18 PAGES..FRONT AND BACK!

Not really though :-)

BLOG NUMERO DOS!! WHOO!!! Well as of right now I am still here...so thats a good start! Ha things are still as great as ever. I had a blast with the Invasive Species training/Field day and I took down some plants that needed a serious beat-down for stealing other plants homes and foods. I managed to leave Poison Ivy free as well as everyone else in the crew..however today we were at Marina in Mashpee doing Aquaculture training and Phil was standing in it for awhile trying to take a picture of us all...whoops! Needless to say we stayed away from him for the rest of the day. But I am getting ahead of myself..so after Invasive Species training we went to Waquoit Bay (pronounced Wah-coy-it...kind of. Names are weird around here and i think its to weed out the tourists from the natives) There we did Plant ID and then went to the beach con chest waders and did a bunch of testings such as humidity, salinity, wave frequency, average wind speed, etc. Twas fun AND educational ;-)

This past weekend a group of us volunteered at the Scallop Fest in Buzzards Bay and it was a lot of fun until I was told I would be working in the kitchen. Imagine hair nets, gloves (I was smacking gum too...just to fit the role) and imagine touching hot things like scallops and french fries fresh of the fryer for 5 hours. They melted through six pairs of gloves and burned my fingers so I had to put Duct Tape on them to finish the job and halt any further burns. What did I get out of this experience you say? A free T-shirt, a free meal and I got to meet some awesome Mass. Moms also volunteering who all apparently had "sons that would be PERFECT for you!" (so they are into hairnets? No thanks :-) ). But the best part of the night was dancing to a band called Entrain who are from Martha's Vineyard. They play a mix of everything I love including rock, pop, ska, jazz and reggae. Don't ask me how they did it... but they are amazing and we have officially become groupies who will follow them all over New England. Oh and the sax player is my new boyfriend...he just doesn't know it yet.

Sunday we went to Truro (the town right below Provincetown) because there was an Art/Wine/Jazz festival at a very quaint winery. They had a cute jazz band full of 7o year olds that knew how to rock...or jazz. I had some very good wine and the bottles were shaped like lighthouses (Mom and G-units...we will have to get some when you come visit!) Then we all went out to dinner and saw the Wellfleetian house (which is cute, but mine is better in my COMPLETELY UNBIASED opinion).

So far this week we had two days of Disaster Training and Shelter Simulation, which was pretty cool to learn and practice the steps to take in case disaster strikes. Plus I now have six Red Cross Certifications under my belt! Then as I said earlier, we were in a Marina today learning about the importance of Aquaculture and then we went shellfishing! It was AWESOME..we set up feeding beds for oysters in the bay and saw a bunch of locals shellfishing for their dinner! Another thing that happened today is that I got my INDIVIDUAL PLACEMENT!! I am going to be the Renewable Energy Education Coordinator for the Cape and Islands Self-Reliance Corporation! It is a non-profit organization that focuses on advocacy and education about renewable energy and energy efficiency. My job will include leading a program that brings renewable energy ideas, particularly solar, into the schools. Along with that I will be helpful the students build solar power cars through the Junior Solar Sprint Program that they will then race in June at the regional finals! I am super-de-duper excited about it but at the same time scared because I do not have that much education background. I will be sure to let you know how that goes! And last but not least Amanda and I were the cooks for tonights house dinner and we made homemade whole wheat pizzas and I now have a great homemade dough recipe to try on you all at some point!

I think thats about it. Tomorrow we are setting up for our first of many Wet Fests which I will explain in probably painstaking detail in my third blog!! Stay Classy!