To those who stand alone

One thing that I have learned is that conformity is unfortunately found everywhere. Even among alternative universities with diverse majors, there are those who will still persecute you for being outside the box. As it is quite obvious I am a fisheries major. I have noticed many women in my field (in most all the different countries and states I have been to) don't wear make-up, definitely do not own a pair of heels, wear chacos and plaid every day. I am not bashing on that at all, because there are days where I don't wear any make-up, wear chacos and caraharts, and am very happy doing so. I love me some cowboy boots and some quick-dry pants. But I guess if you enjoy wearing those things, you should not enjoy wearing the opposite. I have had many interesting looks when I have walked into my department wearing 4 inch heels, make-up, and some wild fashion shirt or dress. I have had snap judgements made about me because of this, some even by professors.

I thought that my knowledge about fish and marine biology and natural resource issues would be enough to protect me from the constant need to prove myself. I thought my credentials would be enough, but there are still those who are blinded by outward appearances. There are those who are unable to have any sort of relationship (professional, work, school etc) with a strong outspoken woman, who actually looks like a woman.

I still see that no matter where you go in life, there is the need to be a sheep.

To all those out there who are the black sheep, or an entirely different species, DO NOT LET THEM WIN. Do not conform, do not give up. You are amazing in what you are. If you know you belong, fight for it. If you don't fit in, more power to you.

The Unidentified World

This week I have discovered a new show on National Geographic called Beast Hunter. It's pretty much about a guy who goes around the world looking for unidentified creatures, maybe mythical legends passed down through generations or a freak sighting someone "claims" they saw. Most of the show is repetitive, but there are some fascinating stories and fun science facts. Here is my two cents on unclassified, possibly mythical creatures random people say they saw. They do exist.

Only 4% of the worlds oceans have been explored. More people have been to the moon than to the abyssal deep zone. Our oceans contain giant colossal squid, over 50 feet long that have only been sighting a handful of times. They contain blue whales, which to this day, no scientist knows where their birthing or mating grounds are. We are still finding islands out in the Pacific. Every dive we do brings up anywhere from 4 to 400 new species. We have fossils of Ceolocanths (prehistoric fish), and thought they went extinct over a few million years ago. That is until 1912 when a fisherman caught one, and we discovered a whole population living in a cave system in the pacific (still there today). There is definitely the possibility of some "sea monster" or prehistoric creature out there.

The rain forests of Brazil, Sumatra, and Africa are also still largely unexplored. In 2008, a population of 100,000 silverback gorillas was found in the Congo. Anywhere that can hide 100.000 gorillas definitely has the potential to hide species that we could never even imagine. Whole populations of humans live in the Amazon that we have still never had contact with the outside world, or even known of it's existence. This is mostly due to the fact that rain forests are so inaccessible. If getting lost doesn't kill you, a jungle cat, spider, ant, or poisonous frog will. Also the resources needed to trek through a rainforest for a few months would be more than even 5 to 10 men could carry.

Also, think about the crazy animals we have already found: electrical eels which can shock you with over 600 volts (6x an american wall socket), Horny lizards in the southwest dessert can shoot blood up to 6 feet out of their eyes for defense, and then re-generate them, Narwhales from the north pacific have a 10 foot horn growing out of their head. There are some pretty wild traits that exist in the animal kingdom, so who says that they can't occur together or that weirder ones aren't out there.

There is still so much left to discover, both plants and animals. I think my new life goal is to find something like that, whether deep in a rainforest, or deep in the ocean (knowing me it'll probably be deep in the ocean). There are still so many beautiful things waiting to be found.

Oh Germany

So this post is one of many regarding the incredible food that I have had here in Germany. First, the story of how i got here is pretty great. Normal flight from SLC to New York, normal flight from New York to Dublin...and that's where it all went downhill... So first I was at the wrong gate... so after running 15 minutes across the whole airport with a 20 lb bag (without wheels) I got to my right gate, only sit there for an hour for some unknown reason. Then... I get on the plane. And there I stayed for 4 hours. Frankfurt was snowed in, and it started out that we would only have a 30 minute delay, which turned into 50,which turned into an hour and a half, which finally ended at 3 hours. They started bringing the drink service through the plane we were sitting there for so long. So I finally got to frankfurt, only to sit at the luggage carousel for an hour to get my bags. The worst part was I could see max just outside security but I could not get to him cause I had to wait for my bags. Talk about awful. Once happily with Max, the rest was pretty easy, six hour train ride, then sleep. And now the FOOD!!!

1. Bread rolls with an assortment of spreads including:
chocolate cream cheese, some liver/meat spread thing that was amazing (and i didn't want to try at first), authentic strawberry jam, nutella, real german meat slices that reminded me of extremely good bologna.
2. The Christmas Market
a. Poofertjes - my new favorite treat. They are french, and these little puffy round disks made of a crepe like batter, but they puff up when they are cooked. They serve them with this amazing vanilla sauce that comes in cartons and with powdered sugar or cinnamon sugar. They are heaven. You can eat 40 of them and still want more.
b. Salami - oh my gosh, real german salami is incredible. It's the perfect amount of spicy and mmmm... just wow.
c. Chocolate covered grapes - they come on a skewer and are so good!! Definitely an unexpected fruit to cover with chocolate.
d. Kase Breztel - cheese pretzel, big and soft, enough said.
e. Quark - i don't know exactly what it is. We ate it in a big ball, it's sort of like a spongy pastry type thing that they cook in a giant ball and cover with cinnamon and sugar. Very very good.
f. Schmalzkuchen - deep fried little puffy pastry squares served with powdered sugar. The outside is crunchy - flakey, and the inside is almost hollow, but there's a little bit of squishy yum in there.
g. Hot Chocolate with Peppermint - sounds normal enough, but the Germans make their hot chocolate with real chocolate, so it's kind of bitter, not like the over sugared american junk.
3. Other random food (I can't remember the german names)
a. Little sausages (brawtwurst) with real saurkrawt and mashed potatoes. Any meat here is flawless, it's so good. The saurkrawt is also real, not stuff you get out of a can in america, it's so yummy.
b. Noodles and beef - sort of like penne pasta topped with beef stew, but thicker, with better veggies, and better beef, so not like beef stew at all ha ha.
c. Fresh Sandwhich - Some amazing bread roll, dark, hard on the outside, soft on the inside, dusted with flour, just perfect. Then lettuce, huge slices of tomato and mozzarella, the real mozzarella, like buffalo mozzarella and big basil leaves all through it. It was heaven, cause I am a huge fan of those mozzarella stack appetizers at nice italian restaraunt, so this was perfect.

So there is my food diary for my first few days in Deutschland. So far i am loving this country. It is everything I imagined it would be, the quaint little towns, the old buildings, the trees, it's just lovely. And Max is better than I remember, things are all around just lovely. Life is beautiful.

I never knew I could feel such passion for something until Australia. Wow. I see pictures, I hear the word, anything with that country and my soul feels transformed. It's more than just a love. It feels like every part of that place has been intertwined with my veins, my bones. I know I was only there for 7 months, but who is to say that 7 months isn't enough to change your whole life?

Life keeps rolling on

So much has happened these past few weeks, it is hard to believe that I am back in Utah and not in Australia. I wake up every morning wishing I was waking up to the lorikeets and kookaburras outside my window. But Australia gave me some of the most beautiful things in my life, things that I will forever be grateful for.

1. Australia gave me love - I fell in love there, with a German man. I only had to go halfway around the world to find the perfect man. He is everything I never believe would exist for me. He is the love I only ever saw in movies, and I had convinced myself that I was too unique and weird to ever experience. Even though he is halfway around the world back in Germany, he has become my best friend. I am so amazed that he still loves me everyday especially after all the stupid things I do and say. I am so humbled to have someone like him in my life.

2. Australia gave me conviction - Living there made me realize I was living the life i should, and living the life i needed to be. It gave me stronger conviction to be true to who I know I am, who I've always been. There is now no question in my mind about the life I have chosen, the religion I live, the career I want etc. It gave me a further conviction that this is MY life, and I am the guardian of it, and it is MY choice to live the way I should.

3. Australia gave me peace - Every day I woke up to being completely happy. I found my place, and the most amazing peace and joy comes into your life when you find your niche in the world. I know we are supposed to find peace within, but I find peace living in a place I love, and now I know what kind of place that is. Oceans, fish, beaches, green, warm, and happy. Australia is a happy country, I love it.

4. Australia taught me to let go - when I first met my wonderful german, I was so afraid of what being with him would mean. I was so afraid of just letting go and jumping into the unknown. I am notorious for over analyzing everything, so Australia taught me to just stop thinking and do. I did that everyday. Just stopped thinking and did. Like hitch hiking. I met wonderful people doing that. Or taking a spontaneous trip to sydney. Or finally saying yes (after making the poor man wait for 3 months).

Yes of course there are things I would have done differently there. I would have said yes earlier, I would have said no earlier as well to some others. But after all is said and done, I wouldn't change it for the world. I learned so much about me, I hope everyone in life can find their place, find themselves where ever that may be, here in Utah, in the USA, in any country around the world.

In Memory Of:

This is in memory of one of my favorite dolphins: The Baiji (or Yangtze River Dolphin), now declared extinct.

When I was 7 I saw my first picture of the Baiji. It was in the Whales and Sharks book my mother had just bought me from Barnes and Noble. I saw this beautiful dolphin, all cute and chubby, and I fell in love. I read that page over and over again. The book falls right open to it now. This was 1996. I still remember the shock I felt when i read they were critically endangered.

Now it is 2010. No Baiji have been sighted in several years. A study was conducted in 2002 and 2007 in search of the Baiji. Aerial images were taken, and boats with microphones listening for clicks and whistles searched the whole river. No sounds were heard, no fins were sighted. I remember it was september 2008, and i was on the IUCN red list they day they were listed as extinct. I felt a piece of me die that day, I sat there in my cinderblock apartment and cried. I have never felt so helpless. I was not fast enough, I was not old enough to save them. One of my dreams had died, it was gone and would never be coming back. That is extinction everyone: the empty feeling that something is gone, and will never come back. No matter how hard we try, man can never create a Baiji. It was created by God, Killed by man. We were given stewardship over this earth. What kind of stewards are we? Ask yourself that, what are you?

I thought extinction was a thing of the past: the dodo bird, the carrier pigeon, the red fruit bat, the persian tiger, tasmanian tiger (thylacine), and stellars sea cow. I pray everyday this will not happen to the Vaquita (Gulf of Mexico dolphin) or the many other cetaceans (or birds, plants, reptiles, and other mammals) critically endangered.

Only divine providence will allow for some to be alive still. Heaven help us stop destroying. Heaven help us save our world. Heaven help us for what we have done.

BEST DAY!!

So dolphin research has started back up! woo! Well, it started, and now it's over cause the fall season is really short. So I was only on three days before the season was over. They were the best three days of dolphin research I've done.

Day 1 - I watched two stingrays play tag with each other. They looked like they were having a royal good time. It was really cool. Then, later in the day I watched an eagle ray leap out of the water two times in a row! He lept out of the water, and flapped his wings, like he wanted to fly out of water rather than in it. It was one of the coolest things I have ever seen. It was very nice he did it twice in a row so I could see it a second time for a better look. (They will do this to escape from sharks, or to remove remoras. There were no sharks around so I'm guessing he was being annoyed by some cleaner fish.)

Day 2 - A pod of 96 dolphins showed up. Enough said... ha ha We watched them come right into the beach and spend the afternoon surfing. The waves were black with dolphins it was incredible. The surfers down at that beach were so lucky! It was sets and sets of dolphins rather than waves. So beautiful.

Day 3 (the best) - So today, tuesday, I thought would just be a normal day up at the lighthouse watching dolphins. Not so. I was out in the kayak today. it was a perfect day, low swell, hardly any wind, crystal clear water, we're talking 30 m. visibility clear! So it started out with me and Peta actually trying to get in the kayak. The process involved us tipping the kayak several times, and both of us loosing our swimmers and mooning the 20 people on the beach several times as well. We had a good laugh. We got out and it was a gorgeous day, the most perfect weather. We got a call from the lighthouse saying we had a pod heading over. We followed them for about an hour. The best part was right at the end, we were iddeling, and the pod turned around and came RIGHT AT US! We just held out breathe and tried to hold the camera steady. They swam right underneath the kayak, and right next to us. The dolphins were so close we could have touched them. They were popping up and staring at us, you could see them focusing on us, it was amazing! The video camera I was using is water proof, so I stuck it underwater and got sound recordings! you could hear them talking to each other, it was amazing! They are so beautiful up close! I love the sound they make with their blow hole when they come up to breathe, ah, I just can't even explain how incredible they are. There are not enough words to describe them, or they way they make me feel, especially when they are inches away.

After dolphin research was done, I went out for a little snorkel at the reef right next to the pass. What's amazing is that the pass is only known for surfing, no one even knows about the reef right there that is full of amazing marine life. Within 5 minutes of being out there, I saw a catskill shark, about 2 ft long. I have never seen one in real life, and it was beautiful (don't worry mom, they eat small shellfish, squid, etc, they don't really have teeth). Then, right after him there was a small silver reef shark about 1 m. long hiding out in a little over hang. He was gorgeous, with long sweeping fins, and beautiful silver lines. A juvenile green sea turtle came over to say hello, along with a school of about 200 yellow diamond fish. I could stay there all day, once again, words cannot even describe, the more i try, the more ridiculous I will sound haha

Just know, the ocean is an amazing place. It deserves to be protected and loved! To all those who don't have any exposure to it, make is part of your life. If you have never seen the ocean, put it on your bucket list. Any ocean will do.