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!