One Month(ish)-iversary

Exactly four weeks ago I arrived at the Center for Marine Resource Studies on South Caicos. WOW. On the one hand, I feel like there's no way a whole month has gone by. On the other hand, Colby/Home/the U.S. of A. seems almost like something I made up. Like, snow? What is that? What do you mean normal people don't snorkel around collecting conch for class? Doesn't everybody have random stray dogs follow them around everywhere? And what is this "mainland" that you speak of?

But seriously, this past month has been incredible. I'm finally getting to do what I've always been wanting and aiming to do, and I sort of don't know how to handle it. Like, what do you do when you finally get to do the things you've always dreamed about doing? Explode?

So just to recap, in the past week I have:
-SCUBA dived with a shark (it swam right under me aaah!!!)
-snorkeled with eagle rays
-had a bonfire/camp-out on a beach
-saw multiple shooting stars at said beach
-recorded data from a beach clean-up (much more fun than it sounds, I promise)
-bonded with people over my love of Singin' in the Rain and Bill and Ted
-gone to bed by 11 every night
-swam next to a southern stingray that was almost as big as I was
-listened to whales sing from under the water

Can we just look at that list for a second? I'm pretty sure I've at a "serious face" level of happiness most of the time. You know, when you're so happy that you've moved past the smiling stage and just sort of sit there in shock. For the record, the other things that have made me this happy are on a pretty short list.

That's not to say that there hasn't been some adjustment. Never really being inside, as trivial as it sounds, takes some getting used to. I love it, but it disoriented me for the first week or so. And I miss fresh veggies! Thankfully the food boat is coming from Miami tomorrow, because right now we are STRUGGLING with food diversity. Probably the biggest thing has been getting used to is being with the same people, all the time. Don't get me wrong, they are all fabulous, it's just sort of weird to realize that no one else will be cycling through. Ever. Not like at camp, where you're working/living with the same people but the campers switch every week: there is no change. And I actually really like it! I enjoy being in a community this small, where you really get to know people, and are forced to rely on each other. And I enjoy the consistency. It's calming somehow (which is probably good, since I'm so psyched about everything all the time!).

People keep saying that you change while you're abroad. The staff at the center say that we've all changed since the first day we got here. I'm not so sure. I mean, we've all clearly gotten more comfortable and gotten to know each other better, but I'm not sure if we've changed. I think I'm still me, I'm just me getting to finally live and study in the environment that I want to. But I guess you all will have to tell me if I'm different when I get home! Because I can barely even tell if I'm getting more freckles.

WHEW that was less news filled than normal. And so retrospective. Well, I promise I won't do THAT again until at least another month goes by! So never fear, my usual spazzy posts will be back soon, and you can go back to laughing at my enthusiasm for all things marine.

The whole group! Plus some of the dogs.

Puppy Adventures

I'm sure many of you are wondering what is up with this puppy I keep posting about on Facebook. Well lucky you, because here is the whole story! First, a little background:

In TCI there are a lot of stray/feral dogs. They are called "potcakes," and they are their own special breed of mutt. We see them all over the island, and there are four who hang out by the center and walk with us through town (which can sometimes be a problem, because they try to protect us from everyone we see!). Obviously the stray dogs lead to stray puppies, who either just grow up in the "wild" or are taken to a shelter and adopted by families outside of TCI.

On Saturday night one of the girls on my trip found a puppy. She came home and told us all about it, but we all figured no one would ever see it again. A couple people went back the next morning to look for her, and she was still there! They asked around, and determined no one owned her. After playing with her for about an hour, she "followed them home" (or at least, that's the story we told the center director!). Christened "Nugget," the 6-8 week old puppy took up residence outside our front gate, with the strict rule that she would not be allowed inside. Here she is:

Unsurprisingly, we all started spending all of our time on the front steps so we could play with Nugget. Because she is the cutest puppy I have ever seen in my life. We gave her a big cardboard box with a towel inside, some water, and some dinner, and then left her outside for the night. Where she promptly howled and cried, keeping everyone awake and eventually escaping her box and sneaking inside. Did I mention that potcakes are wicked smart?

It was determined that we could move her box inside the center, since she's so little and the other dogs were harassing her. So we gave her a bath (which she HATED) and brought her inside. We knew we couldn't keep her, due to center rules and the fact that no one is around consistently enough to actually take care of a puppy, so one of the staff contacted Potcake Place, a potcake adoption center on Provo. So we'll send her to Provo where she'll get all her shots, and then she'll stay there a month until she's old enough to be adopted.

After a long Facebook campaign, it was determined that my family actually already HAS a dog and a cat, and we could not take in a stray potcake. Luckily, one of the other girls on the program sent the info to her parents, since they were already looking for a new dog. They Skyped last night (Nugget was present as well, obviously), and they said yes! So Nuggs is going to live a wonderful life in upstate New York, and we are all so happy!

Nugget will have to leave us tomorrow, and the center will seem very lonely without a small puppy running around our feet and sleeping in hammocks with us all the time. But she's going to get nice and healthy, and have a much better life than she would have here. We'll miss you Nuggs!

Lists of Little Things

Wow I'm posting so frequently...is that a good thing or a bad thing? Whatever. Well, I know you've all been anxiously waiting my next update for the last three days, so here it is:

I've decided that there are a lot of wonderful things about this trip that I have neglected to mention, because they are not flashy enough to warrant a post all to themselves. Which seems unfair to them, since I enjoy these little things nearly every day. So I decided to list them here, and hopefully you will all get a better idea of what day to day life at the Center for Marine Resource Studies is like:


THE LIST:
1. Honey Nut Cheerios at breakfast. I love those things.
2. I can go to class barefoot
3. I can give group presentations barefoot
4. I can go to meals barefoot
5. BAREFOOT ALL THE TIME!
6. There are four dogs that live around the center and follow us around, and they are wonderful
7. My mosquito net makes me feel like I'm sleeping the canopy bed 9-year-old me always wanted
8. Foosball table
9. Egyptian Ratscrew (except no red 10s, so I look like I have a twitch every time one is played)
10. People play dominos at the local bars
11. Dominos is awesome
12. The sea wall is lined with conch shells
13. There are two cannons next to the pool
14. HAMMOCK NAPS
15. Perfect sunsets every night
16. Lots of hemp for cool sea glass necklaces
17. Everyone here likes Mumford & Sons
18. Comfortable breeze pretty much all day
19. I haven't gotten sunburned!
20. Murals on the walls
21. The houses in town are often painted bright colors
22. Everyone says hi to each other, whether you know them or not
23. I can do homework while staring at the ocean
24. My lab practicals are snorkeling trips
25. Delicious baked good for snack every day at 4


I think that covers it for now, I may start keeping a running list in my journal if I think of any more. Also I'm going to take more pictures soon, and hopefully post them. Or I'll just steal pictures from other people because they have better cameras than me...

Jingle Bells, Batman Smells, Children are INSANE

So as a change of pace, I figured I'd tell you all about our community outreach projects, instead of continuing to just talk about fish...

On Saturday we had our first day of community cutreach at the center, where we invite the kids of Cockburn Harbor over for swimming lessons. They were so excited that they started lining up outside the gates an hour before the lessons started! Since only a few kids can be in the pool at a time, those of us who weren't teaching had to keep the rest of them occupied. I worked at the crafts table, and helped kids make Valentines and tissue paper flowers. This description probably makes it all sound more structured than it was, we basically just had thirty or so kids under the age of 13 running all over the center. Favorite quotes from that afternoon:

"DEER live near you? I thought they weren't real!!!!!!!!" -after asking me what animals live near my house

"You can see the veins in your arms! You're an ALIEN!" -after tracing the blue veins in my arm and trying to count my freckles

Yesterday we all went into the local schools, and I went to a kindergarten class to read stories. Never will I say that the kids I substitute for are crazy again. There were only twelve kids in the class, but it felt like at least 50. From the moment we walked in it was a stead stream of yelling, pushing, grabbing, hitting, and crying. We finally just took them outside and let them play on the playground, where at least the open space made them seem a little quieter! That being said, they really were adorable. When the teacher opened the door they all came running over and hugged us, and sat in out laps as we (attempted) to read them stories. I learned that long hair is magic wherever you go, and the little girls began to put little braids all over my head and declared they were a "saloon." We also sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Jingle Bells about 50,000 times, accompanied by very enthusiastic drumming. Apparently Jingle Bells never goes out of style, even in February. As exhausted as I was by the end, I still can't wait to go back next week. Especially now that I know what to expect!

On an unrelated note, I've been declared "close enough" to be a ginger. I'm kind of psyched about it.

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAALE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

GUYS I SAW A HUMPBACK WHALE ON MY DIVE TODAY. AN HONEST TO GOODNESS WHALE. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH.

But seriously you guys. I got ready for my dive this morning, pretty psyched because TCI is always amazing. We got all our gear, got in the boat, and set out for The Arch: a dive site featuring, unsurprisingly, a coral arch. The first part of the dive was great, lots of cool fish, relaxing and peaceful. We knew whales were in the area, but we thought they were much farther out. Since sound travels so well underwater we could hear them if we were quiet, but we were mostly focusing on the fish.

Suddenly one of the guys in my group started freaking out, and we all turned to look where he was pointing. At first I was looking too close, looking for a barracuda or a shark or something, and then I saw this white outline farther away in the water. At first I couldn't figure out what it was, but then I started thinking, "Wow, that really looks like the flipper of a whale!" Then our dive master started freaking out and screaming underwater, and we all started freaking out, and it was a WHALE!!!

We basically screamed for the entire boat ride back, just shouting about whales. We saw them spout a couple of times on our way back, and the intern who was boat-sitting while we were down there saw two of them breaching. When we got back to the dock no one believed us at first, but then they were just super jealous.

BECAUSE WE SAW A FREAKING WHALE.

In case you forgot what a whale looks like. This picture is from the internet.

Magical Mystery Tour

Oh, you thought that title was a joke? Well it isn't. More on that later, but first...

We started out the morning with a dive at 8:30 (and yes all you skeptics I even made it to breakfast at 7:00), which was amazing. Of course. We were all much more comfortable in the water than the first time, and were really able to enjoy the reef. When we first got down to the bottom (about 45-50 feet), two barracuda swam over and slowly circled us, staring at our shiny air tanks with their grumpy faces. Apparently barracuda are sort of like magpies in that they like shiny things, so they are always fascinated by divers. Then we got to swim around the "Fish Bowl," which is basically exactly what it sounds like: a ring of coral filled with fish! So that was fabulous.

Usually Wednesday would be the day that we go work in the local schools, but they aren't ready for us yet so we went on the aforementioned Magical Mystery Tour, or MMT. And yes, that is actually what it was called. We got into small groups, and went on a sort of scavenger hunt around Cockburn Harbor (pronounced "Coburn"), talking to "Belongers" (locals) and learning more about where we live. One of the other guys in my group and I finally succeeded in befriending an island cat, and the other member of our group started calling us the "cat whisperers." Then we ran into what felt like every kid on the island as they got out of school. I had talked to one 9-year-old girl in the group before, and she came running over saying "Do you remember me? Do you remember me?" and then she grabbed onto my hand and started showing me to all of her friends! They were all great kids, and thrilled that we will be starting up swimming lessons at the center again on Saturday. A couple of the younger girls pinched my cheeks and poked the freckles on my arm as they talked, and they all wanted to feel my hair. Finally they all remembered that they had to get home, and we continued with our MMT. On our way back to the center we found a wild horse, but it did not want to make friends, even though we offered it grass. Apparently the grass growing by the side of the road was better.

This evening we were treated with a demonstration on how to "knock conch," or take the creature out of the shell to clean it and cook it (although the cooking part is optional!). And these conchs are huge, as you can see:

The conchs all ready to be knocked

Cutting the conch free from its shell

Still safe and sound...

Outside in the big world! 

Ryan and Hannah learned how to knock conchs

Hannah had a little trouble...

In the bowl, ready to be made into conch fritters. So delicious!

So conchs all around, a presentation tomorrow, a lab practical on Friday, and our first day of community outreach on Saturday! Exciting stuff people, exciting stuff.

"It's a whole nother world down there..."

Colby fam, that use of "whole nother" was for you. I hope you appreciated it.

But anyway, the title of this blog just became even more accurate because nothing is closer to flying than SCUBA diving on a coral reef. I just got back from my first real dive, complete with buddies and decompression stops an everything. And I'm still alive! I can't believe I get to do this around twice a week for the rest of the semester.

We were tested on our diving skills in the pool the other day, and were then put into small groups of mixed skill levels. I'm with four other students and one intern. Pretty sure I'm one of the less experienced haha...But still, it was awesome. My wetsuit is so thick that I have to wear an extra 22 lbs of weight, which is sort of ridiculous, but it doesn't feel like anything underwater. Transporting the gear to and from the boat though, that's a bit of a pain.

Underwater it's so peaceful, and everything is so beautiful. I understand now why seeing a shark won't be scary when it happens. It's hard to explain, but somehow you feel like you're all on the same side down there (don't worry, I won't be so happy go lucky that I'll do something stupid!). We didn't see any large animals today, but we saw gorgeous coral and millions of colorful fish. Here are some pictures (that I found on the internet because I don't have an underwater camera) of the species that we saw:

Blue headed wrasse

French angelfish

Fan coral

Staghorn coral

Stoplight parrotfish

Yesterday we had our first ID slideshow on all of the species we will have to know for the mangrove habitat. Except the lab practical for this will be in the field! The interns will point at a species and we have to write the latin name on our dive slates. My head is so full of latin right now it's ridiculous. We had six lectures yesterday, and a talk from a guy who runs an eco-tourism business on Provo. So all of our brains are fried, but full of knowledge!

This afternoon we'll be talking about what we'll be doing for community involvement, which will start next Saturday. Every time we go into town all the little kids run up to us asking when we'll start having swim lessons at the center again. They are so cute, and I can't wait! We're also going to be doing beach clean-ups, teaching ESL classes, and helping out in the schools. So more on that later, I'll let you all get back to your lives now.

Also, 30 Rock reference in the title anyone?

Come see where I live! (a.k.a. PICTURES!)

Pictures everyone! Now you can see what I was trying to describe yesterday. After this I probably won't be able to post much, since I'll have projects and activities and ocean adventures, but keep on the lookout! I'll try to keep you all updated. 

My room! My bunk is the top one on the right.

The view from our door. It's a tough life. 

The girls' wing

The water catchment: this is where we collect all of our freshwater from when it rains.

The pool and the OCEAN!

Lovely hammocks

The "dining hall"

The board: it tells us everything. 

The view from the front of the center, looking out into town

The most adorable library of all time. I need to get a library card. 

Queen Elizabeth came here for 20 minutes! "Thank you for being here today." 

The post office/bank: the bank part is only open from 11-2 on Wednesdays!

Exploring

The only hotel on the island

Miss Mae's House: the governor's wife used to live here, but now it's abandoned and falling down

Miss Mae in the sunset

Feeling artsy, you know. (That's the moon, by the way)

Sunset. Perfection. 

Ta ta for now!