Warning: This is just stream of thought. May be hard to follow

I am going to stop apologizing for not writing on this blog. i don think it should be something that i feel bad for letting down. i think i write less cause i feel like i should, like if i were a "good" blogger i would write every week... or at least every month, so and so does it why cant I? im trying to get over that.

i worked all spring or fall depending on your location, with out much time off and had lots of fun while i WAS off. Then i took off for America right away. times were good and bad and nothing much inbetween. i have been thinking a lot about how i feel and why. people ask how i am and i don't know how to andswer. good, fine, ok, eh alright. but whats the truth. do you even want to know. honestly how do i know. i have found my self laughing or crying and when asked why i don't even know what to say. honestly both of these things have happened. and i am at a loss, i would stop what i was doing and do the opposit. sitting on my bed crying and my boyfriend asked why all i could do was stop and laugh cause i didn't know. i felt sad, everyone has things to be sad about, i am just like everyone else but in this moment i didn't know what the feeling was stemming from so did crying help? did laughing? i still don't know but what i have started to learn is that either way its ok. it was an expression of my feeling.

i have a lot of time off. i haven't worked in almost 2 months. you may read that and envy me, i know i am blessed, but i am also lost. I don't have enough money to do everything i want to, but i don't want to be so stingy and save so much that i don't enjoy the life i am living right now just so i have extra money later on. i want a blance. i have been feeling useless. i love to be helpful and busy. some days yes i want to just sit and read o watch TV and movies. but somedays i want a reason to get out of bed before 9 and a place to be and people counting on me. in a month or two ill be looking back at this time and envy my past self, wishing for time to relax, time to sit and reflect. but right now. what do i do right now.

My visa for Australia runs out in December. so ill be moving back to the states, unsure of the kind of place ill be going home to. My boyfriend Tim is coming back with me, we will have christmas in PA i think. and then its all up in the air. i have my dream job. so whats next?! i got what i wanted for so many years i moved to australia had this job with kids doing what i love, it challenged me and changed me and i love it. i hate it every monday and love it every friday. but i cant stay, the next step is fast approaching but i am with out diretion. Front where i stand right now the next step looks like a foggy mount top. i am in white out conditions and my compass is just twirling. there are no baby steps or training wheel to help me. i have to make a move, the step i am on will be sucked back into the escalator, maybe ill be back someday when i am ready for it again. when i know i really want to live in australia and want to work for OEG. but i know that i cant right now. i need to take another step before i come back to this. so i am spending my time off soaking in this place i love, this country and these people. this house, these animals and friends, this quirky little town, and the amazing sceanes. oh and i am job hunting. doing what i can to narrow down what i want to do. looking for that job that jumps off the page at my. the one that has my name all over it. trying to see the next step with out loosing my balance on the one i am on. i am on my tippy toes and trying to be grounded. ok enough analagies. back the the job hunt.
Thanks for reading.

Home.....where is that?!!?!

        I am at my parents house this week. Being here has made me think a lot. Maybe because i have had 24 hours a day to do what ever i want. no plans, no people, just me. i have been thinking about jobs, what i want to do next, what i want to do after that. i have been thinking about God and what he wants, i have thought about JR and Jared back in Oz, about grandma and grandpa and how they figured out their lives, i have thought about all the people all over the world that i miss and how unfair that is. i have thought of adventure and what that means, and i have thought of home and where on earth that could be.
      linked in to all those things above is the thought of home. Here in west chester a place i have call home through college and even last year after moving all over the states, I dont exactly feel at home.  i mean i love it here and i am comfortalbe like at "home" , but what is home? Home is where the heart is, riggggghttttt. no, in that case my home is in little peaces all over the country and world. i am a homebody so why have i found myself all over the place these days moving so much, have i changed from the little girl who didn't even go out with friends on weekends, who just wanted to be here? i have changed a lot over the years but i still love being home. but WHERE is it?  is that what i am looking for, is that why i am constantly on the move? West Chester will always be a home to me but it isn't Home. does that make sense... there is a different emphasis on those "home"s. my parents, my dog, my year books are here my memories and 2 or 3 friends are still here, but its not home. Its been 6 years now that i have been visiting home.... but home is not a place where you visit. This is my childhood home. But am i really a grown up? ha ha Noooooooooooo.
    Maybe home is like leisure, its a state of mind. No, it has to be more concrete than that. Home is where my bed is. Yes, right now that is in Eildon with my down comforters and big pillows, with my photos on the walls and my shoes in the wardrobe. Yes, 21st is my home, 2 weeks and i will be back.  But when people ask why i wont stay more that a year in Australia i say its to far from home... in that case home is the people i miss its Anne and the girls, its Sher, Grete and Maria, its Sarah and Frang, its Nate and Nate, and SO many more. so home is not just a place or where the heart is. its more.
    then i think of the Switchfoot song (which brings me back) "I Don't Belong Here". About how we are only on earth for a while, and heaven is our home. what i am searching for in "home" is really God!  i am not just going to find in a place, or a person, or a national park, or a memory. i am going to find it in myself and in ALL those things. i am just looking the wrong way.  My home is in Christ, i need to look through him and i AM home, everywhere.

    I was at my grandparents a few weeks ago and my grandpa asked what i wanted to do with my life, i think he was hoping, just like my dad is, to hear a grand plan of "where i see myself in ten years..." i just said, "I really don't know."  Not knowing what was going to come next i was surprised when he chuckled (cause thats what grandpas do, they chuckle not laugh, i think the ability comes with age and wisdom) and said,  "yeah me either" I don't know if he meant that, or if he was just being funny but it made me realize, i want to be like that, i want to never grow up, always wonder what i can do next. even if it means job searching every year or living in 25 of the 50 nifty United States.  So when i am 86 or whatever, i want to chuckle and wonder what adventure i should do next, even if its just wheeling myself down the drive way to get the mail with out letting any cars see me just for the thrill and challenge (Maria and i would do that) I'll be happy. Because life is an adventure and I'll always be at home.  so why worry.

Travels

The past two weeks i have been traveling around a bit. My traveling companions have been the usual JR and Jared as well as Clair and Andrew aka Cluster. we started in Rye borrowing a car from a friends and traveling down to the quiet  beach town that is built for the bustling summers but was empty with only dog walking locals to interrupt our game of bocci ball on the beach.

    We then went back to the city (melbourne) and attended a footie game my second ever and it was a close one in a sold out stadium so as the teams took turns in the lead as the time ran out and my team took the victory there was jumping and hugs for all including strangers. the next day we went ice skating with a bunch of friends and then to coffee and drinks and finally to a bar to meet friends. sunday we hung around town until our train left around 7:30 for the long slow ride to sydney. Arriving around 8:30 AM after almost no sleep we met JRs friend had some coffee where she worked and then headed to manly beach. it was much warmer up in NSW and so we went in the water and the boys went for a surf. JR was the only to catch the wave but the 2 hours they had the board for were very entertaining for all.  taking the ferry back as teh sun set over the city and the opera house and the bridge was one of my highlights. JR and i then made our way to my friend Chelsea's house where we were going to stay. she was headed back toe the city with friends so we tagged along and met up with ours again. we went to a hostel bar where they did hermit crab racing it was very entertaining and we ended up choosing to stay with our buddies around the corner rather than head all the way back out of the city. the next morning headed out for a walk and explore of the city and then went back the Chelsea's house till dinner when we went in for a steak. the next day i hung low tired from all the travel and city walking. until around 4 when i went in and explored the light show that was happening this month around the harbor. it was really cool to see the different ways light had been made in to art. i grabbed some fish and chips along the dock and headed to the opera house to meet up with some others for a play in the famous building. it was a good play though not remarkable enough to remember the name. it was worth it and now i can say i saw it in the opera house. then next day (we are now on thursday) i met up with JR who was now staying at his friends Somonas house had some lunch a walked around for the afternoon. we explored the botanical gardens and the market, i got some authentic aussie uggs and we poked around the opera house in the light. we found a free concert going onn and watched for a while. there was a really cool play ground we spent some time in and then he left to meet up with his friend and i met up with the others to catch the train back here to melbs. now i am in the victoria state library and amazing old building with many rooms full of quiet people. i really like it here but i look forward to the bus home and being able to sleep in my very own bed tonight. what a pleasant feeling that will be. so that is a very dry and boring play by play of my week of tourism. i had a great time but i am ready for a rest day tomorrow, cause sunday i head to the snow to hike the 5 tallest peaks in australia. not remarkable high but remarkable nontheles.  i wish i were a more motivated talented blogger.

A TOAST

Sitting in my room this morning looking at my blank walls wondering what it will take to make this room seem more like mine and less borrowed i decided to decorate. the problem was that i didn't have anything to put up. no pictures no posters i had already hung the letters i had received from friends and family on my one wall but the white of the other 3 was over powering. then i remembered that i occasionally stick things in my bible that i like to come across and so i cracked open the stiff but well loved binding of the holy book. much to my surprise the thin pages of my bible were choke full of goodies with meaning and home all over them. among the things i found were the following:

school Pic of jill N.

pics of my sisters

camp photo of the trip staff

the best letter my little sister ever wrote me that makes me cry every time

photos of the one and only Lydia Luse

a sherpa note from the beautiful Cait Snyder

a drawing from JR

a book mark with a poem made by the wise Heather Lenahan

notes from sermons and new testament

a cross bookmark made by the talented Dasha

and an add i ripped out years ago with a toast on it:

A Toast

to nearest

to dearest

to the crew

to cahoots

to the ones who've been there

to the ones who'll be there

to dropping everything

to saying anything

to no judgements

to no doubts

to loyalty to trust

to favors

to life longs

to been to long

to nothings changed

to having history

to having your back

to moving away

to never to far

to growing up

to settling down

to your second family

to FRIENDS

I went looking for a reminder of home, and found it in the one place i should have know held home all along.

Dear Friends and family i miss you.

Holiday in New Zealand

Here i am sitting in a nice warm room in Kaikoura New Zealand as it is cool and drizzling outside. i am not in a hostel or a tent but comfortable on the bed of a really good friend from the states. Alicia and I worked at La Vida together along with john who also works here. they both work for creation care studies in new Zealand and Ali has been here for 3 years now. i flew in on saturday and an here for the week visiting and exploring their county side. Sunday we went to church and just hung out resting and getting tours of town and the old convent they live in. On monday (the only good day in the forecast) Ali and i lest and headed north-ish to Nelson lakes for a day and night of tramping (what they call hiking) we had amazing weather and hiked up a valley to a hut and had an amazing but windy ridge walk down the the car the next day and back to the convent in time for tea (in NZ and Oz tea can mean dinner) on our way to nelson lakes on monday we stopped off the side of the road and had about a 5-10 mon walk up la path to pa spot where mother seals drop their baby seals off for a day or two while they go hunt. the babies make there way up a stream to a pool and waterfall and play. there were SO many baby seals it was amazing an watching them i couldn't stop laughing. they have no legs! if you have ever seen a seal walk you will know what i mean. that is NOT what they were made to do. anyway after an early evening last night i got up today feeling good and refreshed. another girl who works here also has a friends visiting so while Ali was working me and the other visiting girl went on our own adventure. we drove over to a seal colony on the other side of town (still only about 10 min away) and took a walk along the coast. we saw a lot of seals, some sea anemone, 3 star fish and a suicidal cow. there was a cow farm on top of the cliffs we walked along and then down some stair and along the water back to the car park. at one point along the water we found a dead little cow that had clearly gotten out of the fence and jumped down the cliff. well he could have been pushed but i am no detective so i will not be making any calls here. after our walk we wandered in town and i got a few post cards then made our way back to the convent for a lovely lunch. I then got to feed some eels that live in the stream across the street with john. we dumped the fish guts from the fish john had speared the day before in the the stream and 4 eels about 2 ft long each came out and ate them. i then ran errands with john and got some NZ sheeps wool yarn and i am back here trying to start a hat and blog at the same time. its almost time for dinner then a night out with the staff. fire and NZ beers on the beach. looking forward to a wonderful remainder of my holiday week. i really like this place.

Trips tripS TRips

In the past month i have some great trips and a few not so great ones. i had wonderful group of all girls. they were lovely and so easy. then i have a not so easy group of co ed year 7s. 9 boys and 4 girls all under my care and the care of a teach (who switched out halfway through the week) both the teachers i worked with were on their cell phones most the week and didnt invest much in the kids. meaning that it was mostly me who was running around trying to make everything happen. the kids were for the most part really good. but they were year 7. so they did a lot of things wrong. I got to work with several great support staff for different activites that we did so that was good and i got some good feedback from them that i handled my wild group very well considering the energy level. after that week i was proud of my self. last week was on canoe support so that meant that i was a helper on the canoe part of 2 different groups journeys. We were in Kangaroo Valley in NSW (my first time in the new state) it was so pretty and very foggy every morning with only 1 day of rain that was not so bad and loads of warm sun. I started on one side of the lake and canoed across with a group then on wednesday at lunch dropped that group off and went right back with a new group. the first half of my week the GL had it all under control but the 2nd half the GL was tired and loved having my help. luckily i got along very well with Bri ( the GL) so didn't mind stepping in and acting as a GL 2. i had a great week with the boys even though it was very tiring. Because of our numbers we had uneven number of people so i was paddling a canoe solo for the entire week. but i am stronger now. i have great pictures but they are one on this computer so you may want to check facebook if i ever get to uploading on there. thankfully that trip lead in to 2 weeks of holiday so here i am in New Zealand recovering and enjoying time off before the first week of term 2 starts. one down 3 more to go!

So it begins...

One program down many many more to go. my first program went well this week. i had a lot to learn from the kids and from the mistakes i made. OEGs programs are very well supported so everything happened smoothly and the kids had a great time and bonded. My next program is on lake Eildon so my back yard essentially. its a canoe program so i am excited to get out on the water.

In my time off i have learned to water ski and am working on getting better. one of my friends here has a boat and is always trying to get people to come out with him. I was able to get up on one water ski and am now trying to get the carving down. i have finally moved out of the staff housing and am very happy in my own room and a big bed all to my self. i share a house with 3 boys who are all very nice and are happy to have a girl in the house to bring more girls over to hang out. hahaha. it talks me about 15 min to ride my bike to work and about 40 to walk but when i need to go on program there are always people driving who i can bum a ride off of.

above is a pic of my good friend TJ from the states. she is the reason i am over here and has been so good to me. its great to have someone who knows you from home when you are so far away.

friday i have driver training so i will be driving on the left and shifting with my left hand for the first time. that should be exciting and i hope i pass so i can get out of Eildon. anyway i am excited for things to come and have loved hanging out with my new friends and co workers.

this is a spider that lives in the staff house i just moved out of. its about the size of my palm. they can't bit humans but they are nasty looking. this one is eating a fly.

yes i made it... a month ago.

i have been here almost a month now and this is my first post. oops. here is a quick update. Spent new years on the beach in apollo bay. moved to Eildon, VIC and got to know tons of new people from around the world. My time has been cram packed with trainings and today is my 5 day off since being here. it is very warm here but i am getting use to it, having transitioned from winter.i really love the people i am getting to know and have made a bunch of good friends. its been hard to spend my few days off in from of a computer so i have not kept in touch very well. i am sorry for that. email is the best way to reach me. my address here is:

Emily Bauder

109 Gouldburn Valley Highway

Eildon Vic 3713

if you write me a letter i promise to write back!

this week i have raft guide training and then swift water rescue. i am looking forward and nervous for both! the river is cold so it will be nice to spend the next two weeks in and out of it. i live at staff housing so our back yard is a big field and most mornings there are kangaroos outside eating the grass around our laundry line. there are usually a mom and 2 joeys closest to the house but they are easily startled. just up the hill is a dam with cool brown water that once we got over the mugginess of the water we can not stay out of it. there is a group of at least 4 people in it after work everyday. its a great way to cool off after a day of baking in the sun at the high rope course. usually we throw on our life jackets and jump in with our liquid of choice and just float till we get cold or board or the sun sets.

Eildon is a very small town about a 15 min walk from my house. the food is very expensive but most eh town works for OEG so going to the one little strip mall is always a social occasion. i just got a bike so that should help make my commute a bit easier although o get home means a long uphill gravel drive. i am loving this country and cant wait to get a chance to see more of it.

Done and Done

My job for the forest service ended on Nov 11th as well as my job with SCC. one of my best friends Lydia Luse fly in from boston to drive with me. Lydia and i started our road trip in Albuqu. New Mexico, that same day we went up to Durango Colorado where i spent the summer and stayed with my good friend jared for two days. Then we headed off to Moab utah but took the million dollar highway and stopped in Ouray Colorado and took a dip in the hot springs. we got to Moab late that night and camped at a sight between the road and the colorado river. the moon was not out yet so we didn't have any idea of the surroundings. around midnight the moon came out waking both lydia and i from our slumber, in our midnight fog we both thought it was the sun rising because it was so bright. i then woke up at least 3 times after that wondering why the sun was taking so long to rise. Only when the sun really did rise did i realize that it was the moon. we woke up that morning to blue skys and realized how cool our camp spot was. our tent couldn't have been more that 10 ft from the river that was silently flowing through a huge canyon. the wall on the other side of the river must have been about 200 ft tall! (see photo) WEe spent the day exploring Arches National Park and attempting to take Jumping Photos (out of over 100 tries we have 1 or 2 good ones) it was perfect weather and hardly anyone was in the park this time of year. after the park we had planned to camp

another night but our VERY good friend Anne lives only a few hours away and the temptation to see her more could not be resistied. so we headed out of utah and finally started east. we arrived in Golden Colorado later that night and spent 3 days at annes with her and her new (3months!) husband Spencer. anne had to work a bit so while she was working we went to Fort Collins to see anot

her favorite person Maryjane. we got a tour of the New Belgium Brewery and headed back to golden. another night we went to see Lydia's childhood friend Kelsey and her band, Kendellwood. the next morning after breakfast with kelsey we headed out to conquer the vast expanse some call kansas. we did this all in one day but not with out the help of donald miller and his book A Million Miles In A Thousand Years. It was a very good book and we both got lost in it being brought to tears and Laughing out loud. we got to kansas that night and Annes dad happened to be there, he

was very very VERY kind and got us a hotel room, and took us out to breakfast the next day. (i have the most wonderful group of friends from Gordon with the most wonderful families) then we headed east to St. Louis. we stayed with Lydia's cousin in her dorm room that night and had a great time feeling mature and grown up having been out of college for over a year now and having just finished listening to a book that made us feel educated, wise and reflective. after dispensing our wisdom on Tory and her roommate, both only encouraging our false sense of wisdom by eagerly soaking up our words, we went to downtown St. Louis. We went to the City museum recommended to me by my friend Amy from camp. this as the coolest man made place i have ever been. i would try to describe it but it would only make this long p

ost much longer, so check it out yourself (http://www.citymuseum.org/site/) you need to go there! Early the next day we left for Atlanta Georgia, where my co worker and good friend form this year lives. We stayed with his friend rob that night and the next day brought him home to his parents house and freed up space in that car by leaving his belongings from the year. So, with a little more breathing room we headed to Charlotte North Carolina, to my cousin Garrett and his wife Meghans House. we had a great dinner and our best night of sleep yet. The next day headed north to Washington DC

where lydia grew up and Where our friend james now lives. we had dinner with him then headed j

ust out of town to stay with Lydia's parents for the night. Very early the next day i left to avoid thanksgiving traffic and said good bye to lydia and our adventure and races the 3 hours home. i was home by 7:30

and was greeted by my favorite dog in the world my very own Zac with all the appropriate winning and wiggling and doing figure 8s around my legs. I walked in to the house to the great surprise of my mother who was the only one awake. She wasn't expecting me until 11ish. and so i was home for the first time since january, and here i am for another 28 days.

Closing times…

Only about three weeks left in my time with SCC. this year has gone so fast and i have done so much. i am ready to go home, to sleep in a bed i can call my own and have 4 walls around me for more than just a visit. I love my job but its not easy to live in a tent and not have the comforts of every day life for so long. My internship with the forest service ends on the 11th. one of my best friends lydia fly in on the 12th and we start a road trip. our itinerary takes us on an adventure across the country. It will go like this: Albuqu, Durango, Moab, Golden, St. Louis, Atlanta, Charlotte, Wash. DC, WEST CHESTER! i can't wait!

My internship has been great! i get paid to go backpacking with one of my best friends. we are called wilderness stewards and are serving in wilderness areas. we finished the first 2 ( they thought we would only have time for one) and this week we start on the Sandias witch is right in town, a lot less remote. after that we have office work to do, not the best but we survive. our boss is great and so laid back. we get to work at about 9:30 and leave at about 2. cant really complain about that days work. we spend afternoons running, or at the library. I found two great games at thrift stores, battle ship and guess who. so JR and i have spent hours playing those, making our own variations and adding new twists to the games. we watch movies on my laptop that we get from the library and then fall asleep with our coyote neighbors howling. a few weeks ago i was able to make a camp connection. JR and i went to dinner at the Marburys a falling with 4 kids and a pastor Dad. we went to their church and had a great time hanging out. Its great to met other people and spend time with a family.

The most common question i get at this point is what are my plans, what comes next? for the holidays ill be at home. recuperating and haloing Santa/Mom with christmas shopping and organizing closest. i have applied and had an interview with a job in Australia and should hear back soon. i have a friend that works there so i have some confidence that i have the job, but trying not to get to excited until it is official. That job would start Jan 3, 2012 and would be for a year. i would work as a Outdoor education leader for students i the Outdoor Education Program. Lots of things to look forward to at this point but focusing on enjoying where i am right now.

The Apache Kid

Summer is over now and so like most my jobs its time to switch things up. So as the leaves have started to thing about changing i have moved once again. Albuquerque New Mexico is my new home until mid november. The makes six states that i have lived in in the past year and half. what am i doing in NM? well what a great question!

I have an internship through SCC but with the forest service. I am working with Cibola National Forest in one of there wilderness areas. In 2005 the government set up The 10-year Wilderness Challenge. All the wilderness areas in the country are being graded. Cibola currently has the lowest score. So i am hired to change that, and its not to bad. My job exactly is to go backpacking. My and my co worker, JR, who was on my crew since january, are working in the apache kid wilderness. We are going to hike all the trails in the wilderness and be on the look out for three things. People, invasive plants, and Campsites, when we find any of these things we fill out a little paper about it and take a picture and GPS point. Not a bad thing to get paid for.

I just got off nine days in the wilderness out first little hitch. with in 10 min of being in the boundaries we saw three little bears a mom and 2 small cubs. in the nine days we saw no people. none. at all. and no invasive plants, there it hardly any water all all so the plants are pretty tough. we did find 26 camp sites, some of witch looked like they had not been used since the apache kid him self had been there. also in nine days we hiked 75.5 miles! and this is not easy hiking. Its all up or down, tiny trails that are easy to lose due to burns and fallen trees. many times we hard to wander until by some miracle we found a tree blaze. we have come across a few old cabins that are really cool. we saw a cow that had either died or been killed but the only thing left were the bones licked clean and the skin a almost tempting leather still attached to the skull. we have hiked through amazing canyons and up miles of switchbacks. its been quite an adventure but i am having fun. JR is one of my best friends so we have fun and i get paid to do something i love. i think i am living the dream.

The Weeks Flew By

Well we just finished the end of the second month this past weekend! you last heard about my Day crew. this past month i was on a camping crew leading 8 15-17 year old doing projects for a month! my crew was great. we had a rough start but by the end they had bonded and i loved them all. This job is probably the hardest i have had, and i cant deny that there are moments when i wonder what i am thinking, but those are followed by moments with the kids bonding or just seeing them grow or work or laugh together and as cheesy as that is, it make all the hard times worth it. i have found ways to relate to these kids that i never ever thought i would.

If you know me you probably know that i didn't do that great in high school and the only reason i tolerated school at all was for my friends, this trip i had a 15 year old kid who had been dealing weed and his parents signed him up for the program. one day while working with him he started talking about school and stuff. we had very similar stories when the work day ended he asked if we could talk about it more. i was able to encourage him and maybe boost him up a bit so he can realize that he has still time to work hard in school and it is ok not to be the student your teacher expect because people learn lots of different ways. after the trip i talked to his mom for a few min and she told me that he seemed like a different kid and that the trip was so good for him. this is what makes me love my job!

i originally was meant to go right back out on a camping crew on sunday but due to lack of work they had to cancel one crew, so for this week i get to go to the farm that SCC shares and help out harvesting a weeding there with one of my house mates. its amazing having some time away from kids and be able to just hang out with another girl. next week i will go help the one camping crew so they have a female leader, and the week after that i get time off to go to my dear friend Anne's wedding witch i have been counting down to for a while now!

after summer ends i get an internship so will be moving to either Albuquerque or to lakewood ( just outside denver) i will be either working with the BLM or forest service depending on what one i get. so another move and another town, saying good by to my crew who i have lived and worked with for the past 8 months! it will be a big change so i am enjoying being here now in this great town with great friends. i really do love my job!!!!!!

oops, i forgot to blog.

hi sorry everyone i have not blogged in so long! life has been crazy. i am now living in durango CO. actually the address from my other post is for the office and i now have an apartment, so if you want to send mail directly to me you can at:

apartment 1

2250 w. 3rd ave

Durango CO

I love getting mail and will write back!

so here is an update. since being here we have had a lot of training and working in the area getting use to the air (Durango is 6,500 ft above sea level) and lots of fun. this past week was the first week of leading crews. i am currently the leader of a community crew made up of 10 middle school students. we are building a garden and learning all about water conservation. the animas river runs right through town here so we get to do lots of hands on stuff. we also get to bike all over town as a little gang looking for plants and exploring the river. the next two days we are going up to Silverton CO to do a project up there. its been a lot of fun even though getting kids ages 10-14 to work is NOT easy! i love this town, its gt lots of outdoorsy people the mtns are so close and tons of outdoor activites to do. we can walk to town from our house or take the free trolly. i bike to work every day, and its nice to feel like a local in a toresty town. its small enough that i se people i know already. (in fact on of my participants is sitting to my left with her parents.) over all i am very happy and am excited to see where the summer will lead. ill try to update more! thanks for reading!

Moving forward

>The picture is my crew on our last day of work. They finally let us cut our t-shirts so we got creative. From left to right: Meg, JR, Chase, me, Danielle, Jared
So last friday was our last day of work in Tucson, saturday i packed up and left the great state of AZ headed for denver, stopped for the night to camp outside of Albuquerque and finally arrived at the house of the wonderful Anne Elizabeth Taylor (soon to be Biddle) early sunday afternoon.

Leaving Tucson was sad but i was ready for vacation. i am going to miss the sunny sky every day and the the warm winter though at this point it was getting a bit warm. I am going to miss the Volkels and there wonderful home. i am going to miss silver shoes, the old man we saw at every good live show we went to who danced like a champ and wore shinny silver sneakers. I'll miss the thrift stores i spent to much time at and Kaylie who gave us free pizza at our favorite pub that we went to after work every thursday. Most of all i am going to miss our new friends Sam and Chris, our only real tucson friends, they are the best!

our last hitch was great we did a lot of old revegitation in the desert of old roads used by drug traffickers and immigrants. it was essentially a modern day underground railroad. as you can probably guess it brought up a lot of ethical questions. the last two days we picked up trash, the things we found were crazy. in two days we found over 250 empty backpacks all in one small area. the area was littered with the same items. cans of sardines the same black water jug for everyone back packs, the same spanish drink, mayo jars(this confused us) and all kinds of clothes. We found the bones of a cow and two skills of what i hope was a coyote and not a dog. The things we found that were upsetting was diapers and baby socks. someone told us that it use to be just the dad would come up for work and go home when the season was over but with more strict security its to hard now so entire families are making the trek through the desert. the stash where we found all these things was on the boarder of a reservation, with a horse trail along it. driving on the dirt roads out to the sights was quite the adventure, we would stop to pick up trash we saw along the road as well. At one point we stopped to pick up a bag, but this one was different. In this bag we found fresh limes, a new pair of shoes and cans of beans and corn still in the Walmart bag they were bought in. the person belonging to the bag had probably heard us coming and ran off to hid in the mtns. It made the whole situation a lot more human. there was a man out there who was depending on that food and water and we were told to take it. would this force him to go get more supplies, would he get caught, or worst of all would he make it out? It defiantly made the crew think hard about what we were doing. despite the intense nature of the hitch it was fun and eye opening.

So now we have a week to relax and have some time away. this is the longest we have gone without seeing each other since we meet in january. its nice to be away but odd as well, my crew has become like family. i feel like i finally know what its like to have brothers. ha ha. on sunday we all come together again in Durango at our new apartment, and monday its back to work. my schedule is different this summer, we have three weeks of different thing then the summer leading kids starts. ill be leading with one other core member a group of about 6 middle school or high school students doing work like i was doing before. i am excited and a bit nervous for this step up in responsibility. It is sad to be done with our time un tucson but i was ready for a change in pace and ready to experience Durango.

Back to vacation time. Ill try to do another update soon! I LOVE MY JOB!

Here is my new address in CO:

Emily Bauder

Southwest conservation Corps

701 Camino del Rio Suite 101
Durango, CO 81301

updates to come :)

Edward and I

No No no, i am not referring to the shinny vampire but the great author Edward Abby. I read his book Desert Solitaire, and i LOVED it. its a non fiction book about his time in the desert. The way that he describes things it like a song, his language is beautiful. and to be reading his book sitting in a desert wash or high up in a cotton wood tree bring the experience to the next level. To live the way he does and to be able to relate to him as he describes the beauty surrounding me was awesome. can you tell i liked the book? ha ha

So hitch 7 i believe just ended and we only have one and a half left. it has been crazy how time has flown by. I still love my crew and my job so that is good. i have not written as much as i wanted to do but i am writing now. i don't know that it is worth it to tell you all about my last hitches, there is A LOT that went on so ill give a very brief update and then tell a story.

We have been everywhere around SW AZ. and have done lots of hiking, trash pick up and trail maintenance. We removed over 70 carsonite trail signs and replaced them with steal ones. yeah thats right steal. its great it will last forever and looks nice but, each one weighed about 25 pounds. that is SO heavy to carry for miles on a trail and there is no good way to do it. they are about 7 feet long and have a pointy end, not fun. but we did it and now the San Pedro Riperian Area looks great with spiffy new signs. we have seen all kinds of wild life, like, mule dear that hope more like kangaroos, and tons and tons of birds, and rabbits, a few frogs in the river and fish, we have seen a few coyotes and heard a lot more. we also saw a few scorpions, one was a bright lime green and about 2 inches long! and we have seen snakes, rattlers and not. its been cool to be outside 99 percent of the time.

Last week one day we helped this guy named chris at one of the historical sights at San Pedro, we were moving lumber from a house from the 1880s on to a truck so he could go fix an old coral. the house is not open to the public cause its falling apart but it was really cool with old cracked walls and high ceilings, the floor boards were rotting so we had to watch our step, you don't want to twist an ankle in the creepy space between the ground and the boards, but twisted ankles were not the real concern.

after we finished moving the lumber we were enjoying the cool shade of the building and i was sitting on a stack of wood that we didn't need, i glanced down at a whole in the floor and noticed a scaly looking thing, my first reaction was "oh look a toy snake" that reaction didn't last long as i jumped up from my seat yelling "ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh snaaaaaake!" my group gathered around as i rushed to the farthest corner of the room. it was a snake and a big one, a diamond back to be exact but it wasn't moving so naturally the guys grabbed the nearest stick and started poking it. we couldn't see the whole thing, so agains my please the guys lifted it out of the floor boards and we discovered it had no head! a worker before us or some animal must have gotten to it be fore us. it was really cool. i still stayed about 10 feet away while my group touched it and laugh as maggots oozed out of the skin, we cut of the rattle to keep and my crew leader wanted to take it to get the spine out to make a necklace, but when we bagged it and put it in the van it still smelled like rotting flesh so we tied it to the trailer hitch. So that is my snake story, not as exciting as it could have been but when it comes to snakes dead ones are exciting enough for me.

Part two: Hitch three

This is me and Danielle with our pics taking a quick break to get a pic. Those are the classy helmets we have to wear and the gloves and pants all in the hot sun but you know safety is important.This is where we were working in Saguaro National Park finishing the final portion of the AZ trail ( goes from Mexico to Utah) we built rock walls and cleared trail moving tons and tons of prickly pear.
AMAZING sun sets every night!
This is the view from our camp sight. We stayed at the professional trail crews private camp sight is was NICE!
This is our kitchen tent complete with horse shoes right outside. we had a tournament on our rec day and me and JR won... not going lie i can throw a mean horse shoe... apparently.
So that was last hitch, it went great! so now headed in to the 5th i will try to get the 4th hitch update up tonight! thanks for reading/ looking!

The Forgotten Hitch

So last Hitch i didn't write anything so here is a quick update of what went down. The first few days of hitch we were in the black hills finishing up a section of the AZ trail (goes from mexico to Utah) that a crew before us had built. we camped right in a wash on the trail. Below is JR sitting by the fire. the picture to the right is a cairn (the rock thing, not sure how to spell) our helmet and a stump we cut with our crew name. i cant add all the pictures so another post will have to come soon for part two.

Exploring the Southwest

Two hitches down,and finally done with hobos. this hitch went by so fast! the first week we did the same thing as last time pulling poles with hobos on them, downloading relaunching and re installing them in the ground. it was mostly fun to trek through the woods following GPSs that we not always reliable, but we all got really good at reading the maps. i say mostly for one main reason. the desert, things in the desert want to hurt you and they do. now just the snakes and spiders and bugs ( i haven't seen any of those) but the plants. Evil little things, sometimes you can tell they are dangerous by the 3 inch long spikes but sometimes they look nice and soft, so you choose that spot you change or something and for the one second that you have your shoes o

ff you step on one of those soft leaves and think nothing of it… AND THEN… you move you foot and realize that there are a thousand little needle hairs stabbing he sole of your foot like those glass shreds in insulation. Despite the vengeance the desert seems to feel for me i LOVE it. the southwest is amazing. it is so different than anything i have camped in before, it has a stark beauty. Some days i feel like i am livi

ng in a western movie and feel like maybe i should get a gun.

so far our work has been front country camping so we have a big suburban we all drive in and a trailer for all our stuff. we started this hitch in blithe california camping at a camp ground right on the colorado river. we had a dust storm and all our things we covered in a thick layer of light sand, it was so windy i was worried that our tents would blow off in to the colorado and we would have to go fetch them in mexico. While we were there we did a lot of running. we would get back from work and before dinner go for a run, at this point the sun was setting by the time we had our running shoes on. we would urn along a road with the colorado flowing to the left and the colorful desert sun setting over the dark brown mountains to the right. at this time of night the temp is amazing, the heat of the day is gone with the sun and its still warm enough to run in shorts. by the time we would get back it is dark and cold so we change right in to fleece pants and hoodies and the people on dinner get that started while the rest of us poke around collecting fire wood (NOT an easy task in the desert) and having jam sessions. we have 1 guitar, one ukulele and many harmonica (one that is mine and yes i play it and i am getting better under the tutelage of JR - who happened to be serenading me as i write)

WE have a chore chart that changes everyday for hitch and there are 2 people on dinner overnight. we have not had one bad meal yet. so many amazing foods and new things to try. since coming to Arizona i have eaten more mexican food than i have in my entire life! also i don't like beans but have grow out of that and we have them almost every meal. i also have eaten more donuts in the past month than i have in like 10 years, its a great reward after a long day of work.

After we finished the hobos in blithe and move up to Needles CA and got all those we went on to Boulder City Nevada "the town the built the

hoover dam". our first day there we had a Rec day, GREATEST DAY EVER! we got up had pancakes and went on a hike down this amazing wash that was sos so pretty and near the bottom there were hot springs so we went swimming, then we hiked back and walked around the hoover dam and got to see that and the new bridge that was just built. it was a great day and so relaxing. but then we got back to work, we spent a day working in the office identifying plant specimens using a dichotomous key and mounting tons of plants on paper to add to burrow of reclamations herbarium. this day almost killed us. My crew is full of very active fun loving people and a day in the office with no windows almost did us in. we got by by playing mash and making cootie catchers and foam crowns, yes it was like we reverted back to 3rd grade. the next day we pulled weeds…. ALL DAY LONG! they were an invasive species all around mead lake ( the largest man made lake in the states formed by the hoover dam) and the next day we took it easy, we hikes from our camp to the hoover da

m (only about 2 miles) and got a

tour of the power plant. itwas really really cool and i kinda geeked out about it. Around noon that day we started our drive back to Tucson. we stopped for the night in Surprise AZ at my crew leaders parents house. we were all shocked apron arrival to find acute little town full of retired snowbirds wintering here. We got to shower and watch movies like life of brian, ferris blears day off and blazing saddles. all wonderful classics. and then thursday we got back here and deriged.

Now let me explain our tucson life. as you may or may not know SCC does not provide housing for us on our weekends off. My wonderful father was determined not to have me living out of my car so found a friend of a friend who was willing to put me up. this turned in to the most wonderful discovery. Christy and alan vokel put me and my dad up when we got here and were so so so welcoming. before my first hitch Christy said i could have other crew members stay here to if they needed our first weekend off Danielle stayed with me at the Vokels, the guys got a really cheep crappy hotel (there is a hotel in tucson called the no-tell motel enough said) and Meghan went to Bisbee (a town 45 min south) and stayed with her sisters. but sunday we were all hanging out and Christy said they guys could just stay here too! sooooooo that brings me to this weekend!all 6 of us have a place to stay here where we can shower, do laundry and hang out. the Vokels are truly amazing people and if you ever come to tucson you shoal look them up. this weekend we have hung out cooked them dinner and hung around the fire place in the back yard. right now i am sitting outside on a little patio with a sink and cubers with cousins facing outdoor fire place beautifully made by alan with a mirror and tile mosaic on it. the sun is shinning and its really warm and the patio is surrounded by lemon trees. Meghan is on the other side of them reading in the sun and JR is across from me jamming away on the guitar. Pretty much my life right now is better than i ever imagined it would be. its February i have a tan and wonderful new friends, i have adventures and work really hard. i have gone to a church the past 2 weeks that i love the pastor already. i have been so incredibly blessed these days! a few months ago i found out i couldn't take the job in Australia and was distraught and frustrated not know what was next for me. God knew exactly what he was doing and so here i am today happy, warm and employed.

i know this is a long one, so thanks for reading it , but i gota go we are having a picnic lunch at the park :)

"BE JOYFUL ALWAYS"

Hitch one: part one

My Crew: Jake, Jared, JR, Kristen, Chase, Danielle, Maghan, Me

Crew Name: The Los Hobos

This is at the location of our first hitch (and second) we are doing work for the Buero of Reclamation, they kinda control the colorado river, they damn is save it fish it, ect. we are working on these things called HOBOs they measure the relative humidity, temperature and sunlight in their location. the BOR has planted native trees all along the Colorado to help bring back more natural wildlife, the HOBOS let them monitor that. I'll explain more of what this looks like when i get a bit more time later today.