Good day, mate!

Junichi is a former student at Palms who studied for eight weeks and stayed with a local host family. When he first came to Hawaii, he had a difficult time communicating. 

"When I came to Hawaii, I couldn't speak English at all. At school, I didn't know what people were saying and I didn't know what to say to them. However, the more I studied, the more I was able to understand. I would preview and review my classes every day, and soon enough I was able to better express myself. Nowadays, I live and work in Australia, and I find that what I learned at Hawaii Palms is very useful.

"If you are looking to improve your English, it's not enough to just go to school. You need to study and review at home as well as practice your English outside of class. If you put in the effort, your English will definitely improve. Good luck!"

Lights, Cameras, Action

Last week, Hawaii Palms was paid a visit by a Japanese TV crew from BS-TBS. They were in town shooting a new show called "Life Inn Hawaii", and they asked us to introduce our school to their viewers.

As you can see from our student Miyuki's face, there was quite a bit of excitement at school that day. There were cameras, lights, microphones, directors, producers, coordinators.. it all made the school resemble a TV studio.

After they were done interviewing some of us and getting lots of school footage, they followed us to Magic Island where they filmed one of our school activities: hula at the park.

Hula was then followed by a private lesson (taught by Head Teacher Saul) that was filmed in a beautiful mansion in Kahala.

All in all it was an exciting day for teachers, students, and staff. "Life Inn Hawaii" is a new 5-minute-long television series that will begin airing on BS-TBS starting October 5th.

Look for us on their episode on NOVEMBER 23rd at 8:54PM.

A friendly face stopped by

The other day, our dear student Akiyo stopped by to say hello.

Akiyo was our Intensive  Course student for 8 months. She started coming to school last August in order to gain some confidence in her English.  She lives in Hawaii and her husband is local, so learning English was very important to her in order to start her new life in America.

"I initially signed up for a 2-month English Intensive Course, but after finishing my 2 months I just kept extending and extending for a total of 8 months.

Since I live in Hawaii, I have lots of opportunities to practice my English outside of school, so whenever I was able to practice the language I had studied in class, I always felt a deep sense of accomplishment.

Even after graduating from my course, Palms is still a big part of me.  If I have a chance to study English again, I'd like to take another class here. My appreciation goes to all the wonderful staff members and teachers from the bottom of my heart."

Smoking Good Food!

There's a little place in Kaaawa that's easy to miss if you're driving north from Kaneohe on Kamehameha highway. It's right across Swanzy Beach Park, and they make some of the tastiest, most tender, juicy ribs on the island. 

It's called UNCLE BOBO'S SMOKED BBQ, a hole-in-the-wall place that bakes their own bread for their amazing sandwiches and smokes their meat in an old smoker out back. 

They also make chili, smoked brisket, tacos, fresh malasadas, and some very refreshing ginger lemonade. 

So if you're out for a drive on the windward coast, stop at Uncle Bobo's for some smokey, fall-off-the-bone ribs. Grab it to go and walk across the street to the beach.

Warm farewell

The sun was out in Kaneohe last Saturday for a wonderful celebration.

Many friendly faces got together to eat, drink, laugh, share, and enjoy a beautiful day.

There was music and dancing and food and aloha.

Yumiko was there, too, Smiling and laughing with us. She gave us all a huge hug. She put on a great party.

So thank you, Yumiko. For the party. For the laughs. For the sunny day. And for the life full of joy you shared with us all.

Your Palms ohana

Tip of the hat to Tetsu Miyake for the pictures.

Beautiful Kauai through the eyes of Nagisa

A group of students and Palms staff members went to Kauai island for two days. Our dear Nagisa was one of them; she wrote the following:


We went to Kauai island as part of a school activity! Kauai island is called "the garden island", so we could see beautiful green mountains and fields! It was such a relaxing trip!!☆（≧∇≦）

The places I especially loved were Waimea Canyon and the Hindu temple we visited on our second day! Waimea Canyon is smaller than the Grand Canyon, but it is a beautiful color green and has different things (from the Grand Canyon) that attracted me to it.
Th Hindu temple offered a beautiful view of the valley below and displayed a lovely turquoise crystal.  This temple is a very holly place, and it helped me purify.

We enjoyed a lot of nice views, delicious food, and fun conversation until past midnight (^o^)

It's difficult for us to drive and make all the necessary reservations for a trip like this, so we appreciate Palms' members for all their help. Thank you sooo much Javier and Debbie! Big mahalo!!

Pictures taken by Nagisa. Video put together by Debbie.

Just out for a walk

The plan was to hike the trail at Mariner's Ridge, a 45-minute climb to some incredible views of Waimanalo and beyond. Takako, Izumi, Takae, and Javier got up early, drank a cup of coffee, did a bit of stretching, and headed out for a beautiful day of hiking. Javier promised them some wonderful views, and everyone was excited about the hike ahead. Check out the view from the top of Mariner's Ridge:

When they got to the trailhead however, a huge fence and a couple of warning signs kept them away. Mariner's Ridge is on land that's privately owned, and the landowners no longer want hikers on their land. Too bad; this was a beautiful and relatively easy place to hike. Our brave hikers felt a little sad that they couldn't go on this trail, but they weren't discouraged. They knew that other equally wonderful places were not far away. 

So off they went in search of a new trail. They didn't have to drive too far before stopping at Hanauma Bay, where there's a ridge that edges the bay and offers a very easy hike with some spectacular views. After parking the car and going up a few steps, they reached the trailhead and found, for the second time that day, a gate blocking the entrance and a sign that read: No Trespassing. This time however, our fearless hikers hopped the fence and went for a very nice walk.

Their walk offered them some very nice views of Hawaii Kai, Koko Head, Diamond Head, and the bay below. This was Izumi's first ever hike, and she was very glad that it wasn't a very difficult one. 

At the end of the hike, our four hikers came across a brick wall with a little graffiti, so they decided it was a good idea to pose by it and look a bit cool and distant. (If you look close, you can see Diamond Head in the back.)

Truly satisfied with with how the day had turned out, our daring heroes decided to make a quick stop at Halona Cove, which is a small beach located off the highway that requires a short descent. Nobody had brought a bathing suit so they couldn't go swimming, but they put their feet in the water and let the ocean carry back with it some of their aches. They were able to see a couple of turtles feeding in the ocean.

All in all, they had a great day. It's amazing the things you can see when you just go out for a walk in Hawaii.