Haircuts, Full Moon Parties & Endless rain - Alexandra in Cambodia

Although the wet season in Cambodia is supposedly drawing to a close, you wouldn’t be able to guess that while here. Every few days it begins to pour rain without much notice, and sometimes doesn’t stop for hours. However, this heavy rainfall has it’s upsides along with its downsides. On the upside, riding through the country was absolutely breathtaking for about a week after a particularly heavy downpour of rain. As I rode home I felt as if I was riding through fields of sky – the water covering the ground reflected the bright blue of the sky perfectly and this scene surrounded the tracks on which we ride to school. On the downside, the puddles of water were not only limited to the sides of the road and although exhilarating at first, the idea of waking up at 5 30am to go riding through increasingly dangerous and deep puddles discouraged everyone’s dedication to attending school. Riding through the pond which casually set itself up in the middle of the road (I use the term “middle of the road” lightly though, as really it just took up the whole of the road) directly before SHCC, though fun at first, became progressively more difficult as the days went by. However, as soon as we reached the school it was all worth it – sitting in the library while reading Dr Suess books to eagerly listening children while having my hair braided by two gorgeous young girls reinforced this fact.

Jay’s back at Jay’s school now, along with his wife and new baby (!) and Beckett and Alana have been kept busy with teaching and bonding with their students. Both of them are getting so into their teaching – Beckett’s been rounding up more and more students at gradually more unusual places (the other day at a bar he started talking to some of the bartenders in order to practice his Khmer and ending up gaining a few more students by doing so!) and Alana is having a dinner-date with one of her students as I’m writing this. At Sangkheum centre all the students got new haircuts by some Japanese hairdressers who volunteered their time and expertise to the school – I thought this was a great idea! The idea of the children needing haircuts had never crossed my mind – what a brilliant thing for those hairdressers to do! Supposedly the children were all extremely excited, and even some of the teachers got to have their hair cut as well.
Olivia and Jenny just got back from the Full Moon Party in Thailand (according to them it’s every bit as good as it’s said to be) and as an alternative to doing this (owing to everyone’s depleted bank accounts) the majority of the group returned to Phnom Penh to have a better look around.
Alex, Mitch, Tristan, Christie, Morgan and I have been cleaning up the classrooms at SHCC (the white boards are so much easier to write on now they’re not stained with blue marker ink!) and are preparing to paint a few of the walls. Also with the organic farmers of the group being busy building fish ponds and bridges and tending the gardens, I’ve got to say the school is looking better every day.
I’m finding it really difficult to believe this program is going to be finished in a month as of today – how am I going to be able to leave all this behind? Although it’s a slightly biased opinion – afterall, I have been living here for over 7 weeks now – I honestly believe that these children have got to be some of the most beautiful in the world, they’re all so lovely despite their poor circumstances and all have beautiful personalities to go with their gorgeous appearances.

P.S. I’ve found the most amazing flowers! They’re called “10 hour flowers” (from what I could gather) and they bloom at 10am every morning! At nighttime they retract to their bud form, ready to bloom again in the morning. They probably don’t sound all too remarkable to anyone else, but I was thoroughly impressed with them.

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