On Aug 1st, 2008, more than thirty N.I.C.E students and teachers went to the plantation village in Waipahu. As soon as we arrived, we listened to some introduction and history of plantation village from Gary who was a nice guide-- like our grandfather. Hawai'i has a unique immigration history. After 1876, there were many sugar plantations growing big, and they needed workers. But Hawai'ians had a different lifestyle; they were only in fishing, taro-farming and other food activities. So they needed other ethnic groups who were used to farm working. Therefore, many people came from Korea, Japan, China, Philippines, Okinawa, Puerto Rico, Portugal, etc. to make money. But circumstance made them settle down in Hawai'i because they couldn't earn as much money as they thought. And work in the Plantation village was so tough and very low salary. So they couldn't go back to their homeland. Many women got married to their homeland man through a picture - this is the so called "picture bride." After orientation, Gary introduced some novel instruments which were used at that time and also played them. We tried to touch and play them one by one like a child. Most of the students seemed to go back to their childhood. We also tasted some tropical fruits that the village provided. I was so interested in star-fruit (actually a shape is same to a star) especially and unusual taste. It was so helpful to understand that we already had many classes, group presentation and movies about plantation life. We could see many kind of ethnic groups’ life-style more clearly and directly. We visited every country's house and felt their own culture, religion, clothes and food. The most impressive thing to me was the main feature of some countries. There were national map on the wall, a chamber pot beside a bed and a terrace where soy sauce crocks are placed in the Korean house. These cultures were so close to me. There was a religious temple like a Buddhism in the Chinese house. There were Catholic holy pictures on the wall and a big bathtub in the Portuguese house. There were Royal Family pictures in the Japanese house. In spite of being a little bit tired of looking around the village, everybody looked like children who were on a school excursion. (Actually, we went there by School Bus with some snacks^____^). We felt like we dropped in to visit the plantation village people and then come back again. We N.I.C.E students are all from many kinds of ethnic groups-- Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan, Thai, Tahiti etc. so this program trip was especially interesting. Through our excursion to Plantation Village, I could understand Hawai'i more easily. It will be very wonderful memory in my life.