pelf-ism is contagious

I was never good at saying goodbyes. I always cry. But just when I thought I was doing OK for holding up my tears when all of us at the Wetlands Institute said our goodbyes, I broke down.

That was all because of Kaity, one of our Research Assistants. She was the first Research Assistant that I met upon arriving at the Wetlands Institute, and before our internship began, I volunteered to go grocery shopping with her because we needed food for our first cook-out. But so much have happened in the 10 weeks that followed, and I pretty much forgot about it. Until she reminded me of our “first grocery shopping” and how cool she thought it was, and how she was going to miss me, and then down came my tears.

I thought I was going to cry when I said goodbye to Jon and Liz, because over time, both of them and Koulang and me got really well together, and we pretty much hung out (at the kitchen) together most of the time. We went on road patrols together, we went grocery shopping together, we had dinner together, and we were always on the lookout for one another.

But of course, of all the interns whom I have had the chance to meet this summer, I am going to miss my roommates, Liz and Sasha, most. We shared a fairly small space together for 10 weeks, and we have also shared gossips, laughters and tears (Liz was in the room when I received news that Prof. L passed away) and needless to say, we have bonded over time, and both of them were like my sisters to me.

And of course, Koulang, my fellow Asian Scholar from Cambodia. He was like my buddy from Day 1, because we were the only two Asians in a group world of Americans. We were always on the lookout for each other because we were the ones who would most likely be “forgotten” or “missed” because we were not like the rest of the interns. We don’t party. We don’t drink. We don’t get drunk. We don’t play loud music and start dancing in the kitchen. But most importantly, Koulang had been very good at making sure that I had food for dinner (because he’s a good cook).

Last but not least, the first two interns I met at the Wetlands Institute were Cassie and Heather. They have been teaching me “the American way” since the day I met both of them and if I was Americanized (in any way), these two girls would be the ones responsible Mac and cheese, anyone?

A THANK YOU NOTE

To Dr. Roger Wood, Dr. Roz Herlands, Dr. Dan Hernandez, Dr. Patrick Baker and Ilene Eberly, THANK YOU for the guidance and advice so generously given to me.

To Lysa, Jane, Chanelle, Doris, Joyce and Margaret, THANK YOU for your concern, care and conversations.

To all my dear fellow interns who are reading this, THANK YOU for the friendship, laughters, love and memories.

To William Espenshade, Director of the Asian Scholarship Program for in-situ Chelonian Conservation, THANK YOU for the opportunity. Without the scholarship, I wouldn’t be in the United States today.

More pictures taken during the research seminar and farewell party.

I used to play softball in school, but that was when everybody had to participate in at least one sports. I also remember joining the baseball club because one of the seniors whom I adored very much played for my school. And most importantly, she was the pitcher (you know how much attention is paid to the pitcher? It’s apparently THE most important player in the team!).

Anyway, a group of us from the Wetlands Institute drove almost an hour from Stone Harbor to Atlantic City to watch a baseball game between the home team (Atlantic City Surf) and the Quebec team. It was my first LIVE baseball game, and I was excited about it

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The goal of baseball is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four markers called bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot square, or diamond. Players on one team (the batting team) take turns hitting while the other team (the fielding team) tries to stop them from scoring runs by getting hitters out in any of several ways. A player on the batting team can stop at any of the bases and hope to score on a teammate’s hit. The teams switch between batting and fielding whenever the fielding team gets three outs. One turn at bat for each team constitutes an inning; nine innings make up a professional game. The team with the most runs at the end of the game wins.

- Source: Baseball @ Wikipedia

So, there are usually 9 innings in each baseball game. But if there was no winner (a tie), an extra inning would be played, until there is a winner. Guess how many extra innings we got to watch the other day?! FIVE extra innings!

And every time there was a switch between the teams, Splash the mascot would make an appearance on the field. Also, kids participated in a couple of 30-second games during the switch.

The game started at 7pm and ended at midnight, and guess what?! At the end of the game, there was a fireworks display which lasted for about 15 minutes!

P/S: Thank you very much, Dr. Roger Wood, for taking us to the game!

More pictures taken at the baseball game.

I have just realized that I have visited 4 zoos and 3 museums in 3 months. And that’s record-breaking because I don’t remember visiting 2 zoos and 2 museums in Malaysia in the last 5 years, LOL. Now, I have always been a “museum person”, though I’d never call myself a “zoo person”.

I wished that the state of zoos and museums in Malaysia was in better shape so that it would be a pleasant trip for foreigners who visit our country. Otherwise there would not be any reason why they should visit our zoos and museums!

Anyway, I am not going to document all my visits to the zoos and museums because frankly, the things that we see in such places are similar. But I have uploaded my pictures into my (ever-expanding) Flickr account, so you are most welcome to check them out:

Zoos:

• Santa Barbara Zoo @ Santa Barbara, CA
• Cape May County Zoo @ Stone Harbor, NJ
• Bronx Zoo @ Bronx, NY
• Philadelphia Zoo @ Philadelphia, PA

Museums:

• Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History @ Santa Barbara, CA
• American Museum of Natural History @ New York, NY
• Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum @ Springfield, IL

Are you a zoo person? Or a museum person?