Soooo.....
I'm off on a brand new adventure!
I just applied for the Rotary Youth Exchange to spend next year studying in a foreign country! I had an interview and it went kind of rough... but they loved my parents!! I'll be starting a new blog all about this shortly, and I'll post a link on here. So stay tuned!
More later.
Peace.
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Friday, August 13, 2010
Sorry about the delay, I was having problems logging in!
Anyways, I got home from camp on Wednesday. I was so tired that I came right upstairs and fell asleep on the couch. After I managed to drag my butt downstairs and take a shower, I felt a little more awake, so I came back upstairs for dinner. As I was eating and showing my mommy some of the thing I made at camp, she mentioned that there was a piece of mail for me on the table. I ran over (because I love getting mail) and it was a manila folder from the Alaska Humanities Forum (who is the head of the Rose Urban Rural Exchange). Yay! I opened it, and inside was a letter and certificate saying me and 5 other students (tow other urban and 3 rural) had all been named Top Cross-Cultural Ambassador for the state of Alaska. AHHH!!!! I was freaking out!! That is SOO cool!!! It means that I get to talk to and meet a whole bunch of important people and that we might be going to Washington D.C. in September!!!! So thanks you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, EVERYONE!!!!!!!!! Especially Mrs. Barton for getting me involved in RURE, Mrs. Abshier for having the guts to take us all to St. Paul, Matthew for teaching us what it meant to be part of a culture and what being an ambassador meant, and Mrs. Kushin giving me the opportunity and the help to be able to go back to St. Paul. I love you guys! You are all awesome!!!!
Anyways, I got home from camp on Wednesday. I was so tired that I came right upstairs and fell asleep on the couch. After I managed to drag my butt downstairs and take a shower, I felt a little more awake, so I came back upstairs for dinner. As I was eating and showing my mommy some of the thing I made at camp, she mentioned that there was a piece of mail for me on the table. I ran over (because I love getting mail) and it was a manila folder from the Alaska Humanities Forum (who is the head of the Rose Urban Rural Exchange). Yay! I opened it, and inside was a letter and certificate saying me and 5 other students (tow other urban and 3 rural) had all been named Top Cross-Cultural Ambassador for the state of Alaska. AHHH!!!! I was freaking out!! That is SOO cool!!! It means that I get to talk to and meet a whole bunch of important people and that we might be going to Washington D.C. in September!!!! So thanks you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, EVERYONE!!!!!!!!! Especially Mrs. Barton for getting me involved in RURE, Mrs. Abshier for having the guts to take us all to St. Paul, Matthew for teaching us what it meant to be part of a culture and what being an ambassador meant, and Mrs. Kushin giving me the opportunity and the help to be able to go back to St. Paul. I love you guys! You are all awesome!!!!
Thursday, August 5, 2010
After the Fact
I just want to say thank you. Thank you to every one that I worked with, thank you to everyone who helped me out, thank you Trenty (for letting my borrow the 4 wheeler), thank you to the St. Paul School District, and most of all, thank you to the Kushin family. Mrs. Kushin, I couldn't have done any of this without your help. I love St. Paul SOOOO much. I miss it a lot and hope to god that I can go back. Thank you everyone. Thank you SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I learned so much this summer. My brain is packed full of all sorts of new things. I registered for school today. East High Thunderbirds! Right now, I'm wearing my East High shirt and my St. Paul sweats. But Mommy and I are sick. Possibly flu. Bummer. I'm leaving for camp on Sunday, so hopefully we'll be better by then. I had written for my status on a social networking website that I had locker #4062. Andronika (from St. Paul) commented and said "Holy locker #4062!" haha. It was amazing. I just loved seeing her shock about the number of lockers in my school. I go to the biggest school in Anchorage now.
I miss St. Paul. A lot. I honestly didn't want to leave. It is just such an amazing place. Although being there in the winter was kind of hard, I loved it there in the summer. It was just great.
Again, Thank you everyone!
I learned so much this summer. My brain is packed full of all sorts of new things. I registered for school today. East High Thunderbirds! Right now, I'm wearing my East High shirt and my St. Paul sweats. But Mommy and I are sick. Possibly flu. Bummer. I'm leaving for camp on Sunday, so hopefully we'll be better by then. I had written for my status on a social networking website that I had locker #4062. Andronika (from St. Paul) commented and said "Holy locker #4062!" haha. It was amazing. I just loved seeing her shock about the number of lockers in my school. I go to the biggest school in Anchorage now.
I miss St. Paul. A lot. I honestly didn't want to leave. It is just such an amazing place. Although being there in the winter was kind of hard, I loved it there in the summer. It was just great.
Again, Thank you everyone!
Cast of Characters
This is my "cast of Characters". Pretty much just everyone I worked with on St. Paul, but going through the list, I realized that Rachel and Karrith aren't on there. They are the bird people that I did cool things with. But here is everyone else. I'll try to get Rachel and Karrith's proper titles so that they're on there too.
Lisa Matlock - Education Specialist, Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge
Ingrid Harrald – YCC coordinator, Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge
Michael Ulroan – National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Intern,
Chelsea Malstrom – National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Intern,
Bobette Dickerson- Molecular Geneticist, NOAA NMFS AFSC
Louise Taylor - Biological Technician II, field supervisor of Northern fur seal vital rates program, NOAA, NMML
Greg Larsen - Biological Technician I, field researcher of Northern fur seal vital rates program, NOAA, NMML
Terry Spraker - Professor of Pathology
Juan Leon Guerrero - National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Pribilof Island Program, Alaska Region
Greg Thomson - Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Matt Henschen - Biological Sciences Technician, Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Aka “Superman”
Yes. Matt is superman. Although he doesn't know quite how funny it was that he wrote that, considering my whole superhero obsession, especially Superman. I have a superman costume that I wear on a regular basis. That's how cool I am. So I think Matt is my favorite right now. Haha.
Lisa Matlock - Education Specialist, Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge
Ingrid Harrald – YCC coordinator, Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge
Michael Ulroan – National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Intern,
Chelsea Malstrom – National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Intern,
Bobette Dickerson- Molecular Geneticist, NOAA NMFS AFSC
Louise Taylor - Biological Technician II, field supervisor of Northern fur seal vital rates program, NOAA, NMML
Greg Larsen - Biological Technician I, field researcher of Northern fur seal vital rates program, NOAA, NMML
Terry Spraker - Professor of Pathology
Juan Leon Guerrero - National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Pribilof Island Program, Alaska Region
Greg Thomson - Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Matt Henschen - Biological Sciences Technician, Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Aka “Superman”
Yes. Matt is superman. Although he doesn't know quite how funny it was that he wrote that, considering my whole superhero obsession, especially Superman. I have a superman costume that I wear on a regular basis. That's how cool I am. So I think Matt is my favorite right now. Haha.
Monday, July 26, 2010
I'm Hoooome!!!
I got home last night at 6:45pm. Yesterday was beautiful, and the plane landed at about 3:15. I'm not sure what time I got on the plane, but the plane got in early, so I had to wait a while until my family got there. I'm so glad to be back home, but I will still miss everyone I met in St. Paul. I had so much fun, and I just want to thank everyone that helped me to have such a great experience. Especially Mrs. Kushin, because she is the one that really helped my make is possible. I hope that I can go back sometime.
At the airport, my family gave me my new cell phone. YAY!!! It has a touch screen, and a keyboard, and it's amazing. I love it. I'm glad that I have my phone now, but I didn't miss it at all when I was in St. Paul. That really surprised me.
I kind of don't know where I'm going with this blog. I just wanted to start writing.
I'm down to shorts and a t-shirt. And it's raining. Haven't seen much sunshine or rain all summer. Just fog.
Well I guess I'm out of things to say for now.
More later.
Peace out.
At the airport, my family gave me my new cell phone. YAY!!! It has a touch screen, and a keyboard, and it's amazing. I love it. I'm glad that I have my phone now, but I didn't miss it at all when I was in St. Paul. That really surprised me.
I kind of don't know where I'm going with this blog. I just wanted to start writing.
I'm down to shorts and a t-shirt. And it's raining. Haven't seen much sunshine or rain all summer. Just fog.
Well I guess I'm out of things to say for now.
More later.
Peace out.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Harvest
It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I honestly had quite a bit of fun. Today’s seal harvest was at Zaponi Reef. Yesterday I went and got my permit (because anyone who isn’t part of the Tribe needs a permit) so I could go and be Terry’s “Pathology Tech”. Chelsea gave me that name. I really like it. It makes me feel special. Basically what I was doing was following Terry around with about 10 tubes between my thumb and forefinger, lids for the tubes in my other hand, pockets full of empty tubes, and a bucket under my arm. We took two tubes of blood from each seal. I had to have un-lidded tubes in my hand for Terry to quickly grab, lid the tubes as he handed them to me, put the bigger of the two tubes in the bucket under my arm, and continuously shake the other two. All while holding all the stuff that I had, keeping up with Terry, and keeping an eye on the live seal. It got pretty intense there for a while.
The seals were brought up off the beach and onto the tundra. They were kept in a big herd by people standing around the outer edges. As everyone was ready for seals, a few (7-9) were brought forward from the herd. Everyone only wanted the small males, and I think it’s illegal to kill females, so any females that may have gotten in there had to be pointed out. The seals were stunned by a blow to the head by someone with a club, and then dragged over and stabbed in the heart. Terry and I were trying to be right there as soon as they were stabbed in order to collect the blood before they bled out of clotted too badly to get any good samples. After that, the seals were cut up and skinned and put into bags and what not.
I was trying to stay relatively clean, in order to keep the blood tubes clean and sterile, but by the end it wasn’t an option to be clean. My rain gear and gloves were all covered in blood. I also got to run some guts. That just meant waiting until a seal was entirely cut up, asking if they were done with their gut pile and heads, and then hauling it all over to Bobette and Chelsea who were taking tissue samples and nasal swabs. I only wanted to do that so I could write “gut-runner” on my resume. So now I have the titles of Gut-runner, Pathology Tech, Blood-shaker, and Tissue-taker.
Yesterday was great. Except that the plane was canceled. Hopefully I will make it out today. Hopefully the plane the plane will make it in today. But the weather outside doesn’t look too promising….. Let’s just hope that the fog lifts by the time the plane gets here.
The seals were brought up off the beach and onto the tundra. They were kept in a big herd by people standing around the outer edges. As everyone was ready for seals, a few (7-9) were brought forward from the herd. Everyone only wanted the small males, and I think it’s illegal to kill females, so any females that may have gotten in there had to be pointed out. The seals were stunned by a blow to the head by someone with a club, and then dragged over and stabbed in the heart. Terry and I were trying to be right there as soon as they were stabbed in order to collect the blood before they bled out of clotted too badly to get any good samples. After that, the seals were cut up and skinned and put into bags and what not.
I was trying to stay relatively clean, in order to keep the blood tubes clean and sterile, but by the end it wasn’t an option to be clean. My rain gear and gloves were all covered in blood. I also got to run some guts. That just meant waiting until a seal was entirely cut up, asking if they were done with their gut pile and heads, and then hauling it all over to Bobette and Chelsea who were taking tissue samples and nasal swabs. I only wanted to do that so I could write “gut-runner” on my resume. So now I have the titles of Gut-runner, Pathology Tech, Blood-shaker, and Tissue-taker.
Yesterday was great. Except that the plane was canceled. Hopefully I will make it out today. Hopefully the plane the plane will make it in today. But the weather outside doesn’t look too promising….. Let’s just hope that the fog lifts by the time the plane gets here.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
......
Shoveling get kind of old after a while. Yesterday, we only worked for the morning. We headed back at 11:30, because we were doing the GPS camp for 8+ year olds in the afternoon. The YCC kids and Lisa left int eh car, and Ingird and I were going to drive our Honda's back. But mine wouldn't start. The battery had died again. So after weighing our options for a little bit, we decided to just tow my Honda back. We were late back, so I was just late to camp so I had some time to go home and get something to eat and take a shower and everything. Wow Karen. Way to write a run-on sentence.
5 kids showed up to camp, and we picked up one more kid when were all outside looking for the GPS coordinates. They found all of the stuff pretty easily, and I'm pretty sure they all had a good time.
More Later.
Peace out.
5 kids showed up to camp, and we picked up one more kid when were all outside looking for the GPS coordinates. They found all of the stuff pretty easily, and I'm pretty sure they all had a good time.
More Later.
Peace out.
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