New Zealand Represents in the USA

Photos of children are not included for privacy reasons, and details of the competition are kept general.

The Future Problem Solving International Conference in the USA was an unprecedented opportunity, and one I was thrilled to take on. It is not an everyday opportunity in the primary sector. Taking six 13 year-olds meant I was taking on a very parental caregiver role for two weeks as we toured the States and participated in the international finals of the competition. This was certainly a new challenge for me personally. The trip itself was 2 weeks long, and we were to complete it with a larger group and other schools, totalling 18 with adults included. To ease the jet lag, and help the students mentally prepare, we had three full days in Chicago before going to the University of Wisconsin–La Crosse for the conference, and then on to San Francisco to wind down before the trip home.

THE FLIGHT

The departure flight was relatively standard, but the customs at LAX was fatuous. We had 2 hours to make our connecting flight in the domestic terminal, and it took 2 hours for the bulk of us to clear customs. Factor in the 2 km walk between the terminals and the fact we had to re-check our luggage you can surmise that we missed our flight. In all my years I have never missed a plane and I was less than thrilled it should happen while I was in charge of a lot of very tired youths. However, and despite their less-than-sterling reputation, United were fantastic, and efficiently booked us onto the next flight, and together. We arrived only a few hours later and headed straight to bed.

CHICAGO

Time was set aside daily for study, and the students diligently focussed on the upcoming conference but with the travel and excitement, it was essential to have downtime and the best way to use this was exploring Chicago.

Day one, the first priority was a US SIM for my phone, and I headed out early and alone to find a T-Mobile. The first Chicago sight I saw was a giant 'harmony' mural and it has set the consistent and lovely tone for a city that is leaving a wonderful impression. The city is lively, diverse, friendly and has all the qualities I love in a metropolitan area. The stunning architecture compliments the waterfront and river, and green is valued highly.

The Chicago 'Bean' is actually the sculpture 'Cloud Gate' by Indian-born British artist Sir Anish Kapoor in Millennium Park, Chicago, Illinois. It is a metal structure inspired by liquid mercury, straddling the greenery of the park and the city. The 110-ton structure contracts and expands with the extreme temperature shifts of Illinois. The hollow structure has an architects studio hidden inside but it has been welded shut until 3006.

The Chicago Cultural Center is the old Public Library (1897) which was also used diplomatically for receptions with Presidents and royalty. The 11.6m wide Tiffany glass dome in the roof has 30,000 individual panes of glass and is currently valued at around $35,000,000. But it sits in a building that has interesting things to see in every slice of it - with mosaics of Favrile glass, mother-of-pearl and coloured stone celebrating, among others, fairly contemporary authors.

The Tribune Tower (no longer owned by the Chicago Tribune) is a fantastic building. Architects Howells and Hood envisioned flying buttresses and gargoyles and were also inspired by a 14th-century cathedral in Malines, Belgium. The weighed their plans against medieval counterparts in Europe. Looming much taller than anything that inspired it, the person who stuck the Stars and Stripes in the flagpole near the top nearly died from the effort. But the most impressive and tourist-drawing aspect of the tower is the 150 fragments of famous structures and historic sites from around the world (and all 50 states) embedded in the facade. Notable stones include a fist-sized 3.4 billion-year-old moon rock gathered during the Apollo 15 mission; a 170-pound Viking stone from Sweden; The Coliseum in Rome; a unique piece from the Holy Door at St. Peter's in the Vatican City; the Great Pyramid of Cheops, Giza, Egypt;  Petra, Jordan and the Forbidden City.

Other urban scapes:

"The Loop" is the elevated train that loops around the city. Super iconic.

The Google Map timeline of the day.

 Day two starts on a high, literally. The Willis (formerly Sears) Tower's observation deck is 412 m high and has 4 glass balconies extending 1.3m. A clear day like ours presents a view of up to 80km and four states. The Willis Tower was the worlds undisputed tallest until 1998, and while it has been surpassed by 5 other buildings, it held it's own in the occupied floor and roof categories for much longer, and when it lost the 'tallest in the US' label, it was due to the antenna on One WTC in NY, as the Willis roof is 25m higher.

Above, you can see the 'Skydeck' from street level.

Lunch was spent at Navy Pier, and a wander back through the city saw a visit to a closed museum and some shopping with very strict time management guidelines for those who were enthusiastic.

My proud selfie with a US bought Starbucks and a misspelled name.  #VictoriL

 More cityscapes:

Day 3 was a much cooler day than the two before. The winds blowing off Lake Michigan were strong and cold. 

The Great Lakes of North America are Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario and are all interconnected. The third largest, Michigan is the only one completely in the US territory. Volume wise, it comes in second to Lake Superior (4,920 cubic km), and it can freeze up to 90% in the frigid winters. The water moves slowly and in an 'unusual circulatory pattern' similar to the way a car would drive around a cul-de-sac. The Lake as it is today is the result of the tectonic shifts that caused the 'Mid-Continent Rift' 1.2 billion years ago.

A quiet morning preceded a Food Truck lunch and then a cruise down the river on the public 'Water Taxi'. The buildings of Chicago were sensationally displayed from that vantage point. The city has injected culture and soul into each structure, and it is impressive how much impact the architecture of each building has, and what it adds to the city. There are very few blocky, unattractive skyscrapers, and more than a few that saw me Googling the history and architects. Besides the Tribune Tower, my favourite was the Art Deco 37-story Carbide and Carbon building - a dark green terra-cotta monolith with gold accents.

Carbide and Carbon building

The day we left Chicago we explored the sensational Harold Washington Library near our hostel, and then whiled away the hours in Barnes and Nobel bookstore, with myself exercising extreme control over my wallet. 

The Atrium on the top floor was beautiful. I can only imagine the feeling in here during the frosty winters of Illinois.

 Above you can see 'dog tags' from the Vietnam War on display in the main stairwell.

 

LA CROSSE WISCONSIN

We left the huge metropolis behind us on the train for the sleepy town of La Crosse. We would be staying at the university there for the competition. The town matches Timaru for size and population, though based on the quietness of the centre, I imagine the suburbs are where most of the locals are.

Our main focus was the International Conference, study, and interacting with the six other represented countries (China, Singapore, Republic of Georgia, Norway, USA, Australia). The students had an incredible time and represented NZ well.

That being said, we did sneak away for a couple of 'brain breaks'. 

The Mississipi River

 We stayed in the university dorms - and it seems we got the best block. Some had to share a shower with the whole floor! I shared with another adult.

We went on the La Crosse Queen paddle steamer down and up the Mississippi River. AND we saw a bald eagle.

SAN FRANCISCO

Day one, we had a contact at Google who showed us around the Googleplex and its massive sprawling campus, and then we spent the afternoon at Stanford University, inspiring the students with grand ideas for their future. 

Before we knew we weren't meant to, we used Google Bikes to rush back the rendezvous after a loo stop - it was so much further than we thought!

That night we went to a classic - The Cheesecake Factory. It was, of course, on the top floor of a 7 story Macy's. I tried "Biscuits and Gravy" - an American staple. It is basically white chicken gravy with scones. AVOID.

Macy's offers a stunning look out across Union Square and a fun look down to the eclectic human activity.

Day Two: The next morning, I was fully in charge and planned a long walk. We started at Golden Gate Park, and walked back to the centre, to our hostel, incorporating several key items on the kids wish lists along the way. Luckily it went well and the kids were tired, yet happy.

Golden Gate Park is HUGE, and we only saw a tiny part. The bison field was really far away, unfortunately.

The Haight-Ashbury area was very bohemian and had some great second-hand or made locally stores.

The 'Painted Ladies' on the edge of Alamo Park are a San Francisco icon.

These octopi are part of an approved whimsy project.

 

City hall and UN Plaza

That afternoon I was solo with the younger students on a trip to Alcatraz. The older ones had been before. We split off and headed to the bus stop. with plenty of time. The bus came every 10 minutes, and we had 40 min to make the 25 min journey. Until 7 busses past us the other way and none came our way. I stared at the scene below for FIFTY minutes.

We got on the bus with Google Maps telling me we would arrive at 3.19. The boat departed 3.20. They give your tickets away at 3.10. I balanced morale and positivity with my own exacerbated stress levels and direct instructions for exactly how we would run, and where. The bus was jam-packed with everyone else who had been left waiting and it required pointy elbows to get out of the crush. With 2 minutes to go, we exploded out of the bus and headed to the dock - and I cannot convey how hard it is to run, make others run and count fleeing children to ensure they are all there simultaneously. We made it with literal seconds to spare and collapsed onto seats on the boat, flushed with excitement and success. Hours later one of us would exclaim "I STILL can't believe we made it!"

Alcatraz Federal Prison is one of the most famous and notorious maximum security penitentiaries in the world. From 1934 until 1963 it housed some of the most dangerous criminals in the US, including Al Capone. There were no confirmed escapes, however among several failed attempts, 2 made it into the water, never to be heard of again. Named for the seabirds that nest on The Rock, the Native American's occupied Alcatraz for protests after the prison closed and left their mark on the site.

You can juuust see the Golden Gate Bridge in the late afternoon haze.

This service corridor behind two rows of cells was the route taken by the two possible escapees that survived, after spending over a year creating a hole in the thick concrete with spoons.

It is Pride Month, and it is widely celebrated in San Fran.

Day Three:  I escaped for the morning while the students had a tour of Autodesk and just sat and stared blearily at a cup of coffee. The best I had for the trip - I googled, and walked through Chinatown for it. I was due to meet up at the ferry terminal with the crew at 12.30, so when I got the call at 11 that they were going to get the 11.30 boat instead, I was thrilled to have a second go at hooning through the city centre to make a boat by the skin of my teeth. This time I could Uber, which was a little less stressful, but the sharing of the fluctuating time between missing and making it was always fun, and the ferry dock was more confusing. I ran the last km, got lost twice, and made it with at least 2 minutes to spare.

We went over to Sausalito, a picturesque and $$$$ town that reminds me of the elite back villages north of Auckland. The views back to the city were stunning and as clear as they could be in the classic San Francisco haze.

We got the first proper glimpse of the Golden Gate on the way in and out.

We also got a great view of Alcatraz that we didn't get the day before.

Day Four:  We essentially had a full day before our fight, and we used this to full advantage - catching the iconic trolley cable car up the stepped streets of San Fransisco, past Lombard St (the 'windiest street in the world') down to Fisherman's Warf and then walked to a fabulous view of the Golden Gate Bridge.

I cannot leave off about San Fransisco without a short paragraph about the homeless situation. I have travelled to a fair amount of places and seen some heartbreaking poverty in different areas of the world, but none was anything like what I encountered in San Fran. It was aggressive, in-your-face, desperate poverty juxtaposed by the wealth around it. The abundance of wounded veterans was clear, and the racial divide more so. 

The added check-in note at the airport.

After two weeks in charge of teenagers, it was lovely to drop them at the airport with their parents, but I was floored by the fantastic time I had, and how much I learnt at the competition. I hope that one day I am able to coach to the ability of my colleague and see my own students achieve what these kids did.