First day of work...in the aquarium

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This morning it was so hard to wake up. My room was freezing! I guess it’s getting to be the colder season here in Madrid. I got dressed, packed a little snack, and took the Metro to Casa de Campo. At that stop I’m supposed to take the bus to the zoo, but when the bus arrived, the driver said it was going to wait there for 10 more minutes - but I was already late, but I waited anyway. When I finally got to the zoo, I was 20 min. late. I introduced to me some of the other workers that I was supposed to follow today. First, Elena showed me how to clean the glass on the tanks. Then, Rosa arrived and I followed her the rest of the day. I learned to clean the filters, check the pH, change the filters, and clean the skimmers. I also helped feed the hammerheads and rays. At 11, we break for breakfast, so that’s cool, I’ll get a free breakfast every morning. But yeah, that’s pretty much it. I don’t get to do any actual veterinary activities. There’s a quarantine where there’s a fish we’re treating, but that’s the closest. I asked if I could go to the clinic, and they said they would take me, but I don’t know when - when I go, I’m going to ask the vet if I can maybe shadow him a few days, or if there’s some kind of interesting case or surgery, if he’ll let me come and watch, but pretty much I’m really bummed! I’m going to e-mail Adelante tomorrow and ask them why my paper says I’ll be a vet assistant, but I’m def. not…and I’m in the aquarium! Not even my main focus of animals! Ugh. But on the up-side, I get to SCUBA dive and possibly get up close with the dolphins and sea lions! So that would be cool.
Around 1 my first day was over, so I just stayed in the zoo, looking around a little bit. It’s pretty big, and it’s got a good selection of animals. This Malaysian bear was my favorite; he was pretty cute and active. After I left, I walked to the Metro…which was much further than I thought it was, and went home. When I got to the house, nobody was there, so I just fixed my dinner and fell asleep.
When I woke up, Jasmine and Virginia were in the living room talking to Charo. So I joined. It was kinda fun, we talked a lot, and Charo was pretty funny! I found out she’s 77 years old! I couldn’t believe it! I guess it’s because she “goes to the street” and walks everyday.
So, after some tea and cookies, I went back to my room and talked to Ray for a little while, then went to sleep.

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