Had Lorena’s vacation to Mexico been one day later, she would have been stuck in Aberdeen and delayed for at least 3 days. Much of Washington suffered severe flooding, with Grays Harbor being one of the areas heavily impacted.
A guy I’ve been seeing and I got the cracked-out idea to run away to Mexico as my boss was away and had said that, “I don’t really care where you do your work, as long you get it done.” And he happened to have the same two weeks off! But then the rain came down and we were stuck, I mean truly stuck on the Olympic peninsula without a way to get out by car. ALL of the routes off the peninsula were closed due to flooding! So we waited it out and then when the roads opened, we decided Plan B was to go to the Grand Canyon. I’d never been there before, we wanted to get away, and it wasn’t quite as far as Mexico, plus we could stop by Salt Lake to see my family along the way.
So, there I was on a road trip, working from the car (luckily he had a converter box so I could plug in my labtop). While he drove, I worked. After enjoying the days of sun at one of the seven wonders of the world, we’d end up in the lodge bars using wireless to keep in touch with what I absolutely had to. Then sleeping in the back of his hatch-back car in the freezing cold campground… it was freakin’ awesome!
I took my first hike on my foot! I couldn’t resist being at the Grand Canyon and not going down into it. So with his hiking poles, we did a good portion of the South Kaibab trail…3000 ft into the Canyon and then back out. It was intense, especially given the fact that I have only been up to full weight-bearing for two months really… even though it was really sore by the time we got back to the top, it was well worth it and good to challenge my foot. Physical therapy is paying off! Yay!
More that 3000 miles later, Charles and I pulled back into my apartment in Aberdeen. Again, I had managed to work hard and play hard…just the way I like it!
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
sustainability audit...
So in many ways I really like having the Sustainability Audit as my primary responsibility, but it is a very BIG project and basically my brain child as the audit had to be completely revamped… I mean from step one really. It’s overwhelming because of the pure scope and potential for what could be done, and having to narrow down what we address.
I got a good first draft of the intro and ideas for formatting and then we had a meeting to review my progress and assign different tasks to everybody and make sure I was on the right track. Uh, that became a tense meeting at the point where we got into a little argument about the title…it really was so stupid and superficial, but yet again I am reminded that when someone tells me it is the way it is cause or will be the way I say because “I said so,” it does NOT go over well with Mary. I got pretty moody and confrontational, and really had to pull back into my own head and calm myself down before contributing more to the meeting. I was livid for a good 10-15 minutes and had to self-talk myself to a more agreeable state of mind.
Luckily afterward, Lorena and I had a little chat about what it was that irked me so bad and I have a feeling she probably won’t put things in that way again…it really did not go over well!
I got a good first draft of the intro and ideas for formatting and then we had a meeting to review my progress and assign different tasks to everybody and make sure I was on the right track. Uh, that became a tense meeting at the point where we got into a little argument about the title…it really was so stupid and superficial, but yet again I am reminded that when someone tells me it is the way it is cause or will be the way I say because “I said so,” it does NOT go over well with Mary. I got pretty moody and confrontational, and really had to pull back into my own head and calm myself down before contributing more to the meeting. I was livid for a good 10-15 minutes and had to self-talk myself to a more agreeable state of mind.
Luckily afterward, Lorena and I had a little chat about what it was that irked me so bad and I have a feeling she probably won’t put things in that way again…it really did not go over well!
Education with a ‘Purpose’
Oh my lordee! We just did some classroom presentation in a small private religious school with about 10 kids ranging from K-12, all in one classroom. And wow, what a group of kids! Not to mention the fact that the teach took off to make Christmas wreaths out in the hall. I was so glad it was a practice run that Lorena was doing to show us Americorps some classroom presentations! Cause boy were there some crazy, socially inept, undisciplined and just plain annoying kids in that classroom! It was actually at times very entertaining in a very sad way.
So get this, on the door of the girls bathroom there was a sign that said, “God made little girls to have his children”! and then Matt told us about the sign in the boys bathroom that said, “God made little boys to do his work.” Put those together and god made little boys (not men) to impregnate his little girls (not women)… ahahah! Yikes. Sadly entertaining.
Anyhow this day really made me think a lot about my personal beliefs and biases and how in education, you really have to be willing to set those aside and deal and adapt to your audience, even if they are CRAZY! (or believe drastically different from yourself, especially if you disagree with it.)
So get this, on the door of the girls bathroom there was a sign that said, “God made little girls to have his children”! and then Matt told us about the sign in the boys bathroom that said, “God made little boys to do his work.” Put those together and god made little boys (not men) to impregnate his little girls (not women)… ahahah! Yikes. Sadly entertaining.
Anyhow this day really made me think a lot about my personal beliefs and biases and how in education, you really have to be willing to set those aside and deal and adapt to your audience, even if they are CRAZY! (or believe drastically different from yourself, especially if you disagree with it.)
Classroom Presentations
Wow… what a week. It was the first week we started to go into schools to give classroom presentations for the mini-grant program we run for grades 3-8. Basically, it was a run-through of different presentations by Lorena, our boss so that we Americorps can see how they go and get ready to present on our own. And boy was it interesting…in a lot of ways.
I’m kinda braindead right now, fighting a cold, hoping that I’m not gonna come down with Strep like Matt did after coming home from Thanksgiving. My head hurts, I’ve been PMSing and after a great long weekend in Corvalis, a whole 5-day week of work seems like a lifetime. Overall, was kinda frustrated cause we never got pre-briefed on the presentation details, like how long, start and end time, etc. It was just embarrassing to go into the classroom with Matt and I and be asked how long and what time we had until and have no idea. Otherwise, that one went relatively well. The presentation was on waste free holidays and we talked for a little bit about the three R’s (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle) and how that could be utilized over the holiday season before we split the kids into 3 groups to rotate through 3 activities; making gift coupons, decorating newspaper to use as wrapping paper, and using recycled paper to make snowmen. One girls almost started crying cause she ran out of time and didn’t have time to finish her snowman! And one thing is for sure, kids are CRAZY with glitter! Yikes, learned that lesson the hard way…☺
I’m kinda braindead right now, fighting a cold, hoping that I’m not gonna come down with Strep like Matt did after coming home from Thanksgiving. My head hurts, I’ve been PMSing and after a great long weekend in Corvalis, a whole 5-day week of work seems like a lifetime. Overall, was kinda frustrated cause we never got pre-briefed on the presentation details, like how long, start and end time, etc. It was just embarrassing to go into the classroom with Matt and I and be asked how long and what time we had until and have no idea. Otherwise, that one went relatively well. The presentation was on waste free holidays and we talked for a little bit about the three R’s (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle) and how that could be utilized over the holiday season before we split the kids into 3 groups to rotate through 3 activities; making gift coupons, decorating newspaper to use as wrapping paper, and using recycled paper to make snowmen. One girls almost started crying cause she ran out of time and didn’t have time to finish her snowman! And one thing is for sure, kids are CRAZY with glitter! Yikes, learned that lesson the hard way…☺
Learning about Logging…and Aberdeen History
When we Americorps get our way, we try to maintain the ‘Field Trip Friday’ rule. This particular Friday we convinced Lorena into a field trip to the local Aberdeen History Museum. It was actually very informative. Until that visit, I really did not understand the logging process, the machinery and how it all worked. But it was so freaking cool! There was actually a model logging hill that an old logger had made to imitate the whole logging process. I really can’t say I grasped the terminology, but I got the concept! and now also understand what several of the different job positions in logging are and what they do. It was pretty damn awesome and the man was so open, willing, and excited to share all of his knowledge. He was so happy to have someone to talk to, especially that were wanting to learn and understand. He even took us up to the attic that is not open to visitors because I was so curious about the ‘tree-climbers’ and the equipment they used to ‘walk’ or climb up these ridiculously huge trees. I said I think it’d be fun and he laughed and didn’t believe me and then led us upstairs to show my the big huge spikes you attach to your shoes, and the heavy harness they’d wear around their waists.
Saying logging is so central to Aberdeen’s history, I was and am really glad to understand a bit more about the mechanics and jobs in the industry.
Saying logging is so central to Aberdeen’s history, I was and am really glad to understand a bit more about the mechanics and jobs in the industry.
PEI Training
After almost 5 full days with my coworkers at EEAW, I thought I might need a break. But there we were, off to another retreat. This time in Ocean Shores, with the Pacific Education Institute (PEI), one of our partner organizations. This was a training and planning retreat to help us new Americorps on board and informed about their philosophy and methods.
I have to say I was impressed in several regards. PEI does have a bit extra cash to throw around, so we were in a pretty sweet place with a beach view, and a kitchen, living room and fire place in our rooms. Sweet! I have been impressed time and again with the people and their enthusiasm for their jobs. An objective of PEI is to conduct environmental education that teaches essential math and science skills that are required for each grade level, according to state standards. It was an immersion into ‘school speak,’ with many terms that are very specific to education, and more specifically to Washington. The retreat also really introduced us to thinking about curriculum development, as well as taking us through several of the exercises, and methods that are used in their curriculums. One of my favorite activities we did was teaching about beak adaptations using a competition format where teams used different tools on different ‘habitats’ to see what was best ‘adapted’ to what. I definitely learned a lot through the exercises, activities, and all the interactions with people in the ‘field.’ We worked hard and played hard.
I have to say I was impressed in several regards. PEI does have a bit extra cash to throw around, so we were in a pretty sweet place with a beach view, and a kitchen, living room and fire place in our rooms. Sweet! I have been impressed time and again with the people and their enthusiasm for their jobs. An objective of PEI is to conduct environmental education that teaches essential math and science skills that are required for each grade level, according to state standards. It was an immersion into ‘school speak,’ with many terms that are very specific to education, and more specifically to Washington. The retreat also really introduced us to thinking about curriculum development, as well as taking us through several of the exercises, and methods that are used in their curriculums. One of my favorite activities we did was teaching about beak adaptations using a competition format where teams used different tools on different ‘habitats’ to see what was best ‘adapted’ to what. I definitely learned a lot through the exercises, activities, and all the interactions with people in the ‘field.’ We worked hard and played hard.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
