Sorry it took me so long, but new post!

Aloha all! Things have been very busy, and I haven't been left with much time to update this bad boy. But now here I am!

Well last month the parental units came to visit and brought my grandma as well. We had a lovely time, we went to a luau and swam with dolphins and saw some sights and such. It was so nice seeing some familiar faces, even if the matriarchal units (mom and grandma) went a little nuts with the camera. Oh well.

I also got to do my free royal swim the other day and it was so fun! I loved it, but honestly the one I did with my dad when he came to visit was better; I got to share the experience with my pop, there were fewer people, and we got to swim with the wolphin which is always exciting.

I can't believe I'm coming home in 6 weeks! I love it here but I am so ready to be home and in my element again. Plus I miss the boy. You know the one I'm talking about. I got some good news about an oppertunity that has opened for me once I'm back in Wichita, but it's still tentative so I'm not going to say much about it yet. Just cross your fingers that it works out for me!

Well that's it for now, I will update more later- maybe. =)

Happy Thanksgiving and Aloooooooooooooooooooo-HA!!

Recent Goings-On

Aloha, all! It's me again. Not much going on, just business as usual. Sadly, we had to euthenize a very sick sea lion recently; she went very peacfully and had lived a long, full life. I got to sit in on the necropsy, which was really interesting. Unfortunately, I can't tell you much about it, since alot of what goes on in the vet lab is confidential.

I've been looking for a job, but to no avail. I applied at Starbucks, and I could tell the lady really liked me and wanted to hire me, but since I am only going to be here a few more months, she couldn't. =( I also applied for a seasonal job at Gamestop, but once again I was shot down. So now I give up and will just worry about getting a job when I get home in January.

On a happy note, my parents and grandma are coming to visit in thirteen days! Yay! I can't wait to see them; I've been so homesick, so having some familiar faces here for a while will hopefully get me through the rest of my time here. That or it will make me miss home even more. We shall see.

Other than that, not much to report. My roommate and I are planning on going horseback riding tomorrow, so I will hopefully have pictures for you all soon. Aloha till next time!

Wolphins, Sea Lion Pups, Molting, Etc.

Aloha all! I thought I would use this post to tell you all about Kekaimalu, our very own Wolphin!

A Wolphin is a hybrid between a false killer whale and an atlantic bottlenose dolphin. Such hybrids have been known to exist in the wild, but Kekaimalu, whose name means "the peaceful ocean", is the only Wolphin in captivity, and she lives right here at Sea Life Park Hawaii!

In actuality, Kekaimalu is NOT part whale- she is 100% dolphin. You see, the false killer whale is not actually a whale- it is just another species of dolphin. If it were a whale, it would not be able to breed outside of its own genus; i.e., it would not be able to successfully mate with an atlantic bottlenose dolphin.

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Another interesting fact about Kekaimalu is that she is a mom! Most hybrids are sterile, but Kermie (our nickname for her) has had three babies. One of them died shortly after birth, and another died at the age of nine. That's really young for a dolphin- we have some animals in the park who are in their forties! And Kermie herself is 23, a year older than yours truly. But her most recent baby was born in 2004, two days before Christmas. This calf's name is Kawili Kai (pronounced ka-VEE-lee KY) and she is 3/4 bottlenose dolphin and 1/4 false killer whale.

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In other news, Lambchop has finished her Molt and is looking beautiful! I love this Monk Seal!

Here's Lambie before her molt:

And After! What a beautiful girl!

We also have a three-month old sea lion pup at the park. She doesn't have a name yet, so most people just call her pup-pup. I, however, have christened her Zum-zum, because she loves to zoom through the water like a little torpedo. Anyways. she is super cute! Her mom's name is Uilani (pronounced OO-ee-LAH-nee).

Ooh, and I finally got to ride a dolphin! I only got one picture, but you have to scroll down to see it; my computer was acting funny. =(

BAM!!!!!!




Heehee I got you! Obviously I'm quite pleased with my little joke. You know it was funny.

Anyways, that's about it for now. Aloha till next time!

Jen

fish flavored jello and such

Aloha! Work has been going well, I can't believe its already been a month!
The other day I did something I never thought I would do- I made herring-flavored jello. Don't worry I didn't eat any, it was for a dolphin. We made it with flavorless gelatin just as directed on the box, but instead of cold water we used fish juice. Yum.
Other than that, not much else to report, just business as usual I guess. Sorry no pictures this time, I've been too busy with work. Anywho, there will be more later.
Much love and aloha,
Jenna
Oh p.s. Here are some of your names in Hawaiian! Enjoy!
Steve-Kiwini
Anita-Anika
Beth-Peka
Angie-Anela
Doris-Kolika
Tom- Koma
Larry-Lali
Adrian-Akiliano
Kayla-Kaila
Cora-Kaloni
Deanna-Kiana
Jenna-Iena
Gabriel- Kapeliela
Rachel-Lahela
Kaye-Ke

Hard at work

Aloha all! I thought you might like to see what I've been doing on a daily basis, so I got some pictures of me working to show you what a typical day is like for a Sea Life Park vet tech intern.


This is Lambchop. She is a Hawaiian Monk Seal and I absolutely adore her; fins down, she's my favorite animal in the park. Behind her is Puiwa (pronounced PWEE-va) the Harbor Seal. She's alright, but she doesn't have as much personality as Lambie.



This is just a pretty rainbow I saw on my way to the bus stop to go to work.

Chuff slides and blood smears! These are a big part of my work. A chuff is when a dolphin clears its blowhole; its kind of like a sneeze. The blood smear is pretty self exlpanitory. We go out into the park to collect these samples, then back to the vet lab where it is my duty to prepare the slides, stain them, and then look at them under the microscope to see what there is to see.

Another big part of my job is meds. I sort meds out into little baggies to make sure everyone gets the right dose of the right med at the right time. Some people might find this tedious, but I enjoy it alot!

Holoiki (ho-lo-WEE-kee) is our other female monk seal. She has a wound on her belly so these are pictures of me helping Dr. Beth (the vet) and Celeste (the vet tech) to clean it out. We have to be very careful because these seals are truely wild animals and not as tame as the dolphins or sea lions, so they can be very dangerous if you don't treat them with respect.
From left to right: Dr. Beth, Holoiki, Celeste.





Well that's all for now. More later.

Aloha,

Jenna

Finally moved in!!

We finally moved into the Hina Hale house. I'm quite pleased. Our landlord wasn't very professional about the whole thing and we were all pretty peeved, but I won't even get into that. The house is really nice; unfortuately when we drew lots for room-picking order I got second to last, so I got shafted and had to take the really small room. Still, I'm pretty pleased overall. I have lots of pctures below, so enjoy.

Aloha,

Jenna

Aloha!

Hello all! Here I am in lovely Hawaii. It's been very interesting so far. On my first day I got stung by a jellyfish, got a 2nd degree sunburn, was nearly drowned, and got caught in a huge wave that scraped my face against the sand ( a picture of my booboo is below). On my second day, I tried poi. Poi is a paste made from the root pulp of the taro plant, and its really good for you; its has all the vitamins minerals and good stuff you need to survive. Unfortunately, it looks like gray silly putty and tastes like... well, like it came from a root. My second day was kind of rough, since I found out that mom and dad had to put Skippy to sleep. I miss my baby boy very much but thankfully I'm surrounded by animal lovers and they were all very supportive. I'm still healing day by day.

Work is fun! I do all kinds of fun lab procedures and I get to get really close to the animals- the other day I got to watch an ultrasound of an unborn baby dolphin! I also assist in blood draws, run tests, prepare slides, and twice a week I wake up at 4 am to spend four to six hours standing in a freezer sorting through 35,000 fish- that part isn't so fun.

On one of my days off a few of us went to Hanauma Bay to snorkle and see the fish- it was so gorgeous!! The rest of my time off has been spent being lazy. Eventually though, I plan to go surfing and see what else the island has to offer. More later.

Aloha,

Jenna