Eric's Blog | ekventer (aka adventure)

A rainy week in Chile

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 14:00:27 -0300

This past week down in the wonderful land of Chile, we have been cursed with rain. When you don't bring a lot of clothes to begin with, and they all get covered in mud, it's not fun. Luckily for us today has turned out to be spectacular. When my roommate and I woke up and looked at the clock we saw that we were five minutes late for work out. We ran out of our gypsy cabin in the mud to get out there and made it just in time to not get in trouble.

The last American man

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 14:20:07 -0300

The Last American man is a true story about a man named Eustace Conway. Eustace Conway ever since he was a boy believed that man was corrupt. Eustace thinks that it is much better to live in the woods than waste your life in a box. In Eustace's own words says," people sleep in a box, wake up and eat from a box, then get in a box and drive to work, where they get into another box, and type on another box. They go home and sit on the couch and watch the box. The next day they start all over again." Eustace Conway is the sort of man that pulls over on the side of the road and picks up roadkill. As long as it's not too old he will take it home for dinner even though most the time his home was a teepee. Eustace Conway now lives on a preserve that he bought called turtle Island. There he teaches people how to connect with nature.

Wow I am so far behind

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 14:07:55 -0300

Last quarter I read last American man, Into the Wild, and Monkey Wrench Gang. I have a lot to catch up on In my blog.

The Owl

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 13:55:41 -0300

The newest site that I have come across for writing and grammar is the Owl. The Owl was designed by the writing wing at the Purdue University. there are many great exercises and an entire library full of good information.

Study skills experiment 1 -- audio recordings

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 13:20:38 -0300

I am going to use a combination of dictation software and QuickTime audio clips to assist memorizing punctuation and grammar rules. Click here for a list of audio clips I am producing to help me memorize the rules.

The Best of Chile

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 10:45:46 -0300

This last week at New River Academy we have been staying at the seven tea cups. We have are classes by the comfort of fire. On the cold rainy days we work extra hard so we can have maximum time on the water. When the rain lets up we head out and go down some of the worlds most beautiful water falls. I have to say that Chile is the most amazing place I have every been. We spent the last day learning how to get out of steep take outs. Over the past three weeks we have traveled from the maipo valley at 8,000 feet to surfing 20 foot monsters on the beaches of pichlenu. Not all of this trip is fun and games in the past three weeks we have had to squeeze in our classes before we are allowed to go out and paddle. Every night I would say I have about ten minutes of free time before lights out at 10:30.

A normal day at NRA starts with wake up at 7:45 for morning work out. They let us have a little more sleep because we have full filed days. We eat the most important meal of the day at 8:30 and classes start at 9:00. when 1-3 are over we go to lunch the next best meal of the day. We ether have a half day of finish up with 4-6. On a half day we get an extra couple hours of paddling, Which I love. Over the past week I have been very great full to have a bomber skirt. Bomber skirts are a great way to keep the water out of you boat. I have found that I have never had a skirt implosion with my bomber skirt. when we come back from a great day of paddling we get back and eat dinner the best meal of the day. After dinner the power turns on and we then have study hall were we nock out are homework. When study hall is over I go to bed and dream of the 20 foot water falls we have just run.

First day of the New quarter

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 21:00:32 -0300

Today was our first day of school in Chile. We had class down on the banks of the Miapo. listening to the water as we worked on our physics was extremely relaxing. It helped us concentrate on the experiment we put together. We used a teeter-totter and our back packs to find the weight of a student.

Ender's Game

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:27:16 -0400

After Huck I had the privilege to read Ender's Game. A book about a kid that calculates his odds of success in every challenge he faces. This relates to my life in a way. I don't calculate but I know my odds going in to every challenge that I encounter. From reading a difficult book to being on a raging class five river. It was made possible to read Ender's Game by the audio books in itunes. I was able to download this book and put it on to my ipod so that I could read and understand anytime, anywhere.

Marc Devine

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 15:51:13 -0400

I was going on to the other books I read this summer and more resources, but I couldn't get Marc Devine off my mind. Many great folks have influenced my life but Marc touched me with a special voice. Huckleberry Finn was the first book I thrilled in during this sixteen year journey - Mark through Marc ignited my quest for my voice.

Dear Marc,

I may or may not forget your name as the years pass, but I will never forget your voice. Your passion brought Huck and friends to life right before my eyes ... and has changed my life. I hope that one day I can do incredible things to help others in the way that you have helped me.

Sincerely,

Eric

Huckleberry Finn

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 18:44:03 -0400

This summer I read one of my new favorite books, Huckleberry Finn. I wouldn't have been able to read this book with out getting frustrated if it wasn't for using loudlit.org, which is an online reading website that has audio books. I also used Google book's free Huckleberry Finn to follow along with the reader of the audio book. The reader was Marc Devine and his rendition of Huck Finn was mesmerizing - thanks Marc! This was just one of the several books I had the opportunity to read this summer. Now that it doesn't take me two years to finish one chapter I love to read and learn. Next time I will talk about other resources and tools I discovered while reading some other great books.