I just finished watching Julie & Julia with my family. My sister said the movie really makes you want to cook. When I finished it, it really made me want to write a blog. It took me about ½ a second to realize I have nothing worthy of writing a blog about. My good friend Vince writes a great blog about being a “Triathlete in Vancouver”. My mom wrote a blog a few years ago called, “The Sunday Girl.” It was about how she was seeing this guy who never asked her out on classic date nights, Fridays and Saturdays, but only on Sundays and she was getting quite frustrated with the whole thing (or fling?). Her blog even got a mention in the paper.
So what the hell could I write a blog about? Well, it took me about 2 minutes to realize that I have what is considered by most people I talk to the dream job. I do have one of, if not the, best jobs in the world. It is fun, yet challenging and certainly tests your patience. I work with great people who all love the job as much as I do. It is Never Never Land here on Earth. It is the Real World, but without the TV crew and casting directors. And at least one day a week, it is Paradise. And people I know have been sick of me discussing it for years now, so why not spread the joy to complete strangers!?
I work for Catalina Island Marine Institute (CIMI) at Toyon Bay. Catalina Island is one of eight Channel Islands off the coast of southern California. We are a camp that, in a nutshell, teaches children marine biology. Kids from 4th-12th grade come with their schools out to my camp for 3 or 5 days and we teach them about the ocean, what lives in it, and a bit of conservation. (On a side note, many of us instructors always throw in something about conservation even though the owners of the camp do not really believe in it and refuse to let it be part of the curriculum.) We take them snorkeling and through labs – primarily fish, shark, algae, plankton, invertebrate, and marine mammals. The kids get to touch many of these animals (all but the fish and marine mammals that are alive, actually) and in the process, hopefully learn. Groups that stay for the 5 days get to do other fun activities like hike, kayak, rock climb, and tide pool. At night we take them on a mini hike for astronomy, turn the dining hall into a squid dissection laboratory, night snorkels, or an adventure through the deep sea (all instructors hate this last one for reasons that will be explained in further blogs).
There are 26 instructors that work at Toyon, all between the ages 22 and 31, 12 boys and 14 girls, and all with a large part of themselves never wanting to grow up. We have 2 APDs (Assistant Program Directors) and 1 PD (Program Director) with the same life philosophy, which makes for interesting days off.
This blog will be about my work. The biggest problem I see is that my work is literally my life, but in a good way. My commute to work in the morning is at most a 2 minute walk from my house/apartment type thing – Sycamore. We all live in the camp. No stores. No people (except the customers, of course). No traffic. No sirens. No cell service (which we all got used to scarily fast). We just got wireless internet one year ago (which I admit – I love and I’m addicted). We have three delicious meals made for us every day and despite the love/hate relationship we have with SYSCO foods and eating the same thing every week, we are never hungry. I mean never. It’s all you can eat… every… meal. Thank goodness we lead much more active work lives than being in an office. I for sure would have gained 20 pounds by now.
So basically my life is balancing my work with the people I work and live with. And finding alone time in which to run, read, and do nothing. And time to communicate with the outside world, whose existence is often easily forgettable (sorry family!). Answering machine messages on the landlines in camp often sound like this –
“Hi Travis, it’s your mother. This is the 3rd time we’ve called you. Please give us a call sometime soon!...ok. Call us back. Love you.”
“Hi, this message is for Kelly Montenaro, this is your mother. We haven’t heard from you in a while, give us a call! Love you.”
And of course, the inevitable call from an in-camp member –
“Hey, poop brains! Pick up! Pick up! … The party is on the dive deck! Bring the rum. You smell like feces. Take a shower! But bring the rum first!...uh…ok. See you in about five!”
Our lives are great. And hopefully this blog will let people who choose to read it laugh at us (or if I’m lucky with us). Maybe they will read this and think of how lucky I am to have this job. Or sometimes they might think, “Wow. 54 degree water, 50 degree air temperature, and a night snorkel?!?! F…that…shit.” Rest assured dear readers, I often think the same thing.
