Part of our curriculum at the American School of Bombay is that 6th -12th graders go on a trip outside of Mumbai. It is a chance to learn outside of school. I have 6th grade advisory so I go on the 6th grade tip to Matheran. Our trip is only for 3 nights - the older kids go for 4 nights. Matheran is a hill station about a 3 hour drive from here. here are some images of Matheran. It is one of the only pedestrian hill stations left in the world. No vehicles are allowed past the car park. It is a far cry from Mumbai - it is clean and quiet (due to the no vehicle rule).
Large vehicles cannot make it up the windy hilly terrain so we take a huge caravan of Innovas. Each car has a driver, an ASB or Trail Blazer adult and 4 kids. Trail Blazers are the outdoor education group that helps us plan the trip. They arrange adventure activites etc. Some 6th grade parents are wary of sending their kids - lots of reasons - snakes, monkeys, falling, getting sick, getting lost etc. The getting lost part cracks me up - the student to adult ratio is amazing. The 6th grade core teachers (math, Social studies, Language arts, science) the french teacher, the spanish teacher, the librarian, a PE teacher, a life guard, the counselor, a nurse, 4 trail blazers, and 4 security guards went all for 55 6th graders.
We left on Tuesday morning. we loaded up their luggage in two cars and made our way to Matheran. I had an Indian, an Israeli, an American, and a sri Lankan student in my car. We chatted about a lot of things and they had fun waving to every car and scaring the locals :) The big luggage is carried by porters and the kids carry their day packs the 45 minute walk up. Since there are no vehicles, every single item used by the hotels or townspeople is hauled up by carts pulled by humans or horses.
The first day we split the kids in 3 groups and they rotated through them- learning about the locals, nature hike, and making chipattis. At nights we played team building games and on Wednesday and Thursday they rotated through 4 activities. 1) rock climbing and rapelling 2) valley crossing and jumarring 3) pond study 4) interviewing local businesses and visiting a school. It is so much fun watching them conquer their fears and doing the adventure activities.
Last year i started vomiting on the way up the hill. thought it was just carsickness from the drive up. But I puked for two days and missed some of the activities with the kids. This year I made it through the first day and had a blast, but during the first night I was violently ill. Had to call a doctor the next day to give me a shot to help me stop vomiting. So I missed the valley crossing and Jumarring last year and this year. I am convinced that I am allergic to some spice or oil that Indians cook with. I wish I could figure out what it is. I eat the same food as everyone else and I start puking during the night :( It's random - I'm fine and then wham! and I can't figure out what it causing, but it disrupts my life.
The kids had a great time! It reminds me a little of my counselor days at Tapawingo - loud crazy kids, homesickness, teen drama, lights out problems, etc. One huge difference - Monkeys!! holy cow the monkeys are far worse than raccoons ever were! They are so aggressive!!! They hiss, snarl, jump, steal things, break into kids' rooms etc. It doesn't help that they kids scream and act ridiculous which just infuriates the monkeys!
We made it back quickly - this year I had no flat tire leaving me and my carload of kids stranded on an Indian highway. :) The parents met us at the school and were excited to see happy, tired kids :)
Large vehicles cannot make it up the windy hilly terrain so we take a huge caravan of Innovas. Each car has a driver, an ASB or Trail Blazer adult and 4 kids. Trail Blazers are the outdoor education group that helps us plan the trip. They arrange adventure activites etc. Some 6th grade parents are wary of sending their kids - lots of reasons - snakes, monkeys, falling, getting sick, getting lost etc. The getting lost part cracks me up - the student to adult ratio is amazing. The 6th grade core teachers (math, Social studies, Language arts, science) the french teacher, the spanish teacher, the librarian, a PE teacher, a life guard, the counselor, a nurse, 4 trail blazers, and 4 security guards went all for 55 6th graders.
We left on Tuesday morning. we loaded up their luggage in two cars and made our way to Matheran. I had an Indian, an Israeli, an American, and a sri Lankan student in my car. We chatted about a lot of things and they had fun waving to every car and scaring the locals :) The big luggage is carried by porters and the kids carry their day packs the 45 minute walk up. Since there are no vehicles, every single item used by the hotels or townspeople is hauled up by carts pulled by humans or horses.
The first day we split the kids in 3 groups and they rotated through them- learning about the locals, nature hike, and making chipattis. At nights we played team building games and on Wednesday and Thursday they rotated through 4 activities. 1) rock climbing and rapelling 2) valley crossing and jumarring 3) pond study 4) interviewing local businesses and visiting a school. It is so much fun watching them conquer their fears and doing the adventure activities.
Last year i started vomiting on the way up the hill. thought it was just carsickness from the drive up. But I puked for two days and missed some of the activities with the kids. This year I made it through the first day and had a blast, but during the first night I was violently ill. Had to call a doctor the next day to give me a shot to help me stop vomiting. So I missed the valley crossing and Jumarring last year and this year. I am convinced that I am allergic to some spice or oil that Indians cook with. I wish I could figure out what it is. I eat the same food as everyone else and I start puking during the night :( It's random - I'm fine and then wham! and I can't figure out what it causing, but it disrupts my life.
The kids had a great time! It reminds me a little of my counselor days at Tapawingo - loud crazy kids, homesickness, teen drama, lights out problems, etc. One huge difference - Monkeys!! holy cow the monkeys are far worse than raccoons ever were! They are so aggressive!!! They hiss, snarl, jump, steal things, break into kids' rooms etc. It doesn't help that they kids scream and act ridiculous which just infuriates the monkeys!
We made it back quickly - this year I had no flat tire leaving me and my carload of kids stranded on an Indian highway. :) The parents met us at the school and were excited to see happy, tired kids :)
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