Oregon Primate Research Center

Wednesdays are our activity nights at the church, and we decided that for the activity, we would go to the OHSU Primate Research center.

I had no idea that we even had a Primate center so close to us, so it was quite an experience. I told my mom that I would probably never see that many monkeys at the same time in my entire life! We saw the Rhesus Monkeys first (see picture below). There were about 150 of them in a huge outdoor area. It was fun to watch them all play, and the babies were really cute. The tour guide told us that they live to be only about 8 or 9 in the wild, but here they are living to be double that age. The guide told us that in Seattle there is a male monkey that is 45 years old. She also said that these monkeys were bred specifically for the research. They didn't take any from the wild. Overall they have about 3,000 monkeys.
Next we went and saw some more monkeys. They were another kind of Rhesus, but I can't remember the full name. They were climbing all over the cages, and they had even more babies in their cages. She said that by 2 days old the babies are able to jump and climb around without falling. They were very curious, and the all found their "Buddies" (as the tour guide would say), and sat next to each other while we watched. Below is a picture of the cages where the monkeys above stayed. They lined both sides of the path, and it smelled like a zoo. It is really amazing some of the things they are studying with the monkeys. They are studying fertility treatments, AIDS ( because the type of AIDS the monkeys get is very similar to the kind humans get), Behavior, and lots lots LOTS more. We also got to go inside a Lab where someone was working on fertility treatments. When women have cancer, and they have to go through all of the treatments, they sometimes go infertile. So she was working on helping women who have had cancer but still want children. So we got to see some monkey eggs under a microscope. It was very cool.

School (Again)

I have now been to school for a total of 2 days, and i have now seen all of my classes. Friday I went to all of my Honors Classes. First I had Honors English. I think that this class will be a lot of fun, and the teacher seems really nice. She told us that she was in High School when she was 12! She said that when she started school, they put her right into 2nd grade because her parents and the school figured she could do the work. So she graduated really young, and got her degree when she was 19! I don't know about you, but I thought that was pretty cool!

My next class was Honors Biology. I have a sub until they can find a teacher for us. The sub kept babbling on about evolution, and he didn't stop talking for the entire block (which is about 88 minutes long). Then I had PE. I am one of only about 8 girls, and there are a total of 58 students in all. So I think this class will be a challenge only because there are only two girls who will probably even participate ( My friend and I). And last but not least, I had my Honors American Studies class. The teacher got right to the point with all of us, and he even assigned a Research assignment already! Its on the Spanish- American War 1898. So I need to get started on it because it is due next class.

Back to School

School has finally started! Summer went by way to quickly, but I will be happy to be back so I get my brain working again! :0) I did have summer homework though, but it took till the end of summer to finish it. But at least its done.

Anyways, Seminary, hmmmmm.......I have to get up at 5:00 to be able to be ready by 6:15. Man it kills me! The first few weeks are okay, but then I realize that I have to do it for months, and months, and months! Ahhhhhh! So anyways, when I went to seminary today, we had assigned seating. I was stuck by this guy that is okay and I get along with pretty well. Anyways I walked in and was playing around saying I didn't want to sit by this person and blah, blah, blah. Well I walked out of the room to talk to some friends before seminary started, and when I walked back in this guy from my ward had moved his name tag over so he could sit next to me ( I have a sneaky suspicion that he likes me, but I don't like him, because he does things like this allllll of the time, and it bugs me ). So I was kind of shocked and was hoping the teacher would say something because I didn't want to be rude. Finally she noticed and sent him back to his seat. Whewww! Besides that I am the secritary for seminary and have to take attendance and am in charge of assigning devotionals.

School was very good. I am soooo happy I am not a freshman anymore!!! Even though some people still think I am. My school is on a block schedule, and so we have 8 classes all together but we only have four one day and four the next. So today I had Culinary II, Clay Arts 1, Algebra2, and Spanish 2. Culinary will be fun, as always, and I have some friends in that class so that is a plus. Clay Arts will be interesting because the teacher is crazy and hippyish. But other than that I have 1 friend in that class (who is best friends with Hope), and i am looking forward to making art! Algebra will be okay, but I am never thrilled for math. We had to go and get these graphing calculators, which are HUGE! Well not HUGE but they are pretty big. Spanish 2 will be interesting also, because I have a new teacher to the school. She seems nice enough, but I want the teacher that I had last year (but she doesn't teach spanish 2 :( ) Schools good, and I know my way around, but the school seems much more crowded than last year. Navigating the lunch room is horrendous and same with the halls. When i come to the intersections in the halls, there are no gaps to squeeze through to get to the other side, so you have to make one. I feel bad about shoving people, but that is the only way through! Tomorrow I have different classes and they are my Honors Core classes and PE, so hopfully that will be okay.