man o' war mussels

This weekend I got to go on the most epic awesome camping adventure ever. We left Saturday morning, met up at the Greenpeace warehouse and took a full two hours to pack the van and prepare everything to go. We were taking Byak, one of the Greenpeace zodiaks, with us along with a van full and two cars full of people and a troupe of six bikers (only 43 miles. no sweat.). The ride getting out of the city alone took about an hour, and then another couple hours up to Point Reyes brought us there at around 3 in the afternoon. But the ride up was really interesting. Along with all the interns Lindsey Allen (Forest campaigner) and Casson Trenor (Oceans campaigner) were in the van and were talking a lot about their campaigns and what not. Super cool stuff.

We unpacked our absolutely ridiculous amount of stuff and spread it all out on the dock (facebook for pictures) and started shuttling people to the boat-in campsite across the way. I have now ridden in a GP boat. Pretty exciting! We had a little beach all to ourselves and right away Casson discovered man o' war jelly fish and sea nettles all over the beach so him and I went around and cleaned them all up. Once everyone else was shuttled in and our make-shift bucket for a toilet was set up we started the fire and enjoyed some bocce ball and greeted the arriving bikers.

Casson went on an adventure and brought us a bunch of wild mussels which most of us took the risk of trying a few of (three did end up with food poisoning a couple of days later, although we aren't sure if it was from that or not.) And then the fun and drinking started. It's really interesting partaking in such things with your boss... and everyone else you work with. But it was awesome fun. Some crazy times.

In the morning we slowly woke up and got ready and made out way back (it took four boat shuttles to get all of us and all our stuff back to the mainland) to the van. We drove over to the picnic where about twenty other people, some Greenpeace some family and friends of Greenpeace, were waiting on a beach for us with food! It was lovely. What a spread :) Totally worth the mile hike in. And a gorgeous beach too. Just no sun :( But oh well! And we even saw a bob cat on the drive out dashing through the brush!

We didn't get back until late in the evening, and I helped spray down the boat. (And I got to start a Greenpeace boat engine.. yeah yeah I know I'm milking this for all it's worth). By the time Jules and I finally got to her stop we realized it was way too dark and sketchy for her to walk alone in her area of town at night so we went to my place, fed my cat, and then bussed back to her place and both stayed there. Safety in numbers.

Pretty radtastic. At work we spent the morning starting to mail out 4500 Costco stickers to everyone who has downloaded the Costco toolkit in the States. Craziness.

tried to write something funny here, it didn't work out so well

On Tuesday Jules, Seb, and I left work at 2 and drove over to the East Bay with Mac in his car. We wandered around the shops at Telepgraph Hill for a while and checked out the Berkeley Cal campus. Then we headed over to Pena Cultural Centre for an awesome NVDA (Non-Violent Direct Action) training.

I've done a few of these, but this one was by far the best. There was so much really applicable hands on stuff that can definitely be used. How to de-escalate a situation, how to set up a blockade and arrange yourselves, arms and legs around the people around you, so you're more difficult to move. Not that I'm planning on stirring up trouble anytime soon, but it's all good to know.

After the NVDA training we ate - food was provided! I love provided food! And then stayed for a Teach-In all about the oil spill. Which was also ridiculously interested, and depressing all in one. The speakers were phenomenal though.

Then we took two BARTs and a bus back to Jules' place and I stayed over there. The next morning I finally got my Greenpeace blog published. Check it out:

http://members.greenpeace.org/blog/kelseymech/2010/07/20/activist-network-intern-s-reflection

Also, I'm hooked on this yoga thing.

san francisco.

pass me a spray can
i will detail this summer's eye
and sketch you a switch back
as you roll slowly down lombard lane
and crissy tugs your hair as you dance
in her ocean hugging field
and a helicopter flies over you
and takes your picture
and the drag queen on the bus
smiles at you with gay pride

i love this city. i love this town.

give me a paint brush
i will tell you a story in graffiti
of dirty cocaine deals
in this whip slapped crack land
i will show you her shaggy streets
raging lunatics and drunks
it reeks of insanity
and the sweet smell of transit sweat
follows me wherever i go

i love this city. i love this town.

give me a music box
i will sing you a song
of sourdough bread bowls
and sugary donuts on pier 39
and fisherman's wharf fortunes
promise me riches
but look around this place
you are already rich
burrito babies on every corner
and black and white
there is no grey

i love this city. i love this town.

give me a stage
i will dance an interpretation
of love in the wind
dark skinned couples kiss
just another breakfast at tiffany's
and beach bums in their surfing towns
the golden gate an arrow
to a whole new realm
of trees warring with desert
just drive north

i love this city. i love this town.

i will show you
where you shouldn't go
after dark
where the city's hauntings
will throw their trash in your face
where fire trucks will block the sound
of ghosts from alcatraz
and i will show you the beauty
cross my heart with china
and show you the town
greasy movies on dolores
and salted caramel ice cream
baked goods on a mission
and the sweet sweet sun
of july's thursday morning

i love this city. i love this town.

it has my heart.
don't make me leave.
but take me home.
i hate it here.
i love it here.
speckled cross-dressing
knotted chewed-up spit-out
back-stitched puzzle-piece
patched up quilted city that you are.

mini donut weekend

On Friday night after work Mac drove Jules and I over to his place in Orinda, past Berkeley in the East Bay. His house is so gorgeous! It's amazing. The three of us hung out for a while and around ten a bunch of his friends came over for a little shindig. We jumped on his trampoline and Jules and I slept in his guest bedroom... most comfortable bed I have ever slept in.

In the morning we took the Bart back home. I had a chill day and in the evening Jules and I decided to go on an adventure and go down to Fisherman's wharf. We got there around 8:30 and spent a couple hours down there, wandering along the waterfront and up and down Pier 39. We enjoyed mini donuts and broke down and tried some clam chowder in a sourdough bowl. We also checked out Musee Mecanique where they have a bunch of really old arcade games and mechanical fortune tellers. We both had our palms "read" for 50 cents and got our little fortune. I remember doing all of this when I was here when I was 9 so it was really neat to do it all again. :)

Jules stayed over and on Sunday morning we baked blueberry muffins and made crepes before heading to Trader Joes for some shopping. My Sunday was chill pretty chill.

let's paint this city

On Sunday night Mandi, Aaron and I all hung out for a while on the back steps, enjoying the cool evening air. They said they might come visit me back at home at some point, since they have always wanted to drive up to Canada anyway, and I'm tellin' ya, I am sure going to hold them to their word. Later on we progressed downstairs and Aaron gave me my first drum lesson that he has been talking about for a while. It was pretty stellar, I even got the whole playing the bass on the offbeat thing. Very exciting. :)

Monday was a regular day of work and I came home to a nice loud band practice downstairs. Jason had a couple of his friends over, Jaffie and Steve, and Mandi had her friend Ashley over. We all hung out and ate a delicious dinner that Mandi had prepared. It was so yummy. And then we played Rock Band and Apples to Apples until late at night. Fun times.

This morning at work we were at the warehouse again to paint a banner for the Activist Summit, a gathering/training for environmental activists all around the country that is coming up soon. It only took us a couple of hours and the banner looks awesome. We even got to don jumpsuits so we wouldn't get paint on our clothes, so we looked super cool. I think Amy will be posting some photos on facebook pronto.

Work was so great today. Ben came back with a big shiner.. questionable?? Hmm. But our calls this afternoon went so well! It can be so energizing sometimes. My first person was so dull and dry and not enthused, so it made everyone after that so much better. I'm pumped.

After work Jules and I headed out to the natural and organic grocery store here, Rainbow Grocery, and bought all sorts of healthy food like whole wheat pasta, soy yogurt, sesame seeds, seaweed, quinoa, and kambucha.

now with links! yes, you can click that blue text.

I've stopped writing on a daily basis because I feel as though there isn't that much to report (especially during the week while I'm at work) but now I've ended up consistently leaving it so long that I forget what has happened!

It was a short week of work, since we had Monday off, and I feel like nothing terribly exciting happening on Tuesday or Wednesday. Work progressed as normal. Everything is going well and I feel like I have so much to do all the time. My bright pink sticky notes that make up my To-Do list stretch on for so long - and I'm only an intern!

On Thursday morning several of us interns met up with Lauren Thorpe, who heads up the Actions team here, and made a delivery to Senator Boxer's office in regards to our chemical security campaign. We donned "Toxics Safety Team" t-shirts and presented the office staff there with petitions, letters and a beautiful photo album filled with pictures of people holding signs asking Senator Boxer to be an original co-sponsor of a strong chemical security act. It went really well, they were very receptive, and we posed outside afterward holding a banner. Pictures soon to come, hopefully.

Thursday, after work, Amy and I went to Mike's (one of the web guys at the GP office) because he was making a music video with his band and wanted an audience to come and be a part of it. We all dressed in super bright colours, I had to borrow Mac's shirt, and grooved to his band's music which is totally awesome - Color Chasm. It was fun, there was beer. Good times.

On Friday after work all of the interns headed to this Mexican place just down the road from work for delicious tacos/nachos/burritos and $2 Coronas (their Friday special). It was nice, and I think we should definitely make a point to head over there more frequently.

Saturday was Jules' birthday! Yay! She turned 19. Her and I met up at the market and spent an hour down there looking around and asking about all the weird looking fruit and veggies and sampling so much of it. I've never really taken the time to properly enjoy the market before, so that was really nice. I also bought a lot, again, big surprise. But who can resist! Afterward I headed over to her house and we spent the next few hours reading, drinking mojitos, and tanning on her porch in our bikinis. It was so nice and sunny and warm.

We were supposed to meet up with a couple of other interns and go see the movie Dirty Dancing in the park but it was so cold and everyone else crapped out on us we decided to stay in. We spent the entire day eating, and drinking, and dancing, and watching movies. It was really nice to just have a chill day.

Then this morning Nicole, a friend of the person Jules is renting from, drove us to head out to a beach. First we visited Lombard street and drove down it, which was awesome!

After that we headed over to Coit tower for a nice view of the city, and the continued on in search of a beach. We originally planned to go to Baker Beach which is pretty close to the city but it was so cloudy we opted to drive further up north so drove over the Golden Gate and headed up to Bolinas. Bolinas, which is supposed to be a gorgeous beach in the sunlight, was also cloudy so we just kept on trucking north heading toward Point Reyes. At one point we stopped at a little oyster place with a white picket fence. People would buy oysters and shuck them themselves at picnic tables spread throughout this little area that reminded me of something straight out of Sweet Home Alabama. Prettttty nifty.

The next place we stopped was Point Reyes Station which was this hick little western style town. We drove further and then decided it was getting late and our adventure was ridiculous so headed back for Point Reyes Station sandwiches at the local gas station. We also visited the surf shop there and the guy was so stoked to see us. I don't think he gets much business since the town only has around 480 people in it.

We decided to head back and stopped at Bolinas beach on the way home. It WAS nice, and the mountains in the background were beautiful but it was chilly with the breeze and lack of sunlight so we continued on. The drive is so beautiful, on winding roads between the cliffs dropping off to the sea below and the hills, then two minutes later finding yourself in a forest again. Oh microclimates, how you dazzle me!

[insert creative title here]

Wow, I didn't realize I hadn't written here in so long. Sorry folks.

Thursday we started our new Costco campaign and started to get folks to download the toolkit to get to work. The idea of the Activist Network portion of this campaign is really just public education and raising awareness. We are asking Lead Activists to print off wallet-sized cards explaining how Costco can and needs to improve their sustainable seafood purchasing policies. Two hours after we had launched the toolkit one Lead Activist had already handed out 90 in front of the Costco near him. :) Anyway, our goals were for 40 people to download the toolkit on Thursday, 100 by Friday, and 230 over all. Which means that maybe half of those people will actually do something. And we expected that only about 20 Student Lead Activists would download, for various reasons I won't go into. Or maybe I will. Basically the only really really great Lead Activists we have our those that the three of us have recruited in the last few weeks because the screws in the system weren't nearly as tight before hand. So that lowers our numbers. Anyway... by 2 pm on Friday there had already been 95 Lead Activist downloads and over 30 Student Activist downloads. Very exciting :)

On Thursday night Lilli Ann picked me up after work and took me to Trader Joe's to do some shopping. I definitely stocked up on Pesto Tortellini... I think that has become one of my staple foods here. Haha. It's good and cheap and that's about all I can ask for right now. She also took me to Rainbow Grocery which is amazing. Oh my gosh. Anyone reading this who likes to shop organic, healthy, and wants all the possible options in the world for reasonable prices would be in heaven. This store is HUGE and it's AMAZING. It's like your traditional health food store on crack and with lower prices. I love it. She then took me to the Mission for Indian food which was so yummy. And then we went to a famous ice creamery just off Dolores park. Every time I have driven by on the bus the line has been around the corner and down the block and I have wondered why. But now I know. Their ice cream is so good, especially their special "Salted Caramel" flavour. It sounds really strange but it was so addictive and delicious. It's one of those things that you're really not sure if you like but you cannot stop eating anyway.

I feel like I must have done something exciting on Friday night but I don't think I did. But on Saturday morning I hit up the farmer's market again which was awesome. Saturday night Amy, Mac, and Jules came over and... well not the greatest night of my life. Enough said.

Yesterday was Sunday and Fourth of July, and recovering from said Saturday night. So I didn't end up going out to do anything to celebrate during the day. However, at around 7 I headed over to Jules's place and we hung out with some of her roommates friends. We hiked up to the top of Bernal Hill which has a view of the whole city and watched some of the fireworks from up there and drank champagne. It was nice. The view is so so gorgeous. It's too bad it was foggy out though (big surprise, we're talking about San Francisco) so we couldn't see all the way to the fireworks on fisherman's wharf, but lots of people were setting them off in the Mission anyway so it was still lovely :)

its a bird, its a plane, its the greenpeace airship!

This is a bit of a hurried catch-up of the highlights of my last three days. Sorry for the delay.

Monday:

It was my manager, David's, birthday and I was supposed to organize an Activist Network Happy Hour. But instead I decided to make it a birthday thing for him and secretly invited the rest of the office behind his back. So a few of us Activist Network-ees were sitting in the back of Thee Parkside, our go to venue, and Jarrod (who is not a part of the Activist Network) sits down. David says, "Oh, I guess this isn't going to be just an Activist Network thing anymore". Then more people start showing up, and David is completely surprised. Everyone in the office had signed a card for him that I made, and I brought cake - which we all devoured. It was really nice.

Tuesday:

I talked to the coolest person ever on the phone. She is now a part of our Student Network but has just graduated high school and has already done loads of work with PETA working on different campaigns, organizing protests and running events. She has been vegan for six years, and is probably my new best friend. But every day I find someone on the phone that I talk to who I pretty much think is my new best friend.

Amy had a crazy story of something that happened to her on the bus today. Some guy got on the bus, and totally passed out. Then he woke up, threw up in his hand a bit, then ate it, and passed out again. Hahaha. Gross.

Also we launched our Costco campaign - check out oh-no-costco.com. And we launched the airship. I definitely sewed on the "C" in "destruction" and the colon!

I came home and Aaron, Mandi, Jason, Noah (Aaron's 12 year old brother) and I all hung out for a while. Noah and I spent about an hour relearning the cup trick and then doing it over and over and over again. We are so cool.

Wednesday:

Today I had to call in and talk to my co-op coordinator back at UVic about how my work term is going. Apparently David said some really nice things about me, which is nice, and she was super stoked. No one from UVic has worked for Greenpeace before as a co-op term as far as she knew! Very exciting. :) Haha.

After work today we headed over to the Temple Night Club for a Green Corps fundraiser that we were volunteering at. It was cool, we were just greeters at the door and what not. Green Corps seems like a totally awesome thing to do (check out the Job description in the Green Corps link) and I might apply for it after I graduate university. I was going to stay longer and network a bit once we were done volunteering but it turns out the Night Club wasn't in the greatest area of town so I ended up heading home earlier so I could get on a bus before dark. Ended up waiting for almost an hour for a bus on Market St., but luckily there weren't too many crazy people. I seriously just feel so comfortable in this city, it's ridiculous, considering that I'm not at all a city person. But it makes me happy. I really love it here. I think I might just not come home.

pride

Today was the pride parade in sunny San Francisco :) I can't even begin to describe it, but I think that today is the day I officially fell in love with the city. I got down there and met Amy and somehow we muscled our way, over the course of an hour or so, to the front of the crowds to watch the parade... which lasted three and a half hours! It was so amazing.

There were so many different groups, floats, costumes, music... I really recommend that you just check out the albums of photos on facebook (I took 600 and weedled them down to just over 300 - sorry there are so many!) becuase they tell the story far better than I could. I'm just so sad because I accidentally had my camera on the wrong setting for taking movies, so they didn't end up being movies at all... which sucks because I was going to make a compilation video and now I have no video. Oh well - pictures are plenty!

I have never seen so many naked men, and nearly naked men, drag queens and the sort. There were two drag queens with me on the bus ride back home, and Amy and I posed for pictures with three old naked men. It was pretty brilliant. But the best part... is... that...

WE WERE TWENTY FEET AWAY FROM THE BACK STREET BOYS! They drove by in a car as part of the parade (see photos) and they were RIGHT THERE and we were RIGHT THERE and holy crapoly! They were playing later on but we opted out of staying because it was so crowded, and the busses were all messed up because of detours and I didn't really want to stay later down there so we just headed home. Their set was going to be super short anyway. But oh my gosh, they were RIGHT THERE. Okay. I'm done. I was more of an N'Sync fan anyway :P

It was an awesome day. I love this city. I love this town. I love the people. It's great.

hands across the sand

In this picture I am the 30th person from the right. David is to my right, and Amy and Jules are to my left. We are holding our hands up in the air holding signs.



Another two days of work have past - it's awesome. I love it. But I have no thrilling tales to tell.

Today however was pretty sweet. Jules and I went out to Crissy Field - between the Marina District and the Golden Gate for a Hands Across the Sand rally. Riding the bus there was insane. We had to transfer busses at Market St. and get on a bus heading through Chinatown to our destination. We couldn't get on the first two because they were just way too packed and people were pushing and shoving and barely squeezing in as the doors closed.

Anyway, these events were happening today in over 820 locations, in over 30 countries and all 50 states. We met Amy and David (my manager from Greenpeace who is completely awesome) there and all got "Move Beyond Oil" signs from the Sierra Club, who was hosting the event in San Francisco. There were some politicians there, including one congressman, who were speaking and we stood behind them with our signs while they were filmed - so there is a good chance we got on the news here. Yay! Then everyone headed to the beach to form a line across the sand all holding hands and a helicopter flew above to take pictures! It was really awesome.

Afterwards we went to Johnny Rocket's for some grub and then headed home. On the 9 bus (the one we take to and from work every day) there was this guy who I have seen a couple of times. Once he was on the bus with me, once he was with Jules on the bus, and another couple of times I've seen him just walking around a bus stop en route. I was talking about him to Jules and then all of a sudden, speak of the devil, he comes on board. Now this guy, we're going to call him Freddy, has flaky skin and is a raging alcoholic. Oh! I think I wrote about him in a past blog actually - he was the one who told me that I shouldn't be afraid of him and then yelled "Yippie-yi-oh!" on the bus. Anyway he gets on, today is a bad drinking day for him, and starts cursing and swearing. "[insert a lot of words my parents don't want to hear come out of my mouth, and some racial slurs]" Another guy on the bus starts telling him to shut up and the bus driver finally just pulls over and yells at him "You shut up and stop making trouble or you get off the bus, I'm giving you that choice!" (I am so glad I'm not a San Francisco Muni driver). Well Freddy "don't want none of that BS" and he keeps on yelling. So the driver calls the police. We wait for about five more minutes for Freddy to calm down and finally he does, and we move on without the police showing up. It's funny because in the beginning these things really freaked me out and now it's like, old news. Haha.

I came home and flopped on the couch with Pippy curled up next to me and Shivs sprawled out on my legs, even though they generally try to avoid each other. It was super sweet. And! Amy just told me that she saw us on three channels of the San Francisco news earlier this evening! I have now been on television in San Francisco - yeye!

work party doggy cuddle cookie crumble god of war

Yesterday was another blur of work, and warehouse, and phone calls and other such awesome stuff so I won't go into the details - although I did have a totally awesome snuggle party with Pippy.

We did have lunch with Casson Trenor and talked about how he got where he is and what not which was super cool and inspiring. He is an environmentalist, social activist author, restaurant owner (he opened the world's first sustainable sushi restaurant - Tataki, right here in San Francisco), and media personality. He is the author of Sustainable Sushi and was named one of Time Magazine's Heroes of the Environment in 2009.

Today, was more time spent in the office and more time on the phones. I spoke to some incredibly inspiring people today who are actually living in Louisiana or nearby the oil spill and have family who are being directly affected by what is going on. One of them was telling me about how controlling BP is being about the whole situation, and here's the story that really got me. Apparently some local fishermen were trying to go save some sea turtles and other animals that were on the surface of this huge oil slick and BP made them leave. Then, BP lit that oil slick on fire and burnt the animals alive while people were trying to save them. How sick is that?

After work Jules and I went to her place to make compost cookies. Basically they use a basic cookie recipe plus you add a bunch of random crumbled up junk like potato chips, crackers, coffee grounds, chocolate and M&Ms. She had tried them before and figured we should try making them ourselves. The dough was so good - we ate way way too much of it but once they cooked they tasted like fish. I don't know how or why, it was super disappointing though. Afterwards we walked up to Bernal Hill with one of her roommates for a gorgeous 360 degree view of the city, even though it was foggy and nearing dusk. But we made a vow to go back when it was sunny and her roommate was nice enough to drive me home, which was lovely.

Since then I've spent the evening cuddling with Pippy, watching movies with Mandi, and watching Aaron play God of War. This is definitely the life.

that's right we have an airship

Somehow I managed to completely sleep through my alarm this morning. I usually get up by 8 at the latest and today I woke up at 9:23. I don't know how, but I changed my clothes, brushed my hair, packed my bag, gave Shiv's his antibiotic and ran to the bus by 9:30. I got the 9 and then, because we were heading to the warehouse today, had to wait for the 22. It's about a twenty minute walk so I figured the bus would be faster. Well the bus took about 15 minutes to come and then only took me two blocks - for some weird reason it was stopping its route early. So I started to walk and just as I left another 22 that was going all the way drove by. But I wasn't at a stop anymore so I couldn't catch it. Anyway, I got there about half an hour late and they were JUST starting - so it was cool.

Anyway at the warehouse we worked on sewing on letters onto a huge banner that is going to be sewn to the side of a Greenpeace airship for our new sustainable seafood campaign really soon. So keep your eyes peeled - more details to come.

We stayed there until 2 and then headed back to the main office for another two hours of Student Lead Activist recruitment calls. The last girl I talked to is an international student at Michigan State University. She moved here from India to go to school so we talked about the fact that I'm dating someone from there, and it was pretty cool. Definitely neat to connect with these people about random things - not that Karn is random in any way. Heart. Moving on. Uh, yeah she was so stoked and wants to intern with Greenpeace in a year when she is done university - yay! Super fast bus trip home today. I think it took 2o minutes on two buses - it was godly and amazing.

Also, the other day Jules and I definitely saw a guy in a total pimp suit - bright purple suit, selling watches out of his coat pocket. Ye we did!

go grease lightning

Last night, Amy, Jules and I went to see Grease in Dolores park. They put up a big screen there once a month or so to show a movie and tonight it was extra special because it was a sing-a-long. We got there around six or so and I spread out blankets to hold our spot while the other two went on an adventure to go find us some grub. Forty minutes later they came back with sandwiches from Safeway and beer - yay! Also, there was this Giradelli guy walking around with a giant canister of hot chocolate on his back. As we were finishing up our sandwiches all of the sudden the drama began to unfold:

Let's call the man sitting next to us with his cute little dog - Guy, and let's say the young man sitting a little further over, who was clearly a little strung out on drugs, with a giant pitbull - Tweaker. So Tweaker throws some trash and Guy yells over at him, "Hey man, don't litter in the park." Well Tweaker and his posse will have non of it and start cussing and swearing at Guy. It settles down for a moment, but there is obviously some tension. All of a sudden Tweaker's beast of a dog springs on Guy's puppy and starts attacking. Wine splashes everywhere and finally Tweaker gets ahold of his animal and Guy's girlfriend clutches their puppy. Guy is hovering over Tweaker's dog and telling him to control his animal. Well, Tweaker doesn't want anyone in his business so he stands up and grabs Guy around the neck. Guy fights back and a wh

ole little debacle ensues. The police come over and take control of the situation and make Tweaker and his friends leave. Don't ya just love San Francisco?

Around 8 or so the guys, Mac and his friend Julian, joined us and then the show started. It was amazing. Huge screen, and we were really close to it, with lyrics to sing along to all of the songs. Mac even "ooh-ooh-oohed" a bit, which took a lot of pushing and a fair amount of vino. But we had a blast. At the end Amy really wanted to get up and dance, during the last song, but no one else was. Who cares? We did anyway. So the three of us danced for part of the last song, in front of about a thousand people. It was fantastic.

Jules and I bussed home, and she took a taxi from my place because walking to her place from the main road at night is a b

it sketchy. But the taxi took almost an hour to come so she didn't get home until after one in the morning!

I got to sleep in a bit this morning and then after breakfast I met up with Jules and we headed up via bus to North Beach, up near Chinatown. There was a festival up there today so we met with Genevieve and Amy and did some petitioning to get signatures in support of strong chemical security legislation (see previous post about chemical security phone calls in Nevada -

this is the same deal). It was so hard, and so many people didn't want to have anything to do with it. Although we did get cool Greenpeace T-shirts out of the deal. I only got like 25 signatures in just over an hour of petitioning. But it was cool, we all got to hang out and go grab some lunch and what not. It seems like young guys were the majority of those that were willing to sign the petition and half of the time you had to flirt with them to get them to sign. There was a lot of "Hey, if you want me to write my address and phone number you better give me yours" type things - sure buddy, go visit another beer garden. Highlight of my day was definitely when this guy, who was totally wasted, was talking to Amy and signing her petition. He gave her this long hug after and wouldn't let go, and then kept kissing her ear and cheek - definitely got pictures :)

There are two big changes I have made personally while I am down here. One, I don't think I have really complained in the last week or so - not on a regular basis anyway. We all know how much I love to complain, but honestly, there is no reason to. Sure, I tell ridiculous stories about how much crazy shit happens, but being independent and just having myself to take care of and depend on, and no one else to look out for me has really made me appreciate things I once took for granted and suck it up and deal with situations a lot better. It's a good thing. The other thing is that I will never again take a functioning washer and dryer for granted. The washing machine we have here sort of works, although sometimes it floods, and the dryer doesn't work at all. I could be normal and take my clothes to a laundry mat but instead I have opted for hand washing. Every time I shower I take a few clothes with me and wash them, and then hang them to dry! It's really efficient, I never run out of clothes, and I always almost have all of my shirts to choose from. Haha.

saturday morning sweet peas

Firstly, this picture of Pippy I took last night and couldn't resist posting because she is adorable!!!!!

Thursday and Friday are all a blur. Work was amazing I am sure. I am having lots of fun and learning so much. David and Ben are really great at figuring out what it is that we want to get out of this summer and giving us projects to work on based on that. It's fantastic. On Friday we planned out what the rest of our summer is going to look like and presented it to our managers and others and overall they thought it was great. We're look at a minimum of 90 new recruits to the Student Network and 160 to the Activist Network which seems so awesome to me! I'm definitely really excited. We're also starting to work more with the Activist Network fellow, which is basically a paid intern that works on a 6 month contract, Alex, who seems pretty cool too. Aaron and I went out to Trader Joe's to buy some groceries when I got back - hooray! Looking back to Thursday we had a big monthly meeting where all of the offices were connected and gave updates - video conferencing to DC! And all of the new interns and staff were introduced (that's us!). And then we had our weekly San Francisco staff lunch. Also... I am hooked on Chocolate Covered Espresso Beans which are like the Activist Network meeting staple food. :)

I'm sorry I haven't been blogging much lately, I'll just either be so tired at night, or sit down and try and think of what to write and either not be able to share that many details of my day or just totally forget what happened because it is all such an awesome blur.

And then this morning Mandi and I went to the farmer's market (which I found out is one of the best, or even the best, in the city) and stocked up again on gorgeous fresh produce including amazing nectarines, raspberries and gorgeous peas.

jus' waitin' for the 9

It's cool being able to work on individual projects a bit more. I'm supposed to do a presentation on Friday about the social networking workshop we had to give Ben and David a summary. We really didn't cover that much but I did some digging myself so I have something new and interesting to present.

We were also asked to write some blogs for the Greenpeace blog site - I will probably be posting mine Friday and will send you the link then.

I'm crazy tired. After work I went to the warehouse to work on a project there for a while and then left at 7:30. My bus didn't come for an hour and I didn't get home until 9:15 so I'm ready to crash. Normally that should take 30-45 minutes, not an hour and forty five minutes. And the bus was so crowded it was crazy, I haven't been on a bus like that since El Salvador.

So yes. Good night from San Francisco.

good thing they can't smell garlic through the phone

Yesterday was work. Today was work. But work is awesome! :) I am completely blanking on what we did yesterday at work though. I'm thinking it was a lot of training and jazzy stuff like that. Oh and David gave me a bunch of database work to do... moving the whole data base for the student network to the more organized Activist Network format. Yeye.

Today however was uber cool. Yes, I just used that word. In the morning we had a two hour training on how to use online social networks - specifically twitter - in environmental organizing. So now I have a Twitter account that I'm playing around with... because I really needed more things to waste my time on. And then a bunch of us (Amy, Jules, Sebastian - the new Forest intern from Germany, and I) went to this amazing place up the hill called Goat Hill Pizza for Pizza. For 6 bucks you get a big salad and a slice of pizza with two toppings of your choice ( I had red onions and feta cheese ) and - mom you will love this one - as much garlic as you want (my family taught me well). Which made going back for phone call role plays a little embarrassing but thank goodness for Mac and his minty fresh gum.

Then we got to do phone calls to recruit people who wanted to volunteer to become Lead Activists. In an hour I talked to three people and had two say yes! The two that said yes were super keen to be involved in something finally, especially after the oil spill, and they hadn't really had a lot of experience before so this was really exciting for them. We talked for about fifteen minutes each time, just getting to know them, telling them about the Network and helping them out. It was really great and I actually had a lot of fun. The third person was living in Louisiana and facing a lot of the immediate effects of the oil spill and just wanted to help hands on there and was asking how she could get involved so I didn't really know how to help her out but will hopefully be able to give her some tips in the future. Greenpeace isn't really doing clean up there, they are just sending boats out to bear witness to what's going on and keep the media informed as to the truth of the tragedy.

artsy-que

Yesterday Shivs had a lot more weird looking wounds on his back so Lilli Ann came to take him to the vet while I went to a BBQ for a housewarming of one of the Greenpeace staff. It was out by Golden Gate park so that made for a really gorgeous bike ride through a really nice district of San Francisco. Lots of food and people, although sadly most of the Greenpeacers didn't arrive until we were almost ready to go. But oh well, it was still nice to go.

Lilli Ann brought Shivs home from the vet finally with a shaved patch on his back and a cone around his head to keep him from biting it at past midnight. We pressed a cloth with warm water against his wounds on his back as instructed. Poor guy, they were planning on doing a biopsy and they gave him a sedative but he reacted strangely and ended up acting completely hyper instead so they had to insert an IV to wash out his system. This morning we tried giving him the antibiotics he's supposed to take and he ended up throwing them up, so we might have to take him into the vet again. :( I think there was an infection under the skin because there was a lot of puss seeping out from the wounds, but hopefully it's clearing up now/

Today, after all the kitty cat drama I went out (in the same direction as yesterday) to meet up with Amy at the Haight St. art festival. It was pretty awesome. The amount of marijuana related material for sale there was insane, I think ever fifth stand was selling pipes. And someone was sitting on the road selling ganja cookies. But there was lots of other really cool stuff - awesome art, cool T-shirts, interesting petitions and yummy food and freshly squeezed lemonade! It was fun. Just as we were about to leave we noticed some people yelling from an upstairs window right on Haight and Ashbury in someone's house. They had a big sign held up to the window that said "Show Us Your Boobs" and were throwing down prizes to anyone who did. We did not partake.

When I got home I knew Aaron and Mandi were out and Lilli Ann had left and I walk into my room and saw someone lying on my bed. It only took me a few seconds to realize it was Brady, a close friend of Nadia's, just hanging out with Shivs who I said could come over anytime but it definitely freaked me out for a moment. And that is my day, my life, in a nutshell. Cross your fingers for Shivs and I am super stoked for another week of work starting tomorrow! :)

fruity tears

Yesterday we learned more about the databases at work and also did a really cool team building exercise. One of the activities was for the four of us interns (there are more starting next week) to stand on a fairly small, maybe three by three foot, scarf and try and turn it completely over without any of us stepping off of it. Definitely had to get really close and communicate, but it was a cool activity.

More calls to Nevada in the afternoon. Someone recognized my Canadian accent! But there was one call that really stuck with me, the last one that day that I made actually. I called and the woman, a Mexican lady, seemed somewhat skeptical and first, but as soon as I said Greenpeace she got really excited and started going on and on about the oil spill. I explained to her how she could help us with something else and she was totally keen. But after I had gone through everything she went back to the oil spill again and was so passionate and worked up about it, and other environmental issues too. She said she would do anything to help us win any battles and she just couldn't believe the injustices that were being done to both people and wildlife and that it "shouldn't be called BP, it should be called BS". She was so passionate it was amazing to just give her a chance to share her voice. Then she started crying, and I almost started crying. It was a really emotional and raw moment where I realized how amazing it is to just give someone that extra push to show them that their contributions are valuable and that they can use their passion to make a difference.

This morning I went with Aaron and Mandi to a local farmer's market and loaded up on fruit. I spent under fifteen dollars on: three oranges, five limes, four nectarines, three peppers, two cucumbers, a small bag of cherries, a small carton of strawberries, and a head of red lettuce.

mal food and sea dives

Today was super awesome. At work we went over a whole lot of database stuff and how Greenpeace does all that. The Activist Network is super cool. They take all of the people who are interested in Greenpeace, who have signed up for an email or newsletter before and contact them about issues - like we are doing with Nevada. Then on top of that they contact everyone who was interested in volunteering and ask if they would like to be a Lead Activist, of which there are currently over 500 around the United States. Then to those Lead Activists they send toolkits every 4-6 weeks with different campaigns and easy ways they can take park themselves or organize something in their community. So later in the summer I'll be calling to recruit Lead Activists and also to coach current Lead Activists on how to take part in campaigns and follow up on them and get them to report back. Super exciting stuff. It's really giving power to the people.

So on top of learning all about how the databases and what not at GP work we also had a staff lunch hour and the Executive Director of Greenpeace came and spoke to us about what's going on with the organization on a more administrative level. Following this, Ahmed Moosa a senior member of the new democratic government in the Maldives, spoke to us about his president's (Mohamed Nasheed - definitely an inspiring guy to read up on if you have some time) victory in establishing a democracy there after 20 years of struggle and now how he is embracing climate change. The Maldives only contribute 0.001 percent of global GHG emissions but they are planning on going completely carbon neutral themselves within the next 10 years and totally converting over to renewables just to make that statement. Of course they, being only 1.5 metres out of the water, and their inhabitants, of which there are just under 400,000 are at extreme threat to rising sea levels due to climate change. However, Ahmed was very optimistic and just said that we really need United States support and for people to stand up and march and protest and make demands like people are doing in the Maldives. He also talked about Copenhagen and how from his president's perspective China was really the main country holding everyone there back. He was so intense and powerful to hear speak.

One of the Greenpeace Oceans guys also gave a talk on the ongoing work on our sustainable seafood campaign. He sort of has one of my dream jobs, or something like it. I honestly can't share a lot about what is going on there because it's pretty much all under wraps but it was so great to be included and was really fascinating.

More calls to Nevada later in the day - but that was about it. One guy was definitely difficult to deal with, really drilling me on the issue and asking a lot of tough questions, he seemed pretty pissed off. But Ben said I handled it really well and just told him I'd send him all of the information by email and stayed calm. I figure it can't get much worse than that so everything from here will be just fine :)

Shiv's is looking a lot better, yay! This weekend is going to be super busy as well with different things going on. Happy hour (or soda hour for me) with Greenpeace people at a local place after work tomorrow, then a BBQ on Saturday, and another art festival on Sunday! I've added some more photos on facebook of my adventures last weekend so check them out :) and if you don't have facebook there are a couple new photos posted in the blogs below

ring ring ring

You know how on some buses the back section is elevated a couple of stairs from the front of the bus. Well this morning, this guy sprawled out on those stairs and just flat out refused to move. People had to literally climb around him to get to and from the doors. Gotta love San Francisco.

So this morning we had a session on time management and how to manage planning and goal setting for a campaign or event. Definitely got some good tips. Then we had a few hours to spend again just on reading up about Greenpeace and what not. I never really got a chance to check out photos of the oil spill until then, but I looked through about 300 today. It's so devastating. I honestly just can't get over it.

Then we had one on one talks to discuss goal setting, and what we want to get out of this internship and how we plan on achieving that with our managers/supervisors. I talked to David who is the coordinator for the Student Network at this office. He is super nice, really great guy. Definitely helped me a lot with role playing for the phone calls yesterday as well.

After that we spent just over an hour again on the phones, contacting people in Nevada to get them engaged on this issue (see yesterday's blog). Between the five of us yesterday we had 17 people commit to call Senator Reid, and today between the four of us we got 20 commitments. Plus a bunch of people who said they would be writing letters to the editor. It's nice that all of the people we are calling have signed up for Greenpeace emails or petitions in the past, so it's not just contacting anyone who may or may not be interested. This definitely makes things easier. At first the whole phone call shindig seemed sort of draggy and menial but it's really neat because some of the people you talk to you just really change their minds and see potential activists in them. In some people you can sort of hear the light switch flick and feel them think "I can really do something to make a difference" which is neat.

Apparently our house has now officially been declared haunted, but us.

Shivs has a mysterious sore on his back.

Someone left a little bowl with a thank you note inside our gate for "feeding my stomach" and none of us have any idea who it was from.

And now someone's computer cord has disappeared when no one was in the house but us and some very close friends. Dun dun dun.

hello this is kelsey calling from greenpeace

So today I actually got to start doing some work for Greenpeace. In the morning I spent two hours reading a variety of articles and what not about current campaigns and recent victories, and also read a bunch of "The Greenpeace Story" which covers the history of the organization. Then we had training on recruitment which was cool and a break for lunch.

There is this really great place across the road called JB's. The people are so friendly and apparently they are also super enthused about Greenpeace and what not and know when we bring our own plates over for them to use. It's a great little sandwich shop - definitely a score.

After lunch I learned all about the Activist Network with the other two AN interns from Ben and Anna who coordinate the network. And then David spoke to us about the Student Network. We also had another intern skype in from a smaller office in Chicago. We ended up going through all sorts of things including how to recruit volunteers and spent a lot of time on practicing conversing via phone in regards to current campaigns and issues.

Right now we'll be working on a campaign about chemical security. There are about 6000 chemical plants around the States that use chlorine which is extremely dangerous and could effect thousands to millions of people depending on the location in the case of an accident or terrorist attack. There is a bill that has passed through though House and is now in Senate requiring that these companies use healthier, safer alternatives. Clorox, due to much campaigning, has already changed over all of their plants so it's obviously possible. So right now the Activist Network's job is to contact people all over Nevada who are in a) a dangerous chemical security zone and b) Senator Harry Reid's constituency to ask them to call Senator Read and ask him to co-sponser the legislation. As well we are asking people to take a step further and write letters to the editor of local newspapers.

Before the first phone call I was a little nervous but after I got rolling it was totally fine. :) Definitely looking forward to more of that and other exciting things tomorrow. Finally got a chance to stock up a bit at Safeway with Jules after work so that was exciting. I am all set foodwise for a few days which is a big accomplishment. Keep in touch :) I'd love to hear from any of you.

Also yesterday we saw these two guys on the bus. One of them looked really down and out, the kind of guy who might need a food bank, and this other guy, obviously his buddy was trying to convince him to come to these meetings every Monday morning where they just have orange juice and coffee with this nice lady, Tania, and talk about all the shit that they're dealing with. Right away I judge the down and outter to be someone I wouldn't want to mess with. Well instead he turns to his pal and says to him, "Man, I'm sorry. Monday mornings I volunteer at the food bank." And the other guy goes, "Really, that's amazing, man. Shit, can you hook me up? I'd love to give back too, I think that is so great." And Mr. Down-n-Out says "Yeah, I get to go on the deliveries and go give people food. It's so wonderful." It made me smile.

orientated

So today was my first day working in the Greenpeace office. There wasn't really any work today - it was just an orientation for most of us interns. It was great though, everyone there was so friendly and welcoming and really appreciative of us being there. Definitely a really nice environment to be working in. I'm excited. We learned about all of the office policies, the history of Greenpeace, and a bit about what sort of work we'll be doing. We also met a lot of people, including our managers/supervisors. There was a pot luck lunch with lots of yummy food and friendly conversation. Over all, very good day. I'm super excited :) Not so excited though about the Ragu and pasta I had for dinner... definitely need to go shopping again tomorrow. I also officially, although it IS only temporary, have a Greenpeace email address - how cool is that?

Also, yesterday on the bus Juliann and I definitely saw our first cocaine deal happening at a bus stop we were stopped at. Woot woot. Also, today we realized on our way to work the bus goes right by the mental institution here. Awesome.

Catch ya on the flip side :)

seeing artistic

Last night, after we walked Pippen, Mandi and Aaron took me to see two art gallery openings. One was sort of modern street art which was pretty neat, although this particular selection wasn't quite my style and the other was comic strip style work which was pretty hysterical. It was really cool to go to and feel somewhat local for a couple of hours. It was also really interesting to see how the art itself was actually displayed.

This morning Juliann, Amy, Genevieve (another GP intern from Montreal) and I all met up at an art festival down on Union St. Nothing too exciting at the festival itself, lots of expensive food, some free food, lots of cool T-shirts, some not so cool T-shirts. From there though we walked down to the Marina district for a lovely view of the Bay. We could see the Golden Gate bridge just peaking out of the fog on one side, and a crystal clear view of Alcatraz on the other. As usual there were people sailing all over the place and a seal even popped up to say hello. The hike back to the bus was brutal though, all up hill made for four very steep blocks. But, we did get to see Mrs. Doubtfire's house!

I'm slowly trying to buy food and build up a bit of a pantry so I can actual cook to a certain degree but it's so expensive here - even at the Safeway I stopped at on the way home! Not impressed. Oh well, what do you do? I'm only here for two and a half months anyway. And surprise surprise, as I write this Shivs is collapsed on my lap again. Love.

I honestly think I should start a new little section to talk about all of the crazy people I come across in San Francisco each day... since there were a few today, I might as well give it a shot.

Characters of the Day:

1) The crazy black man who got on the bus and sat down next to a Chinese fellow. The Chinese fellow promptly moved a few seats over and then got yelled at by the black guy about how he must think he's way too good followed by a whole slew of racist labels.

2) The lady who brought her poodle on the bus... in a stroller.

3) The man who was sitting at the bus stop when I was heading home, he looked a little grizzly but I wasn't frightened persay, but I didn't particularly want to sit next to him either so I just stood. He got up and walked over and said "You know, if you want to sit down I can move if you're afraid to sit next to me. I know I can be a little rough around the edges." I told him it was cool and he sat back down. And the first thing he yelled once he sat on the bus was "Yippee-i-yo!"

4) My personal favourite. Two mentally challenged people, a boy and a girl, in their early twenties, who were sitting next to us. They were just so content and had no barriers in their conversation and felt free to do or say whatever they wanted. The girl had pulled bubble wrap out of the garbage because she enjoys popping it and together they sat there popping bubble wrap on the bus and chatting. Someone sat down next to the girl and she said to the boy that she didn't feel comfortable and he wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close and said "Don't worry, I will do whatever I need to to take care of you. I have to be a good man."

psychedelic tour guide

So the last couple of days have been pretty exciting. Yesterday afternoon I met up with Juliann, another Greenpeace intern who had just flown in. She came over to my neighbourhood to check out my place and the shops around here. She is super nice and we clicked right away. :) In the evening I spent some time back here at the house with two of my housemates Mandi and Aaron and their friend playing Rockband, eating Chinese and watching Arrested Development. Hell yes, we are cool. It was really nice to get to know them a bit, they are very sweet people and I love Aaron's dog so much - witness the wonder yourself in the facebook video. (Watch out Tessa)

Today I met up with Juliann on the bus heading towards work (she gets on the same bus about three minutes after I do, in a slightly more sketchy part of town). We headed over to the Greenpeace office again, stopping at Starbucks on the way. She ordered oatmeal and I ordered a huevo ranchero wrap - breakfast of champions, or so we thought. However, they had neither so we had to switch it up. Way to start the morning, haha. But the people were super friendly! Also, I think Juliann and I have this thing with people pushing ahead of us in line. Yesterday someone had asked to go in front of us when we were buying groceries (and by groceries I mean pasta and tomato sauce... gotta love little local grocers) and then someone accidentally stepped in front of us at the Starbucks. We started a tradition and just asked people behind us everywhere else we stopped that day if they wanted to cut ahead and go first.

We met up with Mac and Amy (two of the other Greenpeace interns) and Mac's friend Julian. (This one is a guy Julian, but Juliann is a girl Juliann - just thought I would clear that up). They drove us downtown and we saw this huge Palestine protest urging the US to retract their support of Israel. It was pretty intense. Then on to Union Square where we began our grand tour of the downtown core - led by local guy Julian. We walked all over downtown, which is really really nice with lots of cool shop and sites to see. Then headed to Chinatown, I'm about to upload a bunch of photos onto facebook, so check them out there. It was really neat, and so colourful. We touched into Little Italy as well and hiked this little residential hill for a gorgeous view of the Bay. It was so nice to have someone who actually knows the city show you around. Then we stopped in the coolest place ever for sandwiches, the guys serving were so hilarious and gave Mac a terrible time for his dislike of onions... Juliann and I headed down to Market Street to catch a bus back home, and now here I am.

Shivs keeps jumping on my lap and trying to walk all over the computer and every time I sit or lie down on my bed he jumps on me, collapses, and is not too happy about moving. So before he accidentally deletes this I'm going to sign off.

mi casa es su casa

At the top is the crazy three part kitchen. Then from top to bottom is the view from the kitchen, then the place of fine dining and finally the living room. :)

where i sleep

So... I thought I would take a few pictures of the place I am staying so you get a feel for it. Here is the bedroom! On the right is my bed... and chair... and desk :) With Shivs and TK (teddy bear) modeling. Then over here on the left you can see the glorious door and closet in which I store my clothes. And from the shot of the window you can see the most glorious view... I get to see a wall. Awesome :) Haha

tour de San Fran

So this morning I met Nadia, whose room I am renting, and her and her mom and I all went for breakfast at Tiffany's, a place near the house. :) I had yummy blueberry pancakes and eggs. Then I went and got a phone... so I officially now have a phone in the States however cannot make international calls to Canada (apparently Cambodia is included in their international calling list, but not Canada). I will definitely have to get a calling card but otherwise, Skype me. I also got a fast pass for the muni busses here.

Then Lilli Ann and I took off on a super amazing awesome tour of San Francisco. She showed me how to get to the place where I will be working and we walked to the Greenpeace office. And she told me all of the neighbourhoods to steer clear of; 16th and Mission, certain parts of Market Street, Silver Terrace, lower Potrero hills and the Tenderloin. Apparently in some areas one shouldn't wear red because of gangs. The neighbourhood I am living in definitely has an interesting feel to it too - not unsafe persay - but definitely nothing like I am used to. And being white I definitely feel like I'm the minority here. San Francisco is weird in that all the bad parts of town are really spread out and scattered throughout the city... there isn't one place to avoid, it's everywhere. I think I have the words "be cautious" engraved in my brain for life.

We took another bus downtown to this giant mall and looked around there for a bit, which was fun. Lilli Ann is such a sweet heart, she is so kind and generous. And from there we took the Bart, so I could have that experience, over to Glen Park, a really nice area to the West. We looked around there a bit and then bussed it back to Potrola, my neighbourhood. I went shopping for groceries in a little Chinese grocery store that seriously lacked in certain things - so I think tonight is rice and beans, or maybe a baked potato and banana. But I'll figure it out soon enough. The funny thing is, after today I honestly think that I know San Francisco and the bus system here way better than I know Vancouver. I could totally draw you a map right now of San Francisco with all of the neighbourhoods and tell you about four or five different bus routes that will get you several places in the city. This is comforting. The fact that just as I got off the bus back home a girl threw a handful of cooked meat in her boyfriend, ex-boyfriend, or someone else's face... not so comforting. But hey, it's San Francisco baby. I'll take pics of the house soon and send them along :)

officially landed!

I have arrived in San Francisco!

I left on a plane to Seattle this afternoon at about 4 pm, freaked out way too much before hand about changing planes, and then realized it was super simple. Got to my gate in Seattle and they decided only then to let me know that they had changed the gate and it was at the other side of the airport! Note to self - check Departure listings upon arrival. But, I still had plenty of time to spare, had an uneventful flight to San Francisco and got my bags. Joe and Jacque, our really close friends that I know from cruising, picked me up at the airport and drove me to my new home.

Lilli Ann, Nadia's mom, was waiting for me at the house to show me around and get me settled. She has been so wonderful and kind, making sure I had everything I needed and was fed and what not; strawberries and hot chocolate. She's staying over the first night so I'm not in the house alone with a bunch of strangers. There is a dog here - Pippin - who is the most adorable and silent thing EVER! And I am taking care of Nadia's cat who will be residing in my room - Shivs (see picture). Also adorable, but right now super depressed that his mommy left.

Anyway, I just thought I would let you all know that I am alive and well. Pictures of the place to come! And I promise I will update this more often than Karn updates his. Hehe.

one week tomorrow

I am leaving for San Francisco in just over a week. I am so excited, but at the same time I remain somewhat nervous. I have somewhere to live, and a plane to catch. I have plans for my first weekend there before I start work. It only really hit me today how soon this is happening and quite frankly, at this point, it feels so surreal. I don't think I'll completely realize it is actually taking place until I step off the plane in San Francisco.

If someone had asked me a few months ago how I would like to spend my summer, if I could do absolutely anything, this would probably be it. I never really thought there would be any way I could have the opportunity of working for an international NGO like Greenpeace this early in my life. And I am completely ecstatic. I know I have so much to learn, and I know I will learn so much. I don't think I have ever before been this willing to jump into something and so open to experience and opportunity. I'm honestly just so thrilled.

Everything is ready to go, except for packing, but that won't start for a few days. I've had a really nice couple of weeks off, getting to see friends on Salt Spring Island again that I hadn't been able to visit with for most of the year, before I take off. If I isolate myself in my own little space and don't think about the rest of the world, about climate change, and about all of the pain and suffering... life is sweet. Life is brilliant. Life is exciting and filled with happiness. But sadly I can't think like that - and that's why I'm doing what I'm doing. Wish me luck. I plan on making this a page-turning adventure and I just can't wait for it to start.