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I bought some gorgeous earrings and an incredible--I do mean incredible--carved mother of pearl fish-hook choker from Cathy Teri'ipaia before I knew who she was. I was looking at her jewelry and I knew I wanted some of it, and then the fish hook design just grabbed me. I bought it, and when I put it on, it felt right. When she looked at me, she did a double-take and said, "Wow. That one is perfect for you." I just connected with it and it with me.

At dinner I looked at the mele we would be doing. Kumu Mark's are about fishing, Auntie (Kumu? I'm not sure...) Cathy's are about God and the scriptures. >_> Great selection for the PAGAN VEGETARIAN over here. But whatever, I'll go on.

Auntie Cathy's basics class was brutal, interesting, and awesome. She is a very gentle and sweet person. I will not remember the awesome Tahitian that she taught and I have neither the CD (there isn't one for sale) nor will it be on the video, but I really did learn a lot of new moves and how things are really supposed to be done in Tahitian. Which, as good as I thought I was at Tahitian, actually learning the basics was humbling.

MARK KEALI'I HO'OMALU, you ask? Funny, snarky, sexy, irreverent, feminist, intense, all around pretty fascinating. He's a hell of a lot taller than I thought he would be, lanky, and has let his hair go all one length all down his back. He totally fills the room. I was actually completely star-struck when he walked past me; my palms actually started to sweat. Then he made us all sit down and chill the hell out before doing the warmups. (The warmups, I know I couldn't have done this time last year. The only reason I was able to get through them was because of Kung Fu.) He is very approachable and after a while I felt comfortable around him, mostly because he says just about anything and you feel that you can, too. Then, when we got into doing his basics (times Cathy's class by two in terms of brutality--my knee is actually pretty swollen right now,) and he started to pa'i the ipu heke (which is one of the most incredible ipu heke I've ever seen,) he started to sort of chant, but not really so much words as just sounds. It really was the partial gibberish I was warned about, but I think what a lot of people misunderstand is that it's not as if he doesn't know its partly gibberish. I mean, he can speak Hawaiian and English for godsakes. It was just such a really joyful way of singing and so freaking intense that I got all star-struck all over again. It goes back and forth between English, Hawaiian, random sounds, and stuff that sounds like boot camp. You'd have to hear it to understand. The basics class itself was pure Hula, and don't let anyone tell you different. It's just forward-moving Hula, and I found it empowering. We were allowed to do moves that are kapu in other classes. It's hardcore, sexy, earthy, and real. He's not afraid of it. And he referenced the old gods and made a snarky comment about "Some of you only have ONE god. I've got a whole bunch." I just about died!

I hope I can walk tomorrow. Oh, heck, I know I'll be able to walk, but I guess I mean that I hope I can keep up and keep doing things right instead of slacking off. I don't want to mess up. This is much too cool to mess up. ^_^

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