I’m not ready to go home, and I don’t think I ever will be. It’s so hard to imagine living day to day without seeing all the friends I’ve made. I’m going to need to buy a web cam, and by the way Mom and Dad, someday I’m going to have an Australian roommate.

This place changes you. We all know it. We all feel it. Even though I miss my family, there is no doubt in my mind that this is the greatest place on Earth.

I thought I was coming here to study polar bears and have a fun experience. That’s not at all what happened, not even close. I went up to the middle of nowhere, and my life changed forever. I came up here, and I learned how to save the world. I heard from every side of climate change. I spoke with ice road truckers, native trappers, Churchill residents, park wardens, and teachers. I was inspired by polar bears in their natural environment. But if I were to sum up my entire trip, I’d say this: I left Ohio a teenager who cares. Now, I’m returning home a servant to my planet.

Cleveland, I’m coming home.

Yesterday, it was my group’s turn to o help in the kitchen, so that’s why there was no blog yesterday. However, you missed a lot! So I will cover yesterday and today in this blog.

Last night, I finally got my wish. The family of bears we kept seeing finally came to investigate the Lodge! It was too dark for pictures, and we tried to keep the flash on our cameras off f or the bears’ comfort. So I don’t have any photos from last night. However, I have plenty of video!

Bear behavior fascinates me! The mother of the cubs, whom I’ve affectionately dubbed “Mama Bear” first paced around the Lodge, keeping her little ones quite close. But the cubs did not act weary at all, and in fact, they seemed almost as fascinated with us as we were of them! They stood on two legs and peered into our Lodge windows, chewed on the Lodge tires, and pranced around like Miss America. What a show they gave us! It got even more interesting as the night wore on. Eventually, ‘Mama Bear’ sauntered off towards the coast, and left her two curious cubs with us to explore. And you know how kids get. Give them an inch, and theysprint a mile. The cubs darted underneath and around the Lodge like pinballs! We all were running from Buggy car to Buggy car, just so we could keep up with them!

All right, there’s last night’s excitement. Now, on to today, because today was incredible. I, Maribeth Rosaria Flowers, can now proudly say I flew shotgun in a helicopter! Honestly, I felt like Air Force One, because five top of the line helicopters landed thirty feet from me!

We flew in style, heading south to the boreal forest to explore an abandoned maternal den of a polar bear. Landing was an adventure all of it own because when our doors flew open, we promptly received instructions saying, “Run in a straight line, and duck down low. Otherwise, your head will get chopped off by the helicopter blades!”

Walking on the ground in the boreal forest is like walking on a trampoline! The ground is so pliable and… well… squishy! The ground is covered in thick layers of lichen, making walking quite difficult. Some people’s feet actually sunk deep into the ground! I personally fell down on my behind, trying to outrun Julien (one of the Australian ambassadors) to the den. Gosh darn it, Australians are faster and have much better balance than I do! And to make things even more embarrassing, I landed right in front of our distinguished pilots (some of them are nationally renowned!) They got a laugh out of methough, when I explained that I have all the grace of a hippopotamus.

Maternal dens are quite dirty you know. I spent at least fifteen minutes picking lichen and dirt out of my hair today. While it was cool to see the den, I was disheartened as well. Most of the interior of the den has collapsed. This is a phenomenon spanning all across the area, because the permafrost that female bears use as their den is no longer frozen. Since the ground isn’t frozen anymore, they can’t keep their shape, so they collapse. Sometimes, bears are unlucky enough to be in then den while it collapses; many bears are dying because of this.

I’m so excited for tonight, because we’re throwing Sarah (Minneapolis ambassador) a surprise birthday party! Becca and I are also going to sing ‘Can Ta Tae Domino’ together.’ Last year, we both sang it for choir, so we’re going to do a reprise. Also, I’m learning Danish tonight from Eva! So lots going on.

Tonight we are also are composing our action plans for when we return home. I have one more blog coming tomorrow morning, so I will touch on it then. Right now, the bears are literally outside my window, so see ya later!

For the second day in a row, my morning started out on a sour note. I spent all night convulsing from the cold, even though I had on my hoodie, parka and slippers. Last night, I made the mistake of going out to see the Aurora Borealis while my hair was soaked from my shower. The lights were gorgeous, and we all had a blast out on the deck, but I froze my buns off! But I suppose it was worth the lack of sleep. You haven’t lived until you’ve seen the Aurora Borealis. It’s absolutely breathtaking. Emerald green and lilac are now some of my favorite colors because of it.

We spent the morning playing a hilarious round of Climate Change Jeopardy. To earn points, we could correctly answer questions, smack talk the other teams, or compliment
Eva’s sweater (most people chose compliments/ sucking up!) Eva, the ambassador from Denmark, was our beloved subjective judge. In fact, the winning team won with a score of 425 points, with 400 points coming from sucking up!

We ventured out into the tundra again today. I spent most of the time grumbling and moaning about how we couldn’t find any bears! I had expected Churchill to be crawling with bears; however, all you see out here, on this barren landscape are white boulders and sand.

We were on our way back to the Lodge when James exclaimed, “bear!” Thank goodness we found bears. To my surprise, it was the same mother and two cubs we saw yesterday. We also saw an arctic fox at the same time. I didn’t spend much time watching the fox. Instead I raced out onto the Buggy deck to get a better look at the bears. They were quite far away again, and without binoculars, they blended right in with the scattered boulders on the coast. But then the bear family waded into the bay, and it was the most beautiful sight so far on this trip! The stark contrast between the white bears and the deep cerulean water and the golden sand made for a gorgeous picture. Robert Buchanan mentioned to me that today was the first time in his twenty-six years of traveling in the arctic that he’s seen bears wading like that. For the second day in a row, we’ve been blessed enough to witness such a rare occurrence. I have plenty of photos to share!

We were fortunate enough to have some very special guests today. Aboriginals Jim and Betty Setii and wildlife trapper Parker Fitzpatrick shared with us their way of life and how to trap in the Arctic. Jim and Betty brought us homemade bread, rhubarb jam, and moose to eat along with our lunch. The bread was crusty like Italian bread, and the jam reminded me of my Aunt Nancy’s homemade jams. And I could barely tell the difference between moose and pot roast! It’s delicious.

Our guests also brought various animal pelts for us to pass around, including beavers, wolverines, red foxes, and even an arctic wolf! I actually held a wolf pelt in my lap (well, the skin was so large, it stretched into five people’s laps!)

I’ll never forget something Betty told us towards the end of the presentation, “The Earth is my mother. She is good to me, and so I will always be good to her. I do not like killing animals, but it is my way of life.” This speech opened my eyes, because I gained an entire new perspective into the fur trade. Now when I will begin my career as a game warden, I’ll have a respect and appreciation for trappers and hunters. I absolutely loved hearing Betty, Jim, and Parker speak, and Sam and I posed in a picture with them while holding the wolf pelt!

Every day here at Churchill, I’m gaining new perspectives of the world, and I’m learning so much about myself. And I’m more proud to be from Ohio than ever before (sounds insane I know, but it’s true.) I’m surrounded by the most intelligent, kind, inspirational people I’ve ever met, and I’m so humbled and proud to say I’m one of them!

So, my morning began much earlier than I had intended. The alarm on my phone started blaring at 4:00 AM! Curiously enough, my phone was off, so I was quite surprised (as was half of the bunk house; they weren’t pleased.)

Eventually, I dozed off again, only to be jolted awake by Robert Buchanan joyously singing “Oh What a Beautiful Morning” over and over. However, breakfast was delicious, so my morning ended up being quite pleasant.

After we ate, we began an open discussion about what exactly we would like to experience in Churchill. I personally mentioned that I would like to learn as much about the biodiversity as possible. However, my one wish was to see a polar bear. And I got my wish.

When we first spotted the mother and two cubs, my heart was racing like a NASCAR dragster! We spotted the bears sauntering down the coast of Western Hudson Bay. They were about half a mile away, but their coats still shined a brilliant white in the sun. You couldn’t miss them.

The Buggy rolled up closer to the bears, and that’s when I began taking some shots. I’ve got video as well Cleveland! Can’t wait to show you all.

At first, the mother bear would continue to glance back at the Buggy. She warily watched us as her cubs bounced down the coast. They didn’t mind our presence; they just wanted to play.

Lucky for us, the mother relaxed in our presence. She sprawled out on her stomach, while her cubs wandered off to play. One curious cub rolled around on the ground, and it started chewing on a stick! This particular bear was quite active, and seemed to enjoy putting on a show. The other was more mellow and preferred dozing off on the tundra.

I felt incredibly blessed to witness a mother and two cubs. For a female to get pregnant at all, she must first have enough fat stores for a fetus to develop. So the fact that we saw a mother with two cubs was very encouraging. That’s a sign that this bear is healthy. Robert Buchanan also mentioned to me that sometimes females can’t take care of two cubs at once. What a rare, spectacular sight these bears were! I was completely mesmerized.

On the way back to the Lodge, I had a very intriguing discussion with the ambassadors from Australia. I learned that a defining difference between America and Australia is that Australia is not given the constitutional right to bear arms. Gun control simply isn’t an issue there like it is back home. It’s a concept I have a hard time wrapping my head around.

When we returned from the Buggy trip, we broke off into groups and started collaborating on our upcoming presentations. Each group is going to present two chapters from one of the books we read prior to the trip, called Impacts of a Warming Arctic. I won’t give too much away, however our presentation involves a couple of parkas, and a joke about condiments!

After working in our groups, Lisa Gilbert (one of the adult facilitators) gave a presentation. The goal of the presentation was to teach us on how to be a great public speaker, but I got so much more out of it. My whole life, I’ve struggled with standing up in front of a crowd. However, I learned from Lisa’s presentation, that stress is very manageable. Stretching and speaking slowly are my new weapons against shaky knees and fidgeting!

Last night was clear enough to see the Aurora Borealis, however the colors weren’t very vivid. Hopefully tonight it will be more vibrant.

I’m looking forward to tomorrow. Hopefully we’ll see many more bears. I’m hooked and I can’t get enough of them!

4:15 a.m. Winnipeg time feels very different from 4:15 a.m. Brecksville time! I was up and ready to go this morning. That’s quite uncharacteristic for me. But in order to catch our flight to Churchill today, we had to be in the lobby and ready to walk out the door by 5:00 a.m.

I’ve never really been that impressed with flying. Being thousands of feet in the air just doesn’t excite me. However, my opinion has changed greatly, since our flight to Churchill. The sunrise was spectacular, and the clouds are breathtaking at 20,000 feet! I have pictures and video to bring home from that flight!

After we landed, our first stop was at the Parks Canada offices, the hub of the 11,000 square kilometer Wapusk National Park. I felt right at home, since I practically live in the Brecksville Metroparks myself. I enjoyed the tour very much. There were many intriguing taxidermy displays, each highlighting the natural history and wildlife of Churchill. Also, I got to touch a polar bear! …Pelt that is. Their fur has a very coarse top layer, with a plush undercoat. Oh, and by the way, their paws are about the size of a dinner plate.

After that, we rode a rickety (but reliable) bus to the “Polar Bear Jail.” This compound is where nuisance bears are taken and temporarily held, until they can be released back into the wild, away from town. I was very excited to visit here, because we spoke with one of the natural resource officers. I want to be one as well, so I made sure to ask him some questions about his education and background. We also got to see the humane traps used to catch polar bears. Imagine a giant cylinder shaped pipe made of steel. That’s basically what’s used; catching polar bears doesn’t require advanced technology. Oh, and one more thing I learned there: giant mosquitoes do exist! One landed on me as we were leaving the compound. Thank goodness I was wearing my thick gloves today, because this sucker was as big as my knuckle!

We also visited an abandoned laboratory, used in the middle of the 20th century to study the effects of oil on polar bears. The place was a total mess; glass and sawdust were strewn around, and the furniture was overturned. It looked so bad, I had originally thought perhaps a bear had broken in and trashed the place. But apparently, it just got trashed while it got abandoned. However, I was more distracted by the outcome of the research, because all three polar bears that were tested on died from ingesting the oil. The results of his study were published and are still referenced today as evidence that when a polar gets coated with oil (which is likely to happen if there is an oil spill) the bear will lick its fur to try to clean itself. The ingested oil is fatal to the bears. This evidence has been helping in keeping oil tankers out of this area of the Hudson Bay.

After we boarded the bus, we discussed how we felt about the experiment. Some thought perhaps it was a necessary evil, because otherwise we wouldn’t have documented proof that oil kills bears. Others argued it wasn’t worth sacrificing the bears. We were invited to draw our own conclusions – and even though this discussion was about polar bears, it was definitely thought provoking in a way I didn’t quite expect on this first day in Churchill.

The day ended with our ride to the Tundra Buggy Lodge. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any bears on the way. However, we did see Canadian huskies (a dog breed specific to this region), and a flock of ptarmigans (they are about the size of a seagull but they are ground dwelling birds.) We got to really observe the landscape on the way. There are sparse groups of conifers, and many dark colored shrubs. And there’s water everywhere. We've seen shallow pools, large ponds, and the Hudson Bay.

We unloaded into the Tundra Buggy Lodge, unpacked, and assigned bunks. We’re all done for the night now. The sky is going to be clear tonight, so perhaps we’ll see the Aurora Borealis! I’m quite tired from all the bus rides today, however I’m very excited for tomorrow. Hopefully I’ll see my first bear soon!