Training

Hey Y'all,

Well things here in Hill Country are awesome. After two weeks of training with only an afternoon off thrown in here and there we all came out alive. Hee hee, just joking it was a blast. I am one of five field instructors, all of which are girls except for Steve. But he is a good sport. We all mesh really well and are constantly laughing. There are three full-time staff (Patrick, Conn, and Kathy). Put us all together and we never stop laughing or harassing each other. We all work really well together. Sometimes it's hard to focus because people are so laid back and discovering their inner clown. I have a plethora of jokes under my belt now.

Discussion of the Mad Cow Disease (two cows grazing in a field)
cow1: "Hey did you hear about that mad cow disease?"
cow2:"Ahhhhhhh, talking cow!!!!"

So what have I been doing? I have refreshed my CPR and First Aid certifications and become a lifeguard. I can swim 500 meters in one go. Boy oh boy that was hard but I did it; and won't have to do it again for three years! I also received training in Low and High Rope Course elements. This is fun because I get to use my creative juices to make up scenarios and consequences. I taught my first series today and it went awesome!!! But more of that later. Since this is an Environmental Leadership Program we do lots of nature things like discovery walks, freshwater ecology, wildlife ecology and more. This was pretty easy for me beaus I've been doing that for the past eight years in various location. However, I had to overcome my fear of snakes and spiders. We teach classes on Insects/Arthropods and Reptiles. The cockroaches, millipedes, lizards, and frogs were not problem but I was a little hesitant with the snakes and spider. Alas, I have to teach the classes so I dove in. Well slow enough not to get bit but I overcame that fear in 10-20mins. And now it's no problem. We have four snakes that I hold and the other two are mean so they stay in their cages. The bearded dragon and iguana are my favorites though.

So things are good here. I love our house and my job. It's like I am getting paid to play outside with kids. How lucky am I? I am getting to try a lot of new things like the ropes facilitation, playing with creepy crawlies (that are really cool when you get to know them), and going on all sorts of Texas adventures. Dam sliding, rope swinging, floating, hiking , dancing, and biking. Life is good.