Traveling with InsightSTEM to Bali!

I woke up the morning of January 17th with my bags all packed and ready to go for a long trip across the world. Today was the start of a trip that would include enduring over 20 hours of flying in order to reach our destination in Ubud, Bali. I made sure to bring entertainment for the flights, to prepare as much as I could for being in the air for so long. I brought my iPad, laptop, phone with multiple portable chargers, and even a couple of Malaysia and Bali travel books to prepare for once we got there. I made sure I was prepared for anything on the flights, in order to make myself as comfortable and entertained as possible.

The Mountains covered in snow
flying into Denver

Our first flight left from Tucson at 9 a.m. Our destination was Denver, Colorado, and we happened to get upgraded to First Class!! This flight was only 2 hours, so it went very quick. The view from the plane once we got into Colorado was amazing, everything was white. The mountains were covered in snow; something rarely ever seen in Arizona. Once we landed in Denver, we awaited our next flight to Los Angeles, California, which was once again, a 2 hour flight. This flight went by quickly as well and by the time we landed in LA, it was 5 p.m. Fortunately for us, our next flight was the next day, so we got to have a break from flying... for now. Our next flight was scheduled to leave at 11 a.m. the next morning, to Tokyo, Japan.


I was really excited to go to Tokyo for I had never been anywhere close to there! I wasn't however, looking forward to the 12 hour plane ride that it took to get there. 12 hours of sitting in the same spot, in a plane 36,000 feet in the air, just did not appeal to me at all. I was nervous, but mostly I was just ready to get it over with. We would be landing in Tokyo at 3:45 p.m., and then leaving an hour and a half later on a flight to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This was going to be a 7 hour flight that landed us in Kuala Lumpur at Midnight. In an effort to not be jet lagged once we landed in Kuala Lumpur, my plan was to stay up for the entire duration of both flights so that once we landed in Kuala Lumpur, I would be ready to sleep.

Inside the plane

We boarded our flight Wednesday morning, and found our seats on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner that was going to take us across the Pacific Ocean to Tokyo. The plane was massive, and to my surprise, the seats were well spaced apart and quite comfortable! Every seat even had outlets, so that I could charge any of my electronic devices. Not only that, but on the back of every headrest, there was a screen that contained a library of different movies, TV shows, and music to choose from, and they were all free! The movie and TV choices were great too! They had tons of choices, ranging from classic movies, to newer movies that I wanted to watch, but never got the chance to. I was actually excited to get to watch these movies that they had. Not only that, but they even had WiFi available for purchase on the flight.

I stayed up the entire duration of the flight, thanks to having WiFi, watching movies and TV shows, and having in-flight meals. The WiFi was only $24 for the entire duration of the flight, which I used in order to stay in contact with my friends and family back home, constantly updating them about my flight. I watched The Martian, Star Trek: Beyond, and a few episodes of Game of Thrones to entertain myself. Before I knew it, we were already on our descent into Tokyo. The flight may have been long, but it flew by (no pun intended) and wasn't nearly as bad as I had thought it was going to be. I even found that I had enjoyed my flight, thanks to all of the on-board entertainment that they provided. This experience helped me to enjoy my travel more and be more optimistic for our next flight.

Our time in Japan was short, I wish we had more time because spending an hour and half in that airport went by so fast! There were so many people there and everything was so different. Seeing signs that weren't in English and all of the different souvenirs that you could buy were so cool to see! I wanted to buy so many things there, but unfortunately, we had another plane to catch and the line for the souvenir store was agonizingly long. We headed for our gate for our next flight to Kuala Lumpur.

Souvenir shop in Japan

This plane, while being the same exact model as our flight to Japan, had smaller seats on the inside. I found that it wasn't as roomy, but still manageable. It had all of the same amenities as our other flight, which I found very relieving. I managed to watch the movie Storks and Suicide Squad while on this flight, before I found myself waking up to the sound of the Captain announcing we were preparing to land in Kuala Lumpur. Another flight that quickly passed by; flights that I originally dreaded going on in the first place. Even though the flights were enjoyable, I was glad to be done flying for the time being, for our next flight was in two days time.

View of Kuala Lumpur
from the top of KL Tower

Kuala Lumpur was nothing like I had ever seen before. Everywhere you look, there were skyscrapers and trees. I had never seen so much green in person before, and if you are from where I come from, you would understand. Driving on the left side of the road was also a sight to see, after growing up in the United States, where all the driving is done on the right side and the steering wheel is located on the left side of the car. While I was in Kuala Lumpur, I got to see an aquarium, KL tower, the Petronas Towers, and the Batu Caves. Everything was spectacular, and like nothing I had ever seen before. My favorite was the Batu Caves, because it was just amazing to see. They had sacred statues and temples there, along with a giant cave that required climbing over 200 stairs! Not only that, but there were monkeys within a few feet of you nearly every step of the way... It was a sight to see and I am very glad to have had the chance to see it in person myself.

Batu Caves

Our next flight would be the last one for a while, to a place we planned on setting up headquarters for the next month. This flight was only 3 hours, in order to get to Ubud, Bali, the site of most of our STEM Exploration Expeditions. We got into Bali at 2 a.m., and had to take a taxi to our hotel, right next to the Sacred Monkey Forest in Ubud. I found that Bali is even more beautiful than Kuala Lumpur! All around you, there is something new to see. There are trees, wildlife, and sights to see everywhere! Just walking along the road in Ubud, there are monkeys walking around, climbing in the trees right next to you! You may even stumble upon ancient-looking ruins and temples right off of the main roads. The food is great and there isn't a lack of shopping or tourist attractions to see.

View from our Bungalow

Sacred Monkey Forest

Traveling to Bali, we had a total of 23 hours in the air, but it was definitely worth it! Looking back, it went by so quickly, I hardly even noticed it and as an added bonus, the flights were very affordable!! Now that I am here in Bali, I am so glad that I did it. I am so grateful at the opportunity that InsightSTEM has given me in order to become part of the team and have the chance to travel to such a unique and beautiful place. I hope to help others come out to Bali as well and meet with Jake and I, in order to expand their STEM knowledge through exploration as I am doing at this very moment. This opportunity could even be available to you! Take a look at our STEM Exploration Expeditions that we have available and see which one best fits you. And just maybe, I will see you soon, out here, gaining more STEM knowledge and experiencing the Balinese cultures right beside me. Come visit us and take this opportunity to better yourself and share your knowledge and experience with others. I hope to see you soon!!

-Isaiah Gurule
 Mission Coordinator of InsightSTEM

Live from Hawaii August 4th

For the next two weeks we will be blogging 'Live from Hawaii' from the conferences of the Global Hands on Universe Project, the International Astronomical Union General Assembly, the Galileo Teacher Training Program, and from other STEM explorations around the Island of Oahu (home of Honolulu and Waikiki).

Bonnie Thurber discusses GHOU in Nepal 

Today was the first day of the Global Hands on Universe where we heard about astronomy education projects around the world. One of InsightSTEM's strategic areas is to support learners in emerging economies with our low cost, portable, science exploration technologies... So hearing about these kind of efforts from around the world is invaluable.

Its interesting how different perspectives around the world can have influences on the work that we do. For example, teachers in Chile are always seeking professional development as they can get permanent salary increases based on their participation; and in Nepal where families are told to engage in activities at home or their children will not do as well in school.

For teachers its important to remember that we need to prove how we are offering something genuinely different from the hundreds of other programs that they are offered each year.

You can learn more about the Global Hands on Universe Project at http://handsonuniverse.org

What I'm doing in Bali

As many of our blog readers already know I am in Bali, Indonesia from mid-January to mid-March to participate in "TribeWanted Bali" -- a new startup-tribe experiment running in the first months of 2015. I thought I would expand a bit on this project, and the goals and outcomes that I hope for for InsightSTEM.

TribeWanted acts as group of creatives, innovators, and entrepreneurs working alongside each other as a supportive tribe to create a "startup accelerator" environment to work on getting our wide variety of new projects of the ground, and give them some legs. This is a great opportunity for InsightSTEM to develop our plans and network new connections with input from many diverse fields to help us more quickly define, clarify and achieve our goals!

TribeWanted is working in the co-working space of Hubud in Ubud, Bali. Hubud provides us with an excellent collaborative working environment for development. A recent article in the New York Times described the benefits of this type of work environment... and I certainly can agree.

What are the primary goals for the development of InsightSTEM during this time? Along with spending focused time on getting many operational tasks completed we will focus on the following areas:

• Develop new partnerships with STEM educators in South-East Asia, and build a network of interested innovators, entrepreneurs and creative individuals from around the world.
• Developing effective communication strategies across the many different avenues that we use, so that all stakeholders can learn more about and understand the various projects and programs that we are, or that we hope to, work on.
• Develop and implement an excellent website that, in itself, promotes the excitement of exploration in STEM that InsightSTEM stands for.
• Accelerate the "startup" of InsightSTEM and ensure that we have a robust and effective model to go forwards in our mission of Democratizing Knowledge in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics through Exploration.

Check back over the coming weeks for more updates on the blog about the experiences of InsightSTEM participating in this exciting startup accelerator -- and the outcomes that will enrich all of our projects and programs as we move forwards!

From London: Inspired to Explore Knowledge Worldwide

On Friday, I great day in London visiting the Natural History Museum, Science Museum and British Library -- remembering the roots of my own lifelong knowledge explorations on visits to London as a child (I grew up in central England). I still remember being fascinated by all the exhibits, in particular at the Natural History Museum with what I still think are the best dinosaurs anywhere in the world! It is fantastic to start thinking about how InsightSTEM can collaborate with these organizations, and make some of their great collections explorable around the world in novel ways.

Entrance the the Darwin Centre in the Natural History Museum, where visitors can see research scientists at work in the Museum's Huge Collection from around the world (JNS)

The most complete Stegosaurus fossil in the world, on display in the Earth Hall at the Natural History Museum in London (JNS)

A section of the Kings Library in the British Library 

The British Library is an awesome place to get inspired about the book projects that I am working on too. check back in the blog soon for details of the "Five Rules of Family Science" book that I am working on for release during next year. The book is aimed at families who want to explore science together -- but to go beyond just following some "cook book" style activities for the kids to doing some genuine investigation.

... I also picked up some postcards to start sending to our KinderSTEM classrooms -- so watch out for some upcoming posts sharing my travels through the world with STEM for young audiences!

K12 Astronomical Opportunities in Seattle this January

The semi-annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society will be held in Seattle, WA in January 2015 – and along with the meeting there are FREE events of interest for K12 teachers with an interested in engaging more with astronomy and astronomers!

1) A FREE K12 Educator Reception Sponsored by the Association for Astronomy Education and InsightSTEM will be held on Sunday, 4 January 2015 from 5-6:30pm. The reception is an opportunity for Astronomers and K12 Educators to meet and mingle in a relaxed social environment! Our K12 Educator Reception brings together Astronomy Research professionals, Astronomy Education professionals, and K12 Teachers to share the latest in research and education in astronomy. Please join us to reconnect with colleagues, and to form new partnerships and contacts. Drinks and light snacks are provided! For more information and to register please visit https://k12astroseattle.eventbrite.com

2) A FREE Student Astronomy Outreach Event targeted towards middle and high school students.  We would like to invite local student groups, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) program participants, home schoolers, etc. to the event on Tuesday, 6 January 2015 from 11:15am-2:00pm.  Students will have the opportunity to participate in hands-on demonstrations and talk with real scientists and engineers at the forefront of astronomy research. Student Groups can make reservations at http://aas.org/meetings/aas225/epo_students