Plymouth Rock - what a crock!

Today began as a travel day. We left New York this morning and headed for Plymouth Rock. This is quite a long drive, so many of us caught up on some sleep ... not that we need to catch up on sleep, we are all EXTREMELY well rested ...

We arrived at Plymouth Rock around 2 this afternoon. The tour began at the Mayflower II, a ship that is modeled after the original. It was built in the 1950's and then sailed to the United States where it became a part of the Plymouth Plantation Museum. The student's were shocked by the limited amount of space below. I think that the PCS lockers might actually have more room than the corners the pilgrims shared. While looking at the small wooden beds the students began to compare them to their own beds ... apparently their beds are better (shocking, I know).

No trip to Plymouth Rock is complete without a visit to the actual Plymouth ROCK. Don't ever believe anyone who tells you this. Your trip can be VERY complete, in fact, QUITE PLEASANT, without a trip to the Plymouth Rock. The truth of this can be seen on the faces of Dana, Emily, Kelby, Joe and Zach ... who were sorely disappointed in the size of Plymouth Rock -- "It's just a normal rock!" "How is that rock any different from all the other rocks?" "It's tiny!!" I am afraid we have crushed the high expectations that the students always had for this rock.

Desperately trying to redeem ourselves, we took everyone to Plymouth Plantation, where the volunteers actually ACT like the pilgrims! Sounds exciting doesn't it? Actually, I think the students might have been a little freaked out by it. They were encouraged to ask the settlers questions, but I think they were scared. One student expressed some concern over the fact that he didn't know how to respond in proper the Old English -- I explained to this young man that he didn't have to try to speak like them, WE were allowed to act normal. This seem to relieve him a little. Other students had some difficulty understanding the language. "What does 'morrow' mean Ms. Curtis?" ... "ohhhh" ... then there was a whole lot of "Good Morrow!" amongst our group.

Michael DeMeester was apparently inspired by the work of some of the pilgrims, as he began trying to form a figure out of a stick. As he was playing with his new toy he smiled widely and shouted "Good Morrow Ms. Curtis!" It was right at this moment that the stick snapped out of his hand and hit his sweet smiling face. I'm sorry to say, it was not a good morrow for DeMeester! (I'll add that he was fine and we all had a good laugh over it!)

The Plantation also has a Native American Reservation. The Natives here do not "act" like Native Americans ... as they ARE Native Americans. The natives all wear their traditional clothing ... which resulted in more than one giggle and blush (almost all coming from the boys). One of the volunteers explained to the students that their clothing was not available in any of their shops. The natives feel that only a member of their tribe should be dressed in their traditional attire. He equated it to someone dressing up like a priest -- this, he said, is very disrespectful, since this is a position that demands respect. Dressing like a native is much the same -- the tribes feel that it is disrespectful, as it is an honor to wear the clothing. While he was speaking, visions of little Indian boys running around on Halloween were dancing through my head ... I'll admit, I was afraid to ask what he thought of our October 31st traditions.

As you can imagine, the students were VERY curious about the clothing of the natives. They had MANY questions about what exactly the natives were required to wear, and what exactly they were NOT wearing ... these questions brought a blush to the faces of a few of the chaperones. The volunteers did not seem to be phased by the student's "natural" curiosity.

At the end of the afternoon we had a traditional Thanksgiving feast at the Plantation. This was followed by a refreshing swim at the hotel -- which by the way is modeled after a castle -- it has a moat and everything! Random.