Hello everyone!
So fun things have been happening in the past few days! On Sunday and Monday I got a taste of life as a terrestrial biologist. My roommate Erika studies an invasive tree species in French Polynesia and its pollinators, a couple of species of birds. She was heading to a new field site, and she invited me along.
Before we headed to the site, we went up to the Belvedere, a lookout point in Moorea, where Erika had left some poles. As we got there, it started pouring, and we had to hike into the woods in the pouring rain. I was expecting to be sweating, so this was almost refreshing. Plus, as I told Erika, I'm a marine biologist, why would I mind being wet? When we got to the Belvedere, we looked on the side of the mountain, and we saw nine waterfalls cascading down the side of it. It was pretty awesome. There is usually only one, but the pouring rain (the most I've seen since I've been here) created eight more.
We then went to the site, on the south side of Moorea, about an hour away. It's called Le Maison de la Nature, and it's primarily used as an educational center for schoolkids. We camped on Sunday night there, and got up early on Monday to catch birds.
She sets up large mist nets, about 40 feet by 10 feet, which are made of very delicate, nylon nets. When you set up these nets against dense vegetation, you can barely see them. Birds fly into them, and you retrieve them to collect fecal samples, band their feet with small metal bands, and collect data on whether they are moulting, incubating, etc.
Most birds are active in the morning, so after a night of camping, we woke up at 5:30to set up the nets. Within ten minutes, we had caught five birds. We then had to delicately untangle them from the nets. This is a lot harder than it looks, as they struggle quite a bit, and get themselves really tangled up. The birds that we were primarily collecting are silvereyes, small with silver rings around their eyes. They are pretty small, only about 10 grams. They were super cute, but got pretty upset being stuck in the nets. Some bit me as I was trying to free them, though it really didn't hurt that much.
The previous record of birds caught in one day by Erika was 25, but we caught 53 and had to set 10 free because we ran out of supplies! She was really excited. It seems that I am good field work luck.
So I realized a few truths about being a terrestrial biologist versus a marine biologist. For one thing, terrestrial biologists get far too dirty and sweaty for my liking. There is still mud on everything I own. There are also bug bites all over my legs. On the plus side, you don't have to worry about running out of air while you're doing your work, or worry about buoyancy. Erika also made a wise distinction between marine and terrestrial biologists that I think is interesting to share, "You Marine Biologists come in from field work, wind swept, sunkissed, tan, in your bikinis, we come in dirty, sweaty, in utilitarian clothes." I think Marine Biologists just want to be more glamorous, and that's why they like going in the ocean. Not to mention that peeing in the woods is not fun or glamorous in any sense of the word.
Anyways, asides for the bugs, I had a great time with Erika! Holding birds and setting them free is lots of fun, especially because they're so cute. And terrestrial Moorea is just as beautiful as marine Moorea.
Lots of love,
Emily
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Field Work or The trip to Tahiti
Bonjour tous!
My french lessons continue...when I ask people what they think of my french the answers range from "A little, then a little, then a little" from a shopkeeper in Tahiti, to "It's not bad" from another shopkeeper in Tahiti, to "Well, I can understand you, but it's not good" from the ever critical Mohsen. I guess Tahiti would be a good place to start this blog.
A couple of days ago, Alexandra, one of the students here at CRIOBE, had to get surgery on her finger, so Florent, Julie, and I took her to Papeete, the capital of Tahiti. To get there, there is a forty minute ferry ride. To get to Moorea, you can take a ferry or a plane. When I first arrived, I took a plane to Moorea; it was about 10 minutes long. To get to Papeete this time we took a ferry. Jada knew that I really wanted to go shopping, so she proposed that I go with them to Papeete. Although this trip was really for a hospital visit, I went shopping in the meantime.
The market at Papeete is really terrific. There is touristy stuff for sale (mostly consisting of pareos, vanilla beans, and monoi oil), and lots of food (fresh fruits and vegetables and precooked meals). When I was in London last year, they had a bunch of markets like this, full of delicious foods, and they were one of my favorite places to visit (ed. note, if you're bored, you can scroll back to these older posts in my blog). The marche at Papeete was similiar. I bought some souvenirs and for lunch I went back and bought some poisson cru, a traditional meal here, it is raw fish marinated in coconut milk and lemon juice, then mixed with cucumbers, onions, carrots and sometimes lettuce. It is quite delicious and refreshing.
Other than the market, I can't say there is a ton to do in Papeete. Alexandra, Florent, Julie, Jada, et al. are not too impressed with Papeete for various reasons, including that it is dirty, crowded, not pretty, etc. But for me at least, I was excited to be in a big city again. I really enjoy big cities just because there is so much to do, and see, concentrated in an area where everything is in walking distance. Shopping was such a change from Paris in that all the shopkeepers had long conversations in French with me. I could understand most of it, and used charades for the rest. Some of them spoke English, but I told them that I preferred to speak in French because I was learning. When I walked into one surf shop, the guy there struck up a long conversation with me about how I was doing, how it was going. It was actually pretty strange because I felt like I hadn't told him that I was doing research but he already knew that? It turns out he has a house just right down the road from CRIOBE and was looking for someone to rent it. Anyways, he implored that I get more tan before I leave. Will do, slightly creepy guy.
Long conversations ensued with other people there. It's so different visiting a country where you speak the language. Even if it is as terrible as mine. Which brings me to something else I have realized- in order to succeed at learning a foreign language you must be willing to look stupid 24/7. I always look like a fool speaking French, but I'm learning! And people are quite willing to help if it is evident that you are making an effort.
Alexandra speaks English quite well, and when we speak to each other, I speak to her in French and she speaks to me in English. She has also been teaching me some bad words. Some of the guys at CRIOBE caught wind of this, and one, Johann, told me as a consensus among everyone, "We do not think Alexandra is teaching you very good French." I also use words like "bouffe" which is a very casual way to say food, to which they have replied, "You may say that here, but elsewhere, it must be nourriture." D'accord (ok!)!
I could go on and on about adventures in French I am having. Overall though, I think people are impressed that I am trying at all, even if it is ridiculous. So I encourage people to speak terrible French/Spanish/Italian, etc., if really makes all the difference.
Anyways, so field work continues. We are not in the water as much because Jada has cuts all over her hands and feet. MDR Staph is very common here, and the marine biologists in particular get it quite a bit, so if you don't take care of your cuts, you can lose your body parts. Yikes.
Later,
Emily
My french lessons continue...when I ask people what they think of my french the answers range from "A little, then a little, then a little" from a shopkeeper in Tahiti, to "It's not bad" from another shopkeeper in Tahiti, to "Well, I can understand you, but it's not good" from the ever critical Mohsen. I guess Tahiti would be a good place to start this blog.
A couple of days ago, Alexandra, one of the students here at CRIOBE, had to get surgery on her finger, so Florent, Julie, and I took her to Papeete, the capital of Tahiti. To get there, there is a forty minute ferry ride. To get to Moorea, you can take a ferry or a plane. When I first arrived, I took a plane to Moorea; it was about 10 minutes long. To get to Papeete this time we took a ferry. Jada knew that I really wanted to go shopping, so she proposed that I go with them to Papeete. Although this trip was really for a hospital visit, I went shopping in the meantime.
The market at Papeete is really terrific. There is touristy stuff for sale (mostly consisting of pareos, vanilla beans, and monoi oil), and lots of food (fresh fruits and vegetables and precooked meals). When I was in London last year, they had a bunch of markets like this, full of delicious foods, and they were one of my favorite places to visit (ed. note, if you're bored, you can scroll back to these older posts in my blog). The marche at Papeete was similiar. I bought some souvenirs and for lunch I went back and bought some poisson cru, a traditional meal here, it is raw fish marinated in coconut milk and lemon juice, then mixed with cucumbers, onions, carrots and sometimes lettuce. It is quite delicious and refreshing.
Other than the market, I can't say there is a ton to do in Papeete. Alexandra, Florent, Julie, Jada, et al. are not too impressed with Papeete for various reasons, including that it is dirty, crowded, not pretty, etc. But for me at least, I was excited to be in a big city again. I really enjoy big cities just because there is so much to do, and see, concentrated in an area where everything is in walking distance. Shopping was such a change from Paris in that all the shopkeepers had long conversations in French with me. I could understand most of it, and used charades for the rest. Some of them spoke English, but I told them that I preferred to speak in French because I was learning. When I walked into one surf shop, the guy there struck up a long conversation with me about how I was doing, how it was going. It was actually pretty strange because I felt like I hadn't told him that I was doing research but he already knew that? It turns out he has a house just right down the road from CRIOBE and was looking for someone to rent it. Anyways, he implored that I get more tan before I leave. Will do, slightly creepy guy.
Long conversations ensued with other people there. It's so different visiting a country where you speak the language. Even if it is as terrible as mine. Which brings me to something else I have realized- in order to succeed at learning a foreign language you must be willing to look stupid 24/7. I always look like a fool speaking French, but I'm learning! And people are quite willing to help if it is evident that you are making an effort.
Alexandra speaks English quite well, and when we speak to each other, I speak to her in French and she speaks to me in English. She has also been teaching me some bad words. Some of the guys at CRIOBE caught wind of this, and one, Johann, told me as a consensus among everyone, "We do not think Alexandra is teaching you very good French." I also use words like "bouffe" which is a very casual way to say food, to which they have replied, "You may say that here, but elsewhere, it must be nourriture." D'accord (ok!)!
I could go on and on about adventures in French I am having. Overall though, I think people are impressed that I am trying at all, even if it is ridiculous. So I encourage people to speak terrible French/Spanish/Italian, etc., if really makes all the difference.
Anyways, so field work continues. We are not in the water as much because Jada has cuts all over her hands and feet. MDR Staph is very common here, and the marine biologists in particular get it quite a bit, so if you don't take care of your cuts, you can lose your body parts. Yikes.
Later,
Emily
Friday, April 18, 2008
Field work or Learning, learning, learning
Hello there!
Three posts in three days I hope will make up for the days when I didn't post! Two days ago, I had dinner at CRIOBE and sat next to Cedric, a masters student here who speaks a petit peu l'anglais (a very little bit of english). So we struggled in French together. Another person next to me asked me how long I studied French and I responded, "Oh I taught myself." I asked Cedric how long he had studied English and he said "It's a secret," while the man to my left said, "We have to learn English from the age of six in France," though Cedric responded that he "had a bad English teacher." So Bon Courage my fair readers! You too can learn a foreign langauge if I speak better French than a guy who learned English for many years speaks English! I tried some anise as well last night, which as far as I can tell, tastes like licorice and is one of the primary ingredients in absinthe, that fair weather French drink that all of the Bohemians in Paris drank in the 1800s and which caused (supposedly) wide spread insanity. All I can say is that I had more courage to speak French after it and the French wine. No insanity to report.
Yesterday was an interesting day at CRIOBE. Early in the day, the French Ambassador to Fiji came. As we started the meeting, everyone around the table introduced themselves and said what they did at CRIOBE. I was last. Julie, one of the managers here, leaned over right before I was about to go, and whispered, "You can speak English." Jada was quite impressive, and introduced herself and her research completely in French. I, on the other hand, bumbled around half in English, half in French. The ambassador assured me that it was ok that I spoke English. And then we watched a slide-show about CRIOBE. I actually somewhat followed as it had multiple pictures. But I think by the end some people were falling asleep. Tell me (Dit moi), have you ever seen an interesting slideshow?
So although I have only been here a week, I am already speaking French almost exclusively to everyone here except for Pip, an Australian who seems determined not to learn French. It makes it hard as I believe I only know 10 verbs or so. I am always asking, "Comment dit on...." (How do you say?) and have learned such helpful phrases as "Can you help me open this can?" (Peux tu m'aider ouvrir du botte de conserver?) and "Naia, go in your doghouse!" (Naia, va dans da niche!) along with other winners such as "Naia, come here!" (Naia viens ici!) and "Naia is under the table." (Naia es sur la table.). So as you can see, most of it involves the dog. A fair bit involves food as well. "A fork, spoon, glass of wine, plate" (une fourchette, une cuillere, verre de vin, une assiette). I guess it is evident where my priorities lie.
Earlier yesterday I was sitting in the living room studying and speaking to myself in French, and Julie came in and we had a long conversation, in French, about why I want to learn French, and such. There is definitely a truth to the statement that people really appreciate it when you make an effort to speak the language when you go a new place. I think most of the people who come through here who don't speak French make no effort to speak French, and so the fact that I'm trying is admired by the French, even if I butcher it continually.
So today we went to a rugby game. Rotui is the Moorean team, and they were playing in the semifinals against a team from Tahiti. We know five people on the team, so it was exciting to cheer for people we knew. There were about 10 of us, then the UCLA class showed up so there were about 40 of us in all. We all cheered for team Rotui and I think it was their largest crowd yet. The team was really psyched to have us there. There were about 40 other spectators, so we made a big impression. Rotui lost in the end, but they played a good game. I am slowly building on my rugby knowledge.
Lots of love,
Emily
Three posts in three days I hope will make up for the days when I didn't post! Two days ago, I had dinner at CRIOBE and sat next to Cedric, a masters student here who speaks a petit peu l'anglais (a very little bit of english). So we struggled in French together. Another person next to me asked me how long I studied French and I responded, "Oh I taught myself." I asked Cedric how long he had studied English and he said "It's a secret," while the man to my left said, "We have to learn English from the age of six in France," though Cedric responded that he "had a bad English teacher." So Bon Courage my fair readers! You too can learn a foreign langauge if I speak better French than a guy who learned English for many years speaks English! I tried some anise as well last night, which as far as I can tell, tastes like licorice and is one of the primary ingredients in absinthe, that fair weather French drink that all of the Bohemians in Paris drank in the 1800s and which caused (supposedly) wide spread insanity. All I can say is that I had more courage to speak French after it and the French wine. No insanity to report.
Yesterday was an interesting day at CRIOBE. Early in the day, the French Ambassador to Fiji came. As we started the meeting, everyone around the table introduced themselves and said what they did at CRIOBE. I was last. Julie, one of the managers here, leaned over right before I was about to go, and whispered, "You can speak English." Jada was quite impressive, and introduced herself and her research completely in French. I, on the other hand, bumbled around half in English, half in French. The ambassador assured me that it was ok that I spoke English. And then we watched a slide-show about CRIOBE. I actually somewhat followed as it had multiple pictures. But I think by the end some people were falling asleep. Tell me (Dit moi), have you ever seen an interesting slideshow?
So although I have only been here a week, I am already speaking French almost exclusively to everyone here except for Pip, an Australian who seems determined not to learn French. It makes it hard as I believe I only know 10 verbs or so. I am always asking, "Comment dit on...." (How do you say?) and have learned such helpful phrases as "Can you help me open this can?" (Peux tu m'aider ouvrir du botte de conserver?) and "Naia, go in your doghouse!" (Naia, va dans da niche!) along with other winners such as "Naia, come here!" (Naia viens ici!) and "Naia is under the table." (Naia es sur la table.). So as you can see, most of it involves the dog. A fair bit involves food as well. "A fork, spoon, glass of wine, plate" (une fourchette, une cuillere, verre de vin, une assiette). I guess it is evident where my priorities lie.
Earlier yesterday I was sitting in the living room studying and speaking to myself in French, and Julie came in and we had a long conversation, in French, about why I want to learn French, and such. There is definitely a truth to the statement that people really appreciate it when you make an effort to speak the language when you go a new place. I think most of the people who come through here who don't speak French make no effort to speak French, and so the fact that I'm trying is admired by the French, even if I butcher it continually.
So today we went to a rugby game. Rotui is the Moorean team, and they were playing in the semifinals against a team from Tahiti. We know five people on the team, so it was exciting to cheer for people we knew. There were about 10 of us, then the UCLA class showed up so there were about 40 of us in all. We all cheered for team Rotui and I think it was their largest crowd yet. The team was really psyched to have us there. There were about 40 other spectators, so we made a big impression. Rotui lost in the end, but they played a good game. I am slowly building on my rugby knowledge.
Lots of love,
Emily
Field work or A picture is worth a thousand words.
So blogspot is being even more ornery than usual with regards to uploading photos. I could only choose one, so I chose this one, because it illustrates a lot of things. To begin with, to see it better, you can click on it and make it bigger than full screen (thanks Dad!). Anyways, in it I am looking for urchins on the reef, so my head is under, because they like to live in cracks and crevices. There is a writing slate in my left hand. When I find one, I have to mark down which species it is. On the reef itself, you can see some tiles. They are bolted to the reef, and these are the ones I talk about so much. So this explains quite well, one of our tasks that we complete regularly underwater.
Later,
Emily
Field work or You can learn French in ten minutes or less!
Hello everyone!
So things are going good! Living at the French station has turned into quite a learning experience. It is small compared to Gump. At meals, we all eat together, and there is typically about ten people at the table. Yesterday, Jada and I were assigned to cook. I think everyone was expecting some American dish, but we made a chicken and rice stir fry with a soy sauce base. Every other meal I've had here as had a cream base, so this was probably considered out of the ordinary. It turned out pretty good. I think I am a hit here, if only for everyone to laugh at my ridiculous attempts at French. Mohsen is a student here who speaks English quite well. He had the bad idea to sit next to me at dinner last night, so all night long I was asking him, “How do you say “You taught me that?”” or “Ok, for the tenth time, how do you pronounce dessert and desert in French? No, I do not put an L in every word I say.” Everyone thought my pronunciation of the word fork was particularly hilarious, and that's when I turned the tables on them by making them pronounce everything in English as well. I told them (in French, how impressive) “I will learn French, and you will learn English.” Dacord (ok, or agreed).
Yesterday we also went up to visit Matahi at the Botanical Gardens. Matahi is a Maori from New Zealand who is here to do a bunch of wood carvings. His bigger project is that he is building a boat (sort of like a canoe) to travel from Tahiti to New Zealand. They are supposed to travel without modern day ship navigating techniques, though I think this idea has been vetoed. Anyway, in the past when they have done this they bring little water, and eat things they catch and water they collect from rain. The idea is to see how people would have done the trip thousands of years ago. Until he sails out, he is doing a bunch of wood carvings right down the road from Gump. He actually just sold a bunch of them to a Polynesian Musuem in Bora Bora. Jada is taking pictures of them for him and helping him compile a slideshow. Matt, the captain of the Braveheart, came up with us yesterday to give him a book and a cd that has ship routes on it so the trip will go easier. I went up, and when we got there, Matt and I were put to work. Some of Matahi's carvings are 12 feet tall, and Matt and I were given the task of staining one of them. Matt rubbed on oil, and I had to rub it off. It looked quite nice when we were done with it. Anyways, needless to say, Matahi is a pretty interesting guy. I fear that most of the people I meet here are much more interesting than I am.
Since I've gotten over my initial “Moorea stomach” when I got here, I have been eating voraciously. Part of it is that we are in the water burning tons of calories (did you know that you burn 500 calories an hour scuba diving?) and now that we are at CRIOBE we are riding ten miles a day on our bikes getting to and from work. Anyways, because of this, I am always hungry. I am pretty good about what I eat in general, and don't tend to eat processed foods, but since I don't get to cook that much here (ONE oven in all of Gump works, and we eat meals together at CRIOBE), I have been eating cookies and crackers and such from the package. There is also this awesome place called Snack Rotui that has all sorts of lunch stuff, and Jada and I go there really frequently for lunch. Today we went and I had hachis (basically, hamburger on baguette with this special sauce that's my favorite), gateau au chocolat (chocolate cake), pommes de frites (french fries) and the crown jewel, a coconut. The owner of Snack Rotui, Bob, gets coconuts when they are still green, sands off the bottom so they sit flat, then drills a hole in the top, and places them in the fridge. It is essentially coconut water. The allure of drinking out of a coconut in a tropical paradise appealed to me, though I wasn't really crazy about it. Jada documented it on camera, so there will be a super cheesy picture of it when I get around to posting it.
Tomorrow we have been instructed that we must be at CRIOBE in the morning because the French ambassador is coming for a visit. This was exciting to me, but apparently she comes a lot. Not to mention, all the students here (and Jada and I) have to prepare food for them. But it means I get to sleep in a bit, which is great.
I don't think I've mentioned Erika on this blog, and I was remiss not to. Erika is one of only three terrestrial biologists at Gump currently. For about 4 weeks, she was my roommate too. She's pretty awesome, and I think she's psyched that Jada and I are here because we go on all sorts of fun adventures, though I have regularly distracted her from her work. The reason why I mention her is because she got to drive the Princess of Thailand around when she visited a month ago. So I think the Princess beats the Ambassador anyday, though it just goes to show you how small, though important, Moorea is if we get Princesses and Ambassadors and that's considered ho hum.
David is another terrestrial biologist here, from the same university as Erika. He is here for a year, and has been traveling extensively throughout the South Pacific. He just got back from Rapa Iti on a collecting trip. This is a pretty small island, where boats go out every couple of months to bring people in. Apparently, the only people who come in regularly are scientists and some government officials. Upon getting there, all of the people heard that he was from America, and they all asked, “Oh, do you know Gustav?” Gustav is one of Jada and I's advisors at UF. He is a bit of a legend in the scientific collection world, and has made trips collecting specimens everywhere. All the people on Rapa are apparently eagerly awaiting Gustav's return. One day, I teased David, they will ask visitors, “Do you know Gustav and David?”
I know that this was a particularly long entry. I have been getting complaints from various people that I haven't been posting enough, so I hope this will tide all of my angry critics over in case I don't write for a while.
Lots of love,
Emily
So things are going good! Living at the French station has turned into quite a learning experience. It is small compared to Gump. At meals, we all eat together, and there is typically about ten people at the table. Yesterday, Jada and I were assigned to cook. I think everyone was expecting some American dish, but we made a chicken and rice stir fry with a soy sauce base. Every other meal I've had here as had a cream base, so this was probably considered out of the ordinary. It turned out pretty good. I think I am a hit here, if only for everyone to laugh at my ridiculous attempts at French. Mohsen is a student here who speaks English quite well. He had the bad idea to sit next to me at dinner last night, so all night long I was asking him, “How do you say “You taught me that?”” or “Ok, for the tenth time, how do you pronounce dessert and desert in French? No, I do not put an L in every word I say.” Everyone thought my pronunciation of the word fork was particularly hilarious, and that's when I turned the tables on them by making them pronounce everything in English as well. I told them (in French, how impressive) “I will learn French, and you will learn English.” Dacord (ok, or agreed).
Yesterday we also went up to visit Matahi at the Botanical Gardens. Matahi is a Maori from New Zealand who is here to do a bunch of wood carvings. His bigger project is that he is building a boat (sort of like a canoe) to travel from Tahiti to New Zealand. They are supposed to travel without modern day ship navigating techniques, though I think this idea has been vetoed. Anyway, in the past when they have done this they bring little water, and eat things they catch and water they collect from rain. The idea is to see how people would have done the trip thousands of years ago. Until he sails out, he is doing a bunch of wood carvings right down the road from Gump. He actually just sold a bunch of them to a Polynesian Musuem in Bora Bora. Jada is taking pictures of them for him and helping him compile a slideshow. Matt, the captain of the Braveheart, came up with us yesterday to give him a book and a cd that has ship routes on it so the trip will go easier. I went up, and when we got there, Matt and I were put to work. Some of Matahi's carvings are 12 feet tall, and Matt and I were given the task of staining one of them. Matt rubbed on oil, and I had to rub it off. It looked quite nice when we were done with it. Anyways, needless to say, Matahi is a pretty interesting guy. I fear that most of the people I meet here are much more interesting than I am.
Since I've gotten over my initial “Moorea stomach” when I got here, I have been eating voraciously. Part of it is that we are in the water burning tons of calories (did you know that you burn 500 calories an hour scuba diving?) and now that we are at CRIOBE we are riding ten miles a day on our bikes getting to and from work. Anyways, because of this, I am always hungry. I am pretty good about what I eat in general, and don't tend to eat processed foods, but since I don't get to cook that much here (ONE oven in all of Gump works, and we eat meals together at CRIOBE), I have been eating cookies and crackers and such from the package. There is also this awesome place called Snack Rotui that has all sorts of lunch stuff, and Jada and I go there really frequently for lunch. Today we went and I had hachis (basically, hamburger on baguette with this special sauce that's my favorite), gateau au chocolat (chocolate cake), pommes de frites (french fries) and the crown jewel, a coconut. The owner of Snack Rotui, Bob, gets coconuts when they are still green, sands off the bottom so they sit flat, then drills a hole in the top, and places them in the fridge. It is essentially coconut water. The allure of drinking out of a coconut in a tropical paradise appealed to me, though I wasn't really crazy about it. Jada documented it on camera, so there will be a super cheesy picture of it when I get around to posting it.
Tomorrow we have been instructed that we must be at CRIOBE in the morning because the French ambassador is coming for a visit. This was exciting to me, but apparently she comes a lot. Not to mention, all the students here (and Jada and I) have to prepare food for them. But it means I get to sleep in a bit, which is great.
I don't think I've mentioned Erika on this blog, and I was remiss not to. Erika is one of only three terrestrial biologists at Gump currently. For about 4 weeks, she was my roommate too. She's pretty awesome, and I think she's psyched that Jada and I are here because we go on all sorts of fun adventures, though I have regularly distracted her from her work. The reason why I mention her is because she got to drive the Princess of Thailand around when she visited a month ago. So I think the Princess beats the Ambassador anyday, though it just goes to show you how small, though important, Moorea is if we get Princesses and Ambassadors and that's considered ho hum.
David is another terrestrial biologist here, from the same university as Erika. He is here for a year, and has been traveling extensively throughout the South Pacific. He just got back from Rapa Iti on a collecting trip. This is a pretty small island, where boats go out every couple of months to bring people in. Apparently, the only people who come in regularly are scientists and some government officials. Upon getting there, all of the people heard that he was from America, and they all asked, “Oh, do you know Gustav?” Gustav is one of Jada and I's advisors at UF. He is a bit of a legend in the scientific collection world, and has made trips collecting specimens everywhere. All the people on Rapa are apparently eagerly awaiting Gustav's return. One day, I teased David, they will ask visitors, “Do you know Gustav and David?”
I know that this was a particularly long entry. I have been getting complaints from various people that I haven't been posting enough, so I hope this will tide all of my angry critics over in case I don't write for a while.
Lots of love,
Emily
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Field work or the move to the French
Hey there!
Sorry I have been slow to post. It has been pretty busy for the past few days. Yesterday we were in the water for 4 hours, and the day before that we moved to the French research station.
The CRIOBE (the French research station) is located about five miles down the road from the American research station, Gump. It is really beautiful here, surrounded by mountains. CRIOBE is less funded than Gump is, and there are less facilities here. For example, there is no dock here, and less laboratory facilities. CRIOBE is building a lot though, and in the next year or so, it should be pretty fancy. The computer room here is pretty nice, and newly remodeled, completely surrounded by windows.
There are a number of other differences between the two facilities that can be chalked up to cultural differences, perhaps? Most of the researchers at CRIOBE are students, who get paid for their residence by their advisors. Gump, on the other hand, has a lot of professors who bring large, expensive projects into the station, and as such, more money comes into Gump. Here at CRIOBE, everyone eats their meals together in a revolving food group. Most people wake up at 8 or 9, which is a stark contrast to Gump where people leave the dock by 7 AM.
Everyone at CRIOBE is very nice, and they seem determined to improve our French, which, at least in my case, is very poor.
Jada and I are finishing up our tile analysis work, and some of our reef monitoring work, which we have been working on since we got here, so that is pretty exciting. We have a bigger monitoring project that we will start by the end of the week.
As of now, we still need some facilities at Gump, so we are going back and forth for the week. Yesterday we rode our bikes from CRIOBE to Gump in the morning. The ride itself isn't that bad, but it's long, and if we leave too late, it's hot. Between the scuba diving, snorkeling, climbing up and down to the hillside bungalow, and biking, my legs are getting a workout. I expect everyone to comment on how thin I look when I get back.
Today is a computer day here at CRIOBE. My academic credit for coming here is through a paper I have to write at the end of the semester. The paper is due in about 8 days. I have adopted a bad habit of doing any other possible work while I've been here rather than starting on this paper. For example, now I am writing on the blog rather than writing my paper. So I should get back to work.
Love to all,
Emily
Sorry I have been slow to post. It has been pretty busy for the past few days. Yesterday we were in the water for 4 hours, and the day before that we moved to the French research station.
The CRIOBE (the French research station) is located about five miles down the road from the American research station, Gump. It is really beautiful here, surrounded by mountains. CRIOBE is less funded than Gump is, and there are less facilities here. For example, there is no dock here, and less laboratory facilities. CRIOBE is building a lot though, and in the next year or so, it should be pretty fancy. The computer room here is pretty nice, and newly remodeled, completely surrounded by windows.
There are a number of other differences between the two facilities that can be chalked up to cultural differences, perhaps? Most of the researchers at CRIOBE are students, who get paid for their residence by their advisors. Gump, on the other hand, has a lot of professors who bring large, expensive projects into the station, and as such, more money comes into Gump. Here at CRIOBE, everyone eats their meals together in a revolving food group. Most people wake up at 8 or 9, which is a stark contrast to Gump where people leave the dock by 7 AM.
Everyone at CRIOBE is very nice, and they seem determined to improve our French, which, at least in my case, is very poor.
Jada and I are finishing up our tile analysis work, and some of our reef monitoring work, which we have been working on since we got here, so that is pretty exciting. We have a bigger monitoring project that we will start by the end of the week.
As of now, we still need some facilities at Gump, so we are going back and forth for the week. Yesterday we rode our bikes from CRIOBE to Gump in the morning. The ride itself isn't that bad, but it's long, and if we leave too late, it's hot. Between the scuba diving, snorkeling, climbing up and down to the hillside bungalow, and biking, my legs are getting a workout. I expect everyone to comment on how thin I look when I get back.
Today is a computer day here at CRIOBE. My academic credit for coming here is through a paper I have to write at the end of the semester. The paper is due in about 8 days. I have adopted a bad habit of doing any other possible work while I've been here rather than starting on this paper. For example, now I am writing on the blog rather than writing my paper. So I should get back to work.
Love to all,
Emily
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Dangerous creatures: them or us?
So as you can see yesterday was an eventful day!
After working in the morning, we headed to the Motus. They are a couple of small islands right off of Moorea. They are weekend vacation spots, and at that time people crowd them and hang out at the beach, go snorkeling, etc. Since we went in the middle of the week, it was empty. We had lunch, and did a bunch of nice snorkeling around the island. It was great, but chilly! It was overcast, and the wind was blowing, so being in just a bathing suit and a rashguard was cold. I think this was the first time I was cold while I was outside swimming, so it was something. As awesome as all of this was, the best part came on the way back.
We stopped by the boat channel, and got out and tried snorkeling around waiting for the rays! They finally came and they were HUGE! I've been swimming with rays in the Bahamas before, but these seemed to be at least three times those rays' size. When they were vertical, they covered the complete bottom half of my body. They came up and said hello, brushing their entire bodies against me, making me laugh hysterically because they really tickle. The Braveheart crew had brought fish, so we tried feeding them. I'm holding a piece of fish for one in the above picture. They didn't seem too interested. Apparently they get fed by tourists a lot, so they were pretty tame and maybe already stuffed from earlier in the day. As we were feeding them, who would swim up but some blacktipped sharks! There were two. The pictures I have of them aren't too good, but then again, I didn't try to get super close to them. They ate the fish that the rays didn't. Then to top off a whole bunch of coolness, on the way out, there was a huge water spout on the horizon.
Today has been a bunch of database management for me on the computer, and tonight we head out to the Braveheart for Shane's birthday.
Later!
Emily
Saturday, April 5, 2008
An illustrated blog, this is
Just some pics to go with the last entry! You can get an idea of how big the Braveheart is from these pics. I like the one pic of me swinging, until I remember the pain that soon followed!
Later,
Em
Field work or Take it to the Limit
Hey there!
Well a bunch of stuff has been happening, and I fear I have been lax in my blogging responsibilities. I apologize profusely.
Let's see...we've been spending a lot more time in the water each day, sometimes up to six hours, so I've been busy! I really enjoy being in the water, so I don't complain. I tried to post some fun pics earlier, but it didn't work, so I'll try again later. There's also been some fun things happening.
We went to Allo Pizza two days ago for dinner (otherwise known as the best pizza I've ever eaten!), a place we've been once before. The guy there greeted me with "Hello Emily." I love being a regular, and I must make a good impresssion, if after one time there he remembers my name. So that was fun.
Last night, I went up to a friend's house for couscous, but then after dinner, we got to watch rugby. Now let me say, for all you football lovers out there, I think rugby would be right up your alley. They are having "Super 14" now where the provincial teams of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa are playing. Shane's home team and favorite team are the Hurricanes from NZ, and as a bunch of the people we have been hanging out with are Kiwis, so I think we are a Hurricanes station. I only got to catch the last ten minutes last night because we were eating, but it was pretty exciting! Each half is only 40 minutes long with only penalty timeouts so it moves a lot faster than football. I have been learning about it from Shane for the past year now, but had yet to see a game, but it was suprisingly easy to get into and understand. You can only pass the ball backwards and if you fall to the ground, you have to give it up, but one of your teammates can get it. When I started watching it, the Hurricanes were down by 5 but in the last minute they tied, but then didn't score again, so the game ended as a draw. What's up with that!? In that way, football is one up on rugby, because I don't think you should just draw and no body wins. Maybe it has to do with Americans obsession with distinguishing winners from losers, and other people don't care as much. Anyways, it was way exciting, and I think you should check out rugby if you have a chance.
Today, we took a break and headed out to the Braveheart. They have a high deck and a low deck, and we all took turns jumping off the high deck. That was pretty awesome. It's always nice when I push myself, especially since I'm afraid of heights. Then we took it up a notch and did the crane. There is a crane, and a rope off of it, and you had to stand completely up on the railing, and then swing off. I tried it three times and swung flat on my face all three times. I'm all for trying, and trying again, but after I figured I would look like a victim of abuse tomorrow, I gave up.
Back to the field this afternoon!
Later,
Emily
Well a bunch of stuff has been happening, and I fear I have been lax in my blogging responsibilities. I apologize profusely.
Let's see...we've been spending a lot more time in the water each day, sometimes up to six hours, so I've been busy! I really enjoy being in the water, so I don't complain. I tried to post some fun pics earlier, but it didn't work, so I'll try again later. There's also been some fun things happening.
We went to Allo Pizza two days ago for dinner (otherwise known as the best pizza I've ever eaten!), a place we've been once before. The guy there greeted me with "Hello Emily." I love being a regular, and I must make a good impresssion, if after one time there he remembers my name. So that was fun.
Last night, I went up to a friend's house for couscous, but then after dinner, we got to watch rugby. Now let me say, for all you football lovers out there, I think rugby would be right up your alley. They are having "Super 14" now where the provincial teams of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa are playing. Shane's home team and favorite team are the Hurricanes from NZ, and as a bunch of the people we have been hanging out with are Kiwis, so I think we are a Hurricanes station. I only got to catch the last ten minutes last night because we were eating, but it was pretty exciting! Each half is only 40 minutes long with only penalty timeouts so it moves a lot faster than football. I have been learning about it from Shane for the past year now, but had yet to see a game, but it was suprisingly easy to get into and understand. You can only pass the ball backwards and if you fall to the ground, you have to give it up, but one of your teammates can get it. When I started watching it, the Hurricanes were down by 5 but in the last minute they tied, but then didn't score again, so the game ended as a draw. What's up with that!? In that way, football is one up on rugby, because I don't think you should just draw and no body wins. Maybe it has to do with Americans obsession with distinguishing winners from losers, and other people don't care as much. Anyways, it was way exciting, and I think you should check out rugby if you have a chance.
Today, we took a break and headed out to the Braveheart. They have a high deck and a low deck, and we all took turns jumping off the high deck. That was pretty awesome. It's always nice when I push myself, especially since I'm afraid of heights. Then we took it up a notch and did the crane. There is a crane, and a rope off of it, and you had to stand completely up on the railing, and then swing off. I tried it three times and swung flat on my face all three times. I'm all for trying, and trying again, but after I figured I would look like a victim of abuse tomorrow, I gave up.
Back to the field this afternoon!
Later,
Emily
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Field Work or Full Throttle
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Well, most of these photos are self-explanatory. All are courtesy of Jada. The one where I look dressed up is from the Sheraton, you can see their swank bungalows in the distance. A couple of underwater photos, you can see the reefs in the background. Jada is conducting work in one of the pictures, and in another, we are moving between sites and I am carrying writing slates.
Love,
Em
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