Fund raiser

Hi guys!
We’ve (okay, I’ve) been super busy over here! The fund raiser is kind of taking over my life, but in a good way, mostly. It’s kind of overwhelming, but I think it will come together. And I think I needed something to keep me busy this month, even if I am complaining about it a little bit.

So… fund raiser! The bar agreed to let us use their venue, which is cool. They told me they usually get about 400 people on Fridays, but can hold like 800, so that should be great. I have a feeling we will get a huge turn out. We’re still working on the specifics just a little bit, at the moment the plan is to have a nicer event at 6:30 and have drinks, maybe snacks, some scientific talks (nothing too heavy, just interesting stuff), and an auction. Then from nine to midnight we will have raffle drawings and drink specials. We will be selling raffle tickets around town for a couple weeks prior to the event (which means we have to start on Friday!) to try to get people interested. We will be charging a cover for the night event and maybe the evening event (undecided at this point, kind of depends on whether the auction happens or not).

So far local businesses have been really interested in helping out, which is awesome. It’s a small town, but I think people are proud of the aquarium, and really care about improving it so that it won’t get destroyed again. What we are trying to accomplish isn’t that major—some really basic aquarium equipment, better filtration and pipes, as well as some things like a dissection table to improve the research capabilities (which is why SAMPLA took it over in the first place.) The problem is actually finding these things in South Africa, but the good news is things are relatively cheap here. Adam hasn’t set a goal for us yet, but I’m guessing we’re looking for a total of less than $10,000.

I know some of you have expressed an interest in helping out. Being in South Africa makes it a little bit of a challenge to get money, but if you’d like to help, I think we can work it out. Email me at triciacoyne@gmail.com if you’re interested. I know it’s not the most important cause in the world, but it is the sort of thing where a little bit of money can go a really long way in improving the quality of the aquarium.

So that’s my life, I’m still chumming and all that, too, and hopefully working on my paper. Once we get everything rolling, I’m hoping to be able to delegate some more of the work. We are trying to tag a shark this week, so that should be fun, since I haven’t had very much tracking experience. Hopefully it will happen soon, because I’m only here for three more weeks!

Oh ps, someone finally got a picture of me with a shark in it.

(photo by Justin Silbernagel)

Alright, that’s all! Hope you are all doing well!

Aquarium destruction

So... the water is not supposed to be coming up the stairs of the aquarium. It's definitely not supposed to be halfway up the door, either. (You can kind of see the sign that says "entrance".) We had a massive storm (not rainy, just crazy windy. Like when we walked to lunch, we walked in a row, like penguins, to minimize the wind. Needless to say, we were the only people on the street that day). So anyway, the swells got absolutely huge and destroyed a lot of the aquarium-- blowing out windows, knocking down doors, and completely flooding the place. Adam and Nicho, the aquarium manager, got most of the fish out and released them into the ocean. We helped try to clean up the gift shop yesterday, but the place is trashed.

Luckily, the aquarium was insured, so it will be rebuilt. And I'm going forward with my fund raiser, although this does complicate it a little bit. Basically, we are not raising funds to rebuild it (because they have those already), but raising money to improve the system so that they can have a larger stock, including more sensitive species, and to allow us to conduct research at the facility (which is why SAMPLA took it over in the first place.) So we are meeting with the manager of Big Blu, the bar where we want to host the event, today. I mentioned it to her last Friday night (Ryan introduced me and announced "One of my interns has an idea for you guys!" I was pretty drunk, so it was a really bad time to talk about it, but she seemed enthusiastic). Hopefully that will go well.

The basic plan right now is to have essentially two fund raisers on the same day: one in the afternoon for the older crowd of Mossel Bay, and one at night for the younger crowd. We've got a ton of ideas, and I will let you know what's happening as it comes together, especially if there are ways y'all can help. It should be a huge undertaking, but I think I'm up for the challenge. So, wish me luck at my meeting, hopefully we'll be having this event on September 26th.

Other than that, things are alright. I think we're all really missing the old interns that have left; we have five new people and six old people, and it's just a really weird dynamics shift. It is nice to be one of the people who knows what's going on. But... the last group was so much fun, so it's kind of hard.

Alright, that's it. I'll let you guys know what happens with my meeting!

weekend etc.

big weekend-- ed left saturday and justin leaves today, so it was definitely a fun one. i didn't get much sleep, so this will be a short one, but a couple things... i'm working on throwing a fundraiser for the local aquarium (http://www.sharkrayaquarium.co.za/). this was something i've been wanting to do, because adam has just been working his tail off trying to revive it. the aquarium was passed over to sampla a couple months ago when all the fish started dying. so adam came in and designed a new filtration system for them, but he's really just been fighting the odds because of a lack of funding. so... i've started working on this fundraiser, but last night, due to incredibly high winds and waves, a lot of the aquarium was flooded, and some of the doors and windows broke. apparently the gift shop is just gone. so adam moved most of the fish into the big tank to try to save them, but we'll see. anyway, the point is that the aquarium needs money more now than ever. so hopefully we will be able to put together the fundraiser (the bar where i wanted to have it was also trashed by the storm) and make a difference. i will keep y'all posted.

what else... went horseback riding through a big game reserve on saturday, which is a fun way to see the animals, but i am so so so sore! i also kind of failed at taking pictures on horseback. we saw elephants, rhinos, wildebeasts, impala, water buffalo, and giraffes. i think that's it. anyway, this is the group i went with (plus christine, who isn't in the picture). from the left, it's viola, nico, ryan, justin, and our guide.



also, check out the baby rhino!




so that's it for now. we're getting a bunch of new people today, which is kind of scary because the old group was so much fun. but hopefully the new ones will be, too. happy september!