Through the years I have been on some incredible trips with students. The secondary school starts the year at the Tashkent International School with Schools Without Walls trips to various sites in the Tien Shan Mountain range. I had a board meeting on Wednesday so I couldn’t go on the first day, but on Thursday morning, I drove up to the grade 9 campsite to join the freshmen for the last two days. It allows me to connect not just with the students, but also with the teacher-chaperones. I was so impressed with the comportment of our students, they are sweet international school kids who come from good families, and the dedication of the teachers, who on these trips are on call 24/7. I increased the number of students that I know at the school. It is my goal this year to know every student (500) by name.
The students went through four activities over the three days. The Grade Level Coordinator Victor assigned me to two sessions of horseback riding on one session of hiking. I can’t remember the last time I rode a horse. The time that comes to mind was a horseback trip we took in the Andes of Venezuela when the kids were very young. I remember Oliver falling asleep in the saddle with me! So it was over 15 yeas ago. After watching Yellowstone and the new Costner movie, Horizon, I was excited to be a real cowboy. Author Chuck Klosterman said the other day in a podcast that he thinks horseracing’s popularity waned when most Americans lost contact with horses through the 20th century. Horses are such a huge, muscular, majestic animal and I see why some people just fall in love with them. They are beasts and could be dangerous. I learned to have a strong hand in directing the horse. They constantly wanted to stop and eat while we were making the way up the canyon. It would take a lot of practice to get used to riding a horse that is galloping. It was thrilling to ride while they trotted a bit faster than a walk. Going for two rides was good for me and I felt more comfortable the second day. I learned Uzbek horse calls, “high-ya” and “chee-yeh” to get the horse to move ahead instead of stopping for grazing.
We hiked up to the top of Mount кызылджар (1866 m) on Thursday afternoon. The six-kilometer hike led us to the cell towers on top of the hill. We were afforded gorgeous views all the way down to Charvak Reservoir. It would be a nice walk all the way from the top to the reservoir. It was a dusty walk
I end this post with a photo of my daughter Ocean getting her tetanus vaccine. In preparing for her grade 11 trip, we were asked if we had a tetanus shot in the past 10 years. Her immunization booklet showed a June 28, 2012 DpT vaccine, so on the morning of the trip, I took her over to the clinic on our campus. It was a nice bonding moment as I left my morning gate duty and walked her over to the clinic. It is so convenient to have a family medical practice on campus. It was a sweet moment for Ocean and I as she went off with her grade 11 classmates.
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