Travel Logs

Teacher Bill Reilly (USA) travels to meet his Global Coalition colleagues in Savona, Italy and Marseille, France.

Teacher Bill Reilly (USA) travels to meet his Global Coalition colleagues in Savona, Italy and Marseille, France.

This summer (2011) Global Coalition teacher Bill Reilly and his wife Hilary had the opportunity to visit our Global Coalition schools in Savona, Italy and Marseille, France.  We drove from Rome along the coast of Italy and France to Marseille seeing many beautiful sights and meeting some wonderful Global Coalition teachers!

We stopped in Pisa to see the leaning tower.

A visit with Carla Romanelli and her students in Savona, Italy.  The students took up their vacation time at the beach to come welcome us to their school.

Carla's students showed us their display for the Global Coalition in the main lobby of their school.

It was exciting to see their display of our Global Coalition book "Recipes for a Better Planet!"

Then they showed us their dance!

Of course I could not resist joining in!

Savona was a truly beautiful place to visit.

On to France.............

I have been in 25 countries around the world and swear there is a McDonald's in every one of them!.... Aaarrrrrgggghhhh

We stayed with Guillaume who cooked us some wonderful dinners.  He insisted I try Foie Gras..... ummmm.... hummmm.   I tried to talk my way out of it, but this picture is proof that I tried it.

Foie Gras includes goose liver and goose fat!  It is a favorite in France.

We had the opportunity to meet one of Benoit's students in downtown Marseille.

Ben and Guillaume showed us all around Marseille and surrounding Provence, then took us on a boat to see the views from the Mediterranean.

The old harbor of Marseille.

Marseille from the sea.

Global Coalition teachers Guillaume and Ben

The subway in Marseille - much cleaner than the New York City subway system.

We drove over 3200 Kilometers in this very cool Fiat 500 Spyder that got almost 60 MPG!

Global Coalition teacehrs Guillaume, Ben and Aurore presented me with a beautiful book of water color sketches of Marseille.

Global Coalition teachers Natalya Maslova and Mikhail Timonen meeting at a pedagogical confernce in Moscow, April, 2011

St. Mark's Girl's School, New Delhi, India delegation of students visits Indonesia!

 St.Mark's Girls Sr. Sec School visited  the very reputed Al-Azhar Islamic Junior High School-2 Jakarta.Indonesia.. The delegation consisted of 9 students and the teacher-Ms.Komla Ghai. Visiting  Indonesia as a part of a Student Exchange Programme was an all together a different experience.  The first day was marked by a grand welcome ceremony by the host families and thereafter the Principal Mr. Musthofiq and the loving students of the school  where the students from the two schools gave a short introduction about themselves and their countries  to each other and took a round of the school to meet students . We were also fortunte enough to visit the Indian Embassay in Indonesia and meet the Indian Embassador in Jakarta- his excellency Mr.Berien Nanada who enlightened all present there about the rich cultural heritage of India and  elaborated on the relationship between Indonesia and India which can be traced back to the very remote past .We got an opportunity to interact with the students in the school attend their regular Bilingual classes, understand their Education System as well as participate in their co_curricular activities like join their School Band,Marshal Arts or Dance classes and realized the various similarities and the diffences in our cultures. We also participated in The PEACE DIALOGUE held at Al-Azhar Senior High school in collaboration with AEC-NET and UNESCO which aimed at youth spreading the message of peace with a beginning at the school level. Another unforgettable experience was the visit to ASEAN-Association of South Eastern Asian Nations, which is a political organization promoting healthy relationship between most of the asian countries in various areas like trade, culture and economy. The last day at Al Azhar was marked by a friendly Basketball match between the two schools. All these were apart from the wonderful stay with the host families, and the city tour which include visit to mini Indonesia-Taman Mini, the Amusement park-,the National Monument, the National Museums, beaches and not to forget drop dead shopping!!! The end was marked by a heart warming Farewell by the school and the host families. The Student Exchange Programme helped the students to showcase their latent talents , have a first hand experience of knowledge along with helping us to build lasting friendships on an international platform. The Principal –Ms.Sheena Kalenga and Headmistress Ms.Sabina  Shergill congratulated the students on the success of the first Student Delegation.

Three Global Coalition Teachers Meet

On December 28th, 2010, three Global Coalition Teachers, Delores (Costa Rica), Gabriela (Argentina) and Bill (USA), along with their families met at the Dallas Barbecue in Manhattan, New York City to celebrate Christmas together.  It was a wonderful evening spent getting to know each other with good conversation and good food!

Delores, Gabriela and Bill

Everyone enjoying a big dinner

Delores and her family

Gabriela and her husband

Sophia, Rachel, Hannah and Emily talking to Geeta in India.

Rachel and Emily present a "peace flag" from Bethlehem Middle School to College Arenc Bachas/Rosa Parks School.

Jacob presents Ben with cards and artwork from Bethlehem Middle School students.

Guillaume is up to bat.

Ben throws his first pitch.

Ben and Gulliaume explain how schools in France work.

Ben and Guillaume show slides of Marseilles, France

Jana and Bowen presenting American flag to Guillaume.

Jana, Bill, Ben, Guillaume and Bowen with the U.S.A. flag.

Olivia shows Ben and the class how to fold an American flag.

In December 2008, Sopyan (from Indonesia) and Geeta (from India) met at an educational conference in Malaysia.

Geeta stated this meeting would not have taken place if it were not for the Global Coaltion.   Said with hopes that we may all meet someday!

New York City

Central Park

Statue of Liberty

Radio City

Chrysler Building

St. Patrick's Cathedral

Rockefeller Center

Times Square

Grand Central Station

Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Brooklyn Bridge

Museum of Natural History

Greenwich Village

Latte anyone?

Gabriela and Bill meet after years of

communicating on the Global Coalition!

Dinner on Broadway

The International Youth Hostel

Bill and Gabriela's daughters

Charles River

Boston

Quincy Market

Quincy Market

Massachusett's Bay

the Whitehouse

The U.S. Capital

Washington Monument

Jefferson Memorial

Arlington National Cemetary

U.S. Capital

Lincoln Memorial

The Potomac River

Washington's Tomb

Dinner

Blue Field

Mount Vernon

Princeton High School

Dinner

Dinner

General Sudirman of Indonesia

by Benoit Bouchard - Teacher from France

Jamaica was just the best holidays ever, it is such a beautiful country!! We had the chance to meet a Jamaican girl in France five years ago who became one of our best friends. So we flew to Kingston on the 13th of February with British Airways for 2 weeks. It was really nice to stay at our friends' place so that we discover the real Jamaican life...and most important...food!! Fish for breakfast was a bit strange but the fruits were just delicious. For lunch and dinner, our favourites were the jerk chicken and the lobster... Waterfalls were amazing and the best spots were the blue lagoon (where they filmed "cocktail" with tom cruise) and the n°1 beach in the world called "Frenchman's cove". Jamaica is just beautiful and although it's a "risky" destination, people should give it a chance and the most important thing is to travel around the country to discover the real Jamaica and not only stay in all-inclusive hotels...

Ackees, the typical Jamaican fruit that you have for breakfast.

Me at Dolphin's cove

Frenchman's cove

Coremeco Beach Buenos Aires, Argentina

 This is the south of  Argentina .It has  many beautiful landscapes for example:

This the winter in Bariloche. Bariloche, in full San Carlos de Bariloche, city in western Argentina, in Rio Negro province, a resort center on the southern shore of the lake Nahuel Huapí. A resort of international renown since the early 1960s 

, Bariloche is connected with completed in 1969 .The tourist  and commercial center of Nehuel Huapí national park, the city is at shouter edge of the extensive forested Patagonia  lake county , bounded on the west by and eopears sane of which one snow appuls the years , round. Sküng is the favourite sport in winter a, boating, fishing  and, hiking are populars  about in 1985, Bariloche has the appearance of an alpine town. Population (1991) 77,750.

The Patagonia region is in southern of South America.

It expands to the south of the river Colorado between the Andes and the Atlantic ocean. It’s composed by the provinces of Neuquén, Rio Negro, Chubut, Santa Cruz and Tierra del Fuego.

It is a semi-arid plain at the east, deep valleys and canuons and a maountain

Zone at the west. It’s a region with beautiful lakes, forests and a good tourist infrastructure.

Teacher Martha Nojima's (Japan) travels in Australia

Seth, an aborgional artist speaking at the opening, my work is in the background.

Indian sand painting on the gallery floor

My Husband Senri with his work and our friend Sasha who is
Columbian-Australian

Koala

Seth in tradional abrigional body paint on his native land playing the diggerdoo that he made

  Tourism of Argentina.

Mendoza.

The Aconcagua’s the highest mountain of the “Cordillera de los Andes” and of America. It is 6.959 m. high.


Bariloche.

The Nahuel Huapì’s the most important lake of Argentina. It is 767m high. It’s of 550km2.it’s in the Patagonia in the South of Argentina and it is very beautiful.



Misiones.

 Iguazú Falls there are in the North of Misiones. It’s a turistic centre of attraction.  

Barbara Ortigosa , Florencia Cora,  Milagros Naara Esquivel.   Misiones.

Teacher Mike with Lauren - our photographer

Gretchen dressed as a movie star

Teacher Mike and Teacher Bill

A Big THANK YOU to teacher Mike for his visit.  It was an amazing experience for our students to meet a teacher from the Global Coalition.

 Anta from the Megalithic times (Alentejo – Portugal)

Palaeolithic rock paintings( Alentejo – Portugal)

Conimbriga – Romans in Portugal

Isabel C. 6º A

Conimbriga - Coimbra - Portugal

Some postcards of mosaics from CONIMBRIGA when I visited it

The four seasons mosaic: winter 3rd century

Mosaic, the minotaurin the labyrinth, 3rd cent.

Mosaic, the sea monster III century

Óbidos, Portugal

Óbidos is very near Caldas da Rainha, 5 km.

History of the Town

308 B.C. - Foundation of the Town of Obidos by the 

Celts.

lst. C. - The Romans took Obidos from the Celts.

5th. C. - Occupied by the Visigoths.

8th. C. - The Moors arrived.

1101-1148- King Afonso Henriques took Obidos

 from the Moors.

1195 - This was probably the date when Obidos was

 granted its charter.

1210 - King Afonso II gave Obidos to his wife, Queen 

Urraca.

1246 - By remaining loyal to King Sancho II Obidos

 was given the title of "Most Noble and Eternally 

Loyal" which it has kept to this day.

1282 - King Dinis and Queen Isabel spent their 

nuptials in Obidos. Obidos was given as a wedding present

 to the Queen and from then

Isabel C.

Flying to Belize  

My wife, Hilary and I traveled through the Peten region in northern Guatemala.  This region contains some of the last remaining rain forests in the world.  We then flew over the Belize to visit Michael Casey and the students in Gallon Jug.  We ended our trip flying back to Guatemala and visited the National Museum of Archaeology.

Rain forest near El Remate Guatemala

Rain forest at the archaeological ruins of Tikal in northern Guatemala.

The Mayan people inhabited Guatemala and Belize until approximately 900 AD.

We saw many animals including troops of 10-20 Coati Mundis traveling through the rain forest.

This is the dreaded Fer de Lance.  The most dangerous snake in Central America.  This one was in a glass tank.  But the teachers and students of Gallon Jug have encountered them in their community.

This is the ruins of Tikal as viewed from the top of Pyramid IV (approximately 212 feet high)

This is me on top of a smaller pyramid.

We encountered many people in Guatemala.  These two girls were riding a horse in El Remate, near Tikal

The rain forest has very big trees!

Bill in the rain forest

Hilary exploring a tunnel beneath a pyramid in Tikal

Temple V in Tikal.  Approximately 190 feet high.

This is the 3-seater plane we took to Gallon Jug, Belize

View of the rain forest from the plane.

This is what the rain forest looks like when people build roads into it and cut down all of the trees.  It takes almost 400 years to grow back.

17,000 acres of rain forest are being cut down every year.   At this pace, within 50 years there will be no more rain forest.

Michael Casey, or "Teacher Mike" as his students call him, took us through the rain forest and showed us this Mayan temple which had been tunneled into by looters.

Teacher Mike addressing all of the students in their Friday morning assembly.

Jose, Melvin, Annabella, Ericka, Kelly, Lucierto, Elsa, Raquel and Osbaldo watching the movie about my school which my students sent with me.

At Gallon Jug we saw many toucans.

Ericka, Lucierto and Kelly

We spent several hours filming the students on their rainforest medicinal plant trail.  We discovered that the students are becoming experts on individual plants that grow in the rain forest.  They want all of the world to know about the importance of the rainforest.

Kelly, Hilary, Raquel and Kelly's siblings in front of Kelly's house

Hilary and Lucierto in front of Lucierto's house

Mayan bat-god in the National Museum of Archaeology, Guatemala City

Skeletons in the National Museum of Archaeology, Guatemala City

The only jaguar we encountered was in the Guatemala zoo.

If nothing is done to protect the rain forest, the only animals left will be in zoos.

Please learn more about the rainforest and help to protect it.

Kefalonia - submitted by Thodoros - Greece

Kefalonia is the biggest island of the seven islands in Western Greece. It’s one the most beautiful islands in Greece. It took its name from king Kefalos. You can visit many of places and beaches. The beach of MYRTOS is imaginary. Its color is turquoise and the sea is very deep. Argostoli is the capital of the island and you can visit the museum Korgialenio that has the traditional costumes of Kefalonia. A beautiful place to see is the lake MELISSANI, that is under the ground, and the cave of DROGARATI. 

Other beautiful places you can visit is a village by the sea named FISCARDO and the port of Kefalonia SAMI. The people of Kefalonia are very friendly and polite. ‘Captain Corelli’s mandolin’ (with Nickolas Cage) was filmed here.

Santorini by Thodoros

Santorini is a beautiful island of Greece. Hora is the capital of this glamour’s island. It is belted on the top of the west side of the island. The houses are very impressive they are small, white with a lot of windows that see the allays. When you arrive in the old port you can see the stairs that take you to the top of the island. They are very old but people don’t use them often, they profer to use the teleferik. Santorini has the most beautiful sunset and the view is fantastic. In the Ormo Feron you can see the crater of the volcano and you can touch the ground that is hot. You can visit a lot of places like the Menoic state, the navy museum, the Emerovigli that the local population say that it is the balcony of Santorini because it has the most fantastic view of the open sea. Also there are a lot of places you can go to swim but you must be very cheerful because the island has got dangerous seasides. When you visit Santorini you must taste the local wine and food. I would like to say a little bit about the islands history. Santorini or Thera was destroyed from an explosion of the volcano. Some scientists connect the event with the city of Atladis.

Hydra Greece, by Dimitris

This is Hydra. It’s a small island. There are small houses and most are white with blue windows. This is one of the most beautiful beaches in Greece for the tourist is the first choice for swimming when they get there.