Lucy!

On Friday the 8th grade and I - along with the delightful adult company of Rafael and our 5th grade teacher - turned free-lance field trip monitor, Gretchen - hopped on the #8 bus and headed down to the Pacific Science Center for an edifying day of exhibits and Imax delight. Thanks to Shalini Singh who completely planned the event (with help from Ellie Nielson), the entire day ran like clockwork. We spent two hours viewing the excellent "Lucy Exhibit" - completing an informational treasure hunt that I'd crafted - well, completing it in our heads, as the folks at the exhibit wouldn't let 8th graders wield writing implements!! We learned more than we ever dreamed possible about the rich culture that was and is Ethiopia...and were in awe of the 40% of Lucy's 3.18 million year old skeleton that we viewed at the end of the exhibit. We then enjoyed an "everything you ever wanted to eat but never had access to" lunch at the Center's Food Court. There we were greeted serendipitiously by two of last year's graduates who attend "the Center School" - Gemma O'Neill and Jackie Greer. Finally we attended the 1:30 showing of "Mysteries of the Nile" in the Imax Theater. Who knew that the Nile actually originates in Ethiopia's Lake Tana?? We caught the #8 bus back "home" just in time to quickly check our emails before heading off for the weekend...a weekend that surely included a viewing of the recently released "Twilight" for a signficant number of our 8th graders. Whew!!