Back from Beyond

Wherever that was. I am finally rejoining the family blogging circle. Now that I've been back from Japan almost as long as I was there, I thought that changing the blog title and converting to Blogger was the way to go.

I had an awesome interview today. The more I think about it, the more I think that my dream of working for The Nature Conservancy, while still there, is only one option in the bigger dream of Restoring the Environment, that will hopefully lead to (or be done in conjunction with) Educating People About Nature, thereby causing the creation of Near Utopian Standards of Living for Everyone. So anyway, the interview was with a company called Minnesota Native Landscaping. It sounds like it's growing, with lots of interesting different avenues being explored, like energy from biomass (a little iffy but often with restoration projects there is leftover biomass, and why not use it?), green roofs, and other cool stuff. The president of the company himself came in and drilled me with some random questions about Japan (not on my resume, but it came up) and whether I was "anchored" already in the Twin Cities, or if I would be open to moving closer to the office. Seems like a good sign to be asked that sort of question. I told them that I was looking for a permanent position, eventually, after doing a seasonal job at first. It was crazy how they seemed to know a lot of the people I had worked with--definitely good for me. They were so comfortable that we started joking around right away, and one of them even dropped a couple of s-bombs to my surprise (they probably had a talk about it later--then again maybe not!). *Happy sigh* Thursday I have an interview with another landscaping place. This one is not all native landscaping, so not ideal, but the drive is shorter.

In other news, I am going to White Earth Reservation in northern Minnesota for the month of March. I will be doing a lot of physical work, and possibly (hopefully!) tapping maple trees for maple syrup! I hear it's messy work, but I'm all for it! I'm reading a book now about the Anishinabe'ojibway (spelling varies) tribe who live on the White Earth, Red Lake, Prairie Island and other reservations in Minnesota. The more I read, the sadder I feel about the history and current situation of the aboriginal indigenous people of this continent. It's the least I can do to volunteer for them, especially at White Earth where they have a growing effort to restore their land and culture. It's called the White Earth Land Recovery Project, and you can find them here: http://nativeharvest.com/ along with their Native Harvest products.

I have also applied to grad school in Norway. I will find out in May if I get in, but I don't know how good my chance is. They didn't ask for an essay, or letters of reference, or a resume. Only my transcripts and an application. That's how they do it there I guess! Which brings me to my blog name, "Daughter of Norway," which is what my friend Ray has been calling me, and even though I know I am also the daughter of Sweden, Germany, France, etc., I feel the most affinity for Norway and am now learning Norwegian. It's always good to know your roots.

Har det bra! (lit. "have it good" but means goodbye--did I get the spelling right?)