16 August 2010 The Webinar

It's done. It's finished. I can finally breathe...about the webinar, I mean. We did it...the first PolarTREC bilingual webinar in English and Spanish. Although I translate a lot at school, that's news-style translation where I just talk while the other person is speaking. Today, I had to let my research talk about an entire idea and then translate it. The hard part was not the Spanish, but rather remembering what they said a few sentences ago! Then there were two words I forgot and had to quickly look up "coal" and "fog."

It was more than worth it when a few of my students emailed me afterwords about how their parents enjoyed the webinar and that how it was the first time they were exposed to science first-hand. It got me to thinking that maybe I could do science documentation and translation somehow and bring science to students globally in real-time on an even larger scale. I don't quite know how I'd do this yet but I think it'd be pretty cool.

After the webinar I went back to the lab to chill for a few minutes and I realized that I have so much to do before I leave! I have interviews and videos to conduct. I still have plants to collect for pressing and resining. I have to meet the teachers at Barrow High School. I want to meet a few specific scientists. The list goes on and on...

I realized that Bob, my principal investigator (PI), arrives tomorrow. I'm so excited to meet Bob but I'm pretty nervous too. I want to show him the video I've drafted and I hope he likes it.

And then to occurred to me that I leave in less than a week. This place, the North Slope, has become like home. It's so different than anything I've ever experienced and yet I like it. I feel like I've finally adjusted to life here and got my bearings, and that I'm now leaving...that makes me kind of sad. Although I've been blogging, there are no words that can remotely describe my experience this summer. I didn't really believe the alumni at our PolarTREC orientation in May who said that this would be a life-changing experience...but it truly has been. It is impossible to experience the world around you without being changed and affected by it. I hope I get to come back and help document more research someday soon. But I'm so grateful for being selected to be here...I should probably thank Bob tomorrow night when I meet him. :-)