Three Weeks Down - Random Updates

July 1, 2010

Sitting outside with a bunch of peeps...we just gave our presentations during lecture today. I presented on differences in attitudes on fencing here and in the U.S. (putting up fences, not the sport). I think it was pretty interesting. Everything is fenced here and nothing is fenced in the U.S. pretty much. The reasons for fencing are also limited in the U.S. I won't bore you with details, but I will throw you some random things:
. Burned myself yesterday...poured hot water right onto my hand. Really not intelligent. But treated the burn really fast and wrapped it up, so no blisters. Yay!
. Just took a glorious shower. I've never appreciated showers so much. The water was actually warm. The showers are just wrapped in canvas, so the sun was streaming in as I watched the reddish dirt colored water flow down the drain. (The water here is really clean, I was just really dirty from habitat assessment.)
. My favorite bird surprised me outside of my tent this morning...Little Bee Eater. Check them out, they're pretty sweet.
. Big Boy has been teaching me some Swazi words. He's on staff here and does everything from starting fires to lifting entire trees to fixing tents. And, I've been trying to explain some things to him in English. But there's something really cool about just sitting next to a person from a completely different world and communicating without many words. Just hand motions and face making and pointing and laughing. Big Boy is one of my favorite people here. I fixed one of his jackets last week...it had a huge hole in it. And he just makes me laugh all the time. He told me he'd chop my hand off it it wasn't better by today. Tough Love! Robert is also very awesome. He understands English pretty well. But he's also been teaching me some Swazi words. He really was wonderful to me when I was sick. Making me porridge and making sure I was well-fed. He left today.
. Going on a bird driving transect this afternoon. I've gotten pretty good at bird ID's so I'm excited.
. Oh guess what? I had ice cream two days ago! We stopped at Numbi Gate because we finished research early. Ice cream has never tasted so heavenly. I got something like a Dove Bar with vanilla ice cream, chocolate coating, with white chocolate pieces inside. It was SO GOOD! I'm going to put up a blog with just food I've eaten since I've been here. I've been keeping a list. South African food is very good and they feed us very well. But, it's really funny that half of our conversations end up being about pizza or Chinese food or chocolate cake. In fact, all of us researchers had an hour long convo about our favorite take-out Chinese food last night. It was quite entertaining, but painful. Who would have thought I would miss Chinese food!? About a week ago I thought I'd never eat food again. All of this food talk is making my stomach growl and what a coincidence, brunch is ready. Talk to you later.

Love,
Bianca