I am really starting to like it here in Winnipeg. Or, maybe more to the point, I'm starting to love what I'm doing at the Manitoba Museum and that's helped lift my spirits. I'm slowly (well, is it really that slow when it's only been two weeks?) developing a bit of a social life among some of my colleagues, and I have been placed in touch with a number of people (some of whom I have not yet contacted). There is a very nice girl from Germany who is also doing an internship. Her name is Silke and we've hit it off famously. Sadly, she leaves next weekend, but I feel comfortable saying I will have found my social footing by then. In the meantime, Silke and I are having adventures. Last Sunday, she and I went to the Spirit Sands at Spruce Woods Provincial Park, which is a place of great beauty. Let me offer a tidbit from an email I sent a friend:

She and I hiked the entire park, which wasn't that long a trail, but so much of it was up and down great, deep sand dune hills of steepness you would not believe that it took us over five hours. It was a gorgeous day - the sun was out, the sky was nearly cloudless, there was a cool autumn breeze, but it was still warm. I regret wearing a long-sleeved shirt. ... Five hours and we met maybe 15 people in total. It was just amazing. I can understand how the First Nations peoples believe that wind blwing through was the voice of the Creator - it's amazing.

The country on the way toward the park, which is heading west toward Brandon from Winnipeg, is extremely flat. I thought the city was flat. Wow. Flaaaaaat. I saw my first grain elevator, which somehow wasn't as exciting as I thought it was going to be. People talk about the vast beauty of the prairie sky, too, but on a cloudless day, it's pretty flat, too. However, the park and the region around it was awesome and well worth an hour and a half of fairly bland scenery.

This weekend, Silke and I are going to Kenora. People keep telling us how beautiful it is. There's a boat cruise, which we will maybe take, and a bar (duh), and a giant fish statue called Husky the Musky. I'm sure we'll pose with the latter. We are going to rent a room in a cheap motel, too, and ... I don't know. Presumably we'll visit the bar. I don't know what else there is to do in Kenora. Silke's going to pick me up at 11am and then it's about two-and-a-half hours east in "shield country", which I have to say, I'm kind of missing. Heh.

As far as the Museum goes, I'm keeping well busy. This week has had me doing various things, including teaching (five different classes) in the Living on the Edge exhibit, researching trilobites and brainstorming trilobite display ideas, sitting in on meetings, and generally leaving me feeling very spun out. I have a private(ish) cubby office in Paleo, which is kind of nice, with a networked computer, but every chair on this floor is hard and makes my butt hurt. In Education, I'm sharing office space and use a communal computer (or Kinsey, the laptop Rick gave me), and people are always cutting through both. Space in this place is at a serious premium.

So now it's time to get back to my trilobites. I don't know when I'll have the time to update this journal again, but hopefully soon.