On Friday June 29, 2012 we arrived at JFK International Airport in New York City at around 9:00PM. Once there we met two young Dominican students from Middle School MS328 in Washington Heights (two blocks away from our Mirabal Sisters School Campus), as well as their chaperone, Mr.Cole. We also met a group of kids from Nashville, Tennessee, who were going to the Turkey Space Camp as well, and our wonderful trip coordinator Marilyn Kirby Anderson. After a two hours delay we finally took off on Turkish Air around 2:30am, and after what felt like an eternity we landed in Istanbul at around 6:00pm local time. For the record the service on board was excellent, with dinner and breakfast served on metal cutlery, like in the golden days of air travel. At Istanbul's Mustafa Kemal Ataturk International Airport we also met another group from Long Beach, California on their way to NASA Space Camp. We then caught another plane to Izmir, landing around 10:00pm Saturday night on June 30th. After waiting for about 2 hours we learned that my luggage as well as the girls' was to arrive the next day. When we arrived at the Space Camp Center it was 1:00am Sunday morning, July 1, 2012. We were welcomed by staff members and received sandwiches and fruits to eat. I fell in bed tired, sleepy, and with Jet Lag all at the same time. I could not believe we had being traveling for 24 hours!!
El viernes 29 de Junio del 2012 salimos hacia el Aeropuerto JFK y nos encontramos a dos chicas jovenes estudiantes de 7mo grado de la Escuela Intermedia MS328 de Washington Heights, asi como su chaperon el Sr.Cole. Tambien nos reunimos con un grupo de estudiantes de Nashville, Tennessee, asi como nuestra fabulosa coordinadora del viaje Marilyn Anderson Kirby.Mas tarde al llegar a Istambul nos encontramos con un grupo de estudiante de Long neach, California, que iban tambien al campamento. Finalmente depues de un retraso de 2 horas despegamos , y despues de lo que parecio ser una eternidad aterrizamos en Istambul, cerca de las 6:00pm del sabado 30 de julio. Luego tomamos otro avion a nuestro destino final hacia Izmir a las 10:00pm, donde despues de esperar por algunas piezas de equipaje que no llegaron, arribamos al Campamento Espacial NASA. El personal nos recibio con una merienda y luego me tire en cama cansado y con Jet Lag: Increiblemente teniamos mas de 24 horas viajando!!
On Sunday morning after a healthy Turkish breakfast of eggs, black olives, assorted veggies like tomatoes, cucumber, as well watermelon, we left on a bus with all the campers to visit Izmir Private school (called colleji in Turkish). Once there we watched a movie on their modern Planetarium about Stargazing. Right next the kids went out with their epals Turkish family for n afternoon of multicultural exchange. The next day we were introduced to the flight simulator floor where there is a life size replica of the cabin of the Space Shuttle Discovery. Inside all teachers participated in a space shuttle simulation. We were asked to choose positions as part of the mission, and I chose Mission Specialist. The were several positions such as Mission Commander, Pilot, Payload Specialist, etc... just like the real thing. We had to follow procedures similar to the one followed by astronauts of the Space Shuttle, and had to read from a script aloud, from a microphone attached to our headphones. It sounded just like the real thing! Next we all took turns experiencing the different training machines used by astronauts to prepare for working in space. The training machines ranged from Zero Gravity, Spinning, EVA or Extravehicular Activity were we were strapped to a harness and had to work suspended attaching metal rods to metal spheres, just like astronauts will do when working outside of the Space Shuttle. It was awesome to experience floating and jumping just like we would if we were on the Moon or in Space. El domingo por la manana despues de un muy saludable desayuno a la usanza Turca compuesto de tortilla de huevos con papas, vegetales como tomates y pepinos, olivas negras, y sandia, nos dirigimos en autobus con todos los campistas y chaperones a visitar el Colegio Privado Izmir. Alli vimos un video en un muy modeno planetario sobre la historia de la Astronomia. Al final los chicos y chicas se fueron con una familia turca de Izmir a compartir una experiencia multicultural. Los maestros luego fuimos al otro dia al piso de los simuladores de vuelo donde habia un modelo a tamano real de la cabina del Transbordador Espacial Discovery, asi como varios equipos de entrenamiento de Zero Gravedad.
