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.