I.D.A. Mission in Iraq Complete!

Here is a report of the IDA mission in Iraq! Sally Sleuth (Kelli) sent them a message that she had just had some amazing luck! She had discovered one of Carmen's hide-outs in New York City. Instead of heading to Iraq ahead of the agents, she decided to stay in New York to try to figure out Carmen's plans. The night before, she saw Carmen outside her hideout and caught her on video talking to one of her agents! This is what she saw:

From this message, the agents figured out what Carmen was trying to steal: The Cradle of

Civilization (Tigris and Euphrates rivers) and all the books ever written about it. They decided to head to Alia Mohomad Baker's house right away before Carmen's agent would get there! Thankfully, the agents knew all about her. They had read a book about her in the Hero Center the week before. Alia was a librarian in Basra who carried 30,000 books to her house before the US invaded. She saved the books just in time, before the library was burned down.

First we read a letter that Agent Shams and her father had written giving us more important information about Iraq. Agent Shams read it to us. The students seemed excited that one of our agents was from Iraq. They knew she would be able to help all of us!

Here are some reports from the Agents themselves about what happened next:

"...when we arrived at Alia's house (the great and mighty book keeper of 30,000 books)...

Agent Lidija

"She offered us baklava and black tea. The baklava was sweet and crunchy and the black tea was sweet, silky and smooth. It all filled my belly up so I could get down to stopping Carmen." Agent Solomon

"...we had to ask for the book called the Arts of Assyria. When we asked for the book we had to make a distraction because in Carmen's video she said that there is a hidden flip cam in the back of the book..." Agent Lindsay

"...then we calmly asked for the book, lying to Alia about how we are students, then sneaking the flip cam over her shoulder, then taking the book and reading..." Agent Lidija

"So, then we took a look through the Arts of Assyria. And when we saw a secret note we said, "Oh hey! look there's a blue jay!" to Alia so she turned around so we could get the notes...." Agent Solomon

"After we saw the two notes, we had to hunt for the books before Carmen's agent finds them because Carmen want to steal Alia's books. So we had to stop them. And we searched everywhere!" Agent Lindsay

"Lucky for us we got all the books and finished the list. When Carmen replied back we found out we had to go to the Great Mosque of Sammara..." Agent Lidija

"When we got tothe Mosque of Sammara, we had to walk up and around it six times to get to the top of the the Mosque. But as soon as we started up, we ran into guards and they told us that the Mosque was closed....so we took a test they gave us." Agent Andre

"...they asked us questions about the 5 Pillars (of Islam). They told us to name them. We didn't do to well on that." Agent Shams

"...So we had to do another test. The other test was to make a figure of one of the 5 pillars: Ramadan fasting, one God, Charuty, Praying 5 times a day, and visiting Mecca." Agent Andre

"But they put us in groups for doing that. Then we passed the test so they let us in the Mosque. But then we had to go up 6 times around and it was really hot." Agent Shams

"It was in the shape fo a spiral." Agent Christopher

"Oh man! I'm gonna have to walk up that thing!? The third time around I'm going to melt! Now I'm wishing we didn't survie the tests! ooh! I forgot! I'm afraid of heights! 1.....we're getting higher...2...and higher...3...and higher...4...Don't look down, Tanner...5...don't...look...down...6..we're at the top! There's a message in stone. Can we run down now?"

Agent Tanner

"...and then we got up to the top of the minnaret, then we found the stone. Then Agent Christopher picked it up and there was the final plan for Carmen's Agent!" (carved into the stone) Agent Shams

"Then we reached the top of the Mosque of Sammara. And I, Christopher found the stone that was the message to Carmen's Agent D. Then we went back to the ship. And slammed the stone on the floor and it shattered into a thousand pieces and everyone threw the pieces into the water!" Agent Christopher

"...and that was how we passed the mission!!" Agent Shams

Leadership Training Videos

The agents have just complete their mission to Iraq. Details of their adventures will be coming soon.

In the meantime, I.D.A. Headquarters asked the agents to develop a training video to teach new recruits how to work with a team.

Check out what the agents came up with!

Alexis: I.D.A. Mission to IRAQ

Here is a report on our fifth InFlight drama session with the agents of the IDA.

Safely back on the yacht after our successful adventure in Tibet, the IDA agents checked their mail! They had received a thank-you letter from the Ruben Museum, who had heard that they had saved the stories from Buddhism and the monks from being stolen by Carmen.

The agents hit the fitness room on the yacht, where they exercised and did some small group training work. In Tibet, there had been a few glitches with team-work skills, especially when the entire group of agents had to work together to create a formation with all of their bodies....the shape of a mountain that could be seen from above.

After exercising, we recieved a message from HQ! They had intercepted some messages from Carmen! We got out our atlases to be prepared. We listened to a music clip picked up from a cell phone call. Shams recognized it! We deciphered a math problem that gave map coordinates and re-assembled mixed up words that turned out to be the countries surrounding Iraq. Finally, we watched a video of one of Carmen's computer screens that HQ had hacked into. After all those clues, the kids had no doubt that the next place Carmen was headed was Iraq!

We mapped our course on the world map. The agents spent the next week on the ship, going through the learning stations Alexis (aka Ingrid) had so brilliantly set up. By the next week, they were ready for their Iraq adventure!

Mission Reports from Tibet

In our next drama session, the Agents arrived in Tibet and found out what Carmen was trying to steal: all of the stories of Tibetan Buddhism!!

They had only one hour to intercept and solve the clues that Carmen was leaving her agents! They had 3 clues to solve.

1. At the Yak Hotel in Lhasa they ordered vegetable momos (traditional Tibetan dumplings). As they were eating (yum!), they noticed that the bottom of the plates had scrambled letters on them! They had to work together quickly to unscramble the letters, sending them to...

2. Potala Palace, "West Hall". At the Potala Palace, the guards were only letting religion students into the West Hall. To prove they were studying Buddhism, the IDA agents were asked to draw a picture of one symbol or story of Buddhism. Thankfully, the guards were very impressed by their knowledge and let them in.

3. The next clue lead them to the sacred Nam-Tso Lake where they had to accomplish a difficult task as a team!

Hear all about this latest mission to Tibet from the Agents themselves!

First stop, Yak Hotel where Agents Karma, Tenzin, Dream, Jackson, and Mateo share the details.





What happened next? Listen to Agents Bryanna, Shams, Tajah and Lindsey and find out!




Agents Jose, Christopher, Julian, Tanner, Owen, and Andre tell more about Potala Palace.






The adventure continues at Lake Nam Tso, hear from Agents Spencer, Solomon, and Cormac!





And finally, hear more about how the Agents saved the day - straight from Agents Dolma, Lidija, and Willa!

Alexis: I.D.A. Mission to TIBET

Here is a report on our third InFlight drama session with the agents of the IDA.

Safely back on the yacht after our adventure in Kenya, the IDA agents had a debriefing of their mission. They had successfully foiled Carmen San Diego's plans to steal all of the trees of the Green Belt Movement (planted by Wangari Maathai and the women of Kenya) as well as the National Motto, "Harambe!", which means "to pull together". We discussed the kinds of things that Carmen likes to steal: very significant, large-scale things that are very important to a country. We also talked about how well we did as agents and how we could improve for our next mission. Ideas included listening better, paying attention to details, improving our tourist disguises, and thinking on our feet to come up with better answers when asked about who we are and what we're doing.

We were just about to have a little free time in the fitness and pool room, when an urgent message came in from Headquarters! They had intercepted a message from Carmen! The message said: "Same latitude as Cairo, Egypt". We got out our atlases and started making guesses as to what country it could be. Two more intercepted communications were retrieved. They were pictograms that we deciphered: "Roof of the World" and "Home of Snow". I think Karma, Tenzin, and Dolma knew where it was at this point! But, we all discussed the meaning of the messages and came to conclusion that there must be many mountains in this place. Just then, HQ called again. They had just hacked into one of Carmen's computers and were able to record the screen of one of the computers as a google search was happening. This was the google search of one of Carmen's agents: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhPQxO6qbDE

They were very excited about this video and had lots of

ideas about what Carmen might be up to in Tibet! This was on April 27th, sowe knew that we had one week to get there. Headquarters sent us information about traveling in Tibet immediately. I read some information to the students about the very high altitude of Tibet and how most travelers need to take several days to rest and acclimate. We discussed how this would be impossible to do since when we would arrive on May 4th, we would only have a few hours to discover Carmen's plan. We decided we would need to be in excellent shape before we arrived! We got right to work. A team of agents started redesigning the fitness room. They drew up plans for rock climbing walls, high-tech tread-mills that simulate steep mountains, and even fake mountains with fog/snow machines and fans simulating the weather conditions in the Himalayas. Another group studied the symptoms and remedies for altitude sickness. Another team studied pictures of Mt. Everest climbers and made a list of all the supplies we would need should we have to do any Himalayan climbing while there. It was a very productive, exciting end to our 3rd drama session. Sally Sleuth told everyone she would head straight to Tibet to start sleuthing for clues. In the meantime, the agents would spend one week on the yacht, researching all the could about Tibet (and working out in the new fitness room!)

The following week, Alexis (Ingrid Investigator) prepared amazing centers for the students. They read books about hte Dalai Lama, they listened to recordings of Tibetan words (recorded by Tenzin, Dolma, and Karma), they listened to music, watched a video, and took a field trip to the Ruben Museum of Himalayan art where they heard many stories of Buddhism!

Stay tuned for the agent reports about what happened when they arrived on May 4th in Tibet!

I.D.A. Kenya: Mission Report on the Game Park, Marketplace, and Our Escape!

After our encounter at Casablanca, the clues led us to the Game Park. Hear all about what happened!

Agent Andre gives us the details:



Agent Tenzin tells us the story!



Agent Mateo gives us the report!




After solving the Game Park Puzzle, we were off to the Marketplace in Meru.

Check out Agent Dream's Report:



And finally, listen to Agent Tanner describe our daring escape!

I.D.A. Kenya: Mission Report on the Encounter at Casablanca Dance Club!

Hear firsthand from our agents about our encounter with Carmen's henchmen in the Casablanca Dance Club!

First, from Agent Christopher:



Now hear from Agent Owen:




Agent Bryanna tells her side of it:




Agent Lindsey fills in some details:




Agent Shams gives the play-by-play:




Agent Willa gives us the details!