17 days till Mexico.
wow.
no se si estoy lista...pero lista o no lista, aqui voy!
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Friday, December 4, 2009
Yep, It's time.
Okay, i admit it - there is something wonderful and magical about the first snow, especially when it just sneaks up on you from behind and in a matter of hours transforms the world from warm fall to mid winter. It's really pretty amazing. Walking to my car from class last night i caught snowflakes on my tounge and thought "yeah, i really don't hate snow. i kind of enjoy it." and i believed it, singing Christmas carols on the way home and enjoying the "light speed" effect through my windshield.
Then this morning i woke up and was still very much at peace with snow until I put on my coat and walked out the door and remembered. As snow cascaded past the top of my boots, i rounded the corner and saw that my car was under a snow mountain. the flashbacks began - digging cars out of snowbanks, getting stuck in the driveway, having to factor in an extra half hour just to make the car warm enough so you don't get frostbite while driving, gross grey slush roads, salt stained shoes and pants, wet socks, and hat hair. and to top it all off, there aren't snow days in college. So while my sister lounged around the house in her pj's, i sat on melted snow and drove to school.
So i feel i have now sucessfully completed my winter experience - i saw snow, felt snow, was amazed by snow, and then became thoroughly annoyed by snow. and thus i have completed the normal beginning of winter cycle and i can leave for Mexico without having to live through the next four months of snow shoveling.
ah, i am so ready to be covered in sand instead of ice, to deal with sand storms instead of blizards, and for the salt coating my body to have come from the sea, not a sidewalk. yes...33 days. can you believe it? i'm starting to...
Then this morning i woke up and was still very much at peace with snow until I put on my coat and walked out the door and remembered. As snow cascaded past the top of my boots, i rounded the corner and saw that my car was under a snow mountain. the flashbacks began - digging cars out of snowbanks, getting stuck in the driveway, having to factor in an extra half hour just to make the car warm enough so you don't get frostbite while driving, gross grey slush roads, salt stained shoes and pants, wet socks, and hat hair. and to top it all off, there aren't snow days in college. So while my sister lounged around the house in her pj's, i sat on melted snow and drove to school.
So i feel i have now sucessfully completed my winter experience - i saw snow, felt snow, was amazed by snow, and then became thoroughly annoyed by snow. and thus i have completed the normal beginning of winter cycle and i can leave for Mexico without having to live through the next four months of snow shoveling.
ah, i am so ready to be covered in sand instead of ice, to deal with sand storms instead of blizards, and for the salt coating my body to have come from the sea, not a sidewalk. yes...33 days. can you believe it? i'm starting to...
Monday, November 23, 2009
Faviidae, dichocoenia, montastrea, mycetophyllia, isophyllaster...i give up!
well, i have sucessfully crammed my brain full of 153 latin words and the combinations they go in to form the names of 51 species of coral. whew! now i just need to remember them...
next on the agenda, about 80-90 species of fish! at least i only need to know the common names of those suckers.
i am excited though, to report that i have been assigned to coral study for mexico! which means i'll be able to spend most of my time in my favorite diving stance: hovering upside down staring corals in the polyp! (similar to staring something in the face, but much more intense!) My family always teases me about how often they find me in that position during dives, just hovering face down, while they zip by after fish. My favorite is nighttime, because then everyone poofs up and comes alive! all of the Diploria (brain corals) who could easily pass for large boulders during the day reveal themselves as huge colonies of living, feeding organisms under the cover of night. all of their tentacles unfold and their mouths pucker up, drawing plankton into their guts and it's amazing.
all this to say that i am very much looking forward to hovering over corals every day for 10 weeks.
but sadly, instead of rambling on about the wonders of the reef, i must return to my cleaning. tis the season to clean, after all!
46 days.
next on the agenda, about 80-90 species of fish! at least i only need to know the common names of those suckers.
i am excited though, to report that i have been assigned to coral study for mexico! which means i'll be able to spend most of my time in my favorite diving stance: hovering upside down staring corals in the polyp! (similar to staring something in the face, but much more intense!) My family always teases me about how often they find me in that position during dives, just hovering face down, while they zip by after fish. My favorite is nighttime, because then everyone poofs up and comes alive! all of the Diploria (brain corals) who could easily pass for large boulders during the day reveal themselves as huge colonies of living, feeding organisms under the cover of night. all of their tentacles unfold and their mouths pucker up, drawing plankton into their guts and it's amazing.
all this to say that i am very much looking forward to hovering over corals every day for 10 weeks.
but sadly, instead of rambling on about the wonders of the reef, i must return to my cleaning. tis the season to clean, after all!
46 days.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
the journey is close at hand
As of last friday, I am 8 weeks away from begining my 6 months in Mahahual, Mexico. To make it even more real, today I recieved my training materials for coral surveys and TEFL.
I really can't believe it's so soon. It's still not quite real to me that i am going, it still feels like i'm in my 'stand back and plan' state, but really i'm in my 'pack up and go' state! So we're pricing wetsuits and finding mosquito nets and figuring out how much shampoo i'll need while i'm still amazed that in less than 8 weeks I will be getting on a plane and flying down to Mexico and not seeing anyone I know for 3 months.
Don't get me wrong, I'm unbelieveably excited.
I made a blog! that makes it pretty real....
Time to begin the countdown! 53 days until I leave! (wow)
I really can't believe it's so soon. It's still not quite real to me that i am going, it still feels like i'm in my 'stand back and plan' state, but really i'm in my 'pack up and go' state! So we're pricing wetsuits and finding mosquito nets and figuring out how much shampoo i'll need while i'm still amazed that in less than 8 weeks I will be getting on a plane and flying down to Mexico and not seeing anyone I know for 3 months.
Don't get me wrong, I'm unbelieveably excited.
I made a blog! that makes it pretty real....
Time to begin the countdown! 53 days until I leave! (wow)
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