Phenology

 

These are pictures from my phenology spot I'm working in for science class.

 

 

 

Beautiful Skies

Last Friday, we went to our English teacher, Jeff's photography show an hour away from Conserve at this little college. Jeff's daughter went to this college and he told us a little about it. It was very pretty and nice. 

The show was amazing. We got Jeff to tell us how he did some of the abstract pictures. There were a few where he put tie-dye shirts behind ice and photographed that, or he put a clear pan with water in it and the tie-dye behind it. He'd then add oil drops and photograph it. It looked like planets in a pail sky.

After we looked at all the pictures, he gave a talk in the little auditorium. He told us stories of his travels along with his experiments with photography. It was very interesting.

On the way up there, there was the most beautiful sky I have ever seen though. It looked like the sky stopped at a wall. The clouds went from grey to yellow and orange and pink and then just stopped, in almost a straight line across the sky. My camera wasn't the best through the window, but I tried to capture the beautiful moment.

Crazy Hair Day

Yesterday was the day everyone dyed their hair. But lets start two days ago when I started my dreads.
I was bored of my hair, which happens about every two months, so I started dreading it. Twist and tear, twist and tear. After school that day, people started saying it looked cool and gave me tips on how to do it for real. I started back-combing and twist-tearing from the left side of my head to the right. I haven't gotten to the right side yet, but I have all of my left side started to a fair point.
A few weeks ago, Mei-Jing and I had bought some red hair dye (for dark hair). If finally came and we planned on doing it Saturday (yesterday). Yesterday was also the day a bunch of people went on a trip to Rhinelander. Bleach and red were bought by some people. So that night there was a huge hair dying party. Now a bunch of us have dyed hair. Kasey dyed her whole head a darker auburn, i dyed my tips a bright red, Mei-Jing got red highlights, Shawn bleached his tips and so did Garret, Kai got a skunk stripe, etc. It was a great time. Garret also got me some old dull sweaters, they're so comfy.
Hope everyone had a great weekend too,
PEACE,
Kaia

Coming Out Day!!

As some of you may know, today is International Coming Out Day. In spirit of this, Garret, Mei-Jing and I and some others, wrote NO H8 on our hands and drew on our arms. You can believe when I say, our arms were covered and only with beautiful drawings. That's all for now I guess. Have a nice night. There's snow up here. Thanks to Mei-Jing for the photo.
PEACE,
Kaia

Autumn Colors!

   The beautiful oranges, yellows and reds of the tress greet me every morning now. The leaves cover the ground as I walk to my classes and are there waiting more me when I get out of school. Danielle and I realized what the multitude of these leaves truly meant: leaf piles. That day during English class, we were outside discussing the book Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, so generally, Danielle and I dropped our bags and started rolling in the leaves that surrounded us. The rest of the class, including Jeff, joined us in playing in the leaves. Jeff took pictures of us all and eventually we sat to continue our discussion of the book, but this time in much more comfortable conditions.

   Though the leaves were plentiful during English, we didn't stop there. After school we got a hold of a rake, picking up Garret and Kai along the way, and went to the swings. We started raking and in no time there was a pile, that Danielle and I were a large part of, and more leaves kept piling up. Of course everyone knows that if there are lots of leaves, you have to have a leaf war, so we did. I spent as much time as I possibly could outside in the leaves that day. The beauty of it all enthralled me so much I didn't want to leaf.

   While I was in the leaf piles, I didn't have to think about work or stress or anything in the modern world, I just lay there in peace and accepted it. I learned to appreciate the beauty and peace of it.
PEACE,
Kaia

Poi

Kai just got new LED poi today. Mei-Jing and I have been practicing different types of styles, and I was trying the new ones today. The thing about poi is that when they're new, they are very dense and hard, so when you swing them around, they hit you. Normally they don't leave bruises, but because I was using the new ones, it's a possibility I now have bruised legs and a black eye. Oh well, all in a day of learning.

Koolaid!

My roommate and I attempted at dyeing our hair last night. We decided that red and purple Koolaid would be a pride idea, so we mixed them all up with water and conditioner and found out exactly how well it worked. Our fingers are stained red, especially around the nails. The bathroom had red Koolaid mixture splattered all over the floor and counter. We decided, since it looked like we very gruesomely killed someone, we should clean up. I kept my dye in for around 40 minutes and Kasey kept her's in all night and showered in the morning. Neither of ours worked. My nails are still surrounded by red and Kasey's hands are red, but out hair is still the normal color.
If your looking to dye your hair, invest in a $7 box of semi-permanent hair dye and don't bother with Koolaid or Jello.
It was a fun and exciting learning experience. I would never change in that night for anything. The joy of watching New Girl while putting streaks in Kasey's hair without gloves and laughing the whole time, is a memory I'll have forever.

Fancy Friday/ Funky Sock Friday

Today was Fancy Friday and Funky Sock Friday at Conserve. It also happens to be Perspective Student Day, so you can see why we picked today to dress up. Not many people dresses up in formal wear, but the majority of everyone else had tall colorful socks on. From  left to right: Ella, Kai, Russ, Chase, and Zeki. Zeki is not only formal but also sporting some nice funky socks. Kai got my Doctor Who bow-tie and Ella's rocking the layer look.

 I've got my tall heart socks all the way to mid-thigh. Teahelan, Paige, Ana and most of the girls have nice stripy socks. The colors are many, the designs plentiful, and the prospective students confused and amused. Mission successful!

Denmark!

Checking my email, reading through all the boring, average, everyday mail when, BAM!, there it is. The one email I have been waiting for since I heard  of Youth for Understanding.

At the beginning of this last summer I was researching semester abroad opportunities. I came across a lot of different places, but I really liked a few. I applied for a couple after researching them more, and one of them was YFU. Almost 5 months later I get this email. And oh what a good email it is.

It says:

"To whom this may concern We hereby confirm that Kaia Rubin... will be an exchange student on Youth for Understanding's program to Denmark..."

I didn't even read the rest of the letter till a whole 6 minutes later, I just sat there staring at the screen and biting my knuckles so I wouldn't squeal.

This was an exciting moment for me. People say that in this day and age you have to hold on to the small pleasures in life. This email is the smallest part of the year to come, but it gave the most pleasure to read here and now.

watch out Elaine house: Loon wing is moving up

Loon wing has finally gotten it's rep figured out. Last night, Kate and I decorated our wing with as many Halloween decorations as we could possibly find, and fit. Most of the decorations consisted of lights and cobwebs. Our new Halloween theme was the talk of Elaine house that night.
We have moved up in the rankings from the wing that never did anything to the wing that had become the essence of Halloween.
With Halloween coming up, the great Cathy had put a box of decorations in the student apartment for the wings to use. When Kate and I found out, we ran and grabbed as much as we could. We spent the next 2 hours decorating the wing. It got so good by the end that people started gathering in our wing to see the new and improved Loons. This was a new experience for us since we had never had people come to our wing for more than 2 minutes at a time. It was great fun to decorate it and get to experience it with everyone. Thanks to everyone who liked it, Kate and I appreciate it a ton.

Happy Birthdays are in order!

In the last two days it has been Zeki and Mei-Jing's birthdays.
I want to give a shout out to them as two very awesome people.
At lunch on the day of their birthdays, Zeki chose the ever popular cheese-head hat and Mei-Jing, the day before, chose the very fine bear hat.
soooooooo.... HAPPY BIRTHDAY ZEKI! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MEI-JING!
I love you both, you are both such amazing and funny people. Have a great birthday!

Exploration Week!

 The first day of exploration week was one of few really nice days. The wilderness surrounded us with birds, tracks, trees and clear waters.

 Our first portage was short in comparison to the ones to come later in the week. There was one where we carried the canoes with some of the packs in them across the small strip of land. The longest one was on the second day and then again coming back. It took taking two trips for each person and carrying the canoes to get across to the next lake.

Aaron and Russel go through the first portage in good spirits and we all succeed in continuing that way through the week. We all were so excited to be out in the wild that we didn't dell much on the bad weather or uncomfortable living. We had what we brought and that's all we needed.

 The scenery in the portages was amazing. There was so much wilderness, untouched by man. It seemed to grow in a more natural and wild way.

This is Paige carrying her packs.

Gwen is happy to start the trip.

   At our first camp site we found lots of different animal tracks. There was deer, raccoon, birds, and maybe even a coyote. All the tracks washed away with the rain the next morning.

 

Though it rained and hailed the whole week, we had tons of fun. Aaron's shoe melted down in the fire till there was nothing left to see, while my water shoes also melted a little bit on the side. Gwen made shoes out of plastic bags duct taped over her flats. The fire would be roaring every morning during breakfast and every night after dinner. All of our wet shoes, socks and bandannas dried quickly over the fire. We roasted socks on sticks like marshmallows. On the last night we went on a gorgeous night paddle, with the moon clear above us.

After the night paddle I wrote in my journal by firelight:

"The blue of my pants and yellow of my life jacket, fade to a grey, matching the tone of my jacket till it was all the same. The water looked like a black oasis, that when putting your hand in seems as if your hand would never come out again. And the temperature of the water was so perfect that when your hand got wet, you could barely tell. The clouds looked like the sky, lit by the crescent moon. And the sky was so black, but had the stars, and the clouds did not. This was the only way you could tell which was which. The silence fills your mind and you think of nothing but of how beautiful it is."

Never Stop!

We learned in APES (AP environmental science) that the axis of the earth was created by an asteroid hitting the earth and creating the tilt. That asteroid took a piece of the earth and mad the moon, orbiting the planet. The tilt of the earth then created seasons because of the different parts where the sun hits the earth. We have season because an asteroid hit the earth and became the moon.
I though this was such an interesting thing to have learned that I couldn't stop thinking about it. I haven't written in a while; I hope I get back in the habit. Here's my first poem of the new school year. Hope it's not too bad.


the world will never stop moving
never stop rotating on the axis
keeping the season coming and going.
the world will never stop changing
even in a moment when you think things will stay like this forever.

the world will never stop turning
the earth will never stop moving
the sea will never stop flowing.
the  ground will never stop pushing.
the trees will never stop growing.

no matter what you do to our earth, it will never stop.
the people will never stop fighting.
the children will never stop crying.
we will never stop.
never stop loving
never stop living
we will never stop.
never stop fighting
never stop deciding
what to do with our environment
we will never stop.

never stop the pain
never stop the loss
we will never stop.
never stop trying
to change the elders views of the old ways
never stop showing
them the new ways to come
we will never stop believing in a better way.

New Normal

The new normal of my life begins with a knock. Every morning when I wake up, I knock on my roommate's door. The sound travels through the walls and echos in my still dormant mind. I slide my feet back over to my side of the suite and change my clothes, grab my backpack, and head for the LAB.
Every morning, noon, and night, the LAB has at least one chess game going on. There is a designated area where the chess boards are, and all the people gather around the tables. I sit on the couch or the arm of a chair and watch the games end right before breakfast. It's a thrill to see who's where on the 'chess talent list.' Right now there's a circle of guys that can all beat each other. I'm proud to say I've been playing whenever I get the chance and have been getting better by the day.
After breakfast we have classes. We go strong till lunch with no snacks, and it kills us. We crave the food that's before us at lunch and we eat as much as we can get our hands on. Then comes the afternoon classes. The classes are split up so that you have English and History one day, then Field Instruction and Science the next day. The minute school is done, the commons by the bell tower is filled with students. The hammock has 3-5 kids piled on it and the laughter emanates from the area. The campus comes to life after school and everyone has fun canoeing or hiking or just hanging out. It's a great day in the life of a teenager from Conserve.

Here is a link to the Conserve School blog with tons of pictures:
http://csdailyblog.wordpress.com/

Bike Fixing

  

 The other day, a few of us biked down to Land O' Lakes. It only took 20 minutes to get there and the tiny little city was cute. Kasey and I stocked up on food and we all wandered around until we found the  garage sale. It was hidden away in this old creepy looking storage unit. But when we went inside, the lady was super nice and there was lots of interesting stuff. In the way back there were two bike. I'm a fan of vintage bikes myself and it looked as though the boys liked them too. So I bought the vintage, brown, road bike for $20. What a deal!





There was a bit wrong with it, but Russ, Collin and Kai seemed excited to work on it. The next day we had it set up at the Rec center ready to be torn apart. There was a lot more to fix than we had anticipated but they weren't worried. The wheels were bent and the brakes didn't work, everything was rusty, but with oil and the right tools, we could make it work.

So we started to take it apart. Kai and Mei-Jing started on the wheel while Russ and Collin worked on Collin's bike.

 There was a lot of grit and grease in the wheels, and it needed to get taken out. Mei-Jing and I spent most of our time cleaning different part of the bike. I cleaned the chain, she cleaned the wheels.

 I had never done anything with fixing something before, so it was very fascinating to watch them talk and point to something. It was like a foreign language to me, but I learned as much as I could with what we were doing.

 Once Russ and Collin started helping out we moved quickly. We fixed as much as we could in the 2 hour window we had before dinner.

 Everything was getting shinier and smoother. The bike was looking better, but we hadn't put everything back in.

 Though we hadn't put everything back in yet, we wanted to see if it rode smooth. So with no brakes, no chain, and  lots of  parts sitting on the curb, we took it for a spin.

 With no chain and no brakes, there was no way to start or stop. So we ran it up the hill, and rolled down it. To stop we simply put our feet down after we were rolling slower.

It was super fun. Can't wait to see what it looks like when we are finally finished. But that may not  be for  awhile. In the meantime I will keep you updated in the progress.
PEACE,
Kaia

New First Entry

My name is Kaia Rubin; I used to live in Madison.  I currently live in Conserve School's Elaine House.  I heard about Conserve at the Midwestern Renewable Energy Fair.  After hearing about this great opportunity I went home to tell my friends and found out one of my friends had gotten the same information.  We decided to both sign up for different semesters so we wouldn't go together.  I chose the fall semester and she chose the spring.  That summer we found out a friend of ours from a summer camp had already been to Conserve School and she told us all about it.  This only reinforced our longing to come and join the Conserve School family.  What really hooked me about Conserve was the fact that the classes are taught outdoors.  I have never liked the traditional school system of taking notes and listening to teachers who are basically talking to themselves.  So when I looked into Conserve and read that most classes were outside and hands-on, I was very excited.     Being an artsy type of person, I was really excited for the ceramics class and any other art I could get my hands on.  I think being able to build something without many tools, or any at all, is a talent that's harder to master than people might think.  One of my goals is to try to master pottery, either hand building or throwing.  I may not be an all-time master by the end of this semester, but I hope to improve a great deal.  Another goal that's maybe more broad would be to try new things.  I want to learn about different outdoor activities and try them before the weather changes and it's too late.  Everything here is so interesting and exciting, I want to at least try as much as I can in the short period of time I have here.  I’m also going to try all the food.  For those of you who know me very well, know I’ve never been a big eater, but that’s going to change now. I’m going to explore knew food and just try everything. I hope to have a great semester here PEACE, Kaia I now have another site through the school, but it's really hard to share, so I'm going to copy/paste the same posts onto this blog. Hope you don't mind.

Happy Birthday Laura!

Happy Birthday Laura, may your days be filled with happiness.
We had a great day just hanging out on Laura's birthday.  We got a visit from Oliver and two cakes to share with everyone.  The campfire was the center of the campus that day from morning when we painted our nails, to evening when we ate cake, to night when we told campfire stories and played James Bond.  The day was filled with fun and excitement as our first free day in our first true weekend.