Home Opener

Here is the draft of a post from early Novermber 2013 that never got published:

Shark Fishing after "work"

Well I've been doing this full-time, "big girl" job thing for a month and --oh who am I kidding? This isn't a real job! There's no way! I wake up in a cottage under palm trees, eat all my meals in an open air kitchen, and live on an island. Because this is off-season, I rarely work from 9am to 5pm...it's more like 9am until whenever-something-more-fun-comes-along. Last week I was lucky enough to be on the water for a couple hours Thursday-Sunday! Yesterday I skipped out of work at 2:30 to go diving!
Whatever my next gig is, there's no way this kind of behavior is going to fly. I'm getting spoiled.
Since the Epic Mother-Daughter Road Trip of 2013, I have been busy! Between all that fun stuff, I've re-designed the website and most of our flyers/brochures, went to a science teacher conference, and worked with prospective parents and teachers to get more groups to the island. I've also been helping with the hiring process for the 2014 interns. It's weird to be looking at applicants for my old job! Especially when most of these people are my age...or older. How am I supposed to be their boss?
Upcoming projects include (but are not limited to) designing new programs, updating the programs we already have with facts from 2013, and expanding our curriculum cater to younger/older groups. These tasks seem a little daunting right now, so I'm putting them off...

and that's it. I honestly don't remember why I never got around to finishing the post, or publishing it for that matter, but I'm assuming that "daunting list of tasks" probably had something to do with it.
Sploiler Alert: off season work continued to be mostly fun and games, the intern search went differently than I had planned (in both 2014 and 2015), and the website update still wasn't complete when I left my position with Pigeon Key in early 2015. The project was completed by my successor and friend, Jason, and you can see his beautiful results here!

Anyway, although island life was all hunky dory on the surface, behind the scenes it has been a rough couple of years. Even though my title was "Education Director" I rarely participated in any educating. I was a secretary, office manager, intern coordinator, social media executive, and many other roles, but none of them felt fulfilling. This lack of fulfillment was compounded by the fact that I did not enjoy or agree with the people whom I worked for on Pigeon Key, and it got really lonely living out on that tiny island. Many days it felt like my life was on pause--my friends back home were getting engaged and buying homes, and I was sharing a shack with geckos and enduring conversations about making sure we only hired "hot" interns. In early 2015 I was offered an Assistant Manager position at a new Aquarium in the Florida Keys, so I quickly jumped at the chance to get in to town and hopefully press play on my life.
For the first few months things went really well! Being a part of the managerial team of a new business meant

Feeding Spotty the Spotted Eagle Ray - not technically
part of my job...but super awesome!

that I could really expand the position in to whatever I wanted. I worked on developing field trip programming, internship opportunities, and beefing out the aquarium's social media presence. I was able to institute some much-needed staff morale boosting initiatives, and enjoyed the convenience of not having to take a golf cart two mile into town to accomplish a simple task like grocery shopping. I became an active volunteer at the local animal shelter, and even fell in love!
However, after the initial excitement wore off I found myself in the same career-slump as before. The most rewarding parts of my day were when I actually wasn't doing my job, but when I got stopped by a guest's questions on my way back to the office and was able to interact with and educate people about the wonders of the marine world. These "teachable moments" were few and far between, but they were the highlights of my day!

Since graduation, several of my friends have spent their time working for philanthropic organizations like Americorps and the Fullbright Program, and it was through hearing their stories that I was inspired to apply for Teach for America. After a very long application process, I learned recently that I've been accepted as a 2016 Teach for America Corps member in Kansas City, MO. I'll most likely be teaching high school biology in the fall, and I can't wait to get started! For now, I'm crashing in Jim and Joan's basement while I wait for training to begin in the spring. I can't wait to see what this next chapter of the EmVenture brings!

Holy Recap, Batman!

As my loving father reminded me a few days ago...I haven't posted since May.

Whoops.

Sharing Invertebrates with students
(above), and "working" (below)

There have definitely been a ton of blog-worthy moments in the past 3 months, but my excuse for not publishing them on the internet is that I've been too busy experiencing them to write them down!

"the office"

For literally the entire month of June we had a group on the island. I don't mean one group of students stayed for a month, I mean one would stay for a couple days, leave at 10am, we'd clean like crazy people, and welcome the next group at 4pm the same day. In between the days of crazy cleaning we educated groups from all over the country--California, Pennsylvania, and Arizona sent representatives--about the wonders of Marine Science. Week after week we explored the island, kayaked through mangroves, and watched as students who were terrified of putting a toe in the water on day one transformed into kids who couldn't dive off the snorkel boat fast enough out at the reef. It was exhausting, overwhelming, and wonderful.

After a weekend of blowing off steam sleeping, July 1st found us greeting parents and kids for week one of Pigeon Key Marine Science Summer Camp. We run a day and overnight camp together (everyone does the same activities during the day, but we send the day campers home on the ferry at 4:30pm) with educational programs in the morning, and hours of jumping off the dock more traditional camp activities in the afternoon.

Our proud campers with their self-caught lobster dinner!

Taking a break from dock jumping
to practice cheerleading

Our campers learn to identify reef fish, dissect a squid, the importance of mangrove ecosystems, and the ins-and-outs of a bonnethead shark. They also jump off the dock, compete in all-camp kickball, jump off the dock, play capture the flag, jump off the dock, do a pie-in-the-face relay race, jump off the dock, and swim through an underwater obstacle course. After sending the day campers off, the overnight campers got to pick their activity each night.  They usually chose to spend their evenings shark fishing, but we also had movie night (which I volunteered to supervise when Harry Potter was selected as the feature film), a campfire (record number of s'mores eaten: 13), and ultimate Frisbee. There's never a dull moment at summer camp, and bonus: the staff gets a full weekend off between each!

The fruits of shark fishing!

Now we're in August. Which is crazy (didn't I just get here in February aka yesterday?). We finished our last summer camp on the 9th, went day-drinking in Key West had an intern bonding retreat , and have spent the last week edging sidewalks, painting picnic tables, and bleaching every conceivable surface on this island. I swear it will be months before I stop getting whiffs of bleach every time I tuck my hair behind my ears...We also represented the Pigeon Key Foundation at the Marathon Chamber of Commerce's "After Hours" gathering! Local businesses take turns hosting, and people from the community are invited to come, eat, drink and be merry (very very merry when all the booze is free!). This month, the Community Theater played host, so everyone had to wear a hat. We put Jason in an army hat and the local ladies just about lost it--he was a good sport until his cheeks got pinched!
it

It's crazy to think my internship here is drawing to a close. After 6 months of blood, sweat, tears, chaos, laughter, and hard work, I'll be packing my things and flying home to Bloomington on August 26th.

But this is not where the Emventure ends! I am packing my things only to move them across the island, and I'll only be in Bloomington for about a month before heading back down to Pigeon Key. I am excited to say that when I come back in September, it will be as the Foundation and Marine Science Center's newest Education Director. I am nervous and anxious and over the moon excited about this opportunity, and I can't wait to share my trials, tribulations, and successes with all of you!

...and hopefully more frequently than once every three months :)

 

 

Jesus loves me this I know...

...not only does the Bible tell me so, but I am frequently blessed with moments in real life that are perfect assurances of His awesome love.

3hoFo ladies doing typical grad things together

So there have been moments throughout this internship experience that, despite my initial confidence, I have really questioned my decision to graduate and leave Madison early (most of these moments come while looking at pictures on Facebook of my friends having a blast doing classic college senior-y things). Spring in Madison is one of the most beautiful things in the world...hanging out on the Terrace, sleeping on Bascom, (no) Mifflin, everything. And especially this weekend, with it being graduation, the Facebook pictures were killing me. Everyone being all nostalgic in their cap and gowns, posing with Abe, hugging each other...I did all of that by myself and I've been feeling insanely jealous that all my friends are doing it together. Plus I've been really missing my Madison home a lot lately.

I've been asking myself...do all these sad emotions and feelings of regret mean that I made the wrong decision? Did I just get so excited when I saw the post for this internship that I ignored signs that Pigeon Key wasn't in His plan? Am I even supposed to be here right now?

And then it all came together a few days ago.

For the past week we've had an amazing group of 8th graders on island. They're from Cincinnati, Ohio and for most of them this trip was their first time on an airplane, at a beach, in the ocean, etc. Some of them had little to no swimming experience. Few of them had ever seen any of our invertebrates in person before. But despite their lack of experience, they all jumped right in. Each of them embraced the experience whole-heartedly, shattering comfort zones and building friendships that (I hope) will carry them through high school. By the end of the week not only were they comfortable swimmers, they were diving down 12ft to get a closer look at the reef! And by the end of the week each had made a permanent home in my heart.
Because this is their "finale" field trip for their middle school experience, the teachers and chaperones always so a really neat closing ceremony for the students. The kids spend the evening saying nice things to each other and talking about their hopes, dreams, and fears for high school. Then the teachers surprise the students with handwritten letters from their parents, and they spread out over the island to read and reflect. During all of this, the Pigeon Key staff generally stays out of their way (for the interns this means hiding in the office, the one place with internet). However this year, one teacher came to find us after the students were done with their parent letters

"Hey guys," she said, peeking her head into the office, "this is new for us, but the kids have requested that you guys join us for the last part of our closing ceremony." We all jumped up, and followed her to the meal tent.

After much organization, we followed the students as they silently processed out to the dock. We all sat in kind of a modified circle as the same teacher read a poem that beautifully summed up the PK experience from the eyes of an 8th grader. Then the teachers invited all of us to stand up one at a time and receive a blessing (public school style). After each intern had a moment with the teachers we said some silent goodbyes to the students for the night and processed back down the dock.

I don't know about you, but I found so many parallels to a graduation ceremony in there that it was like Jesus was flashing neon signs at me...Calm down little bird, you are in the right place. Do you think I would ever steer you wrong?

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Jeremiah 29:11

 

Now considering that I hadn't really gotten a full 8 hours of sleep in a week, and I'd been inner turmoil-ing about my life decision for twice that, it should come as no surprise to those who know me well that I was a crying mess for all of this. Sleep-deprivation and relief will do that to a person!

Why 5th Graders are the Best

So for the past few days, the island has been hosting 80 5th graders. Yes, you read that correctly, 80 5th graders. All from an orthodox Jewish private school in North Miami Beach (read: money money money...MONAAYY). A few hilarious conversations arose from our obvious socioeconomic differences...

Six of the girls and I discussing how we learned Spanish...
Girl 1: Well my family is from Venezuela, but I learned Spanish from my nanny. She's from Nicaragua.
Girl 2: Yeah, my mom and I speak it too because we're from Columbia, but my nanny is from Panama. She only knows Spanish.
Girl 3: My nanny is from Guatemala, or one of those poor countries. All nannies are from poor countries. She taught me Spanish...Emily did you learn Spanish from your nanny?
Me (in complete disbelief by this point): Guys, I never had a nanny! I was a nanny before I came here actually...
Girl 1: Oh my gosh, Emily you should come back to Miami and be MY nanny!

After I answered a phone call from my boss...
Student: what is that?
Me: What is what? oh, my phone?
Student (shocked): that's a PHONE?! I've only seen those in old movies! Wow! Dude...you should buy an iphone. I'm getting the iphone6!
Me: wait, I thought we were on the iphone5?
Student: Oh, I'm on the pre-release list.

But despite these differences, the thing I love about elementary school students is that they're still very much kids. They didn't care what my phone looked like, or that my sunglasses are all less than $10, they just want to hang out and play. We hunted for crabs and sea urchins in the tide pool, talked about 1D and Justin Beiber (who is so on his way OUT apparently), just like I did with the group from the middle-of-nowhere north Florida public school that was here last week. The other thing that I love about 5th graders is that they've still got that streak of brutal honesty that hasn't been hushed by manners yet...

Walking down the bridge with all the girls so their teacher can get a sunset group shot, one of the girls has her arm slung around my waist because she's too short to reach my shoulders...
Girl (squeezing my hip): Emily...is that your fat?
Me (mildly mortified): Hey! Yeah, it's just a little...squish...
Girl (hugging me tightly): I don't care, you're beautiful! and comfortable!


I LOVE 5th graders.

What a Whirlwind

So our first three groups have come and gone and holy crap, time is flying. I can't believe I've already been here for 2.5 months! Where has the time gone?! Oh yeah, that's right...consumed by hours of painting, tree trimming, raking, scrubbing and bleaching.

But no more!

Real education season is upon us, and our first three groups were just a review. The first week of middle schoolers was awesome. Sure they were shrill, loud, and had the energy of 10 energizer bunnies (each!), but the 6th graders were enthusiastic about everything. From breakfast to snorkeling at the reef to sitting in a classroom learning about Marine Habitats, they were totally 100% in to it. I loved having them on the island. Our next two groups, both high school juniors/seniors, were quite a bit of a slow down. They were interested, but couldn't be too interested. The "it's not cool to be too into anything" mentality was definitely present for these two groups, and it made me a little sad. However, I loved getting to chat with them about all the stuff I loved in high school--friends, how their football team did, prom, etc. We have another high school coming this week from a Christian Academy and I'm hoping that we'll get to do a little praise and worship on the dock every morning...but we'll see!

Social Media Mavens

My intern friend, Melanie, and I have been put in charge of modernizing, consolidating, and regularly updating Pigeon Key's social media presence! You can like our Facebook page or follow us on Twitter for the most up to date information on day to day activities on the island, and to get a better glimpse at what I'm doing on a regular basis.

I really like this because it gives me more excuses to hang out in the only building with WiFi and rock out to country music in my headphones...did I mention that nobody else on this whole island likes country??



I found a friend in the brush pile on Burn Day!
A 3 foot corn snake, whom I named Penelope.

The past couple of weeks have been mostly manual labor. We burned a huge pile of brush and other debris that has been accumulating on the island since July...and then the next day, after planting new shrubberies and baby palms around the island, dug up all the ash from the fire pit and spread it around as fertilizer. Then the next day my boss decided he wanted the fire pit moved...3 whole feet. The day after that we had to uproot and move some plants...3 whole feet. In the next week we had to clear out all the misc junk from underneath one building and move it underneath another building...yep you guessed it! 3 whole feet away. I'm beginning to think that they're just running out of ways to keep us busy from 9-5...
Luckily groups are starting to trickle in! We had two facility rental groups and, for my favorite day so far, a couple troops of Girl Scouts from the south Miami. It was chilly (for the Keys), but the girls were so excited about everything the island had to offer. From chasing Buddy around, to going hip deep in the water for tide pooling, to the hotdogs we had for lunch they were pumped to be there. Those Girl Scouts were a great reminder of why I got myself into this!



Allison sipping some St. Patty's
beverage from my boss's...hat.

But its not hard work all the time! Our bosses make sure that there's plenty of time for us to enjoy the Keys' lifestyle (which, from my understanding, means that you spend more on your liquor store bill than your grocery bill...I have yet to accomplish this). From island croquet, to coconut bocce, to celebrating St. Patty's, these people know how to enjoy their libations! For fun we also frequent Kmart, Publix, go snorkeling to chase tropical fish lobster hunting with our boss, and last weekend took a road trip to Key Largo to feed tarpon (fast forward in the clip a little bit) and see what the northernmost key had to offer.


That tarpon snatched a fish right out of
my hand!

Yesterday I made scotcharoos for my coworkers...can you believe none of these people had ever even heard of this magical dessert before?! I'm adding them to my ever-growing list of things that I'm discovering are strictly Minnesotan...pop, Biffys, the pronunciation of bagels, and now scotcharoos. My coworkers were skeptical (how anyone can be skeptical of a chocolate/butterscotch/peanut butter combo, I'll never understand), but considering that there is less than half a pan left this morning, I feel like I've created a new group of believers.



This week we’re busy preparing for the ribbon cutting ceremony for our new solar power system on Friday. The system has been in place for about two months, and since everything seems to be going according to plan (we run on solar energy for about 22 hours per day) we’re showing it off to the public. And by public, I mean all the big wigs from our foundation’s board, the chamber of commerce, etc. This will be the first time that so many big names (and deep pockets) have all been on the island at the same time in about a decade, so my bosses are pretty nervous. I’m estimating that we’ll be asked to move s pile of something 3ft about 5 times per day this week…and let’s be real, there are only so many feet on the island. I can more or less guarantee that everything will end up right back where it started.

 

Because that’s how we do on PK.



Forrest Gump

"My momma always said, 'Life was like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get."

Forrest Gump's momma must have been talking about life on Pigeon Key, because other than a 9am start to your work day, nothing else is really guaranteed. The power might be on when you want to take a shower, the water might be running when you try to flush the toilet, and there's a slim-to-none chance that the internet and power will be running simultaneously when you need to e-mail your landlord...(don't worry parents, I got that one squared away!)
Everything is in a mild state of disrepair, but life is simple. There are some constants, like sunshine, ocean breezes, and going to bed feeling fulfilled (read: exhausted) after a day of hard work. There is also a ferry that drops off boat loads of tourists  who come to the island for historical tours every 2 hours. They love to ask us questions about what a bunch of kids in their early 20's are doing on the island, and the facial expressions when we say that we'll be here for 6 months are priceless.

The sun setting over the PK Lounge after a long day

Intern duties range from raking leaves to clearing rocks from the solar panel area with incarcerated individuals. Yesterday intern duties meant deep cleaning one of the student cabins (thanks mom, for teaching me the appreciation of dust-free baseboards from a young age!). One down, four to go!
I had fun joking that we were using our college degrees to do jobs usually filled by people who didn't graduate high school...my intern friend with a vey very expensive college degree did not find me amusing.

This past weekend, intern duties found us "volunteering" at the Pigeon Key Art Festival, an annual fundraiser that gets the whole community involved in the welfare of the island. We ran from sun up to sun down (read: 9-5) working the Pigeon Key Gift Shop booth, helping the burger stand make change, and filling in wherever we were needed. I was exhausted by the time Sunday night rolled around, but we raised a ton of money for the island, so that's good news. Also we were allowed to take Monday off!

Monday night found all of us on the dock with our boss, Chris, chopping up fish heads. I can only imagine Elle's surprise when she called me from WI and I said "Hang on can I call you back? I'm about to go shark fishing!"

We finished chopping up the heads and threw them in the bay to chum up the waters. Chris baited a couple hooks with some fresh (read: bloody) fish, and we set them in the rod holders to wait. Within a few minutes we heard a loud whiiiirrrrrrr as a shark tried to snatch the bait off the line closest to me and take it out to sea.
"Grab it, grab it!" shouted Chris, "Don't let him take all my line!"
In the next adrenaline-fueled 20 minutes, I successfully reeled in the shark, let the shark get stuck on a buoy, watched as Chris kayaked out to said buoy and herded the shark into untangling itself, and finished bringing in my first lemon shark. Chris pulled her up on the dock, freed the hook from her mouth, and then let me wrangle her into a posing position for some proof--I mean photos! She was about 30lbs and I named her Lois. Then I tossed her back in to the water (nose first) and watched her streak away from the dock. It was magical...I think some fist pumps may have happened.

"Hey Lois, say cheese!"

Welcome to the PK Lounge

My coworkers are AWESOME.

They all are nature nerds to the max, so I'm never alone in geeking out over a new creature. They have incredible work ethics, so I know we all have each other's backs. They have each read all of the Harry Potter books. Everyone is always down to grab a drink and have a good time. They're all as incredulous as I am that this is our real life. And they are all ecstatic to be here.

One talks in abbrevs. One is more prepared for any situation than any Scout I've ever met (without ever having been a Scout!). One made a Redwall reference on day three (dude, do you guys know how rare it is to find someone else who was as obsessed with those books as me?!). One is always good for a G&T-fueled Tswift dance party. One is always down for a good arts 'n' crafts sesh. One taught me how to make a rue yesterday!

There's three girl interns, including myself, that live in a re-purposed shed with me, and the boy intern gets his own room. But before you start saying how unfair that sounds, let me explain. Although a year ago our "house" was a home for spare bed parts and random pieces of wood, it got a beautiful make over! With two windows (read: arrow slits), a little fresh paint, a "fire escape" and an air conditioner, it has become the PK Lounge. We have to walk across the island for bathrooms and showers, but the boy's room is attached to a building that will house students later this summer...and I'd take our little removed shack over hearing long nights of Truth or Dare and "Never have I ever" any day.


My only complaint? I am the only country music fan on this whole freaking island. So I will bide my time and enjoy the random radio stations of my coworkers...but later this summer when I'm on solo meal duty for a group of students? Yep, you can bet George Strait and friends will be cooking right along with me!

My Next Adventure Awaits!

Today marks the beginning of my last two weeks in Madison, WI.




Laura and I at my graduation in December

Yep, 14 more days to enjoy this wonderful city, and then I'm off to my next adventure! Since the last time I posted, I have graduated with a B.S. in Zoology, earned my Open Water SCUBA certification, and been selected for a 6month internship at the Pigeon Key Marine Science Center on the island of Pigeon Key, FL. If you received my family's Christmas letter you're probably surprised by this news, given that my portion of the letter was more or less a desperate plea for a job :) However, not two days after Joan had licked and stamped the last envelope, I received a call from Florida! Let's just say visions of palm trees--not sugar plums--were dancing in my head this Christmas season.


Myself and my SCUBA buddy Andrea

When I was in middle school, we had the opportunity to go with our classmates on optional overnight field trips to places "up north". Typically we traveled to places with nature-y or American Indian names like Audubon in 5th grade and Widjiwagan in 8th. While there, we got to do all sorts of outdoorsy winter activities like following animal paw prints, learning about predator/prey relationships, and at Widji, doing the "dip sauna dip" since there were no showers. Oh, and did I mention that most of these field trips took place in the middle of winter? So all of our hiking around took place on snowshoes, and the "dip" process involved jumping into a hole cut into the ice of a lake?


An aerial view of Pigeon Key--thanks GoogleImage search!

So while I spent my formative school years playing in the wintery northwoods of MN, students in FL drive south for their overnight field trip adventures (we also get Boy Scout troops and summer camp kids on the island). They come to study at the Pigeon Key Marine Science Center to follow tropical fish, learn about biological relationships in tropical marine ecosystems, and go tidepooling for invertebrates. And it doesn't matter what season they come to the island, it's always somewhere between 80-90 degrees! So while they get to do all this learning they'll be snorkeling, fishing off the end of a dock, and walking around the 5-acre island of Pigeon Key.

I am thrilled to say, that for the 2013 educational season (Feb-Aug), I'll be right there with them filling every role from teacher to lifeguard, to chef and washerwoman.

But, before I go I have a few things I want to knock off my Madison Bucket List:

1. Take a guided tour of the capitol building
2. Get my picture taken in Abe's lap
3. Explore the Chazen Art Museum, the WI Veterans Museum, and the WI State Historical Museum
4. Go to Monday's on a Monday
5. Walk all the way out to the tip of Picnic Point
6. Try a Plazaburger
7. Enjoy one last Fishbowl on Bacon Night with my friends
8. Own something from the Sconnie Store
9. Get kissed on the 50yd line of Camp Randall
10. Do the Polar Plunge for Special Olympics WI (shameless fundraising plug right here)

That's a Wrap!

Well I've been home (as in Madison home) for approximately 1 week. I've been in the US for 13 days. It didn't take long to settle back in--I'm living with some great girls this semester and it feels fantastic to be back on campus. The time I got to spend at home was wonderful, I think that no matter where I travel, my mom's kitchen will be one of my favorite places in the world until the day I die. I loved hanging out with old friends and chatting with all their parents. I didn't realize how many people had been reading this blog until I started getting questions about my recorded adventures! Now that I know I have an audience (outside of my immediate family) typing is a little intimidating! But it's definitely important to do a little reflection I think, so I'll face my fears!

Common Questions I've Received...
1) Well how was Costa Rica?!
2) What was your favorite meal?
3) What's the first thing you ate in America?
4) Was Belize something you did with your study abroad program?
5) Are you experiencing any culture shock?
6) Do you want to go back?
7) Do you miss it?

Answers:
1) Absolutely fantastic. But you'll have to be more specific...
2) In Costa Rica, the typical breakfast. Gallo pinto, fresh farmers cheese, fried plantains....oh lawd. I could eat that everyday I think. Belize, I loved Carmela's homemade tortillas and Zoe's chicken curry. Also Paul's banana milkshakes were out of this world! However, my all time favorite Central American food is ceviche.
3) French fries and a vanilla cone from the McDonalds drive-thru in the front seat of Annie Huber's car.
4) Nope, it was a completely separate internship program that I found using Google a year ago. It was definitely the cherry on top of an incredible semester
5) Not really. I mean it's weird to think that I'll be sitting in a lecture hall again for classes, instead of in the middle of an old growth forest. And I've had sticker shock at restaurants a few times, but it kind of feels like I never left...almost like Costa Rica was a dream! Even though I know better, I keep thinking all my friends' lives stopped when I left. So when they talk about things that happened "last semester" I keep thinking they're talking about last spring...absurd I know, but my brain is adjusting. Climate shock on the other hand, that I am definitely experiencing! To Minnesota and Wisconsin's credit, they definitely tried to ease me out of the 85 and sunny gently, with 40 degrees in the middle of January! However, real winter has since come out to play and there is snow on the ground...and it is COLD!
6) Of course! Absolutely as soon as my schedule and bank account align, I'd go back in either country. 
7) Oh so much. As wonderful as it is to be back on American soil with family, friends, George Strait, and Bucky, Costa Rica and Belize were some of the most magical places I've ever been. I miss the Spanish, the outdoorsy-ness, the people, and most of all the constant feeling of incredulity of "is this real life?!"

Please ask more questions, if you have them! I'm happy to answer them because--shocker--I love talking about my adventures!

All in all, these have been some of the most incredible months of my life! I am so thankful that I had the opportunity to explore new countries, interests, and meet some of the most wonderful people I've ever met.

Thank you for reading, it's been quite a journey!

Manic Monkeys

10 Things I didn't know until I lived in Belize:

1. Manatees give the best hugs

2. "Clean" is a relative term--and my standards can get lower than Eladio's.

3. Schizophrenia affects monkeys too.

4. It just doesn't feel like Christmas around here without snow and Reba McEntire.

5. I like holding howler monkeys more than babies.

6. The distraction game of "oh look how much fun I'm having over here while you're over there pouting" works just as well with monkeys as it does with kids.

7. The most potent farts I've ever smelled come from manatees

8. Yucca makes a great tropical Christmas tree.

9. I'd miss my Gringo Parade...a LOT.

10. I'd be this excited to see my family!

I hope finals are being kind and that everyone is safe and warm this Holiday Season. Merry Christmas!

This just in: My Life STILL revolves around a Feeding Schedule

So I'm able to get a little more internet than I expected! Unfortunately not enough to add photos (yet), but enough to record a little of what's been going on in my life in the past week.
Hannah and I arrived to Belize without much fanfare, we breezed through customs (the guys loved Hannah's dreads--everyone kept calling her "rasta girl") and arrived in Sarteneja the same day. We met Paul and Zoe, the directors of Wildtracks, and all their dogs; Lucy, Sally, and Meeko right away. Hannah and I got settled in our little cabana, and got ready to wash off the long travel day. Hannah got a shower in, but as soon as I got my hair lathered up with shampoo, the water cut out. I was able to rinse the shampoo out of my hair while Hannah reached over the top of the shower curtain and dumped the contents of her water bottle on my head. This was not our last experience with waterbottle showers.
Everything here runs on solar power. The lights, the internet, and the pump that draws up well water for toilet flushing and showering. It's been a learning experience, but we've learned that you cannot flush the toilet once the sun goes down if you'd like to brush your teeth before bed. Also if you plan on taking a shower, you'd better do it right around lunch time. However, cleanliness doesn't last long!
Hannah and I are responsible for the feeding of the outdoor monkeys, the peccaries, the deer, and the feeding and entertaining of the manatee. Plus Hannah is working on designing the artwork for the visitors center (to be built...soon?) and I'm busy gathering information to beef up the Wildtracks website, which as you can see, is woefully incomplete. There is never a dull moment around here!

All my little girl dreams are coming true--I'm working behind the scenes in wild animal care! I'm allowed to go into cages, snuggle monkeys, feed a manatee from a bottle--all things I never thought I'd actually get to do! My days starts at 6:30am with the howler monkey feeds, which happen again at 10:30, 2:30, and 4:30. Sultan, Nikki, and Livvy are all around a year old and are still being weaned off humans. Sultan spends the entire feeding sitting on my shoulder, his tail wrapped around my neck, drinking his milk from a syringe. Livvy and Nikki generally ignore me, except for last night. There's a "cold" front moving through, and I think they could tell the night was going to be especially chilly, because Livvy crawled into my arms like a small child and snuggled her head right under my chin! I about died it was so precious. The other 5 howler monkeys that I'm in charge of are all about 2 years old; Eden, Igor, Kofi, Minnie and Moe all love leaves. They love papaya and leaves; Kofi actually starts purring when I bring in a huge bunch! Eden and I got off to a rough start, but now that my unicorn bun has lost its intrigue (her last feeder was a guy) she mostly leaves me alone. Minnie is my favorite of the five. When I'm bent in half sweeping up the cage floor, she flattens herself tummy-down on my back and wraps every limb she's got around my waist. When I stand up to leave the cage--she slowly lets herself slide down the slippery leg of my adventure pants like it's a fireman's pole and plops on the ground. She looks around for a moment, confused "well how did I get here?" and then scrambles up my offered arm, bounds off my head, and perches at the highest possible place to watch me leave.
Twiggy the manatee is my other favorite charge. She's two years old and has been at Wildtracks since she was about two weeks old. I feed her at 7:30 and 4:00 every day, a mixture of milk formula, banana, and vitamins from a bottle, and then I swim with her for about 20 minutes. She's old enough to be living in the lagoon, eating seagrass and learning to be a wild manatee, and when she's out there I'll only feed her in the mornings and use a boat to go out and check on her. However, because of the "cold" front, Zoe decided to keep her in the largest manatee rehab pool because it can be easily heated. In the wild, Twiggy would just swim around with other manatees to find warmer waters, but since she can't leave the lagoon, it's important to keep her warm (too-cold manatees get constipated and their stomachs will twist, like horses). I'm sure she's not too fond of life in the pool, but I love that I get to swim with her! I float around on an innertube, letting her push me up and down the pool. Sometimes we race from one end to the other (I always win) and she seems to really like it when I sing Christmas carols.
Between the manatee and monkey feeds, Hannah and I feed the deer and the peccaries on the property, as well as exercise Neto's horse Bullet (Neto is the caretaker and is away until after Christmas).
In our free time (ha ha) we read out by the lagoon, play with the dogs, and work on puzzles. It's an international place, with volunteers from Italy, Sweden, Canada, and the US. Paul and Zoe are both from England, and there's a troop of 13 boy scouts also from England here doing a service project (building new monkey cages) who keep life interesting. The food is superb, there's a never ending supply of rum and cokes, and I'm absolutely loving life.

I can't wait to see my family in 14 days, and be back in America in 22!

Internationally Thankful

I borrowed this idea from one of the girls on my program, who decided to put a blog-spin on the 30 days of thankful trend on facebook. It's pretty simple, because there are 30 days in November, I decided to make my own list of 30 things that I'm thankful for.  The are in no particular order and most of them are about Costa Rica.  I know if you are reading this blog, I'm thankful for you! Wishing you peace and love on this holiday!

1. All of my family at home for your international love.
2. Costa Rica, for teaching me more about myself than I ever wanted to know
3. Laura, for always putting goodbyes into perspective--it's never for real, just a "see you later"
4. Carissa, for being a role model, a best friend, AND a sister all in one. Peremptory thanks for the stats help next semester ;) 
5. My parents at home for supporting me in all my adventure, and for always including my furry friends in our skypes
6. Skype, and other technology that allows me to stay in contact with America and all the people there that I love
7. Los Aguilar, for welcoming me into their home and making me feel like a part of the family.
8. Annie, Jessie, Katie, Lauren, and Andrea--for knowing me better than I know myself sometimes.
9. Your guys' parents, for encouraging all our endeavors, and for having 5 houses where I always feel at home
10. For Animal Science 101, Livestock Production. Without you, I would never have met Elle Lynch.
11. My roommates here for thinking poop stories are just as funny as I do.
12. Fieds and Craze, for being the best first roommates a girl could ask for. 
13. The regent boys (do you guys have a new name yet?), for always knowing how to make me laugh, having beds to sleep in, and being an outlet for the products of my stress baking.
14. The staff here for being equal parts teachers and friends
15. Carlos, for being the most patient Spanish instructor I've ever met
16. Digital cameras, for allowing me to pretend to be a good photographer.
17. For mothers that send you new cameras when mermaid-ing proves to be too much for them.
18. Blankets, for their versatility--they're good for snuggling, sleeping, wearing...
19. For the knowledge that any hunger I ever experience is temporary
20. Wisconsin beer and cheese--you are going to be oh, so delicious when I return
21. My grandma's chocolate chip cookies, and for the lady that bakes you. I never realized how much I love both of you until I was 2,500 miles away from you
22. The simple joy in a mug of ice cream
23. Learning to enjoy drinking my coffee black--there's something slightly badass about answering "Black, please" when someone asks, "how do you like your coffee?"
24. Eco-friendly sweatpants
25. Harry Potter
26. Not being afraid of heights--dreams are so much better on the top bunk!
27. Sunsets
28. Wool Socks
29. The cooks here at the station, for being so good at their jobs that every meal is like Thanksgiving
• a) for undertaking the cooking of 90 lbs of turkey so that we gringos can have a "real American Thanksgiving"
30. The 22 people on this program who bring the party wherever we go

¿Usted tiene este tour sola, si?

Mi casa

As I type I’m actually living back in gringo-ville. We left our families on the 17^th and quickly took over the station once more! I love living with my friends again (it’s kind of like summer camp, and who doesn’t love summer camp?) but I really miss my family. I spent my last week riding around all of Monteverde and learning about the behind the scenes action that goes into making tourists happy. Things get really complicated when people cancel horse tours last minute—don’t ever do this if you can help it. You cause many people a great inconvenience—and money. I also got to see how tight-knit the community of Monteverde really is. One day we were supposed to take a family of 9 on a tour, and although Cristobál has 13 horses, 7 of them are off in some mystery pasture that I never got to see. In order to accommodate this family of 9, Cristobál called on cousins and friends—instantly his horse herd grew to 11. Another day, while already on a tour, Cristobál got a call saying that there was going to be another tour that afternoon. These tourists wanted to their tour at the exact time we were supposed to finish the tour we were currently leading. From horseback, Cristobál organized the gathering and saddling of his three other horses by a friend. 

That's my host dad, and the lead horse is Pamela.
That rope is connected to my HAND.

After dropping off the tired horses we had just used, we swung by this mystery friend’s house, where the 3 horses were waiting in the front yard. Cristobál tied the horses together, reins to tail, and passed the reins of the lead horse to me. Cristobál drove and from the back of the 4-wheeler I towed the horses. It was a bit like walking a dog (that was never trained by Jim Berglund) with one of those retractable leashes—your arm gets jerked all around, and you’re constantly taking in and letting out the leash, I mean, reins. Oh and the “dogs” weighs somewhere around 2,500 lbs collectively.

Once again I found myself using the phrase that has become a common part of my vocabulary this semester—this is not real life.

I was sitting on this

On a different horse adventure, I found myself riding with a Vietnam veteran from who was truly a global citizen (Cristobál was there too, although he kept trying to get me to guide the tours by myself--it was his favorite joke). The man’s father had worked for the US State Department, and he had spent his first 18 years of life living in 7 different countries! He spoke English and Spanish fluently, so most of the ride took place in hilarious Spanglish. He was convinced that I needed to marry his son, and both he and Cristobál found hilarity in my refusal; “Los novios son demasiado trabajo.”

Looking out over the Pacific Ocean

If I was a tour guide, all my
ponies would be pretty!

I spent my last week with the family, playing with (read: getting bossed around by) Christopher and bonding with Elieth and Katerine over Combate. Combate is my new favorite TV show—it’s like if the Real World: Road Rules and Wipe out had a baby—that would be this show. It’s hilarious and a great way to learn Spanish! I’m hoping that I get to see them this week, and maybe even go with Cristobál on a tour tomorrow. But it’s also finals week around here, and balancing my two lives here isn’t easy…the horses win every time!

The thing that really shook me about leaving is how close my semester here is to ending. I can remember so vividly the anticipation with which I looked forward to traveling here, thinking when I arrived how far off my homestay sounded. I have really grown to love this place, and all the people here. The 22 people that were complete strangers in August have become an extension of my family in a few short months, and saying goodbye to them is going to be extremely difficult. But, I’m thankful for technology. As exasperating as it can be, however detrimental to society the experts say it is, I am grateful it will enable me to stay in contact with my friends from here with ease. Even my host cousin and I are facebook friends! However, speaking of technology…

We have approximately a week left here in Monteverde, and then we hike to the Arenal Volcano, take a bus to San Jose, and go our separate ways on December 1^st. I’ll fly to Belize with my friend Hannah on the 3^rd, and I have no idea what the internet situation will be there. I’ve been told that at the Manatee Sanctuary where I’ll live there is enough to check e-mail occasionally, but probably not enough for facebook, and definitely not enough to upload blog posts and photos. There might be an internet café in town? There might be a touristy place with some wifi? But it’s the Caribbean coast, life is pretty Pura Vida, and I’m expecting little to no internet. So, this is probably the last post for awhile, but I promise to share details when I’m back in the grand ol’ U.S. of A!

This is my puppy. He's a 6-month old Boxer-Rottweiler mix. Dad
you would have been obsessed with him!

Machetes, Materia, Manigordos, oh my!

So basically my host father is a Monteverde celebrity. He knows everybody. And everybody knows him. Every single person has a “Hola Cris, Pura Vida!” for him as we drive past on the 4-wheeler. So it came as no surprise that Cristobál just happens to be bff’s with the host grandfather of one of my compañeros, Jake. This host grandfather just happens to be Maximo, the owner of Rancho San Giraldo, which just happens to be a perfect little finca in the middle of the Cloud Forest Reserve. Last weekend I jumped in the back of a pickup and went with Jake, his host mom, and his 3 host siblings out to Rancho San Giraldo. Jose Pablo is 11, Fiorella is 9, and Catalina is 7. They have been attending the Quaker School since kindergarten, so all of our conversations were in some pretty hilarious Spanglish. Not shy at all, they immediately started calling Jake and I novios, farting, and treating me like part of the family. It was great. Maximo met us at the trailhead with his own 4-wheeler and, to my delight, 3 horses! Chipopo, Materia, and Paloma took Jake, myself, and his sisters all the way to the ranch. I was already pretty much obsessed with how my life was going at this point…and then we arrived at the ranch.
 

Once upon a time, Maximo and all of his brothers all had their own little fincas in the San Giraldo Valley. Since that day, all of his brothers have sold their land to the conservationists, and their plots have grown up in to some beautiful recovering rainforest. However, Maximo said “like hell” to the conservationists, and kept his land. Mostly Maximo lives there on his own, but occasionally groups of hikers pass through, and he can play host to up to 30 people, like Eladio.

Myself, Maximo, and Catalina with Rancho San Giraldo in the background

Never have I ever been so sad not to have a camera (thanks to Jake for the pictures!). Mountains of perfect trees surround his 100-some hectare finca. It’s rolling pastures host his 5 cows and 3 horses. He also has a garden with several potato-like plants, pineapple, sugar cane, some miscellaneous citrus fruits, and a chicken coop (which will be filled with chickens in the coming months…Maximo and his dog, Q, got hungry and ate all the other ones). There was a wood-burning stove in the kitchen, which always had a pot of gallo pinto on it. The living room was a giant porch with walls up to my hip, and then completely open until the ceiling.  Large rolled plastic sheets hung from the edges of the roof, and could be dropped down to form “windows” when it rained. Although there were two large bunk pressed up against the living room wall, and two more bedrooms with bunks and regular beds, Maximo told me that many groups simply rolled out the massive foam mats he kept on a top bunk, and slept in the open-air living room in a big pile. I can only imagine how much fun our group would have had!

Soon after lunch we donned our swimsuits and hiked out to a “pool” in the river that ran through the finca (did I mention that Maximo built his own hydroelectric pump and uses the pure spring water for drinking, bathing, clothes washing, and his own electricity?). However, this pool wasn’t really a pool so much as it was an area of the river where the current slowed slightly and the rocks weren’t too sharp. Much to my shock, Maximo happily threw himself off the edge of the trail and into the river. I swear, the man might be about 68, but he lives like he’s 17.  We spent a good half and hour jumping in to the river and letting the current carry us downstream, and then climbing back up again. Although the kids were wearing lifejackets, my lifeguarding face was on. Everyone got thoroughly chilled, and then we headed back to the farm, following Maximo and his ever-swinging machete.

After dinner, while Jake and I were playing some mystery card game with his siblings, Maximo pulled a stool up to the table.

“Do you two drink?” Maximo asked us in his mumbly old man Spanish. We looked at each other and slowly nodded. He raised his eyebrows, “Do you want to sleep well tonight?” Both of us nodded emphatically. Maximo smiled, pulled out a bottle of Rum, and three Dixie cups. He then proceeded to pour the three biggest traigos that I’ve ever seen in my life. Instead of registering the look on my face as shock at the magnitude of the shots, Maximo jumped up (“oh, naranjas!”), grabbed an orange from the bag we had picked that afternoon, and put a slice next to each Dixie cup. He cheers-ed Jake and I, and swallowed the entire thing in one gulp. Jake and I looked at each other, and back at our Dixie cups apprehensively.

We took our medicine, sucked every drop of juice out of those oranges, and after a few more rounds of cards, slept like babies!

The next morning we packed up our stuff after breakfast, and headed out. Catalina and I rode Paloma, Jose Pablo took “his” horse Chipopo, and Jake grabbed Materia. Riding with that little peanut made me think of all the times I rode in a saddle with you, Auntie Jean. I have met so many people that are afraid of horses because of some scarring experience when they were little, and I always feel so bad for them. I think too bad they never had someone like my Aunt Jean! I don’t think I could ever thank you enough for giving me such positive experiences with horses from a young age.

After an hour or so Materia was getting real feisty, the path was clear, so Jake gave Materia a little more rein. That was the only signal the little horse needed to take off! They went flying down the path and disappeared. Not 15 seconds later I heard a “oh SHIT!” coming from up the trail. I immediately pictured Jake thrown from his horse, dangling in a tree by his backpack strap (pretty sure that worst-case-scenario imagery came from you Mother dear…)
I nudged Paloma into a trot and called for Jake. No response. Obviously that sent the Joan-imagination in me into overdrive. Just as I was about to call out again, Jake and Materia came around the corner at a gallop, fully intact. But before I could breathe a sigh of relief, Materia put on the brakes and Jake…well Jake didn’t. He went over Materia’s head and on to the ground. Not fazed in the slightest, Jake brushed himself off, “I saw a jaguar! I saw one I swear!” Materia shook her head at him and trotted away. I barely understood Jake’s story (he was speaking Spanglish, for the benefit of his siblings) but apparently he and Materia had been going along at a nice clip, when all of a sudden a jaguar crossed their path! This was the point at which Jake had yelled. Then Materia had wheeled around and took off back towards our group. After calming down Catalina, who was then convinced that we were all going to get eaten by the jaguar, we began started again. Jake took off at a jog, hoping to catch up with Materia. Luckily for him, Maximo had taken his 4-wheeler on some unknown back road, and was waiting just up the trail with Materia. Maximo was convinced that it couldn’t have been a jaguar—there isn’t enough preserved land at Rancho an Giraldo to make up one male jaguar’s territory—and told us it was probably a manigordo. Catalina scrambled down from Paloma and situated herself on the 4-wheeler, convinced that she was safer on a machine, and we all continued our walk out of the woods.

When I got dropped off at my house my host family just laughed. I imagine I was a pretty comical sight covered in mud and bug spray! My host mom passed me a towel and teasingly made a face, which I’m pretty sure is “get yourself in the shower pronto” in any language.  After a life changing shower, I told my family all about the jaguar/manigordo. They seemed skeptical, but that may have been because of my translation skills…

Little of This, a Little of That

So after a week of living with my host family, Halloween arrived. Our academic director, Alan is in a locally famous band here called Chanchos de Monte and the Chanchos always put on a Halloween show! All of us reunited at our beloved station, pulled together some costumes, and headed to the local gringo bar—La Taberna—for a night of hilarity. 

The next day I spent watching Halloween movies on TV and bonding with my host cousin Katerine over boys. Man that girl has some man drama! I learned from here that Costa Rican boys are “different” than American boys, “they’ll fall in love with you at night, and never call you in the morning.” I tried to explain that boys are like that everywhere, but it didn’t really translate—she has a very high opinion of you American boys. The movies we watched were from the US and not actually about Halloween, like that 4^th or 5^th version of Bring It On with Hayden Panetierre and Rihanna. I hadn’t ever really given the movie much thought, until my host mom and cousin were like “are girls in the U.S. really like that? With the cheerleaders and sex and stuff?” I think I managed to salvage the reputation of American girls everywhere and tell my family that the Bring It On series is not a fair representation, but who knows. My conversational Spanish is coming a long nicely, but my please-don’t-judge-Americans-by-Hollywood-standards translation has a long way to go…

On Monday I had another day of class. Due to difficulties at the breakfast table (at first I thought that watching TV and eating was just a difficult activity for a 5yr old…sound familiar Dad? But it turns out Chris is just superb at stalling) we were running late, so the 4-wheeler ride was nuts. I thought we were going to tip over at least 5 times. Thankfully, Cristobál had the steering under control (don’t worry Mom, he’s an excellent driver), so I arrived at Ecotourism Day with my classmates safe and sound. After a quick (read: excruciatingly long) lecture, we headed out in the community to learn from a business owner, a farmer, and some park rangers, about their perspectives on how the boom in tourism has affected life in Monteverde. We also got to talk to Kathy’s (our mom of sorts while we’re here) mother, Mary Rockwell, about her experiences in Monteverde. Man, she is the coolest lady! As a freshly married 18 year old Quaker girl, she, her husband, and a group of about 40 other Quakers decided to leave the United States to escape the then peace time draft (they left “while all that Vietnam business was still brewing”) and because they felt it unjust that so much of their tax money was supporting the military. Ranging from 2 to 60 years old, the group decided to settle in the military-free country of Costa Rica. They spent the first year living “here, there, and yonder” around San Jose, searching for a place to begin dairy farming. After about a year, and then approximately 3-4months pregnant, Mary and the group moved out to the yet-to-be-settled land that they would call Monteverde (literally “green mountain”). Moving their precious few belongings out to “clear off out the way” (read: Monteverde) by ox cart, over rocky trails and “roads” of mud up to their knees, the group slowly settled in. Truly a modern pioneer, this woman is amazing (Ellie you would have been obsessed with her, minus the whole pacifist thing). She started raising her family (which grew to 8 children) in a tent, helped found this place where I now live, and brought a new industry—dairy—to a land formerly without any real source of income. She seemed happy that the tourism industry had brought a greater success to the Cheese Factory, but fondly reminisced on the days when crime and drugs were non-existent here, and family was truly the most important thing.

I’m not sure how many years back, but the community of Cañitas raised money and put in a synthetic soccer field around the bend from my house. My family doesn’t go much, but it seems like somebody in everyone else’s host family is involved in La Sintética. My friend Laura’s host mom is on a team with all her sisters in a local women’s league, so last Wednesday, Laura organized a scrimmage between the two teams. It was so much fun! On the way to the field I ran in to my cousin, who was on her way to a salsa/merengue class and asked if she wanted to come. Immediately she abandoned all thoughts of dance class, and headed to the field with us (Laura I think you’d like her a lot). Team Gringa (plus Katy) looked pretty comical playing in hiking boots, but I think we did pretty well! I’m not sure if anyone kept score, but I think we gave Team Tica a run for their money! That night Katy invited me to go to her English night course, which I happily attended on Thursday.

Taught by a retired Chicago banker with pretty much no Spanish knowledge (he’s now a peace corps volunteer) the class was really eye opening, and kind of frustrating. It was fascinating to watch other people learn a language that I am so comfortable with, and so fun to see how happy they were when something “clicked.” Unfortunately, the teacher was teaching these poor Costa Ricans to speak English with a silly Chicagoan accent (sorry Craze, Kate, Pauline…and any others I may have just offended) and he had no understanding of how to dissect a language to teach it to others. He focused his class on pronunciation, and completely neglected to explain possessives, basic sentence structure, and a bunch of other things he seemed to assume that his students knew. I didn’t share any of my opinions with Katy, and she still attends the weekly class, but we have our own lessons after dinner. The whole family gets involved, and we trade Spanish vocabulary for English conjugations and sentence structure. Last night, amid much laughter, we had a crucial lesson: Words with which You Need to be Careful. One of my professors taught us the Spanish half of this lesson after a little guaro in Peñas Blancas, so I just taught the English half to my family. We practiced “beach” and “sheet,” as well as “ship” and “fork” (If you can think of any others, let me know!)

Friday was another long day of class, followed by a dinner at our director Alan’s house. Burgers were flying off the grill, the cooler was stocked, and chips and salsa were passed around. Alan has two white west highland white terrier puppies, whom with I immediately bonded, and all of us dog lovers got our snuggle fill. 

At some point in the night, long after the food was demolished, we were all lounging on Alan’s wrap around porch and somehow it became story time. Story time quickly evolved (devolved?) in to poop story-sharing time, and we howled with laughter as the story topping ensued. Constipation was out done by diarrhea, which was put to shame by traveler’s diarrhea. I almost won with my pooping in the woods story, but was out shone by a truly (bowel) moving tale…one which I am not allowed to share here. After all, what happens on Alan’s porch stays on Alan’s porch.