Summer service and other things.

After more than 30 hours of travelling, a missed train, cancelled flight and some sweat and tears I am back in Canada. To be more specific, I'm on a small island outside of Pearson that is called Race Rocks. Pearson requires all its students to do 80 hours of service/ volunteering over the summer holiday, and I chose to spend it here together with my co-year Catherine. For about ten days we're doing measurements, animal census, maintenance work and other things which have to be done on an island like this.

The first few days we woke up around 5:30 due to jet lag and the never ending screaming of the gulls,
which had it perks, like super long breakfasts and the chance to admire beautiful sun rises. 

One of the days we repainted a boat trailer. A common theme for every day at Race Rocks is extremely unflattering clothes matched with a pair of old gumboots... 

View from the kitchen. 

Cleaning algae and bird poop of the buildings.

Race Rocks is...hard to describe. It is absolutely gorgeous, especially during the summer when the sun is shining and the sky is blue as far as the eye can reach. Through each of the windows of the house we live in we can see the ocean, and on one side of the island the sky meets the Olympic mountains, on the other side we can see the coastline of Vancouver Island. Race Rocks is a marine ecological reserve which Pearson has had stewardship of since 1978. The wildlife is quite amazing, both on land and above water, it is a paradise for anyone who is passionate about marine science (and doesn't mind the poopy smell). 

Two adorable sea gull chicks. 

Sea lions. My new favorite animal. (After whales of course.)

Although we have a few days left here I can for sure say that this is unlike anything I've done before. We're currently four people living on this island and other than that our only company is barking sea lions and aggressive sea gulls. At times it does drive you a little bit crazy, and so we've been trying to cope by working, baking and cooking lots of good stuff and laughing hysterically about pretty much everything. I am incredibly grateful for being here with such wonderful people, humor really is the way to deal with all the crazy stuff that can happen on an island like this.

One of many gull families, might seem cute, but having chicks turns adult gulls into real bastards. 

Just one of many magical sunsets/sun rises. 

I think what is so unique about Race Rocks is the strong contrasts. The beauty of the surrounding and the constant screaming and barking of the evil gulls. The smell of our Indian curry and the poop from the composting toilet. The isolation from everything around and the stares from the infinite number tourists on whale watching boats, who want to get a glimpse of this magical island. The gorgeous sunsets and the ruff, cold wind and darkness at night.

In short, Race Rocks is challenging, stinky, windy, full of poop but also absolutely wonderful.