upcoming 10 days abroad.
As I mentioned earlier, it all began in 2009 while I was a teacher at Golden Valley High School. I placed my name into a database sponsored by the Amsterdam Fulbright Project. They were seeking American and Dutch teachers who wanted to collaborate and team teach. It was that simple. Put your name in a database and voilà you are done. Actually, it was not quite that easy. The pairing took months and then it was the teachers' charge to interview each other and find a compatible match. Mrs. de Hoon and I found each other after a few failed attempts at pairings with other teachers at other schools. On second thought finding, Mrs. de Hoon was the easy part. Elma de Hoon is an amazing teacher and person. Before Mrs. de Hoon’s and I began this leap of faith, I had never flown over the Atlantic, owed a passport, or believed it was within my grasps to travel. I grew up and still live in a very small and impecunious community. To be honest, the few inhabitants who get out of our small farming community rarely return and some who stay are conditioned by lack of funds and perspective to think that the notion of European travel is little more than a wild pipe dream. I was the latter. But one day, I (unceremoniously) threw caution to the wind and followed my heart...and here we all are six years later.
My goal from the beginning has been to encourage my students to embrace adventure. I want to teach them to travel safely and to ignite in them a passion for travel. I want that sense of adventure to allowed them to rise beyond the perimeters of their social class and individual perspectives. I wanted them to join me. And they did. Together, I hope that we will become lifelong learners and adventurous souls.
I did not do it alone. I have a tremendously supportive husband and great colleagues. I cannot imagine a better partner in this project than Mrs. de Hoon. I received great mentoring from my then site administrator, Craig Chavez. Together, we all have built a program that is sound, organized, and structured in the best interests of our students. I am forever grateful that Mr. Chavez saw the value and richness this program brings to our schools (Dutch and American), districts, and global/local communities. This program has inspired and encouraged over 250 students (at last count) to suspend their judgements and pause their stereotyping so that they can embrace tolerance and cultural diversity.
Saturday, I will see Amsterdam for the 7th time and it will be through the eyes of my first time travelers, my own thirteen year old son, Connor, and a new teacher traveler, Ms. Angela Jones. The adventure continues. As a result of our gracious hosts from Stedelijk Dalton Lyceum, we will live for a week in the beautiful town of Dordrecht. We will learn about the local culture and Dutch educational system. We will make new friends, and see some old favorites. We will visit The Hague, Kinderdijk, Madurodam, and take a weekend jaunt to London. This trip is a whirlwind. We will leave SFO at 6:00 a.m. on Friday and by 10:00 a.m. Saturday, we will be walking along the glorious canals of Amsterdam. You will find us tasting the poffertjes, bitterballens, stroopwafels and having a nice koffie vekeerd! Oh, the places we can go and the things we can do when we believe we can!