Update

I finally saw Dave Chappelle today. At the gas station. I thought everyone would want to know. :)
PS- I was at the gas station buying a soda on the way to see Slumdog Millionaire. It was excellent. If you haven't seen it, I recommend it!

PPS- We go to take a behind-the-scenes look at a Dayton area museum/discovery center. Good times. Here are some pictures of us exploring and monkeying around (per usual).









Look mom! I'm a turtle. And there's a Ric on my back.





Amanda pointing to a fossilized walrus baculum.






Amanda and Allie love fossils sooooooooooo much!!!!!!!!!!!!!






Judging... Always judging...

Sorry Megan... Guess you should've recycled.

Lynn showing us their biology collections area. Lots of dead animals coated in arsenic. Yum.

This is their ginormous Burmese Python. As you can see from the picture, he is ginormous. He can eat up to 16 large rats at one time, and is about 16 feet long!

Play time!!! Two thumbs up from Aly!

Why is this giant stuffed head just sitting on the floor? Don't ask me. I think it's headed to a Boy Scout camp... It's missing an ear... Hmmmmm...

Playing in the tide pool! More and more thumbs up!!!!!!!!!!

Whoa, Where Did That Month Go?!

So I know it's been awhile since I posted something on here. My apologies. Things are always quite busy here, and there's not a lot of time for anything other than work and sleep. Don't worry- I've gotten in a few showers. :)



I guess the last time I wrote was right before our first group of kids got here. That seems like forever ago. The first week was good, but overwhelming. Theeeeeeeeen I had kitchen duty the second week. Boy was that a treat. And by treat I mean hell on earth. Cooking and especially cleaning for 100+ people is not my idea of a good time. I will spare the gory details, but I'm sure you can imagine how grumpy I was after working from 6:30am to 10pm with about two 15-minute breaks in there somewhere. Grumpfest 2009. Be glad you didn't buy tickets.



But then I was rewarded the next week when I was back on the trail with the most delighful group of 4th graders. We were warned that it was going to be a tough group because they were inner city kids, but I found the situation to be quite to the contrary. I had a blast with these kids, and it was just what I needed after my week in the kitchen to remind me why I love teaching environmental ed so much. These kids hadn't been around a lot of natural settings before so they were amazed and excited by just about everything we did and saw. It is times like these when I feel like I'm actually making a difference in kid's lives. I also lucked out with a great group of kids last week. If only I could tell myself their good behavior and interest were due to my superb teaching skills. Haha. But I think I am mostly getting lucky. We'll see what next week will bring. I'm excited because they will be 2nd graders- so cute!

Quote of the week (last week) that made my week: "Miss Eve is so nice and such a great naturalist. I want to grow up to be just like her." -6th grade boy, melting my heart :)
Ah yes kids, inflate my ego. Wonderful.

Other than that, things are good here, but always kind of strange. It is like living in a surreal world, always with the same 11 other people and really no one else. We live in our own little Glen Helen world... It's fun though. Besides the fact that pretty much everyone but me has spotted Dave Chappelle in town. Boooooo.

Well, sorry to cut this so short. Hope all is well with everyone! xoxo

Ric and Aly after a food coloring/shaving cream fight in the craft hut... Ric had a green face for about 3 days.

During our evening program for the kids... Although I wish we dressed like this every day. Sigh.
Amanda, me, Ric and Dia




More evening program business. Jesse, me and Allie

Out on a hike in the Glen.

Creating our own Glen Fun. Yes, those are nerf guns and drwn on mustaches. Don't ask.

Ric, Aly, Megan, Samuel, Lori, Amanda & me

Training's Over... Now What?

Well, training is over. Let the craziness begin! Next week our first group of kids arrives. I don't think any of us is completely prepared for it, but we're about to jump in head first anyway. :)



Here's a typical week schedule:

Monday- Training of some sort w/ no kids

Tuesday- Kids arrive after breakfast. We get our groups and then have lunch. The first hike is that afternoon, and then we put on an "evening Program" for them after dinner. (Think silly costumes and educational skits and songs.)

Wednesday- Morning and afternoon hike. Night off!

Thursday- Morning and afternoon hike. (Afternoon hike is Living History, where we all dress up as characters from 1796. I am the school teacher. Ha.) That night we take them on a night hike through the Glen.

Friday- Morning hike, lunch, and then the kids head out!



About every 5 weeks or so I'll have kitchen duty, which means I won't have any kids that week.



So far the only thing I really dislike about this job (besides the looooong hours) is taking care of the raptors. I think I mentioned before that I take care of the Kestrels. Every day I take them some fresh dead mice (ewwww!) and then I have to pick up all the guts and other discarded body parts from yesterday's mice (EWWWWW!)... It hasn't been too bad lately because everything's usually frozen, but it warmed up the other day, and I had to try very hard not to throw up all over their cage while I cleaned up. I also handle screech owls for our educational bird talks, which might sound fun, but it's not really my cup of tea. These "cute" little beasts do not like being picked up, and it's rather intimidating when they clack and puff up and give you the stank eye... worse when they bite. So, I think it's cool to work with birds and it'll be very beneficial for the kids, but I probably won't make a career out of it...

So we'll see how next week goes. Other than that, we've been working long hours and then working more when we get home. I've been going to bed super early, believe it or not. But we all get along so well that work is fun and we always have a lot of good laughs. We do mention to have some good times on our time off, too. We've been getting a lot of snow and went sledding last week!! We also went out to celebrate last Tuesday on Inauguration night!!!

Looking forward to coming home this weekend for my birthday!

Inauguration night at a local bar. Left to right: Tim, Allie, Aly, Amanda, Dia, me and Samuel.

Sledding!!! Me, Jesse, Samuel, Megan, and Amanda

Yowza this is awesome!!!!

Giving local kids bad ideas...

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Me and Otis. We do okay. I avoid the dreaded and feared Canelle. She bites.

The Naturalists

Just a quick picture of the folks I'm working with. There are only 9 of us because one person had to leave unexpectedly, but a new intern is arriving next Monday. We're posing in front of the Yellow Springs after painting our faces with the iron oxide that is deposited there. Apparently this is a tradition that the kids especially love! :)


Aly, Jessica, Allie, Eric, Amanda, Jesse, Eve, Dia, & Hong

First Week at the Glen

Hey all. Coming to you from the lovely town of Yellow Springs, Ohio. I know that many of you are thinking- She just went to Alaska... Why Ohio? But let's refrain from being all judgey, at least for now. True, I may not be climbing any mountains or fighting any grizz in the next few months, but the scenery here is none too shabby and I hear there are some ferocious squirrels about these parts. I'll keep you posted.

I'm here in Ohio until June at the Glen Helen Ecology Institute working as a naturalist intern at their Outdoor Education Center. Not quite ready for that big girl job yet. Haha. This place is a perfect mix of camp (as in Manitowish) and outdoor ed. I'm working with 9 other naturalists and some other staff, and let me tell you, we spend all of our time together. I live in a house with 4 of them. Right now we're in training and are being bombarded with information- getting to know the Glen (especially all the trails), learning the many different educational hikes (ex. "Geology" or "Forest Ecology", etc.), learning camp routines and procedures, learning how to work in the kitchen and do all the different chores that keep this place going, and learning how to handle, feed, clean up after, and teach with a raptor. We're working loooong days (think 7:30am to 9:15pm). It's intense but I'm having fun and I'm sure I'm going to gain so much, both personally and professionally.

As a frame of reference for you Illinoisans, the Glen reminds me of Giany City State Park down in southern Illinois.

The "Farmhouse", where I live. It's right down the road from the Outdoor Ed Center.

My room. Don't be fooled- that "Exit" sign leads out a window 2 stories up with no ladder or stairs. Hmmmmm...






My desk. Exciting, I know.

Ta da!!! My closet. Picture the door to the room to the right of that dresser.

The "Yellow Springs" that the town is named after.

Bittersweet. An appropriate name.

Self portrait while I was out exploring on my day off.

A cool covered bridge on the edge of the property. Too bad it's covered in graffitti.

There's a fungus among us.

The "Climbing Tree". Guess why?

Me and Cornelius the corn snake- one of our teaching snakes.