Good Intentions

Well, I just found my Blog today after putting it on the back burner for the rest of my experience in Switzerland and then two weeks of traveling with the beloved VW sisters. Maybe I will do some catch up, who knows what this hodge-podge of a blog will become. Looking back in retrospect is always a great perspective to have...

In order to understand what my life was like abroad here is a snip-it of a "day-in-the-life" of a Alpine Environmental Education Center teacher...

7:30am Katie and Chelsea wake up from their slumber after enjoying the comfort of their bunk beds:) Reminds me of the good ol' days at Camp Wapo (although Molly this time I had the top!) Here are some photos of what we saw from the balcony of our room

7:45am Go downstairs and get a couple of kids to volunteer as the "table helpers" to set and serve the breakfast meal

Below: This is when Rita the German cook would shine. She did a great job of encouraging the kids and making fun meal-time treats like "teddy-bananas"

8:00am Time to eat!

Then, it was time for all our "Hohliebi Helpers" to get to work doing daily clean-up and chores

by 10:00 we hoped to be out the door with packed lunches and outfitted children ready to take on a day of hiking and learning about the alpine environment!

Here are pictures of some of our great groups as we explored nature...

  

Me, with a group of international students as we headed back from the Walbach hike.

 

Director Peter Harvey inspiring young minds... or at least keeping them out of danger by pointing out safe places to explore at the falls.

 

Watch your step! Slugs and snails dotted the trails wherever we hiked. Pictured above is a common snail, but always a novelty to me!

Plant biodiversity and density was just one of the labs that we did with students. Here you see them using their quadrats to compare different field studies analyzing human and environmental impact.

 

The cold water challenge! This was one of my favorites:) 1 minute of excruciatingly cold water and you would go numb almost to your elbows...there was about 25% success rate, but 100% enthusiasm...this was not part of the curriculum, but it added to the adventure of the day.