Visiting Hawaii Part 1

Our recent visit to Hawaii was absolutely amazing, possibly transformative, and a  just in time opportunity.   For a few years now,  we had considered the possibility of visiting Hawaii, and since the concept of “vacation’  is not one that comes easy to me, I have been keeping an eye out for work related opportunities in Hawaii.  

Thus I was quick to notice when a fellow Google Certified Trainer/Educator, Michael Fricano announced a call for proposals to present at the 2017  IGNITE Innovation Conference.

A quick look at our calendar revealed that these dates might work for us, and I submitted a few possible workshop ideas.  As soon as the conference  committee accepted my proposal, Design Thinking and Computational Thinking with Makey Makey, I started to plan our trip.

Since much of my focus lately has been around maker centered learning,  I started to search for makerspaces and schools that were interested in making as a way of learning on Oahu.   What I found was a very welcoming group of educators who allowed me to truly understand that ALOHA  was so much more than a greeting!   According to Hawaiian culture expert, Peter Apo

Aloha has emerged as a Hawaiian cultural concept that functions as a prism through which all other behavioral values that govern relationships are refracted .

Aloha, while having many manifestations, essentially is an unconditional extension of love, trust, and friendship giving the benefit of the doubt to the receiver. It is a particularly magnanimous cultural act in it’s intimacy as a personal greeting that is routinely extended to strangers which sets aside personal boundaries and welcomes the receiver into one’s personal space.   ~ Hawaiian Values and the Workplace

I had no idea that I was about to experience the most amazing feeling of Aloha - especially the part where my hosts would welcome us in their personal spaces!  The sense of welcome continues to fill me, back on the mainland, in a way that I can’t quite describe.  I feel that something transformational happened to me during this visit!  

And part of that  transformation was most probably due to the Hawaiian value of ALAKA‘I— the value of leadership. According to leadership coach, Rosa Say

ALAKAI is demonstrated when you “Lead with initiative, and with your good example. You shall be the guide for others when you have gained their trust and respect.” ~ Managing with Aloha

Throughout our visit we were to be introduced to amazing examples of leadership that earned our respect with their standards of excellence that exuded Hawaiian cultural values

-- values that I had not yet read about

-- values that I got to know by experiencing them

-- values that I found myself wanting to know more about

And since my visit to Hawaii I’ve been reading more about these Hawaiian values to better understand what I experienced during our recent visit.

Perhaps because I’m in the middle of teaching my University of Vermont course on Ed Tech Leadership..

Perhaps because I’m struggling with the divisive political culture of our nation...

Perhaps because I’m in a personal inquiry of how to balance my many passions in this stage of  my life/career...

Whatever the reason… I feel that this trip to Hawaii was a transformational ‘just in time’ experience.

It will probably take me a few blog posts to digest and reflect  on our visits to

• Kamehameha Schools  where  ed tech integrationists, Alan Tamayose and Lynne Horiuchi, welcomed us into their space and showed us amazing examples of excellence around their school.

• Iolani School where maker-educators Michael Fricano and Matt Dillon lead us on tours of the maker spaces at both the elementary school and the high school

  
• Kailua Elementary School where ed tech leader, Greg Kent, gave us a tour of his classroom/maker space and the gardens surrounding the school providing numerous opportunities of problem finding that a school makerspace can support

  
  

  
  
• Oahu Makerspace where residential maker, Ross Mulai,  shared his expertise as he lead us around a community makerspace located in the industrial section of Honolulu near the airport

  

• Numerous eateries and the most beautiful tourist attractions ranging from the powerful surf in Shark’s Cove of the North Shore  to the colorful fish we found snorkeling in the Hanauma Bay

Shark's Cove

Hanauma Bay

Even though the blog post on each of these visits are in progress,  I’ve been busy applying much of what I’ve learned and experienced to my current work supporting Vermont educators in their own pursuit of excellence in our schools to better serve our students.   In the next few weeks, I’ll be following up with additional blog posts  about the various parts of my learnings from our time in Hawaii.

A Roadside Repair

So much to write about after spending the past 10 days on a Hawaiian adventure,  but today  I’m going to skip past all that and  write briefly about how impressed I was with how Craig handled our first truly mechanical breakdown ‘on the road”.   With the exception of the flat tire on the tow dolly, this is the first time we’ve had the “Oh Crap” moment while driving the BlueBird.  It started with a cling cling cling in the engine area while we were climbing up the Kumewaay Highway about 20 miles before Alpine, California.

Craig quickly pulled the bus over onto the shoulder.  I climbed out and could clearly hear the clinging coming from the front grill.  When I got back into the bus, Craig had the doghouse opened and it was steaming!

I knew there was not much I could do but stay out of the way as he pulled out the toolbox and went to work!  I was totally amazed.  I was worried that he would burn himself as I watched the steam float to the ceiling.  I almost brought him a T-shirt so he didn’t ruin his new Hawaiian shirt, but decided against it.    Instead I brought him some paper towel to wipe off the sweat dripping from his brow.  He was grunting and groaning as he removed parts and tried to get into contorted positions that this repair required.  An hour or so later,  he explained to me that a bolt had broken that secured the alternator.  He was able to successfully retrieve the broken part and create a makeshift mechanism to hold the Alternator back in place from an Allen Wrench without interfering with any of the other working parts of the engine and fan!  

To me it was nothing short of Magic!  

How did he  even know where to look to find the problem?   

How did he think of a solution?  

How did he feel empowered enough to feel confident that his solution would hold well enough for us to drive away and not do more damage!  

Craig had said many times - that if the engine blew on the bus, that would probably be the end of the bus, since the  repair cost would be more than the cost of the bus. So I knew this was a high stakes repair.

Craig has also said many times - the bus is his maker project!  I’ve seen him tinker on this project or that project from fixing the water pump to designing a solar system for the roof of the bus.   But none of these jobs had been on the side of the road with vehicles whizzing by and none of them had happened at a point of physical exhaustion after a sleepless night.  We had just taken a red-eye from Hawaii and driven 100 miles in the jeep to retrieve the Bus from the long term storage area in Holtville (our last camping venue).

Well after our impromptu 2 hour repair project,  we pulled back on the highway.  By then it was obvious that darkness would soon be upon us, so we decided to forego our plans to arrive at our Oceanside Campsite and pulled into  the Veijas Casino and resort in Alpine, California about 20 miles down the road. (Yeah for free parking!)   This amazing man  got what he needed next -- a big hunk of prime rib, a tall beer, and a good nights sleep!

All I could think of is “I have married the most amazing man! You are my super hero!"

I have always known Craig to be a very capable patient man.  But I have often wondered what would happen if we got into a situation like this!  Well if this was a test - Craig passed with flying colors!

The bus is now snuggly parked in Guajorne County Park in  Oceanside, California AND we have electric hook-ups  for the first time since we left Tucson over two months ago.