Boston has a rich, long African-American history!

When many people think of Black-White race relations in Boston, they often think of the violent racial battles in the 1970s over forced desegregation of Boston Public Schools through busing.

Either that, or, if they’re not from Boston, they think of the zillion recent Tough White Gangster Boston movies like “The Departed” and ask, “Wait, there are Black people in Boston?”

Guess what, folks? Boston actually has a LONG, RICH African-American History!

I am so thankful that I was invited by Context Travel on their 3-hour Black Boston Tour led by Alex Goldfeld, President and Historian of the North End Historical Society.

Copp's Hill Burial Ground in Boston's North End where, in 1959, the earliest Black Bostonians were buried.

To give you a taste of the powerful facts learned on this tour (which every Bostonian and visitor to Boston should know!), Alex provided me with Black History Timeline notes from his tour, which I am sharing, below in blue, with my comments inserted in black.

Read, enjoy, and share your comments at the end of the article!

1630: Boston is founded.

1638: The first Africans arrive in Boston, via the West Indies. They came aboard a ship from Salem called Desire.  They are enslaved. (Notice how African-American history in Boston begins just 8 years after the founding of Boston!)

1641: Massachusetts accords legal status to slavery.  (Argh.)

1656: Sebastian Kane, a black man, owns property in Dorchester (then a separate town from Boston).  (Note how early in Boston’s History that African-Americans have a stake in the city.)

Boston's famous Old North Church in the North End. By 1727 there are 32 enslaved Africans worshiping there.

1659: Copp’s Hill Burying Ground is established at the North End.  The earliest black Bostonians are buried there. (We always think of the North End as the Italian part of Boston, but in fact it’s also the center of the earliest Black History in Boston.)

1681: Maria, an enslaved black woman, and two accomplices, are convicted of burning down the home of a white man in Roxbury (then a separate town from Boston).  This was potentially a form of resistance.  Maria was burned at the stake.  (Whoa!)

1703-1707: The Massachusetts government passes a series of laws designed to “regulate” free black people in the province, including a curfew; punishing interracial marriages; placing high duties on the importation of black servants while paying a bonus for the importation of white servants; and stopping people of color in Massachusetts from aiding fugitive slaves.  (Yikes.)

1706: Reverend Cotton Mather publishes The Negro Christianized, which is a guide for white people about educating enslaved black people on Christianity.  Among other unfortunate things, the book encourages black people to think of their enslavers in the same way they would Jesus Christ. (Oh my.)

A poster warning Blacks to avoid capture.

1708: Under a recently passed provincial law, the Selectmen of Boston begin calling free black men to perform public works for the town at no pay.  (This was SUCH a shocking revelation of the tour!!! Because of the resulting hours and hours and hours of forced labor compelled by this law, it turns out that much of Boston was built by free Black men working under duress for no pay! Can you imagine if you, a free person, were forced by your city to perform frequent manual labor?! Alex talks more of this in his book, The North End: A Brief History of Boston’s Oldest Neighborhood)

1718: Reverend Cotton Mather opens a school for Africans and Native Americans at the North End.

1722: Boston’s population is slightly more than 10,500, with approximately 17% of this total being African-American.  (Fascinating!)

1723: Christ Church opens in Boston (known today as the Old North Church).  By 1727 there are 32 enslaved Africans worshiping there, two of whom are baptized in the church.

1755: Phillis, Phoebe, and Mark Codman kill John Codman, their enslaver, in Charlestown (then a separate town from Boston).  When Paul Revere tells of his famous ride to Lexington in 1775, he remembers riding past “where Mark was hung in chains.” (This is an aspect of the Paul Revere story that we never hear.)

The site of the Boston Massacre 1770 is right in downtown Boston, at the foot of the Old State House.

1770: Crispus Attucks, an African American from Framingham, was the first person to die in the Boston Massacre.  Three African Americans testify at the trials of the officer and the soldiers who committed the Boston Massacre. (Rumors say that others present at the “Boston Massacre” were students from Boston Latin School.)

1773: Phillis Wheatley’s Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral is published in London. (African-Americans have contributed to our country’s literature since the beginning of the United States.)

1773-1775: African Americans sent no fewer than 5 petitions to the Massachusetts government requesting the abolition of slavery. (Organized!)

1775-1783: The American Revolutionary War.  5,000 African Americans serve in the military forces of our emerging nation.  (African-Americans helped build America in so many ways.)

1783: Slavery is abolished in Massachusetts. (Hooray!!! Click the following links to learn more about the role of African-American’s in ending slavery in MA, through Elizabeth Freeman and Quock Walker.)

George Middleton's house on Beacon Hill

1786: Colonel George Middleton purchases land on the north slope of Beacon Hill.  His home, built shortly thereafter, still stands as the oldest structure in the neighborhood and the oldest African-American home in Boston. (Bostonians now often associate Beacon Hill with fancy, hoity-toity housing and retail, forgetting that it’s also the site of some of the deepest, richest African-American history in America.)

1784: The first African-American Masonic Order is granted a charter from London.  Prince Hall had been leading the unincorporated organization since 1775.  The organization is still headquartered in Boston today and is known as the Prince Hall Masons.

1787: Prince Hall petitions the Massachusetts legislature to grant African-American children access to public schools.  His request was denied.  (It is fascinating to see how many years back our battle for fair, integrated schools stretches.)

The grave of famous Prince Hall in Copp's Hill Burial Ground in Boston's North End. Note the Masonic symbol.

1791: The Bill of Rights, including guarantees for the freedom of the press, freedom of speech, and the right to freely assemble, is adopted.

1796: The African Society is founded in Boston to aid and uplift members of the African-American community.  George Middleton, a Prince Hall Mason and a veteran, was a founder of the society.

1798: The African School opens in the home of Primus Hall near the corner of today’s Phillips and West Cedar Streets on Beacon Hill.  The school was founded and funded by Boston’s black community.

1806: The African Meeting House is dedicated.  It still stands today and is the oldest surviving black church building in the United States.  (Boston has so many impressive “Firsts!”)

Standing outside the famous African Meeting House in Boston's Beacon Hill with our guide, Alex, and a fellow Boston teacher.

1812-1815: War of 1812. Hundreds of African Americans serve in the American Navy.

1826: The Massachusetts General Colored Association was formed in Boston as the first avowedly abolitionist organization in the city.  Its leadership and membership is entirely African-American.

1830s: Charles Lenox Remond, a free African American from Salem, becomes one of the first paid, full-time anti-slavery speakers.

1831: William Lloyd Garrison begins publication of the Liberator.

1831: Nat Turner organizes an unsuccessful uprising in Virginia.

1833: Maria Stewart is the first American woman to publicly speak on politics and race relations.  She addresses her fellow African Americans at the African Meeting House. (Another Boston “First!”)

1835: The Abiel Smith School opens.  Legally segregated schooling in Boston was then firmly established.  (School segregation again.)

1840s: Conditions at the Abiel Smith School grow worse due to cruel teachers, inadequate funding, and overcrowding.  In 1844, Black Bostonians led by William Cooper Nell and John T. Hilton urge parents to withdraw their children from the Abiel Smith School “at whatever inconvenience or expense.”

Beacon Hill home of fugitive slave and heroic abolitionist, Lewis Hayden. Alex explained, Hayden felt more pain thinking of his child who was sold to another slave master than the one who died.

1841: Frederick Douglass speaks on Nantucket about his experiences in slavery.

1842: The African-American community in Boston forms the Freedom Association explicitly to assist self-emancipated individuals.  The Freedom Association later merges with the Vigilance Committee thus forming an interracial action group.  (It’s uplifting to hear History about interracial groups fighting for justice.)

1845: Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is published.

1849: “Great School Rights Meeting” is held at the African Meeting House. Petitions propose the closing of the Abiel Smith School or replacing the white headmaster with a person of color. 

1849-1850: The Legality of separate schools is tried in the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts in the case of Roberts vs. City of Boston.  Charles Sumner and Robert Morris, a black attorney, represent Sarah Roberts.  The decision in the case upholds legally segregated schooling. (Fascinating and sad.)

The plaque commemorating Lewis Hayden's inspirational life.

1850: The U.S. Congress passes the Fugitive Slave Act which seriously erodes the rights and freedoms of African Americans in Massachusetts and other free states.

1851: Lewis Hayden and other members of the Vigilance Committee successfully rescue Shadrach Minkins from federal custody.  Minkins was accused of being a fugitive slave from Norfolk, Virginia. (Alex explained the dramatic scene of the group storming into the courtroom to grab Shadrach and bring him to freedom. So brave!)

1851: Sojourner Truth gives her famous Ain’t I a Woman? speech at a women’s rights convention in Ohio.

1855: Segregated schools are outlawed in Massachusetts after several years of organization and protest.  The Abiel Smith School ceases to be a black-only school after 20 years.  William Cooper Nell is celebrated for his efforts at the African Meeting House in December.  The Abiel Smith School became an integrated school.  Today the building is a museum and a showcase of black history.  (All these years after school segregation was outlawed in Boston, it’s shocking how segregated many of our schools still are.)

A highlight of the tour was winding through the hidden alleys in Beacon Hill that fugitive slaves used to evade capture.

1856: Charlotte Forten becomes the first African-American teacher to teach white students in Salem.

1857: The decision in Dred Scott’s lawsuit states that African Americans are not American citizens, are “inferior,” and have “no rights which the white man was bound to respect.” (Noooo!)

1859: John Brown leads an unsuccessful uprising at Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.

1862: Charlotte Forten travels to South Carolina to teach newly-emancipated African Americans, all of whom had been legally barred from any sort of education.  

1863: The Emancipation Proclamation frees enslaved people only in the rebel states that had not yet been retaken by the United States military.  

1865: The Civil War ends.  Nearly 200,000 African Americans served their country and fought for universal freedom in the Army and Navy. The Massachusetts 54th Volunteer Regiment was recruited at several locations including the African Meeting House.  They trained and went to war as the first African-American regiment from the northern states. (A huge part of American History, shown in the 1897 monument across from the Massachusetts State House and in the movie, “Glory.”)

The famous statue across from the Massachusetts State House celebrating the 54th Regiment: Heroic African American soldiers who fought in the Civil War.

1865: The 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified.  It outlaws slavery in the United States.

1868: The 14th amendment is ratified.  It overturns the Dred Scott decision and returns citizenship to African Americans. In addition, individual states could no longer curb the citizenship rights of people living within their jurisdictions.

1870: The 15th amendment is ratified.  It guarantees the right to vote to all Americans regardless of race, color, or former enslavement. (!!!!)

Are you as moved as I was by the rich and long history of African-Americans in Boston? Thanks, Alex and Context, for your wonderful tour!

Want to learn more? Check out Alex Goldfeld’s book, The North End: A Brief History of Boston’s Oldest Neighborhood.

"Balancing" on the walkway of Old Town, Shanghai, China.

“Argh!” my friend emailed, “How are you able to juggle all your work and social and fitness obligations??”

“Help me organize my life!”

In the email I wrote back to her, I realized that I have, indeed, honed a set of concrete Life Juggling strategies that have enabled me to get a ton done (click here for examples of uber-productivity) while still staying sane.

Allow me to share these productivity tricks with you now, as you may find some useful. Accompanying these tips are some unrelated (but still delightful!) photos from Old Town in Shanghai, China this summer.

Feel free to share your own organization and productivity tips in the Comments section!

Productivity Trick 1: Variety. I juggle about 12 different obligations, along with necessities like exercise and fun time. Because each of these things is very different but very important, when I’m sick of one and want to procrastinate, I can just work on another, and still be productive. Further, several of them are true passions (especially this blog), so doing them is a joy!

The famous Tea House in Old Town... across from a Starbucks!

Trick 2: Put your To Do List on specific Google Cal days, not a list. I live by my Google Calendar, and it is also my To Do list. I’ve found this much more effective than a separate To Do list because it’s more in-your-face and concrete.

The moment I realize I need to do something (ex: “Do Teach Plus Homework“) or make a plan or appointment (“Doctor, 3pm“) I whip out my iPhone and enter the item directly on a day.

When a day is over and there are items I don’t complete, I drag them onto the next day. If they get dragged too often, I may decide they’re not worth it and delete them, or force myself and get them done at last, or ask for help with them.

For extra important Google Cal items, I set up email reminders– sometimes even multiple email reminders if the event is particularly important, or I’ve forgotten it in the past.

Inside Old Town's famous Tea House. Beautiful! And expensive.

Trick 3: Use Gmail Labels to Create a Secondary To Do List. I use Labels for my Gmail, which help filter and schedule my time.

The most important label is “A-Respond-To” (which has an “A” in front so it’s at the top of the Labels list).

What’s useful about this is it allows me to read email, and if I don’t have time to respond or follow up right then, I can mark it “A-Respond-To” and get to it later, rather than re-marking it unread and uncategorized. Then, several times a day, I filter to the “A-Respond-To” labeled items and respond to or act on them, then can remove them from that label. This functions as a different type of To Do list, and does not get repeated in the Google Cal.

A mother and son in Old Town watch the fish in the pond.

With this, I use sub-labels of, for example, “EdTech Conference Planning“ or “Meet, Plan, Go Events,” which I can filter to when I need to pull out emails on that responsibility. Some emails have several labels.

Trick 4: Don’t waste a minute. I use every free second to do something. This goes back to Trick #1; when I need a break from grading papers, I write a blog post. This does not, however, mean to never relax, because…

Trick 5: Make sure to schedule in some fun and relaxation! I’ve learned this year that fun, date nights, and exercise need to be scheduled in the calendar too, and honored just as meetings are! You don’t need to be totally robotic about it to the point where you kill spontaneity, but if you see you have a persistent complaint that, for example, “I never see my friend Bertha!” call her up and make a few concrete meetup dates that you both get in your calendar. Anyway, we’ll never be productive if we’re miserable and lonely and out of shape. Fun and fitness must be included in life balance!

One of many cool passageways in Shanghai's Old Town.

Trick 6: Get others to make you work. I ask loved ones to hold me accountable for getting certain things done, and give them permission to yell at me if I don’t.

What also works is to tell a lot of people what I’m doing, so they’ll harass me about the tasks, and whether I have to have done them yet. One reason I’m so active on Facebook and Twitter is because having an audience helps me perform!

Trick 7: Use Google Docs magic for project and event organization. I adore Google Docs and Spreadsheets and use them for everything from wedding and honeymoon planning (!) to organizing blog ideas for my websites, to curriculum design. These Docs and Spreadsheet can be shared with others for collaborative work and added efficiency.

Trick 8: ”Throw your hat over the wall,” thus forcing yourself to climb onward. Buy a ticket and then plan later how you’ll do the trip. Tell someone you’ll have something done by a certain time who you know will be furious if you don’t. It works! “Someday” won’t make the exciting stuff happen.

Love this photo of a woman and statue in Old Town!

Trick 9: Consider weird places to work. Sometimes I hole up in Logan Airport or South Station! And cafes and houses of productive friends are great, too. I also work at home a lot, in very strange physical positions. Kneeling on the floor works well for me to write… while eating Greek yogurt with chia seeds and listening to cheesy 80s songs.

Trick 10: Surround yourself with workaholics. We’re fun people, AND we help you get stuff done! It’s a lot easier to be productive when there’s peer pressure to work, versus pressure to watch TV. One of my favorite activities is working side-by-side with beloved folks.

So those are my “Getting It All Done” secrets. I hope you find some of these strategies for productivity and organization useful. Do leave comments saying if and how they work for you, plus any additional organizational tricks YOU use, yourself!

If Old Town can balance Starbucks with historic buildings and tons of tourists, we can balance our lives!

At a "Cowboy and Jail" themed party in Brazil.

Ok, first, don’t worry, I’m not in jail.

That lead photo was from my first night going out in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The party my friend Marleny and I ended up at was “Cowboy and Jail-themed,” hence the fake jail.

You see, from the first day to the last day of our month-long travels through Brazil in 2005, Brazil surprised and delighted us. I simply have to write about it now, in 2012, because it’s one of the best places on Earth I’ve ever visited, so we’ve got to get it into this blog!

I was initially terrified to visit Brazil. My brother, David, had moved to Rio for a semester abroad during college, and my dear buddy, Marleny, started obsessively proposing that we simultaneously visit David and tour the country.

“But I hear it’s so dangerous there!” I protested.

Famous and fabulous Ipanema Beach in Rio.

“No it’s not,” rebutted both Marleny and my brother. “It’s one of those places where, if you’re smart, you’ll be fine. Like New York!”

And thus we ended up with a raucous, ridiculously fun, and 100% safe travel summer in Brazil. We toured Sao Paulo, Rio (my favorite!), Salvador, the paradise island of Morro de Sao Paulo, and massive Iguazu Falls. Wow!

Here’s why we loved Brazil travel so much:

1. FUN. Of the 30-something countries I’ve visited, Brazil is #1 in terms of overall fun-in-the-air feeling. Maybe it’s the sun, or the smiles, or the music, or the food, or the fact that they have Cowboy-and-Jail-themed parties, but we were giddy with fun the whole time in Brazil.

Marleny, high above the phenomenal city of Rio.

2. FOOD. Where to begin… Brazil has tons of restaurants where you pay by the kilo and serve yourself, buffet-style, from heaping piles of fresh cooking. Brazil also has the lots-of-meat-on-sticks-in-your-face deliciousness known as Churrasco. The country is also teeming with tropical fruits and berries (and their fresh juices!), from pineapple to acai.

3. VALUE. It is insane how inexpensively Marleny and I were able to live it up in Brazil. Quality backpacker hotels and hostels were abundant and cheap, food was abundant and cheap, and in-country travel options were easy and cheap… even our 15 hour bus ride to Iguazu Falls. The only problem came in readjusting back to home prices. I got so spoiled ordering $1 freshly-squeezed exotic fruit juices that, once back in the U.S., I nearly punched the clerk in Boston who charged me $6 for a “tropical fruit smoothie” from frozen fruit!

Marleny and me in front of Rio's famous giant Christ statue.

4. BEAUTY. The whole time he lived in Brazil (and years later for that matter), my brother delighted in sending us email links to every award Brazil won for “Most Beautiful Beaches” or “Most Beautiful Scenery,” or even “Most Beautiful People.”

But you really have to admit: Brazil is gorgeous, no matter what type of beauty floats your boat. I spent much of my time in Rio muttering, “How is it possible that a shopping street this chic is next to a set of mountains this grand, which is next to beaches this luscious? Zowie!”

5. FRIENDLINESS. Locals were outgoing and open, and fellow tourists were amiable and easy to connect with. We were never lonely in Brazil, with so many new friends every day. Many of them we still keep in touch with to this day!

6. CLIMATE. Since Brazil is in the Southern Hemisphere, our summer is their winter, meaning we visited in the heart of their winter… and yet the weather was perfect!

Making new friends (easy in Brazil!) on Morro de Sao Paulo.

7. HISTORY. My brother wrote his Thesis in college about Brazilian History, thus giving me a taste of the richness Brazil has to offer. David explains: “Brazil’s history is fascinating and frustrating. In the words of historian Marshall Eakin, it is “a nation of paradoxes”. For one, Brazil received more African slaves than any country (8 times more than the U.S.!) and it didn’t abolish slavery until 1888.”  Some call Brazil a “Racial Democracy,” while others critique its brutal history of income stratification.

8. DIVERSITY. David explains, “Home to the Amazon Rainforest and the lush Pantanal wetlands, Brazil arguably has the most diverse set of ecosystems on earth. Brazil’s human population is also incredibly diverse. It actually includes the largest African population outside of Nigeria, the largest Japanese population outside of Japan, and more Lebanese people than anywhere (including Lebanon!).” Wowza!

A heavenly beach on Morro de Sao Paulo.

9. BEACHES. In the words of my brother, “Brazil has over 4,600 miles of coastline, meaning there are countless pristine, sun-kissed, aquamarine beaches to choose from.”

Yup! And did I mention that Marleny and I got a private room with a porch and two hammocks right on the beach in Morro de Sao Paulo for the price of a cheap dinner back in Boston?

10. DANCING AND MUSIC. I was doing a Zumba dance fitness exercise video at home yesterday, and a Samba song from Brazil came on. “Yay!” I squealed, as a flood of memories came back. There is something so fun and accessible about Brazilian music! It makes you want to join in and jump around, no matter how gangly you are. And, yes, you WILL have the song “Girl from Ipanema” stuck in your head your whole trip.

At splendid Iguazu Falls on the border with Argentina.

11. IMPORTANCE. As my brother points out, “Brazil has the world’s 5th largest population, 6th largest economy (it just passed the United Kingdom), and a land mass larger than the continental U.S.”

It’s worth it to pay attention to Brazil, because it’s important. And it’s fun!

Indeed, we loved Brazil, and we bet you will, too!

In front of Spain's Royal Palace in Madrid last week during a teacher training tour.

I just got a call that my wedding dress has arrived and is ready for my fitting! Ahhh!

Not only is this thrilling, but it is also highly relevant to this article about royal palaces around the world. Why? Because my dress is white-ish, and so are most royal and governmental buildings in Europe and America! This is in sharp contrast to the bursting rainbow colors of Asian royal buildings and wedding dresses.

Doesn't Spain's Almudena Cathedral (across from the Royal Palace) make you hungry for vanilla cake?

Folks, I NEVER thought I would have a white-ish wedding dress, but isn’t the tug of one’s native culture powerful?

I always envisioned I would have some sort of red-green-blue-gold riot of a dress like the one I had made in Ghana. But WHITE? Yikes! I’ve never worn white in my life! Mostly because I eat a lot and spill everything, but also because I think white makes me look like a really tall egg. “Quack quack!” (Wait, I guess eggs don’t make noise.)

Anyway, flash back to last week when I was on a 5-day free teacher training tour through Madrid with EF Tours. During our wonderful and whirlwind sight-seeing, we had the pleasure of touring Spain’s Royal Palace, pictured here in these photos. I tell you, the whole time I couldn’t stop comparing colors, continentally.

The arches of the Royal Palace are lovely... and white-ish.

Ok, interactive time: Please click here now to open a new window with luscious photos of my tour of Thailand’s Royal Palace in Bangkok.

Whoa! Did your eyes just moisten with the joy of gold-green-purple-blue??? When I strode through Thailand’s Royal Palace in 2009, my heart danced, singing: “THIS is what a royal palace should be! COLOR! Sparklies!”

Back to Spain. And much of Europe and America. As ornate as the inner rooms of Western palaces may be, outwardly, “Regal” often equals: “White-ish.”

Frankly, the whole “White Architecture” thing makes me hungry for vanilla cake with buttercream frosting. Burp!

Spain's arches are like the folds of my wedding dress.

Back to wedding dresses. When my friend Louisa was married in China, her dress was Lipstick Red silk. Wowza! And I could probably rock out a red wedding dress, myself. So why did I ultimately choose white?

Well, for all my rainbow personality, it turns out that there’s something wonderfully comforting about nuzzling into the arms of my native Euro-American culture. And what’s crazy is I actually look good in my swirly white-ish dress! I will likely never wear white again in my life, so indeed this is a special occasion.

All right readers, weigh in: Comparing the photos of Spain’s white-ish Royal Palace and Thailand’s rainbow one, which do you prefer? And what’s YOUR take on wedding dress colors?

Thousands celebrate the New Year at Madrid's Puerta del Sol, the "Times Square of Spain!"

WOW. I have just returned to Boston from five of the most action-packed days in Spain imaginable, thanks to the free teacher training tour run by EF Tours. And… WOW.

Thrilled to be celebrating in Spain with great teachers!

The unquestionable highlight of the tour was celebrating New Year’s Eve 2011 in Puerta del Sol, Madrid!

Puerta del Sol is the very center of Spain (if you type “Madrid” into Google maps, the marker will appear right at Sol), and all points in Spain outside of it are measured by how far away they are from Sol: the “Sun.”

Sol is also the insane Times Square equivalent of most amazing place to ring in 2012!

Now, normally I am kind of freaked out by massive, thousands-and-thousands-of-people crowds, but “safety in numbers” is a sweet perk of traveling in a group of 30 teachers instead of alone!

And what a wonderful (and surprisingly non-terrifying) time we had with the crowds at Sol!

Here are some fascinating cultural differences we noticed about New Year’s in Spain which contrast, big-time with New Year’s festivities in America.

The famous clocktower of Sol that rings in the New Year!

Difference 1: Our group of 30 teachers showed up at the very center of Sol at 11pm on December 31, 2011… and were able to walk right up to the most primo location in the square, right below the famous clock that is the equivalent of the Times Square “Ball Drop” to mark the New Year!

Now, let’s be real, here: in New York City, you cannot even get NEAR Times Square after 11am on December 31!

Why this lack of crowds until the last minute?? Our guide explained it like so: “Well, in Spain you are having such a nice time celebrating with family and friends, and you keep saying “Let’s head over to Sol!” but it gets later and later before you do!”

Demonstrating the wig-wearing tradition of Spanish New Year!

Anyway, this cultural quirk worked just fine for us. What a delight to be right in the center of it all!

Difference 2: In Spain the awesome new trend is to celebrate New Year’s wearing crazy-colored wigs! Ahh, THAT explains the many wig stores we saw popping up around town, like in the third photo down of this Madrid article.

As goofy as this trend may seem, it looks BEAUTIFUL when combined with the festive holiday lights of the historic Madrid streets! The best wigs were the popular rainbow mohawk ones, but the bright magenta curls made me grin, too.

We ate all 12 grapes for a lucky 2012! Burp!

Difference 3: When I broadcast on Twitter and Facebook that I was headed to Spain for New Year’s, tons of people responded, “Don’t forget to eat the grapes!”

I was mystified by this, but it all became clear when our EF tour guide handed us all baggies of 12 grapes (so organized of him!) and explained: “In Spain you need swallow 12 grapes in the last 12 seconds of the year if you want good luck for the New Year!” (He explained this tradition may have been fabricated by the Fruit-Growers Lobby in a year when there was an unsold surplus of grapes!)

We gulped in nervous anticipation and spent hours debating whether this would be possible without choking.

I am happy to report that, for the most part, we all scarfed our little green fruits by the toll of the last bell of 2011. A lucky 2012 for us! Woo hoo!

Difference 4: When a fellow teacher asked a Spanish policeman if there were any Port-a-Potties or bathrooms around, he replied: “There are two cars parked close together down this street. Squat down there.” (!!!) (Note: There is no photograph to document this difference. Sorry.)

Love the lights and the excitement of being in the heart of Sol!

Difference 5: As with many non-American cultures, Spain celebrates in a strikingly intergenerational way. Puerta del Sol was packed with revelers of all ages, from 3 years old to 90!

Difference 6: It was astounding how calm and respectful the giant crowds in Madrid were, despite the excitement and revelry. Not only was it easy to walk into Sol, it took us only about twenty minutes to walk out! Sure, it was slow-going and we had to form a conga line to inch toward the Metro, meter by meter, but we witnessed no fights, no dangerous behavior, and even no shoving!

The crowds walking (respectfully!) out of Sol and to the Metro.

Now, that said, the way celebration happens in Spain is that they get started around midnight and really begin the madness at about five or six in the morning (as evidenced by the noise outside our hotel room), so I can make no promises about the calm and safety in Spain after 1am, but the whole thousands-of-people exodus out of Sol after midnight was beautifully respectful!

So those are the fascinating differences we noticed during our wonderful New Year’s celebration in Puerta del Sol in Madrid!

Readers, I’m curious to hear what other New Year’s differences YOU have noticed in celebrations for different cultures. Do use the Comments section to share, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Want to read about the New Year’s I spent homeless in Aruba? Click here!

The carousel in Madrid's Plaza Mayor spins gold under rainbow circle lights for the holidays.

Happy New Year from Madrid, Spain!

What a year it’s been, eh? As December 31, 2011 draws to a close, here are some glittering photos of holiday-decorated Madrid, Spain (as snapped last night), along with a kind of “State of the Union” run-down of statistics from this teaching-traveling website empire for 2011. (As always, click blue-highlighted words for related articles.)

Spain's historic, packed streets are gilded with lights. Walk with me!

2011 IN NUMBERS:

• First-person world travel articles written on AroundTheWorldL.com in 2011: 59

• Global education interviews and opportunities published on TeachingTraveling.com in 2011: 60

• Countries visited in 2011: China, Spain, Bahamas, U.S. = 4

• U.S. states visited in 2011: FL, PA, RI, MA, NY, DC, OH, SC, CT = 9

Such a passionate, wonderful Flamenco dance show last night!

• 150-person events organized in 2011: 3 (Meet Plan Go Travel Conference 10/2011, Teaching Traveling Night 3/2011, Boston Education Technology Conference 12/2011)

• Students taught in 2011: 300 (150 per school year, not including Study Halls or Homeroom)

• Wedding Proposals received and joyfully accepted: 1!

• Awards and honors earned: 4 (Teach Plus Education Policy Fellowship, Massachusetts Literacy Champion Award, Boston Teacher Residency Mentor Teacher, Top Travel Blogging Diva of the year)

The lights in the Plaza Mayor look like benevolent UFOs above the gift stalls!

• Free travel tours earned: 4 (Madrid teacher training tour, Boston Movie Sites, Big Dig, Black History)

• Current Twitter Followers for @WorldLillie: 3,005

• Current Facebook Fans for AroundTheWorldL.com: 1,405

• Total pageviews for AroundTheWorldL.com in 2011: 135,204!!!

Glowing balls of light hang through the centuries-old streets of Madrid.

• Turkeys at my Thanksgiving in 2011: 0 (It was a Vegan Thanksgiving!)

• Destinations already planned for 2012: at least 6 (Spain 1/2012, China 2/2012, Greece 4/2012, Arizona 5/2012, Colorado 6/2012, and a mystery Honeymoon destination 7-8/2012!)

• Rating of life satisfaction (10 being the highest), in terms of feeling empowered, fulfilled, contributing, and on a thrilling track: 11!

2012 embraces us with sparkling diamond arms of happiness and anticipation.

So that was 2011. WOWZA. Thanks for being a part of it! I’m so psyched for 2012 and beyond!

Want to see more beautiful European holiday lights? Click here for photos from my New Year’s Eve 2009 in Florence, Italy!

Madrid has a gorgeous blend of modern and historic architecture.

Hello From Madrid, Spain, where I am on a wonderful, whirlwind Free Teacher Training Tour run by EF Tours!

On this 5-day trip, I am in training with a group of teachers who have flown in from around the United States to prepare as much as possible to lead a group of our students abroad. In my case, I will be leading 42 Boston students to Beijing, China in just 1.5 months!

So far, this Madrid trip has evoked powerful and important reactions in me because of my past and present.

First, the reaction because of my past: The time I previously visited Madrid was in 2010, and my reaction to this city was SO different then because of my different circumstances!

Madrid's giant, famous Plaza Mayor, decked out for the holidays.

In March of 2010 when I first arrived in this city, I was in month EIGHT of non-stop around-the-world travel, and I was not only getting a tad homesick (click here to read the description and see the photos), but I was also experiencing intense culture shock after being plopped into Europe after 5 months of Asia and 3 months in Ghana, West Africa. Madrid’s overall effect on me in 2010 was to make me… sad! It reminded me achingly of Boston in an echoing, untouchable way, and I wanted nothing more than to start building a life for myself in one place again, after so many months on the move.

Today, however, it’s the end of 2011 and I now have a vibrant, full life in Boston. Because of my changed circumstances, I am now un-sick of travel and un-homesicked about Madrid. And thus the city now sparkles!

Our EF guide walking past a rainbow-colored wig store!

Madrid now seems romantic and historied in comparison Boston, and so exciting and European! Today we toured the Prado Museum, Plaza Mayor, and Plaza del Sol, and then had a lovely dinner and wander in la Latina neighborhood. I’d done all these things in 2010, but this time I felt the thrill!

Readers, I’d love for you to share in the comments section about times when YOU have experienced one place totally differently on two different visits because of your changed circumstances.

The other way this teacher training trip I’m on now in Madrid is powerful is because of my present. As you may know, in 2010 I started a second website, TeachingTraveling.com, which exists to inspire more teachers to travel and more travelers to teach, with the understanding that each one enhances the other, and together they enhance individuals as well as the world.

Our 40-person group of U.S. teachers being trained to lead student tours! In this photo we are gearing up to learn how to stuff our faces during large group dinners. An important tour skill!

Well, through the past year of running TeachingTraveling.com, I have become increasingly in awe of my fellow teachers, and particularly teacher-travelers. What an amazing bunch teachers who travel are! This trip is particularly powerful because I get to really be with My People. We all belong to many communities in our lives, but this one is particularly key for me.

So now I must go to sleep because we did approximately one hundred hours of sightseeing on 2 choppy hours of Red-Eye-Flight sleep, and tomorrow holds a tour of Toledo as well as downtown Madrid, tapas, and a Flamenco show. This group tour thing is VERY different from the years of solo travel that I am used to, but it’s providing a whole new facet to world education!

Don't fall off the cliff in Newport's Cliff Walk!

One of the most dramatic tourist attractions in New England is totally free: the 3.5-mile Cliff Walk in historic Newport, Rhode Island!

Just make sure, as this sign pictured to the left politely points out, not to hurtle off the “cliff” aspect of the whole “Cliff Walk” thing.

Here’s what makes the Cliff Walk so amazing: it’s a marriage of nature’s glory with the most opulent human-made mansions imaginable.

On one side, you have glistening blue water, kissed by grassy cliffs. On the other side, however, you pass by mansion after remarkable mansion.

It was in the 1800s that the ultra-rich first started building their giant “getaway homes” on this bay in Newport. Come cyber-walk with me now as we check out some of the gems you will pass on the Cliff Walk.

"The Breakers," the uber-famous Vanderbilt family "summer home" mansion.

Above, gaze upon “The Breakers,” an extremely famous Vanderbilt family “summer home” mansion built in 1895 for twelve million dollars. You’ll be happy to know that “The Breakers” has 70 rooms. Think that would be big enough for YOUR family’s needs?

Keep walking! There are dozens and dozens more mansions to see before the sun sets!

I’ve always liked tourist attractions with a touch of danger (such as the Tiger Temple in Thailand, or the alligator-filled Everglades in Florida), and the mix of danger and beauty is part of the Cliff Walk’s greatness. If you go, bring good walking shoes and plan your time well, because the path gets more and more rugged as you go along. By the final stretch, you’re literally scrabbling along unpaved boulders and spelunking through dark tunnels.

Another rather impressive building along the Cliff Walk.

As you can see by these photos, the sun was setting as we started our walk, so Colin and I were not able to get as far along the path as I have in the past. Trust me, however, that (if you can even believe it) the views get even more spectacular as you go along.

Stairs from the cliff walk down to the ocean. Dramatic!

Another fun tidbit: You can rent out some of the mansions for private functions (if you’re really rich)! Since Colin and I just got engaged (yay!), you know I was doing a bit of wild wedding imagining as we walked. We will not, however, be emptying our savings to get married in Newport. Sorry!

The Cliff Walk is a perfect, free family outing. Just don't let your kids jump off the cliff.

Newport’s Cliff Walk is customizable to fit all different types of tourists. Depending on your fitness level and amount of free time, you can walk all 3.5 miles, or just a small part. You can take it fast and get a workout, or you can take it slow. You can focus on the mansions or on the ocean… or both. All this, and it’s free, too!

The Cliff Walk in Newport is a romantic activity for all ages. So sweet!

Have you visited the Cliff Walk? If so, share your story! If not, consider taking the short 1.5-hour trip from Boston (or the perhaps-slightly-longer trip from wherever you are) to experience it soon!