Workin' Girl

So I'm absolutely loving my job as an Outreach instructor! As you can probably guess by how often I've been updating this lately, there isn't a whole lot of spare time in my life. That should change next week once I start traveling and spending time in hotels, but for now I'll just do a quick update on all the fun I've been having.

I haven't actually done any teaching yet for this job because I'm still completing the training process. My clearings are at the end of this week, and then Monday (the 6th) I start my exciting travels to locations all over this great state of Virginia!!! And my first location?? LOUDOUN. Yes, folks, LOUDOUN COUNTY, the location of my hometown. The location of the house that I have lived in for all of my life. Ironic, isn't it, that my first trip should take me there?

Although I haven't done any teaching specifically for Outreach, I did get to go on my first official state business trip. My supervisor Janet, plus two part-time instructors, travelled up to Alexandria VA for a special program. It was extra special for me because we were meeting the Godspeed (one of the ships I worked on all summer) and some of the interpreters. The ship was up there promoting tourism to our museum, and to do what is called a "development sail" or "shmooze rich people into donating money by impressing them with a sail on our cool ship." The trip was a TON of fun, and I did get to do a little work with some local fourth graders (about 671 of them) on a mini field trip over the course of two days.



It was cold, windy, and rainy and we were walking around enjoying that great weather! I was still having a ton of fun!! Please note my official (and soaked) Jamestown hat. I just got an official Jamestown windbreaker/rain jacket, so hopefully I'm walking around in some rain and wind again soon, now that I'm more prepared.




Here are some of my fellow Outreach instructors (plus Dennis, my friend from the ships this summer) getting ready to start the day! I think we were discussing signals of some sort... The two in yellow are a simply adorable married couple who always work assignments together, Roger and Gloria, and never have I seen two people more insanely in love with each other. It is hard to describe because I can hardly believe it myself. There were absolutely no sour moments between them, and every other phrase out of their mouths was some sort of praise for their other half. It made for an even more interesting trip in many ways, and I look forward to traveling with these two again in the future.




John (volunteer sailor), Dennis, my supervisor Janet, and Eric (captain of our ships). Posing around an advertisement for "Pet Portraits" because the girl and dog in the picture is a friend who actually worked at Jamestown for a number of years before relocating to Alexandria. So imagine our surprise as we are just walking along and see her picture!!!




Dinner with everyone who was in Alexandria...Outreach + Ship interpreters + Ship sailing crew. I can really get used to this part of the job--I get paid to go out to eat at incredible restaurants. This one place in particular I had broiled shrimp and scallops, with roasted potatoes and green beans. And a glass of merlot. And a cannoli. Yep, I can get used to that.




Just a sampling of the number of kids that we shuffled along a VERY narrow pier to see the ship. This is half of one group, and there were 4 groups, for 2 days. Lots and lots and lots of fourth graders.....




I don't know how to rotate this, but its our gorgeous Godspeed in the Alexandria marina. Kind of sticks out, huh? That's the new Woodrow Wilson Bridge in the background.