"Toto ...I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore." (Dorothy, Wizard of Oz)

The problem with taking that journey 'over the rainbow', as I see it anyway, is that it leaves much up to the imagination.  You might be the world's greatest planner and organizer, but you will still encounter the element of the unknown and its inevitable reality, which means that the best made plans in the world will still require an adjustment of all prior visions.

Such it was with my first day of school, as much as it is now ~almost 54 years later.  Make no mistake here, I'm not that good at organizing ...or planning.  Those who know me will most certainly attest to that, but I do have a vivid imagination and the only down side to being blessed with this trait is that when I am confronted by reality, my two worlds often have difficulty in the 'merger and acquisitions' phase.

I arrived on the other side of the rainbow last week, and just for the record, it is as beautiful as I imagined.




As you can see from the image, it's not the cornfields of Kansas.  There are hills, forests, open pastures, wide expanses of water, and then, more hills ~in every direction.  I might add that the hills always seem to be going 'up', no matter which way I go.  Yes, my body is complaining ...loudly, especially at the end of each day when I can actually feel my heartbeat pulsing down in my little toenail, but I also must say that all these uphill climbs are always worth the effort involved to get to ones destination. 

The property is dotted with buildings of stone and wood ~each set into the ground as if Renoir himself had sketched it into place.

I live in one such dwelling, along with 3 other students ~all Danish, all in their 20's, all studying zookeeping, and all with young, healthy legs that don't complain at night.  They are easy-going and pleasant, and if they are even remotely questioning why on earth an older woman has arrived on their doorstep to do an internship, they have politely chosen not to ask.

The sea is within smelling distance from the cottage, and if one walks back into the park and up to the wolverine's enclosure (note: the directional 'up' ), there is a sea view that only the wolverines have grown accustomed to. 

Ah yes, back to my imagination.  Let's see ~ perhaps an itemized list would help illustrate where, exactly, my imagination began having difficulties:

     

     1.  I did not envision a bed that would buffer creaky springs with an Ikea mattress from WWII, and that the antique would be surrounded by a draw-string curtain, which would provide the only privacy from those polite young Danes.

    

     2.  I also did not factor into the equation ingesting my breakfast every morning to the sounds of a wolf pack, located just beyond the trees, sorting out its pecking order in no uncertain terms

    

     3.  I did see modern technology and yes, it does exist.  A connection to the internet is present -just not for me (yet), as due to an administrative error, the keys that were given to me unlock the entrance to the autopsy quarters, rather than the staff lounge.  I should also add that there is no connectivity in the autopsy room.

     4.  A bonus: losing weight will be eminent due to the size of the refrigerator located in our kitchen.  I have one-half of one small shelf in one extremely small-size, european refrigerator, and, like I have previously mentioned -every walkway in the place goes "up" - even to the kitchen.

     5.  While writing this blog, there is a tiger complaining loudly in the 'not-so-distant' distance ...a definite reminder that I'm nowhere near Kansas.

     6.  And lastly, being the new kid on the block can be extreme when the neighborhood gang is located in a stereotypically 'silent' country like Sweden.  My lunch table holds some 25 people -and for 5 days now, I've yet to have anyone initiate a conversation with me.  I can only liken it to a large family gathering back home, where no one is speaking, and you can't help but wonder just 'who is in trouble?'

But all this shall pass in time ~after all, when one transcends a rainbow, it's only natural that colors gradually diffuse and change their hues ...and the beauty of all this is that before you know it, you've passed through the entire spectrum of colors without ever knowing exactly when 'red' turned into the peaceful 'ultraviolets'.

 



Dreams, Determination, and Some Thoughts on Bull Wrestling

Well, it's becoming reality.  I know this from the presence of clothing and other miscellaneous objects lying in unorganized heaps all over my living room floor.  Oddly enough, there are 2 open suitcases centrally located on said floor, but an invisible barrier of some sort is preventing the heaps from going in.  My guess? -cold feet.  It's one thing to say, "just take the bull by the horns and wrestle him to the ground," but the conviction in adhering to such an approach, in my mind, is directly related to the 'size of the bull.'

"Chicken on a Chain"

Meet "Chicken on a Chain."  He and I are old friends -as a matter of fact, he and I have squared off for as long as I can remember.  He typically shows up when I have come up with a grand idea, and then proceeds to hang around until I become painfully aware of my own limitations as a human being.  The strange thing about our relationship is that the sequential pattern never seems to change; I get an idea, he shows up, I grab his horns, and the wrestling match begins.  But I'm getting ahead of myself -we'll get back to 'Chicken' in a minute.

Healthy dreams, I believe, are necessary nutrients for our minds.  They allow us to envision things in our world as we'd like them to be, and even if our world can't be as such, they then offer us a haven for temporary retreat.  My ideas and dreams have always been, and still are, powerful motivators for me.  Trying to bring my brilliant ideas into real life scenarios just always seemed like a natural progression, regardless of how grandiose, unrealistic, difficult, or 'out-of-my-league' the specific dream seemed to be.  When someone coined the phrase "dare to dream," I'm sort of thinking that a qualifier should have been added in my case.

Anyway, I soon learned that if I was seriously going to flirt with turning my grandiose, unrealistic, difficult, and 'out-of-my-league' dreams into reality, I would need to possess no small amount of determination -and, if I am to be truthful, I also must admit that it would have been highly beneficial at times if my determination had been accompanied by a plan -this latter element has always eluded me, and I have paid dearly at times for not having implemented a plan into my endeavors.  I have, instead, enthusiastically just grabbed the bull by the horns, and then tried to figure out what to do from that point on -(note: refer to above photo and ask yourself, "even with a plan, who is more likely to get dragged through the mud?").

So, it is not altogether surprising that the suitcases remain open and annoyingly empty.  This time, however, I have prepared myself as best I can  -arming myself with 2 and a half years of studies, numerous conferences, and a wonderful group of supportive friends.  I am entering a facility, whose staff could not possibly be more welcoming, and whose location is as lovely as a quintessential Swedish mid-summer's day.  Beside my suitcases stand a stack of books ready to accompany me on my journey -trusted words from mentors, such as Karen Pryor, Ken Ramirez, Bettina Hvidemose, Kathy Sdao, and Bob Bailey -they're all going with me, in spirit.

Chicken on a Chain and I leave on Monday.  He and I will most certainly face off again -we're both too set in our ways to forgo the wrestling match, but this time, I think my feet will stand a little firmer -for I somehow feel quite certain that whatever else I need to know in this profession, the animals themselves will now teach.