Saturday, September 8, 2007

Photos tell the story best

Perhaps that's my excuse for being a bit lazy today, but I hope those of you who enjoy a picture or two will like these ones. Here I am with my fellow Naturalists from all parts of the eastern United States. We're learning how to run our "Let's Sea" class (all about the five ecosystems of a barrier island). It's amazing how warm and salty our estuary is.

I think I'm in love.
Our management team took the staff this past Monday to the South Carolina Aquarium. What an amazing place. My mouth nearly dropped when I rounded a corner to see a 330,000-gallon Great Ocean Tank, filled with sharks, big fish and a loggerhead sea turtle (the tank is 27ft tall). This aquarium has amazing exhibits, from a cool touch tank to a re-creation of a salt marsh. Many more trips will be required. Plus, I think the young loggerheads (second turtle pic) could use my company.


We've started teaching and it's going to be hard for me to put this whole experience into words.
Our training has been pretty great, but nothing will prepare you like jumping in feet first. Having my first class in a pond while an 8ft alligator hung out in the opposite one (was later removed) was a special treat. Yikes! There has been a lot of studying, very long days and lots of laughs. I think the Grade 5's especially enjoyed it when I strode into the "mudpit" with them and plastered stinky muck all over my face. They looked at me with big smiles and asked if they could add to the mess. How could I say no to that?

I'm very excited because, this week, I also get to run my first dance class in the evening. We do the Virginia Reel (Barrier Island style). It's going to be great. I've also been lucky to be able to make it into Charleston over the past few weeks. What an amazing city. Strolling around the streets really does feel like stepping back into history. I'm looking forward to taking in some of the more touristy stuff. Which reminds me, Momma and Poppa Rusnak will be visiting the Lowcountry in roughly a week and a half. I'm really looking forward to taking them around and dropping down to Georgia to visit another historic city, Savannah.
That's all for now, but I hope you're all well and would love to hear from you.

2 comments:

Alexiss said...

Enjoyed the pics of the ol' tortues, ma cherie. Charleston looks different in the pics that you took than I thought it would (ie. I thought it would look like Gone With The Wind... yes, I'm a moron). Some more nature trivia/explanations about Barrier Island ecology would be useful for us poor schmoes who like the pics but have no idea what an "estuary" is. Sad, but true.

Love you lots,
xo your big sis

Alexiss said...

Enjoyed the pics of the ol' tortues, ma cherie. Charleston looks different in the pics that you took than I thought it would (ie. I thought it would look like Gone With The Wind... yes, I'm a moron). Some more nature trivia/explanations about Barrier Island ecology would be useful for us poor schmoes who like the pics but have no idea what an "estuary" is. Sad, but true.

Love you lots,
xo your big sis