-Tracy d’Arbeloff

-Jessica Droujko

While there, I managed to catch two presentations. The first was about Liquid Nitrogen. I did not get to see the whole things, but it was pretty interesting. As one of the experiments, the man onstage had a big thermos type thing of liquid nitrogen, and about 20 balloons (each about the size of a large softball so they would fit in the mouth of the container). First the presenter stacked up the balloons on the outside of the container, one on top of another. The container was about 5 balloons high. He asked us to imagine that we were going into space, and needed to bring oxygen, but only had limited space. He then lifted up a balloon and told us that they were filled with oxygen. And then proceeded to put them into the thermos of Nitrogen. He fit all 20, and could have fit more. When he reached in with tool to bring out a balloon, it was completely flat. Then, he blew on the balloon, and as it warmed, it retained its original shape. All 20 of them came out and re-filled as they warmed. He explained that this was a good way to carry oxygen, and that because it the rubber balloon fabric was flexible and synthetic, it could withstand the freezing and compression of the gas inside. Next he took out a piece of lettuce. The lettuce, like human bodies, has a lot of water in it. It is a living piece of matter. This, he placed into the container for ten seconds. When he took it out, it looked the same, only a little frozen. When he touched it, it crumpled into little pieces. Organic matter cannot survive such a loss of moisture and such like synthetic material (i.e. Balloons) can.

The rest of the presentation was pretty much for show. He took some boiling water, and poured a cupful into a big container of liquid nitrogen. It sent up a big plume of gas like a bomb, which spread out into the audience. It was very cool. Then he took all the little kids out onto the carpet, and had them lie on their stomachs in a circle. He poured the nitrate into the center of the circle, and let the kids “swim in the mist.” I really wanted to join in, but all the parents and older kids just stood around looking superior and boring. Alas, age is such a hinderance. Plus…I wasn’t too keen on breathing in liquid nitrogen.

The second presentation I saw was on electricity. This is something I had studied in physics not too long ago (electrons and currents and transmitters and all that good stuff), so I wowed all the kids with my knowledge by raising my hand and answering the questions the woman onstage asked. I felt pretty cool. Jessica and Zoe got up onstage to show static electricity, by holding onto a charged ball thing and shaking their heads to their hair stood on end. It was sweet.

There was so much at the museum to see- full size trains, tons of model ships, space, big colorful tunnels to run through with slides…It was a fun field trip. Especially the slide. But that is a whole other story

-Tracy d’Arbeloff

The first couple weeks of Fourth Quarter here at New River Academy have been thoroughly enjoyable. This past week was a tough one, full of long travel days, but there were definitely a lot of fun times in there as well.

Coming back to WV after NOC was a welcome change. Although NOC was a blast, it was cool to be back to just us, and definitely a lot quieter. New River Gorge levels had dropped a good amount, but we still managed to have fun and surf some sweet waves. It was amusing to watch Jess try out her new hand paddles on some rapids. She thinks that everyone looks adorable while hand paddling. I think they look ridiculous and awkward. But I humor her We went rock climbing for a mentor activity, and I was super impressed by Clay’s skills. I think I will stick with water.

School is still in full swing. Classes are super busy. In my AP classes, it is the final stretch, and we are doing tons of preparations. My brain does not enjoy this, especially not AP Calc, but I’ll survive. In survival this week, Tino and I made our first attempt at homemade jam. It turned out pretty darn good- a bit too sugary, but no one complained! In physics we are starting our final research paper. I am doing mine on Wormholes; it should be pretty interesting research. Since I have a complete and utter disdain for airports and flying, I have a vested interest in transportation. Life would be so much easier.

Spanish was a bit interesting this week. In my spanish IV class, we are reviewing vocab. Right now we are on the animals. To help me remember them, Lorenzo made me make drawings to go with the harder words. Not the best artist, I found the experience to be a tad humiliating. It looked like a five year old drew my illustrations. Oh well. At least I colored within the lines. For the most part. Eh.

Today we had a field trip into Ottawa to visit a Science and Technology museum. It was one of the better museums I’ve been to and there were a lot of things to see. As a homework assignment for the trip, we all have to post a 500 word paper on something that caught our interest in the museum, so keep an eye out for ten scintillating essays on ‘what we learned.’

Thats all for now, because I am EXHAUSTED. And I have to read Crime and Punishment. The title is aptly named. Reading it feels like punishment. Urgh. Classic, my butt.

Cannot wait to see all you parents at graduation!

-Tracy d’Arbeloff

My name is Jessica Droujko and I’m a new student here at New River Academy. I arrived in Pucon on January 29th, two days after everyone else arrived. I was a little afraid that I would arrive here and everyone else would already have friends and wouldn’t need me, but that was not the case, everyone here was very welcoming. The school is very different from my high school in Niagara Falls, especially since I’m Canadian. But the teachers are awesome, and they’re really good at what they do. They’re following my curriculum and working from my textbooks. And it is so much easier since the classes are so small. My largest class is Spanish 1 and it has four students in it. After seven classes and lunch, we head off to the river with our teachers/coaches. Our base is right next to the Trencura River, so we will get to run this beautiful river a lot. I have only ran it once so far, and i have also done safety on it. We also just returned from Choshuenco today. It’s about three hours away from Pucon, and we spent the last week there paddling the Rio Fui. That river has three parts to it: the upper, middle and lower, and we got to run a different part of it everyday. We also got to visit Huilo-Huilo waterfall. The upper has a 25 foot waterfall on it, which we all got to run. It was amazing! Some of us had better lines than the rest of us but we everything turned out great.

Now we are back in Pucon, and ready for the next adventure.

Jessica Droujko

New River Academy has returned to home base in Pucon, Chile. After a week of rain, it is refreshing to see a teeny bit of sun this afternoon, when it cleared up. The Fuy and Choshuenco were amazing. The Women at La Posada welcomed us immediately into their family, and fed us very well. I never did get to lie on the beach and sunbathe, but the kayaking more then made up for it.

Travel days are always an ordeal, getting 14 teenagers to travel distances and somehow keep everything organized? The teachers might as well be gods. A lot of times in Chile we will travel as a group on the public buses. Surprisingly, the buses here kick the ones in the USA’s butt. They are all cushioned and the seats recline. Often they include air conditioning, and all have curtained windows for that annoying sun thing that appears every so often around here. They are also really cheap for hours of travel! I was able to snooze quite comfortably, half splayed over Katie Kowalski’s sleeping form. Us young kayakers do not respond well to very early wake ups. Ah, well.

This will be a quick one because my salad is arriving. It has blue cheese, walnuts, pears, spinach, and other such amazing things. Yum!

-Tracy d’Arbeloff

Gap Year Student David Gorski Runs Salto Los Leones

The first day here, we went to a “park and huck” waterfall called Salto Los Leonas. It is a 25 foot gentle waterfall, with bright blue water. Most of the group ran it, while a few of us walked upstream to a small playwave to tool around. I was of the latter group. It was nice to just get to surf for a bit. I miss playboating A LOT. Hopefully when we return to Pucon, the playhole near Dave’s house will be in.

The next day, The group ran the Lower Fuy. I stayed back with Callie, our wonderful new English Teacher, and taught her to roll. For once, the lake was not peaceful at all. Standing in the water with Callie, I would be swept off my feet by waves. In a lake!!! It was windy, but the warm wind of a storm coming. Callie and I had been in the water only 20 minutes, when she got her roll! We spent the rest of an hour and a half perfecting it, and starting on her hand roll. We had just stumbled through the wind back to the Hostel, when the rain started. And it poured. The rest of the group who had run the Lower Fuy, had a paddle across a lake in it!

Chase Simmons Plugs Los Leones Falls

Yesterday and today has been chilly and cloudy. Not the most encouraging weather to paddle in. But the River here is crystal clear all the way to the bottom, and every run is still a ton of fun.

-Tracy d’Arbeloff

David Gorski, a Gap Year student

Yesterday afternoon we took an hour drive to the Maichin River, a beautiful class IV run. Although (due to injuries of the back and knee) Katie and I went with David, Andy, Callie, Kyle, and Zoe on a class II-III run on the upper Maichin;  it was still absolutely beautiful and fun. Even relaxing. David helped Kyle and Zoe with their back deck rolls, while Andy helped Callie with her normal roll. I do believe that all three were successful by the end of the run. Katie and I worked on holding our bowstalls and pumping for flatwater loops. It was fun to just get some chill flatwater practice in.

Fruit is officially in season! Yum!

Today classes started. We had orientation in the morning, and then met with all our teachers for the normal periods. It was hard getting back in the swing of things. I think everyone was a bit slow to warm up. Especially me in Calculus. Ugh. But we have a fun packed quarter ahead of us, including some spectacular sounding side trips including a couple day horse expedition into the mountains in Patagonia in a couple weeks. So excited!!! I am so glad to be back at school…even if it means homework. Tomorrow Jessica Droujco arrives, and then February 1st we leave for Choshuenco and the Fuy. Expect lots of blogs! We have a really solid group, and I know that the next 7 weeks will be unforgettable.

Ok, Signing off.

Stay Warm!

-Tracy d’Arbeloff

The last drop of the Siete Tazas

As you know, we spent the last week at the Siete Tazas, which are 7 clean pool drops ranging from 2 feet to 20. Everyone was super excited and had a blast learning more about boofing and tucking drops. The water was crystal clear aqua and as cold as ice, the deep rock gorges roes majestically above our heads, and the sun sprayed patterns that twinkled and shimmered against the water. It was like nothing any of us had seen before. Photo and Video took advantage of our location had awesome classes, with beautiful results.

Taylor Cote high up on a cliff where She and I had hiked up to take photos of people running the Entre Saltas

The food was another big win this week as well. The first night was delicious rice and “melt in your mouth” beef. It is something that my mother used to make in our crock pot on special occasions, and I was in total heaven. For me it was a taste of home, for everyone else, it was some darn good meat. Every morning we would have fresh made bread, homemade jams of cherry, peach, or blackberry, and eggs that had no doubt just been grabbed and scrambled for us straight from the chicken’s nest. I think we all looked forward to the next meal as soon as one was finished.

Haakon Samuelson being a moose after running some waterfalls

It was really cool not having electricity for a week. I would do my homework snuggled in bed with a candle. At first it was hard to figure out how to balance, and I nearly burned my physics book a couple times, but after I got used to it, it gave a romantic edge to doing homework. Ok…maybe that is pushing it. But it was a neat experience.

The mountains and land surrounding the little isolated hostel we were staying at was a dream come true for me. I do not even know how to describe it. On one of the solo hikes I took, I ended up in some far away nook that was like a fairly land. Gosh, I cannot even put into words what it was like. All I can say is that it totally captured my heart. I felt like this past week renewed my soul a bit, just by being in that area.

We were all sad to leave, but excited at the prospect of a night in a hotel with connections to the outside world again. I know all the boys were foaming at the mouth to email their parents…or check facebook. Either one. Curfew was 11 pm, and we had all afternoon to ourselves. Most of us students walked into the town center and looked at all the shops and markets. Clay, Haakon, Stephen, Alex, Eric, and I went down the the indoor pool (yes, our hotel had an indoor pool!!!), which ended up being the temperature of a hot tub, and swam around for an hour. And by swim around, I mean make total fools of ourselves by having cannonball contests in a four foot deep pool, and spitting water in each other’s faces. I tried to organize a handstand contest, but the boys were not having it. Every time I did a handstand in the water, I would be rudely shoved over. I had my toes pointed and everything. They were just intimidated by my skills.

Alex Anderson goofing off for the camera while we waited to take footage

This morning, after wonderful hot showers, and a delightful sleep in pristine sheets, we meandered down at different times to the complimentary breakfast buffet. There were eggs, yogurts, breads, fruit, pastries, juice, cereals, coffee, meats, and cheeses. We all felt duty bound to make the most of this opportunity and stuff our faces. At one point I felt full, and said as much to Melina and Taylor who were my eating companions. I was then told to stop being a baby and to keep on trucking through. I do not think I will be eating again until Christmas. On the plus side, Mum, I had about a field of fresh cut strawberries. It made me think of home.

We are leaving around noon today, so it is a lazy morning. Something I think we are all making the most of. I do believe I may go for a swim again!

Happy Thanksgiving!

-Tracy d’Arbeloff

Sorry I have not been blogging much.

Things have been awesome here in Chile. Everyone loved The Maipo, and I know that we are all sad to leave Pichilemu tomorrow. It has been really nice to have a town a block away from us. There has been lots of chilean foods to taste here. Mainly sweets…but hey, whos counting?

Haakon and I!!

Meals have been beyond great. The cooks we have here are AWESOME! Every meal is delish and healthy. We always have fresh juice and bread. And when I say fresh juice, I mean, made with a blender right before the meal. Usually the ingrediants include strawberries or kiwis, or pinapple, and water. But this morning we had bananas blended with milk. I think I had a whole blender full just by myself!

Tino Specht at a Waterfall near the Maipo, Chile

Another cool part of living in town is that we are so immersed in Chilean culture here. If you want anything at all, you have to use spanish to get it. And there are always people willing to talk and learn more about you. I hope that by the end of next quarter, I am fluent in spanish. It is not going to be easy, but I think that Stephen Forster and I may just be able to achieve that goal.

Speaking of Stephen, survival class rode horses in the sand dunes yesterday to look at beach herbology. It was really fun. And I have to say, I do not think Matt Hill has a future as a cowboy. He looked like a wet noodle. But he had fun! The ride was beautiful, except I couldnt get my horse to walk! It only wanted to run. Stephen and I ended the ride with a gallop along the surf. It was so much fun…until a pack of stray dogs started chasing us. I was worried that the horses would buck, but they just ran faster, and the ride ended with no harm to anyone. Although, the horse seemed really to like running in the actual water. I didn’t mind…but my last clean pair of socks got really sandy and wet. Boo.

Haakon on a Kid's ride in Pichilemu Chile...Goof.

Laundry here is hung out in the sweet fresh air to dry. It smells delicious when dry. And do not worry Moms, the boys did laundry today…FINALLY!!! This car ride might actually smell decent! Huzzah!

Everyone has been throwing huge in the water. On the first day out, there was a huge seal swimming right among us. At one point he popped up ten feet from my boat! He was adorable! It was a really cool experience. I think that all the kids have been loving ocean surf. It can be intimidating, but it is really good practice for boofing holes, and the tricks go really big!!

Some Closed Store Fronts in Pichilemu Chile

Classes have amped up in intensity. Actually, In all my classes, we are ahead of the syllabus…meaning we have zoomed past public school course syllabus. Even in AP English we are way far ahead. It has allowed us a little flexability in upcoming projects. One day in physics, we went to the beach to draw elipses and learn more about tangential speed, and the planets in orbit. Pretty cool studying the moon and its affects on the tides when we are right near a beach depending on the tides for wave size.

I cannot wait to see what this next week and the Sietes Tazas have to hold. It is supposed to be one of the most picturesque places in Chile. Just one more adventure in this once in a lifetime experience we are having here in Beautiful Chile…

-Tracy d’Arbeloff