Thank you Sputnik!

It has been awhile, but Amy and I have been busy girls here in Los Angeles. We went to the school we'll be working with, Chadwick, on Thursday and met Deb who is the Associate Director of the OE program. and she is great. She showed us the ropes, gave us a bunch on guide books for the area, planned what we'll be doing at the school and told us all about her self. She invited us to the all staff meeting for Friday, which will give us a chance to meet all the staff and do a little networking. After a morning at beautiful Chadwick we decided in true LA fashion to head to Mulhullen Dr. and coast down Beverley Hills and the Sunset strip. The houses along Mulhullen were amazing, words cannot give them justice, except that they were all on the side of the Santa Monica mountains and were HUGE! We felt a little out of place in our white Toyota Corolla we have nick named Snowball, for good reason you'll find out later. Down the mountain we went seeing the Hollywood sign and the famous Hollywood Bowl, then we drove down Sunset Blvd. and saw the Beverley Hills Inn and drove down Rodeo Dr. Lucky me saw the only celebrity we've seen thus far, Steve from Beverly Hills 90210. He was yelling at his golden lab, hilarious! Haven't seen him in anything lately so I figure he's probably working at the Peach Pit.

Palms on Sepulveda Rd.

Hollywood Sign

Then we checked out Santa Monica and Malibu. Nothing too exciting except that they are right on the coast and we caught a beautiful sunset on the way back into the core. The roads are always busy here no matter the time or location, and it's hard to actually get out of the city because of how big it is.

On Friday we were at Chadwick for an all staff meeting, where the topic at hand was on incorporating experiential education into all of the classrooms, who convenient for us! We got to meet a lot to the very friendly staff and got to share some of our ideas which they ate up and took as one of their goals for improving assessment. Point Us! They fed us like queens and even hosted a wine and cheese party for the staff at the end of the long hot day, they didn't so that at Sharbot Lake!

For the weekend Amy and I took a road trip south and headed for the desert. We took the Pacific Coast Highway (Hwy.1) all along the coast passing through Long Beach, Newport (home of the OC), Laguna Beach (home of the crappy Canadian OC) and Oceanside. Then with little luck in getting campsites along the coast, as it's the long weekend and President's day was Monday we headed towards the mountains to an RV and tent ranch. It was dark when we got there so we didn’t get to see much of the scenery, so we set up our tent and crashed. In the morning we realized we were well above sea level and away from the city, finally! Deb had recommended that we head to Anza Berrego, a State Desert park with lots of hikes to offer, so in we went, full with water and snacks!

The drive was incredible. The road curved around the rugged dry mountain to near sea level to a small desert town of Berrego Springs. There is little sign of life in the area and within a drive of roughly 45 min, the temperature rose from 55F to 80F!

Drive down to Anza Borrego State Park

We went on a hike called the Palm Canyon which lead us right in between a boulder, prickly and sandy canyon. The hike was beautiful and hot! The cliffs on either side took on the pattern of the magic eye posters, where you have to go cross eyed to see the image. At the top of the trail there was an oasis of palms, which was pretty wild to see, as much of the plant life is stunted and rough looking. On the way back to the car, six big horned sheep crossed our paths and drank from the tiny creek that trickled down the trail.

Big horned Sheep family

After a long and hot day, we got a message from Deb (Chadwick School) saying that one of the women from her yoga class would let us stay at her house in her spare bedroom. So we now live with a woman named Margaret in San Pedro, which is close to our school and far away from the gross, noisy, cigarette smelling hostel we were at in Hermosa beach. She is the nicest lady and is so happy to have two girls in her house and someone to talk to. So after the excitement of a new home, we decided to call it a night around 8:30, real party animals we are. In the morning we woke up to a 2 cm wet and heavy accumulation of SNOW! We were shocked and couldn’t believe that it had snowed that much. So in our PJ's we jumped in the car and headed down the mountains and out of the wet snow. Later in the afternoon we headed to the Pacific Coast Aquarium and checked out some local fish. We have been busy girls trying to see as much as possible, and I think we've done a pretty good job of that! We are working on trying to get the school more sustainable and visiting classes to generate some ideas. This weekend we are heading to Joshua Tree National Park to do some rock climbing with faculty and family, so we are looking forward to that.

Snowball covered in snow!

Oh yah, Sputnik, the name of the internet user connection we got at the hostel and now our 'god' has been good to us this week with finding Margaret and a great home. Thank you Sputnik!

California or Bust!

Amy and I are here in Los Angeles and we arrived in one piece well two. We hit a few bumps on the way here but only enhanced out experience! The first one being at the border and being stopped by customs and almost not being able to enter the USA because we were illegal immigrants... well it wasn't that bad, we just might have had to get a VISA. But we pulled up our ratty jeans cuffs and batted our eyelashes and we were in!



The second bump, well not really a bump rather a moment where a horse shoe got stuck up my ass, where my bag which was only allowed to be 50 lbs. was 49.5 lbs. That's lucky! It might have been because I brought the scarecrow. Some of you know about the scarecrow and if you don't you'll get to know him well soon.

So we finally arrived in Cleveland where there was a lot of snow, so much that the ploughs would push the snow up the banks and then it would fall right back down. But after only a quick stopover we were southbound to LA. We watched The Guardian (don’t recommend) and The Queen (do recommend). When we got out of the terminal with all of our stuff we took a nice big breath of smoggy LA air, ahhhhhh!

We arrived at our hostel, Surf City hostel to be exact in the dark. It's located right on the Hermosa beach and has a few other foreigners staying. We have a roommate Fernanda, who is from Brazil and is in LA taking English lessons. We got the whirlwind tour and then hit the hay. Thinking alike, Amy and I both put in our earplugs and off to bed we went, except that there is a bar underneath us and beside us and behind us so the base proceeded to rumble us to sleep... eventually!

Today was a great first day. We picked up our car, a new white corolla and cruised around town. We checked out the school we'll be at, Chadwick School and holy crap! Google earth or the website did not do this school justice. It's beautiful! It's located on the Palos Verdes Peninsula on the top of a hill, actually the Rolling Estates, with the pacific coast to the west and the valley to the east. All the hallways are outside, even the pool, and the buildings look like little villas. Amy and I will be going back tomorrow morning to meet the Outdoor directors and figure out what we're going to be doing at the school. After an afternoon drive along the coast and a walk along the beach, we look forward to what is to come.

Entrance into Chadwick School




The plan for tomorrow is to go do the Beverly Hills tour and then head down to Santa Monica. We're probably going to then hang out with Brad and Angelina, maybe JT who knows, we might not have time.

Featuring... GOC on ice and all the original cast members!

GOC on ice,was a one time opportunity. We got to spend the whole day in the snow and on ICE! We went ice fishing, built a quincie, played knee hockey and roasted dogs on a stick... doesn't get much better than that! It was a great day to be outside with a great group of GOCers and friends!

Amherst Island, wind and OWLS!

After missing one ferry, one dead car battery and a hitch to the ferry dock, we eventually made it to Amherst Island to check out the owls. We saw a quite a few long eared and only one or two short eared owls. It was amazing! They would just stare at you with their big yellow eyes. We also trained a few chickadees to eat seeds out of our hands, it was great. We even fooled a few into thinking that wood was edible! After a few hours of owl watching, we booked it home on our cross coutnry skis across a wind and snow blown trail to the warmth of our fossil fuel burning, 4 wheeled heaters and made it just in
time for the ferry. So long owls, it was a hooot!