One Incredibly Scared Llama - Zoe in Peru

Elaborate costumes, ritual llama sacrifice and fire breathing – that´s right, we went to a local school play. It seems that the school health and safety rules are a lot more relaxed over here. I should probably mention that the sacrifice was acted with a large cut of meat, an incredibly scared llama and a bowl of thick red dye. By the end of the performance my host mother delighted in pointing out that I was EVEN whiter than I usually am!

We were invited to view this Luna Festival see two of our younger host brothers perform – one for the first time. Each year the whole school trots out in their costumes performing dances and carrying amazing props including cloth whips, bowls of smoke, offerings of fresh harvests to the gods and upholding the Inca King and Queen.
The whole dance went for three and a half hours, culminating in the fire dance in which the eldest year created moving patterns and imitated fight scenes with lit torches and fire breathers. I remember saying that if Peru could offer anything more beautiful or exciting I would be delightfully shocked. It was only a week later that we visited Nazca.

The first stop was the Inca salt lines. These are lines carved 15cm into the earth in perfect abstract designs of a monkey, tree, fox, humming bird and quite a few others. Many people have questioned how the lines were formed in such perfect shapes considering the Incas had no access to a bird eye view and also no one knows for what reason the lines were created rendering them an age-old mystery. Spiraling over these beautiful designs in a light plane was an astounding experience and this was only the beginning of our four day trip away.

A short bus ride took us to Ica where we took a boat to ´Islas Ballestas´. Swooping through the air and diving in the wind were hundreds of birds signaling our arrival at the famous islands. Shortly penguins appeared waddling around, much to the amusement of their Australian audience. Within a couple of hours we also saw dolphins frolicking in the water and sea lions sun baking on the rocks.. it was spectacular how many species of animal inhabited this tiny island!

Absolutely exhausted we were taken to our hotel, which we expected to be a small dorm-style place with showers and with luck the internet. We walked into a hidden oasis in Huacachina, complete with sparkling pool nestled at the foot of an enormous sand dune. I couldn´t imagine how this place could get any better until one of the parrots in the hotel squawked ´hola´ at us! This was truly the hotel of our dreams!

We concluded our trip by rocketing down Arabian-style Mountains of sand in both buggies and on sandboard!
Another thing of note actually happened in Cusco upon our return which I feel it is my duty to report you. This is a story of danger, heroics and thievery, the birth of the crime-fighting duo, Hustle and Rage,.

It was a cool September Evening in Cusco, Katherine ´Hustle´ Evans and Rachel ´Rage Raymond were just two ordinary girls on the way to a late night volleyball game. The atmosphere was tense with excitement and anticipation and Rachel scarcely noticed the small boy push past her in the crowd. Suddenly she felt the empty space in her pocket. ´my camera!’ she exclaims. Without hesitation they dive into the crowd, hot on the heels of the assailant. Catching up, Katherine accosts the boy in question while Rachel swings round and demands her possessions be returned. Cameras can be replaced but she was damned if she was going to let her memory card go without a fight. After a moments struggle the boy relinquished the goods and was carried away by a crowd of bystanders.
Wherever thieves may strike or cameras are in danger, Hustle and Rage will be here – fighting for Justice, truth and a month´s worth of photos.
Until next time,
Zoe.

NSW Schools Travel Simulation Day

The Travel Simulation Day

This is a day where the students of each Expedition team work together to travel through their home city with their Antipodeans Abroad Leader and teaching staff. The team visits a number of sites in the city while using different methods of transport (usually including train, bus, ferry and hiking) to simulate what travel is like on an Expedition.

On a sunny day last month, our NSW teams came together from schools such as Roseville College, Brigidine College, Loreto Normanhurst to participate in their simulation day, and begin the preparation for their Expedition.

The students of each team are responsible for planning the day and this starts in the morning when each team is divided into smaller groups and each group is then responsible for choosing a site of historical, cultural or geographical interest in the city. Each group then has to work within certain constraints (budget, time, geographical limitations) and plan their day. Then the entire team joins together to execute the plan and explore the city!

While some groups chose to stay in the city, discovering The Rocks and Darling Harbour, other teams ventured out via ferry to Manly on the northern beaches.

The travel simulation day is an important step in the preparation and training for each Expedition team. The day affords the travellers and an opportunity to work together and practise the different leadership roles on an Expedition while focusing on sites of geographical, cultural and historical importance and all of this takes place in a city they know well – a pretty handy simulation of what they are likely to experience while on Expedition!

Lucy Visits Students in South America

I had a fantastic time visiting the students in Argentina & Peru, they really seem to be having a wonderful experience and really getting into the South American way of life. Buenos Aires is such a great city, so beautiful with plenty of things for them to do. All the projects are running well, unfortunately I only managed to see a few students in action, firstly Josh in his class at the private school in Recoleta. Josh has giving the students in the class an overview on recycling water in Australia, I was very impressed! Secondly, I went to out to the ‘villa’s’ (slums) with Julia and Julian. It took us hours to get there as the buses were on strike so the traffic was awful, but it was well worth the visit! The work they’re doing is really in a challenging environment and you can see how much the local kids like coming to the classes. The NGO that the students work with, LIFE, also provide food for many in the community and you could see how much this was appreciated. 

I visited two of the community centres where the students are working and they were certainly being kept busy, teaching maths, English and games, in a very informal setting.

Later on in my visit I travelled to see Ali’s placement in La Boca, again a very poor part of Buenos Aires, although quite central. The centre wasn’t open to children when I went to visit so Ali wasn’t there either, but it was great to see the things they do, teaching and games with the kids, a workshop for the local women and a computer room to assist with teaching skills.

I spoke with all the students and they all seemed to be enjoying their placements.
I can see why many of them who are working in the ‘volunteer’ work are continuing with Spanish. It is so important to be able to understand the kids and to be understood!

Sam, Henry, Josh, Chirag and James are all excelling and enjoying their placements in the private schools. Josh, Henry and Sam’s school is right next door to the student residence so it’s very handy. The lessons are mainly taught in English so it’s great for the students at the school to be able to practice speaking English. They get the benefit of being able to hang out with some of the students as they are similar ages, apart from Sam who is teaching at the primary school.

The homestay’s are all going well. I met Josh and Chirag’s host mother (a photo of her attached with Agu - one of the staff in Argentina) and saw the house where they are living. It’s very comfortable and close to the student residence. Julian was still happy with his family and those in the student residence were loving it. There’s a good mix of nationalities which makes it a lot of fun in the house, with there always being something going on. All those students in homestays seem to hang out here a lot too.

We had a good evening at the student residence, once a month our partner organisation Road to Argentina, host a pizza night for all the volunteers. Luckily I was there for this night so it was a good chance to see the students one last time before I headed off to Peru.

After a long journey, and a few hiccups like locking my passport in my hotel safe!, I made it to Peru. I had such a wonderful time seeing the group in Peru and how they have settled in. They were all very well and in great spirits, despite the fact that many were in and out the clinic whilst I was there. The work they’ve done is amazing, they have put a huge amount of effort into the perimeter fence of the school and in-country agent, Jane tells me this week that it’s nearly finished. They should be really proud of themselves. Not only the work, but the funding for the project. It’s a government requirement that every primary school is fenced and the community had asked for it as a priority over any other project. It not only protects the school from theft (only last week many of the fish were stolen from the trout farm), but also keeps the young students safe from running onto the main road that goes by the school.

They were doing a great job at teaching as well. Jane has been full of praises for this group, they have really spent time planning their lessons and thought about what needs to be done. I went on the school excursion to the Sacred Valley which was great fun. The kids were just so excited about their first school trip and it was great to see them enjoying hanging out with our students. 

I went to visit a few of the families (Martina / Sarah and Alex, Lachy and Clancy, Rachel and Katherine) - they were being well looked after and all the families seemed lovely. I had lunch with Lachy and Clancy’s family which was delicious!

We managed to have a night out at a great pizza place and then ended up having a salsa class in one of the clubs in central Cusco, very amusing!

They were all looking forward to further travels or returning home. All in all, a great trip to Argentina and Peru - it's so rewarding seeing the students and projects in real life!

Extreme Banos - Our gappers go thrill seeking in Ecuador

Half Way Point!
Typing up a blog on Word when it is set in Spanish is always an interesting experience. Well, how time flies. The Ecuador Antipodeans group has now completed half of their placement and everyone is definitely settled in to their schools, Ecuadorian life, and the Spanish language (as long as people speak sllooowwwlly – not a common occurrence)!

Since the political instability of the riots, Ecuador has calmed down a lot and thankfully nothing more exciting of that nature has occurred. Weekends have been spent travelling, with Baños, Riobamba and Mindo all visited and many more exciting trips planned. In the coming weeks, the group is heading off to the Amazon, Coast and Galapagos Islands over various public holidays and in the last week of the placement when we are given the opportunity to travel.

For most of the group, the highlights so far have been the trips to Baños and Mindo. The weekend after the riots, everyone headed off to Baños on either Thursday night or Friday morning for a weekend of spa treatments, hot springs and maybe not quite in the same mood, adventure sports. There was jumping off bridges, intense white water rafting (in which everybody went overboard, whether by choice or by a helpful push from the guide) and then on the opposite end of the scale, early morning rises for the natural hot springs, with chilly dips in waterfalls and massages. It was certainly a weekend that was enjoyed by everyone!

The next weekend took a bit of a downturn with a trip to Riobamba to catch the famed Nariz Del Diablo train ride. After getting there late on the Friday night, it was a tough break to discover that the train tracks were being repaired and wouldn’t be operational until next year (so don’t come to Ecuador for the train ride for a while!) There was still the option to do part of the train ride, coming back towards Riobamba which we gladly took. Sadly though, we managed to catch the bus to a beautiful but incorrect spot for the train! We decided all we could really do was laugh about it and then have lunch and head back J Needless to say the rest of the weekends have been looked into in a little more depth! The rest of the weekend was enjoyed by everyone though with a night out on Saturday and Breast Cancer day in Parque de Carolina on Sunday. I have never seen lines so long, or heard such ‘interesting’ internationally renowned singers!

Throughout the weeks, everyone has been going to placement and now that we have all been there for a while, our efforts are starting to show off. The kids are remembering our names (although more often than not you just hear “Teacher!! Por Favor!”) and slowly starting to remember some of the English they are being taught, although “Hello” followed straight away by “Goodbye” is a common occurrence at INSFIDIM. Everyone is beginning to contemplate how they might manage to fit their favorite kids into the suitcase for the trip home!

Yesterday we returned from our most recent weekend away, and many people’s now favorite place in Ecuador, Mindo. Mindo is about 2.5 hours from where we all live, in the cloud forest region of Ecuador and is definitely a beautiful tucked away little village (to call it a town with its one paved road might be pushing it!) We all stayed in a hostel called Casa de Cecilia, reminiscent of a tree house, with some rooms only having three walls and hammocks abounding! Mindo was a very relaxing weekend, with visits to waterfalls, butterfly farms, a frog concert and naturally lots of reading by the river. Of course that was balanced with speeding through the forest canopy at up to 70 miles an hour, sometimes upside down doing ‘the butterfly’ and if you were feeling particularly adventurous a 5m plunge off the rocks to the waterfall below (we did have some brave people that day!) Mindo was definitely beautiful, peaceful and fun and a place many people want to come back to in the years to come!

So for the Antips Ecuador group, it has certainly been a full on first half of placement, and with trips to the Amazon, Coast and Galapagos in the planning stages and people learning to manage their classes more each day (they’re learning something now!) everyone is having a great time. They say time flies when you’re having fun!

GapBreak France - A Trip To Paris

Sup everyone?
I'm in France still, but it's not long till I finish! Another month, it has gone so quickly that I can barely remember what I've been doing. It's been a very busy time lately and going to get busier! I went to the lovely city of Lyon for the weekend with Laurent's ex wife Laeticia. She's really nice and we stayed with her cousins who are my age. So a good weekend shopping and lunching in french cafes!

The kids all have a one week holiday from school this week, so the family has all split up to go visit relatives. My french father Laurent has taken 3 of the kids to visit his sister in Touloun, while little Hugo has gone to visit his father up in North France. I'm in the little town of Orange with the youngest, Mateo, staying with Laurent's parents. And my french mother Sabine is staying at home to paint the house!

And this friday I'm off to Paris by myself to visit the friends of the family Lucille and Christophe. They're taking me further north to Normandy to visit Lucille's parents. Then Lucille and I will do some sight-seeing around Paris for the rest of the week. Then after that, I'm spending the weekend with my American friend Elizabeth (I met her when I was first in Paris for my one-week french course). Then back home to my french family! I will certainly be very tired afterwards, so will most likely stay at home and teach the kids for the rest of my stay in France. Which by that time will only be another two or three weeks!!

So that's what's happening in France!
Love to all!
Brooke xoxo

Tyler & Molly take a trip to in Inner Mongolia

This is the summary

Dalian, the Sydney of China

Yes, so I returned to Shenyang two days ago now, and can I say that it was the most productive holiday I've ever had. Brief itinerary: Arrived in Beijing last Thursday evening, spent two days in Beijing, travelled to Hohot on Saturday evening on a sleeper train. Arrived in Hohot (Inner Mongolia) Sunday morning, travelled to the grasslands then Bautou, spent Sunday evening and Monday in Bautou in the desert, then travelled back to Hohot Monday afternoon and spent the rest of the time there. Then Tuesday night we travelled back to Beijing, again via sleeper, and arrived Wednesday morning. Spent all WEdnesday and Thursday in Beijing and got back to Shenyang 10pm Thursday night. All ready to teach the next morning.

So anyway.......

Quickly, Dalian was beautiful. Three days there, reminded me a bit of Sydney. Clear skies, wider cleaner streets, just the whole scape was like home. Went to the beach one day, pebbles and windy and cold, but all the Scandinavians/other Europeans went swimming regardless. Emily and I just slept on the beach. Such a good three days. There's a photo on facebook of us all at the beach. Check it out sometime.
Beijing was awesome, like it always is. It felt familiar, kind of like returning home. Friday the 1st was national Day, and the crowd at Tiananmen Square was intense. We didn't quite make it to the parades in the morning, as the previous night was spent re uniting with other TTCers and the TTC staff in the expat bars. When we returned to our hostel, crowds were already streaming towards the square at 4am. Our hostel was 5 minutes down from the square, in one of the Hutongs. It was lovely btw, we had a ten bed dorm to ourselves as there were seven of us, and the breakfast was amazing. Anyway we managed to make it to the square about midday, and climbed all four stories of the gate. Walked around just absorbing the atmosphere and crowds, got our Chinese patriotism on. It was beautiful, there were so many flowers, and a water fountain and two huge screens displaying montages. The roads were closed off and Qianmen subway was closed for two days just because everyone converges on the square that day. Stll, quite an experience.

So yes then Inner Mongolia. Never seen such open sky in China. On the Sunday morning, after not much sleep on the train (I had the top bed in a three tier bunk) we travelled straight to the grasslands and rode horses for two hours. It was so freaking freezing, apparently 1 degree. Tyler and I almost died, but some were just in Tshirts just like, whatever this is what i do. Lunch was amazing though, they brought out a whole lamb, just sitting on the trolley (huge btw) piled it on the plates and just let us go wild with it. Never devoured so much lamb in my life. Travelled round the grasslands for a bit, then went to Bautou. Next day was spent in the desert, camel riding and doing general touristy desert activities, if you can imagine. It was actually really pretty, Tyler has photos which I can show you sometime. Then we returned to HOhot and spent the rest of the time there, doing Hohot things. The last evening before I train we pretty much just wandered the city, spent most of the time in the central square. Comes alive at night, there were flowers everywhere, people singing, playing instruments, balloons, kids in huge bubbles in the fountain, red lanterns which they were releasing into the sky. And that is Inner Mongolia.
(
Brief sidenote, it's now two days later- yesterday our school organised an excursion for the teachers because we had a day off. Went to Bengxi, two hours away, to see the mountains. The area is famous for its fung ye, all the leaves turn a brilliant red, before falling. It is amazing, next time anyone is in Liaoning province in qu tian (autumn) definitely need to check out Bengxi and the mountains. Smile, one of the teachers, home town is half an hour away, so she could tell us all about it.)
Next two days in Beijing, visited Temple of Heaven which is 300 hectares. Biggest green space in Bejing thus far. Next day we visited Beihai park, again huge, and spent the afternoon on a paddleboat on the lake before we had to catch the train. Made me miss Beijing and everyone who's there. But still good.

And yes that's my holiday. Back at school now, getting better. My two year olds are pretty much used to me now, I had a really good class this morning. It's Smile's class, they pick things really fast, although they're quite rowdy. Just had some of my four year olds ten minutes ago, they were not interested today, they started packing up my materials before i finished teaching and all said good bye. Slightly offended, but I think they just wanted a nap.

Molly