So it is the morning after, 5:35am to be exact. Yesterday was quite eventful. Flight over went quite well. I really am fond of British Airways. Very professional staff, nice accommodations, in the end it was probably one of the best international travel experiences I have had to date, well except for flying first class to Paris. That experience tops everything.

As Amy mentioned in the training a few weeks ago, the Linblad/National Geographic staff were there at the gate to greet us.  Of course Paola and I  quickly noticed we were by decades the youngest on the ship.  We didn’t mind and struck up conversation quickly with the people around us. We were fascinating to them, and they were interesting to us. One traveler joked that we brought down the average age of the ship. Paola and I both shared a laugh. They transported us to the hotel where we snacked on fresh croissants and apple danishes.  Paola and I killed a few hours walking around one of the boroughs of London.  There are 32 in all in the city, which one we explored that afternoon, I don’t have a clue. We walked down the street to the Natural History Museum where we toured the dinosaur exhibit. For some odd reason I was absolutely intrigued. Dinosaurs? I mean come on, I’m not a 12 years old anymore, yet the connection to modern day wildlife is astounding. I couldn’t help but digest the information and read the captions/plaques.  It was all fascinating.

After several  hours we found ourselves in the coach bus headed to the Thames river to board the National Geographic Explorer. It was literally sitting a half a mile down from the iconic Tower Bridge in London. After boarding and checking in we went to our room where our luggage was waiting for us. Paola was desperate to find Eric Guth, our expedition contact. I listened patiently as she repeated, “this is the first thing we must do.” As I unpacked, I told her to go find him, I was ok with talking to him much later. I really wanted to talk to him the next day…I was just so tired and sleepy. If he told me anything, I knew I wasn’t going to remember.

Well she did go find him, and a few minutes later appeared with him at our door. I waved kindly from inside the small, quaint cabin. He told us to grab our cameras and head up to the top deck-the ship was about to set sail. So I am known a bit for taking my time, but in that  very same moment I looked out our porthole and saw that the ship was moving. Ok, so I wasn’t expecting the ship to move so soon. I quickly put on my black vest and raced towards the top deck in my $140.00 hiking boots.  (yeah..that’s another story)

After what seemed like forever, I located a deck up from where I could get a few shots of the bridge, the whole experience was amazing. The lyrics, “London Bridge is falling down...” rang through my ears.  Though it wasn’t falling down, it was the experience of being in a place that I’ve heard about, read about, and sung about for many years, and now I am here, well not exactly at “The London Bridge” but close enough. How awesome.  Several of us waved to the guests on shore as the ship headed south down the Thames. For about an hour we stood outside talking to guests, basking in the sun and the experience of being far away from home on a journey that I know I will never forget. 

Location: Portsmouth, England
Sites Visited: HMS Victory & HMS Warrior

Our first full day was pretty exciting and tiring. I have not been able to switch on the new time zone, so I haven’t been getting much sleep on the ship.  I am a bit tired, but  I am pushing through. Today we went to Portsmouth. So somewhere in my history classes as a teen, I am sure I learned about this city in England. Though I knew absolutely nothing, I cam out learning a lot. We started the morning touring the HMS Victory. The tour guide was taking us through, and to be honest, I was listening, but trying to take pictures and listen is not something I do well.  I am incredibly thankful that Jim Richardson pulled me aside.  He walked me through the history of the British navel power and their impact on the world and how others viewed this nation. The Battle of Trefalgar was a turning point, and it was fought on the very ship we were standing on.  This naval battle sealed British dominance over the seas. France and Spain, who desperately tried to take out the British, did not succeed, and as a result this led to more international conquests by the British parliament. Though Captain Nelson died on deck (and there is a spot on the boat to prove it), the British came out victorious.

Later that afternoon I returned to the Naval base area to explore more ships. This time I decided to explore the HMS Warrior. Now this ship was awesome,. It’s not to say the other ship wasn’t, but this experience helped me to see first hand what a steam power engine looked like during the 1800’s. All I can say is wow. This ship never entered battled, however it did help mark the start of the industrial revolution in England. Not only was this fascinating but to see how they lived aboard the ship was mind boggling. Upwards to 700 sailors and seamen would be aboard at any given time. The docent explained that the men alternated sleeping and working shifts. And oh, did I mention, they ALL slept in hammocks. Now this was the most surprising. I was expecting to see bunks, as all the images of slave ships show bunks-but this was not the case. 

I don’t know where to begin to sum up the amazing weekend I just spent in Washington, DC. It was fabulous, somewhat like an awakaing creative spirits. 

After all the mental strain, the sleepless nights, the packing, the lesson planning it was all worth it, every single minute. The fellows hailed from as far north as Quebec, to as far south as Louisiana. Our backgrounds varied, and while the bulk of us were classroom teachers, some of us were instructional coaches, or educational camp directors. The room was full of power and we were ready to change the world.

I must admit, I felt a little special, almost everyone knew my name. Not because of my skin tone or the uniqueness of my name, but rather because prior to this trip to DC, I’d made a conscious effort to get to know as many people as I could. I started to form little networks with the other people selected: the Ohioans, the Montessorians, and the Cincinnatians. And then everyone one else, well we found each other on Facebook, the google plus site, and through email.

I share in everyone’s sentiments when I say, these people are amazing. The entire experience placed us all in a state of gratitude.  So here are the highlights of my week:

a)    Meeting Nina, Amy, and Kim. Wow…they were jewels to our hearts.

b)   Listening to Juan Valdez speak bout the process he went through to create the map of CUBA. As if his life story wasn’t enough.

c)    Rooming with Paola. And the adventure begins…

d)   Our one-one talk with naturalist, Karen Copeland. I will admit, I felt so special that she reached out to us.

e)    We met Mark Thessian, a National Geographic Photographer. He did an entire spread on the wildfires in California. He was amazing and spoke so passionately about his work.

f)     Skyping with Eric Guth our Expedition leader/naturalist on our ship.

g)    Skyping and meeting with past fellows.

h)   Brainstorming our lessons and how we will use this experience in our classrooms.

i)     Brainstorming our outreach within our communities.

j)     Collaboration from across the nation…these moments alone were priceless.

My trip is only four weeks away. I’d like to say that I am ready, but I would be lying to self. Truth is I still need several items including hiking boots, a watch, cargo pants, and a rain coat. This list is the short version, trust me.  In  just a few days I will be traveling to the National Geographic Headquarters in DC to meet the other fellows selected. Three days of training and what I hope to be some free time so I can get to know the other people selected for this honor.  My roommate is Paola, the other teacher traveling to the British Isles with me in May.  I am very much looking forward to meeting her and the others who were chosen-I hear we are all awesome. 

So I had a very busy weekend as I combined my birthday celebration from March with my National Geographic  honor and made the party all related to travel.  I created these geography based travel games for participants to play and focused the signage on what one would see/hear at an airport: baggage claim, inflight meal, etc. It was a pretty neat idea, as I tell friends, you had to be there to see it.

I was amazed at how engaged my friends were in learning about the world.  Adults learning about the earth, counties, names of world wonders.  I literally had 30, 40, and 50 year old friends trying to recall knowledge learned decades ago from their youth, and if they didn’t know, they were eager to find out and learn something new. It was a sight to behold. One game in particular, while appearing simple, was actually quite challenging: NAME THAT STATE.  I was amazed that some could only recall the names of only 20 states here in the US. But then something magical happened, like students, they began to use each other, on site resources (other maps in the room), and/or technology to figure out unknown answers to this game and others. One person said very plainly, “hey…no worries…just Google it.” You couldn’t help but laugh… it was the truth.

My favorite moments were watching friends who brought their children play geography games with them.  My friend Tara asked, “Netta…where can I buy these geo cards?  I want to get a set for Courtney. I want her to know the names of all the countries.” Now that is what I am talking about. This made my heart smile.

This themed celebration also gave me an opportunity to share my upcoming expedition with friends and family. I hung posters of my travels and talked extensively about the partnership between Linblad and National Geographic all in an effort to share this journey with the people I have grown to love.  I shared my story of how I found out about the fellow and where I was at the time when I received the call. I guess you can never share too many times about an opportunity that will help to change the way you see the world. 

What I have learned from this experience is that people want to know. We are so inundated with life that we forget to digest the beauty of the world around us even if it is on the page of magazine. We forget how refreshing it is to look at a map and envision where in the world we want to travel someday. Even if it takes a lifetime of savings, our imaginations in the meantime, are full of possibilities. They allow us to transform our communities into places of refuge, peace, and solitude if we search in the right space and venture around the corner out of our comfort zones. Our fear of the unknown prevents us from moving forward. As a result, we remain stuck, incapacitated. I don’t ever want to arrive on the doorstep of complacency-I said this years ago. Give me the earth, the sky, the stars, and moon…take me on an adventure for in that place I may just change the world.

As for my friends….I hope their world became bigger today. 

I was on my way home from Perfect North Slopes. I usually don’t check my phone messages, as I’d just rather return the call when I see a number listed as missed.  But a missed call from Washington, D.C. had me a bit curious, so I pressed the voicemail box key.  For several moments I didn’t know exactly what I was listening to-I was stuck in traffic so all I could think about was getting home.  This guy name Scott Kisch was talking.  He said he was from National Geographic.  He continued, “..one of 35 teachers selected …congratulations Dawnetta.”  He said a slew of other things, but I didn't really catch any of it.  I stared at my phone for several seconds. Hmmm..National Geograhic. Wait? I began slowly to connect the dots, but it still didn’t fully register.  After several long seconds I asked self, was this the call I’d been waiting on? That application I submitted in December? 
                                                                                 ....
My memory raced back to that day I was sitting on my sofa watching something on a nature channel about puffins, yes, a bird!   Ironically I was intrigued, as I have always been about things in nature, so I began doing some online research about this species and clicked on some random organization's page. I scrolled down and noticed a link about the National Geographic Grosvenor Teacher Fellow. Hmmm what's this about? Something internal told me to just see...just explore.  So I did,  I clicked on the link, and it took me to the application page where I was able to read up on this awesome opportunity for K-12 educators. Before this day, I didn't even know an opportunity of its kind existed. It was focused on teachers who demonstrated excellence in the area of incorporating geographic education into their curriculum.  My response to the inquiry was quite simple, "hmmm....the Haiti exhibit I organized, and years of developing curriculum for camping trips and our marine biology studies ...oh...I do those things all the time." So I applied, and to think, it all started with the puffin. 
                                                                               .....
As I returned to the cellular device resting in the palm of my hand, I couldn't take my mind off that moment, or my eyes off the glaring screen. No way…No No No!!! It can’t be true. Wooooowwww!  Everything sinks in, and I mean everything. I nervously press the number four again on my screen to repeat the message.  Scott’s voice plays again, “National Geographic, you were selected as one of 35 educators from across the United States and Canada, congratulations Dawnetta, call Nina to confirm.”  It was indeed, THE CALL.

When I look back I wonder how I was able to function in that moment, I was thirty five minutes outside of the city limits with not a person to tell in sight. I was in total shock, National Geographic had picked me. ME!!! It’s not that I don’t think I am deserving, but out of 2700 applications, mine rose to the top.  I still feel incredibly humbled by the honor. I started to scream right there in my car on the back roads of Indiana. I was selected to go on an expedition.  Not just any expedition, but one with a team of National Geographic experts. For an adventurous gal like me, my lemonade moment could not have been any more sweet.   Screaming was all I could do in the moment...not jump up and down, run in a circle, or even hug the nearest human spirit, but scream...and of course motion and sign wildly with my hands to the truck drivers heading westbound, “they picked me…ME!”

The first person I called was my dear friend and colleague Jason Banks. We've been close pals since we started the famous Cocomo Divers community together in the basement of Dater Montessori over nine years ago.  He’s believed in me since the start, especially when everyone thought my ideas were crazy.  He knew they were going to work, even if I didn’t have the plan all mapped out just yet.  One day he told me I was going to change the world, one child at time. 

Sadly, he didn’t answer his phone, in fact no one answered their phone that Saturday evening. It was somewhat a bitter sweet moment in time. Nothing in the world could hide a smile a big as mine.  I waited for the return calls and there were many of them, including the one from my dear friend. Each time I shared the fantastic news. “National Geographic selected me to go on a once in a life time expedition to the British & Irish Isles.”  To this day, I am still reveling in the joy I felt from that call on a blistering cold February day.