It's Starfish Hunting Season

So the weather here has been absolutely gorgeous once again for the past week or so (sorry East Coasters.) As a result, I have spent a good chunk of time outside this week exploring the beach at low tide near Totem Park in search of starfish, crabs and any other little creatures that found homes in the tidal pools. Early on in the week, I found tons of starfish and was hanging out on the beach as the fog started to roll in, which was one of the coolest experiences I have had so far in Sitka because everything just started to disappear around me. While the fog was coming in, I also found myself engaged in a lengthy staring contest with a bald eagle...which the eagle clearly won.

My week at work was fairly low key once again. I finished up preparations for a healthy relationships class that I am teaching at the alternative high school in town, had some pretty successful lunch groups with the second and third graders and spent a lot of time hanging out and coloring with a two year old who recently entered shelter. Life in community continues to move forward, I feel like I am gradually learning more about my housemates, I enjoy spending time with them and I am still finding ways to get my "me" time. Lately, much of this time has been spent working on my Lenten challenge for myself (originally thought up by Greg), which is to write a letter per day. I like the intentionality of this particular challenge and know that it will help to strengthen relationships and provide an outlet for personal reflection as well.

On Friday, Katie and I walked along the beach in search of starfish, tried to walk to a buoy that we thought was on land (it was not even close to being on shore in case you were wondering), and watched an incredible sunset with a number of other people who had the same idea. On Saturday, I awoke to a phone call from my dad asking me if Sitka has a tsunami warning and responded that yes we do indeed have a tsunami warning system and that they tested a couple weeks ago. He asked me if it was going off right now and I was super confused, said no and he told me about the large earthquake in Chile. My first thought was about my friend who's doing JVI in Peru (she's safe and doing well) and then Katie and I started checking up on the tsunami threat to Sitka. Basically, the entire Pacific Rim received an advisory about a potential tsunami due to the warning to Hawaii and Latin America. I think the "wave" that arrived here was about a foot high (if that.)

I spent Saturday night hanging out with Greg and a couple other guys from town which was really fun. We just hung out talking about politics and religion which was really cool. On Sunday, I started my day by giving a presentation about social justice to the Unitarian Fellowship in town which was quite the experience. It was really good for me to think about the role social justice has played in my life so far and I had a lot of fun engaging the fellowship members and responding to their many questions. After the fellowship, it was time for the Gold Medal game between the US and Canada in Men's Ice Hockey. I have to say that I don't think I have ever seen a better hockey game or been more devastated by a loss as I was when Sidney Crosby, the Canadian Panda, scored to win the gold medal. Overall I was very impressed by the performance of the US team in Vancouver, particularly Ryan Miller in net, Brian Rafalski, Chris Drury aka Captain America, Zach Parise, Ryan Kesler and Jack Johnson. This team is going to be scary good in Russia if Bettman does the right thing and lets the NHL players back to the olympics. That's all for now! Have a wonderful week!