Teachers Travel During Spring Break
Spring Break mostly consisted of excitement and adventure for teachers like Carl Finer and Ilse Gonzalez. While students waited anxiously for Spring Break to come, now that it’s over students are back to the same routine of reading, writing, along with socializing. How exactly did teachers break up their routine with their long awaited Spring Break?
Carl Finer, teacher at Animo Jefferson Charter Middle School (AJCMS), broke up his routine by going to Peru. Finer’s flight was over eight hours. He decided to go to Peru since one of his friends who used to teach in LA recently moved to Peru. He tagged along to see what it’s like living over there as well as seeing the amazing sites such as Machu Picchu, the incredible Rainbow Mountains, Cusco, and Lima, the capital and largest city of Peru.
“I like going to places where I know someone like a local because then they could show me around. It just seemed like a really cool adventure to go to Machu Picchu and up in the mountains. Why not go when I have a chance?” he said. He stayed about twelve days. “It was a little overwhelming because I was exhausted because I had flown overnight and then I’m in like a brand new country and I have to figure my way around the airport, and get onto a plane to this other city I’ve never been to,” said Finer. “Then once I got there, it was way up in the mountains and all I wanted to do is sleep but then they’re like ‘Ok. You have two hours to sleep at your hotel but then we’re picking you up for a six hour tour of the city’ and I’m like ‘Oh my god I’m so tired.”
“It always feels strange when you wake up and you’re in a completely different place and it’s like you kind of forget ‘How did I get there?”
Teacher Ilse Gonzalez traveled to Tokyo, Japan because one of her friends had suggested going since the fall of last year, 2017. She stayed for seven days. Another detail of why she decided to go was because she’d never gone and wanted to know more about their culture.
Both Finer and Gonzalez after going loved it their travels: the experience, the sites, and bringing back souvenirs to remember each of their amazing trips.
“Overall, I had a great time. It was kinda like two separate trips for me because the first five days I was up in the mountains traveling by myself. My friend had helped me find a tour package but I was the only American for those five days. It was constantly running around from sites that the Incas built, so you’re standing on something that’s thousands of years old, then you’re on a train going through the mountains and then in a small town where everyone is watching a soccer game. I got to meet people from Brazil, Colombia, Spain, all over. The second half of my trip I was in Lima with my friends which was chill because it was like going to restaurants, hanging out, catching up, and getting to know the city. I would definitely go there again, but next time to a different part of the country to see something different. There were llamas there too, which as you know is my favorite animal that were adorable, especially the baby ones.”
https://youtu.be/zbUowqM-5SU
“I went to Japan during Spring Break,” Ilse Gonzalez, an AJCMS teacher said, “Specifically to Tokyo but then there’s different smaller cities kinda like districts around Tokyo that I visited. It took eighteen hours going then another eighteen hours coming back. Japan certainly is a lot different from here [Los Angeles], like their language, Japanese, and their culture. Everyone was super nice and respectful. For example, like on the trains I would get on and see that it was very organized and not only that but also that people are really silent and quiet. It’s really rude and disrespectful to make loud sounds. Their style was extremely clean and minimalistic, I was able to recognize this in the place where I was staying at that didn’t have many things on the walls. But then in downtown Tokyo their buildings were very flashy and fancy.”
