At noon on Dec. 20, Metro schoolteachers will stand at the doors of their classrooms and gleefully wave bye-bye to their students, who will then board school buses, minivans, SUVs and station wagons, not to return until Tuesday, Jan. 7. That’s 17 days, folks, but who’s counting?

I don’t know about your house, but about one week into winter vacation, things start to get a little squirrelly over here. There are only so many board games in the world, and the predictably dreary, cold and wet weather prohibits most outdoor activity. Snow would be a treat, but you can almost bet against any of the white stuff making an appearance—at least, not until the night before the little darlings are supposed to head back to school.

Unfortunately, credit card overdoses will prevent many of us from skiing in Beaver Creek or beach-walking in south Florida, so winter break excursions are pretty much limited to driving from Laser Quest to the Public Library, from Regal Cinema to the Nashville Zoo. The good news is that international travel is not out of the question, doesn’t require a passport or currency exchange, and is of minimal expense. You simply need a vehicle, a sense of adventure, an appetite for something new and different, a healthy curiosity and an open mind.

The world, you see, lies at your doorstep in the form of dozens of markets and restaurants opened and operated by Nashville’s burgeoning immigrant population. In just one small strip center on Murfreesboro Road, Nashvillians can walk from Ethiopia to Honduras to Vietnam, and on Charlotte Pike, there are three Vietnamese restaurants within 500 yards of one another.

The ethnic restaurants found in immigrant neighborhoods are the real deal, not corporate theme restaurants intent on making Mexican food as American as possible. There are some language challenges, to be sure, but nothing that can’t be overcome by pointing, signing and smiling. The owners are generous and eager to share their cuisine and customs, happy to meet the folks who preceded them here; aren’t most of us, after all, from somewhere else?

You and your children will come away from Kien Giang and Las Chivas and Horn of Africa more knowledgeable, with a broader frame of reference and an appreciation of the diverse world sprouting up around us. Ignorance is not bliss; just because your kids are out of school for 17 days doesn’t mean they should stop learning. Everyone will be richer for the experience.

Africa

Addis Ababa was Nashville’s first restaurant dedicated to Ethiopian food, introducing us to injera, the spongy, fermented, skillet-cooked hubcap-sized bread that serves as starch, plate and eating utensil for spicy stews and vegetable dishes. Nebiu Messay recently took over, painted the dark dining room and renamed the restaurant Lalibela. 415 Thompson Lane. 322-0710.

A couple of years ago, Addis Ababa’s original owner, Gizachew Tesfaye, sold the restaurant and dropped out of sight. Earlier this year, he resurfaced, opening Horn of Africa, a cheery little café-style restaurant serving excellent Ethiopian fare. Crescent Shopping Center, 1041 Murfreesboro Road. 366-3468.

Mecca is a popular gathering spot for African immigrants, nearly exclusively men; in the back is a room where they kneel and pray, as required several times a day by their Muslim faith. Somalian dishes are the specialty, namely chopped beef, chicken or goat cooked with onions, peppers and spices. Meals include soup, a salad, a banana, and rice, spaghetti or angero, the Somalian flatbread. 2521 Nolensville Road. 242-6664.

Gye-Nyame is a homey restaurant specializing in West African cuisine; on the menu are jollof rice, okra soup, fried plantains and stews. 2185 Nolensville Road. 256-7025.

Hispanic

La Hacienda Taqueria is Nolensville Road’s most well-known Mexican restaurant, and it deserves that attention, but there are others worth checking out. Las Chivas has an extensive menu, with a nice selection of seafood and steaks, a fabulous goat stew (birria) and the parrillada, a mixed grill of beef, chicken, ribs, chorizo and shrimp. 4021 Nolensville Road. 831-3595.

Las Americas is a Central American restaurant/market and one of the only places in Nashville to get pupusas, a staple of El Salvador. Corn meal dough is patted around fillings of pork, beans and/or cheese, then grilled. On weekends, Las Americas serves huge steaming bowls of caldo de mariscos, seafood soup. 4715 Nolensville Road. 315-8888.

La Terraza is Nolensville Road’s newest Hispanic restaurant. It is big and bustling, serving an increasingly gringo clientele. La Terraza’s calling card—besides two-for-one margaritas on Mondays and Tuesdays, consistently good Mexican food and a very attractively decorated interior—is the mojarra frita, a whole tilapia, deep-fried to a golden crisp and served with big wedges of lime. 5751 Nolensville Road. 835-0106.

Peruvian Corner operates just one day a week—Sundays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.—inside the Latin nightspot Club Caliente. Sample Peruvian and other South American specialties like avocado salad, ceviche, diced mussels with onions, beef in cilantro sauce and pollo a la brasa, roasted chicken marinated in Peruvian spices. 207 Printers Alley. 582-3757.

Asian

Kien Giang was Nashville’s first Vietnamese restaurant and remains the favorite of fans of this cuisine, but Pho Bac 54, just down the hill on Charlotte Pike, is a worthy alternative. The fresh spring rolls and banh xeo, a vegetable- and shrimp-filled omelet-like pancake, are the easiest entry points to Vietnamese food. Kien Giang excels at stir-fries. The specialty at Pho Bac, as the name indicates, is pho, a one-pot meal of beef, broth, noodles and vegetables. Kien Giang: 5825 Charlotte Pike. 353-1250. Pho Bac 54: 5821 Charlotte Pike. 352-9399.

Sam Kapakura’s devoted regulars sometimes refer to this bear of a man as the “Sushi Nazi,” in reference to the grumpy Soup Nazi of Seinfeld fame, and it is not an inaccurate description. His tiny store at a corner of Printers Alley is a one-man show, and he is a whirling dervish in the closet-sized kitchen. But if the 20-seat room gets too backed up, it is not unusual for him to tell arriving customers to go elsewhere. He makes the best miso soup in town, and his sushi rolls are the cheapest to be found. Corner of Church Street and Printer’s Alley. 726-1700.

Island food

Caribbean Hut is a cozy stone home converted to a restaurant, with two women cooking up mostly Jamaican specialties like goat curry, jerk chicken, fried plantains and beans and rice. Red Stripe beer seals the deal on authenticity. Call ahead for hours, which can be erratic. 1316 Antioch Pike. 832-3547.

Coco Loco, a new restaurant/nightclub, is serving up Latin music and Puerto Rican food, with lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and dinner from 5 to 10 p.m. Tues. through Sat. 4600 Nolensville Road. 781-9050.

Bakeries & markets

Get a taste of Italy and an earful of Brooklynese at Savarino Italian Pastry. Owner Corrado Savarino is a native of Sicily who immigrated to Brooklyn, where he opened an Italian bakery after working for years at Veniero’s in Manhattan. From behind the counter of his bakery in the Wal-Mart shopping center, he will tell you why he loves the Mets and loathes the Yankees, and he’ll give you a phonetically assisted translation of the Italian delights prettily arrayed in the cases. In addition to cream-filled pastries and the classic cannoli, he also sells 30 types of biscotti, cookies, marzipan, Italian ices and his delectable, made-on-premises gelato. 5572 Nolensville Road. 832-4444.

Mexican and Central American breads, cakes, cookies and pastries fill the cases at Aurora, a tiny bakery crowded with Hispanic families all day long. It’s self-service—grab a pair of tongs and a tray and make your selections, then go to the counter and order a piece of the incredibly rich tres leches cake. 3725 Nolensville Road. 837-1933.

Market place

Bicentennial Mall offers an engrossing history lesson of the state, as well as a good place to stroll. After filling up on Volunteer State lore, head into the Farmers Market across the street for a bite to eat, with fare that includes Middle Eastern, meat-and-three and Jamaican. Best of all is Parco Cafe, an unassuming lunch counter owned and run by Tsuo and Chun Fu. He’s the baker of the amazing desserts in the circular display case, she brews up pots of flower-infused teas and strong cups of coffee. But it’s the perfect simplicity of their made-to-order sandwiches on artisan bread that brings people back again and again. The Fus are currently taking time off to attend cooking school halfway around the world, so Parco Cafe is closed through the end of the year. But when it reopens, it will melt winter’s chill. Farmers Market, 900 8th Ave. N. 473-7348.