After a good flight and a save landing on JFK airport, we met Madeline Brownstone and her husband. They went with us to the hotel in Queens, were we checked in.

On Sunday we visited Manhattan. It was quite an experience to see Times Square, Ground Zero and Central Park. In the afternoon we met the two teachers from Bloomfield, Connecticut and we had dinner together. After dinner we looked at a sunset in Manhattan.

On Monday the real work of our exchange started in the Baccalaureate School for Global Education in Queens.
Our school will become a partner of the Baccalaureate School for Global Education and because I’m the coordinator of our school I was proud that I could give a letter of intend from our principal to Madeline for her principal. I also gave her a statue that means “An eye to the future for a great partnership”.
In the project TRW we have to use a tool to communicate and gave a presentation of the tool “ejournals”. In this journal students and teacher can publish, but a foreigner only can read the published articles. There is also a possibility to publish photo’s, video, audio and you can chat and have videoconferences.
Afterwards we will decide if we’re going to use this tool.
In the evening we had a tour to Greenwich Village. It was nice to be there.

On Tuesday I went back to the Baccalaureate School for Global Education and there I visited three math-classes. It was good to see that a lot that I saw, we do it similar in The Netherlands. Of course there is also a lot of different things I saw, but there we can learn from each other.
In the afternoon I went for some shopping to Manhattan and Chinatown.

On Wednesday I left Thalysia in Queens and I went with Bob Hofman to Bloomfield Connecticut. When we arrived in the Metropolitan Learning Centre we met our American and Dutch colleagues. Wendy, Hans and I went to the Mark Twain House. It was amazing seeing the roots of the American literature.

On Thursday I visited some math classes in the Metropolitan Learning Centre. I had almost the same impressions I had on Tuesday. A lot in common, but also a lot of differences. In the afternoon I met the principal of the school and I also gave her a statue, the same eye for the same cooperation pointed to the future.

Summarizing I can say that this trip gives me a lot of Richness Within.

Rieg van Eijk
Coordinator Ooostvaarders college Almere The Netherlands