International Programs

Dates - September 4th, - September 17th, 2008
Participants - Namba Katsumi, Cote Travis, Nakatani Michiko and 10 Tamagawa University Students from the Department of Education

Forbidden Plateau is absolutely stunning in September and lucky for our group of 13 earlier this year, the weather was ideal for trekking. I and two of my colleagues from Tamagawa "escorted" 10 Tamagawa University women from the Department of Education into the far eastern edge of Strathcona Park for three nights. Our brief nights camping under the stars, arguably a highlight, was part of a larger 14-day program designed to challenge the students' perception of both "education" and "teaching".

Officially titled, Expeditionary Learning Program: Practicum for Outdoor Education, this 2 week program began on September 4th when the group of 10 Japanese University women, and one fortunate chaperone, arrived in British Columbia. In addition to disguising our trekking experience as a vehicle for various content deliveries, the stated aims of this international program were as follows:

• Establishing Academic Outcome Goals - A deeper look into what "education" means to these students, where they want to be when they graduate, what it means to be a "teacher", and how they will apply both their leaned skills and their innate talents to the future they face.
• Self-Discovery
• International Travel Experience
• English Immersion
• Appreciation for Nature and How Humans Interact with Nature

Once back in Nanaimo, at the Tamagawa Campus in Cedar, the group began work of settling in. For many of the students this was not only their first time to connect with their peers from the same department, but also their first time to meet their chaperone, a professor from Tokyo's Tamagawa University. As a consequence, the first full day was devoted to "ice-breaking" activities, the basics of getting to know each other, and becoming acquainted with the program goals and personal aims.

Due to an almost total lack of wilderness camping and trekking experience among the group, day two was spent familiarizing them with tents, backpacks, sleeping bags, stoves and the subtleties of outdoor cooking. One morning I stretched out 10 sleeping bags and 10 camping mats on the lawn and told the bemused young women to "climb in and move around! Get comfortable because this will soon be your bed for the next three nights". We assembled a camp stove and I proceeded to demonstrate the construction of a camp-breakfast staple: Oatmeal. The girls were even given a hands-on crack at the stringent process of dishwashing in the outdoors.

The night before striking out to the Forbidden Plateau area, all 12 of us gathered in the Log House to pack our meals and adjust our large and (suddenly) heavy backpacks. It would be an early morning so we retired promptly.

We reached the Forbidden Plateau trailhead on schedule; it was Sunday, September 7th. After making some final adjustments to our packs, snapping a few customary "day one" photos and with our trekking poles in-hand, began the 8 kilometre hike into Kwai Lake. The sun was shining, the views were grand and despite the heavy day-hiker traffic for the first 3 kilometres or so, before long we felt like the only 13 people in the Strathcona wilderness. For the 10 Tokyoites, the spectacle of nature offered by the Forbidden Plateau and surrounding mountains was breathtaking and unimaginable just a day earlier.

At Kwai Lake we found a suitable tent site, large enough to accommodate our entire party on two wooden platforms. We lounged around that afternoon, reflecting and enjoying our short-lived but much appreciated escape from the day-to-day chores and responsibilities we all face. The opportunity and situation offered a great introduction to begin our evening ritual of debriefing and feedback. With the dishwashing routine completed, we sat back, hot drink in hand, watching the approach of late evening and shared with each other our thoughts and feelings on the day and the entire process of physically and mentally getting ourselves to our current whereabouts. The stars that night were brilliant and for the students, it was the first time to ever see the Milky Way stretched overhead.

Armed with the hard reality and burden that camp assembly requires, we had previously decided to use the Kwai Lake site as our "base camp" and take shorter day-trips into the Park. On a hot Monday morning we ventured to Lake Beautiful (it truly is) and then to our lunch spot, the majestic Cruickshank Canyon. Like I said before, it was quite warm and on the walk back to camp, a select few of us took a quick, refreshing dip in Lake Beautiful. I think it was at this point that something "clicked" for all the students: here they were, 10 Japanese University students on a course aimed to (in princple) identify from where they've come, where they stand at the moment and in which future direction do they wish to continue, experiencing a cool lake swim in the Canadian wilderness more than 7,000 kilometres from the mega metropolis that is Tokyo. As a participant and observer, and one who grew up playing outdoors regardless of the season, I had the good fortune to both share my knowledge and passion for wild settings and more importantly, to be a part of (dare I say it?) a life-changing experience for 10 brave, talented and kind young people.

On our last full day in this corner of Strathcona Provincial Park, we walked 4 kilometres to Circlet Lake. Again, the weather was ideal and the setting perfect for some individual reflection time. The two chaperones and I decided to give the students some "solitary time": 1 hour by yourself, no interruptions. Some of the women ventured a bit further into the forest, some took a leisurely stroll along the lake and some dozed in the sunshine.

We made it back to the parking lot and trailhead with time to spare before our rendezvous with the bus. We all promptly fell asleep and only woke up upon reaching Coombs Country Market for ice cream, thanks to our trusty driver. I'm reasonably sure it was the best-tasting and most well-deserved frozen dairy product the 10 young women had ever tasted.

After a day of recuperation the students spent a morning visiting a local intermediate school and then later had a chance to mingle with students from Vancouver Island University's Department of Recreation and Tourism Management. It was a great opportunity for the Tamagawa students to practice their English and meet some local university students.

Before wrapping up the 14-day program, the students spent a wonderful day and evening in Victoria, British Columbia's stunning capital city. The following day it was off to Vancouver. The group was turned loose on Robson Street for a few hours and then later we all converged for a celebratory beer at Steamworks Brewing Company in Gastown. It was a delicious evening spent with new friends and old, and a chance to reminisce about the previous 2 weeks.

Saying goodbye that next morning at Vancouver airport was not easy, but I suppose that's a good thing. If it had been a tear-free departure, void of all the heart-felt hugs, exchange of email addresses and future promises of reuniting again someday, then it would have meant that the program had failed the students on a handful of levels. As it was, the emotional goodbyes told me that the students enjoyed their 2-week tour; they felt welcome and accepted in Nanaimo, they made new friends, learned something new about Canadian and Japanese cultures and quite possibly, discovered something new within themselves.