I could not possibly be more excited right now. Today, a monkey licked my ear! A MONKEY. LICKED! MY! EAR!!!

I suppose I should back up and explain. (Wouldn't it be funny if I didn't?)

Tuesday morning was my first trip out to Little Zoo. I had no idea where it was! I was supposed to call on Monday and remind them that I was coming out there. I did, and I also added, "And hey, can you tell me what exit to take, since I don't actually know how to get there?" I fully expected a reply later that day, but no such luck. Tuesday morning, I called them but again, no answer. So I called Kirsten for the first time! I have kind of a weird phone phobia, especially when calling people for the first time, so I hadn't actually ever called Kirsten before. I got to hear her voice and leave a message for her, which was kind of cool. It broke the phone ice. Or some other weird metaphor. Anyway, she called me back shortly and asked, "Okay, so where are you?" Luckily, I hadn't actually left yet. She gave me directions, which I jotted down and then we talked for a couple minutes before her class started. It was so cool talking to her!

I headed out to Little Zoo and ended up calling Kirsten again because I got lost. I felt silly, because I knew I was on the right street. I thought I'd turned the right direction. But I kept driving up and down the same street, not finding anything other than houses with basketball nets out front! Kirsten told me to look for the third driveway, and that I'd see a tall brown fence on the right and a low grey fence on the left with flowers in front of it. Pretty soon, I found it! I got off the phone and walked up the pathway, and didn't see a gate anywhere. I tried to find the front of the house, which sounds weird, but it wasn't very obvious at all. As I walked up to it, about to ring the bell, a woman opened the door and said, "Can I help you?" I told her I was looking for Little Zoo and she seemed to think I was completely insane. "This is all residential," she said. I told her I knew I was on the right street, though, so she suggested trying the other direction, past the intersection.

I did exactly that, and what do you know? There it was! It was uncanny, too -- on BOTH sides of the intersection, at the third driveway, there is a tall brown fence on the right and a short grey fence on the left with flowers in front of it! How confusing!! There should be some kind of rule against that!

Anyway, I was buzzed inside the gate and the lady I'd spoken to on the phone, Paula, came out to meet me. She was really friendly and introduced me to the other folks there.

Pretty soon, I was already at work -- I scrubbed the refrigerators so the new produce could be put inside. The guy there, Shawn, told me, "It doesn't have to be perfect." But. Yes, it does! Heh. I don't know, I'm a weirdo when I clean. I like to be really thorough and get all the spots off. And I just figured I'd clean it as well as I'd clean my fridge at home, so that's what I did. I scrubbed it top to bottom, inside and out. I still didn't get to clean it as well as I really wanted to, because Shawn was ready to put the food inside before I was totally done. So I just got out of the way and let him store the food, then I cleaned the outside of the fridge. Later, Paula asked, "Did you already finish with the refrigerators?" and I said yes.

Shawn was in the room and added, "Yeah, she practically scrubbed all the paint off of them!"

Paula smiled and said, "Well, that's what you have to do sometimes!" Then she showed me around and pointed out some other projects that needed finishing that day, including pruning some trees and pulling weeds.

I used this really big set of shears to do all the pruning. I didn't really know what I was doing, but I guessed and hoped, and when I was done, Paula told me it was perfect. Awesome! I pruned another tree, and some large plants, then pulled quite a few weeds. While I was out there, I was surprised at how relaxed I felt and how much I enjoyed myself. I liked aching a little from working hard outdoors. I liked making the trees look nice and clearing out the weeds. And I liked the way the breeze felt against my skin as I got completely sweaty from head to toe. Who knew working outside on the yard all afternoon by myself could be such a peaceful experience?

During the weed pulling, Simon the capuchin monkey finally noticed me, and when he did, he clung to the fence and chattered at me. He seemed incredibly excited, putting his hands over his head and dancing in circles. He was like, "Oh my god, new person!! COME OVER HERE, NEW PERSON!!!" So cute. I really wanted to see him, but thought it probably wasn't allowed, especially as a brand new volunteer. I crossed my fingers that I'd get to see him up close soon enough.

Paula thanked me for all my work and asked if I wanted to return any more days this week. I said, "Yeah, I'd love to come back Friday to work with Kirsten."

She said, "That'd be dynamite!"

Continue to Part 2...