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Published: April 2nd 2013
Yesterday, we went to a place that I have wanted to go since probably 4th grade - Colonial Williamsburg! Though we were only there a short time, it was everything I hoped it would be, and I cannot wait to go back. Everything was authentic - from the clothes to the bell jar mini greenhouses to the piles of firewood sitting outside some of the houses. Horse-drawn carriages drove down the streets (the horse excrement disgusting my students), soldiers drilled by the Magazine, and authentic gingerbread was sold on the street. If someone would have offered me a costume, I would have joined in without a thought! From Colonial Williamsburg, we went on to Busch Gardens, about which the students were very excited. While they made them selves sick riding roller coasters, I ate some Irish Stew, saw some Celtic dancing, and picked up lost students. As a group, we saw the Oktoberfest show in Germany and the students learned the chicken dance and that there is such a thing as Polka - we will have to learn some Polka when we get back to school.
Today, we went up to Baltimore to the aquarium and to see four historic
ships. The aquarium was quite cool. I mean, they had the usual dolphins and fish, but they also had a whole rainforest exhibit with plants and birds and frogs. There was also a very awesome exhibit on jellyfish. They may look like simple creatures, but they are mesmerizing to watch. The upside-down ones were really neat - they are like plant/fish: they lay upside-down on the seabed and wait for food to drop into their tentacles. We also got to see scuba-divers (the workers) cleaning the huge tanks - it looked like a pretty fun job.
Okay, so here is where the title of my blog comes in: In sixth grade, my teacher really like planes and ships. Model planes hung from the ceiling and a model of the USS Constitution stood on one of the filing cabinets. I learned more about planes and ships than I ever thought I needed to and relished the time we "wasted" talking about the models in the room instead of doing math. I really did enjoy learning about them, though, and today that was all I could think about as I stood on the decks of the USS Constellation, the USCGC Taney,
A Bushel and a Peck
And yes, I had that song stuck in my head for the rest of the morning.and the USS Torsk. The Torsk is a submarine from the end of World War II. Space was so tight on that ship! I certainly could not have lived on that ship with 100 others for months at a time. The bathroom was about the size of an airplane bathroom - maybe a bit smaller - and some of the beds were right above the torpedoes. That would certainly be an uneasy place to sleep. Things were way roomier on the USCGC Taney, the last surviving Pearl Harbor ship. It was amazing to stand there and think that on that same spot men had stood over 70 years ago as the U.S. entered World War II and were on that same ship as the war came to an end. That I was literally standing on a piece of history was mind-blowing. My favorite ship of the day was the USS Constellation. Head space was tight on this ship as well, but it was still way more spacious than on the Torsk. I definitely wanted to climb the rigging and shout out "Land ho!" or some other such cliche phrase. It was hard to believe that it was on ships like
that one that countries had fought and conquered the world. Though way roomier than the Torsk, I would not want to be on a trip from England to Australia on a ship like that.
After dinner back at the hotel, I went walking the National Mall with four students, Stefany, Felix, Michelle, and Daniella. IT was great to see the monuments in a different light - literally.
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