Time to move on once again

So good news....I go a permanent job back in Pennsylvania! Bad news, I have to leave all my friends in Georgia as I will not be coming back for the spring season. I've only been here two months but it feels like much longer. I've learned so much and had an amazing time here! I felt just like this 2 months ago when leaving Utah and now have to pack up and do it all over again. Unfortunately these feelings will probably tag along with me my entire life, because I love to keep moving and keep changing elements around in my life. As much as I love it, moving on is so hard when you have made a connection to a new place and start to make attachments. I'm going to miss all the great times playing with animals, commuting to work across a lake everyday, taking kids out in the woods on canoeing on the water, playing games, etc. I mean I got paid to dress up like a beekeeper and harvest honey!



Just last week a group of us took the canoes out at dusk and paddled around for an hour while we waited for it to get dark. There was a conference going on and they planned fireworks that evening. Sitting in the lake surrounded by my friends while the fireworks lit up the lake and the woods around us was incredible. Probably the best fireworks show I've seen. It was beautiful! Everything is just so pretty here right now because Georgia is finally coming full swing into fall. The weather is cooler now and the leaves have really started to change. I just love autumn and am glad that I can hang on to it a little longer than I would have been able to if I was back in PA. The office life will certainly not be as much fun or around so much natural beauty but I'm looking forward to moving home,being surrounded by old friends and getting some experience on my resume. It will be a nice, steady change for a bit...until I move on to my next adventure of course!

Bees!

Last week I helped to harvest honey from our three bee hives. It was a load of fun and tasty too! Only a few of us got stung... those bees were not happy!

Training

Right now my job is really fun because I get to attend every class that the kids will get to do and learn how to teach each one. My favorite part has been playing with all of the animals while getting to know my co-workers. I have yet to explore any of Georgia except for the forest that I work in, but I think this weekend I might be going to Atlanta for a bit!

Hello from Georgia!

Hi y'all-

Well I've made it to Eatonton, GA and am slowly settling in. This past week has been jammed with training, so I've been so exhausted. I must admit I have a bit of culture shock but I am getting used to it. You should be jealous that I have a lake, a swimming pool, water slide, mini golf and a forest in my backyard. I see deer practically everyday. More updates to come.

And I'm off!

Today I am leaving Hovenweep. I'm leaving this place kicking and screaming because I feel so deeply connected to this place and the people. They have transformed me in ways I do not even understand yet.

It is a sad day for me as I make preparations, pack up my car, and say goodbye to my Hovenweep family. I have learned so much but only feel like I have just arrived. But new adventures and new faces await me in Georgia so I must move on. Maybe one day I will be back. You never know where the wind might blow me next :-)

Firefighter Girl

Me and a few of the rangers got together to do some fire training with our old fire extinguishers. I got to play dress up with the firefighting gear and practice lighting fuses, carrying a water pack, using a hose as well as an extinguisher! Maybe one day I will be a real firefighter. I'm almost on my way!

Here are some actions shots:





Oh and for good measure, Neal let me try on his helicopter flight suit!

Hopi Land

This past Saturday I was invited to go to the Snake Dance Ceremony on Second Mesa of the Hopi Reservation. What a wild time! I was informed that it has been years since a non-native was able to see this dance, so I am incredible lucky to have been a part of it.

There were hundreds of Hopis gathered all around, sitting on the rooftops of the pueblos, peering over the edge into the plaza where the dancers of the antelope and snake clans were. The dancers were all dressed up and painted, singing in Hopi and circling around, stomping on the foot drum and dropping corn meal on the ground. Eventually the snakes were passed out and men would take them in their mouths for a little while until releasing them on the ground,where other members of the clan would keep them in check. Near the end of the ceremony they gather the snakes in a pile and grab them by the handfuls to take them outside the village and disperse them to the four directions.

Of course I do not have any photographs, as they were not permitted. The dance centers of course around the snakes, which the Hopi believe are their brothers and will be able to carry their message and plea for rain. The snakes take their message back to mother earth, the ground from which the Hopis emerged.

Seeing this ceremony and the villages of the reservation made me better understand the ruins at Hovenweep and how a village might have looked and operated. The magical thing about this...is that it did begin to rain about halfway through the ceremony. Who is to say that prayers don't work?

I was also able to visit some of the other Hopi villages, learn some Hopi words, eat some Hopi food and view Prophecy rock. It was a very good time!