An interview with a dolphin trainer

Stephanie have one of the best jobs in the world--or at least they think so! They're two dolphin trainers at Ocean Park. Find out more about Stephanie and their fascinating job in the interview below.

How did you became a dolphin trainer?
(Stephanie):I saw an advertisement in the newspaper. I thought it sounded like an unusual job so I applied. That was nearly five years ago, and I think that if you don't know how to swim is not important because if you are tall, you can walk in the water.

What qualifications do you need to become a dolphin trainer?
Setphanie:Most of the trainers have a degree--I have a Bachelor of music. In the past, most of the trainers studied overseas. However, these days there are more graduates from local universities than from overseas universities. But, I think it is not good because we should stay more time with dolphins and not to put too much time in studying.

What does a dolphin trainer actually do?
Well, one obvious answer is train dolphins. However, we spend less time doing this than people think. Our main responsibility is to look after the dolphins--to make sure that they are happy and healthy. For example, the first thing I do every morning is to check their temperature . I also spend a lot of time feeding the dolphins, playing with them and cleaning the tanks. Dolphins are very playful. This is a picture of me stroking and playing with my favourite dolphin, Toto.
Although I am a people and toto is ananimal, we were good friends.

How do you train a dolphin?
Teach the dolphins to touch a stick with their noses is first tricks which I like the most. That is the training stick over there. It's about half a metre long. You can see one in this photo too. They also learn other simple tricks such as shaking hands,; touching the trainer's hands, singing and dancing. It takes time to learn tricks so the younger dolphins generally know fewer tricks than the older ones.

Would you recommend this job to other people?
Yes, definitely. It's hard work but very rewarding.

My family

I have five members. My parents and a sister and a brother and a dog. My sister is 19 years old and she is now studying in Tusen Mun. She is a half-wit girl, she loves singing very much. My brother is 21 years old. He is a pet shop shopkeeper, he loves pets very much. My mother is a pastor, my father is a volunteer in the church. My mother knows about bible very much, my brother can cook food very delicous.
We always play together and today is the mother's Day, and we eat together happily in the pizzahut. I loves my family very much although my sister is a half-wit girl because she belive Jesus, he will help my sister. But my brother did not belive Jesus, I hope he can belive Jesus soon. Whatever, I love my family.

Reflection of fuklam church

Last Friday, we went to fuklam church. The place there are quiet small but I love there very much, because the people there are very kind. We sang together and talked about our school life and we watched video, it was very happy.We became freinds with the people at there.
Mr .lai and the pastor has helped many people, and many people in Temple street has belived God. Every Saturday, they will visited the old people who lived in Temple street and gave them some food. If I have a chance , I hope I can visit theold people, too. And finally, I hoped they can make more people belived God.