3/29/2010

Today was our last day in Cape Town  We started off pretty early with Hannah, Elizabeth and I taking a very expensive taxi out into Noordhoek to ride horses on the beach. We got there for our 9:00 booking, and got excited for the ride ahead. I haven’t ridden in a while (well, hadn’t), so I was a little bit nervous. We got our horses (mine was Maestro, Hannah’s was Cognac, and Elizabeth’s was Habana), and set out on the trail. It was 5 of us, including the three of us, our guide, and some dude who just likes to ride, apparently. It was a 2 hour ride, and it was a gorgeous day to go. I wish I had given her my camera, the beach was amazing. We trotted and cantered a little bit, although Maestro was gung ho on beating everyone else to the finish. We walked a beautiful fynbos trail back to the stables, and then dismounted after a few pictures. We took another expensive cab ride back, and ate leftovers for lunch.
After a relaxing afternoon of music loading, we set off for Robben Island as a group. We took a ferry there, which was about a half hour. Once there, we loaded onto busses to get to the actual prison, where we were taken around by one of the inmates from the time of use. We went to see Nelson Mandela’s cell, as well as many of the other cells with very intriguing stories inside. We went inside one of the communal cells to look around, and also talk about life as it differed between coloreds, Indians and Africans. We then took a boat tour of the island, stopping at a few choice locations. I kicked myself for most of this section, as I had forgotten to switch my camera battery before we left, and it died soon after the prison tour. Luckily I got pictures of everything in there. After the island tour, we made a quick run through the gift shop, and then headed back to the harbor on the ferry. A bunch of us went to dinner at the Ocean Basket again (more oysters for me!!), and then headed back for one last night at the backpackers. Here ends my blog for the next two weeks, so I will see you all again in the middle of April!

3/28/2010

Today, we actually had a schedule (weird). We left at 8 to start our trip to cape point, and stopped very shortly in for coffee and snacks. We first went to Laurence’s house, which I am moving into. It is right on the beach, surrounded by mountains. We then went to another beach to have a lecture on the fynbos. Laurence is back now, which is really nice. I love the way he lectures. We moved around a bit in the quantums, looking for different areas to talk about. Then we went to Cape Point, which is a very beautiful area in the very south of ZA, though not the southernmost point. We then went to the beach, and swam and surfed. Well, tried to surf. The waves were so big, they would just knock me right over. Then we went to a penguin reserve, and looked around a bit at the African penguins. They are called jackass penguins because they sound like donkeys when they make noise. I’ll see if I can post a video later. We then went to a bar in the area for dinner, and headed back for the rest of the night.

3/27/2010

We started out the day by shaving Benjy’s beard :P We tried to go for the pencil thin beard to make him look super sketchy, but it didn’t really translate. Oh well. After, we ended up going (again) to the Green market square. I stopped in a book store to pick up something for my project, and when we came out, we ran into Elizabeth and Jay on their way to the same place. We went over there and spent a few hours walking around and shopping. We went to Nando’s for lunch, then came back and did a turn around to go to the train station. We then went to a rugby game, Western Province versus an Argentinean team. We won, of course. Hannah had a great time talking to one of the players, the one who plays her position. For dinner, we all went to a thai place that took over 1 ½ hours to bring us our food. Frustrating. Bed!

3/26/2010

Today was Table Mountain day. A lot of people had already gone, so Hannah and I decided to go just the two of us. We left around 1130, and started up the mountain. The total hike took us about 1:45, but it felt like years. We kept turning around to see how far we were, feel good for a second, and then turning back around to see how much further we needed to go. Ahhhh. We finally got to the top, after seeing a mountain goat and dassies, and it was 100% covered in fog. Woo. We walked around for a while, and got to the tourist area for a late lunch. When we went into the cable car, we could finally see down, and got some great pictures. We got back around 4, and watched a movie with some people. For dinner, Hannah and I ordered pizzas from the backpackers, and then got ready to go hang out at Nick’s digs for the night.

3/25/2010

We started out this morning by going to Green Street Market. Well, sort of. We tried to go to Green street market, and got very lost. Everyone we asked didn’t know where it was, which was confusing, since we had seen it yesterday. Finally, after we had walked through almost the entirety of company gardens near parliament, we ran into a security guard who told us that it was actually called Green Market Square, and that’s why no one knew what we were talking about. Also, we had walked about 6 blocks in the wrong direction. So, we finally got there after a very quick and lazy cab ride, and walked around. It was a bartering place, so we tried to get our prices as low as possible. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t. We came home around 11 to get our food money, and then went back out for lunch. The place we wanted to go wasn’t open until noon, so we walked up long street to look in the shops. For lunch, we had seafood, and I obviously had oysters 
When we got back, people had gone to climb Table Mountain, and we were thinking about going to Signal hill for dinner, so we just hung out for a couple of hours. Some people napped, and I worked with my computer. When everyone got back, I wasn’t really in the mood for cheese and crackers on a mountain, so a bunch of us went to pasta with the intent of getting extra for lunch tomorrow. When we got back, everyone got dressed up to go out, as it was Stevie and Evan’s birthday at midnight. We tried to go to a dance club, but it was a very long walk, and not everyone had the right shoes (silly, I know). We finally ended up at a club called Zula, and we had a ton of fun. There was live music and dancing, and people were great to be around. Good night, and Happy Birthday Stevie and Evan!

3/24/2010

We started out by going to a shopping area in Claremont called Cavendish square. There were both store stores and little cultural stalls. A few people got things, but mostly it was just time to look around and hang out. We got lunch while out, and then headed back to the backpackers. Hannah, Lindsay and I watched a little bit of The Land Before Time, and then we went to the beach with Bryant and Benjy. We had a ton of fun, even though it was FREEZING. Upon coming back, we went to a bar to grab a drink with the rest of the group, and then we went to dinner. We also went out to cruise Long street, which is the main bar and tourist street later that night.

3/23/2010

We flew today! Leaving time was 8, and we rolled right on time. We drove to the airport, and had plenty of time before our 12 departure. We had fun just hanging out, though. Once we got through the gate, we were able to walk around and get some food and snacks. We sat in mostly alphabetical order on the plane, and I was on a window (yusss). The flight was about 2 hours, so not so bad. We got to Cape Town around 2, and gathered ourselves to meet with our driver to the backpackers we were staying at. We took the second shift, and so had to hang out for a while. Once we got there, I was in one of the large dorms. We set up/chose beds, and then rallied the troops to go walk along the waterfront. Cape Town is a lot like Boston; very much a harbor city, and very close together. We walked around for a while, stopping to get drinks wherever looked good. We also listened to a performing group for a while. For dinner, we ate at a pub on the harbor, and then went to a grocery store to get some breakfast and snack food. Once back at the backpackers, we all used internet, and some people went out. I stayed in and tried to get a good night’s sleep in preparation for the next 6 days.

3/22/2010

Another full day in Joburg. Well, sort of. We left around 9, and headed straight to the Cradle of Mankind, where hominid fossils are dug up on a regular basis. We went to Maropeng, which is a touristy spot explaining the history of man and paleontology. We went through the museum, then had lunch in the shop area. After, we headed out to the outskirts of Joburg to go to the Voertrekkersmonument, a huge, ugly building dedicated to the Great Trek of the Boers in the 1830s (I think). It was an interesting look at Afrikaans history, and also at White South African pride. There is a guest book, and a lot of people sign it with things like “Stay Strong!” “You are the TRUE South Africans” and so on and so forth. A little wrong, if you ask me. We then headed back to finish our cartoon projects and present them. Nick, Eric and I did a multi-dimensional analysis of the Showerhead usage in Zapiro’s Zuma cartoons. This makes more sense if you’ve been living in South Africa for a few months. After 3 hours of presentations, we had pizza, then auctioned off cutting peoples beards. All proceeds went to the social committee, and Lindsay, Hannah, Elizabeth and I bought Jay and Benjy. So excited. On a bad note, Benjy left his door unlocked during the afternoon with his computer on his bed, and it was stolen. They also stole his computer bag with all three of his passports in it. Lock your doors, kids.

3/21/2010

Hooooo boy. So last night, there was a bar fight that happened with some of the people who stayed out later. Long story short, Bryant got too drunk, bumped the wrong Afrikaaner, got punched in the face, Colin went into help, got punched in the eye and lip, and then Kevin dragged them both out of there. There was also an incident with Andrew and Nick that I’m not too sure of the details on. Bryant’s nose is broken, and Colin has a major black eye and fat lip. They are beautiful this morning. Moving on.
In waiting for Bryant to get back from the hospital, we had to delay our leaving time by a couple of hours. We left at about 1030, and made our way to Johannesburg. Our first stop was Soweto, which stands for South West Township, and is where a lot of black south Africans lived during Aparteid. We went to the Hector Pieterson museum while there, which is about the School strike of 1976. The museum is dedicated to the first boy to lose his life. This was supposed to be a peaceful protest of children, but the police opened fire on them early on “for protection”. This was also a major turning point in the anti-Aparteid movement. After this, we grabbed lunch at a buffet place nearby, and then headed to the Aparteid museum. After that, we went to Nick’s house to look around, then to dinner in Joburg. After dinner, we stopped for a drink at Cool Runnings, and then headed back, as it was almost 11.

3/20/2010

Today we were up and packed by 6 so we could leave and drive to Pretoria. We drove in the GDVs for about an hour and a half to get outside of Ha Makuya, where we met Shaddy and the Quantums (vans). By the time we got there, everyone was completely covered in dirt and dust. I wiped off so much from my face that I could have started my own garden. Once in the Quantums, life felt like a luxurious ride once again. Pretoria is about 7 hours from Ha Makuya, but the drive was fun and not stressful. We stopped for a snack at a mall (we pack lunch on these days, but always stop and buy lunch as well. I’m totally confused), and then again at a gas station for actual lunch. Finally, around 5 or so, we showed up at our backpackers in Pretoria. We waited outside for a while before meeting with David to get our room keys. We also then found out that there was no power, and thus no internet. Fantastic. Luckily, it was just a basic power outage, and it ended up turning on later that night. Hannah, Elizabeth, Lindsay and I all roomed together in the far house with a few other people. After we chose our rooms, we went and had dinner by candle light, something we’ve sort of become accustomed to. A bunch of us went out to a pub after dinner, and had a blast just hanging out. I went back with an early group, and called home to let them know I was alive 

3/19/2010

I started feeling better today. We had breakfast SO LATE (9), and then got to work. Well, some of us. It was technically a day off, so some people went on a long walk while others of us stayed behind to get stuff done. That sounded snarky, but its true :P. When the people from the walk got back, our mopane FFP got together to do some work. I also called chris, as it was out anniversary  sickeningly adorable, I know. But, I love him. We then did more work on our project, though not much as the generator was off, and my battery lasts about 1 hour without a power cord. We then had to pack while it was still sunny out, and then we all relaxed in the evening. Some of us had ordered things from venda women in the village, and a few things came today. Most of mine didn’t come, but it will later. We also got a briefing on the next few days in the cities, and what to expect, as well as what will be expected of us. Bed!

3/18/2010

I woke up this morning feeling way more miserable than the day before. They have decided that we must have had some of the river water, and gotten ecoli from it. Woo. I tried to do work, and basically couldn’t even sit up. I took a nap, and that helped a bit. We had a lot of work to do that day, so I wanted to rest up and be ready for that. Around lunchtime, Graeme decided that they should test me for malaria (oh yes. That bad). First, they couldn’t get me to bleed. Then, once they got my blood, it was way too thin to even run the test. Finally, they got enough to run the test. It dried out before the test was finished. I’m a wreck. But, I don’t have malaria (we think). I took a pill, and started to feel better by the end of the day. We had dinner, and then watched some FFP presentations, then listened to some traditional venda music. People had a party tonight, but I obviously didn’t go. Sleep for me!

3/17/2010

Still didn’t feel well today. I decided to stay back from the field, as it was supposed to be a long day, and I wasn’t sure I could handle it. I wasn’t alone, though. Elizabeth wasn’t feeling well either (she was sick yesterday too), and Melissa spent the day pretty much puking her guts out. FUN. I did more work on my projects that were coming up, and tried to relax some. The group that went out today didn’t get back until dinnertime, so I was glad that I didn’t go to the field. Since today was saint patty’s day, a few people were partying and having a good time. I sat in for a bit (not drinking of course, I was still sick), and then went to bed.

3/16/2010

I woke up feeling terrible today. Very bad stomach cramps. Murh. Luckily, I didn’t have to go into the field today, so I tried to be relaxed and sitting for as long as I could. We had to work on understanding our maps today, which was a little bit of a project for Hannah and me, since we didn’t do any work on it (too busy with housework). We also got a chance to do a little work on some of our other billion projects that are due in de hoop, although not nearly as much as I would have liked. This pretty much took up the afternoon. I napped after that, then ate a tiny bit for dinner and went to bed.

3/15/2010

Today we started our 6th FFP on Baobabs. We drove for an hour to get to a small reserve, then had a lecture from our guest academic Sarah Venter. She also gave us some of her cosmetic oil from Baobab seeds which will soon be used in high end cosmetics (oooo). Then we went into the field to take surveys of Baobabs: fruit counts, flower counts, aborted flower counts, disease percentage and amount of bark stripped. We did this for 6 trees all together, and then had lunch and split into three groups. Each group did another 6 trees, and then we met to go back. We stopped at the store quickly, and then headed back to camp. This afternoon I took a nap, and it was wonderful. We had a relaxing night, minus me having a meeting with David for my History and Culture paper. It went well, and I have a lot of good ideas.

3/14/2010

Soooooo last night I felt a pinch in my back. I bolted upright, because I was convinced it was a scorpion. I felt it crawl over my hand, and just stay there. Hannah screamed at the boys to get up, and Benjy leaped out of bed, almost fell over, and turned on the light. I look at my hand to see a praying mantis that extended from my finger tip to my wrist. Thank god it wasn’t a scorpion, but holy God was I scared for a second. I didn’t sleep very well the rest of the night, as right before we had gone to sleep, Benjy had so comfortingly said that scorpions like to crawl underneath you because its warm and sting you afterwards. Thanks Benj.
Today was our last day in the village  After breakfast and washing, we went to visit the chief of the village. He was a very smart man, and very nice. We came back and waited to be picked up. While we were waiting, we watched the women re-dung the floors. It’s a very interesting process; they make designs in the dung while smearing it, so when it dries it looks unique. They do this about once a week or so, and it’s a long process. Around 10, everyone got there to pick us up, and we said our good-byes. Mpo gave each of us a broom that she had made, and I now have to find a way to get that home intact. We went to the store quickly, and then drove on to our next destination.
We are staying for the next few days at the camp site that Tshulu trust owns. It’s a beautiful area, and I’m very excited to be here. We are living in tents (6 to a tent), and there is a main area to eat at and have lecture if needed. We went down to the river to swim for a bit before lunch, and then came back. We had a meeting to de-brief about the homestays that lasted about 3 hours, and then we had the night to ourselves. We can’t do much electronic work here, as the only power is through a generator, and it uses petrol to run. So, instead of working, we all went down to hang out at some rapids up the river. It is beautiful here, have I mentioned that? We came back, had dinner, and then I just relaxed for the rest of the night, as I was still exhausted from the homestay. Movie for me!

3/13/2010

Quick side note – We got named yesterday, and I forgot to write about it. Jay was Lufuno, which was love, Benji was Takarandi, which was happy, Hannah was Mudzizo, which was questions, and I was Funzo, which was education. I don’t know why.
Turns out there was a scorpion in our hut last night. A big one. Avery poisonous one. TIA. We started out the day very similarly to yesterday, eating breakfast and washing our faces. Then we went to the store to buy a chicken to cook. We brought it back by holding the wings, and then let it run around the house area until we were ready to kill it. Then we went and collected wood. All of the kids went, including a 15-year-old girl named Delicious. She is my idol. She is only about 5 feet tall, and is as strong as a body builder. She was hacking away at the log so accurately that it looked like a machine. Hannah tried to chop wood (rather successfully, I might add) while I hung back, afraid of chopping my foot off in the process. When we had gathered enough, we tied it into bunches and brought it back. Lara came right as we were carrying it back, and was so proud of us 
**DISCLAIMER: DO NOT READ IF YOU ARE FAINT OF HEART AND/OR STOMACH**
When we got back, it was time to prepare the chicken. The first thing that happened was Cynthia (Mpo’s sister) teased the chicken by holding a knife to its neck in the middle of the house. Hannah and I were sure that she was just going to kill it right there. Luckily she didn’t, but then she brought it over to the side of the house and had us watch the process. They collected the blood in a basin to use later. It was definitely an experience watching her slaughter the chicken. Woof. After it was dead, she poured boiling water over it, and then cracked off all of the talons and de-skinned the feet. Then off came the feathers. Hannah and I helped with this part, as it wasn’t technically challenging or physically difficult. It was kind of gross though :P. Once it had been de-feathered, Mpo cut it into pieces like you would find in the market. She separated the intestines out, as they were going to be cooked as well, but in a separate dish. We then threw all of the meat parts (including the “walkie talkies,” or head and feet) into a pot to cook together. While waiting, Mpo had Hannah cut up the liver into little pieces and had me mush mealie meal into the congealed blood; later, Hannah had to mush the liver INTO the blood. Mmmmm. We cooked the intestines in a separate pot with the blood and liver, and also a bean leaf dish. When we were all done, the chicken (whom we had named “Dinner”) looked delicious, the intestines smelled good but looked weird, and the leaf dish was glue. That was the only leaf dish that I just couldn’t eat because of the texture. The boys finally came back, and we ate Dinner for lunch.
In the afternoon, we accidentally took a nap, and then were dressed in traditional Venda apparel. We had a photoshoot, and then went to play games and dance with the little kids and women. We played extreme jacks (which I suck at), and then danced our little hearts out. The kids kept teaching us things, and then laughing at us when we couldn’t do them very well. Ah well. We decided to name our dog Kevin, as it was a girl, made funny noises, and fell asleep with her tongue in the dirt, ala Kevin vega. For dinner, we didn’t really have to help much O.o so we watched and waited for them to ask us to do something. We actually had a chance to talk with the boys! For dinner, we had another leaf dish and fish. The fish smelled TERRIBLE, but tasted alright, kind of like butter. After dinner, our treat was coke (ick), and then we sat around talking for a while before completely PTFOing.

3/12/2010

By ourselves, we got up at 6. The family, who had stayed up way past us the night before, was already up doing household work (collecting water, sweeping, etc). We all got up and dressed and went outside. Everyone got a chance to sweep, but that is where the equalities ended. We talked to the family after breakfast (VERY sweet coffee and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches) about their resource usage and wealth status. This family consisted of two 30-year-old parents and two kids, a 12-year-old boy and a 9-year-old girl. They lived completely off of child grants, as neither parent worked, though the dad did odd jobs for friends sometimes. All food that could be collected they collected, and they relied on the generosity of friends for that which they couldn’t afford. They own a stereo and very broken down tv (not sure if it even works or not), but not a stove or fridge.
After we talked to the family, we started doing the housework. We washed dishes, cooked, cleaned, prepared more food, and made pap (which sort of falls in with cooking, but its so hard!). For lunch today, we had a pumpkin leaf dish and mopane worms. The worms were alright; a little mushy, and tasted mostly like chicken. Not the greatest. After lunch we played some games with the kids (jump rope for girls, soccer for boys), then learned some venda words, not that I remember any of them. Then we went to the river to swim for a bit, and also to the bore hole (an artesian pump that just flows onto the ground all the time) to collect water. I have now carried water on my head, although I wouldn’t say I did it well. We got back, and were told that we needed to go collect wood. When we asked our host mother, though, she said it was too hot and we would go later. So we relaxed in the hut for a while, feeling a little strange that we weren’t doing any work. We then went to play with the kids, and learned a bunch of their games. They all seemed like games I had played when I was a kid, except for EXTREME. There was extreme monkey in the middle, extreme duck duck goose, extreme blob tag, extreme London bridge, and extreme spud. Hannah and I played these games while Jay and Benjy played soccer with the older boys. We then cooked dinner (MORE PAP), which was a potato and tomato dish. It was extremely delicious. Probably going to make it again sometime soon. Our treat tonight was orange soda and corn. The corn tasted like feed corn made out of glue. It was gross. But, I didn’t want to be rude, so I just made a big deal out of it, and ate most of it.

3/11/2010

First day of homestays! We didn’t have to leave so early this morning, as we weren’t due in the villages until after 230. We took a nice game drive through the park, and then leisurely made our way there. Once in Ha-Makuya, we divided into our six groups. I was with Jay, Hannah and Benjy. We got to go to a village called mulokowabane (I am positive I spelled that wrong), along with one other group. We were split up, so we didn’t see them the entire time. Our host mother was about 30, but at first glance I could have sworn she was no older than we. They were all whooping and hollering as we pulled up, and they seemed really excited to have us there. They had made us lunch, so the first thing we did was learn about proper meal etiquette. The girls serve, and then bow to the men. It’s a very sub-female system. First meal? How about some locusts? They taste like popcorn. Then we went and sat outside, talking with the adults, learning the greetings, playing games with the children, dancing…no one was ever not doing anything. We then made dinner, which consisted of pap (pronounced pup) and a bean leaf dish. Hannah and I helped make it, and let me tell you this; pap is hard to make. You have to work so hard to mix it, and neither of us really had the guns. These women, however, were just whipping it about like it was milk. When we finally got done (it took us forever to make the pap), it was dark, and so we ate inside with the lights on. For a treat (two treats, actually), after dinner they gave us watermelon and some sprite. We finally went to bed around 10, and then had to write our field notes of the day on the resources the family uses.

3/10/2010

Today was a big day. We had lectures all morning to talk about our homestays and the villages we would be staying in. we also met our guides, who would be translating everything we needed for us in the three days. I hadn’t thought about that part before—silly, right? These people speak Venda, and most of them, especially the elder ones, don’t speak English at all. After lunch, we did a practice social experiment for what we will be doing in the village. It’s called a social map—people in the village draw what they think their village looks like, and talk about everyone’s status. After that, a bunch of us went to play soccer with some of the University of Chicago students who had just shown up today, even though really not many came. We ate dinner with them as well, and then we had a party tonight for Andrew’s birthday. In the end, there were a couple of cool U of C students, but most of them were kind of tools. I’ll tell people about the one girl not from U of C later.

3/9/2010

I went on the game drive this morning, even though I barely slept last night. SO WORTH IT. We saw a male lion just walking along the road. We followed him for such a long time, then passed him so we could take pictures of his face. So amazing. AHH. Then a bunch of us went to the restaurant for breakfast. I tried to do some reading down by the pool, but that ended up being more social than reading. Ah well. Right before lunch, Elizabeth and I decided to power nap. When I woke up at 110, she was still out. I tried to wake her up, but she didn’t even budge. It was really funny. Maybe you had to be there.
After lunch, I did some laundry and read a little. I also counted some eggs for our FFP. Very easy, very mindless. Hannah and I watched some family guy (we’ve been watching a lot of tv lately, not sure why), and then we went to dinner. At dinner, we decided who would be living with whom at the homestays, and also picked a new SRC – Lindsay, Elizabeth and Evan T. We also heard about the REU; I unfortunately now have no reason to stay for the world cup >.< Grr. Oh well. Better luck next time…

3/8/2010

Should have gone on the game drive >.< they saw a huge pride of lions. Grah. Today was a consolidation day, which meant we were allowed to do what we needed to for our up and coming projects. It basically meant we all had pretty relaxing days. I spent mine sort of reading, sort of relaxing, sort of stealing peoples iTunes. In the morning, I went on a bird drive with Graeme and a bunch of other people. It was really fun, and really informative. I can maybe sort of bird now?
After lunch, I went through lindsay’s and andrew’s libraries to get more music. Then I spent another hour deleting the stuff that I couldn’t play from protection problems. A bunch of people then watched big fish, pausing for dinner, and then dance party! I partook tonight, as I had a lot of pent up energy from…eh, who knows. Fun though!

3/7/2010

Gah exam! We got the prompt at 8, and had until 5 to write a comprehensive exam (3-4 page single spaced paper). It wasn’t so bad; I took frequent study breaks, and just tried to work steadily for the entire time. Elizabeth and I locked ourselves in our room, just working straight until lunch, and then straight until 5. After, we decided to play soccer to relieve the stress. I played, though didn’t run a lot, as my leg is still really bruised. I decided to take an easy night tonight, as I was exhausted from the past few days, and I just wanted to sleep. I was thinking about the game drive, but decided to give it a pass. A lot of people partied. Lame.

3/6/2010

Second note to self: DON’T PLAY SOCCER WHEN YOU KNOW THAT THERE ARE OPEN BLOOD VESSELS IN YOUR LEG. I woke up to a bruise the size of Alaska on the back of my leg today. Nice…not. I went out with the birders this morning. We took surveys at all of their sites, and I tried to work on my bird call recognition. When we got back, I tried to do a little bit of reading, but ended up falling asleep. Around 1030, Hannah and I worked on reading the Kruger Experience, which we need to have read by tomorrow. Lunch, and then cleaning out the GDVs. After that, it was soil analysis, followed by team Mopani meeting, followed by picture analysis of the eggs (making sure we’ll be able to count the number of eggs in each batch). Everyone went to bed pretty early, because tomorrow its exam day!

3/5/2010

This was my last day in the field for Mopani. We went out at 9, and had a little bit of a setback when we had to stop at some old sites to get some data. We only managed to get two sites done, but that’s alright. We should be able to get over 10 total plots, which will be great data. I hurt myself pretty good today, as I slipped out of the tree and caught my leg on a ripped branch. I didn’t break anything, but it scraped the back of my leg nicely. It’ll be fine. When we got back, we did some organizing of pictures (that took FOREVER), and then a bunch of us went to play soccer. Note to self: next time wear sneakers. We also had our first Jenneca lecture tonight, about hominids. Very interesting.

3/4/2010

Another day of Mopani-ing. Today it was really rainy in the morning, so I was nervous going out. Luckily, it wasn’t too wet, and we got a lot done. We dug at two sites, and searched for eggs and caterpillars at four. I didn’t injure myself too badly climbing any trees (yesterday I scraped up my ankle pretty good), and we got a lot accomplished. In the afternoon, we tested all of the soil for its type and recorded our data. After that, it was a nice relaxing evening with some reading of articles, cartoon X-MEN and sleep. Sorry this is so short, not a terribly exciting day :/

3/3/2010

We started work on our FFP today. There are two running simultaneously again; we are afternoon, and people are going birding in the morning. This morning the four of us (Colin, Lindsay, Evan G and me) sat down with Alan (correction: Dax sat in for Evan, as he was out birding), and we made a game plan for the next few days. No one has done any work on mopani worms before, so we are creating a possible new procedure for assessing the population of an outbreak area. Its complicated to put down into just a little blurb, so if you want to know more about it, we can talk when I get back. We finally got going to the field around 1030, taking some of those not on the actual project with us.
In the field, we dug for pupas in the ground, as well as looked for eggs and larvae in the trees. Mopane worms are actually caterpillars that morph into a rather large moth. We set up 20 m by 20 m plots, dug 5 1 m by 1 m by 40 cm holes and searched for the eggs in all of the Mopani trees. It took a while, but with each site it got faster and faster. We did one before lunch, and another one and a half after lunch. After that, we came back for the rest of the evening to relax and study for our exam on Sunday.

3/2/2010

I woke up early this morning to do more editing on the IP. We got together at 730, and didn’t finish until 4:58. It was 2 ¼ hours on the intro, 1 hour on the methods, 1 hour on the results, 1 1/2 hours for lunch, 1 ½ hours for discussion, and 1 ¼ hours for everything else at the end. Long. Ass. Day. We made it through, though, and it feels really good to be done. I made a pep move by bringing everyone chocolate after lunch. At 5, we went back to play more soccer. This time, there was a ladies game and a main game. There were girls in the main game, but the ladies game was only girls. Hannah and I started over there, and then Lily, Rachael and Stevie came over later. It was so fun; about 20 minutes in, it started POURING. It took me a very long time to figure out who was on my team, or which side I was even playing towards. Some of the girls spoke English, but it wasn’t terribly good. I felt bad, as I didn’t know what language they were speaking, and didn’t want to be rude and assume they spoke Shangaan. I’ll have to ask. I ended up scoring a lot, so that always feels good . After the game, we had an epic mud fight on the main field, followed by a very dirty car ride and a lot of people jumping in the pool with clothes on. After dinner, we had a short meeting and lecture about the 3rd and 4th FFPs that are being started tomorrow.

3/1/2010

This morning, we left at 530 for the drive. Nothing special; lots of birds, a few elephants (cool, but fairly common here), and a really old buffalo who looked like he wanted to charge us. After, we waited for our IP comments until 1130 (Laurence was totally swamped). Once we got them, we each took some time to read and digest them. After lunch, we started working on editing the sections. It was back to Colin and me editing the intro. At 430, we left to go to soccer. We thought we would be playing a variety of ages; turns out we were playing the organized Punda Maria team. It was very fun; I was second string (thank god), and got to play a while in the second half. We ended up winning 2-1. During the game, there were about 200 little kids running around us and laughing and playing. We then headed back to eat dinner and keep working on our IPs.

2/28/2010

This morning, we all got up really early to leave by 630. We drove for an hour or so (getting mock charged by an elephant on the way) up to Thulamele, which is a burial site for an ancient civilization that was here long before colonization. We talked about the rituals performed in order to elect, decide, and just live. This whole lecture took place on the top of a very large plateau, with cliffs overlooking a great deal of the northern park. At one point, we were looking at a part of the wall, and we could sit on the edge of a 300 foot high wall. I, of course, sat on the very edge and threw rocks over (this probably isn’t helping for those of you who think I’m going to totally mangle myself while here). At the end of the lesson, we had a short meditation session to just clear our minds of all stress and to just reflect on this past month.
Lunch was a picnic by the Limpopo river. While there, we saw about 20 golden orb spiders, as well as a medium sized snake. We then drove to Crooks Corner, which is the bank of the Limpopo river where South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe meet. I have now seen Moz and Zim. After that, we went on a little bit of an extended bird drive, and then came back. We had a little bit of a night off, as Laurence hadn’t finished our IP comments, which was nice, as I had to get up early for a game drive tomorrow.

2/27/2010

Well, to finish last night, we got back from the internet around 5, and then we packed and ate dinner and went to bed. Nothing too special. Lots of chaos in packing land.
This morning, we got up at 4:45 to finish packing and have everything outside by 5. Then we loaded all of the suitcases that weren’t going with us, as well as the ones that were. Luckily, we were done right on time, and got out of there by 6. I opted to drive with Alan, and it was the best decision I have made in a really long time. He is one of the most interesting people I have ever met. We talked about everything, from sympatric speciation to Britney Spears. The drive was almost 12 hours long, and we enjoyed ourselves the whole way. While going up there, we saw almost the entire big five; buffalo, rhino, elephant (TONS), and leopard. Everyone else saw a lion but us. We had left the lunch restaurant late because Alan had to foot the bill, and the lion was gone by the time we got there. BOOOOO. But, we got a sweet picture on the Tropic of Capricorn.
We got to Punda Maria, our next location, at around 5 pm. It is a beautiful little site, with a pool and a bird hide right in camp. We each are two to a little chalet, which is basically a hotel room with a fridge and bathroom. I’m rooming with Elizabeth again . There is also a little shop on site, and a restaurant. The kitchen/common room area is unfortunately absent, so we are cooking and eating in a little outdoor cooking thing, and eating wherever we can find a spot to sit. Everyone is just storing food in their fridges, and we have cheese, yogurt, breakfast stuff, and the butters (peanut and animal). After dinner, a bunch of us went down to check out the hide, and then to bed, because tomorrow we leave by 630.
Highlights of the day:
- Leopard sighting (it walked right in front of one of the GDV’s)
- Alan identifying butterflies after seeing them for less than a second
- Alan’s bright blue flip flops
- The elephant femur
- Babalala in general
- Jackaranda
- Life’s greatest hits