Prepping for the Expedition - Medical Edition

June 2023

Did you know that there is a cool place known as Passport Health (unpaid endorsement here folks) with many branches in San Antonio that will help you determine what you need to address medically before traveling abroad?  I do now!

Traveling to Indonesia and Singapore, first you need to make sure you have preventative malaria medication to take before, during, and after your expedition.  Second you need to make sure you are up to date on all vaccinations.  I needed to get my Hepatitis A series, so here I am post shot with my favorite flavor of lollipop, orange.  You are never too old to enjoy a lollipop from a medical professional!

Finish up with a nice typhoid vaccine in pill form, and that summed up my day at Passport Health.

My clothing all needs to be treated with Permethrin as mosquitos can carry a variety of things in that section of the world, so even treating clothing can really reduce risk.  Add on a strong repellant and sunscreen, throw in an emergency prescription of an antibiotic (but NOT cipro as it weakens tendon strength and is minimally effective in this section of the globe), pack a gastrointestinal arsenal just in case, then you are ready to adventure!

PS - I have been advised against getting too close and personal with animals without a rabies series, so I'll try my best.  Leave no trace but take TONS of photos is my plan!  There is supposed to be an epic butterfly garden IN the Singapore Airport, but I think that is pretty safe. :)

Image copied from https://pointmetotheplane.boardingarea.com/singapore-airport-butterfly-garden/.

Live a Great Story and Share your Curiosities

 May 2023

Outside my classroom for the past few years has been my Live a Great Story flag.

I also travel with a small one for hikes and trips.  

Knowing this expedition will be epic, I found a new flag, having all my students from this year as well as incoming 6th graders sign it as part of the stateside expedition team.  I visited each elementary school to share the expedition with new GT students and invite them to be a part of the expedition.

Each student and their families have been asked to share their wonders and curiosities in order to help craft and guide me while on the adventure.  We now have a new flag to wave at school that will visit many photos abroad.

If you have some questions or curiosities to share pre-expedition, use this form.

Mission: Terima Kasih

Pre-Expedition Workshop and Work Back Home - April 2023

In order to prepare for all the awesomeness and demands of being a Grosvenor Teacher Fellow (GTF), all 50 of us convened on the National Geographic Headquarters in Washington DC in April 2023.  One catch was that we would not be able to publicly announce our GTF status until after the workshop, leaving me to get creative on how I prepped my students for the announcement.  Time for us to become covert agents of Viper Intelligence Agency!

While I was out for a couple of days, Ms. Alee introduced Mission: Terima Kasih (Indonesian for thank you).   The backstory was that we were all members of the Viper Intelligence Agency, working on intel to assist a covert agent to be named in the field.  The agent would be acting as a teacher traveling to Indonesia and Singapore to explore for their students, answering questions and running experiments they designed.  The students worked in agent groups to complete the intel dossier, which Ms. Alee designed to look EPIC.

Check out some of their dossiers and backstories they students developed while I was gone.  From fake degrees to fictional pets and beyond, these agents stepped up and created quite a story for the field agent.

The original plan was to have all agents present their work, then, in a mic drop moment, announce the GTF.  However, like all best laid plans, it took another 2 weeks before I could announce, making it the slowest mic drop ever!  The agents were still stoked though!

The Phone Call that Started an Adventure - Flashback to February 2023

Date: February 24, 2023 @ approximately 1:45pm

For the past 10ish years, I have been applying for one of the coveted Grosvenor Teacher Fellowships (GTF for short) offered by National Geographic and Lindblad Expeditions.  Each year I would try to come up with some clever way to make me stand out from the other applicants.  Once I even recorded the video portion wearing a knit Viking hat with full beard.  Yep, I was desperate but also wiling to show my playful side, so no dignity lost there.  Each February I would jump each time my phone rang, hoping it would be Nat Geo calling to offer me a spot.  Each April, I would see the announcement for the newest class of GTFs, sigh, and begin thinking about the next year.

The day I submitted my application for a 2023 GTF in December last year, I told my husband Reid that something felt different this time.  I really felt my responses to their questions were more genuine and aimed more at my students than at myself.  You see, I have been working on my doctorate these past couple of years, diving into the research phase just this past spring.  All my attention in class, for both myself and my students, has been focused on facilitating growth in youth to want to speak up, speak out, and act for change they want to actualize in the world.  Student voice was what I wrote and spoke to in this year's submission.  Once I hit, send, I left it to the universe (or at least the nice folks on the selection committee).

Fast forward to February 24th, 2023.  It was a Friday afternoon.  My 5th period sixth graders were working on a paper airplane project.  I was bouncing between helping them and updating our Google Classroom with video resources on flight.  Wandering back to my laptop, I noticed a missed call on my cell phone from Washington DC.

My heart began to race.  "Could this be it?  Was that the GTF call?"  Checking the phone again, I saw there was no message.  "Probably a false alarm.  I get this way every February."  For giggles, I did Google the number.  Nothing.  "Calm down Fisher.  All in good time."  Back to helping students and attempting to reign in the chaos of 38 middle schoolers all throwing test plane around a room.

Once the bell rang, I had a few minutes before my eighth graders would be arriving.  I sat for a moment, chatting with Alee, my epic paraprofessional that has been my lifesaver for my sanity this past year.  All of the sudden, the phone rings again.  SAME WASHINGTON DC NUMBER!!!!

Now I am working hard to control my breathing as I answer.

Me: Hello?

Mystery Voice: Hi!  May I please speak to A'ndrea Fisher?

Me: This is her.

Mystery Voice: I am (name missing here because the adrenaline I felt right after this line caused me to totally blank, but I am pretty sure it was Travis in hindsight) with National Geographic.  

Me: One moment please.  Let me get somewhere quieter ... All good!

Mystery, Most Likely Travis, Voice: I am so excited to call and inform you that you have been selected as a 2023 Grosvenor Teacher Fellow!

The rest is a blur of heart pounding excitement and awe.  

THE CALL CAME!!!  

I AM  A GROSVENOR TEACHER FELLOW!!!

Immediately upon the call ending, I rushed to tell my principal on the down-low (I will cover the secrecy of the announcement in another post) then my hubby as I could not decide whether telling him in person or via phone would be more epic.  I couldn't wait though:

Me: Feel like sushi tonight?

Reid, super hubby: Always (tiredness in his voice).

Me: Well, it will probably taste good but not as good as it probably taste in Indonesia in August ...

He got the message :)

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PS - Me as a Viking