Hi~ Bertha here!

Hi everyone, I am Bertha, the forth intern working in HKDCS this summer.
First, I would like to apologize for updating the intern blog late. Working in HKDCS for the past few weeks is very enlightening and I have learnt a lot. I will try to conclude what I have learnt in the following paragraphs.

I will start with introducing myself. I am a year 2 student studying environmental science and management in City University of Hong Kong.
For the first few weeks I focused on the 30 Third Runway Victims campaign. This campaign has come to a huge success as we have collected 15000 comment forms from the public. Apart from preparing comment forms, I had met lots of dolphin guardians and helped with street stalls. The dolphin guardians come from different fields, so chatting with them is really interesting and I enjoyed it a lot.

Lately I am helping out with line transect and land based surveys and I had my third land based survey today! It is really hot but when I knew that we saw 10 groups of dolphins today, everything worth it!
I will update more next time ;)

Hi all, I am the third summer intern, Natalie.

First of all I would like to apologise for writing this post so late- I am already more than halfway through my internship... MANY things have happened in the past two months and i won't bore you with too much details. I willl just start by introducing myself and briefly recapping what have happened since I started working with the HKDCS.

I am a BA Geography undergraduate who have just finished second year of study at the University of Sussex in the UK. This summer I have come back to Hong Kong especially for this internship and also to collect data for my final year dissertation.

If you haven't already read the previous posts written by Tiana and Phoebe, with a total of more than 15,000 comment forms collected before midnight last Saturday, the 30 Third Runway Victims campaign came to a perfect end at the book fair. Everyone worked so hard through these 30 days including the staff and all the dolphin guardians (the volunteers). Never had I imagine myself participating in a campaign like this, and there I was, handing out paper fans in the 30 victims t-shirt and talking to random people till my throat was sore. It was truly a big step out of my comfort zone and a discovery of what I am capable of.

That's all for now, i will talk more about the fieldworks in the next post. Sorry i havent been able to write much about my experience- i hope the following photos will make it up to you!

one of our mysterious staff looking for dolphin during a boat survey

rallying for the Chinese white dolphin

View of West Lantau from the Shum Wat theodolite station

the Hong Kong Zhuhai Macau Bridge construction as seen from the Shum Wat theodolite station

another mysterious staff contemplating the meaning of life under the melting heat during a land-based survey

getting ready for the 7 1 demonstration- look how beautiful our t-shirts are!

leading a school trip to see the dolphins- stopping at Sha Chau

boat survey- the primary observer and the data recorder

Lastly, enjoy a video clip of the Chinese white dolphins I took on my first boat survey!

Surveys Again!

The official "30 Third Runway Victims" campaign was a great success! We received tons and comment and support. Hopefully our efforts have not been in vain. I feel so happy to have contributed to such a great cause and worked with such a wonderful team of people!

Now that the campaign and book fair has ended, we are finally back to a more normal schedule of surveys. Today was my first day at "Sham Wat" for a land based survey. All the interns have been except for me and everyone was telling me how horrible the hike and the place is. Because of all this I really thought it was be awful, but it wasn't as bad as I predicted it to be. I'm not saying that it is an ideal place as it is still pretty exhausting; it was a hot and I did get sun burnt.

The hike wasn't too long and I can proudly say I managed to carry the tripod there and back! We also some cool spiders on the way. In fact, on the way back, Vincent spotted a spider that was shedding?! This was the first time any of us and seen or heard of spiders that need to shed. Vincent was kind enough to let me use his photo. Have a look!

"30 Third Runway Victims" Campaign; “海豚30”

We launched our "30 Third Runway Victims" Campaign on June 20th and everyone is working hard to save the Chinese White Dolphins. We have 2 street stalls at the 1/7 protest yesterday and got so many comment form submissions against the Hong Kong Airport's Third Runway EIA report! It was a long but fruitful day. All the staff, interns and volunteers were standing and shouting for hours on end. Its inspirational seeing all of us putting in so much effort for such a great cause!

Its been a long and busy week with more to come. Though we haven't be able to work on the boat and conduct surveys as much, we aren't complaining because we're still helping the dolphins! If you haven't already please check out our campaign and submit a comment (http://3rwdolphin.weebly.com/).

Monday was also the last day for our lovely staff member, Tiffany. She's such a bright and cheerful girl and will be greatly missed in the office. I'm sure we'll see her around during are weekend street stalls but still good luck with everything nonetheless!

Dolphins, I'm coming~!

Hi everyone, I am the Phoebe who mentioned by Tiana before.

Working with Tiana and Natalie makes me feel like I am a Hong Kong people who never go to UK to study, because Tiana is not familiar in reading Cantonese and Natalie looks like foreigner XD
But the only problem is everyone will get confused about which one of us can read Cantonese, and therefore they will ask this question every time "You know how to read Cantonese right?"

Let talk about some interesting moments during my internship.

It is so lucky that I have chance to see dolphin sky-hopping at the second day of my internship and it seems like looking straight into my eyes. During that time, I was searching for dolphins and suddenly one of the dolphins sky-hopping and I  feel so exciting because I never see that so close by my own eyes, I become speechless at that moment. After that, Vincent and Heyman said that I was the only one have eye contact with the dolphins, then I realized I forgot to say hi to the dolphin, if I do so maybe it will remember me and come over every time I go there. (Day-dreaming ><)

Oh yes, another interesting moment is to listen  every single word when others are gossiping quietly, you will get lots of information about everyone including eating habit (some of them like to eat a lot, basically everything while some do not like to eat vegetable XPP) or relationship between different people (so you can laugh or involve when they are gossiping about one particular person)

It is so happy for me to get involve into this big family and just forgive me for not speaking sometimes, this funny working environment makes me feel more comfortable and looking forward to the following months.

Let's fight together for dolphins in the coming month!!!

The Start of Summer!

I’m Tiana, one of the current summer interns along with Phoebe and Natalie. Though I study in the states I’ve grown up in Hong Kong. Samuel keeps saying that I am practically a “gui mui” (foreigner) but I’m really from Hong Kong! My Cantonese is just a little iffy sometimes.

My first week (plus the two days from the week before) working with HKDCS staff have been very enlightening. It has given me a good overview of what things are like thought I hope to soon start to be able to be of helpful contribution. All the staff are super nice and approachable which helped us interns adjust really quickly. Big shout out to Yuki who I’ve been with everyday at HKDCS. Apart from always making sure to explain things to us interns and give us advice, she was also very friendly and would try to strike conversations with us when we were still relatively shy during our first few days. Everyone seems to be a part of such a family and it makes the working environment very encouraging and fun. I look forward to a great 2 months with everyone!

Thank You British Porpoise

It's time to say goodbye...
It feels like only yesterday I first laid eyes on a Chinese White Dolphin, but it has already been 2.5 months. Where do I start?... First and foremost in terms of work I was able to go on effort for around 2 weeks during boat surveys. It was exhilarating to be allowed on effort but I did feel pressure to find a dolphin or porpoise. It was not for myself. I just wanted to have sightings so I didn't seem inept at my job and inaccurate future data. Luckily before I left I managed to have a Porpoise sighting! As it was my one and only sighting I declare that porpoise a British one! Luckily Perry saw the porpoise too so it wasn't an illusion, unlike Yuki's sighting (only joking). I kept a 100% record of having sightings every time doing boat surveys which was awesome. During my time here I have been to so many places such as Mui Wo and Cheung Chau which were all new to me.

Now it is time to move on to the main part of the article...the People. It was amazing seeing dolphins and porpoises but it is the people I spent my time with that made this internship such an unforgettable experience. I need to go through everyone one by one to show my appreciation and complete respect for them.

• Tiffany: The former intern turned full time staff. She made me feel comfortable from the beginning, sharing her intern experiences with me from the beginning. Amazing attention to detail and such a caring personality (maybe the only sensible one left). Thanks for your help and the chocolate lava cake it was delicious!
• Yuki: Very talkative and easy to get along with. Struck up conversations from the first time meeting her helping me settle in, an incredibly sweet and lovely girl. Also the queen of slang (and sometimes food) as she taught me all these new words. Thanks for everything and your slang haha 
• Heyman: Where do I begin? Apart from eating huge amounts of food at an extremely slow place and having one of the most distinct laughs I've ever heard, she is generally a normal person. Also very helpful and a genuinely nice individual. Thanks for the help and great times
• Taison: Honestly a great guy. Quietly funny and loves all things pretty. Taught me mostly all of the acoustics survey procedures as he was the main man in this area. Easy going and relaxing persona make him easy to work with. Thank you for making everything so enjoyable.
• Karen: The first member of the team I met personally even before Samuel. Like the older sister of the other girls, she can sometimes have quite a task in controlling them. Also an eager teacher helping me in so many aspects. Thanks for the teachings.
• Lung: Sadly I only knew ah Lung for 2 weeks but it is important acknowledge all his input and effort. Was first to teach me how to be the computer operator and scanner during land based surveys giving me so much information. Thanks and good luck for the future.
• Perry: Another great guy who is also very fun. However supports all the sports teams I absolutely hate! My only advice to him and Vincent is to start supporting the best team in the world, Arsenal. Thank you for teaching me about boat and land surveys.
• Vincent: The veteran of the group who went through everything with me in the beginning. Apart from a great memory at recognising dolphins, I found out on my last day he has some of the quickest reaction I've witnessed. Thanks for your guidance and knowledge.
• Samuel: The guy that made this all happen! I'm so grateful for my acceptance into HKDCS, part of my life that would be hard to forget. He has created such a fantastic working environment for everyone to enjoy. Thank you for the having me and all your meals.

Thank you all from the bottom of my heart, I wish you all the very best! I consider you all my first group of friends in HK and I had a great time with you all. Although I might not have shown it because of my boring personality (even my mum says I'm boring) I was enjoying your company. Even a person as emotionless as me felt a bit of sadness on the last day, I will definitely miss you all! I'm sure we will meet again very soon. I guess this is goodbye then.

Thanks,
Hoson                                  

Final Boat Survey

Final Land Survey

Final Day - Ice Skating