 |
 |
||||
|
Introducing Mystery Class # 10
Waimea (Kauai), Hawaii 22.00 N, 159.75 W
Hello or Aloha! We are Mrs. Kagawa's
fourth and fifth grade students and Mrs. Harada's speech students from kindergarten
through seventh grades. Waimea Canyon School is located on the westside of the island
of Kauai. We are on the leeward side of the island, which means we are on the dry
side. The clouds drop all their rain on the mountains in the middle of the island
so we hardly get any rain. Most children don't even own raincoats. Most of the time
it is between 80 and 90 degrees with blue, blue skies. It is very hot so it's a good
thing that the beach is close by. We have beautiful beaches that are very clean.
Most of
our beaches have white sand, but we do have a few black sand beaches. We also have
the endangered Hawaiian Monk Seal, which is known as 'Ilio-holo-i-ka-auau, the dog
that runs in the rough (seas).
Occasionally we see a monk seal snoozing on the beach outside Waimea, or on the
rocks by Poipu Beach, as it rests after feeding. We also see humpback whales which
migrate to Hawaii during the winter months.
Because we have such great beaches
and weather we get a lot of tourists. We average about 6,000 tourists on Kauai a
day. They like to visit our mountain in Koke'e which is a tropical rain forest. It
is where Mt. Waiale'ale, the wettest spot in the world, is located. It gets 460 inches
of rainfall a year. Waimea Canyon is also located in Koke'e, and Mark Twain dubbed
it the "Grand Canyon of the Pacific". It looks just like a small Grand
Canyon and it was created by the erosion from the wind and rain.
Many movies were filmed here because
it is so beautiful. If you have seen "Jurassic Park", "Six Days, Seven
Nights","Mighty Joe Young", or "Flight of the Intruder"
you were looking at our island.
If you like water sports, Kauai is the place for you. Many people enjoy surfing,
boogie boarding, fishing, body surfing, and just plain swimming in our clean waters.
Some people also water ski in the Wailua River, one of two navigable rivers on our
island. The other river is the Waimea River which runs alongside our town.
Kauai has a number of different ethnic groups, Portuguese, Japanese, Filipino, Hawaiian,
Caucasian or haole (foreigner), Chinese, Korean, and all mixtures. That means we
enjoy all kinds of great food!
Many
of the people came here to work on the sugar cane plantations back in the 1800's.
We speak standard English and "pidgin", a local dialect, that made it possible
for people from different places to understand each other. Our teachers want us to
speak standard English in school so we do but most of us speak "pidgin"
outside at recess. For example to say, "Where did you go?" we would say,
"Where you was?" To say, "What would you like for lunch?" we
would say, "What you like eat?"
Our school has about 650 students in grades kindergarten through eighth. Our teacher's
name is Mrs. Kagawa. She is an energetic, creative teacher who makes learning fun.
Mrs. Harada's speech students asked our class to join them in providing the mystery
clues and introduction. Our school is next to the sugar cane fields so when it's
windy, everything gets covered with red dirt. Every two years they burn the cane,
and we get "island snow" at that time which is black ash.
We feel lucky to live here because it is in the country. Our town doesn't have any
traffic lights. There is a law on our island that no building can be taller than
40 feet. There is one escalator on the island which is in a hotel.
Captain James Cook anchored right offshore of Waimea in 1777. At that time Waimea
was a large village of Hawaiian people who fished and farmed. We still have terraces
and ditches that were used by the ancient Hawaiians up in our valleys. There are
many historical sites that are filled with legends of old Hawaii, some of them are
spooky.
We hope that maybe someday you will come and visit us. Aloha!
Aloha, Sandra
Copyright 1999 Journey North. All Rights Reserved. Please send all questions, comments, and suggestions to our feedback form
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
