On Nerds, Nations and Education

Holy mackerel, I may just be the worst blogger ever! I get myself into these funks where I feel like I have to report on every single thing and then that's just too daunting, so I don't write anything at all, so more stories pile up and the cycle continues. That is until the masses (fine, just my mom and my baby sister... and that one anonymous person on facebook, who I have a feeling was also my mom) start demanding more brilliant blog literature. And here I am feeling inspired from reading my friends Jillian and Kayla's blogs about CWY in Moncton... so, the time is nigh to write!

Man, I'm a nerd.Who talks like that?
Canada World Youth is an educational program and one thing I have learned is just how nerdy I am... another is how much I like it! Practically every other thing that comes out of my mouth prompts my wonderful friend Tayte to chime in, "All I hear is; Nerd nerd nerd. Nerd. Nerd. Nerd", accompanied by the talking hand gesture. Beth laughs daily at my fascination with biology and, while I fully admit that it is nerdy to memorize the bar code number of your library card, Amanda insists that simply having a library card is nerdy enough. (Which is why I have created a poll to prove her wrong. See the right side of this page.) I quoted "Arthur" to defend myself in this case (That is what is called "digging a hole"). Honestly, our first aid instructor nicknamed me "Keener" within 5 minutes of my walking into the room. I don't even think he knows my real name. That is how much of a nerd I am. But why am I trying to convince you? If you're reading this you probably already know.

 Yesterday I heard a lecture by Cultural Anthropologist and Explorer (who knew "Explorer" was still a job title in this day and age?! ), Dr. Wade Davis. I was fascinated as he discussed disappearing cultures, how each culture has something to contribute to the "Council of Nations" and told stories of the people he has lived with. As he spoke of the Guarani people of the Bolivian Amazon, I was bouncing in my seat with excitement, having lived in the exact region of Bolivia where the Guarani traditionally do and knowing three words in their language: Ambue Ari, "New Day" and yassi, "moon". This in itself, of course, is nothing special but the amazing thing is how just a tiny connection to a place can make issues surrounding it touch you so much deeper.  The case was the same when Davis spoke of the Q'eros of Peru and their pilgrimage to Ausangate, where I went camping. (To read about that excursion click here: http://hooliabailey.blogspot.com/2011/02/princess-jasmine-goes-camping-at.html or for Bolivia click here: http://hooliabailey.blogspot.com/2011/04/every-day-at-ambue-ari.html) My imagination was absolutely captured by Davis' stories of the ancient wisdom of polynesian marine navigators, the sense of balance of the australian aboriginal people, the ingenuity of an inuit man determined not to move to a settlement... And in this I sensed that the world is grand and enormous and beyond understanding, even in a time when we exclaim over how small it has gotten. Physically? Yeah, maybe that american woman I met in Costa Rica in 2010 happens to know the young Brit I met in Bolivia in 2011... they met in Argentina, no big deal; but as far as the depth of experience, the breadth of realities? There is more than one person could ever know, let alone experience or understand, even a person as insightful and well-traveled as Dr.Davis. I know I won't make my amazement clear, but can you imagine that every other person on the planet is doing, feeling, seeing something different right now? Even if two people are in the exact same place witnessing the same event at the same time... they are seeing, feeling, living something completely different, based on their culture, their upbringing, their personality... based on every experience they've ever had. Not once in a story you read in National Geographic; right now.

So let's talk about something that I've done, felt, seen recently.
Tuesday night the group of us were lucky enough to do a "Discover Scuba" course at the local pool. Once we got through the obligatory cheesy-but-amusing aussie-narrated instructional video it was time to get in the pool. Our instructor (First Aid Dave), well, one of 7, was surprised at how ready and organized we were. Basically, we followed him around like a litter of puppies until it was time to get into the water. I caught on to breathing from the regulator right away and was pretty much giddy with joy the whole time I was in the pool. I somersaulted and twirled and played underwater Frisbee with the others. I stared up at Hala and Justine, beautiful swimming on the surface of the water above me. Dave even taught me to blow bubble rings... Not sure if he meant for me to try it, but I did, and was surprised and thrilled when I was actually able to do it. The bubbles were so beautiful as they rushed upwards, pulsing like sparkling jellyfish. I didn't ever want to get out,practically believing that I belonged in the water. While I wouldn't go so far as to say that breathing underwater felt natural or comfortable, that doesn't mean it didn't feel good! Sometimes it is best to be uncomfortable.

One of our facilitators at Orientation camp said, "You are uncomfortable when you are learning." If this is case, which I wholeheartedly believe it is, I will be a frickin' genius by the time March rolls around. Working with people from completely different realities than my own for weeks now, discomfort is pretty much my default setting. In only ten days' time I will be plunged into a situation where my reality isn't "the one that makes sense" any more. It is just a fact of my personality that I will have to work extra hard to remind myself of this truth. I can hope for the support I need, but in the end it is up to me to make this work. That's another thing I will need to fight to believe; that if it is up to me to make this work for myself it is equally up to the others in my group to make it work for them... In other words their success is their own responsibility, not mine. I would be even crazier than I am already if I didn't have Tayte here to remind me this when I need it!

Thank you to everyone at home who knows and understands me. You are worth so much to me... just thinking of how you would react to my struggles makes me better, even if I don't tell them to you.

Maybe I will tell some more stories about Newfoundland tomorrow... but this is what's in me tonight.

Don't forget to laugh at yourself.
Sending love on these howling St.John's winds,
Julia

Every day at Ambue Ari

This entry, in all it´s rushed imperfection, is dedicated to the memory of my Grandma Jeanne, who died this morning; a fighter and a gentle spirit to the end. Je t´aime Grand-mère.

I´ve just arrived in Santa Cruz after a month at Ambue Ari wildlife sanctuary. I´m not made for the city; already I miss the sounds of macaws and howler monkeys through the walls of my room rather than cars and their blaring horns. The mattress here is hard and lumpy too, but not because it´s made of straw. I feel like a fish out of water... kind of like that catfish I saw swimming across the patio when it rained yesterday at Ambue Ari, just barely able to breathe. But you can get used to almost anything...
It´s amazing how quickly the exceptional becomes normal.

Every day at Ambue Ari I would go out and spend 6 hours of quality time with a puma named Wayra. Feeding her, walking with her, swimming with her, giving her neck rubs, napping near her, having her lick my hands affectionately, playing with her, swimming with her and even feeling her her teeth and claws on my skin once.  At home I would be in awe just to see a puma up close... heck, I have pulled ticks out of Wayra´s neck and ears! I hate ticks! I don´t even pull them out of my self! (I had two.) Back at camp for lunch I would ask my friends how their jaguars and ocelots were doing. "Yuma almost caught a tejon(coati) on our walk today!" "Meh, Amira´s in heat, so she was really lazy. It was pretty boring." "Sayan hasn´t had a shit in 6 days! Zandro doubled his laxatives..."

Right now it feels like that is real life and this is the abnormal. But it is more real, in a way...

Every day at Ambue Ari I woke up and worked for a purpose. No wondering what the point of doing what you´re doing is. No superficiality, floating through towns and activities like a spectre, trying to take all the new-ness in. Your mind doesn´t block the jungle out in that way that I´ve struggled with during seeing things like Machu Picchu; it gets into you and you only realize after the fact how far in. At least for me.

I got a piercing from my cat partner, Angela, in my left ear this morning before I left the park. We did it in the vet clinic... the same place they keep Sayan´s laxatives and cut Bora Bora worms out of volunteers arms. (Life is funny, I think.) It will remind me of the Parque for as long as I have it and, though I didn´t realize it at seven o´clock this morning, as the needle slid through my cartilege, it will also remind me of my sweet Grandma Jeanne-Marie. The jewellry is a ring. A never-ending circle reminding me that everything is connected. That as some things end: my time at the park, Grandma Jeanne´s life, others are beginning.
A New Day.
Ambue Ari.

In the Bolivian Amazon.

So, amazingly, I have internet today (though it won´t happen often) and thought I would tell you that I am in love. With Parque Ambue Ari.

So far I have:
-cuddled with monkeys and baby pigs
-eaten dinner in a rustic candlelit shack
- maintained a perfect record of domination in rock-paper-scissors for dish duty
-slept on a mattress made of straw
-built quarantine cages and dug a hole
-drunk tap water for the first time in eight weeks
-chopped fruit and veggie peels for tapirs and pios
-been eaten alive by mosquitoes
-met a guy I met in the airport when I arrived in Lima
-performed glow poi at a volunteer costume party
-taken three cold showers
-gazed at the brightest stars through the forest canopy
-had a chunk of my hair ripped out by a macaw named Lorenzo
-taught poi to a group of Bolivian kids
-slogged through thigh-deep water on a jungle trail while snacking on cocoa pod fruit fresh off the tree
-seen pumas, ocelots and jaguars close enough to touch
-been so overwhelemed by my surroundings and emotions so that I could barely think

I have been here barely 48 hours.
Con amor,
Jungle Jules