A Great Program in the Great South West

Good day everyone!







So sorry once again for taking ages to compile another blog entry but life has been on warp speed lately.







Rewind two, nearly three weeks ago....







I've begun to feel as though I've been running on a tread mill. I've been in constant motion: learning, preparing, buying, program-ing, recovering, rebuying, repreparing, more programing, etc. etc. etc. but I have begun to feel a tickle in my psyche that I have been missing something. I've been in Australia for over three months but have yet to have a defining Aussie moment. Not that I have not learnt heaps about the people, the culture, the language, the details of daily life and so on but I have been missing that moment where my eyes open a bit wider I take a deep breathe and feel saturated with a "this is why I am on the other side of the world". Simply put, the entirety of my Oz experience has been confined to my small fishing town-Eildon-with its booming population of 600 full time residents (many of which I suspect to be OEG staff) and a handful of nights spent in Melbourne frantically buying gear to prepare for my next programs. I had yet to really have an experience that I couldn't get from a standard Ohio landscape (besides the kangaroos in my back yard of course).







Anyway, this was my current mental landscape going into a program located along the Great South West Walk. It was to be a bit of an unusual program in many regards. The overview was a 10 day bushwalk/canoe journey program with 10-14 year (grade) 10 girls. Rather than being the sole GL with a school staff along for the ride this program called for two GLs with only one school staff roaming between the 3 groups in the Great South West. This meant that I got to work with another OEG staff as a leader/coleader. Which is awesome because it makes everything easier. Add to this fact that I was paired with an Aussie girl named Claire, who I spent lots of my free time with and have become quite Keen on (this is punny because her last name is Keen). Furthermore, due to the lack of school staff that would be on the trip in terms of number ratios (aka the school needed another adult to supervise (sleep)) on the bus trip. This meant i got lucky enough to get shuttled into Melbourne by a chaffeur company (van not limo) and sit on the 8 hour bus ride with the kids and get paid for 2 days work (~450 bucks) to do not much. So to recap, this program was different because: I had never done a 10 day program, never done a multiday bushwalk, never done a canoe journey program, never worked with a co-leader, never worked so far away, never rode the bus with the students, and probably 3 or 4 others that I can't think of currently.







I could spend hours describing this group/week/experience but will give the brief overview instead. Of our 10 girls we had 5 (at least) that were absolute super stars and whom I wish I could have on ALL of my programs, the trek line was stunning--over 55 kilometers all told--it overlooked the very edge of Australia, which ended in 100 meter cliffs. I found this fitting. Australia seems such a strange wayward island. It makes sense it ends sheerly. At one point I looked out on seals swimming along the cliffside and within 5 minutes had a mob of kangaroos hob 20 meters ahead of our group on the trail. The girls dominated the canoe section taking half of the time Claire and I predicted to finish some of the days. Claire and I worked beautifully together. Despite being incredibly difficult and exhausting it was miraculous. So much went so well.




This is a picture of one of the sections we walked. Actually, the point on the far left is where I overlooked Australian seals swimming around and then bummed into the Roos.







I do apologize, there is so much to tell. Dozens if not a hundred little stories I could divulge on this week alone and even though I feel like I've typed for ages I know I haven't but am already being becconed to other places and people and ... everything.







I'll leave it at that and fill those interested in later.







# I forget which ways to die in OZ
The Box Jellyfish

The box jellyfish has been called "the world's most venomous creature," according to Wikipedia.

According to another source one tentacle has enough venom to kill 50 humans.

Nother more need be said I do not believe.

Box jellys live in the north though. Not lake Eildon. However, I'll give you all two guesses as fas as where I plan to live this coming winter (may-august)....


Till next time..............

It was the best of times

CONTINUING:

(My last post ended in the TO BE CONTINUED. This is that bit...)

To be honest, I never thought the job would be a problem. I figured I'd waltz right on in and just knock every client group I had dead and walk around with a faint glow eminating from my aura. Egotistic and arrogant I know but I have had heaps of experience with kids and thought that this job would be a natural and smooth transition. Easy as. From the week I blogged about last that obviously turned out to be entirely false. Shocker, right? ...No.

Suddenly after the girls had gone and I'd gotten off work and had a night to decompress and have several beers I was at that moment where I took my cruise control off. I'd had half an ear open to the chatter of other Group Leaders (from here-on-out GLs) about strategies they used to help make their groups work better. I noted them but had at the time still thought "I don't need those tricks. I'll get by. No worries." That strategy failed so I recalled some of those ideas I'd discounted days before. One quippet of gold I'd heard came from my buddy Jordan. He said, "When working with children you need to consider you words like currency. You only have so much to spend. Spend it on things that matter. If you can figure out ways to save yourself a mouthful of words now you'll have some saved up for later." Great advise. I made a poster for my pack briefing. Worked like a charm. "Do we need ____? Where do we put ____? How many of ____ do I bring?" All I needed to do was point to the poster (trash bag with sharpie) and they'd find their answer. Saved a fortune. I did a silent briefing, pantomiming what needed to happen instead of saying it. Got my 401 K going.

I was amazed at the result and the functional truth of Jordan's advice. With that in mind the rest of my week went swimmingly. I was in control. Rather than constantly asking "Who wants to cook tonight?" I assigned duty groups and it was known who was cooking, who was cleaning, who was in charge of hygiene, who was on camp duty. Rather than waste my energy requesting kids to do things I simply asked, "Whose on camp? You need to monitor everyone else because if they drop food you need to clean it up." Kept the camp spotless. These little changes allowed me to stop worrying about the little things and enabled me to focus on the next level. I used several activities to achieve learning outcomes and prompted great discussions, primarily lead by the kids themselves, about Leave No Trace principles, the ethical dillemma of museums, and why it's important to conserve h20. By the end of the week I heard my group telling their friends, "I love hiking! It's so much fun!" Their freinds would reply, "Yea maybe but I just wish we didn't have to walk with these heavy packs the entire time." My kids would say, "Well if you did that you would lose some of the experience, right? Like I am pretty proud of being able to carry this pack all the way up that hill." It was like magic. Whereas the week before I conciously and honestly internally debated whether this job was actually out of my capability this week I reveled in the only reason one has to continue in this field: the feeling that I'd helped teach these kids something, enriched their lives a bit, challenged their understandings of themselves and challenge itself. Granted maybe they didn't think these grandiose thoughts per say. But the gist was still there.

I am glad I failed the other week. The act of failing is crucial. Without it life would be flat.

Actually let me rephrase (pay attention this is the take home bit): I am glad I struggled the other week. The act of struggling is crucial.Without it life would be flat. Failure is, in my mind, not an action but, rather, a reaction. Failure can only occur when you choose to close your eyes to your mistakes-your struggles-rather than open them widely and analyze why you made your mistakes-how you struggled. Walking away from a mistake without taking a lesson is the failure; hence, it is a reaction to the mistake not the action itself.

The past couple of weeks has reaquainted me with this idea. Which is why I find this palce and this job invaluable. Which is why I love it here.

Oh yea. I didn't forget......

#4 Way to Die in the Land Down Under: Saltwater Crocodile

The largest living member of the crocodilians and reptiles, the saltwater crocodile can grow up to 18 feet (5.45 meters) in length and is often found in Thailand, Vietnam and Northern Australia. They have been known to take on animals such an adult water buffalo and have often attacked people. It is usually well camouflaged both underwater or on dry land and strikes at an amazing speed. Its most powerful attack – the death roll – consists of grabbing its prey and rolling powerfully until it dies.

It was the worst of times:

#3 Way to die in Australia...ANTS!

Jack jumper ants are carnivores and scavengers. They sting their victims with venom that is similar to stings of wasps, bees, and fire ants. Their venom is one of the most powerful in the insect world. Jack jumper ants are proven hunters; even wasps are hunted and devoured. These ants have excellent vision, which aids them in hunting.
The symptoms of the stings of the ants are similar to stings of the fire ants. The reaction is local swelling and reddening, and fever, followed by formation of a blister. The heart rate increases, and blood pressure falls rapidly. In individuals allergic to the venom (about 3% of cases), a sting sometimes causes anaphylactic shock. Although 3% may seem small, jack jumper ants cause more deaths in Tasmania than spiders, snakes, wasps, and sharks combined

Thank you wikipedia for that bit of info. So, thus far all I need to do is watch out for things that slithers, crawls, and jumps. Not so bad really...




Sitting down to write about the last couple of weeks/month I can think of nothing solid to put down. But crystalized in my mind is the though of running on a treadmill. In the sense that I feel I've been doing a ton of work but overall have not done a great deal.

In a way I suppose the past two weeks have been the best of time and the worst of times. To begin, two weeks ago I had my first group of all girls. The program itself seemed easy as: a four day program consisting of fly fishing (i know right?), rock journey,cycling/high ropes, and packing of the bus the last day. Not only that but these girls were year 10s and had been coming to camp since they were in year 3! My briefing notes said "Girls should be able to run and manage camp with little supervision." It sounded nearly too good to be true. And in fact it was. It was perhaps my most dificult/distressing group of kids I have ever worked with in any capactiy before. And not due to their behaviour, they were great! This is probably what was so tough was the group was great but I as a Group Leader felt like a failure. I'll explain--First of all, I was more than a little apprehensive to have a group of all girls. Never done it before. In fact I've only worked with even mixed gendered groups for the first time last year. I hadn't an idea how to approach the situation. Perhaps they caught on to it because nearly from the get go there was an established 'you' and 'us' division which I found uncomfortable.
Rather than go into ever particular I'll give my day from hell. It had started raining neary 14 hours ago and had been steadily pissing since. The steadiness of it only broke when it gushed for a couple hours during the night. I had warned the girls it was meant to rain. They said they had camped in the rain and it as only an inconvenience. I was blown away by their positive outlook as I fell asleep. They were right of course. When camping rain is only an inconvenience but this morning it was an ankle deep inconvenience. After hopping around our campsite to avoid the knee deep puddle and to hop over riverettes the girls had a bit of breakfast and we packed up and ran away with everyone getting pretty soaked in the effort. That was annoying but nothing I couldn't handle. Cool. We got shuddled to our base camp "Jungai" and had some toast to suppliment the girls' dainty brecky.

All was going well--except for my teacher is complaining to my boss about the amount of rain. Like what was I supposed to do? Do an american rain dance that stopped the stuff?!? My boss had told me she was not happy and then I notice that her and my boss have been talking for 15 min or so. "Oh, great she can't be singing my praises" says my leader brain--anyway, everyone had packed lunch when I look over to Tina (we'll call her). Tina was typically a softspoken, helpful, and cheery if a bit diminutive but when I looked her way, as we were getting ready to load the bus, her face was clenched in pain and tears rolling down her cheeks. "Oh, shit..." goes my leader brain. Hey Tina why don't we go for a bit of a walk. We walk to the ajoining room where Tina promptly has another extremely painful spell which she tells me in between rapid and shallow breaths is an 8 out of 10 on the pain scale. "oh, shit...oh, shit!" goes my leader brain "She's ruptured something, her appendix, her spleen, her liver, hell if I know but AHHH!" She has a minor panic attack, is breathing rapidly and I can't get her to slow her breathing. she is beginning to get dizzy because of the lack of Oxygen. I'd alerted my boss and while I was vainly trying to calm her down he came in and, like a pro, got her to settle down. twenty min later turns out her ruptured appendix was nothing more than a bit of constipation. ... ... ... "wouldn't have happened had you monitored her h20 intake" my leader brain tells me. sweet.

My boss helps Tina, who will not be joining us for the bike/high ropes adventure. He then comes to inform me that the teacher was not venting about me--Awesome! I think--they were talking about what they were going to because my teacher just found out her dad just passed away--NOT awesome! My boss, Marcello, tells me to treat her gently and they'll sort it out later.

So, after an added 45 minutes delay that my group NEEDED to do the bike ride and high ropes we all rush onto the bus, I grap my backpack but i forget my GL kit. Remember this bit. It comes back later.

I have never been cycling with a group before. I did it in training sure but never with 14 faces looking back at me (and 1 teacher face not looking happy at all). I do a haphazard but thorough briefing which takes some more time than I'd like and we start on the exhausting 2 hour bike ride to high ropes. Overall though, I am happy with the ride. No one died, hurt themselves, fell off the bike, broke a bike, or even complaining outright. It took forever because the girls were tired and we were all starving! "Come on girls we are nearly there and then we'll get to have some lunch! Just a bit further!" Of course, that turned out to be a lie because when we got to high ropes I didn't have my GL kit which holds my knives and cutting boards and we needed to cut EVERYTHING for our lunch wraps. I frantically ran around to the 5 surrounding camp sites but of course all the groups were gone and nothing was around to help me. AHHHHH! I call Marcello and he says it'll take him an hour to get there...Well nothing else to do I suppose. We get started on high ropes in the mean time. My brain by now is near the consistancy of a banana left in the sun for a week and I attempt to give a belay/high ropes safety briefing and fail miserably. My high ropes support takes over (Thankfully!) and I pretty much tune out. Only after an hour and a half into our 3 hour session do I realize that only 4 of the 14 girls have gone beacause, of course, I wasn't minding the time. NOOOO! says the inside of my head. To preface nearly ALL the girls said high ropes was what they were looking forward to for whole camp. So, of course, the rest of the high ropes is a cluster#$%^ of pushing people through and trying to cut and eat lunch and have everyone pay attention to belaying.

Then, when we finally get back to camp I try to do a bit of facilitation. ASIDE This is part of my job. Every session I am supposed to run activities but also structure the entire program to incopporate things like LEADERSHIP, COMMUNITY, ENVIORNMENTAL AWARENESS, and such. So, I get the girls all settled down and circled up and start into my activity and discussion and I get the wall face--which resembles someone's face who is under heavy sedation. In other words absolutely no connection. I try to do the activity and it, of course, falls flat on its face.

Oi! What a day. That was the tone for the entirety of it. I ended the program and felt more exhausted than had I worked for a month straight. It was miserable! The group themselves were amazing and did the best they could with what they had but overall I felt like a failure of a leader. Failed to be watchful enough, failed to remember what I needed to do, failed to lead activities appropriately, failed to facilitate at all...lots and lots of failings. And they were all my failures. Not the kids. Not my bosses. Mine.

To quote Slaughter House Five:

So it goes.

TO BE CONTINUED

Good 'ay mate. How ya goin'?

Dear everyone. I know I suck at correspondance. I really do apologize. However, in my defense life has been absolutely mental since I've arrived here almost 2 months ago...it's amazing it has already been that long! So much has happened. But I'll get to that. First, I need to continue the countdown

#2 Ways to Die in Australia....Spiders

The Sydney Funnel Web Spider
So, several weeks ago, 3 to be precise, I took a wilderness first aid course. In this wilderness first aid course we absolutely had to address how to treat bites. This included snakes, spiders, octopi, ants, bees and myriad other pests big, small, but nearly all could be lethal in some strange way. As a side note for those worried about my safety after post #1 (MOM) take heart that no one has died from a snake bite that received adequate first aid care in something dumb like 25 years. Anyway, when covering bites we got onto the topic of spiders. Fun fun. .
Quote, "Recently the Syndye Funnel Web spider has moved up in the world's deadliest spiders rankings from #2 to #1."
This coming from the man whose job it is to stay up-to-date on these types of things so he can be considered a pretty reliable source of information. But while absorbing this information my mind couldn't help but wonder how Aussieland's little gem of an arachnid accomplished this feat. I envisioned a small 8 sided (of course) glass cage in which through two doors opposite one another a funnel web and a black widow or something nasty like that being dropped in to fight a battle to the death to see who would be THE most deadly spider in the world. More than likely with lab coated scientists gathered around cheering wildly for their favorites with one opportunistic business minded science geek taking bets in the corner.
But how this has come about is irrelevent because The Funnel Web won. The male of the species is reknown for it audacity in its hunt for receptive females. For instance, males have been to known to wonder into backyards, swimming pools, houses, bedrooms, etc. looking for their true love. And of course the great thing is that the males are the ones that are the most toxic. I love this country.
For some reason I can't add pictures today but check this out if you want to see one: http://tyrrells.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/FunnelWebSpider.jpg


The Redback Spider
Not to be outdone, Australia also has another spider that is somewhere around the top 5 most deadly: the redback. These guys are not very big and tend to be pretty reclusive but still they pack the venomous punch that is needed. And whereas the Sydney Funnel Web is only found in and around the greater Sydney area, the redback is found throughout most of Australia (I think). Funny story...there is a redback in its web approximately six feet from where I am currently typing. Living on the edge...
(I know the quality of this sucks but it is a spider eating an effing snake!!! http://resources1.news.com.au/images/2008/09/26/1111117/593465-redback-spider-eats-er-snake.jpg)


Ok, so...I suppose I should get on with what the hell has actually been going on here, huh?

SOOO. I am and will be living in a small town called Eildon that is northeast of Melbourne by about 2 hours drive. The town is TINY! Probably 600 full time residence. It has one grocery store that closes at 7 every day--which I hear is a step up this year from closing at 5 before. It's quaint all in all.
Upon arrival OEG (who I work for) provided staff housing free of charge for 2 months where all of the newbies stayed until they could get their feet under them. There are 2 staff houses with around 14-18 beds in each. It was quite an experience. In the 30 odd new hirers there were Aussies, Americans, Canadians, Kiwis (New Zealanders), Brits, and an Irish bloke named Paddy Cloake. Quite a wide array of former/current English Colonies (except the canucks I suppose). It was great fun. So many new people ranging from 18 years old to 30 with all different backrounds and experience.
By far the most comical aspect of the situation was that despite all speaking "English" there were perpetual misunderstandings and miscommunications and "what the hell are you trying to say" moments. It was vaguely embarrassing because I found myself asking people to repeat themselves 4 times. First because I may have not quite been paying enough attention. Second, because I know I heard them correctly but I couldn't quite make out the words they said because of their accent. Third time I'd ask them to repeat themselves because even concentrating on their accent I thought I misheard them. And fourth because after hearing the exact same thing on the third rendition that I did on the second I'd realize that I had no idea what they were talking about because their jargon/slang didn't register at all with me. But again, we all speak "English". And some of the accents are riteous. For instance, in an Irish accent 'H's are nearly never pronounced. So, there is this thing or three that is hilarious. That past sentence would sound like this from an Irishman: So, tere's tis ting or tree tat is hilarious. Also, versions of the British accent can accomplish rare feats such as pronouncing words like 'bottle' and 'photo' without ever making anything resembling a 't' sound. Bottle=ba-ul and photo=fo-o. And then with the canadians saying 'aboot' and the kiwis say 'aye' and even Lisa from virginia saying anything in her southern draw it was quite the household. Most people in the past two months have moved out of the staff houses and into houses in town but I have chosen to remain in the staff houses as it is the most affordable option.

Ok, so the first 1.5 months were souley trainings. Unfortionately, trainings are not paid for me as I am a casual salaried staff so it has been pretty meagre as far as funds are concerened (the atorcities of that'll be in a different post). But it was awesome because I've had a chance to learn so much and try my hand at so many different outdoor pursuits. To sum them up I've been trained to be an assistant/leader in cycling (road and mountain), raft guide, bushwalk (hiking), rock climbing/absailing (repelling), manning low and high ropes courses, canoeing, and have also taken a 7 day 60 hour intense wilderness first aid class. Anyone of those trainings could warrant a separat post but between attending them, making journies into Melbourne, and sharing a social beverage or two with all the new and old staff I simply can't find the time to blog as much as I'd like.

Just last week though I did have my first actual program. A 4 day program where I facilitated a group of 12 year 7's (9 girls and 3 boys) doing canoeing, bushtucker/boomarang throwing-didn't lead that one, a two day bushwalk, some banner making, cooking, camping, and everything a first year camper would need to know. As a whole the week went without a catastrophe but for 96 hours I felt at the break of shear chaos! But all's well that ends well. The kids had a rocking time and were pretty keen to get back to their next camp session. A quick word about Aussie camps/my job. It seems that there is an outdoor experience requirement of all secondary (high) school which I find is awesome! I never actually had a camp experience growing up (except basketball camp)and I love that Austrailia is devoted to fostering a sense of enviornmental connection. Very cool. That said my company is the largest outdoor ed group in Aus and because of this also one of the most wealthy. Our primary clientelle are affluent private schools. Not sure where that fits in in my narrative here but I felt it necessary to add in.

As with the trainings I could write for ages about my first program but as I mentioned before there is so much going on for me to do. One of which is to prepare myself for my second program starting tomorrow where I'll be fly-fishing, rock climbing, mountain biking, high-rope-ing, and bushwalking with a group of year 10 girls. That said I gotta make like a newborn and headout.

Peace love and wallabies
-J


Oh yea, as far as the title is concered...how ya goin means how are you. that was perhaps my first quadrouple repeated conversation.

Also, please ignore the travesties of spelling/grammar I'm positive I committed.

Welcome to Australia: We'll do everything we can to kill you

Plane tickets to Aussie-land should come with a warning label. Or even better a survival. Seriously. Not really joking.

Here is a list (in no means comprehensive...and to be honest I am not sure I actually could create such a thing without updating it regularly, which let's face it is way more work than I am willing to or interested in expending here)

#1 Serpents
Depending on the source Australia is home to 7-9 of the worlds top 10 most deadly snakes.

World Rankings:

1) Fierce Snake or Inland Taipan (Oxyuranus microlepidotus ), Australia.

The most toxic venom of any snake. Maximum yield recorded (for one bite) is 110mg. That would porbably be enough to kill over 100 people or 250,000 mice.

***Let me jump in here really quick. Quick math problem. If 110 mg of venom can kill 100 people how many milligrams does it take to kill a human being? 110/100=1.1mg Also, worthy of note: 1 person is the equal to 2,500 mice. Makes you feel big, huh?




2) Australian Brown Snake (Pseudonaja textilis ), Australia.
One 1/14,000 of an ounce of this vemon is enough to kill a person. The Eastern Brown Snake (Pseudonaja textilis) – sometimes referred to as the Common Eastern Brown Snake is the world’s second most venomous land snake.

***No big deal but one of these snakes lives under the staff house 'supposedly'. Also, these snakes love to live in the most densely populated areas. Fun.


4) [I know, right? They let Asia have #3)] Taipan (Oxyuranus scutellatus ), Australia.

The venom delivered in a single Taipan bite is enough to kill up to 12,000 guinea pigs. The common taipan is the third-most venomous snake on Earth and arguably the second-largest venomous snake in Australia.


5)Tiger Snake (Notechis scutatus ), Australia.
All Notechis species have a very potent neurotoxic venom, which may cause neurotoxic, hemolytic, coagulopathic, and myolytic reactions; paralysis or death can ensue in as short as 30 minutes.

**That's right folks, you couldn't even watch a full episode of Spongebob Squarepants before you kicked the bucket. Also, fun fact: these snakes have been spotted around some of the centers I'll be working.



6) Beaked Sea Snake (Enhydrina schistosa)
This is a sea snake found in the North of Australia (and many other places). ***Apparently they couldn't get this one to cooperate in biting thousands of helpless rodents with a single bite***






10) Death Adder
Death adders inject on average 40 – 100 mg of extremely toxic venom (0.4 – 0.5 mg/kg murine LD50, subcutaneous) with a bite. This makes an untreated death adder bite one of the most dangerous in the world (rated in top 10 in the CSL list).

Death adder venom is highly neurotoxic. It blocks the post-synaptic neuromuscular transmission from the acetylcholine receptor.

**I don't even know what that means but it doesn't sound the least bit fun


All in all, I think it's safe to say that Indiana Jones would not be keen to winter here.



This is only the first of a long long series in this initial topic. To be honest. There is so much going on here that I couldn't possibly write or explain the half of it so I'll start with a long list until I sort out my brain.