Blossoming Seoul: Throw-Back-To Discovery Week Fall 2012

Last year was unique in the way that we had Discovery Week twice--once in the Spring and once in the Fall to start a new tradition of November DW in order to accommodate our incredibly busy springtime testing schedule and include all of our students in this memorable experience. I posted sometime last year about my spring trip to Venice, Italy (unforgettable fun), but I never did get around to writing about my fall trip to Hawaii. Yes, that's right friends, I spent my Discovery Week discovering the island of Oahu on a trip called "Islands of Fire". The funny thing is there isn't an active volcano on Oahu, but that's okay. This trip really came about because David and I wanted to offer something science-y for our students that also incorporated community service in a location that wasn't cold! So, we dreamt up Hawaii and I went off and found Appleseed Expeditions, an educational tour company that specializes in environmental and service oriented student trips--PERFECT! Our only limiting factor was the cost, bummer! We managed to recruit sixteen eager kids for a six day, jam-packed Sunday to Saturday trip and before long it was go-time!

The first challenge for me came the day before the trip when I woke up feeling absolutely horrendous. I was in full on sick mode--101 degree fever, chills, body ache, headache, fatigue, congestion--you name it, I had it, and every time I tried to get out of bed to pack I just about passed out. It wasn't good. All I could do was try to sleep it off, medicate, hydrate, and pray to God that I would be well enough to go on the trip. With only two chaperones there wasn't much we could do--I had to go. Behind the scenes, a backup plan was frantically being made, but thankfully I was able to pull myself together and at 6am the next day I was up with a packed suitcase...barely. We flew from Seoul to Tokyo, sat for six or seven hours, then went on to Oahu where we hit the ground running and never really stopped for five days. Here are some of the incredible highlights:

On the first day we drove all over the island discussing the different ecosystems. We saw the lava desert and the lush rainforest all within one small island. The kids also had a chance to take a surfing lesson--they were in heaven. I watched the sun set over Waikiki Beach and was thankful that I was well enough to be standing there enjoying my Yogurtland treat and savoring my first trip to Hawaii. Sadly, we had our first casualty on this first night...a lost wallet and a week's worth of cash:(. Tough lessons.

See the lava on the left! It was bone dry on this side of the island.

Me in a cave...feeling like death warmed over:)

Sunset at Waikiki beach

The second day saw us trekking into the rainforest on a preserve that we'd just had a glimpse of the day before. We met a former SFS alumni and began to learn how Hawaiians once lived off the land as we were introduced to native plant and animal species and helped to remove some that weren't. We hiked around the preserve, enjoyed the serenity, and then the second casualty of the trip occurred as one of my students twisted her ankle during our hike. I stopped to help her and the rest of the group hiked off without us! Oops! Yes, that meant we were lost in the rainforest preserve with no map and no clue where we were. We tried shouting for our group and walking to the nearest familiar path but no one seemed to notice they'd left us behind. Grrr! My cellphone wasn't getting service but a bar here or there which meant we were out of luck. Finally I got good enough reception to call our tour leader and finally he answered and realized what had happened. After about an hour of being lost, we were rescued! Good thing, because I really didn't want to spend the night lost in the rainforest! This just reinforced the reasons why I'm not a nature girl:). Later that night we went to a local homeless shelter that is housed in a warehouse facility and caters to homeless families so the students could play with the kids and help serve dinner. It was an eye-opening experience for many of my privileged students but they did a great job and many considered their time spent with the homeless kids to be a highlight of the trip.

Such beautiful landscapes in the rainforest.

The kids at a waterfall

Doing a little service work!

Happy kids:)

Is that a potato?

The third morning was an early one as we were headed off to the North shore! Our first activity was one the kids had been waiting for--swimming in the shark cage. I have to admit, I was feeling a certain amount of trepidation about this for two reasons. First, I don't swim well, and second, SHARKS! Enough said! The ocean was really rough that morning and the actual shark cage experience was tame compared to the seasickness most of us felt sitting on the boat waiting our turn! I was pretty proud of myself for keeping my breakfast down--I'd say 80% of the kids were not so lucky. Once in the shark cage, which essentially just floats in the open water, the guys un-teather the cage from the boat so it's just floating out there and then they attract the sharks for you with fun shark toys (no food though). You use a snorkel and mask to go underwater and say hello to the shark friends swimming by to see what's up. I had a hard time letting go of the cage since the waves were swelling about five feet and I was a bit worried about getting whacked in the head. Plus, again, not a strong swimmer, so drowning did cross my mind. So, I stayed pretty well anchored to the cage. Once the guy bribed me with a free t-shirt, I felt compelled to go under water and see what was happening and it was pretty cool, although when you're sick and congested it feels like your head might explode if you stay under for long. I can now check "swim with sharks" off my bucket list. We continued to explore the North Shore, stopping in the surf town of Haleiwa, saw a large green sea turtle sunning itself on one of the beaches, went tide pooling in Shark's Cove, and watched the pro surfers at the pipeline. On the way back to Waikiki, we also visited the Dole pineapple plantation where we all had delicious pineapple ice cream-YUM. Good times!

Double rainbow!

Shark cage fun! The kids are pros!

There I am, looking terrified.

My triumphant fist pump! Yes, I did earn the free t-shirt for going under AND I saw some sharks up close!

Surfers paradise!

Up close and personal with a giant sea turtle! So cool!

Tide pooling!! Yay science!

Pro surfers taking advantage of the winter waves!

Our fourth day was incredibly busy! We started out at Hanauma Bay for some serious snorkeling. It's a protected shallow bay with lots of accessible reef and the kids were just itching to get in the water. I was hopeful that my time in the pool practicing would pay off but the ocean was a bit rough and I found myself in trouble in no time. We'll call this our third casualty of the trip--lots of us ended up with nasty cuts from the coral because of the shallow water! OUCH! I lasted about ten minutes before I called it a day and enjoyed the sun from the beach. Maybe next time. From there, we went to Diamond Head Crater for a hike to the top. Still sick, I wasn't sure I had the stamina to make it to the top but after a lot of huffing and puffing I found myself enjoying the beautiful view over Waikiki! It was definitely worth the sweat! We spent the evening at a great luau at the aquarium where the movie 50 First Dates was filmed. It was a wonderful show and tasty food! A bunch of the kids even got pulled up on stage to dance with the performers.

Awesome shot of Hanauma Bay from above!

Ouch! This is what happens when you get too close to the coral. I had similar battle wounds.

The view from the top of Diamond Head Crater. The hike was worth the view.

Proof that I made it!

More evidence of those diverse ecosystems.

Group luau shot!

We spent our last morning visiting Pearl Harbor, which was different than I expected. There is so little left there--I can't even begin to imagine how horrific it must have been to be there when the bombing occurred. Having visited Hiroshima, it's interesting to have both perspectives. When we returned to the hotel, my Aunt Mary and Uncle Richard were waiting to meet me for lunch! It just so happened that they were in Hawaii, on Oahu during the same week and they drove over to Waikiki to spend the afternoon with me:). We sat at the Cheesecake Factory, ate, and caught up for a couple of hours before wandering through the international marketplace while the students spent their last couple of hours doing the same (shopping and surfing). We had our last dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory before calling it a night. The final casualty of the trip was Miss James getting a 2am call that the students were out and about in the hallways and we had to be up and ready around 5am. Use your imagination and picture how happy I was looking when I was doing room checks in the middle of the night--oh the fun of overseas DW trips! Thankfully, everyone made it back in one piece and I think we all had a great trip even thought it was a whirlwind of activity!