No more tent! On Monday I moved into a room in the main building. Usually I prefer the rooms in the bandas because of their superior temperature modulation and better internet and phone reception, but I am not in a position to be picky. Also, I have far too much stuff to fit in a small banda room and the large banda rooms (where I have spent most of my time) have to be available for couples. So I actually could have moved into my usual banda, but would probably have had to move out in a couple weeks. Moving took a long time, so I would like to do that as few times as possible. Plus, I found a spot where I get internet reception, so I don't have to go outside to send e-mail or update my blog.
The new management put down comforters on all the beds (except the temporary one in my tent), and while I think there are probably more urgent problems (leaking roofs) that should have been addressed first, I have to admit the comforter is very nice.
Jennifer (a second-year student in my lab who works on cattle-wildlife interactions) and Sophie (an undergraduate volunteering for Kim) left yesterday. We had a goat roast this weekend in their honor. We did everything from start to finish, starting with picking and catching our goat from the herd to picking the meat out of our teeth. It was a nice party, although I did not take the loss of sleeping time well, especially on top of the typically poor nights of sleep I got in the tent. I got out to the field reasonably early on Sunday morning, but faded fast. Apologies to my family for being a near zombie on the phone when you called Sunday night.
The student group that was here when I arrived left on Saturday morning, but yesterday an Earthwatch group took their place. This group is more than half Chinese, and apparently there are several extremely prominent (wealthy) members of Chinese society in our midst. The leader is the CEO of the Chinese version of North Face, so he brought full outfits for everyone in Earthwatch, including pants, matching shirts, headlamps, and nice windbreakers. I have noticed he has some extra jackets, so I am hoping to luck into one. My charm: turned on.
The Chinese have some very interesting viewpoints. They are thoroughly impressed that I go to Princeton (the university of Albert Einstein, as they have reminded me multiple times). They were also shocked to hear that I have a boyfriend. Apparently, in China, "Girl PhD, no chance for boyfriend." Apparently men without PhDs do not want PhD girlfriends to show them up. Men that do have PhDs are obviously very smart and important, so they can get any girl they want. So why would they want to have a PhD girlfriend when they could have a pretty girlfriend? My attempts to point out that "pretty" and "PhD" are not mutually exclusive were met with the same sort of response that I would expect if I had said something dubious about giant squid: "Sure, I hear they exist, but have you ever actually seen one?" Ahem! Their charm: not as turned on.
Anyway, research has started in earnest, but things are going a bit slowly due to car trouble, moving rooms, the glutting of the research center with so many people, etc. I think things should level out this week though, and I am looking forward to getting a routine going.
2 comments:
hahahahahahahah I laughed so hard at the Chinese group stuff. It's so true though. I probably have no chance to find a boyfriend in China. :P
Good thing you have a boyfriend not in China! According to this group there's still a good chance you'll scare him away with your intimidating woman brain though.
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