Picky Eaters

Working with children poses a whole slew of problems which other jobs don't face. Some things that I deal with on a daily or weekly basis are homesickness, immaturity, and my least favorite picky eaters. While in Benin the kids are great, working girls camp was all the good parts of being a camp counselor, missing all the bad parts. The girls listened intently, rarely did we have to repeat ourselves, they would clean up after themselves and also they would eat the things that were served to them, without so much as making a face at it.

I was sitting at a table with some kids. There were 8 children and just me as an instructor. Not really a big deal, this is normal. We all go up for dinner. The chef likes to try new things, today the thing he wanted to try out was korean bbq. Great for adults, but american children were a little hesitant. There were other things on the menu such as salad, rice and corn, asparagus, and potatoes. A balanced meal. Everyone came back to the table, maybe with plates less full than pasta night, but at least they had something. I look to my left and the girl next to me had nothing, not even a plate. This is the conversation that then occurred:

Me: Why didn't you get any food?

Girl: I didn't see anything that I liked up there.

Me: Can you please go get something. You won't eat again until breakfast, and I don't want you to be hungry in the middle of the night, because there's nothing we can do for you then.

Girl: No, I'm not hungry anyway.

Me: Why don't you just take a little bit of a few things, maybe you'll like something.

Girl: I'm really OK thanks.

During this time other kids at the table told her that the food was really good and that they thought she might like the rice, the salad....

Me: How about you go jump in line again and get one thing.

Girl: No thanks.

Me: Its not really a request. Go get something.

The girl goes up to the line and comes back with the korean steak. I looked at that, and knew she was trying to set herself up for failure by choosing the thing that was the weirdest to her. I smiled at her, and sat back and ate. She poked, prodded, scraped, flipped over, and in all ways throughly inspected her food.

Me: Is it polite to play with our food?

Girl: No

Me: OK just checking.

She continued to play with her food.

Me: You know, I'd prefer you'd eat it rather than play with it.

30 minutes later and 2 more times of telling her to not play with it and eat it instead. I got up and got her a knife (in order to save on water usage they only give our forks and cups instead of knifes and spoons as well). I put it down next to her.

Me: Does the steak seem like a good consistency?

Girl: Yea

Me: Is it pretty thin?

Girl: Yea

Me: Have you throughly inspected the spices on it?

Girl: Yea

Me: You've looked at both sides?

Girl: Yea

Me: OK now that you know all that I'm tired of asking you to stop playing with your food, and it is now time to eat, I brought you this knife so that you could cut it up into small pieces.

She looked at me worried, but I didn't falter. She then slowly cut off the smallest bite. She had it on her fork and began to cry a little. I told everyone else to look another way. She had people encouraging her and telling her that it wasn't bad, her friends were supporting her. Finally I said, "Ok we're going to look away and you need to take your first bite." Keep in mind this is 45 minutes into dinner.

I watched out of the corner of my eye as she at the smallest bite through tears, off the smallest piece she had cut. I wanted to make sure she wasn't going to put it on the floor. She dried her tears and I watched as she had another bite. I asked what she thought of it.

Girl: It's weird.

Me: Can you eat it?

Girl: Yes.

She ate the steak and because she finished she did end up getting desert, which I think was the driving force in her finishing her food.

I get picky eaters, I was once one of the pickiest eaters ever. But this girl was over the top.

To Move or not To Move?

I've been grappling with this question for the last couple of days. As a drifter, I feel the need to explore different areas of the world, try new things and generally learn to be comfortable somewhere else. Being a seasonal employee is perfect for me, I go one place than in about 6 months to a year I'm ready to move on and my job is over. I pack up my car (or my backpack in some cases) and head on down the road to whatever life i'm going to lead next. The world that describes me is a drifter. When I'm not drifting I'm dreaming of where I'm going to drift to next.

Of course living this life there is a lack of security. Questions such as what is my permanent address? and weather or not I'm a citizen of one state verses another is always a problem. The biggest problem is not knowing where I'm going next. In this job market the field is highly competitive and I have friends who are my field who have applied to 15 or so jobs and heard back from 2, keep in mind just heard back, not received offers. This is a lot of energy to put forth all the time. A good job search takes about 3 months for all applications, resume tweaking, and cover letter revisions. Then you have to set up phone interviews on your time off, gather your references (by the way thank you so much to my references you guys are amazing!), and do your research with each company all while the end date of your current job looms over your head. It's stressful and exhausting.

Since about 6 months before leaving Benin until now I feel like I've been on a constant job search. So I'm considering just staying. I like it here, I've only been here for a few weeks so I don't feel like I've gotten to explore the area, and I don't want to go through another job search. I'd like a break. I'm tired of sending out my resume, tired of annoying my references, and tired of the unknown. I'm not saying that I'm ready to settle down, I'm just not ready to so quickly jump into a completely new everything.

To move or not to move? I have a few choices, I could stay here in southern California for another year, job search for another job, or live with family/ friends and get some sort menial waitressing job or something. I think my best choice, while it goes against my normally adventurous spirit, is to come back for the year and gain more experience before moving on to the next whatever it may be.

First Week

When I was hired for this job I wasn't real sure why they were hiring me. Frankly, by the time I had been flown out, trained and settled in, it would be time to leave. I'm happy that I was invited to work the month of May and 1st week of June but at the same time I also was apprehensive about it. Were their expectations too high for me? I'd never done a job like this before, sure I'd worked as a camp counselor but not as an educator.

My training when I arrived was less than traditional. All the other staff members had gotten into the 'groove' and worked well together, each having their own strengths, which equally compensated for others weaknesses. They knew their jobs, and they did them well. But yet here was I, completely green, a new cog in an already well broken in machine. I shadowed for two weeks watching and learning with students, focusing on class management skills, information passed, teaching techniques and time management. I received very little one on one time with the boss/ supervisor. I learned by observation and participation in classes. I preferred this better than sitting in a room all day being talked at.

So my first week of classes came about. I prepared as much as I could, but really how much can you prepare for something you've never done before? The most amount of learning takes place in the trial and error. If you did everything right the first time you wouldn't ever really learn much. As the kids got off the bus I shrugged and figured, I would either be alright or I wouldn't. I decided that I would be alright, and if I wasn't than there was always tomorrow to start again new. I wasn't worried. And while I did have some stumbles along the way, there was definitely room for improvement and I found some flaws in my teaching strategies I made it through. Knowing that was going to be the worst week of teaching I ever had, it wasn't that bad. The only way I can go from here is up!

Joshua Tree and Me

The number one thing that I wanted to do while living in Southern California is go to Joshua Tree National Park. When I flew in I road into where I was working with some of my co-workers. I had found out that they had gone camping Joshua Tree that last weekend before I arrived. I was jealous and disappointed that I wasn't there to join them. I was then quickly reassured that I would get the chance to go, 'We can go again'.

I then met a new friend while working here, my first night. I told her that I was going backpacking with teenagers, she was doing the same this summer and fall. We made a plan to go backpacking as much as possible to train for our summer programs. The first place we decided to go was Joshua Tree. two weekends later, there we were. Me, and three of my new friends got our packs on our backs and went into the desert.

I have never been to the desert. Before coming I assumed it would a barren and lifeless place, although the desert that was directly north of me in Benin was the Sahara, which is pretty much barren and lifeless, not sure what I expected to see in Joshua Tree, other than Joshua Trees. When I arrived I found that there were numerous cacti, small flowering plants, lizards, and even though we didn't see them rattle snakes and kangaroo rats that lived in the park.

In Joshua Tree you need a permit to camp and a parking pass ($15). Once we got our permit and pass from the visitor center we were in. We were recommended to take another trail when we arrived because the trail we had initially chosen was on a back road that was in need of some repair, a little bit more rugged than what our car could take. We passed all kinds of people using the park. The range was huge, there were those who drove through with air conditioning on the whole time, and then there were backpackers and rock climbers who were going to spend the day in the sun, sweating, and enjoying the inside of the park.

We stopped our car at the trail head and registered. We then ate some lunch as it was noon and there was no reason to start hiking in the beginning part of the heat of the day. There was a gentle breeze blowing across the desert, Joshua Trees dotted the landscape of short and scrubby looking vegetation. We ate our hummus wraps dreaming of what lay ahead. The landscape was flat except for rock formations that looked like they had been piled up by giants. In order to back country camp in Joshua Tree you have to be at least a mile from any road and 500 ft from the trail. This minimizes the impact of campers on the park. If everyone were to camp right next to the trail the same people would more than likely use the same spots over and over again, where as if previous campsites are harder to find less people will be camping the same locations. We hiked in a mile and half and dropped our packs. I realize this isn't very far but I can explain. While talking to the rangers we decided to take the Willow Hole Trail that led us through a day use area. Bighorn sheep were active at night and so the park had designated that no camping take place in amongst the rocks where they live. We were told also that the landscape changed quite a bit on Willow Hole. Willow Hole broke off from The Boy Scout Trail at 1 mile. The Boy Scout trail had begun at our parking lot and camping to the west of the Boy Scout Trail was a place we were allowed to be. There was no reason for us to continue down the Boy Scout Trail as the park rangers said that everything we would want to see was on Willow Hole. So we dropped our packs 1.5 miles from the road and 500ft west of the trail. We set up camp.

We all quickly realized why gators might have been something that was good to have. I have questioned the use to gators for a long time thinking that maybe like thick sleeping pads they were things that people used to keep their boots from getting sopping wet. This is nice, but wet boots aren't going to kill you. Now the desert everything is clinging to life so hard that it doesn't care if it hurts you, in fact that's the point. If it hurts you 1st there's less chance that you will hurt it or kill it. So in looking at the picture I posted, everything is growing has thorns, prickly bits or uses your socks to spread their seeds. The amount of prickly things stuck in my pants, socks, boots and legs was a bit amazing. Gators would have been helpful to keep the prickly bits out. You couldn't sit down without having to mash down the plants first because you would then have things in your butt. The prickly bits even went through the footprint, and bottoms of our tents!
We then got back on Willow Hole Trail. I could see how Bighorn Sheep could live in a place like Joshua Tree. The hills of solid rock, all piled together and vegetation in the crevasses, looked rather perfect for sheep. We hiked until the trail ran out at a spring. The only trees and grasses we found were at this place. Common Yucca/ Our Lords Candles were in bloom. They send out these huge spikes where the flowers come off. They kind of look like white Pine Trees growing out of a ball of green spike. They would grow in between the rocks, and stick out in odd places.
Total that day we hiked 7 miles when we returned to our camp site. Not bad for a hiking day we started in the afternoon. That night we camped and ate pasta sides from communal pots. The moon was so bright that it cast shadows across the desert. The wind began to blow hard from the west, coming down from San Gorgonio. I was wearing a sweatshirt, and rain jacket and I was a little chilly. I went to bed in a 40 degree sleeping bag, which I was fine in but I might have liked some long underwear bottoms. The wind hit our tent all night long. I went to bed under the full moon. A friend woke us all up at 4:30. The moon had set, it was a clear night, in the middle the desert, one of the best places to view stars in all of the United States. Only when the power was out in Benin and when I was on Safari did I see stars so amazing. The Milky Way looked as if it were painted across the sky rather than an afterthought in most light polluted places. Just to see the stars like that made the whole trip that was much better.

Leaving that morning we all left with a sense of peace in our hearts. I know it sounds corny but I cant explain it any other way, we were experiencing a full body and soul kind of happiness not the kind of happy where you laugh for a long time and then don't find it funny anymore, but the really content sustained peaceful kind of happiness that emanates from your very being. We had recharged our emotional batteries and become closer as a result. Stripping your life down to what you carry on your back can be a very rewarding endeavor and to share that feeling with others is something that you remember for a long time to come.

Touring North Dakota

I'm here for a few days before I fly out to southern California. My dad and I decided that we were going to take a drive. He thought that I would like to see the ski area in the region. I looked around and didn't have much hope. 'Flat as a pancake' as my family would say. No hills. Very few trees. The only things that stuck out on the horizon were big industrial farms, every now and again a town would show up and you could stand on one end and see where it ended. Like I said, not a whole lot of hope.

So we drove 1.5 hours to the turn off from the interstate and saw the road we thought we were going to take lead straight into a lake. It was closed. To my right I could see a flooded cemetary, and cringed. We weren't going to go that way. So we went to the south and approached the mountain from there. As we got closer, I still was wondering where this ski area was. Then all of a sudden, hills. There's about 15 miles square of hills where a river has torn into a plateau. Pretty country full of wind bent trees and scrub brush. The ski area was just that, an area. Not really a resort, or even on a mountain. But it looked like it could be fun to someone who had never been on a mountain before. I checked ticket prices, $35 a day, compared to $81 which is what the going rate was at Okemo last season. Although you'd probably get to noon on the little ski area and have skied everything twice, maybe three times.

On our way back we went through some farm country. Saw lots of little towns in the middle of nowhere. Can't say that it's really pretty out here, actually looks a bit like a disaster area with all the flooding. Dad says that happens every year. Think of a foot to a foot and half deep lake as far as you can see, and then driving on and on and there being only small patches of ground. That's about what it felt like. Roads just ended, you could see houses under the water, trees standing in lakes. It's quite incredible actually. Although, today we woke up and there's a snow storm, so maybe instead of a giant lake its' turned into a giant ice skating rink!