Last week I talked plenty about my first impressions of Coos Ba(e) so I think I’m going to use the time this week to discuss my job, the workplace, and my project for the summer. So the main focus of my project is to acquire and compile professional images of the South Coast of Oregon to be used for marketing purposes. Currently, I’m assisting in a Travel Oregon grant with the city of Gold Beach to hire some local photographers to complete a photo project that seeks to highlight the “dopeness” of the South Coast (not actual quotes from contract). The grant has specific images that they want to capture but the main subject matter focuses on outdoor recreation, natural features, and wildlife characteristic of Oregon’s South Coast. Steps to getting the ball rolling have involved looking through a good amount of professional photographer websites, writing up contracts, and making calls to as well as meeting the photographers. It’s awesome to look at the different styles of all these photographers and kind of determine based on that whether they could really capture what we’re looking for with the project. If they’re within our budget is also kind of an important deciding factor. But yeah, this aspect of the job has been pretty sweet for sure.

Miles about to send that dimpled ball to school

Another pretty sweet part of the position is being able to meet and connect with people I never would have met in a thousand years. For instance, last Friday, my boss Miles and I visited the La Kris Inn in Bandon to meet with the owners who also happen to be photographers, Susan and Steve Dimmock. What was supposed to be a short business meeting turned into a three hour meet and greet with a side of business. They were disgustingly kind, their inn is really cute, and their photography is dope! They will be taking pictures for us for the Photo Project and I will possibly be able to join them for a few nights to watch them do their thing, so I’m super stoked for that. If you got time you should definitely check them out at http://www.susandimock.com/ and  http://www.stevedimock.com/. On Wednesday, I was lucky enough to play my first ever game of golf at the Bandon Dunes Golf Reserve. Tim Scahill, the Digital Marketing Specialist of the reserve, took Catie, Miles, and I out of the office for a few hours to slap a few dimpled balls. I sucked immensely but it was still great fun getting to know Tim and the view was spectacular. But yeah, there’s a good amount of socializing amidst all this work which is something that I really enjoy.

Since starting the job two weeks ago we have had a wild amount of meetings (11 to be exact). And I’m not just talking about meetings with like two or three people, I’m talking full conference room, Parks and Rec-esque meetings that usually have a wide variety of individuals ranging from Oregon Fish & Wildlife to mountain-biking clubs. Literally, the first day after meeting Miles, Catie and I sat in on a meeting for the South Coast Tourism Steering Committee. This committee is comprised of individuals from a number of different organizations, all with the intent on promoting tourism for the South Coast. An hour into that meeting and I realized that I was in the show Parks and Rec and that Miles was a less-stached Ron Swanson. I guess that makes me Tom Haverford? But yeah, while these meetings can sometimes be lengthy and I might not be as informed about the topic of debate as the other characters, they are extremely enriching because it makes me realize just how many people from different walks of life/areas of expertise/job positions it takes to help solve relevant issues. Everyone’s voice and perspective is unique and needed. Don’t you forget that!

Parks & Rec doesn’t have conference rooms like this

On a separate note, yesterday was Independence Day. The Fourth of July has never really been a favorite holiday, mostly because I would spend the majority of my summers in Germany where they surprisingly weren’t too into the whole fireworks/”I love America” scene. Last year’s 4th was the first one I had spent in the US in many years and it made for a pretty awful day so needless to say I was skeptical about how this 4th would fare. Well, I’m happy to tell you that the day was dope. Now that I’m a working stiff I don’t really have the luxury of sleeping in so I made sure to make the most of my day off by lying in bed till a hefty 10:30am. I bought a grill here recently so I figured Independence Day was as good a day as any to test it out. I invited over the other SeaGrant scholars in the area. They cruised over with some of their friends and we just listened to The Growler’s City Club and ate some lowkey bloody burgers (it was my first time grilling give me a break). But it was still tasty! One of my personal goals this summer was to become a Grill Master and while I’m a long shot away from even being called a Grill Padawan it’s nice to have finally started this flavorful journey. Later in the evening our little group made its way to Bastendorff Beach where we set up a bonfire and just enjoyed the rogue fireworks show put on by all the loose, lit locals. I had never experienced fireworks like that in my life. Literally every minute from 8-11pm, I was twisting and turning my neck so as not to miss even one of the countless fireworks that were being sent off up and down the coast. At one point I walked down the beach just to take it all in. People were drunk and happy, their unintelligible voices drown out from the constant scream of fireworks. Colorful lights sporadically spattered across the sand, giving details to the dark for just a few short seconds. If there was ever a time where I felt like I was no longer in California, I would say it was at that moment.

Sunset on Monday night at SWOCC

Bing, Bang, Booms @ Bastendorff

THANKS CATIE FOR THE DOPE PIC

Well it’s taken a week but I feel as if I’m finally settled in here. I’ve bought groceries twice now, I’ve put a few posters on my wall, and I’ve even gone camping in the forest already! Despite how “at home” I may feel, this place is quite opposite from Southern California. Tall palm trees have been replaced by thick pines, filling up my car has become somewhat of a less bourgeois valet service, and the beautiful variety of skin colors so representative of the SoCal community have been replaced by white, white, and more white. Ahhh, ‘merica. But what the Oregonians lack in diversity they make up for with genuine kindness. We had the day off on Wednesday so I took the time to check out the Farmer’s Market in downtown Coos Bay. I’ll tell you that was the best first impression I have gotten from any town in my 22 years of life.

Coos Bay Farmer’s Market

Perusing the local goods was enjoyable, not because of the food and new sights but because of everyone’s patience and kindness. Instead of just telling me about their product, vendors would ask where I was from and ask how I was liking Oregon, where I would reply with “Dude I’ve been here for a day, give it a rest” (of course I didn’t say that but that would be pretty wild if I did huh?). Well towards the end of the market my attention shifted towards an old-timey tea stand painted white and aquamarine with a tea-lady whose dress matched her stand. I was going to purchase a refreshing iced tea but decided against it last minute because I had already spent more than I probably should’ve. Instead of getting annoyed that I had backed out of a purchase so late in the game, Tea Lady gave me a free iced tea! What a gal! Happily zipping my raspberry-lemon tea, I checked out the nearby skate shop/thrift store called TimeBomb. I had briefly checked it out the day before with Catie so after another brief run through their goods I decided to move on, but just before I walked out I noticed there was a staircase leading to who-knows-where. So, naturally I went upstairs to see what was good, and man, I am glad I did  because I ended up walking into an iPhone repair shop (my iPhone’s camera has been broken for months). Well, after a few minutes of jibber-jabber, Good Guy Terry fixed up my iPhone’s camera in 10 minutes, charging me a grand total of $20, which was $50 cheaper than if I would’ve gone to Apple. After the deal was all done, he even threw in a free charger. What a guy!

Tea Lady’s reflection (I should really get her name next time)

After that I continued to walk around some more till I ended up in this wine shop which oddly smelt like my old trumpet teacher’s practice room. Almost immediately, the woman who owned the shop walked up and greeted me. Tamara was a portly woman, probably in her early 50s, with long brown hair and a subtle but noticeable accent that I couldn’t quite identify. I told her I wasn’t looking for anything to buy but was new in town and just was checking out what the town was about. She saw me looking at the map of the Bay Area (nope, not SF, Coos Bay County is the Bay Area of Oregon) and shuffled over to help point out a few things. Eventually Tamara took me to her back room where she had a less jumbled map (refer to image below for jumbled map). There she gave me information about the layout of the town and the larger region, pointing to areas where I could camp along the coast. After telling me that I could get the same map by checking out the Chamber of Commerce across the street, I figured it was time to take my leave. But as I walked away Tamara must’ve noticed the Germany patch on my backpack because she excitedly exclaimed “Ahh Deutschland!” before adding some German words to the mix. And it’s funny because the entire time we were talking I was wondering where her accent was from and it took her to speak German to realize she sounds exactly like Petra (you don’t know her but she’s a dear family friend and a wonderfully quirky German lady). I was shocked! I immediately replied to her in German and I can confidently say that she was more shocked than I was. Well, Tamara and I talked for another 20 minutes, switching back and forth between German and English with her sometimes correcting (okay it was frequent) my out of practice grammar. She told me about how she immigrated here from Stuttgart in 1971, why she prefers growing plants in pots rather than gardens, and how her health hasn’t been as good as it could be these days. At one point I almost teared up because it was such a beautiful moment and it made me miss my Oma and Opa and sister and mother and the rest of my family overseas. Tamara noticed and gave me a comforting embrace. She then told me to go on my way because I’m a young man and shouldn’t be wasting my afternoon talking to an old woman. But she gave me her card and told me I should return and that I should come by and have dinner with her and her husband at their home one day. I walked out of there knowing that I would be back again soon.

Jumbled Map of OR Bay Area

Well, I checked out a few more shops after that and while no interaction was as special as the one with Tamara, everyone was disgustingly nice and very open to having a friendly, engaging conversation. I know it’s only been a week, but I like it here in the South. I know I haven’t described what I will be doing for the summer at all but I figure there will be plenty of more posts for that kind of thing. I can tell you it is incredibly dope and that I am extremely excited to see what comes of the next nine weeks, both personally and professionally.

Coquille River Falls chillin’