Faculty Spotlight - Miss Jennifer Beck

Since being hired by Loyalsock several years ago, Miss Jennifer Beck has become a welcome addition to the faculty at Loyalsock.  Among our faculty, she is arguably the most traveled member of our team.  Just recently, Miss Beck traveled virtually all summer to several  Asian countries.  Below is a sample of her travels  as we "spotlight" her this month.

I have been traveling my whole life. I love to travel. I love adventures. I love not knowing what may happen next. When I was a little kid, I knew I wanted to travel and take what I learned back to a classroom full of kids. I knew I wanted to teach world history, because I simply love the world that much.

This summer I embarked on a trip that was unlike any other I had ever dared myself to partake in. The first part was incredible, but also a piece of cake. In April, I found out that after much deliberation I was accepted to the Japan Society Educator’s Tour for the summer of 2012. This trip entailed six cities, two home stays and several school visits throughout Japan. It was meant to be three weeks long. Upon reading the requirements for the trip, I realized that I could extend my trip and fly home at any time if I so desired. I thought about this option for less than a minute. Of course I was going to extend my trip… but where would I go? Japan is a modern, first world nation. Modern conveniences exist and getting around is extremely easy, even though a language barrier exists. I wanted a challenge thereafter. After discussing the matter at length with my friend Lauren and my boyfriend, both of which planned to meet me in Asia after Japan, we decided on Myanmar. I knew very little about Myanmar, but I got myself a visa, booked some tickets, and didn’t think much about it.

On July 1, I flew to Japan with the Japan Society Educator’s Tour. I traveled with a group of teachers from all over the country. We started in Kyoto, visited many shrines, and then ventured off to Obu. In Obu we stayed with Japanese families. Of course, the family I was assigned was a bit untraditional… ok, they were very untraditional. I found myself struggling with my extremely limited to nonexistent Japanese language abilities and sleeping on a tatami mat. I learned how to shower in a Japanese style bathroom and cook gyoza from scratch.

 While in Obu, we visited schools and I noticed that lecture was the primary source of information dissemination. I certainly did not expect to see such teaching styles in Japan, but the lack of technology and the abundance of lecture seemed to be ever-present. I found this to be different when we traveled to Arida City in Wakayama Prefecture.  The schools seemed more alive and lecture was not a constant way of teaching. In this small town, the group participated in another home stay and it was wildly different from the first. The families were all farmers and I found myself feeling surprisingly at home and relaxed in comparison to the first. The families were all quite genuine folks and took each of us farming a few times. The people I stayed with owned an orange grove and it had been in their family for over one hundred and fifty years. The entire extended family lived on the same street and seemed to participate in activities together constantly. I learned to roll sushi with the grandmother, met their great grandmother, and dressed up in a Yukata with the young children in order to attend the local shrine festival.  Although it was slightly uncomfortable to live in someone’s home for a short period of time without any language skills, it was probably the highlight of my trip to Japan. I learned quite a bit about culture and customs, how to eat properly, when to serve others and a variety of other things.

The group traveled to Hiroshima thereafter. In Hiroshima, we had the pleasure of meeting one of the most amazing people I have met in my entire life. His name was Mr. Ito and he survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, even though his brother did not. He was a child worker during those times and was lucky to not have suffered the grave fate that so many others did. He described watching his brother get sick from radiation, and explain how he recovered from such a great loss. In 2001, Mr. Ito lost his son, who lived in New York City, in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He felt he had a relationship with America because of both tragedies, even though the bombs dropped in Japan were dropped by Americans. By the end of our session with Mr. Ito, the entire group cried and felt we had a close relationship with him.

After Hiroshima, we went on for our last few days in Tokyo and Fukushima. While in Fukushima, I spent time with young English teachers and farmers, who had been economically affected by the triple disaster. I saw abandoned city halls and frustrated folks who just wanted their old way of life back. We visited a day care center that had the most heroic teachers I had ever met. After all, they rescued more than 150 kids under the age of 5 from a tsunami. There really is no training for that. Tokyo was a welcome difference from the tragedies we had discussed and visited over the prior days.

After spending time in Tokyo, I had planned to do something wildly different. Japan is a super modern society, but I was hungry for something a little more difficult and perhaps a little less convenient. I stopped over in Thailand for a week, met my boyfriend Zach and my friend Lauren, and we set off to travel around Myanmar for eight days. Myanmar (Burma) was closed to regular tourism and freedoms in general until 2011. Tourist infrastructure is virtually nonexistent and hot water and air-conditioning are a luxury. Only 25% of the country has access to electricity. We hired a guide and trekked to four major sites. We visited pagodas, cities, went to a festival and ate incredible local food. While in Myanmar, Zach and Lauren were often stopped by locals because many had never seen a person white lighter skin before. They became like celebrities everywhere we went. People wanted to take their photo and show it to their relatives back in the village where they came from.

While in Myanmar, I realized that certain norms that are apparent in America are virtually non-existent in Myanmar. In America, we buckle our seat belts, make sure we wash our hands, and ensure that a working age exists for children. In Myanmar, however, none of these norms or laws exists. People ride on top of the buses to get from place to place. Washing hands takes clean water, and this is difficult to find in some areas. In almost every restaurant or guest house I stayed at, little children served us and cleaned our rooms. A host of other things were wildly foreign to me, as well. People polished their pagodas, but lived in straw huts. Farm machinery could not be found, but water buffalo were everywhere. Men wore longyiis, not pants and touching someone on the head proved to be the largest insult one could give. On top of it all, many would label the Burmese people as living in poverty, but in fact, many were incredibly nice, friendly and some of the richest people I had ever met in terms of happiness. People welcomed us, smiled, and barely ever bothered us for money. It was like an untouched place in the world. At times, I felt as though I was traveling on another planet. No one had knowledge of McDonalds, Coca-Cola or other brand name items. Imports and exports did not exist. While we were there we dressed like the Burmese and ate like the Burmese… and it was amazing.

Although our experience in Myanmar was amazing, I was ready to leave when the time came. I missed my version of normal and had been traveling in Asia for approximately five weeks by our departure date from Yangon International Airport. Zach and I said goodbye to Lauren as she decided to stay for another week in Yangon, and we headed to Kuala Lumpur. KL was like another world. There were fast food restaurants, reliable taxi drivers and clean running water. Although interesting, it was not the least bit challenging. Other than the ancient Hindu Temple at the Batu Caves, we really did a lot of indulging and very little sightseeing in the major metropolis of Kuala Lumpur.

For our last stop, we flew to Siem Reap, Cambodia… probably one of my favorite places on Earth. Originally we decided on Siem Reap because Angkor Wat is located there. As a history teacher, this is a major sight on my bucket list. It turns out; however, that some of the other temples were far more interesting than the major sight itself. When we first arrived, we took the major form of transportation to our guest house: a tuk tuk. For two dollars, one can get anywhere in Siem Reap by tuk tuk. We arrived at our guest house which I expected to be less than exciting. After all, Cambodia is a third world country and I did not expect the standards to be up to that of nice resorts in the United States. To my surprise, all of the guest houses seemed incredibly modern, except for the lizards that creep around in the rooms.

On our first night in Siem Reap we rented ATVs and rode out to the rice paddy fields with a young Cambodian man. He told us that before tourism was popular, many people were rice farmers. He explained that this occupation earned very little money and the people of Cambodia were now able to earn so much more because of tourism. While I certainly saw many people asking for money and tips from foreigners, it is seemingly obvious that visitors have vastly improved the lives of those who once had to deal with one of the worst regimes in history: the Khmer Rouge.

Asia was amazing. In the end of it all, Zach left a day before me and I found myself wandering the streets of Bangkok trying to figure out where the past six weeks went. It was an amazing journey. I traveled through history, culture, and absolutely amazing people. I spent time in the first world and the third world. I found myself surprised, scared, excited and in awe on a regular basis. Overall, it was an experience that I am currently bringing back to the classroom. I feel better prepared to discuss East and Southeast Asian history and I often tell stories of people I met and things I did. I love to teach and talk about the world… because I simply love the world that much.