The pictures uploaded in reverse order for some reason, so you’ll have to read it starting at the bottom and working up.
Vale, Estoy Aqui – Sophie
Hola, Sophie here en Espania. I haven’t had much luck with Internet access here, so if you all are wondering why none of us on the Spanish exchange have posted anything, that is why. We arrived in Madrid Saturday morning after a long and restless airplane ride for the most of us. We all got freaked out when Profe Jorge told us that he didn’t know where we were staying the night. It was a joke. We didn’t get it. When we arrived, we met up with a teacher from the school in Barcelona and after some luggage problems, we made our way to the hotel that we stayed at for the next two nights. Of course though, we only dropped off our bags and then, against many of our wills, headed out to the streets again. By this point, many of us hadn’t slept in about 24 hours, but we couldn’t waste precious time in Madrid. So we went to an art museum, and tried to walk around and appreciate the art without collapsing. After the museum, the teachers thought it would be a good idea for us to get to know the way around the city, so they handed each of us a map and told us to find our way to Plaza Mayor. It took about an hour, but we all found our way and were rewarded with dinner! Being a vegetarian is sometimes very hard here, so I was able to find some good pizza.
The next day, we went to an out-door market, where you could buy anything that you wanted. It was very crowded but was a lot of fun. After that, we went to another art museum. This one was a little better and I actually saw a painting that I knew of Georgia O’Keefe. The streets are filled with beautiful buildings, beautiful sculptures, and beautiful people, oh and tons of Vespas and motorcycles.
On our third and last day in Madrid, we went to a gorgeous and romantic park. We took many photos and walked a lot. Then we went to the Riena Sofia museum which was my favorite. There was lots of work done by Pablo Piccasso and Salvador Dalí. The building was four stories high and made of glass, with glass elevators (a tad bit scary, I must say).
That sums up our days in Madrid. We had some great group bonding in two small groups. We ate good food and got very good at asking for directions en Spanish.
Now, we are in Barcelona. We took a very fast train, about 300 kilometers per hour, and was welcomed by signs from our hosts. We are taking it easy here because our students are on vacation. We are able to sleep in, which is a treat as we try to catch up from what we lost before. It is very hard to understand the people when they talk because they speak so fast and sometimes in Catalan. We are trying and learning new words that are commonly used.
Adios until next time!
Sophie
Snaps from Ghana
A Rainy Day at the Farm
I know that I have started to fall behind as a blogger but this rainy day gives me a chance to catch up. Even though I have officially left the Trumbullplex as a house guest I haven’t really left yet. After every day at the farm I’ve headed back to the Trumbullplex to hang out with the collective. The other night we went bowling as a collective and never stopped putting on punk songs on the juke box. It ended up being a dance party with bowling on the side. It also happened to be a really slow night at the bowling alley so the owner let us keep going for 3 hours for the price of one game. There was also a really bad show at the theater the on Monday night. The bands were all really lame except for one of our friends’ bands. The real problem with the show was the people who showed up were all really big jerks. Most of the collective headed inside and hung out inside around the wood stove and came back periodically to check up on the show.
Even though the show stunk, the Trumbullplex got some bigger donations for their magazine library.
The Farm, on the other hand, has been really great as well. Greg is a really inspiring person to be working with. He started the Trumbullplex back in 1992 and embodies the entrepreneurial lifestyle I want to pursue. It has been really nice to talk to Greg about his past with movements and how they can really disillusion you.
Greg is also a former teacher, fired after he supported some students with their idea to hold a sit-in to change the school cafeteria. We have been collaborating on a new project to build a compost screener that can be moved over the beds as a direct application. It’s really nice to work with Greg and see a teaching style that is a perfect balance of freedom and instruction.
Today, however, has been rainy and there hasn’t been much that we can do on a day like today. Tonight I’m going to head back to Back Alley Bikes to volunteer.
Peace,
Henry
Operation Thailand – Complete. Lynn
This will be my last entry as a blogger whose on Senior Projects. As 9 other students are falling asleep before our 5 AM flight, I am sitting with my laptop, trying to sink in the fact that I will be leaving Bangkok in a few hours.
The last few days at the Elephant Nature Park have been an mind-boggling experience. When we went up to the Elephant Haven, an hour hike up the mountain in the dead heat made the hike seem worth it. There was nothing but nature. Even though the hike was pretty bad, “step step break.” After two or three steps, the elephants would stop and eat the nearby grass and they never seemed to be full. But their hunger made the hike more relaxing and gave us more time to enjoy the living nature of the mountain. When it got dark, Pum told us bunch of stories of the elephants, of Lek and the beginning times of the ENP. Lek seemed to have gone through so much to have built all this. Sometime close to 9, we went on a mini-hike around the mountain with flash lights, following the mahouts to find the elephants. The prickles and bushes did not make the hike fun but painful. But it was amazing how mahouts could easily find their elephants in pitch dark without hearing any noises from them.
The next morning, we had even bigger agenda for the day. WE WERE RESCUING AN ELEPHANT. I must say, we are a hell of a lucky group, because we experienced events that wouldn’t have experienced if we weren’t there at that special week. With the forest fire, and rescuing an elephant? The park has rescued 35 elephants over the course of 20 years. What are the chances that we work during the week that they save another one? Anyway, this new elephant was abused by being ridden by tourists for money near by the ENP. It’s back leg was broken for 30 years. The nature park people were the elephant’s 17th and hopefully last owner. The elephant did not go into the truck, so it had to walk back. Most of the volunteers went to rescue the elephants and some decided to walk back to the park with the new elephant.
By the time it was Sunday when all the volunteers were leaving, I realized how much bonding we had with the rest of the volunteers during this week. I met some really interesting people, such as people who quit their jobs to travel, bikers, etc.
Right now, I don’t think I can fully describe how this experience will change my life right now or in the future. I haven’t seen the changes yet, but I am excited to see them in my life and see changes in other people too. The aftermath might not be visible at the moment, because we just left Thailand and the service was physical labor but it will be visible in our actions soon enough. I can’t wait to see everyone and begin talking about our Senior Projects.
Thanks for reading my blogs, and I hope they were helpful in keeping you updated!
Lynn
March 8, 2011
Back from Ghana – Kevin
Well, we made it back safely to the U.S. yesterday, and it’s safe to say that all of us were incredibly sad to leave Ghana and Heritage Academy. The kids were all so wonderful, and there were some tears from a few of our group members and a few Heritage students at our farewell on Monday.
The last week of teaching for me was, in general, great. Most of the children finished up their books, and those that are finished have a permanent place in the Heritage Academy library. Given the fact that practically none of these children have ever taken an art class before, many of them can draw extremely well. The only thing I found surprising, and a little annoying, was that the children couldn’t figure out how to share the materials I had gotten for them (colored pencils, pencil sharpeners, erasers, etc…). I would have expected this from much younger children, but certainly not from 13-14 year olds. Seeing as that was really the only problem that I had to deal with in my class, I’d say the entire teaching experience was definitely positive. I am especially proud of my J1B class (7th grade), who are (because of test scores) classified as the more remedial of the two J1 classes, because their work ethic is significantly higher than any other group of students I have met. Not only did all of the students in J1B finish their work by Friday afternoon, but they managed to do it all in fewer class periods. Some of the students in that class even finished their books the night that I assigned them. Although I think that I’ve known this for a while, it was great to see an example, showing that test scores don’t always reflect intelligence and that a hard work ethic is probably one of the most important tools to have in life.
I took pictures of all the books that the children made so that I could remember what they looked like, and I will post some of them on this blog soon, so that you all can read and enjoy them as well.
In addition to teaching, we have also been working hard to make the cinderblocks that will eventually be used to build the secondary school (high school). We made a total of 315 blocks in our short 2 week visit, and according to T. Kwesi the secondary school will be up and running this September, just in time for the new school year.
Again, we were all heartbroken that we had to leave after such a short time, but I can guarantee that many, if not all, are planning on going back as soon as possible.
-Kevin
Ghana Day 16: We made it! Daniel
We’re back! We have arrived home safely with everyone intact.
On Monday, the day after I posted my previous entry, we drove to Heritage for the last time. Most of us were decked out in our new Ghanaian fabric. I wore my shorts and a t-shirt I had gotten at Kakum National Park. We arrived and began the painful process of saying goodbye. There were many exchanges of letters and gifts. I doled out some candy. We all took “snaps” of the kids we taught and had gotten to know. Before we knew it, we had a formal assembly to say goodbye, and then we took our group picture and said goodbye for the last time.
We drove back to JIMMYCOM, took pictures with Alaska, Heritage’s pro driver. He was very gracious, and worked for a lot of extra time on the weekends to shuttle us to all of the places we visited. On the weekdays, he works longer hours than just about anyone at Heritage, since he had to pick up and drop off all of the students before and after school.
We packed the last residual clothing into our suitcases, packed them into the bus, and set out for Accra. We were staying in a hotel, which according to Kwesi was “within spitting distance” from the airport. The place was amazing: it had air-conditioning, running water, and even mirrors and soap. We all felt very out-of-place.
We ate a massive chinese food dinner that night as a celebration of the work we had done and as an appreciation for our group and the time we spent together. We all tried to avoid seafood dishes, because Ghanaians have odd ways of preparing seafood.
This morning, we had a 6:00AM wake-up call, a twelve-hour flight, and a four hour drive from JFK to Westtown. It felt great to be home, but we were all freezing when we got back. Most of us had acclimatized to the 95-degree and humid weather of Ghana, and now we were thrust back into the frozen tundra of North America. Teachers Melissa and Linda were there to greet us, as well as Emmanuel and Isaac. We exchanged news and stories of our journey, and tried out some of the Fante we had picked up.
Fortunately, I left Ghana with few regrets. I wish that I had bought more when we had the opportunity, because it is uncertain whether I will ever be able to go back. I want about three more shirts and three more pairs of pants and shorts, as well as wooden statues and other crafts.
We did not get any grass cutter. We heard from a bunch of Heritage students that it is amazing, but we only ever saw them for sale when we were driving to Ajumako when we arrived and as we were driving to Accra on the last day. People sell them on the sides of large roads, but we couldn’t ever stop. We will all be dreaming wonderful Malarone-induced dreams of grass cutter steaks.
Also, as Bella and Kevin would agree, I wish that we had managed to bring back some Passion Fruit Alvaro. Mere words can describe neither the taste nor the essence of this drink. One of the first things I did when I got here was to look it up on the Internet, but I can’t seem to find a way to get it shipped here.
If anyone has any questions about where we went and what we did, anyone on the trip would be more than happy to recount our adventures. We would all recommend this trip to future seniors without hesitation. Teaching at Heritage was a powerful experience, one I hope never to forget.
Good luck to Seniors next year,
Daniel
¡Hola! Kendall
Hello everyone! I am here in Barcelona, writing from my room in my host sister, Maria´s house. She lives in an apartment in Barcelona, as do the majority of the kids that are participating in the Spanish exchange with us. Even though I left for Spain on Friday, and it is Tuesday, ironically enough, it has been rather hard to come by wi-fi in Spain, or the time to get on the internet, if it was available. I spent Saturday through Monday in Madrid, with the group, Profe Jorge, and Profe Remy from the Aula School, who is actually from Paris. Profe Remy gave the group a personal, complete tour of all of Madrid, from the historical aspects, to the tourist aspects, to the ones that only a resident would know. We did so much walking, and the first day was very rough, after combining our exhaustion from walking all over Madrid with jet lag. By Monday however, we were used to Spanish time. Our days were long and packed, and we visited three musems: El Prado on Saturday, El Thyssen on Sunday, and La Reina Sofia on Monday. La Reina Sofia was definitely my favorite, because it had the largest variety of works, and they were all extremely interesting, and way more colorful and diverse than in the other two museums. Some works were made as recently as 2010, and I even saw Picasso´s Guernica. I have pictures from the Reina Sofia of some of my favorite works. We saw the Royal Palace, the Congress building, cathedrals, parks, and more. We saw the famous Plaza Mayor, and el Plaza del Sol. We ate chocolate con churros, which was delicious, and a few times we had different kinds of tapas, which are basically little appetizers, and I noticed that eggs and ham are two very common ingredients in the cuisine of Madrid. There was one mishap during these first few days: Natalie´s luggage did not come! We found out it had been sent to Paris with her sister, and once we tracked it down there, it had to be sent back to Philadelphia, and then finally, to Madrid. It got to our hotel in Madrid just in time for our departure for Barcelona, on the high-speed Ave train. One thing about Madrid, is that it is very clean. All the streets are almost spotless. Also, everything, like the roads, streets, and even elevators, are very narrow, and it seems like cars can go anywhere and there is hardly any distinction between sidewalk and road!
While in Madrid, we also went to multiple markets, like El Rastro, where pick-pocketing is a big concern, and el mercado de San Miguel, where we were allowed to roam free and try everything. One thing I liked about our time in Madrid, is that we had a lot of time to navigate ourselves through the city. We got to find our own ways to meeting points that we established, go by ourselves to find meals, shop alone, etc. The freedom is great, and I think it is really good practice for me, since I´ll be in college in the city next year. I had a very good time in Madrid, all things considered, but it was nothing like what I expected.
Today was my first day in Barcelona, since we arrived at around 11:30 last night. I was so tired, by the time I arrived at my host sister´s house, I went almost straight to bed. Today however, we met up with four of the other hosts, and their American counterparts, and had a full day of shopping, eating, and bonding. The mall here is very different from in America! We ate a pasta lunch at my host sister´s apartment, then threw a mini surprise party for one of her friends, who is the host sister of Sophie, and then we, along with Lauren and her host sister, Liz and her host sister, and Rachel and hers, went to a very cute little shop that sells crepes, ice cream and waffles, and ate. I got a waffle with nutella and chocolate ice cream and it was amazing. After that we shopped a little more, then my host sister and I went to the apartment of Lauren´s host sister, and we watched the Barcelona vs Aresenal soccer game with the two girls’ parents, and ate Spanish tortillas and bread with tomato which was also very good. I am definitely getting good exposure to authentic Catalan cuisine. One thing about Barcelona however, is that everything is in Catalan, and everyone speaks Catalan. Catalan is like a mixture of French, Spanish, and Portuguese, and I don´t understand it at all, so that is very difficult, especially when Maria and her friends speak in it. But the girls try to speak in Castelleno (Spanish), or English to us, so that is good, even though their Spanish is very fast. I´m pretty excited to get a good look at Barcelona this week while our girls are on break, and we have time to do whatever we want. I want to see the city from the eyes of teenage girls, because I know I´ll be able to relate.
Nos vemos, ¡ciao!
We Are Alive! – Lynn
At the Elephant Nature Park, we couldn’t get wireless and that is why I haven’t updated my blogs. My apologies. Still, I wrote some stuff down and it is not updated fully, but here’s what I have so far.
Day 1 at the Elephant Nature Park:
I am writing my blog posts on my laptop so I can post this when I go back to Bangkok and have wireless. We took the van from Chiang Mai to the Elephant Nature Park this morning, and it probably took us around an hour drive to get here. My first impression was, “I don’t even know what we will be doing here and we are stuck here for 6 days! ” But after spending a whole day here and after going through the orientation, I am excited for the next 5 days.
We started working right when we got there. We thought we were getting a tour, but the people needed help, so we jumped right in. The first task was to make banana balls, and it consists of mashed bananas, corn flour, flour and rice flour. Around the corner, few guys and I helped Susan peel bananas and mash them for making of the banana balls.
Our group leader, Jack ,showed us the elephants and the next second we were feeding them! In order to feed the elephants, we have to hold the fruit, while standing on either side of the elephants, and wait for them to take the fruit from us with their trunks. It is quite fascinating, watching them grab fruit with their trunks, or balance the cucumbers on the inside of their trunks while they chew the fruits that they have in their mouth.
The next step is bathing the elephants. There is a river right by the land, the elephants walk in and the volunteers throw buckets of water onto their bodies. Our first elephant baths turned into a water fight between our group. I didn’t mind getting splashed, until I realized the elephants were pooping in the river during their baths. Ade and David bought Crocs at the airport, and they were putting them to good use. I went into the lake barefoot because I was wearing sneakers the whole day.
Lunch was pretty good, it was buffet style and they had lots of food options, I thought to myself, finally, we are getting some real Thai food! The food was awesome, and for the rest of the day we had some free time, fed the elephants again, then there was a welcome ceremony done by the people from the village next to the Elephant park. The ceremony was interesting, filled with prayers, some rituals and there old ladies gave everyone white bracelets. It was pretty cool. Then we had dinner, and now its bed time, I am upset that I can’t upload anything for 6 days. But I like not having internet and being away from technology.
Everything seems pretty chill here. I met some interesting people today. This one lady is from Australia and she’s been here for 7 years. Now she is a master at cutting fruits with really sharp knife. The other thing that I noticed is that there are lots of people from around the world. Mostly they are from UK and Australia and I love their accents!
Anyways, goodnight everyone.
February 28, 2011
Day 2 at the Elephant Nature Park:
It’s currently 6:08 PM right now, and work has ended. Today, we went to the corn field to chop off the stocks for to feed the elephants. It was about an hour drive to the corn fields, and we worked for about 2 hours. We picked up 300 bundles in the end, and had to sit on top of the corn stocks on our way back! The truck ride back was very exciting.
I didn’t take any pictures today, because I was very tired today. The truth is, I didn’t even take my camera out of my room. I wanted a day off from photography duty. of course, the moment we stepped off the elephant nature park to go to the corn fields, I regretted that decision.
Anyway, when we came back, we had lunch and bathed the elephants. I don’t know why, but I was very tired today, so I did not participate too much in the water fights or anything extra.
March 1, 2011
Day 3 at the Elephant Nature Park:
“Call us Westtown Firefighters!”
It is only the 3rd day here at the Elephant Nature Park, and we are already having so much fun. As we are enjoying the beautiful scenery and presence of the elephants and dogs, we ran into an unexpected accident today.
The day started out pretty normal, we shoveled elephant poop and drained the mud pits that elephants use, and of course, we had a mud fight. It was pretty fun actually, Alex did tackle me into the mud. But it was fun overall.
After lunch, we had a chance to look at the elephants up close, and we got to see the baby elephants. They were so small compared to the big ones. At one point, one of the baby elephants started to wander off, and the whole herd followed it after.
We were coming back from watching the elephants, and Jack, our group leader, gets a phone call. He told us that the nature park’s property was on fire and that we had to go put it out. We ran to the mountain at the end of the park. and grabbed a bucket and started running up the mountain. I did not get to see the real fire that took forever to put out, so I didn’t get to take pictures because I was busy running up and down passing buckets full of water. But I saw the other fires that started up as we were done with one big one. It was very intense. I broke my flip-flop at one point, but I fixed it.
Everyone’s legs were cut from all the shrubs and had ashes all over because of the burnt trees. We were very dehydrated and sweating from the fire, but we felt very accomplished afterwards. We saved the mountain!
People went tubing down the river afterwards, but I was very tired and didn’t feel like it, so I waited for them to come down the stream and snapped some pictures. Sam, this british guy started throwing elephant poop at the boys. It was pretty funny.
March 2nd 2011
Day 4 at the Elephant Nature Park
This morning, just like the first day, we made elephant food.We mashed bananas and mixed them with rice flour and corn flour to make banana balls. Then people who did not do the mud pit yesterday went to do that, while Alex Emily and I carried the watermelons off the truck. Later on, the truck filled with pumpkins came, so we had to unload that.
Our official afternoon job was moving the mud bricks that will be used to build more buildings. At first, they were expecting us to carry one by one to the hut which was far away, but we got a tractor and divided into 2 groups loading and unloading the bricks. We were very efficient and I think that allowed us to go tubing the longer stream this time. The water got pretty cold as we were done, but it was fun for the most part. The current was a little unpredictable so at one point, I was ahead of everyone, but later it took me nearly 20 minutes to finally catch up to everyone.
After the dinner, I played Yahtzee with 2 girls from Holland with Amadou and David. Their names are Valerie and Anouk. They seem very chill and cool. Tomorrow we are going to Elephant Haven. I am pretty excited. Good night for now!
March 3rd 2011
Lynn
P.S. pictures will come later!
Saying Bye to the Elephants – Emily
I just took my first hot shower since I left home two weeks ago. That is partially my own fault, considering I did not realize that the showers in the Lub D could have hot water if I turned the knob the other way….but while in the Elephant Nature Park, there was no hot water. Only cold water in a shower with muddy floors and lots of bugs. It is nice to finally feel clean again.
Our group left last week for Chiang Mai. After the 11 hour train ride through the night, and a night in another hostel-like guest house, we left for Elephant Nature Park. Upon arriving at the park, I immediately knew I was going to enjoy it much more than Bangkok. The transition from skyscrapers and dirty streets to mountains and dirt roads was appealing to me; I was sick of the busy traffic and gross smelling areas of Bangkok. Negative thoughts about Thailand were beginning to form in my head. Chiang Mai was a nice change because it was still a city, but also a bit more traditional and much less crowded. When the van of Westtown students left Chiang Mai and headed for rural Thailand, I was not sure what to expect.
The landscapes of forested mountains were beautiful and different from anything I had seen before. As we approached the park, all I saw was jungle covered mountains surrounding an area of flat land that included tropical looking trees and a small river. As we turned down the dirt driveway of the park, I saw elephants in a field to the left. My negativity disappeared, and I couldn’t wait to begin the week.
The week at Elephant Nature Park was one of the most amazing weeks of my life. I ate a lot of Thai food, and a lot of pineapple. We fed and bathed the elephants, and learned a lot about how the park was created. We went tubing down a Thai river while local children threw mud at us. We spend our first morning cutting down corn stalks with machetes in the hot sun, and then rode back to the park sitting on top of the corn in the back of the truck eating watermelon. Draining the mud pit for the elephants turned into a giant mud fight (totally worth the ruined clothes and mud in my ears), and later that day we had to cut our Elephant Walk short… in order to help the workers fight a forest fire that had traveled onto the park’s property. Climbing up a hill in the hot sun with a bucket of water to throw on the burning plants, while walking on burning leaves and thorns that gave me many scrapes and cuts was something I never imagined my Senior Project would involve, but I am thankful for the unforgettable experience.
As lame as it sounds, I really am having trouble putting my experience at Elephant Nature Park into words. We washed and fed elephants, prepared their food, and did a good amount of manual labor. But for me, it never felt like a “service project”. I looked forward to the morning jobs and feeding the elephants, I really loved every moment of it. We hiked up mountains with elephants and slept in a shack in the middle of the woods for a night. We walked around in the dark jungle helping the mahouts find the elephants. I spent a week with 35 elephants and 70 dogs, and had the time of my life. I realize that I am still in the “learning stage” with my project. I’m supposed to think my project was so fun, and then in a week I am expected to come to some sort of realization about the life lessons it taught me. In reality, I am still halfway around the world from home, and I know that my project has had a huge impact on me. I know that I still have a lot to learn and experience in life. My week away from internet and the usual luxuries (such as hot water or a full-length mirror) truly allowed me to truly immerse myself in the experience. I learned that I don’t need to worry about everything right now. I’m 17 years old and have many many years ahead of me. Up until the day of my project, I had so much on my mind that at times I forgot I was even going to Thailand. My time in Thailand has allowed me to take a step back, and stop freaking out about things that seem so important right now, but in reality, could change in a few years, or even months. Spending time with people whose lives are so different from mine (for example, a guy who lives in a shack in rural Thailand and follows around a baby elephant 365 days a year) has been an incredibly positive experience for me. It is still hard to put into words how Thailand has impacted me, and my blog post has probably become very confusing. Basically, Thailand was just what I needed before I head into my final months at Westtown. It was a breath of fresh air, and my project put many things in perspective for me. I’m ready to go home.
We are leaving Bangkok tonight, our flight departs at 4:30am. After the 12 hour train ride last night, I am dreading the flights back, but looking forward to seeing my family and being home again.
-Emily 🙂
Westtown Senior Projects' Blog 