turkey, tuna, ham.

mountains in the sunset.

those are the lunch options (with peanut butter and jelly everyday) on tuesday, wednesday and thursday of camp, respectively. one of the days this week, there was quite the banter going on in radio land about these options. probably one of those "you had to be there" times, but it was quite funny and my students found it pretty funny, too.

this week was great! i had a very relaxed field group of 12 students. we did climbing and archery on the first day instead of the typical team discovery hike. the kids loved getting do to those classes on the first day!

i'm working on being more firm with the students about my expectations. the students are typically very curious about what time it is, what we're doing right at that minute (and the next few minutes), and when they get to eat lunch, so i've started to tell them at the beginning of the day what is going to happen. if they ask me later, i tell them to ask someone else who was paying attention. if they ask me what time it is, i tell them it's either lesson time or lunch time. it seemed to work well!

i've also been giving out three simple rules.

1) when i'm talking, you're not.
2) no interacting with logs, sticks or rocks unless i tell you (safety first!)
3) have fun!

that is also working well. students this week were actually asking if they could pick up sticks and rocks. my typical response: nope! i'm all for hands-on, but usually when a student picks up a stick or a rock, it ends up being thrown back on the ground. sometimes hitting someone else. not okay.

in the not-so-great news, 1 students broke his glasses and three of my students had multiple nosebleeds during the week. yikes!

my friend elysa from SCA massachusetts stopped by for a brief visit. it was incredibly refreshing to have her here! i worked a lot of the time and was exhausted the other part, but we managed to spend some good quality time catching up on gossip and taking a sunset drive around the mountains.

speaking of...here are some pictures that elysa took:

big bear lake at sunset.

my cabin in the woods.

elysa and i (on the left) with the sunset.

i feel so popular.

especially when working with 6th graders. they always want to know more about you (are you married? why is your nose pierced? where are you from? how long have you worked here? where do you live?). students outside of my field or trail groups know my name. they pretty much think that the staff are the coolest people in the world (who would argue with that?).

i enjoyed a delightful week with my cabin group. they were a group of very energetic girls who were curious and enthusiastic about being at camp. we kept our cabin clean, no one got overly homesick and they even taught me a few dance moves while we were waiting for people to finish up at shower time (the shuffle and the spongebob).

a few of the administrative staff watched one of my night classes for an evaluation, and the feedback was really helpful. they basically said i'm doing really well and definitely have potential to be a great instructor. i also found out i passed my climbing certification, so i can teach climbing classes all by myself now. hooray!

the most exciting part of the week, though, might have been auditioning to be a line dancing instructor. i led one dance during a line dancing session, and on friday i found out that i was chosen to be one of the instructors! yay! this means i have the opportunity to make some extra money and wear crazy outfits for teaching.

it's been a relaxing weekend up in the mountains. there was a rather lively social gathering at the square house (our main gathering place) on friday night. on saturday, i went into town with a bunch of the gals to run errands. while thrifting, i found a flag patterned blouse, flag patterned visor and red-white-blue moon boots. i think i'm going to go as an american gladiator for halloween. should be epic!

in other news, i'm considering buying a rail pass for my winter break and taking the train around to visit friends and family. right now i'm thinking of training it from LA to chicago to see my brother and his family. then up to grand rapids (maybe a trip to ypsi if i can snag a ride...). then back across the country, possibly stopping in montana, idaho, seattle and then down to san fran and eventually back to the mountains. we'll see...

grad school (and other future life adventure) musings.

i've only been at high trails for a month, but i'm trying to sort out my next life adventures. i know that i want to go to grad school eventually, and it's been on my mind more lately. here's what i'm thinking right now...

i like new england. i like michigan. i'm learning to like the west coast. i like mountains. i like the ocean. when i continue my education, i want to study something having to do with water management and/or sustainability. it'd be great to travel abroad.

i could stay at high trails for a while. i could apply to graduate school. i could apply to the peace corps. i could get another job somewhere doing something awesome.

schools i'm looking at:
university of vermont: m.s. in natural resources with a focus on aquatic ecology and watershed science
university of michigan: m.s. in natural resources in tandem with a peace corps assignment
university of oregon: m.s. in environment studies (very interdisciplinary program in a cool place)

ah! it's a good thing i don't have to make a decision anytime soon.

ps. i found a place that PAYS you for cardboard and metal. exciting!