World Travels!

Hola, 

My last week as been kind of stressful.  I will tell you all about the good things first, I feel like that is what is most important.  I watched a sunrise on the Beach this week. I have to say that is probably one of the most awe inspiring moments I have ever encountered.  God knew what he was doing when he crafted this beautiful world. I have also had plenty of time to hang out with my friends and my flatmate this week.  Classes were canceled, due to a holiday, on my least favorite day of classes. I was able to talk to my Mother for quite a while, and I got to see Kovu. : ) I leave for Malta tomorrow morning and won’t be back until next Tuesday.  I am stoked about this trip! OK, I now feel like I need to vent.  This week my Grandmother has had a lot of health problems and has been placed in the hospital.  I feel horrible for not being there.  Guilt. Yes, I know that she knows I love her and that is what really matters, but I am human and I can’t pretend that I don’t have a horrible guilt over not being there.  I wish I could be there for her.  There will be better days.  I know that coming here is for the best and will in turn make me a better person, but the process of becoming a better person is definitely not always easy.  I will be alright. I know this. I am strong. I just hope that everyone reading this will send a special prayer up for my Grandmother. She needs them right now. God is good.

Besos,

Heather.

Hola!

The last two weeks have been…interesting. I think that is the best word that I can come up with to describe everything. The last time I wrote was right after my friends and I got caught in the rain. : ) The school week that followed that night was for the most part pretty normal.  Nothing major happened.  I finally have all of my class schedules straightened out, so life is much better in that aspect.  I have also decided that going to Lyon really does make you understand what hard work really is.  All of my friends here, even the ones that speak English fluently, feel that the work is very difficult and often spend hours on homework.  I on the other hand find the work to be very easy and takes no time at all. Not that I like my classes.  All of my classes here are over plants and plant processes.  I HATE plants, but I guess beggars can’t be choosers. : )  Over the last week, my flatmate and I have become very close.  I absolutely love her! She is so sweet and very helpful. Last weekend was definitely not the best days I have spent here.  Saturday, I woke up with a slight sore throat and by the end of the day I felt horrible.  On Sunday, I woke up even worse than I was the day before.  I leave my bed at all that day.  Throughout the past week, I have felt better and better everyday.  Thank Goodness!  Being sick so far from home really takes a toll on you and can definitely make you feel very pessimistic.  This last week was kind of tough for me. I was very homesick the first couple of days, but after having amazing friends remind me why I am here I feel much better now. : ) On a much more exciting note, Wednesday, My flatmate and I booked our first trip here in Europe.  We are going to Malta next weekend!  I am very excited.  I have had many people tell me that the city is beautiful.  No worries I will be sure to take lots of pictures! : )  Thursday ended up being a great night as well.  I made some new friends from Brazil and spent the night hanging out with them.  Over the last few weeks, I have gotten to know several of the people working in the supermarket and small shops around my neighborhood.  I wish people in America treated others the way people here do.  I love going into the stores to find new and interesting things here and each time I do I am either approached by someone wanting to help me with my Spanish or by someone wanting me to help them with their English. I love the attitudes of the Spanish people. People are always so laid back and not worried about time or anything else for that matter.  It really is a nice breath of fresh air to be somewhere where in the middle of the day everyone stops what they are doing, job or no job, to go take a nap for a couple hours.  Yes, I mean ALL stores shut down at 3:00 and don’t open again until 5:00.  It is a really interesting custom called Siesta.  I love it. Life is good. Well, except for how much I miss Kovu.  I know that sounds horrible, but as most of you know when I moved out on my own I always had him there for me when I didn’t feel good or just needed someone to curl up with.  I definitely miss my family, don’t get me wrong.  : P

Besos,

Heather.

Ps. If you have any questions or thoughts be sure to leave a comment.  Having questions to answer would definitely help me document some aspects that may have forgotten.

Hola!

I can honestly say that a year ago I would never have believed you had you told me that I would be doing the things I am now.  Everyday I meet new people and make new friends.  I absolutely love having so many friends from different nationalities.  Last night alone, I hung out with people from Greece, Argentina, Denmark, Estonia, Poland, and a couple other countries I can’t remember right now.  Last night was probably the best night of my life.  We ended up getting lost in Valencia on the only night in a month where it rained.  I am not talking about the light drizzling kind of rain, it was the monsoon type where you can’t even see three feet in front of you.  By the time we made it to my flat we were all soaked to the bone. Needless to say, we all ended up having a big sleep over last night.  It was very cool to get to know all of the girls I was with so well.  It is crazy how much alike we all really are, even after coming from totally different parts of the world.  

I finally got my schedule worked out and am going to be able to take all of the classes I need.  I also tested into a level of Spanish that will qualify me for free classes.  I am very excited.

My new flat mate is wonderful. Her name is Maria and she is so sweet.  She is a few years older than me, but all of my friends are older than me.  lol  She is from Argentina.  Oh, the best part about it is she speaks Spanish so I am now officially around Spanish 90% of the time. : )

I am able to speak more and more Spanish everyday and do my very best 24/7 to learn new words and phrases.  At this rate, by the time I get home I should be able to speak it pretty well. 

On a serious note, hearing stories from all of my friend’s backgrounds makes me realize how important world news really is.  Before I met all of these new friends, news of problems over seas did not seem all that important to me. In recent days, I have learned just how much the things I used to blow off and call unimportant effect the lives of others.  It allows me to understand just how lucky we are in the U.S. and what we call an economical crisis is nothing compared to what other countries have undergone recently or are currently about to experience.  I now appreciate my country so much more than I use to.  

Besos,

Heather

Hola,

I have officially spent a week and a half outside of the U.S..  Crazy, huh?  I am very proud of myself. : )  In the past week, I have spent a lot of time getting to know my two Grecian friends.  We have gone shopping, hung out at the beach, and simply walked around the city for the most part.  They are very interesting and funny.  Both of them are working very hard on their English and I am getting much better at Charades. Lol.  The guy that they live with speaks only Spanish and has been helping us all to learn Spanish.  (Madeline, you will be happy to know that in the time I have been here I have gone from knowing very few words to holding complete conversations.) Kader, my Grecian friends roommate, is very helpful and makes us practice as much as possible.  I have also discovered it is much more efficient to learn Spanish from someone who does not speak English.  When you learn it this way you are forced to use context clues and pay much more attention to pronunciation. On Sunday, my friends and I went to a Latin Dance gathering.  It was probably the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.  Watching all of those people move so in sync was amazing.  It was like they knew exactly what each others next move was going to be.  So graceful.  I definitely want to learn to dance while I am here.  I got a roommate this week.  She is from Argentina.  I have a feeling we are going to get along very well.  She speaks some English, but I am hoping she will help me with my Spanish as much as possible.  I am having some problems with enrolling in my classes so if you all do not care please keeps that in your prayers.  Other than that, Valencia is great.  I love it here.  

Besos,

Heather 

Hola,

I Valencia is quite simply…amazing.  Everyday I meet more and more people and each one of them are wonderfully unique in the best possible way.  Yesterday, I met a girl from Lithuania and met up with her and a couple of her friends to go to the beach.  As it turns out the two guys we met up with to go the beach are in ALL of my classes and are actually very cool to hang out with.  They have very broken English so it is sometimes hard for me to understand them, but they are definitely never dull. : )  Yesterday, was a very chill day for me.  The one class I was suppose to have ended up being cancelled so I just spent the day at the beach with my new friends.  This morning I got up and actually went to my first class.  The name of it is Weed Science.  Originally, the class was suppose to be completely in English, but as it would happen the class is now going to be taught in Spanish.  Scary, right?  They told us that it would be a very easy class and that we will should be able to keep up by just studying on our own and showing up to class for attendance.  Who knows how it will turn out.  Maybe it will help me with my Spanish.  I met three new girls while in this class (two from Greece and one from Germany).They all have the same classes that I do as well.  I now officially know 5 people in all of my classes. :) I ate lunch with all of my new friends and hung out with the Grecian girls I met this morning in Weed Science while we waited for our next class to begin.  Between classes the girls and I did some researching on different classes offered at school and local places to shop.  We found out that the school offers a classes on SEVERAL different dances.  As many of you know, I want to learn to Salsa very badly.  I now, officially, have my chance and I have friends that want to take the class with me.  I was also conned into taking a class on belly dancing.  I am not so sure about that class.  Who knows, if anything it could build some nice abs. : )  When time rolled around we went to our next class only to find out that it, too, had been cancelled.  The Grecian girls and I decided we wanted to go check out the stores in what people refer to as “The Center” .  It was a nice little walk, but it was definitely worth it.  There were all kinds of awesome stores.   After walking around for a bit, we decided it was time to go home and get some rest before our 8 o’clock class and what is hopefully a nice long weekend.  : )  You are all now officially caught up on my wonderfully new life.

Besos,

Heather

Hola,

Today was my second day in Spain.  I did not do nearly as much today as I did yesterday.  I made it to school at about 10 and got my temporary papers from the International office so that I can now use the computer systems at school.  While waiting in line at the International office I met a girl that was from Oregon who speaks Spanish very well.  I made sure to get her number.  I need all the contacts possible at that point. LOL.  I was able to get my papers and find my mentor.  IN a computer lab, she helped me find classes to take them semester.  Once, I found my classes I made my way back to the International Office so that they could get me signed up for the classes.  I am taking 4 different Science classes and starting next month I will be taking a Spanish class.  In Valencia, it is much more difficult to find out class schedules and locations than what I am use to at Lyon.  I actually had to sit down and search for a very long time to find what little information I have on each class.  I think I am supposed to have my first class at 8 in the morning.  Whether or not I will be able to find it and whether or not I will be on time are two very indefinite things right now. LOL.  Everyone please say a prayer for me.  : )  After making my schedule, I came home to do some research on my classes.  While sitting in my room I heard a noise coming from the common area in my flat.  Naturally, I had to go investigate.  Just as I was walking in the common area my Landlord walked in.  Apparently, she had no idea I was here.  I scared her to DEATH!  I felt so bad for scaring her, but at that point there was nothing I could do to help it.  She asked me if I was a student from the U.S. and then was able to tell that I was the student Maci had told her about.  After all of that akwardness, I went to take a nap in my room and while I was asleep she showed the flat to someone in hopes that they would choose to live here.  I have no idea who she showed the flat to or if they will be moving in.  It would definitely be nice to have someone living here with me.  After my nap, I went down to the beach for the first time.  It was absolutely breath taking!  I can tell I will definitely be spending plenty of time there.  It is a very short walk from my flat.  I definitely had my first culture shock today. At the beach, there were several women (older and younger) that were not wearing tops.  It was very shocking to see something like that after coming from a very modest small town in Arkansas. LOL.  All in all, I think it has been a very good day.  I still feel sort of jet lagged and think I will head to bed soon.  

Besos,

Heather.

Hola,

I am officially live in Valencia, Spain for the next 6 months!  I arrived in Valencia at about 8 o’clock yesterday.  I got a cab to drive me from the airport to my flat.  The cabbie had to ask for directions like twice during the trip to my flat and could not understand any English.  To say the least it was a very interesting car ride. : )  I ended up making to my flat by about 9 and had to ask a neighbor to unlock my door for me.  Doors work much different here than they do at home.  There is no door knob just a key hole in which you use to both unlock and open the door.  After assuring my mother and family that I made it safely I unpacked and went to sleep as soon as possible.  My time spent in airports and on planes did not allow me to sleep, so I slept very well. : )  I woke up this morning and started off on my first journey through the city.  I had to find that school and in a city this size that could have been very difficult, but I was able to get directions from a woman working in a bakery on the corner of my street.  I found the school and then spent the next 2 hours walking back and forth attempting to find the International Student office.  Apparently, the office has moved a couple times recently.  I was sent to several different locations on complete opposite sides of the massive University before I was able to find the office.  Once I found the office, I waited in line and was completely overwhelmed by all of the students were speaking Spanish around me.  After being lost for two hours I was frustrated.  If that is the only time this semester I feel overwhelmed I will be very lucky.  When it finally was my turn to be helped the lady told me all the stuff that I needed to bring back to the office and sent my on my way to get it.  The lady helping me had been unable to get a hold of my student mentor so she told me to be sure and come back with as much of the stuff she needed at noon.  I was able to make it back to my flat and come up with all the things she needed. Maci Powers gave me a card that allows me to use bikes that are located all over the city.  On my way back to school, I decided to figure out how that worked and use one of them to get back to the school.  The bikes are definitely going to come in handy  this semester.  They are very easy to use and make getting around Valencia much easier.  After the learning the bike system, I went back to school to turn in my papers and to see if they could help me get in touch with my mentor.  The lady helped me right away.  She said that I had all the stuff she needed to make a temporary card and told me to pick it up tomorrow.  She also ended up just giving me my mentor’s email address to attempt to get in contact with her.  She told me my mentor needed to help me make a schedule and could help me with things I need around the city. I came home and immediately emailed her. She ended up emailing me back and asked me to call her.  I do not have minutes on my phone yet so there was another major problem.  I was able to buy minutes on skype and call her cell phone from skype.  She could not hear me well over the computer, but we were able to my a rendezvous point. I met her at the place chosen and was so relieved when I met her.  Her name is Rosa.  She is very sweet and very helpful. By the time we met up tonight, most stores were closed so I was not able to get a phone card, but she did take me to supermarket so that I could get some food and other items I needed.  She walked with me home and told me that she might go to her “village” this weekend.  She told me that she would be very happy to take me with her if I would like to go.  I definitely feel much better about things now that I have a contact.  I am supposed to meet up with her in the morning to make my schedule and eat lunch.  As for right now, I am extremely tired after this very long day, so I am going to eat some of my fresh grapes and crawl in bed.  Take care all.

Besos,

Heather

P.s. For those following this blog please remember that I am 7 hours ahead of you. : )

This blog is going to be a little bit deeper than others I have recently put up.  I have told you guys periodically throughout the summer about all my zoo adventures, but in all honesty that is not even the half of what has occurred this summer.  This summer has been a period of growth and finding for me.  This summer I have became friends with some of the best people I have ever had the privilege to meet.  The folks at the Clifton Church of Christ have become family to me in so many different ways over the summer.  

When I started the summer I was a best a very weak “Christian” (if you can even use that term).  Throughout the summer, I have been welcomed so lovingly into this church family and was basically given the chance to get to know several people who were dealing with issues very similar to those in my life.  It is amazing how much just being around people who understand what you are going through can help uplift one’s spirits.  I has spent all summer watching and understanding how these people include Jesus and God into every aspect of their lives.  To say the least, It was all very impressive.

Yes, I have watched my parents my entire life, but at this point in my life they can no longer relate to me or the things I encounter on a daily basis.  I am a 20 year old,single, female who is currently mid-way through college with no idea what I will end up doing with my life. I take that back.  I do have an idea about what needs to be done with my life.  It needs to be used to spread God’s word unto the world.  Maybe that means I need to spend sometime in other countries where people are not given the opportunities we are here in the US.  Who knows where that will take me?

This summer has tested my faith and ultimately allowed me to realize what in life is truly important.  Is that commitment I made when buying my car important? When I graduate from college will that degree be important?  If I decide to settle down and buy a house will that be important?  I am sure all of you will have your own opinions on all of these aspects when reading this blog, but have you ever stopped to consider this:  Will any of these actually help me get to heaven?  Yes, having a car will make it easier to get from place to place, but the money I have spent on the car could be more than enough to change one person’s life.  Is having my car really more important than saving another’s life?  Yes, having a degree will make getting a job much more easy and give me and possibly a future family a better life (here on earth).  Once again, is money and my own security worth what I will be giving up by committing to a set job everyday?  Will I really be able to “take God’s word unto all of the world”?  Will owning that dream home with the massive yard really be a testament of my faith?  Will it show others that I am trying to live a godly life?  Once again, I am sure all of you will have your own opinions on all of these subjects, but I from now on I will definitely have to stop and consider all aspects of a decision before I make one.

Needless to say, God put me right where I needed to be this summer.  I have definitely become a much better person from coming here.  I definitely do not know the answers to all the questions I have running through my head at this time, but I do know that I have all that I need to figure them out.  God’s word.

Ok I know it has been a while since I blogged last, but things up here have been very hectic lately.  My life is literally planned until the day I leave.  Who knew time would fly so fast up here.  I am going to do my best to catch up on the things that have been going on in my life over the past few weeks.  

I left off right after my parents left, so here goes nothing.  : )   After my parents left, it took me a couple of days to get back into the routine of things.  For the most part, work has pretty repetitive since.  I clean the lobby every morning and have now set a routine for cleaning exhibits.  I start off by cleaning the Clouded Leopard exhibit, move to the the Bat Earred Foxes and Fennec Foxes, followed by the Bobcat, and finish by cleaning the Fossa and Pallas’ Cat exhibits. After cleaning the exhibits I always wash dishes and spend the rest of the morning working on diets.  

There is not really that much to elaborate over those parts of the job so I am just going to leave it at that and tell you the much cooler aspects of working around the amazing animals I am privileged to be around on a daily basis.   Over the past few weeks I have gotten to know the two Clouded Leopards (Dottie and Tevi) much better.  I have discovered that they do not like men at all.  Anytime there is a guy around both cats hid in the corner and pretend that they can not be seen, but when its just girls around they are totally different cats.  Over the past few weeks I have gotten the chance to be in area they are kept while their exhibit is being cleaned and have built a relationship with them.  They are probably one of the most magnificent creatures I have ever been around.  They will now rub on the walls of the retreat while purring and doing this really crazy mouth thing.  One of the keepers informed me that they open there mouths and release scent from the scent glands in their mouths when they are happy or in a good mood.  So, in essence when they do this they are showing affection.  It is so amazing to be able to walk up to their retreats and watch them get up and start doing all of that plus rolling around as soon as they see you.  I may not get to hold them or rub on them like I would a normal domestic cat, but in their own way they have definitely won my heart.  

I was telling you before about the two Bat Earred Foxes.  They are still very high on my loving list.  Since the beginning of the summer I have watch them become much more friendly.  They will now allow me to walk into their exhibit without them being scared to death.  They will now even sleep while I am in there with them.  

The Fennec Foxes are still scared to death of me so when possible I like to let someone else clean their exhibit.  

I am going to eat dinner with the girls I live with so I must get off of here for now. I promise to keep updating as much as possible.  Like I said life is very hectic with all of us finally getting use to the city and making plans. : )

Stay tuned : )

My family came up this weekend : ).  It was very nice to see them.  It had officially been a month since the last time I had seen them.  They got here on Saturday.  They drove up in my dad’s truck and pulled a camper with them. The first night they stayed at a camp site just south of Cincinnati and moved to another camp site just a few minutes away from the Zoo the rest of the time they were here.  I made it to their first camp site right after they had gotten everything set up and running.  I received massive bear hugs from all three of them and sweet head butts from Kovu.  : )  I took them to eat Skyline Chile and Graeter’s Ice Cream that night.  My dad ended up really enjoying Skyline.  As for mom and Jazzy, I don’t think it was their favorite place lol.  We went back to the Camp and just hung out for the rest of the night.  On Sunday, we got up and went to Church.  On the way to church, we stopped and got breakfast at Bruegger’s Breakfast Bagles.  It was very different than any other breakfast restaurant that I have been to, but it was very good.  I would definitely recommend trying it if you get a chance.  After breakfast, we made our way to church.  Everyone there was very excited to see my family with me.  I honestly think that everyone in the congregation came up and introduced themselves to my parents, even those who had never talked to me lol.  I helped my parents find the new camp site after church.  The rest of the evening on Sunday was spent shopping and eating.  That night we ate at Red Lobster.  The food was great, of course, but it took them nearly 2 hours to get our food out to us.  They had better be glad we loved those biscuits so much : p.  When we woke up on Monday it was storming….. Horrible, Horrible, Horrible timing.  Monday was the only day I was going to be able to show them around the Zoo, so we all had to weather the rain.  It finally stopped raining around noon and made it much more enjoyable.  I was able to get my family behind the scenes of the Cat Show.  They should definitely feel very lucky, all the girls I live with would kill to be able to do that.  After being at the Zoo all day,  we went into downtown Cincinnati to eat.  We ate  at a very upscale Mexican Restaurant called Nada.  It was very good food, but it was on the pricey side.  I ended up taking my dad and sister home, so that my mom and I could take Kovu to my house.  I talk about him all the time so the girls I live with all wanted to meet him.  Everyone loved him, but that is no surprise lol.  I got up early and drove from my parents camp site to work on Tuesday Morning.  I am SO SO SO glad that I ended up not taking that morning off.  That morning Started off as usual with cleaning, cleaning, and more cleaning, but turned into one of the coolest days ever.  About the time that I start cutting produce, I noticed all the keepers were just standing around.  That is definitely not a common occurrence around the cat house.  Turns out, all the keepers were waiting on the Vet to arrive.  The Vets needed to do a physical on the two adult male Tigers.  I was able to watch the Vet Techs load dart guns with anesthetics.  I was amazed at just how precise she had to be.  One of the Vets then shot one of the Tigers with the dart gun.  He came back into the main room of the Cat House and told all of us that the dart had gone in well.  I was not able to watch him dart the Tiger, because they needed the Tiger to stay as calm as possible.  After the Tiger was out, all of the Vet Techs and keepers quickly moved all the equipment down into the large cat Tunnel.  Another intern and I were placed in a cage right next to where the Tiger was being worked on.  This was to insure our safety and to give the Vets room to work.  We were able to watch them clip the nails, draw blood, measure blood pressure, do dental work, take tissue sample of the eye, and weigh the massive cat.  It was a truly amazing experience.  When the Vets were finished, they allowed the other intern to go over into the cage with the Tiger.  I was able to pet him, feel his neck and paws, and touch his teeth.  Let me just say this, I definitely have a much greater respect for ALL CATS, especially the large ones.  After watching the first Tiger being worked on, I had to go back to work.  I worked on produce until it was time for lunch.  I only worked until noon that day so that I could spend the rest of the afternoon with my family.  By the time I got off work  they were at the Cat Show actually watching the show.  I think they enjoyed it (especially after the backstage tour).  I ended up watching the end of the show with them and received a pleasant surprise.  The last Cheetah they ended up running was name Sarah.  She is currently the fastest Cheetah ever recorded in captivity.  It was truly remarkable watching her move.  After finishing at the zoo, we made our way to the Aquarium in Newport.  It was cool, but I am very bias and enjoy mammals much more than fish lol.   We went back to camp and my mom fixed us Tacos.  Nothing in the world is better than the food cooked by my Momma : ).  It was definitely the best meal I have enjoyed since moving to Cincinnati.  After dinner, we all sat around the fire talking until it was time for bed.  I got up early this morning, said my goodbyes, and drove to work.  Nothing major happened at work today.  I cleaned the lobby, several different exhibits, and cut produce in the Cat House.  In the Commissary, I filled rat bags, swept, mopped, and delivered mail.  I got a much needed nap, after work.  Being with my family all weekend wore me OUT!  Church was good tonight.  Definitely got me thinking about some things in my life.  Stay tuned for more : )

Heather

Ok I will for sure have everyone caught back up after this blog!

June 16: 

Like normal I started this day out by cleaning the lobby and cleaning exhibits.  I got the opportunity to go in an clean the exhibits of the Bat Eared Foxes and the Fennec Foxes.  I have been doing my best when going in with them to keep them as calm as possible and make their experience with me as nonthreatening as possible.  The Bat Eared foxes seem to have taken a much more relaxed approach to me while I am cleaning.  They have stopped laying their ears back while I am in with them and have started to allow themselves to lay down and “sleep”.  I know they are still leery of me, but I definitely feel like it is a step in the right direction.  I hate scaring them to death.  The Fennec foxes on the other hand seemed to me more terrified of me while I was cleaning this time.  The female (Sage) hates me and simply will not calm down at all while I am in with her. Maybe by the end of the summer she will start to relax a little while I am in with her. Other than that he day was pretty uneventful work wise.  Even in the Commissary, I had very little work to do that afternoon.  After work I went with June (my roommate) and Jane (one of the other girls I live with) to look for Reds shirts.  We went to Target, Meijer’s (Much like Walmart, but carries name brands), IHop, and Marshall’s.  It was a great night out.  I really enjoyed the awesome food and what girl doesn’t love shopping? lol I told Jane that I was not happy with her for taking me to Marshall’s.  It is an amazing store that I will be going back to lol.  When you aren’t making any money that IS a problem!  

June 17:

Yesterday was a really amazing day!  I was the only intern at work so I had to do all the sweeping and clean the windows in Night Hunters.  While I was cleaning the window to the Bobcat exhibit I was able to play with him for a bit.  Every time I would wipe on the window he was try to attack the sponge through the glass.  It was the cutest thing I have probably seen the entire time I have been here.  It probably “took” me about 15 minutes to wash his window ; ).  While cleaning the windows I was also able to see the Binturong (Bearcat) cub.  It was the sweetest thing I have ever witnessed in my life. I could not believe how small the cub was compared to its mother.  The bad part about being able to see the cub was that it meant that the mother was distressed and worried.  She was carrying the cub around.  That could be very dangerous to the cub, because she kept hitting the cub on different parts of the exhibit.  The keepers then spent the rest of the morning trying different methods to get her to lay the cub down and hopefully calm down.  While they were working on that I helped them out by getting as much of their work done as possible.  In the Commissary, there was only one keeper there with me.  We had a lot of work to do with hay and delivering things to different parts of the zoo so it flew by very quickly.  I was able to go in the keeper area of the Reptile house, again.  It was really cool there were tons of exhibits that had bright red tape covering them with huge letters that said HOT.  It was really cool to see the keeper side.  After work, several girls and I got ready and put on our MATCHING Reds shirts.  It was Zoo night at the Reds game so we got tickets for like half price.  Anyone that knows me will no that I HATE baseball, so the only reason I went was to check out the animals.  The game was boring, but watching the animals was totally worth it.  As the National Anthem was played, the Zoo’s Bald Eagle, Sam, was flown into the stadium.  It was AMAZING!  Probably one of the coolest things I have ever seen.  The Reds lost.  Oh well lol.  After the game, they had a firework display in the stadium. It was by far the best set of fireworks I have ever seen.  It probably lasted 20 minutes and had the biggest, brightest, loudest finale I have ever watched.  It was awesome.  After traffic and walking back to our car, It was after 12 by the time we got home.  Even though I hate baseball, I had a great time with girls : ).

Ps.  My parents and sister are on the way so if I get behind on this again I am sorry : P

Heather

Once again this message is to get everyone caught back up so that I can post daily and keep everything as up to date as possible : ).

June 14:

I started the morning out as usual by sweeping the Night Hunters lobby and cleaning exhibits.  As I told you in an earlier post the keepers are starting to trust me more and expect me to be able to pull my own wait.  Please keep that in mind as I tell you this next story lol.  I was cleaning the Clouded Leopard exhibit just like normal.  I go in an pick up all the feces and then spray down the exhibit.  While I was picking up the feces I bent over and as I stood up I abruptly discovered that there was a thick, pointed, and extremely hard piece of the retreat cage sticking out of the wall where I was.  If you can’t tell where that was going, I hit my head HARD on the piece.  So hard that it immediately started pouring blood and formed a nice bump within just a few seconds.  Being the brilliant person I am, I decided that I was just going to stand there until I was able to stop the bleeding then pull my bangs over the bump so that none of the keepers would prevent me from working.  I know it was probably not the smartest of ideas on my part, but in the end I was fine and was able to do the jobs I was needed to and was hopefully impressing the keepers in the process.  Other than that nothing major happened at work.  I cleaned, cleaned, and cleaned lol.  The joys of being an intern.  After work all the girls in the house and I got ready and went to the soft opening of a Sushi restaurant. One of the girls living in the house got a job serving there and was able to get us tickets to the ticket only soft opening.  It was amazing I had more types of Sushi than I could ever remember and loved every bit of it.  I honestly think that I now have a new favorite food : ).  In all honesty, the best part of it was probably the fact that  it was an all you can eat buffet style opening for FREE!  It was great!  We all got dressed up and had a blast just hanging out together.  After Sushi, we got Graeter’s Ice Cream.  Graeter’s is an awesome ice cream shop that Cincinnati is famous for.  If you ever make a trip here it is a must that you try Graeter’s!  After the wonderful outing with all of my roommates, I came back to the house for a few minutes and was able to finish a 1000 piece puzzle that I had started on Sunday afternoon : ).  I went to a thing at church that night called Fire on the Mountain.  It was super cute.  They had a “bonfire” behind the church.  By bonfire I mean they put fake wood in a metal fire pit that was placed in a built up and lit it on fire.  It was a lot of fun and very beneficial.  We sang songs for probably and hour or more and just enjoyed being in the presence of other Christian young adults.  After we sang we had a devotional and just talked about some topics that some of the people there seemed to struggle with scripturally.  By the time I made it home it was after 11.  I was one tired girl and went straight to bed : ).

June 15

Probably the worst day I have experienced so far this summer.  I did my normal work in Night Hunters and was even able to “teach” the other intern how to prepare the diets for the animals in care of the Cathouse keepers.  It definitely made me feel good to be in charge of teaching someone else something : ).  Other than that the morning was exactly as usual.  It wasn’t until lunch that my day took a turn for the worst.  It was POURING rain when I left Night Hunters for lunch.  I walked all the way across the zoo to get lunch at the zoo cafe only to find that every single person in the zoo was crammed into the cafe with all of their kids and strollers creating a mass amount of chaos.  So, in the pouring rain I walked to the other side of the zoo to the Commissary so that I could hopefully eat my lunch there.  By the time I made it, I was completely soaked.  I ate my lunch and got to work.  The bad part about working in the Commissary is having to walk in the -12 degrees freezer.  So adding that to my already soaked and freezing body did not help my mood or my body.  By the time I was finished for the day, I went home took the hottest shower I have probably ever taken and went straight to bed.  I didn’t end up setting an alarm and didn’t wake up until 9:00 that night.  I was asleep for over 4 hours.  I woke up long enough to eat a bowl of cereal and went straight back to bed.  : (

Once again, I am exhausted hopefully tomorrow I will be able to finish catching everyone up : )

So here is the deal.  I posted to my blog late last week with an extremely long blog that covered a lot of details for two days.  Apparently, you can delete posts from my phone (same principle behind butt dialing)!  I was not a happy camper and have been a little bit disgusted with Tumblr since then.  So many people have so very kindly told me they were missing the blogs and since I had some free time I am going to go back and fill everyone in on the happenings here at the Zoo in Cincinnati : ).  I do the same daily routines as far as cleaning exhibit and preparing food so I will not go into detail about all of that in this blog since I have many times before. Work went as normal on the 9th and nothing to major happened that day outside of work so I am going to skip to the 10th and start there 

June 10th:

I went to work that morning. I did my usual lobby cleaning and exhibit cleaning to start off the morning.  I was able to enjoy a first that day : ).  I was “told” how to clean the exhibit for the Fennec Foxes (Look them up!).  I then had to go inside the exhibit and figure out how to go about getting up all of the hair and feces without scaring the poor little foxes to death.  The names of the Foxes are Sage (Female) and Stomp (Male).  Sage is a lot more timid and ran around the exhibit like I was out to get her.  At one point, she was even growling at me.  I eventually got as much cleaned as possible and left her to calm down.  Notice, I said her and not them.  He was much more relaxed and calm the entire time I was in the exhibit.  Later that morning, I was helping the nocturnal Keepers and was able to clean the cage of an Owl Monkey.  He is adorable, but he has a massive tumor on his neck so he can no longer be viewed  by the public.  Don’t let that fool you though, he is definitely living the life.  : )  While cleaning the Animal Holding area in Night Hunters, I asked one of the keepers to tell me about the Kinkajou (Once again LOOK it up lol).  At the beginning of our internships, The other intern and I were told to make sure that we never opened the door to the Kinkajou’s home.  I was afraid this was going to be some crazy animal that would readily attack.  Boy was I wrong!  As soon as I asked about the animal the keeper immediately walked into the Kinkajou’s cage and stuck his arm in the box with him.  I was in shock for a minute lol.  He then took the Kinkajou out and walked around the back of Night Hunters with him for a few minutes.  It was a cool experience.  It’s also nice to know that Kinkajous are not man eating mammals : P.  I finished out the morning by cutting up produce and preparing the diets for certain animals.  In the Commissary, I did a lot of sweeping (industrial broom lol),mopping, and wiping.  There wasn’t a lot to do that afternoon ,in all honesty, but anyone wise knows that when a boss is around you need to make work for yourself even if you have wiped the same counter 5 times : P.  Needless to say, the nutritionist was around that afternoon.  After work, I went with Abby (Friend from the intern house) to see the Duggar’s.  They were all actually at a Barnes and Noble here in Cincinnati.  For those of you who don’t know who the Duggar’s are the show 19 Kids and Counting is based off of their lives.  Abby is an avid TLC viewer and was very excited to go see them.  I on the other hand was basically there just to laugh at all the crazy fans, like Abby.  : )  We ate dinner at a cute little restaurant called Noodles and Company.  Apparently, those are located all over the country (just not in Arkansas lol).  We finished off the night by renting a redbox movie and hanging out at the house with the girls.

June 11:

I was finally able to sleep in this morning!  I spent most of the morning going between sleeping and reading on my nook.  It was great!  One of the girls that lives in the house with me has some family that lives here in Cincinnati.  Her family is part of a Country Club. This Country Club has an awesome pool that several of us living in the house had the opportunity to spend several hours at.  We all burnt to a crisp, but it was wonderful getting out of the house to do something fun.  That night I ended up going out with my actually roommate (June).  We ate pizza at La Rosa’s and watched The Hangover 2 in a really awesome mall just south of where we live.  It was a wonderful day to catch up on some much needed sleep and spend some time with the awesome girls I live with.  Once again, I can not tell you how great it is to be around all of these girls.  I love them all and am already dreading leaving at the end of the summer : (.

June 12:

I went to church.  That is enough said about the day.  To put it simply it was amazing!  I love the congregation up here.  They have a lovely young adult class that is centered around college students and young adults.  The teacher is great he definitely has made me really step back and take a look at whether or not I am doing things for the right reasons and in the right manners.  My peers are also pretty cool.  They all seem to have a very deep love for God and have good heads on their shoulders.  It is all really inspiring.  The lessons from the preacher have all been sound so far and the singing is amazing!  They sing all of the songs I know from the 3 churches I have attended plus all the songs I have learned at church camps over the years.  It amazes me that almost everyone in the church knows who I am and will openly come greet me as soon as I walk in the door.  They have for sure made me feel at home : ).  After the morning service, I got groceries an went home for a much needed nap.  I attended the Evening service at church and received what was probably one of the best lessons I have ever heard.  I will not do it justice, but the lesson talked about Paul’s letter to the Corinthians.  The teacher (one that normally teaches my young adult class) started by explaining how absurd that letter sent to Paul requesting him to come must have been.  Telling about all the divisions in the Church, the prostitution, Gambling, and many other sinful acts taking place within their church.  It was a very inspiring lesson that made me take a much different approach when reading the Corinthian Letters.  I was invited to a gathering that the young adults have on Tuesday nights called Fire on the Mountain.  I definitely liked the sound of that!

June 13:

Work as usual.  Nothing to overly exciting happened.  I did start noticing that the keepers are starting to entrust a lot more responsibility to me.  It makes me feel like I can do this job : ).  I have noticed (hopefully they have as well) that I no longer have to be told every little thing and often have already accomplished tasks by the time they ask to go do them. I am really starting to like all of the keepers more and more.  They all have their own very unique personalities, but all of them definitely have a very tender side when it comes to the animals.  The Commissary keepers are also very high ranking in my books.  They all treat me so well, even on days where I have worked my butt off all morning and am completely exhausted.  On this day,  this was definitely shown to me full color.  While I was out running errands with one of the keepers the Commissary got a call for a couple of keepers to come help with the Rhinos.  I later found out that the only reason they agreed to go was so that I could have a chance to interact with a Rhino.  We ended up going down there and were needed to get one of the Rhinos used to strange people coming up to it.  I was able to pet and rub the Rhino all over his body.  It was a very very cool experience.  I never imagined Rhino skin feeling so rough and soft at the same time.  I know that sounds very contradicting, but I really have no other words to describe it.  Let me just say this if you ever get the chance to pet a Rhino you should definitely not pass it up : ).  That night my roommate’s (June) mom came into town.  She took another one of the girls and I out to diner.  We ate an Indian Restaurant called Deep India Restaurant.  It was amazing food.  It was the first time I had ever had Indian food so it was a very interesting experience.  For those of you who know me, we ordered what was supposed to be medium with spice.  I could barely eat it.  That is saying something!  After eating, we all decided we just wanted to walk around for a bit.  We ended up walking past this cute little coffee shop where several guys were standing at asking people to please come to their comedy show.  Needless to say, we ended up going in and watching it.  I am very glad we did.  It was cute. Some of the jokes were a little rough and uncalled for, but most of the comedian did a very good job and were pretty funny.  It was a great night!

I am tired of typing for the night. I promise, I will finish catching you up tomorrow! :)

Heather

Nothing major happened today.  I started the day, as normal, by cleaning the Night Hunters lobby.  I am going to be a professional at using an industrial broom by the end of this internship.  I shaved nearly 5 minutes off of my time today : P.  The keepers are becoming a lot more comfortable with the other intern and I.  They are actually beginning to joke around and play with us.  It is definitely nice to feel like I fit in with the keepers.  It makes the day much more enjoyable.  I also noticed that the keepers are trusting us to do more difficult jobs on our own now.  I was able to clean the exhibits of several different nocturnal animals including Pottos, an Owl Monkey, and several different types of Armadillos. I know those do not sound like much, but when a keeper leaves you in charge of making sure their food bowls get taken up and their cages cleaned properly it gives me a chance to actually learn how to do the job on my own rather than watch someone else do the work.  Most of the work that I and the other interns here have to do is very strenuous manual labor.  Growing up on a far has really given me a leg up compared to some of the other interns from what I have heard.  After all the morning cleaning was done, I went with one of the keepers to the Zoo Cafe for break.  He came and found me to invite me so it definitely made me feel better about life : ).  Fitting in with co-workers is a big deal at Zoos.  The average employment time at the Cincinnati Zoo is currently 14 1/2 years.  If you don’t get along with your co-workers you are (excuse my language) screwed.  When I got back from break I started cutting up produce and ended up working on that until it was time for me to leave for the morning.  This afternoon in the Commissary I definitely worked my booty off.  First off, it was extremely hot outside and the humidity is exactly like it is in Arkansas.  The first task of the afternoon was to make rat bags.  That is easy and only took me 5 minutes.  The more difficult task of the day was what they called boxing Browse.  Browse is fresh branches with leaves.  The browse that we boxed today was some sort of tree that had very very very long thorns attached to the limbs.  The limbs had to be trimmed and then stuffed into a long narrow box.  I received the awesome job of placing the browse into the boxes.   Needless to say, my hands and arms are covered in scratches.  Once we boxed all the browse, I swept and mopped the whole commissary kitchen. I was definitely ready for a nap by the time I got home for the day.  I got groceries and ended the night watching “Taken” with some of the girls I live with.  Funny story: I was telling some of the girls about one of the plates at the Zoo Cafe having smashed potatoes.  At the same time, everyone one of the girls in the room stopped what they were doing and just starred at me, mouth a gap.  They couldn’t believe I called them smashed potatoes.  None of them had ever heard the term.  The potatoes were indeed smashed potatoes, the skin was included. lol  Everyone here gets the biggest kick out of my accent.  Even, some of the keepers try to mimic it, occasionally: ).

Heather