Sheridan CCF Internship: Week 2

Hi again!

It's been two weeks now, and this past week has been rather eventful.

My tasks have stayed the same, as I am always working with the horses in the morning, and then from there helping with center pens, puppy feeding, center feeding, or feeding the dogs in the afternoon. One thing that has been new this week though, was I was assigned to "Tourism help" this week. Unfortunately, I wasn't much use, there was really nothing for me to do... Oh well, I'll learn more about it later.

One exciting thing is that when one of the staff here at CCF left on Wednesday to move to America, he brought some Oryx meat to share with everyone before he left. Someone had started a fire, so we all got to hang out and enjoy the warmth, the way. to. hot. warmth.....
I mean, I could feel my face burning from where I sat warmth. That fire was hot! It was only good it you sat or stood facing away from it, but hey! We made some really good marshmallows!
Between the delicious Oryx, the rest of the buffet, and the marshmallows...
Followed by some celebratory cake for those who were leaving (cake nights are always delicious)

I was really full! You could tell we all missed good food while we all scarfed down our food like wolves.

One really doesn't appreciate food until the food eaten everyday is...
well...
. .
.

Lets just say it leaves something to be desired. We essentially have our own survival of the fittest when it comes down to food. The people there first get first choice, and those who get there last get what's left over. And since I don't always like what available, I sometimes become a vegetarian for an hour or so....

Who knows, I might loose some weight! (Not that I need to... Urg...)
-_-"

This just reminds me that I don't get breakfast most of the week. Breakfast, I miss you so!

On an entirely different note, I now have been introduced to some of the... larger insects here in Namibia. We do have bees, and they don't really concern me... But this wasp

which was about 2/3 the length of my pinky, and this millipede (I was actually really excited to see this one) were kind of scary. I liked seeing the millipede, I just hope I don't see any of these bugs in my room. I am sure that I would jump and scream if I saw them outside of their natural habitat (aka. my dorm room).

I also had a very surprising visitor in the bathroom, whom I only noticed AFTER my shower. This little guy scared me pretty good. I was about to put my towel away when I saw it in the corner where I was going to hang the towel. I only recognized the shape of a reptile before I actually process what I was looking at.

As much as I have enjoyed this week, I did something extremely frustrating this week.... During a cheetah run, which I had the pleasure of joining, I was taking pictures with my camera. I had captured some really good, and adorable ones! As well as several really cool looking videos. At one point, I wanted to erase one, single video. I had a few options, including "delete one frame" and "delete all frames". To me, since I was erasing a video, I thought: "hmm.... Well I want to erase all the frames of the video". As it turned out.... "delete all frames" deletes ALL OF THE VIDEOS AND PICTURES.

I am still mad at myself for it. No amount of ranting will get me over that... I still wanna cry...

*Huff

At the very least, Monday ended up being a VERY exciting day for me, and everyone else. For me, I was on Scat Detection for the first time, with this adorable dog below. This is Tiger, he is the the scat detection dog. This was a really interesting morning for me. We started early, around 7:00 am. We go out to a road, and follow it for around 1.5 - 2 km. During this walk, Tiger will run around looking for scat, and when he finds it, he sits. It really is amazing to watch, and also a very relaxing walk in the beautiful African Bush. Once the staff member confirms that the scat is there, and that it is scat from a feline (Cheetah, Serval, Caracal etc.). Tiger gets a toy tossed for him to reward him for finding it. The scat is then placed in a bag, and several pieces of data is written down, besides the date and the number found. I am really glad I was able to go!

Later in the day, we celebrated the 4th of July! Around 4:30, everyone left to go out into Big Field where we all met up and celebrated a bit. I got a lot of good views and pictures!

Once it became too dark, we all headed back. We all had burgers for dinner! It was sooo good! The patty's were thick and juicy, and put all the burgers I have had at restaurants to shame. Then we got this amazing cake after it all!
All in all, this weeks been pretty eventful. And, too add to it, I have added a few pictures below for everyone at home to enjoy. (note: there are pictures of raw meat to show what the cheetahs eat during center feeding)