Week twelve (and a half)

Hi everyone!

Fun things:

• Still working on improving both my French and Spanish skills, so I was super excited when I had a much more involved conversation in French at our Flamingo badge than I am usually able to manage.  I often stick with talking about flamingos being pink and helping them by working to keep waterways clean, but for this conversation we went into why a flamingo has a beak shaped the way it is and why all birds don't have the same beak. 
• Kabocha squash and Japanese sweet potatoes are so delicious. 
• Two especially fun times at Gorilla: first, one morning all the females and the two babies in our family group were sleeping near the viewing area, so you could see them close up.  And see the little boys just absolutely conked out.  Sleeping baby gorillas are unsurprisingly adorable.  The second time that was interesting was when there was a small snake in the exhibit, and the boys were on their moms' backs and all of the gorillas were looking at the snake and trying to figure out what to make of it. 
• Had a Senior Wilderness Explorer ceremony (when someone gets all their badges, they become a Senior and we celebrate) the other day where the two girls (probably early teens) just could not stop smiling at me and it 1) made it so I couldn't stop smiling either and 2) gave me goosebumps. 
• I led a preshift (our meeting before work each day)!  I talked to my coworkers about Gorongosa National Park (where I conducted my senior thesis research last summer, feel free to check out my blog about it if you're interested) and some of the research I did there.  The presentation went well, and I was really happy to talk to everyone at work about a place I love. 

I got a food processor!  Which means, most importantly, that I can now make banana ice cream.  Those of you who know me well understand how amazingly wonderful this is. This was an ice cream sundae, with a vegan brownie, coco whip and chocolate nice cream :D

I met Rapunzel and Flynn Rider together last night! It was a special event for College Program people and PIs living in Disney housing, and it was fun.  A bit of a long wait, but they almost never meet together anywhere else, so worth it :)

That's pretty much it for now.  I'm going to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party this weekend and I'm really excited, so look for a post on that soon. 

Good night!