On friday, periods 1 and 2 of Hawaiian studies class got to go on a field trip. YAAAYYY NO SCHOOL (: While our classmates were stuck in school reading stuff out of text books, we got the hands on experience. First we arrived to the He'ia fish ponds. We helped staff out by rebuilding a broken wall caused by a storm. We lined cylinder blocks into the water as a foundation to use for the new repaired wall, then another group transported the coral (gotten from a quarry located in Wai'anae), onto a dock then into the stacked cylinders. The third group loaded the coral into bucket that was then loaded onto a john deer cart. Not only did we help out but we also got a tour of the fish ponds and learned a bit about its past and where the staff hope it will be in the future. after we finished loading the pile of coral into the buckets we washed off and were on our way to the Waiahole lo'i patches, my favorite place. Upon arrival, we loaded our items into the backof the truck then hiked our way up to the patches. The bus took us as far as it could go, but where we were going was a small trail big enough for only a truck to pass. Guava fruits lined the trail, it smelt soooooo good. At the patches we listened to stories and then we got to run around in the patches to loosen the soil. We threw mud, tackled each other, played sharks and minnows and played tug of war. Now heres the best part, we got to rinse off in a fresh water steam a little up from the lo'i patches. The stream got a little deeper than four feet and could fit 33+ people. The water was freezing!!!! It was like ice water but it was so clean and clear. That was my favorite part of the day. I have never seen such a clean and deep river like that ever before. I would definitely ant to go back there again and help out. I enjoy these all day field trips because what you read in a handout doesnt even compare to what you learn when its hands on.