Above you can see me and some of my fellow naturalists!Hello from a sunny, but often windy California.
I have really started to settle into mountain life here. I drove to the nearby (30min away) town of Idyllwild this weekend and spent some good quality time in a coffee shop. It's so interesting to me that I can drive a half hour up the mountain and drop nearly 20 degrees in temperature. Yet if I drive 45 minutes down the mountain I end up in Palm Desert, where it's 20 degrees warmer. It is desert here, but it did rain a bit this past weekend. I had four days off because of MLK day. This coming weekend I might head up to Mammoth mountain where some of the other naturalists will downhill ski and I'll hike, CC Ski, or just hang out. I haven't decided for sure if I'll tag along or not yet though.
I am loving teaching and it's great to realize that the negative attitude I left my graduate program with last year is finally fading away. There truly is something special about teaching outside, something that has been so lost in the recent decades. I wish that I could make a bigger difference in the lives of these children however. It makes me sad that they will likely not spend an entire week outside besides sleeping for the rest of their lives.
I am still in the training process here, shadowing classes and then cloning them for the next class period. I find myself memorizing names like I learned to do at Wolf Ridge. It truly does make a difference in classes when you know every student's name.
I am working as hard as I can manage on the composting here. I am hoping to get the bins lined with plastic over the next couple of weeks to limit leachates from seeping into the soil. I keep referencing the research project I did with fellow naturalists last year.
I have an afternoon of geology followed by a night hike awaiting me so I should be heading out. Please everyone keep in touch and message me your addresses so I can write you letters.
-AZ
