The Marche

This deserves its own post... The Marche in Papeete :0) It's a full block and 2 stories high FULL of Tahitian goodies! I'll let the pictures do the talking!














pareaus, pearls, mono'i, shells, toeres, banjos, tshirts, magnets, shell jewelry, Hinano galore ~ Guarantee my eyes were popping out the whole time I was there!

Arue Practice

This was our fare (hale) in Arue At night we just cruzed talkin' story, telling jokes, and had dance contests


We practiced at the park across the street every morning. It was pretty cool because we would have a little audience along the sidewalk and people would honk when they passed by.




And Uncle Miko, a well-known dance instructor in Tahiti, even stopped by.



Then we cooled off in the black sand beach!

Part 2

The next day we ate breakfast ~ all meals were provided by the Protestant church members and it was so ono. Every morning we had fresh fruits (papaya, banana, mango,), fresh french bagguettes, and coco.


Then we boarded the bus for our tour around the island.



Fully equipped with air conditioner lol!



We went around half of Tahiti Nui and Tahiti Iti (as they call it). Papeete kinda looked like Kalihi.



With a Tahitian twist


The rest of the island looked like one long Kahalu'u




We went to a garden/waterfall


with a cool bathroom door


and some monkeys



We went to a river



Visited the famous surf spot Teahupoo






Watched a sunset


and we even found a McDonald's



It was a fun day to see the sights with my manutahi fambam

Manutahi e Imua! Part 1

My friend Tanya just came back from an amazing trip to Italy with an unreal host. All her stories are just so neat & I keep telling her that she needs to blog it all. And then I realized... wait... I didn't record anything about my Tahiti dream A YEAR AGO! I keep meaning to, but real life always interferes. And I want it for my own memories... So here goes...

I've been dancing with a Tahitian group, Manutahi for a number of years and last year we were invited to perform at Heiva I Tahiti ~ the Merrie Monarch of Tahitian Dance in To'ata Tahiti. This is such a privilege and honor! We were also invited to compete in the Heiva 'ai 'ai ~ the solo competition.

Prepping for our trip involved lots of fundraisers, endless nights of costume making and hours and hours of practice.

We arrived at the airport on July 10th, 2009 in the early afternoon. The energy in the checkout area was pure excitement. We were catching a private charter flight on Air Tahiti Nui and it was booked only for dancers.



The dancers were from 3 groups, us, Heretama Nui and Ma'ohi Nui. We waited in line for h.o.u.r.s. and we finally boarded.

I sat with Brenda & Laurene and we were carackin' up when we needed to fill out the paperwork. Actually, a lot of people had a hard time with it! We had to fill out our "nationality" ~ some people put Hawaiian/Chinese, others just put Filipino, I put 'Mixed' ~ Brenda was laughing so hard ~ and even more so when the flight attendant made an announcement telling everyone that we were supposed to put "American" for nationality! lol Who would've thunk?? The flight attendant said that Hawaii people were the only ones that always have hard time on that part hahahhaa


The plane was seriously like "soul plane" ~ it was like a nightclub in there. The flight attendants had all the drinks flowing and the back of the plane was pretty nuts. I just stayed around my area talking story with the other dancers ~ all the musicians were singing with their ukes and banjos, it was pretty cool.

We arrived in Tahiti at 1am and as Brenda and I were walking toward the gate, we could smell all the tiare and hear the tahitian banjos and people singing. It was everything I had imagined! I couldn't help the tears from falling.




We went thru customs and waited for our baggage and then walked out to the gates ~ omg! there were literally hundreds of people singing, drumming, hugging, giving leis, it was beautiful.


We got on the bus and went to our home away from home in a Protestant Church in Arue. When we arrived, it was like almost 3am and there was a full buffet of food waiting for us and our mattresses lined up. It was the perfect place for us ~ big huge area, upstairs and downstairs, 2 bathrooms/showers (no hot water!!!) for the boys and 2 for the girls, and right across the street from a huge park and a black sand beach.

Spring Break

We had fun this Spring Break. I got off of work early & took 2 days off. I forgot how playing in the sun, looking at animals, and laughing & giggling can rejuvenate one's soul.

Got masks?

Such a random post ~

Josiah & I went to the doctor for a check up and we had to wear these masks. He thought they were the coolest thing.