It Really Is a Beautiful Life

Today was nothing like I expected. It was incredibly exciting and slightly disappointing all in one day. But what mattered, what REALLY mattered, was how blessed I felt being able to participate in this program and have the chance to see what direction my life might take after college.

Today was our last day of the internship. We were nervous, excited, and a little sad, because we might not see everyone again. I was mostly nervous, because I knew that I would have to speak for our project, in front of a crowd, which I am never too partial to. But after a few practice rounds with the whole group, I was feeling much better. But then, we had to do our news bit...

We had been told that the news was supposed to come and interview us since they were interested in the program we were doing. It was supposed to be just a few channels, but mostly they were expecting the Spanish channel. So all of us were surprised when three different cameras came in, all from local news stations to interview us. And even though there was a designated interview intern, I was excited that I got the chance to be interviewed because I really loved talking about what we were talking about.

It turns out they weren't so much interested in the project we were doing, but the fact that bats are such great controllers of mosquito populations. Apparently this was news to them and they thought it was cool enough to interview people. So there was channel 2, channel 39, npr, and the Houston Chronicle, along with the Zoo photographer of course.

I was set up at a conservation station, which is basically a bunch of bio facts, so some skulls and furs from deceased animals to help grab the public's attention to come over and learn about what we were talking about. There was another conservation station, and a group building the bat house. But ours was on misconceptions about urban wildlife, so promoting coexisting with them instead of being aggravated by them, cause they belong here just as much as we do. So when the news guy came over to ask me what I was doing I told him, and he got really excited because it was the reason behind the bat house, so he was like "I'll interview you!" and I was pumped! I really wanted the chance to interview, just cause I honestly do like to talk to people, especially when it's stuff I know, and I remembered a lot about bats from our supervisor's presentation.

So he came back and interviewed me and the girl who was at the station with me. I was really excited because I thought I did really well answering questions, and I thought I'd be on the news! Well I was! But only in the background....Haha. Just goes to show that they don't really want substance, all they want is fluff, because I gave them hard facts, and they didn't use anything I said. But, oh well! It is what it is. And I got quoted (although my wording wasn't perfect) in their online article, so I was satisfied, haha.

But that wasn't even the end of it! We had a presentation to present to the one ExxonMobil rep who was there, and most of our families. It was actually really nice that the audience was small because I don't know if I could have handled it if it was any larger. So we each did our piece in the project, and the crowd loved it! Our families were super supportive, which was wonderful, and the ExxonMobil lady seemed to really be enthusiastic about it. Who knows, our product could be put in the Zoo someday!

And my absolute favorite part of the day was my evaluation. Mostly because I got some one on one time with my awesome supervisors, who I absolutely adore and look up to. They were really kind to me and had a lot of great advice for future jobs and whatever I'm doing in my future. My favorite advice from them was when they told me to make my own job, to reach for my dreams and never give up. Although it sounds cheesy, and really lame, they were absolutely sincere, and they really believed, not only in me, but in conservation and success in that field.

I am so blessed to have had this opportunity this summer, and while it wasn't all perfect, and there were plenty of stressful days and frustrating situations, I loved every minute of it. Just because I was getting a glimpse of what my future could be like in conservation, and it looked bright and beautiful. Here are a few things I learned from this experience:

Attitude is everything.

Prayer is wonderful.

When life changes direction, never fight it, wherever it's taking you, wherever He's taking you, is so very worth it.

Trust in the Lord your God and He will provide.

Believe in yourself; believe in others.

Don't ever let stuff get to you because you are incredibly blessed.

Be thankful.

Remember that you are loved.

Rejoice because life is beautiful.

Amen.

You Can't Be Protected From This Mayhem

This past week has been pretty stressful, we've been preparing for our project which is very extensive and requires a lot of writing and researching that we almost have no time to do. Each and every single one of us has been tense this past week, because of the deadline, because of the project, because of something. I know, because I sure have. We had to write a 20 page paper in about a week, which doesn't seem too bad when you realize there are ten of us, but still, editing, researching and understanding what you are writing all take a lot of time, and we hardly have any of it. Then we have a powerpoint presentation that we have to prepare to give to ExxonMobil tomorrow, which has added extremely to the stress of those of us who are anxious about public speaking, namely, me. Haha, it's not that bad, but getting over the general hump of all of that work can seem daunting.

Our week has been filled with a bunch of writing, mine in particular was understanding the research and methods section of our project, and coming up with how I was supposed to present this information in the powerpoint. So let me tell you a little about our project. And boy, has it taken all of us long enough to actually figure out every single detail of what we're doing, I barely figured it out today, but that's beside the point. We decided that something close to our's and Houston's hearts is the wildlife that is native to this area, and protecting it from not only extinction but harmful relationships with humans. Some of the natural wildlife that we see in Houston has been here since before Texas was even a state, since there were Native Americans cultivating the land, and utilizing the beautiful Texas prairie (that's why there's few hills here!). We incorporated our love for conservation education into this project by creating a booklet that will have three activities (bat house, bird feeder, grow your own prairie) that families can do together in order to promote healthy cohabitation with our own urban wildlife. The booklet will be accompanied with a poster as incentive for people to pick it up and it will include urban wildlife tips, a list of state parks and a list of natural neighbors that there are common misconceptions about (such as the skunk or raccoon). And in order to make sure people are actually using our booklet, we will ask them to bring back pictures of their projects in exchange for points at the Zoo's very own Swap Shop (were people can bring in all sorts of artifacts and basically earn money to use in the gift store). Each of the participants who returns a picture will receive a survey, which is where I come in.

The survey is the natural research and methods piece of our project, and it's what I spent the most time on. It's what I came up with and it's what I present about. The survey is vital (like I like to think I am, haha) to our project because it shows whether or not our booklet is actually working and indicates which activities are more popular than others, and which age groups gravitate toward it more.

But our week didn't only consist of project, project, project, we've done a few fun things as well....

Last Thursday we went "Toad Tracking," which used to be an education program to teach kids about toads but the trial period ended, so we were just goofing around basically. Of course, toads and frogs are important members of the ecosystem because they eat bugs and keep people from getting eaten by mosquitoes. Unfortunately, they weren't doing there job the night we went. Every one, even the people who sprayed bug spray was attacked by mosquitoes, and we were all a little goofy waiting for the sun to go down after a long afternoon of entering in camera trap photo times, and almost driving ourselves insane. Too bad we had to be quiet for the toads, cause we sure weren't in the mood for that. Or maybe they weren't in the mood for us. Either way, we didn't catch many toads (and by catch I mean catch and release, but measuring and weighing in between). I was impressed, my partner had a fear of frogs all her life, but she was so into this activity, that she actually crawled into the bushes to try to catch one, but we failed when I moved and it disappeared. When she finally found another one, she quickly reached for it, calling out my name, and I was right behind her with the bucket for her to deposit it in. And she hardly freaked out! If I was faced with a fear like that, I don't think I'd have the guts to catch it. It was really impressive, and I was super proud of her because that was the only one we caught all night!

Another fun aspect of our week was this past Monday when we got to wash a Rhino. Say what?!? Yeah, my job's legit. We were able to take a personal rhino tour, since we hadn't been behind the scenes yet, and were supposed to simply pet a rhino, but since we were employees, they wanted to get work done while telling us about their rhinos. There were two girls and one guy, all shipped from Africa recently, when they opened African forest. Now you notice I said Africa. Unfortunately, the reserve that holds them in Africa actually has TOO MANY rhinos, so these were caught because they needed to create more space. The Zoo was lucky enough to be one of the places on the list, and received the rhinos per request. The rhinos were pretty young, so they were checking the females' blood to see when and if they were cycling, in order to determine when they might be ready to mate with the male. There's two females because if there was just one male and female, they'd form a pair bond, sort of like brother and sister, and never mate, so this ratio has historically worked in breeding situations. So not only did we get to help wash ALL THREE rhinos, but we got to see them take blood from their ears. It was the COOLEST thing EVER!!! Sorry, little excited still. But really, I was so impressed and enthused with this opportunity. The funniest part about the whole experience was the keeper comparing rhinos to a pet dog, just as the rhino was sprayed in the face to clean off her horn, and she shook just like a dog would when getting wet, and her ears flopped and made a huge noise. it was impressive. And hilarious. And all around adorable.

Best experience ever.

And then....Haha... K, so Tuesday I woke up a little late. Hold on, alright, I've had trouble with the bus all week, so here goes. Monday, I walked up to the bus station and saw the bus in front of the buildng say "DOWNTOWN," and I'm not going downtown, so I walked around the building to find the other bus and saw a long line. Naturally, I got in it. Next thing I know, the new bus also says "DOWNTOWN" and I'm stuck cause I missed my bus....

I didn't though, I just didn't see it. But anyway, Tuesday, I was supposed to spend the night with a friend so I had decided to drive, but forgot to change the time on my alarm clock to 6, and instead heard my alarm go off at 5:30, ignored it, thinking I'd wake up, and woke up at 6:50. I'm an hour away from the Zoo. Work starts at 8. I was late.

So I run to the closet grab my uniform, my computer, some socks and shoes, and run downstairs to get my backpack and keys and run out the door. I throw my stuff in the car and back out as quickly as I safely could. I heard a unusual thump and saw a blocklike figure on the ground of the garage, and thought nothing of it. I was out of there, driving at a safe speed, but still anxious to get there in time. I passed onto the Hardy Toll road and was downtown in enough time when the highway right before the Zoo was at a gridlock. Traffic was terrible, but I had about 20 minutes. Unfortunately that time was wasted sitting there while I anxiously contemplated how I was going to get there in time. Thankfully the exit was right ahead as I had about 10 minutes left. I arrived at the Zoo in just enough time, with four minutes to spare. I jumped in the back of my car and began putting my uniform on when I noticed that I only had one shoe....So, naturally, I walked into work with bright orange socks on, thinking I'd have time at lunch to go and get some back up shoes. Didn't. But the funniest part was, that no one noticed until 2 pm. And we walked around plenty. Not in the Zoo, just in the education building, but still, at one point, we were eating on the floor, sitting criss-cross applesauce and no one said anything. It wasn't until I was sitting next to my supervisor in the auditorium while we were practice presenting that she quizzically said "where are your shoes??" Well....funny story actually....Haha. So I spent a day at work with no shoes on and no one noticed. Quite a feat, right? I know, I know, too legit to quit.

Haha, well that's an overview of my week. I hope you appreciate my interesting and unique anecdotes (or at least what I think to be interesting and unique). Wish me luck on my presentation tomorrow, and have a good summer!

But our week was n