week 6 Ginger zone 4 "KaliWali"

When I walked my zone on Monday, it was a little cleaner than it has been in the past few weeks.


My favorite thing to look forward to is greeting Sonny, John and Jesse as they "greet the Sun" at Crystal Pier.  The Ancient Polynesian Martial Art they are practicing is called "KaliWali" which means "mindfulness". 

Here is some of what I found today:   (3 bags)
1 pair of goggles
10 toys including one purple mouse cat toy
5 brightly colored water balloons
1 blowing plastic bag (please say no to plastic bags---they never biodegrade)
2 ziplock bags
23 butts
1 cigar
2 plastic cigar tips
21 straws
10 plastic bottle caps
1 pair of boxer shorts
1 pair of extra small pink lacy victoria's secret panties
2 towels
2 aluminum cans
5 plastic bottles
2 glass bottles
1 plastic cup
1 plastic fork
2 empty cigarette packs


The funniest thing was:  Beached Barbie 

The best part of my day was when I went back to the beach on Monday evening.  I was walking in my zone and noticed several large holes.  One was by a family who was packing up and they had a full size garden shovel with them.  I took a deep breath, thought about KaliWali, and approached them with a smile.  After saying hello I explained that I helped monitor the beach for sea turtle nesting activity and explained that nesting turtles could easily become trapped in holes.  They began filling in the hole and thanked me profusely for the work that we do for sea turtles.  They asked about ordinances for holes which I was able to explain; and they told me about a children's book their child had just gotten about sea turtles.  They were really happy to help.  I left feeling great about our interaction.


As I walked farther down the beach, there was another very large hole, so I began to fill it in.  There was a young family in the life guard stand watching me.  The little girl (about 3 years old) came running down and in the cutest way said:  "It took me all day to dig that hole!".  I giggled and told her she had certainly done a great job at digging such a large hole and then explained to her that I was filling it in because sea turtles sometimes come on the beach at night to lay eggs and if they fell into the hole it could hurt them.  She immediately started helping me push dirt in the hole with her tiny hands.  Her young parents came down and also joined in.  The mother explained that she often has dreams that she and her daughter are flying and they are watching sea turtles; and she hopes to get more involved with the sea turtles some day as she is looking for some bigger meaning in life.  As our conversation continued, I learned that the mother had just recently finished her last round of chemo for breast cancer.  


I am so thankful that I took the time to practice "KaliWali", approached these families with openness vs. frustration, and had the chance to share education and receive education at the same time.  The universe is so good to us when we allow it to happen.