A Pretty Good Traveling Buddy

I did not sleep well the night before the big flight to Peru. Spinning thoughts at 3:00 a.m.

Possible unpacked necessities. Alarms not going off. Daughter just graduated and is leaving home! Goat mastitis (long story).

All of this thinking at 3:00 am in the morning, coupled with the fact that my flight out of Arcata was at 6:00 a.m. meant that I was a zombie for the entire following day. Thankfully, on this trip, Sam was back with me.

Sam, the fourth grade classroom bear, makes a pretty good traveling buddy. Among other things, he’s unassuming, is a great way to start a conversation with other travelers, doesn’t talk back (much), and makes a fantastic airplane pillow.

For the uninitiated, Sam is one well-traveled Ursidae. He has quite literally seen the world: He has been abandoned on ice floe off the coast of Iceland (only for a bit), taken a dip in the Greenland Sea, had a pint of Guinness in Dublin (no drinking age for bears apparently), taken a selfie in front of David (yes, that one!), snorkeled around Catalina, participated in climate change protests, been to an A’s game, spent a month in Taiwan meeting elementary students and their families, and gone on weekend photo shoots with every one of my fourth graders for the last ten years.

The traveling bear concept all started when I brought Sam with me on my National Geographic Grosvenor Teaching Fellowship. I figured it would be a great way for me to make a faraway place seem a little closer, a little more familiar for my students. It worked well…They enjoyed analyzing the pictures that he was in and learning about all of the animals that he was photographed with. Students were then tasked with describing what was in the picture from Sam’s point of view. Science, writing, and geography all wrapped up into one little lesson. A very versatile bear, indeed!

The concept morphed into something a little different. A little bigger. My fourth graders began taking him home for a weekend or on trips to far away places. They would then do short presentations the following week or when they came back. Using photos and videos from the time that Sam spent with them, they got a chance to share a bit about what their life was like outside of school. He was also entrusted to students that went on vacations to foreign countries (hence the Guinness). Sam was, of course, ever the “photogenic movie star.”

Then a sister school partnership happened. My school, Union Street Charter, established a relationship with Chiao Hsin Elementary school in Taiwan. We have been participating in pen pal type exchanges for the last few years. The partnership has been fun, but it has been very hard to get to know what life is like for these kids that live half a world away. My fourth grade class this year attempted to fix this by sending Sam to Taiwan for a bit. He spent over a month going home with Taiwanese elementary students and getting photographed in their homes doing the things that they love doing. Unfortunately, school ended before my students could see the slide show of Sam’s Taiwan trip. I added a few of the photos to this post. We will watch the slide show next year!

I will be introducing Sam and his adventures to a few schools in Lima, Peru. Some lucky students will get a chance to take him home and spend a night or two with him. Their pictures will be included in slideshows so future students can observe world wide commonalities.

There’s a lot wrapped up in that little guy.

PS… I WILL write about Peru, I promise!