Friends From Italy-Salve!!!
Italy has been the home of many European cultures, such as the Etruscans and the Romans, and later was the birthplace of the universities and of the movement of the Renaissance, that began in Tuscany and spread all over Europe. Italy’s capital Rome was for centuries the center of Western civilization; it also spawned the Baroque movement and seats the Catholic Church. Italy possessed a colonial empire from the mid-nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth century.
Today, Italy is a democratic republic and a developed country with the 8th-highest Quality of Life index rating in the world. It is a founding member of what is now the European Union (having signed the Treaty of Rome in 1957), and a founding member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
Our guest last week, Ms. Pecoraro is introducing us to her cousin Anna who is a school teacher in southern Italy. We feel it would be a great idea if our classes could exchange their thoughts and feelings. Even though we are from different worlds, I am sure we will find much in common.
October 26th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
Hi Mr Chung,
this is Anna, Felicia’s Italian cousin. I live in Salerno, near Amalfi Coast, but I teach in a small town 100 km far from Salerno. I’m an Italian teacher and I’m doing a project with my student: a cultural change with American students. It would be great to exchange with you thoughts and feelings. My studends can learn a lot from HAwaian culture too.
let me know if we can keep in touch
Thank you,
Anna Federico
October 27th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
Hi,
My name is Capri and I’m in Mr. Chung’s class. My ethnicities are Hawaiian, Scottish, Okinawan, Chinese, Portuguese, and English. In my family, I am the sixth generation to come to this school on my mom’s side. My aunts were in the first graduating class in my school. They graduated in the class of 1897 and their names were Louise Lewa Iokia and Aoe Wongkong their last names are pronounced as leva eokia and uh’oy. I am most proud of being Hawaiian because I love hearing the stories of how my ancestors traveled here on their canoes and would go out everyday and care for the land. Instead of care for the land we would say “Aloha ‘aina,” which also means patriotism. What I like most about the Hawaiian people is that no one ever owned the land, it always belonged to the people of Hawai‘i. It is my favorite thing about Hawaiians because I never liked it when people in my family would say “that’s mine, don’t touch it!”
October 28th, 2008 at 4:56 pm
Hi, I am Kelsey Rose. My ethnicities are Filipino, Japanese, Hawaiian, Chinese, Spanish, Cherokee Native Ameican, Tahitian, English, and Irish. I have the same ethnicities as my mom. My dad is only Filipino and Hawaiian. I am the only child. Including me, all of my cousins on my mom side are girls and there are ten of us and one girl step-cousin.
I like to paddle in a six-man canoe and race in the regattas in the summer. I am mostly in seat three and that is what we call “the power-house,” including seat four. The power-house pulls the boat to make it glide through the water.
I am the only child and I am eleven years old. I am the first one in my generation, my parent’s generation, and my grandparent’s generation to go to Kamehameha Elementary School. I got into this school in the fourth grade and I am in the fifth grade right now.
My great grandma’s brother on my mom’s side went to this school. I know a lot of people at Kamehameha Schools from paddling. They are mostly in high school. Some of them graduated last year.
October 28th, 2008 at 8:07 pm
Hello, my name is Alema and my ethnicities are Hawaiian, Samoan, Portuguese, Chinese, Spanish and English. I am a middle child. I have one older brother, and a younger brother and sister who are also twins.
The Hawaiian culture is very interesting. The Hawaiians believe in sharing land which is the called the ‘aina. Instead of certain people owning land we believed that Papa and Wakea owned the land. Papa and Wakea were the earth and sky gods. The Hawaiians also believed in bartering between the ahupua‘as which are divisions of land that stretche from the mountain to the sea. So the people that lived by the sea traded fish for things like kalo which was grown in the uplands. Hawaiians also had kapu which are rules for their society. For example, men could not eat with women, and you could not eat pua‘a which is pig during a season called Makahiki. Another thing Hawaiians believed in was water, just like land, had to be shared. One example of this was whenever they diverted the streams to go to their kalo patches, they always made another diversion to go back to the streams.
November 1st, 2008 at 8:33 pm
Hi, my name is Ale from Oahu. My ethnicities are Hawaiian, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese, and Filipino. My question for you folks is what are your ethnicities and what have you guys been learning in class? Well, I must leave now and please right back as soon as possible. ALOHA ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
December 17th, 2008 at 7:26 pm
Dear Miss Anna, Hawaiian is spelled H-A-W-A-I-I-A-N! Anyway, I just wanted to say Aloha (hello) and Mahalo (thank you) for blogging to us! I’m Ariana and I have a Hawaiian middle name. It is La‘akea, I’m not sure what it really means, though. At our school, we basically speak English (but it’s not very British-like). I hope you were not expecting us to speak fluent Hawaiian because we don’t. Sadly, we only learn about it and speak a little. We only do oli (chant), hula (dance), and mele (songs). Did you know that there was no Treaty of Annexation. The Americans actually pionted guns at Lili‘uokalani’s palace!
Anyway I am Hawaiian, Okinawin, Filipino, and Irish. As you can notice, the people who already blogged have ancestors who are mostly from Europe or Asia.
Aloha,
Ariana:)