'Lodging and Reservations, Melissa Speaking'

So my current desk job is a far cry from living on a glacier, hiking in Yellowstone or outdoor education but it is a job. It works perfectly in my schedule. Just because it's not the ideal job for me doesn't mean I can't go work everyday, make a few dollars and go home.

Here is my rant about jobs:
There are people in this world who do try day after day to find work and can't. This rant is not for these people. This rant is for the college grads who can't find work because they think it's somehow below them to clean a toilet, flip a burger, or run a cash register. I have heard many of my friends from high school say 'oh I can't find work.... It's impossible....' when they live in areas of world that I KNOW contain a Starbucks on every street, a McDonalds on every corner and about 4 hotels in the span on 5 miles. Suck it up, and apply. I realize that college is a lot of money, and when you just paid $80,000 for your education cleaning up vomit may not be exactly what you were envisioning. However, it does not mean that the bills stop coming. Maybe you were lucky enough to have mom and dad pay for college, and don't have student loans, that's great. I always have my jobs lined up. I've never been in a situation where I was jobless. I have to work at it, but I do find work, and I move to it when I find it. If that means mopping a floor, asking someone if they want a refill on their coffee or taking condo reservations over the phone, then so be it. I don't have to go into default on my student loans because of it.

Switching Gears

The winter begins... my slow season. The time of the year where I don't actually have to work more than 12 hours a day and live where I work. The best thing: I go to work. I work. Then I leave after 8 hours. It's great. I realize this is what the vast majority of the people who live in the United States do, but it is not what I do most of the year. In the fall I wake up and I'm at breakfast by 8am and then I'm done with my day by 9:30, sometimes 10. I love what I do, teaching children about the woods is one thing that I am passionate about. After working hard all spring, summer (in Alaska) and fall I'm ready for the 9-5 office job. Best perk it comes with a seasons pass.

However, I'm coming to realize that working at the ski mountain is not something that I can continue to do every single winter for the rest of my life. You may laugh but when I was 15 I had a nightmare that I never wanted to be realized. My nightmare takes place when I'm 30, I wake up I'm in a grungy apartment living in Ludlow I work at the mountain and the most expensive thing I own is my ski gear. I'm dangerously close to making that nightmare a reality. I've decided that this has to be my last season working at the mountain. I would even feel better working at another ski mountain, I just can't continue to live and work in the same town I attended high school. So while unfortunately this is my last season, I'm going to make it a good one.

Leaving New Hampshire

Once again it is that time to leave New Hampshire and working with children doing outdoor environmental education. I really do love working with children in nature, it reminds me of why I'm an environmentalist in the first place. To inspire wonder about the natural world in my students is my main goal while working here. For others it might be team building and anti-bullying, but for me it's getting kids excited about nature. Which is no easy task. It takes time to develop a relationship with anything, be it caves or computers. Children are more and more being encouraged by their parents to stay inside. Many reasons are valid, if you are in an urban area perhaps children running around in the streets isn't the best choice. But if you are in an area of the world which has forests and green spaces many children don't have access to those without their parents.

This is why the program I work at is important. It gives children access to nature and time to develop a connection. Children need nature, it's been scientifically proven that children with learning disabilities such as ADD, ADHD and social issues are more at home in nature. Often times teachers point out children who have disabilities as being challenges in their classroom only to be the best children in my field group. If a teacher hadn't said anything to me I would have never known that this child was having problems in school.

Thanksgiving Part 1

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. This year, much like Halloween, I'm doing it in parts so that I can celebrate with the most people that I can. 

My friend Jen and I were talking while driving around in my car the other day and I mentioned that it would be fun to do a pre- Thanksgiving meal with some of our friends that we work with. My very close friends in New Hampshire have all become a bit of family for me. So Jen and I began to plan, this was our first thanksgiving in which we were in charge. We got a list together, planned our meal and then went shopping. Everything was fine and then we were in the store and we looked at the chicken vs. turkey options and decided that chicken was going to be a more suitable sized chunk of meat for us. Then as we were walking around I asked Jen 

'Have you ever roasted a chicken before?' 

'no. have you?'

'no.' 

'huh, this is going to be fun' 

So after buying everything on the way back home I did what I always do when I have questions about cooking, called my mom. She explained about how long she thought it would take and to put tin foil over the top of the bird.... blah blah blah. As Jen and I cooked the next day we realized that this wasn't actually that bad. Everything turned out delicious! 

 Everyone got together drank some wine, talked, connected, and generally had a great time. The house was full at the end with positive energy from being with those you love and value. This I feel like is the spirit of the holidays. I'm glad we found it. This year I'm thankful for friends and family, and friends who have become family. 

Voting

When people start talking politics I usually turn and walk away. Political debate really doesn't interest me. I know what the candidates stand for and I feel that I've informed myself to make the best choice which lines up with my own values. However, election day is the one day which I do become excited about politics. 

There are places in the world where people do not get the opportunity to vote, or if they do their votes don't matter. Corruption and lies unfortunately goes hand in hand with politics. The guy low on the totem pole doesn't always get his voice heard. I'm not saying the the United States is free from this kind of controversy, but at least I feel safe to go to the polls, cast my ballot, chose the candidate I want and leave without having to look over my shoulder. The United States voting system is far from perfect but I feel that everyone should participate. 

Those who chose not to vote are giving up their right to chose their leader. Apathy with lead us nowhere. Be proactive and vote. 

Thunderstorms and Hurricanes

So this week our school canceled because of Hurricane Sandy, or Frankenstorm as I like to refer to it. It was too bad because the children who were coming would probably have been safer in New Hampshire than just outside Boston. about the only thing that happened here was a wetter than average storm and a little bit of wind. I was imagining the storm that rocked me and my group on Yellowstone Lake. Trees coming down every 5 minutes. No joke, this was a terrifying experience, to know that you are in the woods the only thing you have is a flimsy tent and live trees a foot in diameter are falling everywhere. You hear more trees fall than you see. A falling tree is a scary thing to watch, a 30 foot thing falling at its own will, blowing in the wind and bending in ways you didn't think possible, and then slamming into the ground. Most people prefer to think of nature as a calming nurturing place. But nature also has raw power that can make you feel very small and insignificant.

Hurricane Sandy was just another storm for us, for others in New York and Atlantic City it ruined and changed so much, I compare it to how Hurrican Irene reeked havoc on southern Vermont. But like I said, in New Hampshire nothing really did happen even though we prepared for this weather by battening down the hatches and making sure our warm sleeping bags were ready to go. I'm glad that we did that though, because right now as I write this there is a thunderstorm going on outside. I hadn't realized this until just before writing this but I haven't experienced a thunderstorm since last spring before I left Alaska. No thunderstorms on the glacier. Maybe it was the change in elevation from Small town Alaska to the glacier (4000 foot difference in a couple of miles.) that left us without thunderstorms. But right now there is a killer storm happening, a drenching rain and lightening hitting the lake about 15 feet from my door step. the kind of thunder that shakes your house and you can hear the lightening crackle in the air. (my computer is NOT plugged in by the way).

I love thunderstorms and realized that I have missed them. Glad that I got to see another before winter hit.

Step 1

Step 1: Touch the nature.

Many of you know that I work for an outdoor environmental education facility. Kids from ages 10 to 15 come and learn about nature. They get to take fun classes which focus on place based learning and hands on activities. For example an hour and a half class about Frisbee would talk about physics for about 30-40 minutes and then play ultimate Frisbee for the next hour. Now you might say, wow not a lot of learning goes on at this place. But the day starts at 8am and ends at 9pm. The educational pieces are interspersed throughout the day instead of happening only between 9am and 3pm. The children also come to this place and sleep there at night. Similar to a very educational summer camp, only for your schools classroom.

Children come from many different types of backgrounds, some are urban areas others are suburban, some children are less affluent than others. The one thing that they all have in common is that they are severely lacking in natural education. I was asked today by a 10 year old which tree was a pine tree. The biggest thing that can happen to these children while they are here is to know that nature is a place that has importance and should be valued.

The way that I first start my field group is I have the kids sit on the ground. Squatting is unacceptable, sitting on a jacket/ backpack is unacceptable as well as sitting on your feet. I will wait until everyone has their butt on the ground. Now when I was a kid and we were asked to sit in the grass at school everyone just did it, without thinking twice. But I suppose that not everyone grew up in rural Vermont. I tell the children that this is step one, touching the nature. It is often times sad to me how many children have never felt a tree, let alone played in the mud. Many times when I take children on a hike it is their first. A 15 year old going on their first hike to the top of a hill is a big step toward appreciating our natural world, but it all needs to start at step one, touching the nature.