{"id":6171,"date":"2014-05-29T13:11:16","date_gmt":"2014-05-29T12:11:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bvblog.wpengine.com\/?p=6171"},"modified":"2014-06-18T13:20:39","modified_gmt":"2014-06-18T12:20:39","slug":"not-average-wednesday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/not-average-wednesday\/","title":{"rendered":"A day in the life: Not your average Wednesday"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Madison Kane<\/a>, Expedition Manager, Madagascar<\/em><\/p>\n

From the perspective of a staff member who was once a volunteer<\/a>, I understand the \u2018I’m-only-here-for-six-weeks\u2019 feeling and making an effort to get everything you want\u00a0done, in just 45 days. Knowing this feeling, we typically have\u00a0a jam\u00a0packed schedule (of fun)\u00a0each day\u00a0for our volunteers \u2013 a schedule so busy and set out, that often\u00a0you\u2019ll be confused on day 46 when there\u2019s no set schedule at dinner telling you exactly what\u2019s on for tomorrow!<\/p>\n

\"going

Going out on the morning dive<\/p><\/div>\n

Now, I bet you\u2019re thinking what I would consider \u2018jam\u00a0packed\u2019, so let me tell you about my Wednesday:<\/p>\n

05.30: Wake-up, brush my teeth, pull myself into a wetsuit and set up my dive gear\u2026wishing I had a coffee.<\/em>
\n 05.45: Listening to the dive briefing, admiring the incredible sunrise and peeking down the hill to see the village start their day.<\/em>
\n 06.00: Dive #1 \u2013 Peak performance buoyancy at Valleys<\/em>
\n 08.00: Breakfast<\/em>
\n 09.00: Dive #2 \u2013 Fish point-outs at Near Shore Coco Beach<\/em>
\n 11.00: Dive #3 \u2013 fish Test at Lovobe<\/em>
\n 13.00: Lunch!<\/em>
\n 14.00: Hammock time, science studying, volleyball, your call!<\/em>
\n 15.00: English with a Malagasy partner<\/em>
\n 16.00: Velondriake lecture with Mr. Roger<\/em>
\n 17.00: Computer fish test, Round 2<\/em>
\n 18.00: Duties<\/em>
\n 19.15: Vao Vao (Malagasy for ‘what’ s the news?’)<\/em>
\n 19.30: Dinner<\/em>
\n 20.00: Tantara (A game, story, picture Sharing, etc.)<\/em>
\n 21.00: Lights out, bed time!<\/em><\/p>\n

\"volunteer

A view of the volunteer huts<\/p><\/div>\n

As you can see, the days are definitely busy. I bet your next question is \u2018where do I find time to do anything else?\u2019 Some days we let you lie in until breakfast, especially in the winter months when sunrise isn’t until 6.30am and other days, schedule depending, you may only be on one dive. Most volunteers average 1-2 dives per day, weather dependent of course, so when you\u2019re not diving, you will have time study, relax, visit the village, swim, snorkel, etc.<\/p>\n

In the afternoons, when the electricity is running, we schedule lectures with guest speakers from various projects or continue to pile through all the science you’ve got to learn. Remember, this is just my Wednesday\u2026 there’s six\u00a0other days in the week to fit in!<\/p>\n

\"dive

Busy doing some of the dive theory during the PADI courses<\/p><\/div>\n

Saturdays are a \u2018dry-day\u2019 and activities like cooking classes, assisting with BV’s Education <\/a>work, a trip to the baobabs, sailing, mangroves, and many others occur.<\/p>\n

Sunday is day off \u2013 whatever you want to do, it\u2019s up to you! Bearing in mind that you only have 6 weeks here, I personally chose to keep my Sundays pretty full\u2026 even now as a staff member I like to keep myself busy. It\u2019s a great day to plan something like a picnic sail over lunch hour, a zebu cart ride to the baobabs, or lunch at a local Italian restaurant with a pleasant sunset sail home – those are my favourites, to list just a few.<\/p>\n

In addition to a daily schedule, at some point during your expedition you will have the opportunity to help other projects – join Rado in Lamboara to monitor spider tortoises, head to Befandefa with Safidy<\/a>, go to Belevanoke with Silvere for a Shark and Turtle <\/a>mission, or join the Aquaculture <\/a>team in Tampolove to monitor sea cucumbers and harvest seaweed.<\/p>\n

\"DSCF4135\"

Happy volunteers!<\/p><\/div>\n

Keep in mind that this is an expedition, not a vacation, so you will be encouraged to participate in all the planned activities, though some might not be \u2018your thing\u2019 \u2013 you really don\u2019t want to go home regretting not participating in something. There many other things to do here in Andava, but you\u2019re going to have to figure that out for yourself. Though, I will advise you, your heart will fall in love with Andavadoaka and you most definitely won\u2019t want to go home, but we only live once, so dream big, take chances, and support conservation. Challenge yourself and travel with a purpose. Pack your bags and see you next expedition?! \u2026 I\u2019ve got Thursday to plan!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Madison Kane, Expedition Manager, Madagascar From the perspective of a staff member who was once a volunteer, I understand the \u2018I’m-only-here-for-six-weeks\u2019 feeling and making an effort to get everything you want\u00a0done, in just 45 days. Knowing this feeling, we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":105,"featured_media":6181,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,471,478],"tags":[515,489,512,485,516,511],"class_list":["post-6171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-velondriake-madagascar","category-volunteer-expeditions","category-volunteer-stories","tag-diving","tag-education-2","tag-expeditions-2","tag-marine-conservation","tag-marine-research","tag-volunteering"],"yoast_head":"\nA day in the life: Not your average Wednesday - Blue Ventures - Beyond Conservation blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"by Madison Kane, Expedition Manager, Madagascar From the perspective of a staff member who was once a volunteer, I understand the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.blueventures.org\/en\/not-average-wednesday\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A day in the life: Not your average Wednesday - 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