January Essay 3

Prompt: While working at the Raytheon Company, Percy Spencer noticed that standing in front of a magnetron (used to generate microwave radio signals) caused a chocolate bar in his pocket to melt. He then placed a bowl of corn in front of the device, and soon it was popping all over the room. A couple of years later, Raytheon was selling the first commercial microwave oven.

Write about a time you found something you weren’t looking for. (U of Chicago)

I came to Sri Lanka, rife with anticipation to see spotted leopards lurking in the jungle, wild elephants roaming in the grasslands, blue whales cruising the deep waters, and sloth bears gorging themselves on fruits in the forest. I imagined my chances to go on safari in the national parks and to journey out into the sea to see these massive, showy, awe-inspiring creatures..

I left from Sri Lanka filled with awe of little birds.

I never thought I would find myself interested in birding. I've always been a little competitive and uptight, and majorly impatient. I simply couldn't imagine myself walking slowly through the jungle and carefully looking around for birds (instead, I would want to walk as fast as I could, a destination blazed into my mind).

When we first started our walk in the rain forest on a birdwatching trip, I couldn't believe how slowly we covered ground. Surely, I thought, no birds will just sit here in the trees by the main dirt road! I just knew they would all be deep, deep in middle the nature reserve, and we would have to hike a lot faster to ever get there!

I grumbled, thinking of the elephants I was missing.

But after we walked for around ten minutes, something happened. The birds came out, in the canopy, on the ground, flying between trees. 

And we saw rare birds too. A spur fowl, one of the hardest birds to spot in Sri Lanka, simply walked across the path. It strutted proudly along, then noticed us...

And quickly hopped away into the brush.

After that day, I continued birding on my trip, walking around basically anywhere there were trees, searching slowly, my pocket bird identification guide in my hand.

I didn't go to Sri Lanka to see birds. And then I realized what I was missing. There is no destination. You can't rush along--it won't increase your chances of spotting birds. You have to really relax, and enjoy the moment.

That afternoon, I discovered, unexpectedly, the joy of birding.