Photoblog: Winter Solstice

December 20th - "Lets Celebrate Winter Solstice"



We sat at a a bar and hatched our plans over several glasses of wine


The plan: Celebrate Winter Solstice...

Its funny how things turn out different than you planned.

December 21st

I rise early and call in to work.



I then went over to Mirandas house. Her phone was shut off, so I couldn't call and wake her. After arriving, I wake her. I went to go rent a car and buy supplies for our winter solstice day trip celebration.

Wine,



Cheese, Crackers,



Oysters, etc.


I return and she is still sleeping off her hangover.


Finally rousting her out of bed, we got on the road around 11am...3 hours later than planned.



Our plan was to drive up to the mountains and spend a day of hiking around and playing in the snow with her and her beagle, Napoleon.

Along the way we picked up a hitchhiker...



a stinky hitchhiker with a nicotine stained beard and clothes that were probably his only pair. He was a kind old weathered man though, and the hitch was fairly short.

I asked him of conditions further down the road. He told me of snow up the hill.


Then we dropped him off at a gated road. "Beware, Do Not Enter, Trespassers will be shot."


He waddled down the gravel road cut between dying huckleberry overgrowth.

We made our way to the forest service roads off the highway and started plowing our way through the snow.


It wasn't bad, cars of days past had carved two narrow black strips through the white blanket of snow. Several miles in, we met a couple who had their truck stuck in the snow.


We helped them out and got them turned around so they could return to portland.


Miranda and I stood in the snow, debating on whether to continue. It was still close to ten miles uphill.

"What the hell, we're on and adventure, lets go on an adventure."


We trudged on. But a short distance later we slid out of the ruts. Just a little bit. "It'll be a bit of maneuvering, but we will get out"

Well, with every maneuver the car was getting close to being out, but then it would slide further into the ditch. Three hours I worked at it. She pushed, I pushed, we rocked, I dug...all to no avail.


(no children were exploited in this adventure)

The sun was setting and we needed rest.



So we sat in the car and played hangman on the frosted condensation that had gathered on the windows.


I put sticks, cardboard, and towels under the tires for traction....all to no avail.

The sun set, it was dark and cold, and we were both soaking wet without a change of clothes (whatever happened to the my Boy Scout Motto "Be Prepared")


Ceding to the fact that we were stuck for the night, I sat in the car, feeling I failed her. I was formulating what we would do in the morning. She went to sleep...I tried but I was too distraught over what I got us into. Two hours of restlessness passed and I woke her.

"Keep me company until I am sleepy."

We talked and ate what little food we had.

...the wine...
....sweet glorious wine....



We opened the bottle and tore up paper to make cards. We then proceeded to get drunk over a game of cribbage.



Drunk and tired we finally passed out. I layed cramped in the backseat while she was crowded in the front seats with Napoleon (her beagle)


Every hour or so, one of us would turn the car on to reheat the space. The sun rose eventually.



We awoke and tried a bit more, but where unsuccessful at getting the car out. In fact, one tire hung in the air, mocking our efforts.


So we put on all our clothes, with plastic bags over our socks and started hiking out. Several hours later, freezing cold, and wet from the rain, we saw a car. They gave us a lift to the nearest ranger station.


(thats Miranda, Me, Napoleon, and the Ranger...except we weren't smiling)

Fortunately there was one person there. We were able to use the phone to call a tow truck.



Two hours later, the driver and I got the car unstuck. Miranda was busy sleeping in the cab of the other tow truck. You see, the driver brought two trucks, because he once got one stuck and had to hike a long ways out.

Soon we were on our way home. We stopped to refill the nearly empty gas tank, because we burned through most of it trying to keep ourselves warm in the night.

So that is my Winter Solstice Adventure

With missed work, car rental, tow services, and gas it cost me more than $700...hell I should have just flown us to vegas.

Photoblog: Snow, Life, and a pretty little tin can of Gnomes

Okay, so there is no Tin Can of Pretty Little Gnomes


But at least I have some gnomes, and a tin can to talk to them through


Today is December 18th. It is snowing today. I like the snow, and it keeps falling. If it falls like this all through the night, perhaps I might just have to arrange some sort of snowball fight tomorrow after I get off work.

That would be fun.



I am now two weeks into my architecture job, and am quite enjoying it. I am getting the opportunity to actually do some design work. My days are spent hunched over a desk drafting away, drawing away, and drifting away into the wide world of architecture.




It is fun.

So I went to two parties last night.

The first was pretty fun, and the second was full of people I knew from ODS...several took a bit of time to recognize me, being beardless and all.

I am at work now, and should actually be doing work...
So I will cut this blog short

back to the




Hope all is well in your lifes, and as always,
Cheerio

Day Two: Architecture

todays blog is brought to you by the number 37 the letter K and the color fuscia fire-blended with-essence of fog Today was my second day of work. It was interesting. I spent some time working on this multi-million dollar home...adjusting the fourth garage. Yes some guy out there has a barn for his cars, two three car garages, and a fourth garage for his RV...and that is just the garages.... Can you say excess-much After that I worked on a MasterPlan for a school in Japan...at least I think that is where it is... Tomorrow I work on a church in Korea. I told my boss he should fly me there so that I could get a better understanding of the site. He said maybe, but I doubt it. I am anxious to get into my appartment...still waiting... uh...what else... nothing...so then todays advice "don't hurt your ankles before dance competitions" "don't breath under water unless the water is contained in a glass, then make a bet that you can stand under water longer than five minutes...make lots of money, invest in stock in the fortune cookie industry...use that money to win the lottery...tell the world you won by betting of Fortune Cookie numbers...watch the stock value of the fortune cookies skyrocket and consider yourself rich" "challenge yourself everyday, sometimes you will fail, but the rewards for a victory are as far reaching as time itself." cheerio roger

Day One: Architecture

Well today I started at the architecture job. It was alright...just makes me realize the glory of my two new favorite acronyms ODS & PCT.... I suppose that the job would have been a bit easier to handle if my current quasi roommate didn't keep me awake until 6:30 in the morning. Eh, c'est la vie...at least i have a place to sleep in the meantime. Maybe my next blog will actually contain something useful. But just for fun, lets see how many people I can get to comment on my useless blog. So a word of advice the square of a hypoteneuse of a triangle is equale to the sums of the squares of its two sides, if and only if it is a right triangle. cheerio

Exultant

ex·ul·tant
Pronunciation Key (g-zltnt) adj.
Marked by great joy or jubilation; triumphant.

Have you ever found yourself going through your day and realizing that you are happy. Right now I am. I don't know what is filling me with joy, but I know that I can not stop smiling. I am happy, joyous, elated, exultant,delighted, ecstatic, exulting, transported, flushed, flying, gleeful, high, and jubilant. I had a simple day. I woke early and went and had coffee with a friend who is moving out of town. I then came home and took a walk through the park with two of my housemates. The majority of the afternoon was spent putting my PCT photos on my web page. Now I am just relaxing. And I am happy. Its a good feeling, I could get addicted to this. When have my spirits been this high without prompting from an uplifting experience, I know not. But may this warmth never end. It will, but I don't care...because right now I am happy, and I am making Mac and Cheese...mmmm Must go tend to the stove....

Quandary

Main Entry: quan·da·ry
Pronunciation: 'kwän-d(&-)rE
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural -ries
Etymology: origin unknown : a state of perplexity or doubt

Today I was offered a job at an Architecture firm. I will take the job, because it is quasi-required for me to take the job. I will make good money, relatively...$15/hr. Here is the problem. I want to return to ODS in the spring, and if I have the money I want to return to the PCT over summer. Now then, I am left with the dilemma of taking a job that I want only to turn around in four months and say that I am leaving. Why? Well I would want to leave to return to ODS. I have found a home at ODS and I like it enough to return another time...maybe two times or even three times. In time I will have to inform my boss that I am leaving to go do what I am passionate about. Why am I not as passionate about Architecture, then this would not be a problem? Any tips on how to work a serious job for four months and then leave to go back to what I consider "reality?"

POEM: Invisible People

They stand on the corner
Invisible People

The bag lady reading "Better Homes & Gardens"
The Jazz Singer sharing how he hurts tonight
How he'll be better come the first
Always waiting for the first

Invisible People
Always jonesin' for their next fix
Be it a dollar, a beer, or a hit

The limping man
With less than a cane
The bicyclist salesman
With a new bike every day

They stand on the corner
Invisible People

You got any smokes
Any Money
Just enough for the bus
Enough to get a hostile room tonight

Invisible People
Visible Everywhere

HAIKUS: Belly Button Lint

Belly Button Lint
Wool knit with cotton fibers
Blanket for an ant

Belly Button Lint
More than often blue and gray
Grow me a t-shirt

Belly Button Lint
Hot Morning showers transform
Your fuzz to pudding

Belly Button Lint
Square and circle define where
Vitruvian Man

HAIKUS: Toe Jam Frenzy

Glorious Toe Jam
How does your morning fuzz ball
Ruin cuddle time?

Glorious Toe Jam
Your Disgusting funk down there
Is fun to pick at

Glorious Toe Jam
Comes from sweat and dirty socks
You're odorific

Glorious Toe Jam
Like dust bunnies under beds
collected from floors.

DREAM: Dying in Dreams

I am at Silver Creek Falls State Park...only it is inside the EMU, by all the ramps on the east side...my father has committed a crime...or is going insane...or both. He is supposed to be arrested for a crime he committed....perhaps his crime is his insanity. I take it upon my responsibility to arrest him...even though i am a civilian...not a officer of the law. In trying to capture him we throw eachother all over the park...building....ramps....area. We fly through the air....in the nature of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. In fact we have a fight with staffs...Bo's...if you will. I grab his ears and slam his head into the ground....blood gets all over the place. We fight some more....until I grab a clear pint glass...empty...and throw it at his face. It shatters sending shards of broken glass all over...bloodying his face. He is now arrested....he shakes my hand....the broken glass imbedded in his hands cuts my hand. I am arrested for assault with a deadly weapon...taking the law into my own hands....something....somehow....I am charged with a crime...sent to prison...given the death penalty....by lethal injection. As I lay on the bed...my final bed....the needle goes into my arm...the pain tickles....aches....hurts...pierces. I feel the drugs surge up into my body....coursing through me...to my toes...my fingers...my arms...my chest....until it reached my head. Things get hazy bizarre wavey...High. Capital "H" My bed turns into blue water, with the consistancy of lava....wavey....bubbley. It bubbles up and around me....as the drugs kick in, I sink into the bed.... I am dying. I know that once the blue engulfs me I will be dead. Blue bubbles pop over my eyes...my legs and arms are now engulfed in blue...my torso sinks into the blue....the end is near....finally all that is...is blue...my head has sunk beneath the blue. I have died...I know it....there is no doubt in my mind. But death is not what I thought....it is an extension of life....with a lack of clarity. All I see looks different....what is it....how is it different. Then it hits me. Everything has lost color....it is not black in white....but rather sketchy....like with colored pencils....it is sandy....like little dots of color with white space inbetween the dots....i have fallen into a anitmated world where everyone is the same....but they lack texture....dimension....reality. I drive around....in a video game like simulation....on a sled that moves forward, to the side, and up....though I travel in no particular direction....but I do know that I am running from something....are the officers now after me. Did I commit a crime again...how could I....I am dead...obviously.....everything is unreal....sketchy....sandy....grainy....dimensionless. I find my way to a restaurant....situated inside the trunk of a tree....I go downstairs....my wifes family is there....the reject me....tell me that I do not deserve to dine with them....that I am no longer a part of their family....I run away weeping...sobbing....bawling...knowing that there is nothing I can do...because I am dead. I am dead to the world....dead to them....unimportant....just a sketch...dimensionless. Dead....Dimensionless.

POEM: Love Love

I love camping

I love fish and chips

The sound of babies laughter

I love the sun light on my face

The moonlight on my back

Climbing over mountain boulders

I love to see kids holding hands with moms

And resting on fathers shoulders

I love the sound of clicking shoes on hardwood floors

And singing songs that haven't been sung

I love double decker p.b. & j's

Rivaled only by the double decker oreo

I love to wake up before the alarm

I love to step on beached seashells

Hearing the crack, a sharp contrast to the constant that is the ocean

I love to compliment

I love to laugh alone

I love curves; be they on women, or grades, or in bell's statistics

I love numbers, saying perpendicular, and formulaic

I love finding cream treats in my donuts, especially if they come from bavaria.

I love love

I love puppets when they dance with their long hair

I love to hear my father wistle.

I love the way the baseball sounds when it is caught in a leather mit.

I love the sound of laughter in the Aparment below me, above me, around me.

I love the sounds of water lapping against a docked boat.

I love watching cattails sway in the wind.

I love the smell of fruit in the morning.

I love music played loudly while I clean house

I love music that cleans the house of myself

I love poems that ring true for everyone

and love that lasts through duldrums

I love sharing with others all that is, was, and will be

I love playing hopscotch when I pass some childs chalk doodles

I love turning around and doing it again

Or running down the street with my arms open to the wind

chasing birds as they meander through the streets looking for scraps of food

I love emotions that hit me like a brick

For it is then that I feel most alive

I love sadness, because it reminds me of the joy that once was, and will come again

I love that yesterday and tomorrow play leapfrog while I am trapped in today.

I love life because without life, love would not be,

and without love, life would not be.

ODS: A Drug for the soul (3rd Reflection)

A creek runs through our Outdoor School site. Actually two creeks run through Camp Adams; Milk Creek and Nate Creek. This splits the large site into two independent sites. Our Outdoor School program was situated on the Milk Creek Site, with generally a couple of cabins over in the Nate Creek site, which we fondly (or not so fondly, pending who you ask) called Hawaii. The confluence of the creek is where the students meet for studies on the Water Resource with Tsuga and Hazel. Further up Nate Creek is the cut bank where students look at a soil profile in the Soil Resource with Snag and me (Moose). If you follow the trail further you can cross over the creek into the Plants Resource area where you would study flora with Daisy, Dakota, and Ricochet. If by chance you do not cross Nate Creek, you can follow the trail close to Hawaii, and study fauna on the Animals Resource with Luna, Morrigan, and Rooster.

Not only this, but also the creek serves me with a metaphor for the progression of my experience at Outdoor School, particularly as I worked with my staff. When I first came to Milk Creek, new to the Multnomah Outdoor School Program, Nate Creek was running low. I looked down at the creek as saw a split creek. On the far side, the water flowed, the near side the water was stagnant. It held unmoving silt clouding the water. The distant side was like that of the returning staff members to Milk Creek. They moved along, aware of how the program works. The new staff members seemed to be fogged over with a wealth of knowledge that was being delivered to them early on. We were still the same creek, but there was a split in the way that we worked. As the winter season neared, we received some rain. This caused the creek to start flowing in a unified sense. This occurred around week 4 of the session. There was still cloudy areas, but for the most part the stream was no longer split into two distinct entities. The team of Program Leaders also meshed around week 4. We started to have a stronger vision of how we were working together. The creek still held foggy areas, as did the way that the six of us worked together. Week 5 was similar, but week 6 held dramatic changes. With the demands of a Halloween, the week was madness. Our first day of field study had torrential downpour. In fact a new record was set for the amount of rainfall on that particular day.

I wandered down to Nate Creek, and saw it gushing down the gully, tearing away at the earth. Frantically assembling a haunted house among other festive delights for all hallows eve, the staff worked together to pull off an amazing experience for the 6th graders. We moved quickly like Nate Creek. Toward the end of the week the stream had cleared. It was flowing quickly, but was clear. Our staff had successfully pulled off one of the best Halloweens that these 6th graders will probably ever experience. We worked well together, much like a consistent flow in the stream. Now all the silt that was gathered on site from Nate Creek and Milk Creek has flowed downstream, off site. In metaphor, I see this as symbolic of how the Outdoor School Experience has effected us and we will take something from site, carry it out of site, and effect something further down the line.

**** An Email from a student leader “I agree with you completely. Right now I’m sitting here in a hotel room in Baltimore, Maryland visiting colleges. Picture me trying to explain ODS to a pearl-and-tweed-suit-clad admissions officer in five minutes in an interview. ODS has been one of the best things I’ve ever done in my short life, but I know that as I get older it will continue being important. I’ve grown up a whole lot since I was a sophomore in this program. It’s unsettling, watching yourself grow up like that in front of your own eyes. “Yesterday I read an entry that I wrote in my journal a couple weeks before I came out for my week this fall. I was talking about ODS, and how apprehensive I was to come out and open up again. Because it’s painful when, again, it ends. It’s scary how numb we all become to real life sometimes. Maybe it’s because I’m at a stage where I’ve grown out of what I have to do everyday (high school), but I’m not quite at what my next stage will be (college). But I don’t know. It’s risky, though, to go out there and just have to deal directly with yourself for once. I finally feel validated, useful, just like you said. It feels good to be with people who acknowledge and complement each other. I always have such a horrible time adjusting back to real life. Going to school on Monday morning is okay, because I get to see my friends and teachers, and everybody asks me how things went. But then there’s Tuesday, and Wednesday, and Thursday and I still think about all of you 100x a day, but I can’t keep talking about it. Nobody cares. I don’t blame them. They weren’t there with me. That’s sad too. Little by little I forget about what it was like too. I hate that. “I hardly ever cry. But god, every time final campfire just gets me. Usually I try to stop it though. I didn’t really this time. It just felt so good. It feels good to cry about something good once in a while. Stop being numb. Just let yourself feel something for once. I think it’s a tendency to treat crying as a symptom of a problem that needs to be solved. We hardly ever treat crying as a solution to the problem. I walked my girls back in the dark and sat on my bunk and just sort of cried while they got their teeth brushed and got tucked in their sleeping bags waiting for a goodnight. It felt wonderful. And then it stopped as quickly as it started and I was laughing and partying and eating cookies. That’s the way it should be. That night I got out a piece of lined paper at 1am and wrote ‘I don’t ever want to forget this feeling. I don’t ever want to forget those words that my ears heard tonight. Somewhere in the really near future these words are going to be so necessary.’ That’s the truth.” **** I sent her my journal entries on my experience at ODS, and this was the thoughtful response she gave me. Around week 4, I had figured the job out fairly well. I was in the groove of understanding how to do my tasks in an efficient manner. I soon realized that many of my returning student leaders also knew their responsibilities. Taking time to teach them how to do their job seemed almost a waste of their time as well as mine. I started to take time to get to know the students as people, as opposed to student leaders. By week five and six I spent most my time trying to impart upon my student leaders something they could take out of Outdoor School with them. Like the silt in the creek floating downstream, I wanted to give them some words of wisdom. I still taught the high schoolers how to teach 6th graders about erosion, weathering, etc. but I tried to also give them something that would help them grow outside of ODS. I am, by no means, filled with infinite wisdom. I learned a great deal about communication while I was at ODS. A coworker taught me to work at understanding the difference between being self-critical and self-aware. I tried passing on this and other things that I learned in the last year of my life. I think that this had impact on some people, because in my final week, I started receiving some letters from past student leaders. Letters of thanks. I was looking at a internet forum for ODS student leaders, and saw my name mentioned a few times. I took the time to have a “Magical Mystery ‘Moose’ Moment” with some of my student leaders. During this I shared a quote, a story, or a poem that has impacted me. Some of the student leaders took what I said to heart and wrote back thanking me for the advice. I even saw applied advice a couple weeks later, which showed me that the SLs were listening to what I had to say.

**** The final week of ODS was madness. We had torrential rain. We had halloween to set up for. We had to take down all the gear and store it for the winter. But our team of SLs, PLs, and FIs cruised through these responsibilities nearly flawlessly. For Halloween I shared “Scary Stories” with the sixth graders. I recited “The Cremation of Sam McGee” by Robert W. Service as a preliminary story. Then I took cues from the sixth graders to create a second “true” story of the missing bride of Camp Adams. My story developed with each group, and by the final group I had a crisp story. Sadly, I did scare a few sixth graders too much. This however gave me the opportunity to talk with the scared ones later, telling them the story isn’t true. It became a secret that I shared with them, telling them to keep the story “alive” for the other students. By the end of the week, there was a few sixth graders who came to me and thanked me for sharing a secret with them. They were able to listen to their scared classmates, yet feel secure in knowing the truth.

**** At the end of the week, one sixth grader came up to me and thanked me. She received all the beeds, a rare honor. I think around 200 sixth graders have received all beeds in the 40,000+ students under Cherokees as Site Supervisor. This young girl and I had a similar sense of humor. We sat at a table together once for lunch and without talking, just started staring up at the ceiling to see how many people we could get looking up. Soon our whole table was staring at the ceiling, she looked over at me and smiled…mission accomplished.

**** Its the small stories, the tiny connections, the simple day-to-day experiences that you get to share with people that make the experience at ODS so wonderful. I can not explain it, but those there understand what makes ODS a drug for the soul.

Happy Trails, Inner Peace, & Harmony

ODS: A Drug for the soul (2nd Reflection)

First, let me apologize for getting this out late. I had anticipated getting an email out every weekend about my Outdoor School Experience. Unfortunately, I was rather sick this weekend and used most of my time to rest. Apparently, this experience comes with a minor amount of sleep deprivation, which in turn can have adverse effects on the health. Oh well, the adverse effects on physical health are worth the positive effects on mental health.

***Positive effects? let me elaborate.

Every day the Program Leaders (PLs) meet with the Student Leaders (SLs), to discuss how things are going, what is on the agenda for the next day, and spend a bit of time getting to know one another without the 6th graders around. The last night we do a "Candle Pass" ceremony where we pass a candle and briefly share gratitude, memories, thoughts etc. on our experience over the week. In this often emotional time, I said that the ODS program is having a greater impact on me than the trail did for me. Later in the evening, a PL asked me to elaborate what exactly I meant.

Feeling that this was an adequate question to ponder, I thought that I might share what I meant to those who have followed me on my hike.

I went out with a dream to hike from Mexico to Canada, but quickly realized that the accomplishment was in being out there chasing/achieving a dream and learning a lot about myself along the way. Financial considerations pulled me away from the trail, but "The Trail" has always had its way with the hiker, and not the other way around. I believe that my decisions and "The Trail" sent me to a position where I would have the opportunity to find this job, I found the job, and now I am applying what "The Trail" has taught me to my living and my decisions.

When I left for the hike, I was leaving behind a rather bitter/cynical lifestyle that was wearing on my spirits. I needed something positive, and that positive came from the hike. Given endless hours of solitude, I had time to think. Time, which few actually have. Time, which those who vacation understand. I, however, unlike the usual vacationer, had nearly four months of time to think.

The trail gave me time to learn how to be introspective, examine my flaws, find my strengths and weaknesses, learn how to be positive in tough situations, accept what is given to me as a gift (be it now or later), among many other wonderful experiences. This, however, was related to my life on the trail.

***Theory and Application

In saying that the ODS program is having a greater impact on me than the trail is a little hard to understand. Yet I feel that "The Trail" taught me theory, and ODS is giving me application. I am able to use the introspection as a way of understanding how to be a better leader, and better role model, and a better mentor to those who are out here, and eventually those I surround myself with. It is as if the trail built a foundation upon which a solid house could be built. ODS is giving me timber to frame a house, and my fellow staffers are giving me the tools to build the house. To push the analogy to its limits, each staff member is contributing a different tool for me, for one cannot build a house with just a hammer. And I, I am putting in the work to build the house. Hopefully the house will last longer than I do.

***A Few Moments

I stood outside looking up at a double rainbow. I have seen, as many have, rainbows, sunbows, and moonbows. The rain came down early in the morning and as the rain cleared the rainbow refracted light into its spectrum of red, orange, yellow, green and blue. The 6th graders had already boarded their busses to head home, and we (the staff) were left with the SLs to close up the site for the weekend. A moment opened up between duties, where I took in a breath and looked out at the damp, rain flecked field. Quickly those around saw the arching rainbow. Higher than the usual rainbow, this one was more than 180 degrees. Faintly outside of the rainbow existed a second rainbow, a rarity in my book. This second rainbow was faint, but as rich in color as most the rainbows I typically see, which means that the inner rainbow was much more saturated in color. While I have always admired rainbows, these two seemed to be slightly different for me, and I enjoyed being able to share it for one fleeting moment with some of the staff and SLs. I then returned to work. A moment for us.

***

I stood outside looking down the trail. It was one of those moments where time seems to have stopped, where I was given the opportunity to stop and admire the environment that I am in. "Cherokee," our Site Supervisor, always tells the students to take a moment and admire the environment we are in. This was one of those moments. During morning field study, the mid morning sunlight was shining down the trail, casting a long shadow on the trail where I stood. I looked up into the trees and saw roughly fifty spider webs, all hosting large lazy spiders, lounging in the sun. Being out of the way of the walking students, these spider webs had the privilege of being enormous, for they never were torn by passerbys. I stood in the golden shadows looking up at all the spiders comfortably nested in the hearth of their webs, then decided I wanted to share the moment with someone. As I wandered the Field Study Area to find "Snag" my FI, I made my way back to the same spot a few minutes later. I looked up. The suns position had moved and almost all of the spiderwebs had disappeared. A moment for me.

***

Jesse was a student I had on field study the final day of Week 3. Picture a small freckled superball with arms and legs. He was a delight, because he always had alot of energy. Perhaps too much at times. During field study he grabbed a small handful of the light green stringy lichen and stretched it out over his chin.

"Who am I?" he eagerly asked me in passing. I guessed Abraham Lincoln. Giggeling he said, "No, I am you Moose."

Trying to play the teacher, I accepted the humor in stride, but asked to take the lichen from him, so that he may focus better on the field study. Kindly he handed it over. Thirty seconds later, I turned my back. As soon as I started walking away, I peered over my shoulder to look back at him. He was pulling a deep green, damp moss from a nearby branch. He saw that I noticed him, so he quickly hid the moss. Where, you ask. He shoved it quickly into his mouth to hide all evidence. I asked him how he was doing, to which he quickly spat the moss out of his mouth. He had greet specks of moss, small clumps of dirt and bark falling gracefully out of his mouth. Delightfully humerous sight to see.

***

At the end of Week 3, we were doing our "Candle Pass." One of the SLs commented on how much he enjoyed his first week of Outdoor School as a student leader. He said that in a matter of one week, he received more compliments than he typically does in two months time. Striking a chord within me, I realized that is one of the reasons that I love ODS so much, the overwhelming sense of positivity.

***

Caitlan, a young sixth grade student and I were walking back to lunch after field study with her class. She and I were taking the time to talk. In a matter of a few seconds I learned that she really wanted to learn Japanese. As we walked back we talked about learning a new language, the benefits and challenges, and how she could go about getting japanese lessons. I told her about Japanese emersion schools and other options.

After talking for about five minutes about japanese, she looked up at me and asked, "You want to know something weird?"

Interested in hearing what else she wanted to say about japanese I said, "yes."

To which she promptly replied, "Sometimes I run until my legs are tired."

Its funny how the brain works differently in sixth grade.


***

The thought I dwealt on over Week #3

"I do not know what I may appear to the world; but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me."

--Sir Isaac Newton

At the "Candle Pass" at the end of week three, I shared this quote with the SLs and PLs, followed by an explanation of what it means to me. Newton was a brilliant man. He explained the basic laws of physics, invented calculas, and even though he knew a great deal of science, he still felt like a little boy with and ocean of knowledge to be explored. This is like the sixth grader learning new facts, the high schooler learning how to share those facts, and the PLs and FIs learning how to teach. I am in an environment of continual positivity and sharing of knowledge. I am given the role of a "wise man" put at camp to be a mentor to the high schoolers, but in all reality the exchange goes both ways and everyday I am learning something new from the high schoolers, and fellow staff members.

If we open our eyes, is everyone able to be in a learning environment, I suspect so. I, however, do not have to search for the knowledge, it is given to me on an hourly basis. This is one of the reasons I love where I am, and what I am doing.

Happy Trails, Inner Peace, & Harmony

ODS: A Drug for the soul

As many of you are aware, I have left the trail. I hiked roughly 1100 miles on the Pacific Crest Trail before running out of money. In an attempt to find temporary work I stumbled accross a job as a Program Leader at Outdoor School for the Multnomah Education Service District. In this job I am offered the opportunity to work with other outdoor enthusiasts. Not ready to leave the trail, but realizing that I must, I felt that this was the perfect job for my interests. I would be offered an easing back into "society." I would be able to stay in the outdoors, be around those who love the outdoors, and try my hand at teaching. My history with Outdoor School goes back to the 5th grade when I went for the first time. Leaving Salem, OR and moving to Pendleton, OR, I was able to attend Outdoor School a second time in the 6th grade. Then in high school I went up three times as a high school counselor to the 6th graders attending the program.

Then off I went to college to pursue my career in Architecture. Events happened that sent me on a hike. This hike allowed endless hours of introspection of what I wanted for myself in the future. One idea I set out to understand was what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. I struggled with the idea of doing Architecture till the winters of my life, and had been contemplating the prospect of teaching. I tutored Mathematics all through college, finding myself enjoying the spark in my students eyes as they had that moment of epiphany when a concept suddenly made sense. While Architecture fed my creative side, teaching touched me in a totally different way. Naturally on the hike, I debated for many hours whether I wanted to have architecture as a hobby, and do teaching as a job. So when this opportunity arose to go out into the woods and teach kids about our natural environment, I was excited. But never in a thousand years would I have expected the experience to be so emotionally rewarding.

The program is a drug for the soul, and I have this feeling that I might be returning several times. So then, let me explain. I am a Program Leader at Milk Creek, part of Camp Adams, outside Molalla, OR. I work with 5 other Program Leaders, 4 Field Instructors, a Nurse, and a Site Supervisor. The 12 of us work at the camp over a period of 6 weeks, taking a different group of four 6th grade classes through the program every week. What makes the program a drug for the soul? This is a hard concept to explain to those not there, but I will try my best. First and foremost, I have been blessed with an amazing staff to work with. We all came out for similar reasons; a desire to teach, a desire to be outdoors, a love of the program, etc. Yet, we all are completely different, each bringing a special element to the experience we provide for the 6th graders and the high school student leaders.

My job consists of being an assistant teacher with a Field Instructor, being a personal mentor to high school students, and being support for the camp and its staff. We are an "intentional community" built to provide students with an experience that they might never have been able to have without the Outdoor School Program. In the first week we held workshops and set up the site to cater to the following six weeks of students. Before the first student ever arrived, I realized how well thought the program is, and how it is designed to help all those who go through it. I can not fully describe the effects emotionally it has on me, but I can share snippets of the week that might capture why I am addicted to this drug for the soul. The first week I acted as a Student Leader as well as a Program Leader. This means that we where shy one male high schooler, so I filled that role by having a cabin of 10 boys to myself. I made sure the kids were up on time and to various places on time. As the lessons ended for the day we had a campfire, where all the students came together and did skits and songs before heading off to bed. As I took my students away at the end of the night, we all paused at the field and pointed our eyes upward to the skies. Each night, I pointed out the constellations in the sky, sharing a story of the constellation if I knew one. Then we would return to the cabin, where I put them to bed. After all the boys were in bed I told them a story or recited a poem. After the story, I circulated the bunks giving a personal goodnight to each student. I asked them about there day, told them what was in store for the next day, and all around acted as loving parent saying goodnight. On the last night, the clouds covered the stars, so instead I told them of a story about how stars are formed (or at least what I believed when I was real young).

One student asked me where I lived. Since I don't really live anywhere right now except at camp, I told him that I lived at camp. "Wow, you must be the luckiest guy alive," he replied. In a sense there is more truth to that statement for me than I would probably admit. I have been blessed with a job that allows me to teach what I love, our natural environment. I have been blessed with amazing coworkers, with whom I have already bonded closely with. Each bringing a different element to the team, I am surrounded by a group as closely knit as those that I have hiked with. My mornings sing with the first step at the flag raising. My afternoons are sparked by a dual mentorship from other staff members, each providing me with a different element for personal growth as a staff member, and as a human being. My evenings glow with way we come together and share stories. My Field Study is Soil, so I am an assistant teacher to "Snag," on topics such as erosion, weathering, geology, earth morphology, soil pH, and all things related to the soil. I know the difference between dirt and soil. I am given the opportunity to take my knowledge and be a mentor to high school students, teaching the students how to be role models, leaders, and teachers. Over my first week I worked closely with five high schoolers. As I taught the five of them, each in turn contributed to my own personal growth and understanding of myself. By the end of the week I had grown close to my students, both 6th graders and high schoolers, and felt a pain to see them go. During the final ceremonies, I could feel emotions welling up inside of me, emotions that had been all but vacant in me over the last couple years.

The final ceremony of the week is a tree planting, where the four best students of the week are selected to plant a tree with soil that each student brought with them from a "special place." Two boys from my cabin received this honor. As we all formed in a semi-circle around the 4 students, 4 Field Instructors, and the Site Supervisor, I kneeled in the rain listening to one of my students say to everyone how the best part of outdoor school was his cabin leader, me. Wow, the week was filled with all sorts of fun, many great elements, and what he remembers was me. What an honor to hear him proudly announce that to one hundred plus people. I was thankful of the rain, for it hid the tears in my eyes. It is hard to capture what the camp does for people in words, but I think that simply stating that it is a drug for the soul, paints a picture that many can understand and relate to. I hope to write a journal entry every week about my experiences and share it with you all.


Happy Trails, Inner Peace, & Harmony