Wildlife Rescue in New York

Last time I said I would be getting news about volunteer-work, it's been 3 weeks now so I guess I got some 'splainin to do!

After extensively looking at the many possible volunteering opportunities this city has to offer through the most popular volunteer-matching websites, I found nothing that really sparked my enthusiasm. I tried out for one position but that turned out to be pretty much a dead end, and I figured out this might not be the way to go.

So back to Google I went, this time searching for wildlife rescue centers in New York City. My eye immediately fell on this website.

And would you believe it; they needed volunteers! I immediately signed up! Unfortunately the mail they sent me never appeared in my mailbox, but after two weeks of bugging them on facebook and twitter I finally got the invitation that had gotten lost in cyberspace.

So three weeks ago I took the crosstown bus to the Upper West Side and found a building that had display windows with actual doves flying around in them...

...and walked in for my volunteer-orientation. After learning the basics, I stayed for more than 3 hours helping out, meeting all these guys;

D'AAAWWWWW!

This is Benjamin, the Wild Bird Fund's tame one-eyed Cardinal. What he lacks in size, he makes up for in personality!

This turkey needed a foot bath for a wound.

after all of this I was rewarded with a trip to Central Park to release two little brown bats.

This one decided to hang around a bit longer..

After my first day I decided to sign up for two shifts a week, and I'm absolutely loving it!

Benjamin loves the camera

Two cute sleepy ducks

A duck and a chicken who don't care that they're different species. They won't let anyone stand in the way of their love!

My hair makes good nesting material apparently..

This turtle was about the size of my turtle before she escaped!

Just look at this guy. Biggest seagull I have ever seen, and also the most adorable.

On my second day I even got to assist with a minor surgery, which was one of the best things EVER!

Of course, it's a nonprofit organisation entirely dependant on volunteers and donations and we're struggling to keep going. But judging by the amount of birds that are brought in every day and the fact that this is the ONLY bird rescue center in NYC we provide a service that is very much needed. It feels great to be a part of such a cause, to make a difference for these poor creatures. About half of the birds that are brought in are in horrible condition and won't make it, but even then, we strive to make their ends as stress-free and painfree as possible. And it's so rewarding to see the ones that do make it go free again, healthy and happy.

I hope to volunteer much longer here and I'll try to post more pictures when I can. Except for next week. I won't be volunteering next week because my sister and her boyfriend are coming over tomorrow! TOURIST PARTY!!!! :D

Roadtrips and visits!

Oh man, I'm really behind on my updates! Three weeks ago the weather was finally perfect for a spring-roadtrip, so Bram invited me to another weekend getaway.

This time he didn't feel like driving 8 hours 2 days in a row though, so we went to see the sights Boston had to offer. It was the first warm and sunny weekend of the year so that started out great!

After we checked into our hotel we decided to walk the famous Freedom Trail, that covered all the important historical sights Boston had to offer. There were a lot of those. We were severely behind on our knowledge of American history and the American Revolution though, so I'm afraid we didn't retain all of the information presented. Still, it was a beautiful tour, the weather was still awesome and we had a great time! We started at the "end" of the trail and walked our way to the beginning.

Here is what we saw;

The Bunker Hill monument 

Yes you are.

Wicked cold!

This seems to be where all the rich people hang out.

CHEESE!

Cormorants diving for food.

Related to Lord Edmund?

For some strange reason every trip of ours seems to lead us to a cemetery.. I'm not complaining!

This grave will make for a wonderful bench!

The famous church where lanterns were displayed at a rather critical time.

The resident cat looked a LOT like Pica :D

Famous people waz here

The dog tag memorial, for fallen soldiers in recent wars.

Paul Revere, hero of Boston

This guy was amazing! We gave him money.

Walking makes you thirsty. We sat down for a drink and the menu of the restaurant we were at reminded me of my late grandmother's front door window.

*snicker*

After all the sights had been seen we took the Boston subway back to our hotel. Pretty soon we were the only people left in our train car, and suddenly the train stopped and the driver just opened the door and walked out. I started to panic slightly, since we were stuck underground in an open subway car without a driver, but fortunately he was just outside the door, manually operating some controls. He got back in, got back out again and repeated this for a while, then we finally resumed our journey. So that was kinda weird.

But we got back to our hotel safely, went to sleep and got up the next morning to go to the MIT museum, which turned out to be really cool! There was a workshop in some sort of advanced Meccano construction, but we only briefly walked in there and talked to the guy leading the workshop. We had a nice chat, told him we were from the Netherlands, and as we left he said "goodbye schelm!" completely out of the blue. He didn't even know how he came up with it.. XD

OMG arcade games!

COG the human robot

The Robotuna

"Pebbles" Mars Rover project

The Spring Turkey

The one legged hopper

The Blob

The Planar Biped

The Uniroo

Kismet the emotional AI robot

Keep in mind many of these robots were designed more than 20 years ago! Here's a short clip of what the MIT "Leg Lab" was up to in these times, for those who want to know more. (I expect you to be yelling "YEAH ROBOTS!!!" at this point)

Then there was an exhibition of mechanical artworks by Arthur Ganson. Some of these were really mesmerizing to look at!

Like paper doves in flight

A not-so-comfy-looking chair

Another not-so-comfy-looking chair. Sorry about the portrait mode.

FASTER!

This was a machine that produced soap bubbles between two glass panes. I wanted to stay and look at this forever.

Unfortunately, the museum was pretty strict about its closing times and we had to return the car we rented, so Bram dragged me away and we returned home to a distraught looking (as always) Kitty. She was once again extremely relieved we hadn't left her forever so she happily treated us to a session of her patented lap-acupunture.


A week later we got a very special visit from Bram's mother and sister! We had a wonderful time, showed them the 9/11 memorial, the Statue of Liberty as seen from the Staten Island Ferry, the charging bull at Wall Street and a lot more touristy stuff. Then we showed them our apartment and got them Chinese food from our favorite take out restaurant while they were spoiling Kitty and admiring the view. The next evening we went to Dallas BBQ on Times Square where we had great food and even greater cocktails!
We took one day to visit the Bronx zoo, where my mother in law fed the local birds (oh they loved her!) and we made her cry with laughter while taunting the peacocks, despite my sister in law's deep-seated fear of them (which she has her dear brother to thank for..)

And of course, as tradition demands, I got pooped on by the zoo inhabitants (Fruit bats this time, but thankfully they weren't nearly as smelly as squirrel monkeys!)

On their last day in New York we wanted to go to the top of The Rock, but unfortunately it was extremely foggy that night so we had to cancel...
Both of them told me they weren't comfortable with having their photographs posted on the internet and I respect that, but I can tell you Bram and I were thrilled to have them here and hope they'll be able to visit again! 

But wait- the next trip is already being planned, my sister and her boyfriend will be visiting us next month! :D

In the meantime I'm still looking for a volunteer job, and there finally seems to be some progress in that regard! I will know more next week, keeping my fingers crossed!