My first Hawaiian words...

My Hawaiiana classes are paying off. I received an invitation from my brother Ka'umi and his wife Leimaile on the Big Island. The invitation was written completely in Hawaiian, and I translated it into English for Dave - "You are invited to a lu'au in honor of our daughter Leimailehiehie's first birthday". Dave and I looked at each other, eyes wide in wonder and surprise as I first sounded out the words slowly and correctly in Hawaiian, and then translated it perfectly in English. I cannot tell you how very cool that was! It's like learning to read your very first words without being coached. Hooray!!!!

Today I posted for my Ku'u wahi noho (Where I live) online class, offered through Kamehameha Schools Distance Learning program. Our classmates are from all over the country. In my last class, we had students from all over the world! Anyway, our Kumu (teacher) wants us to introduce ourselves and tell what were the first Hawaiian words we learned and also, what were the circumstances. This was my contribution:

Aloha e Kumu Luana a me haumana, (Greetings Teacher Luana and fellow students,)
'O Cami ko'u inoa. (My name is Cami.)
Noho au i Santa Barbara, CA. (I am from Santa Barbara, CA.)

It is so wonderful to take another papa ʻōlelo (language class) and to reconnect with nā haumana (the students).

I grew up in the ʻāina haina area, on the east side of 'O'ahu. Only proper English was allowed in our house growing up, with dialogue heavily sprinkled with Hawaiian words... When out of earshot of our parents, we'd speak Pidgin so the other kids would play with us. Funny how these memories come back after all these years.

I meditated and asked my ʻAumākua what my first Hawaiian word was. I initially thought it might have been Aloha, but I got a strong message of two words: poi and honi. Poi, I guess, pretty obvious. Probably baby's first "solid" food, made from pounded kalo (taro). Honi, not so obvious unless you were brought up in the islands. In Hawai'i, we give and receive kisses all day, every day from the day you were born. It is a beautiful tradition that doesn't happen very often here on the mainland, unless you meet other Hawaiians, in which case when we do recognize one another as Kama'aina (children of the land), we immediately kiss instead of shaking hands.

If you were not brought up in the tradition of Aloha, imaging receiving and giving kisses and hugs all day, every day. As a child, I always felt loved. I do remember, however, in the keiki days, going to parties and being expected to honi everyone, and I mean EVERYONE - the aunties, uncles, cousins old and young, their friends and people we didn't know - "Honi!" on command - and we performed. Even when feeling shy about meeting other people, that feeling quickly dissipated after the first honi... and then of course, when the party was over and it was time to go, we'd make our rounds again and have to honi the same people, only this time around, it wasn't so terrifying.

I love all the resources the A'o makua papa offer, and have been writing papers on my research. It is time consuming but very necessary to look up the Hawaiian words for accuracy and to be sure they are spelled correctly - otherwise I might not be talking about the right word. Does anyone know if there is there an easier way to write a Hawaiian word with the kahako (one you already know how to spell) besides going to Ulukau and typing in the word, copying and pasting to the document? I tried downloading the software, but I think my computer doesn't like it...
Anyway, I look forward to reading everyone's posts! Have a great week.
Aloha, Cami