Spring Street International School "Dispatches" from the field

SPRING STREET INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL

Spring Street International School "Dispatches" from the field

Spring Street International School Travelers Kai Wilson, Chelsea DeCouteau, Alex Freeman, Sonja Anderson, Ingrid Carlson, Evan Anderson, Zack Milkis, Gabe Colburn and Grant Schwinge

Experiential Education journals and tales from afar...

Excerpt One - Bangkok, Thailand
This year, Spring Street International School's Experiential Education Program has two groups of High School students at opposite ends of the world. One group is in southern Mexico, participating in a Spanish language immersion program. The other group, led by SSIS teachers Ted and Peg Hope, has landed in Bangkok, Thailand, and will be making their way slowly to their eventual destination in Nepal. The student group is composed of Petra Borhani-Bakker, Alice and Anna Haefele, Corwin Waldron, Noah Yang, Jonathan Balise, Lindsey Cummins, Alex Oettinger, Joanna Leff and Rebecca Mason. One of the trip leaders, Liza Michaelson, a Spring Street alumni parent, sent the following report just after arrival in Bangkok.

"Our trip was thirty hours from bed to bed and when we reached the beds most of us only slept a few hours so we could wake up to the great day in Bangkok starting with a fantastic Shanti Lodge breakfast. We knew right away that we were not in Kansas!

We had no glitches until we arrived in Bangkok and found the immigrations at 1:30 am to be grossly understaffed. It was over two hours of standing in lines and by the time we got our packs our vans had long given up waiting for us. Nevertheless, everybody was in the best of spirits. Maybe it helped to be WARM in the middle of the night, stark contrast to the freezing temps at home.

The Shanti Lodge where we are staying is an oasis in a large city. It is on a dead- end street in a little neighborhood near the river. Mosaics, fountains, organic food, great music, people flowing in and out, plants, and a memorabilia wall including photos of our Spring Street students from various years. It is really like a home away from home.

The kids are the best! We are off to a somewhat difficult start with the jet lag and lack of sleep on top of hydration issues and culture and climate shock, but what a great group!!!

We walked through the fish market and past the orchids and never experienced any other two minutes of life with so many different smells. Each of us had something different to remark on while we waited by the river for a boat. "Did you see those eels in a bowl of blood?" (yes, eels being chopped into one inch lengths like pieces of asparagus). "How about the frogs?" (yes, toads... all eyes and jumpy in big bowls). "How bout the eggs?" (teeny, dirty and spotty).

All of a sudden a loud whistle and a boat pulls up, like a city bus, and we all pile on!!! We go down the Chao Phraya River - five stops on the packed boat, lucky enough to all have a place at the railing so we can see the city go by, a variety of boats on the river, each with its own bunch of fresh flowers and colorful plastic ribbons hanging from the bow in a prayer. At the fifth stop, we squeeze through the crowd of passengers including a few tourists, lots of local folk and more than a few monks in orange robes, to leap onto the dock and count heads, miraculously all here!!!

Following Ted, we walk the few blocks up to the Royal Palace and hear his story about the history of the place. The part that moves you is it was built while London was still a "cow town". I have seen it four times before, and every time I am amazed at the gold and glitter and detail and sheer beauty. Way better than Disneyland!

It was HOT, so rather than wait at the river for the next boat, we chartered one for our group and we went directly up the river to our dock at Tewet. We were pounding down water and thankfully so far no serious dehydration.

Hungry kids munched on Shanti Lodge food: soups, salads, mangoes, and Pad Thai. There were a few card games, a few kids spraying clothing with bug repellent for the jungle days ahead or emailing home. Seems like early to bed, or is it catch up on sleep now that it's dark out...

More later.

- Liza Michaelson

Excerpt Two -Izamal, Mexico
Our Spanish immersion group, led by SSIS teachers Adam and Angie Erickson, is spending this month in the small town of Izamal in the Yucatan. Students are living with families who speak only Spanish and are doing internships in the family businesses or serving the local community in other ways. The following are some notes about the students from Adam and Angie after the first few days in the village

Sonja Anderson
Sonja's family consists of a teacher, a seamstress, and their son and two daughters. Her internship is teaching English at the secondary school, but so far they have mostly peppered her with questions in Spanish leaving the English for a later class I suppose! Sonja and most of the girls in the group will be dancing with the local youth in the town's Carnival (a huge celebration in two weeks). They started practicing tonight.

Ingrid Carlson
Ingrid is living right in the center of town with a grandma, an elementary school teacher, and her 15-year-old daughter. It was a little awkward in the beginning as the ladies of the house were a little quiet and mostly stared and giggled at Ingrid for the first evening, but she says that it is getting better every day. She is working in a local restaurant where she is required to wear a traditional Mayan dress.

Grant Schwinge and Zach Milkis
Grant and Zach are living with a Presbyterian pastor and his family. They will have lots of stories to tell about church services that they graciously attended! They are sleeping in hammocks! Grant has been a great traveler and Zach so far has really been amazing considering this is his first trip--working hard on his Spanish, never complaining about anything, and maturely handling everything that has come up so far. Zach and Grant are local celebrities--all the girls want to know who the blond guy is and who the short one is (we all stand head and shoulders above most of the Mayans). The girls in our group love teasing Grant and Zach about their recent popularity. Grant's internship is at the local hospital with a doctor, and Zach is working in a stationary/school supply shop.

Gabe Coburn and Evan Anderson
Gabe and Evan are in the center of town in the home of an owner of a restaurant in the market, an elementary school principal, and their son (their daughter is away at college except on the weekends). They have a great home and a really fun family. For his internship, Gabe is taking photographs for the local newspaper!! Evan is working for his host father in the restaurant, but we are helping him find something a little more challenging because there are already too many employees at the restaurant. He is determined to end this month fluent in Spanish.

Chelsea DeCouteau
Chelsea is staying with one of the administrators of the school with which we are working. She has had such a great time so far--surprising us all with her fondness for oranges covered in chili powder. There are two other teenagers in her house so she is acting as social coordinator for our group, making sure everyone is meeting and greeting. She is working in a cafe in the central plaza--today we stopped by as she was learning to make cappuccinos. Gabe took her photo for the local newspaper--there will be a story about the American students and their internships.

Alex Freeman and Kai Wilson
Alex and Kai are living with a doctor, a restaurant owner, and their 15-year-old daughter. As both girls are freshman, they are having a little bit of a struggle with the language. Alex is really digging in, determined to learn as much as she can. Kai is a little shier, but she seems to be enjoying her internship with Sonja teaching English. Alex is working at the restaurant belonging to her host mother, who told us today that she is a great worker.

Everyone is fine, though we have already had some bouts of the usual traveler's woes: blisters, bug bites, upset stomachs, diarrhea, allergies, mixed up senses of direction, and homesickness.

We are so pleased with the group that we have with us--ALL of the students, without exception, have been great. The town that we are in is perfect for this experience. It often reminds us of Friday Harbor as everyone is a friend of a friend, or at least it feels this way. We have been warmly welcomed and feel that a positive cultural exchange is taking place.

We will be in touch again soon--hopefully next time with pictures!

- Angie and Adam

Excerpt Three Thailand - Ban Lek School
A continuing report from Spring Street International School's Experiential Education Trip by Liza Michaelson. This correspondence comes after the group's 5th day in Thailand.

"Life is good here in here southern jungle hills of Thailand. We will soon be going north to do our service project near the Burmese border. For now we are enjoying the place we are staying, its sweet people, the warm river and delicious food. This is a great group of kids, so positive, willing and inclusive. I am VERY impressed, so helpful and happy, lots of laughing.

Yesterday all the kids worked at a local school. I have to say that little Ban Lek School was the prettiest spot for a school I have ever seen. The students here meditate every day in class, starting in preschool. They are all very smiley and extremely polite, not only bowing when they walk by us, but if we are seated in a chair, they bend over so as not to stand taller than us (even our students as they are considered "teachers").

We are staying at an isolated eco-lodge owned by two Dutch women - Rose and Ingrid - who run a foundation, which serves needy children from the area. They live an extremely simple life, seemingly very content here in the jungle.

Today, after breakfast, we walked six miles through gorgeous terrain to their "mountain" (22 acres recently purchased for $20,000, including river front!), where we got to work helping to finish a cob house to be used as a storage room for their sports equipment at the soon-to-be playing field next to the river. Exclamations of, 'THIS IS FUN" were soon trilling in the air as we mixed clay with sand and cement and dried rice husks with our feet.

Then we got to slap it in huge fists-full onto the bamboo- framed wall while others of us smoothed it out. We placed empty bottles of colored glass here and there, and made a few windows for ventilation. After a couple hours we decided it was time to hit the river where the kids went swimming in all their clothes to get clean. Alex had so much mud on him, he hardly had a square inch of skin left, even his hair was full of it. Everybody else was well decorated too. It was fun and also really a great thing to learn how to do.

We were hot and tired and six miles sounded a bit far, so they piled us in an open truck and drove us back to the lodge. I was quite happy to climb the two steps up into my little bamboo house, shut the bamboo door, and slip under the mosquito net.

The girls are all in one room in the main house, except for Petra and Lindsey who chose the loft in the living room, which has a nice queen size mattress.

The boys are all together in one room with foam mats on the floor. We share one big bathroom. This is the gross part. Thai toilets have very narrow pipes. Instead of toilet paper they use kitchen sprayers, which at first can be a little alarming but everything dries so fast here it's no big deal and actually it works a lot better than paper.

Our kids KNEW this but somebody forgot and we have plugged up the toilet with paper. Its one of those squat toilets on the floor with a huge tub of water next to it, and you dip a bucket of water and pour it down the bowl, and its supposed to flush right down but its not doing that anymore. We offered to plunge it, but Rose says they don't have plungers in Thailand. Not sure why I am telling you this, but it's the small things that make up a day.

I tried to write you yesterday to let you know everybody is doing great, but I lost my entire message and had to hurry back before dark as I am on foot and would definitely get lost. Honestly, I can't believe there is a computer here in the jungle next to the river.

I have my fingers crossed that I can send this. Wish I could send you photos...if I could you would see our kids at the Royal Palace, in the Bangkok Weekend Market, entertaining children at the school, covered with mud, and swimming in the river.

Tomorrow is a day to swim and play and write in journals, and then head out for the night train north to Bangkok. If we are really lucky and it gets in on time we will go to the Shanti Lodge for breakfast and a shower. If not so lucky, we will go directly to the bus station for our bus north, which takes most of the day.

The good part is we meet up with the college students, who are traveling with us, and Ted and Peg tomorrow night...then trade places with them so they can come here and finish building the cob house...

It's dark and I don't have a head lamp and better get going...

Liza Michaelson

editor@sanjuanislander.com

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Spring Street International School "Dispatches" from the field