From The Big Field Trip – Vietnam, March 2010

Rice can be used in lots of different ways. The average Vietnamese eats ¾ pound of rice per day in the form of plain rice, noodles, dumplings, rice paper, etc. The stalks of the rice are used to thatch roofs and to make sandals, hats and baskets; the husks are used to make charcoal. No parts of the rice plant are wasted.
Almost all rice is grown in the same way. It is grown from the seed in nurseries for 25-50 days. After that period, they are sold to farmers, who plant the crops in shallow ponds called paddies. The farmers wait until the rice plants’ leaves turn yellow, and then they drain the paddies. They harvest the plants with sickles and knives. The farmers wrap the rice in bundles and leave them in the paddies to dry for a few days. If the rice still isn’t dry, the farmers may lay the rice out on the highway to dry. After the rice is dry, they put it through a machine to separate rice kernels from the husks. These machines are usually owned by the community. After the machine has done its work, the rice has to be threshed. This means that the rice is put into a basket and tossed into the air. The aim is for the husks to be blown away in the breeze and the rice kernels to fall back into the basket. Threshing is usually done by women or girls, and it’s harder than it sounds. Then the rice is ready to eat or sell.

From The Big Field Trip – Vietnam, March 2010

When farming rice, people aren’t the only animals used in farming. People use water buffalo not tractors, which get stuck in mud, to plow the fields. There are sometimes lots of scarecrows in some fields, just cloth hung on sticks, to keep the birds away. I also saw another interesting technique to keep birds away, someone had hung a net in a garden, and so if a bird flew into the garden, it would get stuck in the net. Sometimes people raise ducks in rice fields. The ducks fertilize the rice plants with their droppings. They also eat the weeds and insects from around the rice plants.
There are two different types of rice farming in Vietnam: dry rice farming and wet rice farming. Wet rice farming is more popular in Vietnam. Dry rice farming is practiced in places where it is not flat, like on mountain slopes or in steep valleys, it is fed by seasonal rains. Dry rice doesn’t require much work, but doesn’t yield much crop.

From The Big Field Trip – Vietnam, March 2010

Shrimp Farming in Vietnam
Shrimp farming started in Asia in 1500 A.D., but has spread all over the world. Large scale shrimp farming didn’t start until 1900’s, when the demand was high and it made sense to farm it because it’s very expensive to farm shrimp. Most of the shrimp before the 1900’s was caught wild from the ocean. Now there are shrimp farms all over Vietnam.
Vietnam is the world’s third largest shrimp exporter, behind the United States and Thailand. Over 2 million people have jobs in Vietnam’s shrimp farming industry. In 2003 the US imported 588 million dollars worth of shrimp from Vietnam. 75% of farmed shrimp is farmed in Asia, and the other 25% is farmed in the Americas, especially in the US and Brazil.
There are two main species of shrimp farmed in Vietnam: the classic white shrimp and the giant tiger prawn. The shrimp are grown from eggs in nurseries for a period of 12 days then are bought by farmers. Farmers put the shrimp in either large tanks or ponds. The ponds are traditionally 1.5 or more meters deep (4-5 feet). After about 25 days, when the shrimps’ gills branch, they are moved to another pond. They are in the grow-out ponds for about 3-6 months (depending on the species and place they are farmed). When they are ready to harvest, the shrimp are either caught in nets or traps.
Extensive shrimp farms are found along the coast where the real estate is cheap. Extensive shrimp ponds cover a lot of space, sometimes covering a square kilometer. In these ponds there aren’t many shrimp per square meter. The farmers don’t feed the shrimp; the shrimp feed on things they find naturally in the water. Extensive shrimp farms aren’t as expensive to run, but they aren’t as profitable.
Intensive shrimp farmers usually use smaller ponds with more shrimp per square meter. They put aerators in the ponds so there is more oxygen in the pools, and the aerator’s propellers go about one meter deep. Intensive farmers have to feed the shrimp krill that have been fed antibiotics because disease can spread easily in the cramped ponds. They also feed them powdered fish. In intensive farms, they have to pump in clean water all the time. Intensive farms are a lot more expensive to run because they require so much energy, materials, and labor. Intensive shrimp farms can be very profitable, but they are more expensive than extensive shrimp farms. They make more sense in areas where real estate is expensive.

From The Big Field Trip – Vietnam, March 2010

Since intensive shrimp farmers pump lots of water in and out of their shrimp ponds, disease can spread quickly from farm to farm. Some shrimp diseases intensive farmers try to protect their shrimp against are yellow head disease and white spot syndrome. Yellow head disease is highly contagious with mass mortality within two to four days. The infected shrimp get a yellow head before dying. White spot syndrome is a highly lethal disease and has a 100% mortality rate. Before dying, the shrimp’s digestive tract turns red, and they get white spots on their head.
Farming shrimp can be risky, not only because of disease, but because of an entire crop can be lost in a flood. When we were touring shrimp farms around Hoi An, our guide told us that a recent flood rose over the walls of the shrimp ponds. The shrimp were washed downstream. Some were caught by lucky fishermen, but the farmers lost everything. Many shrimp farmers started farming rice instead of shrimp. Rice farmers earn less profit, but rice farming is not as risky.

From The Big Field Trip – Vietnam, March 2010

Shrimp farming can have a negative impact on the environment, so governments are beginning to regulate shrimp farms. In the recent past, many Vietnamese shrimp farmers were creating salt water ponds inland. When the shrimp farmers pumped their salty waste water into rivers and canals, it mixed with the fresh water that other farmers used for watering their crops. The salt water killed the crops. It is now illegal to farm shrimp inland in Vietnam.
Extensive farmers have cut down a lot of coastal trees, especially mangrove forests, which were seen as land with little value. Now we know that mangroves can stop erosion from floods and devastating storms like typhoons. Mangroves are also a natural nursery for fish and shrimp. The fishermen suffer reduced catches when mangroves are cut down. Now shrimp farmers are encouraged to replant mangroves along and inside their shrimp farms. When we visited Cat Ba Island, in Ha Long Bay, we saw shrimp farmers planting mangroves in their farms. A few years before their farms had been wiped out by a typhoon. Now the farmers are building eco-friendly shrimp farms in mangroves. In the future, I hope that all farmers will create shrimp farms that are actually good for the environment.

From The Big Field Trip – Vietnam, March 2010

Shrimp and rice are used in many dishes of Vietnamese cuisine. Shrimp is used to add a little flavor to bland food. Rice is used in almost every meal, usually more than once. Vietnam is very fortunate. Its geography, climate, river deltas, rainfall and coastline do make it one of the world’s biggest (for its size) food producing countries. Many countries can’t feed their own population; much less feed others as well. With the world population rising so fast, the rest of the world depends on Vietnam’s harvests of rice and shrimp.

Bulgaria Slideshow from Jason Kirkman on Vimeo.

This is our slideshow from Bulgaria.

My family and I just visited Thailand for two weeks. It was a lot different from India because they treat animals a lot differently. Thais keep many different kinds of animals as pets. Some of them are captured from the wild and some of them are bred just to be sold as pets. Thai people kill and eat almost every type of animal. But animals also eat people and give them diseases. There are lots of different relationships between people and animals in Thailand.

Thai people eat the meat from all kinds of animals. The first night we were in Bangkok, we ate at a street kitchen with plastic chairs and tables for people to sit on. They served us steaming bowls of rice noodle soup with slices of pork and fish balls. There were cockroaches under our feet eating the rice noodles that fell from our bowls. A few days later we walked down the same block where we ate the first night, and we saw a man selling fried cockroaches, frogs, grasshoppers, and maggots. People grill meat on skewers like chicken, beef, pork, and shrimp. (Fact: Thailand is the country that exports the most farm-raised shrimp in the world!) They even grill chicken livers and chicken tails. When I went to the beach in Ko Samet, I saw a vendor selling flat squid with writing on it. The man had a grill to cook the squid. He also had a machine to flatten the squid. When he flattened the squid, it looked like cardboard because of the ridges in it. All of the squid he flattened was hanging from a cart that he was pushing. As I walked down the beach I saw a restaurant with a display table out front. It was full of shrimp, squid, crab, fish, horseshoe crab, cockles, and clams. The people in Thailand eat everything!

From The Big Field Trip – Thailand, February 2010

In Thailand, many animals carry sicknesses. Many dogs in Thailand have rabies. If there are 1000 dogs, about 100 of them will have rabies. If a dog with rabies bites a person, then the person could get rabies. Then they would have to get shots in their belly. Ouch! My mom and dad were very scared about the rabies, and did not let us get near any animals that lived on the streets. Every time the sun went down, we had to put mosquito repellent on because there are diseases that mosquitoes carry such as Japanese encephalitis and malaria. Luckily there are geckos on the walls of every single home. The geckoes eat insects (and maybe even mosquitoes). People are very glad to share their homes with the geckoes.

We went to a market called Chatuchak Market, and we saw a lot of different animals for sale as pets. Some of them were endangered. The pet market was huge. It could have taken up 10 city blocks! People shoved their way through aisles full of squawking parakeets in wire cages, lizards climbing fake branches, crocodiles in glass tanks, fish in coral filled aquariums, monkeys in plastic pens, and flying squirrels with collars and leashes to prevent them from escaping. There were kittens mewing, puppies yapping, hamsters sniffing, and rabbits eating pellets. Many of the animals were for feeding other animals. Tiny mice were food for snakes, crickets were for the tarantulas, and beetle larva was for the lizards. There was a clothing store for pets. It sold teeny little skirts for Chihuahuas. Thais are crazy for their pets.

From The Big Field Trip – Thailand, February 2010

I enjoyed going to the pet market because there were lots of different animals that I had never seen. It was like going to a zoo. Some of the animals were captured from the wild, but most of the animals were bred to be sold as pets. It is a good thing when a person buys a pet and takes care of it, but if you buy an endangered animal, the person who sells it will be more eager to catch more and put them in the market to sell. If this happens the endangered species cannot breed, and if more are caught from the wild, they will go extinct. People should not buy endangered animals like jungle birds.

Visiting Thailand was fun. There was lots of good food to eat. There was also a lot of animals to see, mostly pets in the market and on the street.

From The Big Field Trip – India, 2010

When we first went to they Kavita school, all of the kids were afraid of us. When my dad tried to help a student named Arjuna (pronounced Ar-june) with his math, Arjuna shrank away from him, nodding at everything he said. But a week later Arjuna was answering many questions and playing games with no fear. The students really enjoyed playing outdoor games that we taught them; it helped to “break the ice.” It took a while for the kids to warm up to us, but they did eventually.

We had about 30 kids in our class; it varied day to day because only about ¼ of the kids in the community came to school everyday. We did lessons on math and English. We also played games with the students. I was surprised about how little they knew, but how fast they learned. Most of the second graders didn’t know how to add numbers together. There was one genius who could add numbers together in his head and say it in English.

From The Big Field Trip – India, 2010

A normal day for me in India went like this: First I woke up at 8:30, started homeschooling at nine o’clock and studied until 1:00, when my family and I had lunch. My dad would have planned the lessons for Kavita earlier that day. We would all pack the supplies for the school, and when we heard the auto-rickshaw’s tuk-tuk-tuking along our road, we would run out of our house and jump in. On Tuesdays and Thursdays my mom and my little brother, Cruz, did not go to the Kavita School. After stopping at a fruit stand where we either bought 100 guavas, oranges, or bananas for the students, we drove 20 minutes to Kavita. When we got into the village, at about 2:00 pm, kids in blue uniforms came out of their houses and ran after us until we got to the school. I’d say about 30% of the kids in our classroom just came to school when we were there; they didn’t come in the morning.

When we got into the classroom, which was empty of desks and chairs for students, there would be about 50 students sitting on the floor of the room. Two teachers would come in to remove students that weren’t in first or second grade. They had to threaten the children with sticks, because they really wanted to be part of the class. Apparently it’s ok for teachers in India to hit students. We would first send our students to go wash their hands. I had to guard the door so that only our students got back in. Then we greeted the students with a hello and a good-afternoon.” Then I counted all the students in English (me: one, students: one, me: two, students: two, me: three, students: twee etc.). After counting, my mom would sing the ABCs with the students. Then we would either teach them a song or practice one we’ve all ready taught to the (like the Hokey Pokey and the Itsy Bitsy Spider). Meanwhile I drew a scene of the school with lots of doors, windows, people, trees and animals. Then my dad would ask “how many _____?” (i.e. how many students?).

From The Big Field Trip – India, 2010

After that we would split off into four groups, one for each member of my family, except Cruz, who participated as a student. I played memory with the students, my dad taught math, Bella played UNO or other card games and my mom drew pictures of objects with the students and taught them the name of the objects in English. We switched groups every 15 minutes, so groups lasted for about an hour. After the four groups we went outside for a game. We played games like duck-duck-goose and Simon Says. These games lasted for about 20-30 minutes; we played with the whole school, there were about 90 kids. Then we passed out the fruit to all the students. At this time it was about 4:00. We then took the tuk-tuk (auto-rickshaw) back to our house. For the rest of the day I played cricket with the kids in the neighborhood until the night time, when I did my homework.

From The Big Field Trip – India, 2010

Communication with the students wasn’t a big problem because we had a translator to help us. His name was Pinu; he volunteered each day to help us teach the students. He translated everything we said into Hindi. The students first language is Marwar, but all of them spoke some Hindi. We also learned a few Hindi words like “chup”, which means quiet, and “suno”, which means listen. On our first day, Maneesh, the man who ran the project, was our translator. Maneesh created a NGO, a project that enabled foreigners to come teach at the schools. He thinks it will be a good experience for the kids because they would come to school more, because whenever we came to the school, the attendance doubled.

On our last day teaching at the Kavita School, a doctor came to check the student’s hygiene. We had a regular school day except it was twice as long as it usually was, four hours. Every half hour the doctor would come in and take another group of students. The last day was sort of sad, but also fun. We (Bella, the students and I) played lots of games that day, like duck-duck-goose, Spider’s web and Steal the Bacon, while my parents clipped dirty fingernails. By the end of the day, all the kids had clean, clipped nails and were clean. We had prepared bags for them the day before, 100 of them, one for each student. Each bag had a toothbrush and toothpaste, a box of pencils, a sharpener, an eraser, crayons, and notebooks (for school), a bag of peanuts (for nutrition), a guava and an orange (for vitamins), a bar of soap and a photo to remember us by.

This experience has changed my way of thinking, I understand how simply people can live. I really enjoyed teaching; I hope many people can teach the kids in Kavita in the future, teaching was a great experience for me and the students.

From The Big Field Trip – India, 2010

From The Big Field Trip – Istanbul, November 2009

Traveling in Istanbul is like a flash. We often went by metro. Mom had a metal pass that she pressed against a slot and took some money out of it. Sometimes she had to re-charge it in a machine that recharges them! The pass also lets us get onto trolleys, trams, funiculars, and ferry boats. We had to take ferry boats a lot because there is a big strait called the Bosporus that splits the Asian side of Istanbul from the European side! A funicular is a cable car that goes up hills in underground tunnels. We used the funicular called Tünel a lot because it was right by our house. It is the second oldest underground train line in the world. The oldest one is the London Underground, which we rode on a lot in London.

From The Big Field Trip – Istanbul, November 2009

Istanbul is like a mosque made of many mosques. When I was there I could hear many people in minarets singing the call to prayer at the same time. There was a minaret right outside our window and the call to prayer woke us up every morning. It sounded like it was right inside our kitchen. There was a call to prayer five times a day. We went to one of the biggest mosques in the world! Outside of the Blue Mosque there was a black kitten. She was cold so she jumped in my lap and started purring. In the Blue Mosque there was a huge red carpet. People with strange caps were paying on it. They were Muslims.

From The Big Field Trip – Istanbul, November 2009

From The Big Field Trip – Istanbul, November 2009

Even though we were only in Istanbul for two weeks, we learned a lot of Turkish. A man whose name is Alper taught us Turkish at our house. He didn’t want us to pay him anything. He just wanted to have the experience of meeting new people. Here is some of the Turkish I remember: Please is “loot-van”, no is “hire”, yes is “evit”, and hello is “merhaba”. Thank you is “to-shake-your-adedom”, goodbye (when you are leaving) is “oyster-column”, and goodbye (when someone else is leaving) is gule-gule.

From The Big Field Trip – Istanbul, November 2009

Of all the places we visited in Istanbul, the Princes’ Islands were the most interesting. We went to the Princes’ Islands on a ferry. We threw bread to seagulls the bread in mid-air with their beaks. There were no cars, trucks, or buses. Instead of taxis there were horse carriages.  We rode bikes all around the border of Büyükada, the biggest of the Princes’ Islands. I saw a crow flying with a piece of pottery in its mouth. There were also a lot of cats: big cats to small cats. On the way back, Cyrus and Papa saw dolphins jumping out of the water. I didn’t get to see them. I was disappointed, but I had a great day. I loved the Princes’ Islands.

Istanbul was fun. There are lots of new things to learn and places to see. I’ve only seen a tiny bit of Istanbul, because I was only there for two weeks. When I grow up I want to go back to visit Istanbul to explore more. I hope to find more surprises. Maybe next time I’ll get to spot some dolphins.

From The Big Field Trip – Tunisia, April, 2009

The amphitheater in El Jem is the largest in Africa. We went there on the third of April, 2009. There were many sandstone archways and benches. There was a large arena in the middle, like a football stadium except it was elliptical. In the middle of the oval there was a small opening, about ten by five feet. This was for the gladiators and animals to rise unexpectedly out of. The circumference of this coliseum was 427 meters and seated 6,000 – 7,000 people. It was built in the Third Century AD. El Jem was first built into a hillside and seated 3,000 – 4,000 people, but it grew. It was also the third largest coliseum in the Roman Empire. People who were rich through olive oil trade funded the shows in the amphitheater of El Jem. The senators were seated in the front, equestrians (the people rich enough to own war horses – like knights) came next, then the poor people and women stood in the back.

From The Big Field Trip – Tunisia, April, 2009

I gaze at the many large ancient sandstone arches of the amphitheater of El Jem. As I step inside, my sight becomes dim. I am in one of many vaulted hallways. I squint as I come into the arena. I can imagine people in the sandstone benches 25 feet in front of me cheering. Cruz jumps up and down in the middle of the dirt field, screaming happily. I go over to him and see that he is on a grate. I look down and see a hallway below me. I spy a staircase leading down. I run down to find a large vault. I walk one way to find the tunnel barricaded. Then I walk the other way. There are rooms both on my left and on my right. I can almost see the animals that were kept there 1700 years ago (I sure can smell them – or it might be cat urine). I reach the middle where the grate is. I wave up at Cruz, who laughs happily. I climb up one of many staircases, up to the arena. I reach more sandstone steps leading upward. I run up them and walk up the stair-like benches. At the top I walk on the top bench and look down on the city of El Jem. I run down to the arena, then run to the opposite wall. I go in a vault and climb up the steps, less than half a dozen flights. As I reach the top, the wind blows. I look out at the amphitheater, the city of El Jem, and the olive fields beyond…

From The Big Field Trip – Tunisia, April, 2009

The stone in the coliseum in El Jem and Rome were quarried from the high sea cliffs of El Houaria. Today you can still see the marks where the Romans took out the rock. The Romans did not like the hard top layer of stone; they liked the softer under layer. Only the top of the sea cliffs remain forming an overhang. Some of these have collapsed into the sea. As I walked along the sea cliffs of El Houaria I saw fossilized shells. I remember seeing fossils in the stone of the amphitheater of El Jem.  It amazes me that the Romans could bring stone all the way from Tunisia to Rome and construct an amphitheater that tall, wide and long with the tools of that time.

From The Big Field Trip – Tunisia, April, 2009

From The Big Field Trip – Tunisia, March, 2009

Romans built there houses underground to escape the burning summer heat of 120° F! Only the dinning room and the bedrooms were underground. The homes had columns and arches to hold the roof up. In one house there were cleverly placed hexagonal windows to reduce weight upon the columns. Hexagonal windows and building underground are Berber ideas. There were high steps leading down to the underground rooms. This is a sign that Berbers lived there because Berbers were taller than the Romans.

From The Big Field Trip – Tunisia, March, 2009

There were different mosaics in each household.  Each house was named after its mosaic. The mosaics were made of tiny colored stones and sometimes expensive glass imported from Rome. From faraway these mosaics looked like paintings, but up close you could see that they were stones that were arranged very closely together. The mosaics were pictures of daily life like hunting and farming, the people who lived in the household, the Roman gods, sea creatures, or geometric designs. One mosaic of a woman who lived in a household used blue diamonds for her eyes. Unfortunately these diamonds were yanked out and stolen, and were replaced by blue glass.

From The Big Field Trip – Tunisia, March, 2009

But if it was so hot and dry, why did people live here? There was plenty of space and good soil to plant wheat. This area supplied 80% of the wheat for Rome. Mountains surrounded this valley. In the winter they capture a lot of snow and rain, which would stay in the soil. The roofs of the homes were slanted so that when it rained, the rain would wash into ceramic pipes which would lead to an underground cistern. It would provide drinking water for the household for the rest of the year. There was also warm spring nearby. The spring fed the large bathhouse. The Romans bathed once a day. The Romans in Bula Regia also had a sewer system which was advance for that time. The bathrooms were located on the ground floor and sewer pipes were underneath the road.

From The Big Field Trip – Tunisia, March, 2009

One of the things that made the Roman army so successful was the roads that they built. The roads were maintained and soldiers and traders were able to travel quickly. In addition to wheat, People here also traded large wild cats like lions and panthers to bring to the Coliseum in Rome. Now large cats are extinct in Northern Africa. Bula Regia is by yellow marble cliffs. Yellow marble was highly valued in Rome, so the people traded yellow marble as well. Bula Regia was destroyed when the Roman Empire fell. It was also damaged by a series of earthquakes. Even though Bula Regia was mostly destroyed, and most of the mosaics were taken to the Bardo Museum in the capital, Tunis, Bula Regia is still a very interesting place.

From The Big Field Trip – Tunisia, March, 2009

From The Big Field Trip – Tunisia, March, 2009

Tunisians love fresh fish. When you go to a restaurant, they will often bring a tray of whole fresh fish (clear eyes indicate freshness) right to your table to choose from. You can order them prepared any way you want. Couscous is the national dish. It is a small grain (semolina) that is steamed and served with meat (usually chicken) and vegetables. Tunisians practice Islam, a different religion from Christianity. In this religion, eating pork and drinking alcohol is not allowed. However there are some bars, and Tunisia makes a lot of wine. Unlike other Muslim countries, religious rules are not the law.

From The Big Field Trip – Tunisia, March, 2009

From our home we can hear the Muslim call to prayer each day. Five times a day – at sunrise, noon, afternoon, sunset and night – we hear prayers being sung from towers (minarets), which are scattered throughout town. The prayers are verses from the Quran, the Holy book of Islam. When stores open in the morning, they may play a cd that has Muslim prayers being sung. This is like a blessing to begin the business day.

From The Big Field Trip – Tunisia, March, 2009

We have been to Tunis, the capital, to Northern Tunisia, and to the Cap Bon peninsula. The markets, called souqs, are interesting. They sell stuffed camels and lots of souvenirs for tourists. We bought two small tortoises in the Nabeul’s craft souq. In the food market they sell lots of fruits and vegetables like fennel, olives, oranges, tomatoes, and yellow carrots. The oranges are tart and make great orange juice – for just 1 Dinar (about 70 cents) per glass. We have had lots of good food. Some of it reminds us of home. Harissa is a paste made out of red chiles and spices. Tunisians eat it with olive oil and baguettes (French bread). Mechouia salad is made with roasted green chiles. It is served with hard-boiled eggs, olives, and tuna. It is also eaten with French bread. The chiles taste just like New Mexico chiles. Besides the great bread, the Tunisians also make delicious pastries and sweets. Food – especially bread – is cheap here. Today we loaded up a bag with 4 baguettes, 5 sweet pastries, 6 cinnamon twists, and 2 giant scones. It cost less than 3 dinar (about 2 dollars).

From The Big Field Trip – Tunisia, March, 2009

We went on a trip this weekend to a town called Kelibia on the Cap Bon Peninsula. It was very cold and windy – it is spring here, like in Santa Fe. We took a loage (a small bus) through the countryside and saw lots of agriculture. There were olive trees, orange trees, wheat, wine grapes, people harvesting fennel, people planting tomato seedlings, and small flocks of sheep and goats. There were many small lagoons by the sea. There were flamingos, ducks, and other waterfowl. Falcons circled overhead searching for food. Kelibia has an old fort that has been used since the time of Carthage. The wind almost blew us over the ramparts. Despite the cold, it was an awesome place to play hide-and-seek. Cyrus freaked Angela out when he jumped out from a shuttered window in a chamber under the wall.

From The Big Field Trip – Tunisia, March, 2009

People are very helpful and nice here. We have a guide named Yussef. Yussef speaks English, Italian, French, and Arabic. He took us to a crazy soccer game. When the other visiting team scored, the fans threw water bottles and flaming flares onto the field.  We left before the fans tore out the seats. Luckily, there were armored police below – to act as targets. Yussef took us on a trip to northern Tunisia. He is planning on taking us on a week-long trip to the desert. He is from a desert town called Tatouine (yes, it where Luke Skywalker was from too). We will ride into the desert on camels and camp in a Berber tent for the night. Hopefully Yussef will bring an oud (an Oriental guitar). He plays and sings very well. Yussef is also trying to set up an interview with the newspaper. It would be cool to have our family’s story written in Arabic and French. We’ll get a copy scanned for the website if this happens.

From The Big Field Trip – Tunisia, March, 2009

In Tunisia they speak French and Arabic. We are taking French lessons and are picking up a little Arabic here and there. The Tunisian Arabic is a little different from standard Arabic. For instance, “thank you” in Standard Arabic is pronounced “shook-ran” and is pronounced “eye-shack” in Tunisian Arabic. We can’t read Arabic yet – they use a different alphabet, and they write from right to left instead of left to right. Fortunately they use the same number system – in fact, the Arabs invented the number system we used. They even invented algebra and were the first to use a symbol for zero.

We hope to get back to you soon,

   Jason, Cyrus and Bella

From The Big Field Trip – Brazil, January/February, 2009

                The smallest butterflies have a wingspan of only 0.62 inches. The biggest butterfly, the Queen Alexandra’s Birdwing, has a wingspan of one foot (12 inches or 30 cm). The female Queen Alexandra’s Birdwing is brown with white-cream spots and a red tuft of fur on the thorax. The male is blue with green markings and a bright yellow abdomen. The Queen Alexandra’s Birdwing is poisonous, and it gets its poison from a toxic plant; animals that eat a Queen Alexandra’s Birdwing get sick and vomit. Animals will remember that bright colors and markings mean that the butterfly is poisonous and will not eat it again. The Queen Alexandra’s Birdwing is found in a tropical rainforest in New Guinea. There are not many Queen Alexandra’s Birdwings left because people cut down the trees the butterflies eat to grow their crops.

From The Big Field Trip – Brazil, January/February, 2009

                If you find a caterpillar on a leaf and you put it in a cage with plenty of leaves, and you come back four weeks later, you will find a beautiful butterfly. You would look around for your caterpillar, but you would only find the beautiful butterfly and a hollow chrysalis. You would figure out that the caterpillar turned into a chrysalis and the chrysalis turned into a butterfly. You would probably be amazed.

From The Big Field Trip – Brazil, January/February, 2009

                Butterflies land on a tree or plant to decide if it is the kind of leaf that their caterpillars eat BEFORE laying their eggs. When caterpillars hatch, they eat their own eggs, which is their first meal. Most caterpillars eat leaves, but some are carnivores that eat wooly aphids. Caterpillars eat, eat, eat, eat, so they can be big butterflies and not be hungry when they’re in the chrysalis. The caterpillar turns into a chrysalis, which is a pretty, hanging, container that looks like the letter C. The unprotected chrysalis is hung up in a tree NOT ON THE GROUND. The butterfly is in the chrysalis for one week. The chrysalis cracks open, and the butterfly comes out and dries its wings in the sun. After a few hours the butterfly can fly. Some butterflies can live up to six months to one year. Some butterflies migrate in order to avoid adverse environmental conditions (like cold weather).

From The Big Field Trip – Brazil, January/February, 2009

                Butterflies are usually active during the day. Most butterflies eat nectar from flowers, sipping with their proboscis. Birds, wasps and other animals eat caterpillars and butterflies. Some caterpillars and butterflies blend into their environment, and some have a shade of green, but some are colorful and predators can see them easily. Bright colored caterpillars and butterflies are poisonous. They get their toxicity from the plants they eat. Butterflies can fly up to 30 mph. The poisonous ones fly only 5 mph. Some caterpillars and butterflies have eyespots that make them look like more scary animals to scare away predators.

From The Big Field Trip – Brazil, January/February, 2009

                Butterflies have compound eyes. Hexagonal lenses cover the eye. Butterflies can see images, colors, and even ultraviolet light. Caterpillars have simple eyes and cannot see images – they can only see light and dark. The butterflies’ bodies are covered by sensory hairs that give them a sense of touch. These hairs help them detect the wind. This helps them to fly. The Johnson organ in the bottom of the antennae helps the butterfly keep its balance. Butterflies taste with their feet and hear through their wings.

From The Big Field Trip – Brazil, January/February, 2009

                When my dad asked me what my science project was going to be about, I said, “Butterflies”. My dad said, “Sure. What do you know about butterflies?” And he said, “Fill this whole page with things you know and things you want to know.” And I did.

                My dad made a net with some material with small holes in it, some thread, a broom handle, and some wire, but it was too big for me to hold. So he had to hold it when we searched for butterflies. I held the jar to put the butterflies inside of. He made a cage too, out of mosquito net material.

From The Big Field Trip – Brazil, January/February, 2009

                When my dad and I were going to catch butterflies, some neighbor kids came by and said, “What are you doing?” in Portuguese, because we are in Brazil. My dad said, “We are catching borboletas”, which means butterflies. They asked if they could help us. The kids told us where butterflies were. A boy with black hair and orange spots on his hair caught four butterflies. His hair reminded me of a monarch butterfly. A boy with blond hair caught two butterflies, and a boy with black hair caught nine butterflies. Cruz caught one moth with his hands. We caught a yellow one, an orange one, even a green one with blue and black. We caught a black one with red and yellow. We put twenty butterflies in the cage. I tried to feed them sugar water, but the little ones drowned in it, so I let them all go.

From The Big Field Trip – Brazil, January/February, 2009

                My dad and I went to catch butterflies in the central park of Arraial D’Ajuda, which is in Brazil. We ran in the shade of the trees catching butterflies. When we were chasing butterflies, we touched a few stinging plants on our legs. It stung bad! But we caught a lot of butterflies. We measured the butterflies’ wingspan and took pictures of them. We were hoping to figure out the species for each butterfly and the family it is in. I caught a butterfly that was orange, with black lines and white dots. I was so excited because I thought I was the first one to discover it, and I wanted to name it the “Beautiful Butterfly”.  We looked on the computer for a long time, but couldn’t find it. We also caught a yellow swallowtail. When we looked it up on the computer, we found out it was called papilio cresphorte or “Giant Swallowtail”. When we were at Praia do Espelho, a beach near Arraial, we found a butterfly called the “Owl Butterfly”. It looked like it had owl eyes on its wings.

From The Big Field Trip – Brazil, January/February, 2009

                I see the world slightly differently now. I can imagine being a butterfly and seeing trough its eyes. I would see ultraviolet light glowing on flower petals saying, “Get your nectar here!” I would smell my mate’s scent and laugh as we chase each other. I fly away fast from birds and wasps. As I fly I feel really light, like a feather floating in the air.                

From The Big Field Trip – Brazil, December, 2008

We went on a tour by a guide named Roy Funch, a Chipada Diamantina guide. He used to live in New York, but moved to Brazil. Roy took us to some swimming holes, sand caves, rivers, and waterfalls.

From The Big Field Trip – Brazil, December, 2008

We also went on a few hikes without guides. We went to a natural waterslide made from smooth rocks. On New Year’s Eve we stayed up until midnight.

From The Big Field Trip – Brazil, December, 2008