|
Name: |
Jamie |
|
Subject:
|
Over the edge |
Date:
|
April
8, 2005 -- Friday |
| Today
was another slightly slower day due to the lack of argali. It
was very chilly once again, which is why I believe we spotted
only a few herds. At one point, there were 9 people searching
the side of a mountain because it was radioed in that a calf and
mother were running along the mountain. After about 45 minutes
of searching, we stopped searching. They must have run off before
we received the call.
After lunch, Tyler, myself, and a volunteer from England named
John, went trekking on our own to search a designated area for
ANY argali. We could not sight any, even though we were perched
high up on a rock. The wind was really starting to kick up and
the air temperature was rapidly dropping, which is always fun.
Around 2 o’clock it started to flurry. John, Tyler, and
I were excited to see that it was finally snowing after a few
people saying it might over the past few days.
Our excitement quickly left us after we realized that the snow
wasn't a sign that we would have the rest of the day off. It’s
always fun to hike in the beautiful terrain and observe the argali,
but believe me, it was FREEZING! We headed back to the car a little
while after it began snowing.
Once were in the car for about 15 minutes, we received another
call on the radio saying there were two babies running along the
river. We put the pedal to the metal and sped off to the river.
By the time we arrived, there were already two Mongolian scientists
laying over the top of a ledge looking down at the argali. They
motioned for me to look over the edge and I did, but I have to
admit that I didn’t see the argali. Even though I didn’t
see the argali, I headed down the mountain with everyone else
to hopefully get closer to the argali.
After walking for about an hour, we figured they ran off into
the mountains and we were left in their dust. We were only about
1 mile from camp at that point, so we just walked the rest of
the way in the snow. It was so nice to finally get in the shelter
of the gers, in the middle of the snowfall. The snow ended up
stopping a little while after we arrived at camp. We thought we
were in the clear from all the nasty weather but then much to
our surprise, it started to snow and hail a few hours later. We
are all cooped up in the ger now, playing scrabble and staying
warm.
Tomorrow we are doing a census of the argali which means there
will be much walking and recording. Hopefully the weather will
be nicer than it was today!
Peace,
Jamie |
|
Name: |
Jamie |
|
Subject:
|
Icy morning phone call |
Date:
|
April
9, 2005 -- Saturday |
| Today
we all awoke to a ger that was a numbing 40 degrees. I woke up
early with Jim and Auggie to do the Teach Live call. I was really
glad that we were able to use to van to do the call, because it
was much colder outside! Tyler joined us in the van and videotaped
us while we made the call. After the call I went inside for breakfast
and some downtime before everyone started piling in our ger.
After breakfast, everyone went out in groups of two or three people
to do a census of the amount of argali in the park. The census
is conducted by following a set path, or degree on a compass and
looking for argali with the naked eye (without binoculars). If
you see an argali, then you mark down its GPS location, direction
it’s going, how many are spotted, and the time of the sighting.
My group didn’t spot any argali but we did see two different
groups of Mongolian Gazelle.
The census only took about an hour, and afterwards we went and
visited the ger of a local Mongolian. In the ger, we were given
freshly baked cookies that were being made by two younger girls.
The ger was really nice inside and it was extremely warm, which
is why I didn’t want to leave!
After we left the ger, we headed back to camp. We were given the
second half of the day off to relax and get any work done that
needed to be done. I came back to camp and read, helped pile sand
onto the side of the ger to reduce the amount of wind going inside
the tent and I cleaned up a little bit.
For dinner we were having a traditional Mongolian BBQ. The BBQ
consisted of freshly sacrificed goat, vegetables, soup, bread,
and peaches. I am not usually a meat eater, but I thought it might
have been rude to not eat the goat. It was okay, I guess, everyone
else seemed to enjoy it a lot, so I am guessing it was very good.
Once dinner was over all the Mongolians and us sang songs. The
Mongolian women wanted to hear the American women sing, so we
sang for them. Everyone seemed to have a really good time, and
I must admit I have a terrible voice! All in all, it was a really
great day, and very busy for all of us. It’s feeling a lot
warmer tonight than it did last night which means I will hopefully
sleep through the whole entire night!
Peace,
Jamie |
|
Name: |
Mrs. Coleman |
|
Subject:
|
2nd Period Prep and Overview |
Date:
|
April
8, 2005 -- Friday |
Today
is the day for our first telephone conference. The team mentor,
Jim, will call us this afternoon, using his Satellite phone (which
looks just like a cell phone). They will be calling at 2 pm our
time, but it will be 5:30 am Saturday morning for EB3, in Mongolia.
I gave
the class a short set of instructions on telephone protocol (with
face close to the phone, speak loud, slow and clear). Don't read
questions, instead, know what you are going to ask and just ask
it, speaking naturally. We explained the expected behavior and the
importance of following these expectations in order to be clearly
understood.
Ms.
VZ then gave instructions about how to formulate the questions.
First, she read the latest journals. and look at the pictures most
recently posted. A Worksheet
was given, which helped students write down their questions. Students
were asked to formulate questions using the information and worksheet
from the past few days. Students made questions and those who were
uncertain had them approved by the end of the period. Questions
were collected to be reviewed by Ms. VZ and Mrs. Coleman before
today's teleconference.
After
writing questions, students moved on to the activity assigned yesterday
(the Briefing Review - read and summarize information from 2 to
3 assigned pages from the briefing). Each group took about 3 minutes
to go over their material with their group, preparing to present
it to class. The first two groups gave an oral review of their pages,
while the class took notes (required notes - one FACT from each
group). The remainder of the Briefing groups will deliver their
material next week.
On
break I tested the phone in order to assure a successful call. I
also wanted to test the volume to see how closely students would
need to stand in order to be heard. I used a cellular phone for
the test since it was the closest thing I had to a satellite phone.
I will also record the conversation on video -- so needed to collect
all the hardware and material for that in order to have it set up
in time for the conference. |
|
Name: |
Mrs.
Coleman |
|
Subject:
|
The
First Conference |
Date:
|
April
8, 2005 -- Friday |
At
2 pm we had the students all meet in the science room and we waited
for our call. I set up the camera to record the answers (knowing
I would not be able to write them down fast enough). I think next
week I will record the conversations using a digital audio recorder
instead, the camera just didn't pick up the sound the way I had
hoped.
While
we waited for the call we organized the order for asking questions.
Some students did not want to talk, and that was fine, another student
just asked their questions. After a few minutes into the call, we
realized that the students would hear better in a circular pattern
around the phone so we allowed them to move in closer, where there
would be no chairs or tables to create background noise.
Jamie
was the one who made the call. We all felt bad for them -- it was
6 am there and she said it wasn't even 20 degrees. The schedule
certainly isn't ideal for doing a live conference but they were
kind enough to make the sacrifice for us, and we really do appreciate
it.
The
students had many questions already composed. They knew just what
they wanted to ask, but they didn't always know what they should
say once they received their answer. One student wanted to ask Jamie
if she was single but I reminder her that Jamie is in 11th grade,
and the student guessed she probably is!
Jamie
answered our questions without hesitating. The call was a little
flaky; we wondered if it might be because of the time of day, since
they are running on solar energy. She seemed very eager to give
us information about their location and conditions, which we really
liked. It helped that the students had seen a short video clip of
the team ahead of time, they feel as if they have met them once
and that helps in having students ask questions.
Auggie,
the native Mongolian, spoke with us about the project. We enjoyed
hearing him speak in Mongolian, though we could not have repeated
it if we tried. He was very patient with us in trying to express
our questions and gave us lovely, descriptive answers.
Next
week our second group will speak with the team. We learned a lot
today about what to do and what NOT to do, and hopefully will improve
our sessions. We think we would like Jamie, or whomever makes the
call, to give us some background before we start asking questions.
It was so nice to have her start off with a short description of
their conditions and we would like to hear more about that, without
the choppy conversation of questioning. We are glad we will have
other sessions with the EB3 team. |
Earthwatch
• Valley Christian Schools
©2005 Valley
Christian Schools in partnership with Earthwatch Institute |
