Best. Summer. EVER! Part 1: Summer Job

Ok, it has been a really long time since I posted on my blog and a lot of things have happened since the last post.  Basically, I have had the best summer ever!  Some aspects could have been better, but overall, things were pretty great.  Let me start at the beginning...

Part 1: Summer Job
I got a summer job working at the West Coast Game Park Safari in Bandon.  I was part of the presentation staff, so I got to do some of the animal shows.  I got to play with these cuties...



Coco the cougar is on the left and Bobbi the bobcat is on the right.  It was quite a memorable experience.  Not many people can say they've been bitten in the neck by a cougar or made a bobcat purr.  These babies are pretty amazing and I can't believe I had the opportunity to handle them on a daily basis.  I also got to work with other animals.

We had three of these little guys:


I love baby opossums.  We had three brothers.  They crawled all over my shoulders.  Opossums are super cute as babies, but not so much as adults (though our adult was super sweet).

   We also had two sweet ferret sisters.


They were also super sweet and loved to sleep in the hood of sweatshirts.  Apparently, they are illegal to own as pets in some states (they are legal in Oregon).

We also had a young red fox.


I liked her, but she didn't like to be shown.  She was a bit bitey and hard to hold on to.  I hope the owner stops showing her soon.  She gets very stressed out when she is handled and clearly doesn't enjoy it.  I hope she gets to join the other foxes soon.

This was my favorite Nurseryland baby...


This is a baby apricot skunk!!!  I LOVE skunks!  I have learned that they are legal to own as pets in Oregon and that they make amazing pets!  It is easy to have the scent glands removed so they can't spray and you can litter box train them.  They will bond with people just like a dog or cat will.  Nick and I would like to have a skunk someday!  I would like to get a kitten and a skunk at the same time and raise them as litter mates.  It will be a while though, because our dogs would not tolerate having another animal in the house.

I have also discovered that I do NOT enjoy these animals:


Yes, they are super cute, but they are smelly, noisy, always hungry, and obnoxious!  They poop and pee everywhere!  Plus, they get mean and have very sharp claws.  I don't think it is possible for me to truly hate any animal, but raccoons come close...though this one is pretty cute...

I got to interact with a few other animals as well.

A pregnant coati snuggled with me a few times when I fed her.


She had to be separated from the others until after she gave birth and she just wanted some love.  These animals are basically the raccoons of Central and South America.  Not all of them are as sweet as this one is and I wouldn't try to snuggle one in the wild, but I was happy to have the opportunity to spend some time with one.

I also got to feed one of these pretty creatures.


This is a De Brazza Monkey.  Ours would pick through her food bowl and eat her favorite things first, bananas and grapes.  She always ate her fruit first and then her vegetables.  She never actually let me pet her, but I was able to go into her enclosure and hand feed her.

Working at the park allowed me to discover a passion for my new favorite animal!  It's a...



Ring Tailed Lemur!!!!!!  These animals are so soft and sweet (most of them)!  There was one we had who liked to ride around on my shoulder while I cleaned out his enclosure.  I even got a few lemur kisses on my nose from him.  I also got to go into an enclosure with a community of lemurs and hand-fed them.  They are very soft, like a chinchilla.  My lemur friend is definitely what I miss most about the job.

I worked here for almost two months.  It wasn't a bad place to work, but I was working almost full-time and I didn't want that.  Nick was home alone all day and I really wanted to spend time with him before the school year started up again.  I decided to work until the end of July and take August off to spend some time with Nick.  I'll talk more about our August adventures in another post.  Overall, the animal park took pretty good care of the animals.  All of the presentation staff deeply cared for the animals and their well-being.  I think the management could have done a better job.  The enclosures are small and the animals don't have enough room to run around in, in my opinion.  Also, I think our show animals were overworked due to the demands of our customers and the owner.  It isn't enough for me to completely boycott the place, but I will only go on very rare occasions.  I will probably take my kids there someday.

That's about it for my summer job adventures.  I know way more about these wild animals than I ever thought I would.  On a hiking trip, Nick asked me if bobcats bury their poop, and sadly, I knew the answer...yes, yes they do.  I am thankful to have had this experience, but I hope I don't have to have a summer job again.  Please feel free to ask me questions about these animals.  I am happy to share my new knowledge.  It is late and I am tired.  I will post another summer adventure soon!

Cheers!
Ashley

Working Part-Time=Time for Hobbies!

Lately, I've been doing a lot of sewing and knitting.  It took me a while to find hobbies since I haven't had time for them in ages.  I made almost all of my holiday gifts this year.  The only exceptions were two gifts I bought for my cousin before I decided to make them.  My embroidery machine is amazing and we are creating some fantastic things with it.  Nick has figured out how to turn his drawings into embroidery designs that we can then transfer on to fabric and clothing.  I have also become a much more adept at knitting.  Now when I see a cute hat or scarf in a store, I just think of how much fun it would be to make it myself.  I am finding endless free patterns online and I'm excited to have more time for new creations.  I don't want to post pictures of everything here, but here is the link to the Facebook album I've created to showcase my projects.

I Like to Make Things

Enjoy!
Ash

Not-so-Unemployed Anymore...

So, I guess I'm no longer unemployed, but I don't have a full-time teaching job.  I am working at Nick's school as a teacher's assistant.  It has been really fun and made me realize how much I miss teaching.  I was so close to giving up on the profession and going back to grad. school.  I even had a program picked out and was getting ready to fill out the application.  This job came at just the right moment.  It made me realize that I wasn't frustrated with the profession, it was my school (not the students) and my district.   The politics and lack of respect was making me sick and depressed.  My new school is so different.  I feel appreciated and valued.  There is freedom from curriculum and they trust their teachers.  This week they asked me to substitute for our 4th grade teacher and it has been fantastic!  Some things came up, so I don't know how long I'll be teaching 4th grade, but I hope it's for a while.  The students are amazing!  I really enjoy being back in the classroom.  I hope that I can get a full-time position here in the next year or two.  It is nice being able to drive to work with Nick in the morning and teach in the classroom next door to him.  Things are definitely starting to look up!

An Unusual String of Events

I have a lot of free time lately.  Nick works all day and I need something to keep me busy.  Last week Nick and I were talking about possible volunteer ideas.  I told him that I wanted to work with kids or families in need.  I started doing some research, but was having trouble finding places in the area because I didn't know where to look.  I joked about DHS (neither of us is too fond of them) and Nick mentioned that they always need advocates for kids.  That puzzled me.  I thought you had to have a law degree or something to do that...

The next day I was at a new coffee shop that I found.  It actually ended up being exactly what I was looking for (minus internet).  It is a local place, owned by a woman who bakes delicious treats and makes coffee.  There are some comfortable chairs inside and a very nice patio out back.  This will be my spot when I'm looking for somewhere to go.

Anyway, while I was there last week, the owner asked me where I was from and was giving me some places to explore.  Then an older man piped up with some suggestions.  We got to talking and one of his friends joined in.  I mentioned that I was new to the area and would be substituting this year.  Apparently, the man's friend used to be a principal and he was giving me tips for finding a job.  I mentioned that I was looking for volunteer opportunities and they mentioned that they were CASAs (Court Appointed Special Advocates).  I had never heard of a CASA before (which is ridiculous because they play a critical role in the lives of children in foster care.)  As a teacher, I should have known about them.  They started telling me about the work of a CASA.  These are the people who act as the child's voice in court when there are hearings regarding abuse and neglect. They started giving me a lot of information about it and I got really excited!  This must have been what Nick was referring to.  Maybe this is the opportunity I'd been hoping to find.  I found out that they were already in the middle of a training class, but got the contact information anyway.  I called the trainer and she decided that she'd make an exception and squeeze me in.  I'd have to do some make-up work, but with my experience as a teacher, she thought I'd do fine.  I am in the second week of my CASA training and it is amazing.  I know that once I get a case it will be hard to deal with all of the things my child/children went through, but it will give me a chance to help them be heard in court.  I've always wanted to help students this way, but there was never an appropriate opportunity to do so.  Maybe this will be my chance to make a difference in this world.

While on a drive yesterday, I started thinking...The average teacher makes it 4 years in the profession before quitting for various reasons.  I taught for 4 years and now I don't have a job.  Is teaching something I still really want to do?  I am really missing school right now, but I found a journal from the beginning of last year in which I wrote about how exhausted and stressed I was and how I didn't want to teach anymore.  It was too much and I was miserable.  Things got better and then bad again toward the end of the year.  If the average teacher only makes it 4 years, what do they do after?  My initial instinct is "Yes, I still want to teach."  But is that what I really want?  What else could I do?  I feel like teaching comes pretty naturally to me and I don't really think I'm good enough at anything else.  I want a career, not some casual job to kill time and I want to make decent money, not work for minimum wage.  But what do I do?  Do I go back to school?  Can I afford that?  What would I study?  What would I be good at?  What can I do in or near a small town in the  Pacific Northwest?  Will there be teaching jobs for Nick?  Do I want to give up having summers off with him?  With our future kids?  Maybe I should get a special education endorsement so I can work with smaller groups of kids and maybe part-time?  Would I even like that?  I know what I want, but it's not possible for me to have it now, so what do I do instead.  I'm feeling a bit lost at the moment.  Any thoughts or advice is welcome!

Saturday's Adventure: Find a Cafe Where I Can Drink Coffee, Read, and Write

In Eugene, there was never a shortage of coffee joints, many of which have free internet.  I have decided to write this blog and I may even attempt a children's book.  I just want to find a place where I can enjoy a nice cup of coffee and read my Nook or write on my  computer.  Unfortunately, I have found that there are a depressing number of decent coffee shops in this area: 1.

 I was excited because I heard wonderful things about a place called Sozo's Tea & Coffee.  I even drove by after hours and peeked in the window.  It looked like the perfect place for me to hang out.  When I got there today, I found that it just went out of business.  Total bummer!  So, I drove across town to a place called Empire Cafe.  The reviews on the internet said it had  a full coffee bar.  To my disappointment, it specialized as a bread and wine bar.  The coffee was available, but they only offered whole milk, that doesn't work for someone who doesn't drink milk.  They didn't even have Italian Sodas!  It was pretentious, and while they had good food, the menu was limited and there was no internet.  Also, I never got my coffee...

Stop number 3 for the day took me to Books By The Bay.  This is a small, local bookstore that also has a cafe inside.  It has good food, decent coffee, and a good selection of books for its size.  Internet access is available and I am writing from this location as we speak.  I think this is going to be my regular hang out, unless something new and better pops up.  They don't have a lot of vegetarian options for snackie foods, but it's a nice place.  My only draw back is that I feel weird reading my Nook in a small bookstore since Nooks are one of the main reasons places like this are going out of business.  Today, there was an author discussing her book about motorcycle touring.  I was surprised to see that almost the entire audience was 50+ year  old women.  I wonder how many of them actually ride motorcycles?

The only other place I have found is Kafe 101.  I actually avoid this place because it makes me uncomfortable.  It is clearly owned by a very religious Christian family.  I don't have a problem with people being religious, but I do have a problem when it is shoved in my face.  This place has baskets of Bibles on the floor so that you can do Bible Study as groups or individuals while you enjoy your coffee.  There are also Bible quotes on the wall and a Christian bookstore inside.  I imagine that this would be a wonderful place if you like that sort of thing.  I, however, feel like I am being excluded because I am not a religious person.  It serves as a constant reminder that this is not a place where I belong and I feel uncomfortable spending any amount of time in a place where I am not wanted or valued for who I am.  Needless to say, this will not be my regular hangout.

For now, I am happy with Books By The Bay.  I will continue to look for something that is a little bit more ideal, but this will do.  It's about 2 miles from my house, so maybe I'll start walking down here as part of my exercise routine.

Cheers!
Ashley