International Cascades

Each year, Bush runs a handful of international cascades, all of which provide an opportunity for students to immerse themselves in foreign cultures and understand the issues surrounding them. This year, Bush offered five trips in total, to Taiwan, New Zealand, Guatemala, Indonesia, and Kenya. Here are summaries of four of these trips, recounted by those who were lucky enough to experience them: 

Taiwan (Maddie S. ‘25)

Favorite memories from Taiwan:

• Night Market- We were all given some money to buy dinner and were set free in the market. It was really fun to explore the city, try new foods (sweet potato balls), and avoid others (stinky tofu). We played lots of claw machine games and lost a lot of money, but occasionally someone would win prizes such as a small capybara keychain, as well as three amazing, soft, and beautiful capybara stuffies skillfully won by Ella, Maddie, and Alexandra.

• Calligraphy- At the teachers’ homestay, their host father taught us all the proper techniques for writing calligraphy. Although it was more difficult than we anticipated, some of us were able to write some nice-looking characters. Others were not as good, and the host father had to help so much that he practically did some students’ characters himself. At one point, a student asked Tabitha, “How do you say, ‘I can do it myself’ in chinese?” He intended to ask the host dad for some independence.

• Tea Making- We went to a tea plantation and learned all about the process of making tea, and at the end of the tour we were taught how to brew tea and had a little competition between student groups.

• Gondola- After the tea plantation, we rode to the metro station in a 30-minute gondola ride over some beautiful landscapes. We were able to see Taipei 101 and lots of beautiful nature.

• Leshui Tribe- One of the most memorable moments was our trip to the Leshui tribe. We did lots of fun activities, including dancing, making necklaces, some archery, making mochi, and eating lots of good food, but arguably the best part was learning about their culture and history and interacting with them. We especially enjoyed dancing with the young kids, and although not all of us could verbally communicate with them, we were able to connect in other ways.

Overall, our trip was filled with so many memorable moments, and these are just a few that stood out.

New Zealand (Alex H. ‘25)

The cascade to Aotearoa (Ow-tay-ah-row-ah), also known as New Zealand, started with over a day of traveling. Our first flight was to San Francisco, where our 13-hour flight to Auckland awaited. We took another small flight after that and met two of our instructors for the trip, Scotty and Charlie. They were keen on being called instructors and not tour guides as they would be teaching us about the indigenous Māori people, and not touring us around New Zealand. We then drove over to Whenua Iti, the program that was hosting us.

 After getting situated, we left to visit the Riuwaka Resurgence, a place of spiritual significance for the Māori people. There were two springs, the upper being dedicated to pregnant women and their daughters, and the lower one being available for everyone. The next day was focused on group bonding activities and high-ropes courses that challenged our comfort zones. On the third day, we embarked on our sea kayaking journey through the Abel Tasman National Park. We got to see the phenomenal beauty of the New Zealand coast while we fought through sunburns and harsh headwinds. On day six, we returned to Whenua Iti where we were welcomed with warm soup after a rainy morning of kayaking. The next day we stayed at a Marae, which is a meeting place and village for the Māori people. The Māori people pride themselves on being accommodating to visitors, and they certainly did not disappoint. Our stay at the Marae was the most culturally immersive part of the trip: we learned Mau Rakau, which is a traditional spear fighting technique, had a large traditional feast, and learned about the political situation the Māori people are facing from an elder. In the last four days, we had more opportunities to explore New Zealand, visiting several beaches, caving, backpacking, and tasting authentic real fruit ice cream. 

The New Zealand experience was truly transformative. As one of our instructors, Matua Mike, repeated throughout the trip, “You are in the future, so you can learn from your lessons here and take them back with you to the past.” Matua Mike was referencing the time changes we experienced since New Zealand is a day ahead of Seattle, but the sentiment of his message resonated throughout the trip. 

Guatemala (Lilly P. ‘25)

Our trip to Guatemala started out peacefully, with a relaxed flight to Los Angeles. On the descent, we saw clouds of smoke over the city, and some small fires peppering the land. After a lengthy layover, we got on our red-eye to Guatemala City, enduring the worst turbulence most of us had ever experienced. We landed early in the morning, met our Where There Be Dragons program instructors (shout out to Julia, Monica, and Eric!), and dozed off on our first of many bus rides. After a lunch stop, we arrived at the first of our three stops: San Lucas Toliman. Here, we got oriented, ate some great food, and visited IMAP, a farm and kitchen, to learn about cooking, permaculture, and food sovereignty. We also went to Quixayá, an aquaculture community, where we were introduced to the many kinds of native, non-stinging bees native to Guatemala, and tasted medicinal honey. We swam, ate, and ended the day with a piñata to celebrate Sophie K.’s birthday. At this point, many of us began to feel sick. I was one of the lucky ones who avoided any sort of illness, but nearly everyone got a 24+ hour bug at some point. Of course, the day that stomach problems were the worst was the same day we had a boat ride across Lake Atítlan. The ride was beautiful, though, and we were lucky enough to avoid too much motion sickness. After arriving in San Juan la Laguna, where we spent the bulk of our time, we hoisted our bags onto our backs and trekked up the hill from the dock to the Where There Be Dragons program house. We partnered off, met our homestay families, and had our first meal with them. Everyone’s experience was different with the homestays, but for me it was incredible. I was so proud that my Spanish was at a level where I was really able to connect with my homestay Mom and siblings. We talked about everything from religion, to the town, and their family. My six-year-old homestay sister, Bila, will forever be in my heart. We spent most of our time at home walking around, playing cards, or chatting with her. She hugged us goodbye, cried every day as we left, and sprinted back to us, yelling our names as we returned. We had plenty of time to explore San Juan in the afternoons, but our days were spent in Spanish school, where we were paired off by level and matched with an instructor. We played Spanish Bananagrams, talked about politics in the U.S. and Guatemala, and toured a traditional Mayan chocolate factory. We attended a Mayan fire ceremony, where we gave gratitude to ourselves, our planet, and our futures, and we learned about the Mayan culture and cosmovision. We thought of ways to bring the three pillars of the Mayan cosmovision, daily practice, connection, and balance, home with us. From this trip, I am bringing home an awareness about the food I eat and an intentionality to be present as I eat. During our last full days in San Juan, we woke up very early to do a sunrise hike and view Lake Atítlan, visited our instructor Erick’s property, foraged, and cooked a beautiful meal with our foraged plants. We said a tearful goodbye to our homestay families and embarked on the long bus ride to Antigua, the old capital of Guatemala. We got settled into our new hotel, and before exploring the bustling city we took a hike and a swim through a lush forest. We wandered the brick streets, trying baked goods and buying souvenirs for our families. Our last meal in Guatemala was gorgeous, with a view of the volcanoes surrounding the lake, and our second birthday piñata of the trip, for Peck B. The next morning, we woke up gruelingly early (2:30!) and embarked on what was supposed to be a five-hour bus ride back to the airport. There was some miscalculation, however, as we ended up at the airport a cool seven hours before our flight. We passed the time napping and watching Titanic, before boarding the plane to Los Angeles again, and then arriving, tired but happy, back in Seattle.

Indonesia (Zorian C. ‘25) 

After twenty-eight hours of travel—one thirteen-hour flight, one six-hour flight, one two-hour flight, and a blur of layovers—we arrived in Yogyakarta exhausted. Our first night, spent in a small hotel on the city’s outskirts, introduced us to tailless lizards, lurking spiders, and the first hints of the adventure ahead. The next morning, we took a four-hour bus ride to the misty highlands of the Dieng Plateau, where a sunrise hike led us through rolling fog to the ancient Arjuna Temple Complex, some of the oldest Hindu temples in Indonesia. The air was crisp, the landscape surreal. On the way back to Yogyakarta, we stopped at Borobudur, a Buddhist temple so massive and intricate it left us speechless.

Once in the city, we met our homestay families, settled in, and quickly adjusted to bucket showers and bustling neighborhoods. We met a transgender artist who shared stories of identity, gender, and survival through art, then spent an afternoon at a silversmithing studio, hammering rings and pendants into shape. A scavenger hunt through the city tested our haggling skills, language abilities, and ability to keep cool under pressure. That night, expecting a traditional dance performance, we found ourselves at a full-blown drag show—Sabrina Carpenter, Beyoncé, Celine Dion, and Pitbull look-alikes commanding the stage. The initial shock turned to exhilaration, and by the end of the night, some of us called it the best night of our lives. In the village of Boro, we worked with locals to create a final performance—traditional dance, an impromptu Gamelan orchestra, fish traps we had woven that morning, and a spoken word piece. We visited the towering Prambanan temple complex, learned its stories, and were promptly mobbed by a group of schoolkids eager for pictures with the Americans. Our final days were spent soaking up time with our homestay families—playing endless rounds of Indonesian Uno, celebrating birthdays, and hiking at sunrise—before heading to a beachside resort to reflect, rewind, and prepare for the long journey home.

Conclusion 

It is lovely to hear of the experiences that these students had abroad. These trips are truly one-of-a-kind, and I hope people reading this, including myself, are lucky enough to have something like them in the future.