We took lots of pictures but thatbeautiful moment doesn’t need pictures, because it will stay in our minds.

On our way back we refreshed ourselves with some shaved ice. After burning some calories, we had free time to go to the beach or relax.

At 5pm, we left for one of the America’s biggest open mall. It had all the top brands and the American brands. Everyone shopped a lot and after the long hike and shopping day, we had dinner at “Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.” Yes… you all area right… it’s the place from the movie “Forrest Gump”. We had a quiz about the movie and whoever answered got some gifts and after that we had to do the Hawaiian dance to win a bonus gift.

We are going to visit Pearl Harbor and we all are really excited for that…

Thanks to everyone for making Hawaii possible for us.

Zeeshan Haq – India

Victor Morbin – Brazil

Guilherme Souza - Brazil

Feb 23rd - Beautiful day... North Shore, Haleiwa, Polynesian Culture Center, Turtle Bay... ur

2010-02-24T02:21:00.001-08:00

Show: "Ha... Breath of Life"

Jacopo (Italy) joining the show from Samoa

Students wit Tahiti representatives

Hula class

Polynesian Cultural Center

Sunset Beach

Mai (Thailand), Amanda and Thalia (Canada) "hanging loose"

John Blair, Rotary Chaperone at the North Shore

Guru (Norway), Sanne (Denmakr) and Ida (Croatia) trying the Pineapple ice cream.

Pineapple field - Rosa (Finland), Grig (Russia) and Jonas (Germany)

Aloha!

We can’t believe we are in day 3 already! We have done so many things that sometimes we think that we’ve been here for more than just 3 days!

Today, after our delicious breakfast, we left the hotel at 9am and headed to the North Shore. Our bus driver was so cool. Her name is Rhonda. When I got inside the bus, the first thing she told us was “What’s up dude?!”… The atmosphere was nice, she looked peaceful, friendly, showed good person she is…

In our way to North Shore we stopped at the Dole Plantation where we had the most famous pineapple ice cream in the world. There we also found out about our Hawaiian names… (ex. Vinicius is Winikueko…) After the ice cream we stopped at Haleiwa… a surfer’s town and we had time to walk around, shopped and get something to drink. The place was so nice.

Right after Haleiwa, we stopped at Sunset beach, where the big waves are, but just for pictures. We headed to Turtle Bay that is located inside a resort really cool. We had time to swim, play volleyball and just hang out.

At 3pm, we went to the Polynesian Cultural Center. This is a place that we highly recommend to everyone coming to Hawaii. It is a great place full of history and beautiful things to see. We were also able to participate on the shows they had on the different sections of the place. After dinner, we watched a big show called “Ha… Breath of Life”. The show was beautiful and also all the history of the islands.

That was it… our normal day here is this paradise.

Thanks John, our Rotarian Chaperone and all Rotary districts for making our dream come true!

Mahalo from our hearts!

Vinny DeAngelis - Brazil

Feb 22nd - Pali Lookout... Kailua... Mokulua...

2010-02-23T03:23:00.000-08:00

Madeleine - HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Walk on Mokulua to check the natural swimming pools

Clara (France) and Tatiana (Sweden) on a reflection from Hugo's glasses

Danish representation - Simon, Sanne and Kristian

Guys race on Kailua Beach!

Students on top of the Pali Lookout

Pali Lookout

Today is Madeline’s birthday!!! In our room we woke up with a phone call from Sweden at 5:30 am (Hawaiian Time) from her friends to wish her a happy birthday. It was still pretty dark but the birds were already singing and the sound of the waves never stops… At 6:30 am the sun was out and once again the sky was blue… pretty day and warm!

We had a nice and happy breakfast with everyone and got in the bus at 9 am to go to Kailua beach. On the way we stopped at Pali Lookout to check the beautiful view!

On the bus, we learned a little bit about Kailua, Pali Lookout and about the history that happened in Hawaii. The bus ride was nice and fun!

When we got to Kailua, some of us went on the kayak and the others stayed on the beach, playing ball, enjoying the beautiful view with our monitor and chaperone John.

We went kayaking and it was amazing, since e could see a lot of turtles on the way to the island, the water was really blue, shiny and clean. When we got to the island (about 1 hour rowing), we ate our lunch and saw some pools that they have there. We took a lot of nice and fun pictures over there! On the way back to Kailua we had a kayak race that Simon and Laurenz won! In Kailua we had a chance to swim, play volley and we tried to have a students’ pyramid…

Back at our hotel, we had time to take a shower to head to our restaurant for dinner… The place was nice and the food was good! Afterwards, we had time to shop…

At 10pm, we gathered and we sang happy birthday in all our languages to Madeleine…

That was a really nice and awesome day!!!

Yes, we are having so much fun!

Sthefania Ricci - Brazil

Feb 21st - ALOOOOHA - First day in Hawaii!!!

2010-02-22T00:43:00.000-08:00

Dinner at California Pizza Kitchen - Waikiki

Waikiki Beach

Pieter from the Netherlands surfing in Waikiki

Vinicius, Guilherme (Brazil), Jacopo (Italy) and Jonas (Germany) getting ready for the surfing lessons.

Group on the Catamaran in Waikiki.

Getting ready to board the Catamaran - Waikiki.

Aloha!!!

We started our first day with a good breakfast in our great hotel, right in front of the beach. The cruise we went on was beautiful and we saw a log of fish. The sun was shining and the guides were funny and cool.

Most of the day was spent on the beach, which was an awesome start of the week! We all got the surfing and we all enjoyed it even though most of us fell and had some trouble standing on the board.

We also played soccer and volleyball while we were waiting for our turn to surf. The teams were girls and South Americans against Europeans, and it was very fun. The Hawaiian people, culture and climate fit us perfectly. We are in paradise!

We all learned ALOHA, Mahalo (Thanks), and Aloha kakahiaka (good morning) and we use them as much as we can J We all love the life style of hang loose!

We had free time to discover the culture and city by our own and get to know each other better. Tomorrow we are going to wear our new bikinis and of course we will remember the necessary sunscreen.

Tonight we had an awesome dinner, and we got to see the international market place after eating.

We are all so excited about the rest of the week!!!

Guru Bu – Norway

Madeline Johansson – Sweden

Tatti Hakansson – Sweden

Arnoud Delcroix – Belgium

Janne Antonsson - Denmark

Feb 20th - Aloha and Welcome to Hawaii!!!

2010-02-13T20:58:00.000-08:00

Get ready for a week in paradise...the Hawaiian Expedition is here! With its breathtaking natural beauty, its never-ending list of fun and exciting things to do, and its spirit of "aloha," Hawaii is a dream destination for anyone!

We will be staying in beautiful Waikiki on the island of Oahu, and we will spend each day exploring a new and fascinating aspect of Hawaii's unique culture.

Join us as we test our surfing abilities, celebrate in a traditional luau, and hike to one of the island's best-known lookout points. We'll come face-to-face with Hawaii's rich history...and maybe even a sea turtle or two! And along the way, we'll get to know each other, forming friendships to last beyond our week together.

This will be our day-to-day journal... each day, you'll get news, information and pictures from the students. Join us on our adventure!

Have fun!!! MAHALO!