Dinner

Last night I had the best dinner ever. Sorry Mom, but this stuff was just cooked so deliciously. :) Martin picked Ben and I up at, gasp, 10pm for dinner. It was early for he and his wife to eat, and ummmm a little late for us. So it was pretty much a compromise for the two parties. We went to a resturant by the river that had all kinds of pictures and memorabilia up on the walls with the owner posing with all kinds of famous people. That's Argentinian famous, as I couldn't tell who was important in each picture. It made for a great atmosphere though. And there were also some beastly dogs roaming around in the restaurant, which Martin assured us is NOT a cultural difference and not accepted here as well.

As far as I could tell, it was a kind of all you can eat, family style restaurant. I really don't know what exchanges took place between Martin and the waiters, as all I could pick up was him requesting what I wanted to drink. Beer, yum. Did I mention that there is a cerveceria in Santa Fe? Yep, that's a HUGE beer making factory that produces about four different kinds of beer for my consumption. Okay, it probably makes some for other parts of the country too if you want to get down to specifics. Anyhow, the restaurant was perched on the side of the river and specialized in seafood. I think specialized is too vague a term, as all we ate was one platter of fish after another. First we were treated to fish empanatas. (Think of the type of bread that makes up a chicken pot pie and cross that with a hot pocket shaped in a semicircle and fill it with fish!) It was the best empanata that I've had so far. Mmmmmm. Then came little fishy meatballs in a red sauce. They were good, but they fall low on my list from all the other yummy things we had. Then we had a huge fish that looked as if it had just been plucked from the ocean and immediately roasted in the oven with garlic and probably some buttery goodness. It was delicious!!! We each just dug our forks into the fish (which come to think of it probably looked a lot like all those dead ones that line our field site...) and ate the meat from it. Most of us grabbed a chunk, brought it to our plates, and got the bones out of it before bringing it to our mouths. However, this didn't seem to phase Ben who I imagine got at least one bone in every bite which he had to fish out of his mouth before taking in the next bite. Once Ben cleaned off the last bit of meat from this fish, we were brought another, smaller fish that was cut into steaks and fried. Yum again. I was stuffed by that point, but they then ordered another one of the big flat fish. I didn't touch any more of it, but I definitely want to return to that restaurant!

Once we were done, Martin dropped us off at our apartment. By now it was 1am. Mind you, all we did was go to a restaurant and eat dinner. And this is early for Argentina dinner???? I slept well, though woke up every so often to the howling wind which has accompanied us for the past two days. The weather has warmed up quite a lot since arriving. Evidently, it had been raining for two solid weeks before we got here. Add that to the fact that it was one of the coldest winters they've had in a long time, and I don't feel that bad about feeling so cold those first few days. I no longer need my down jacket as much, but it is certainly very comfy in inclimate weather!

Even though I took a nice nap after work today, I think I need a bit more shut-eye before more work tomorrow. Oh, and just to give you something to do... try to estimate the amount of feathers both inside and then outside the nest cup using this picture. That's pretty much all I can see when I have to do the same. Yeah... I don't imagine the stats on this count are going to be too reliable.

Tengo miedo

Okay, so I figure I'll get all the scary things out in one post. Though our site is pretty... there are TONS of dead animals around. You can't walk around without stepping on dead fish (supposedly died from deoxygenated water). There are some pretty cool ones though that have some gnarly teeth. I was thinking of entering Courty's Aquafresh Challenge by making a video of using the toothpaste to clean their teeth. Then I read that siblings aren't eligible to win. Oh well...

We've also got a couple dead cows and even more skeletons of them everywhere. Too bad I can't bring any of the skulls back, as they would make some neat mantel decorations. Martin said that the smelliest one probably died of a snake bite from a viper. Oh that makes me feel better! What chance would I have against a snake that can kill a 1000lb cow??? At least we wear rubber boots all the time since we are stepping in yuck and water all through the site.

There's a dead sheep, dead waterfowl and even a dead parrot. Interesting... I have a hard time believe that they all died of different things. In April of this year, there was an outbreak of leptospirosis specifically in Santa Fe. (Yep, that's where I am.) As it affects areas with farm animals (check), and bodies of water (check). I think I'll do my best to stay dry! I guess I won't be eating lunch in the field without a good scrub down as in SC with Kels!

Yesterday when we were out in the field, we checked one of the boxes that was just COVERED in wasps. We'll have to set a fire to that one to smoke them out soon. But, on the tree right by the box, there was a HUGE snake about as thick as a Nalgene bottle. I think it was just a colubrid, aka nonvenomous snake. We've also got another one of these guys at the far end of the site, but that one is, you guessed it, dead.

Now you've got a little bit of a better idea of where I work. Aren't you jealous? hehe. At least there are lots of birds and animals that are still alive!!!

Accent

What is the difference between an accent and a speech impediment? People in Argentina definitely pronounce their words differntly than I am used to. Okay, I'm not really at the point that I am used to any of it yet, but they speak differently than I was taught in school ages ago. I learned that "ll" makes the "y" sound. Sounds good, right? Well, here I suppose they go by the same rule... but then they also change both of those letters to sound like the "j" or "jch" sound. Then it seems like most people (though not all, thank goodness) speak with a lisp as well. These may just seem like minor changes that you can easily deal with. I second guess myself with the words to begin with so adding on these complications makes understanding someone speaking really fast almost impossible. I have to literally picture the words in my head how they are spelled, how I would pronounce it, and then make all the changes necessary to adapt the words to how I hear and have to say them here. Oye! Give me time and I'll have it down... I hope!

Yesterday I was working with Laura in the field. We work really well together. In fact everyone is great to work with. (The OCD is a little difficult to tolerate at times because he gets frustrated over little things... but he's loads better than Alaska!) Anyhow, I was explaining that we'll put more nest boxes on one side of the site instead of the other because there's more room over there. For the life of me I couldn't remember how to say "instead" in Spanish. I was having a major brain fart. Then I couldn't figure out how to explain it in English (translating it back into Spanish) so she could tell me what the word was. I did my best to explain, and she kept throwing out words for me: "but not," "later," "and," etc. Finally we made it back to the trees where my Spanish-English dictionary was waiting. "En vez de" of course I remembered it as soon as I saw it. And all the other ways to explain the word "instead" rolled through my mind. Oh well. My vocabulary is slowly coming back.

I just got back from getting some groceries. Even if I know what I need and how do say it, it doesn't always work. Because I get reimbursed for food, I had to ask the guy at the little produce market for a reciept. In Argentina, there is a word for a detailed reciept "boleta". So he writes down "manzanas" which is what I bought. Yes! But then he goes on to write "apples" below it. He tries telling me that manzanas means apples. Okay, yes, I know that. But I need a reciept for my job. The other guy behind the counter was laughing and told the other guy that I knew what apples were and just needed the reciept. Then the guy wrote down the price. Yes, getting further... So I asked him for his signature as well, which he provided. Yay! After all that I had a little scrap of paper ripped out of a notebook with "manzanas, $4,50" and his firma. Sucess!!! (By the way, instead of using a period between whole numbers and the decimal, a comma is used. Ben and I figured this out as we were reading off measurements for Laura and Rodrigo to copy down. Minor hurdle.)

Today we finished putting up all the nest boxes we made, about 38 in all I think. Added to the 50 or so nests that were at the site already, we have about another 20 to build and put up. We don't have wood yet, so I don't know when we'll be making more. I've had fun with all the power tools though. :) I'd say we have about 10 nests with eggs in them already and another 10-15 that are complete. The swallows build their nests with grasses and a TON of feathers here. Once the nest cup is deep and fully lined with feathers, we know that the momma will be laying eggs any day.

Tomorrow we'll be starting later (at 8:30am instead of 6:30am) which is a welcome change. I'm not opposed to early field work, but typically the entire schedule is shifted earlier. Foe example in South Carolina, we started before sunrise, but then we ate dinner around 3pm and were to bed by 7. Here, you can't get dinner until around 8:30pm as everyone eats at 9 or 10. It sure makes for some long days, as we haven't been taking the siestas that everyone else is accustomed to. Today we got back at around 1pm. I definitely rested my eyes as I tried catching some sun outside. Speaking of which, I better get some more shut eye!

Un Dia de Espanol

Today our two Argentinian counterparts were in Martin's car when he picked us up. Rodrigo has been working with swallows for three years. Laura is in her last year of undergrad, and this is her first season with swallows. So basically, Rodrigo is like a Ben, and I am like a Laura... if that makes sense. Together we form the Golondrinas quartet. I'd tell you more about them, but basically since they don't speak English, I can't tell you a whole lot about them except that they are very patient with us. :) They are taking a basic English class, but they did not practice at all with us yet. I'm sure they'll take us up on it as their oral exams approach.

Martin is a great guy. He slows down his Spanish when speaking to us and what more could you ask for? Really though, he's very nice and just what you'd hope a host would be. He explains the cultural differences to us and guided us around the city the past couple days. He's working on his doctorate, so he's got a lot on his plate right now in addition to this project.

That being said, today was the first day that we really had to speak in Spanish without the possibility of switching back to English if we weren't understood. Perhaps that's why it took so long to do everything! hehe. Ben likes to tell jokes in Spanish, but it is usually lost in translation. It's great that he tries though. Today he was trying to explain something while we were in the woodshop and finally quit, saying in Spanish that he couldn't find the words he was looking for. Then Rodrigo guessed at what he meant and Ben replied that yep, those were the words!

We bought some more wood and nails, attached traps onto all the nest boxes we made yesterday, and painted the posts today. Then Martin dropped us off in the field where we checked the eight nests that had eggs in them yesterday. Swallows lay one egg every day, so we had some new eggs to measure. When we check the nests, we are quantifying the "completeness" of the nest (on a scale of 0-4), how many eggs are in it, the temperature of the eggs (on a scale of 1-4), and then the length, width, and weight of each egg.

We are also supposed to estimate how many feathers are in the nest cup and how many are outside of it. Now, remember when you were a kid and had to estimate the amount of jellybeans in the jar? Imagine that you can't see the top of it (ie the nest cup) and you can't see three of the sides. Estimation just got a WHOLE lot harder!!! These swallows use feathers in their nests, and it is thought that they are used for insulation. As this site is full of all kinds of birds, there is certainly not a paucity of feathers. I'd say the nest have at least 50 feathers in them. Nests in the US might have 5-20 feathers making their job at estimation MUCH easier. We'll see how it goes though!

We finally finished and got back to the apartment at about 4pm. Mind you, I hadn't had breakfast this morning, and we didn't stop for lunch. You can bet I finished off my lone sandwich bag of trail mix I brought from the states! For dinner Ben and I had beer and cookies. It filled us up and certainly made up for missing lunch. :)

Brrrrrrrrr

Okay, so it is very cold here. I'll just get it out now, so I don't have to dwell on it throughout my time here. Granted, it is warmer here than in Nome. However, I was simply expecting it to be much warmer here and because I feel it should be warmer, I'm being stubborn. Because it does get so hot during the summer, which isn't for quite a while, buildings aren't heated. So, as I sit here in my polarfleece, shivering, I hope you realize that I haven't avoided the winter chill that will be arriving shortly in your locales. My feet are numb, approaching the color of my dark wash denim jeans. And for once, I am actually wearing socks all the time and am considering buying a hair dryer to stay warm. That's a whole other story...

My first shower here was delightfully warm. In fact, I think I created a new microclimate for the apartment when I opened the bathroom door and all the steam flooded the hallway. However, my shower this morning and then upon my return from the field were as cold as the glacial spring in Nome, Alaska. I have a feeling Ben jumped in the shower right after I turned mine on, accounting for both the drop in water pressure and drop in temperature. However, a "drop" simply does not conote the total lack of water above freezing. There was not a drop of warm water mixed in with the rest of the flow. I jump under the spout, wet my hair, lather up, then jump back under to rinse off. I could care less if my hair doesn't look as nice without conditioner, but I am not going to spend the extra time freezing wet that would take to add that step! Brrrrrr!

Okay, so that being said, we finally made it into the field today. Now, it's not like I've been here forever, it's just we didn't go yesterday as planned. Our site is amazing. On first glance it might be a little disappointing. It's on land owned by the University yet rented by a rancher. There are lots of cows and horses roaming around, and even quite a few sheep. There are a bunch of lagoons everywhere (aka mosquito breeding grounds when it finally does warm up). And due to low oxgen levels in the water a while ago, there are tons of dead fish everywhere. Luckily, they've been out of the water long enough that they don't smell quite so ripe.

The site has TONS of birds though. In addition to all of our swallows, there are just about any kind of bird you can think of. We've got burrowing owls (I finally got to see some after all my time in SW Florida wanting to catch a glance at some), parrots, wading birds, shore birds, birds from families that aren't even in the States. Lots and lots of birds! The only problem is, that I've never seen so many of them. That is a great thing... but compound learning a new species by the fact that it is named in a different language, and then a scientific name might thrown out, and after asking I'll get the English common name. That's a whole lot of info at once! I'm still just absorbing things right now, so in time I'll actually learn all the species. It's awesome though!

Oh and I can't forget that we also saw capybara today. These are the largest rodents in existance. Think of a guinea pig on some serious steroids, and you'll have a good idea of what I am talking about. Don't worry, I'll have pictures soon as I don't think they'll be going anywhere.

Our site will be flooding as the season wears on. I'm not talking about some puddles we'll need to walk though. The water already reached over my rubber boots and soaked my socks and pants today as we crossed a wet spot in the path. It will get to the point where we'll need a boat to reach our nest boxes. Last year, the water rose about 6 feet as we could see on all the trees, nest boxes, etc. (At least I think it was last year... I know there was a huge flood in Santa Fe in 2003, but I think there was another one at least in this part last year as well. As you might imagine, details such as this are lost to me in translation.) I don't know what we are going to do when the water is deep, but not quite deep enough for a boat. How I do miss my waders!

After checking the boxes that were already up (about 50) for nests and eggs, we went to the institute to build some more nest boxes. I must say that I am quite good with my power tools as blasted through the nests. Martin and I had quite a system going while Ben was in the other room. Upon his return, he took over for Martin and we finished up the rest of the boxes. It worked pretty well, but combine OCD with a project that doesn't require being exact (aka screws perfectly flush with the wood, etc) and I had to chuckle a bit.

When we got back to the apartment, the owner and her family were there. She explained that the metal covers for our windows needed fixing and asked which I wanted fixed first. I said my smaller one by the desk instead of the slider one, as it needed to be kept closed. I really had no clue what was going on, but just kinda guessed, and sure enough, the workers came in and my window above the desk it apart right now with the metal cover (think of a garage door with multiple slats rolling down to cover the window) blocking any view or light. I think they are coming back tomorrow with the parts to finish it up and then they'll do the other side. I could be wrong, again trying to figure things like that out in a different language kinda flies right over my head.

She made Ben and I dinner with an assortment of foods, a plethora would be more appropriate. We had two types of pizza, two types of empanadas (a stuffed pastry filled in these cases with ham and cheese and the other with ground beef), and a type of grilled ham and cheese sandwich that also probably has a special name. Then she brought out dessert and cut each of us a slice of ice cream cake covered in a hard chocolate and nut shell. It was divine, as it was chocolate ice cream on the bottom and toffee ice cream on top, with a liquid nugget of dulce de leche in the middle. After we finished, she insisted we couldn't be done yet, and cut us each another piece of the ice cream that was probably double the first. Though my stomach was already bursting at the seams, we both looked at each other and figured we couldn't offend our host. You can be sure though that I much rather would have liked to save it for later and savor it over the next couple of days. Oh well, it sure tasted great and I bet I'd be able to find it in the store if I crave it over the next couple of months.

I forgot to mention that yesterday Ben and I went out to dinner. Mind you, people here don't eat until 9:30 or 10pm!!! So not only was it very special for our host to make dinner just for the two of us and all of them to join us at the table to talk, you can imagine that finding dinner by ourselves at a normal US time wasn't possible. We left the apartment a little past 7pm and received strange looks from the waiters in the restaurant we tried. We ended up walking around town for the next hour or so. We are very close to the city center, which is great as we don't have a car. We ambled down the pedestrian street filled with stores of all kinds which I'll definitely be taking a look at later. After eventually making our way back to the restaurant we tried earlier, we were served. Before our dinner came, we received a basket of bread and crackers. With that came a brown looking spread which I tried. It tasted remotely like chicken, in a strange kind of way. Yep, you guessed it, it was chicken pate, basically, spreadable chicken liver if you aren't familiar with it, as I certainly wasn't. It didn't taste all that bad, but upon learning this, I couldn't bring myself to eating any more of it.

Hmmm, I think that is about it for now. I'll unpack my camera and hopefully start taking some pictures soon!

My Apartment

We have one apartment, two rooms. There is a third room, and the renters were staying in that last night.. though I think they are leaving today. Basically, once you get off the elevator, you open up the apartment door right there. Then there is a tv to your right and you are looking at the dinning room table, with two comfy chairs and a sofa behind it. (Think of a rectangle with a stack of tv, table, chairs.) Then, you have to close that door, as it swings open to block off the rest of the house. That doorway then opens to a short hall with a kitchen on your right. The kitchen is probably about the size of Kels' but add in a small table and two chairs and miniturize the fridge and stove/oven. We do have a microwave though!


Turn to your left down another hall (think an L-shaped hallway) which ends in a T. In the middle are two bathrooms. Mine has a tub/shower. His has just a shower. I don't plan on taking any baths, but it will make doing laundry easier if I need to wash anything here by hand. To the right is my room. I have a twin bed, though it is in a single bedframe. It works but the matress is perched at an angle. The sheets remind me of polyester, though I don't know quite what type of blend they are. The overall effect is that they are rather coarse. The comforter is like one that you would buy for a little kid to play with, hence why I slept in my 20'F sleeping bag last night. I also have a desk, chair, and two closets, well one closet but two pairs of doors. I also have a slider that opens out into a narrow patio that runs the length of the this side of the apartment. (There is another patio that comes off the living room/dining room where the bbq (think the type you'd find at a campgound with the a grill over a rectangular area to put some coals) is located. To the left is the bedroom of the owners with a little bed like mine along with a computer and the wireless router we bought today. At the left end of the T is Ben's room which has a queen sized bed which takes up most of the room. I assume his closet space is similar, but he doesn't have a slider and I think he might only have one windo. He does have a two shelf piece of furnature in place of the desk. I guess that offers more storage, as my desk doesn't have any drawers on it... which would actually make it a table I suppose.


And that's our little apartment! Off the kitchen there is a little utility room. Though it is filled with so much stuff I don't really know what is in there. It looks like there might be a freezer though, which would be good, as the fridge in the kitchen doesn't have a freezer section. (And the fact that the leftover dinner we had last night and put in the fridge already had mold growing on it today. Yum. I didn't notice until after I started eating it, so good thing I have a drugstore in my luggage just in case!)

Hope that provides you a good idea of where I am living!

Flushed

I really don’t know what it is about foreign toilets and me. Maybe it is the unwritten first test of entering a new country. All I know is it’s a good thing I’m not receiving a grade, as I don’t know how well I’d fair.

Okay, so my bathroom has both a toilet and a bedae. I used the toilet and then couldn’t find the flusher for the life of me. There was a little box above the toilet with what looked like a button, so I pushed it. Nothing happened. It only went in a little, so I tried pushing it a little more. Again, nothing. All I was really doing was depressing it even further, as it did not springing back out like a normal button would. Hmmm, I decided to mull over it for the night and see if anything better came to mind in the morning.

Come morning I took my Leatherman to the bathroom with me. There is a little screw on the size of the button, so I took it out. The only problem was once I got it out the button still didn’t budge. I closed the screwdriver and just tried to yank the thing off with the pliers. Still nothing. Then I used the screwdriver simply to pry the button out. After several attempts, the button popped out about two inches. Okay, it probably moved just an inch, but when it hadn’t budged in over 12 hours, it sure seemed like a foot. The water started running! Success!!! Only it was pretty much just a trickle. At least it was progress. I brushed my teeth, hoping to disguise the sound of the running water. After a while, I pushed the button again, and the toilet flushed! I was so happy I almost forgot to put the screw back in, but my toilet is once again working and complete.

Send Me On My Way

After about 30 hours of traveling, I finally made it to my new home. But before I describe the apartment, I’ll start back in Wilmington. I left with plenty of time from the apartment and only had to run back once for a last minute change of heart about what to bring. I made it to the airport with plenty of time and checked in with the lightest bags I’ve had since… ever! And to give myself a little more credit, my 75lb bags (total) included a fiber optic scope and new laptop that I was bringing down for the project. My car was packed with all of my worldly possessions for both FL and SC, and my bags for AK barely squeaked in under 100lbs. (In fact, I ended up paying the over weight fee for one of my bags on the way there. Give or take, they probably weighed about 115lbs combined then.)

That said, I arrived in Atlanta a little early and had plenty of time for my connection. Due to my online snooping before I left, I spotted Ben who is to be my American counterpart for my time in Santa Fe. (As I understand it, he was supposed to accompany me for the first part of Ushuaia too. He needs to get back to the states early so he won’t be coming at all down there. It’s a bummer for him that he won’t get to see that part of the country, but he’ll be rejoining his wife back at home. I had better hope my Spanish is great by then, as I won’t have an English buddy to talk to.) He is a PhD student in his last year at U Mass in Amherst. He definitely knows his stuff, but not in a cocky way. For example, I asked him what our schedule would be, and he mentioned something to the effect that it will take less than two days for me to have the swallow protocol down. What a huge and welcome difference in expectations than last season!

Our flight down to Buenos Aires was long, though we were given little goodie bags to make it more enjoyable. It included one of those masks to cover your eyes while sleeping (definitely came in handy), ear plugs, tooth brush/ tooth paste, lotion, and headphones. Pretty good for coach! I did see that first class got socks and all sorts of other stuff too, but I was sure happy with what I got. Oh, and we also got one free alcoholic drink with our dinner, an offer I couldn’t refuse.

We arrived in Argentina about 20 minutes early, leaving us enough time to catch an early bus to Santa Fe. We sped through customs, leaving Ben to think that we missed something. I simply enjoyed the hassle-free check. The language barrier kicked in as we had no clue where to go for our bus. (We had no problem buying our tickets. But as the time approached, we went outside to catch the bus, only to be pointed back inside. We had no clue what was going on. I don’t know if it was simply for our benefit, but they had someone met us inside and walked us out to our bus. It worked out well though.)

Within the first five miles, we saw our first dead person. There was some bike race/ride along the freeway. Why? I don’t know. Lots of smashed cars, lots of bloody people, and a very unhappy biker. (Do you still have emotions when you pass? Interesting…) I actually didn’t see the biker, but I saw what was left of one of the bikes, one of the cars, and the bloody guy still in the driver’s seat. It wasn’t quite the welcoming sight you want to see as you first enter a country. I guess it provides a good warning though.

After that, our bus got a flat. That didn’t seem to matter too much as we drove for about another 100km before we stopped to check it out. Then we stopped a couple more times trying to find a place that was open on a Sunday to fix it. No such luck, so we continued on our way. We dropped off a bunch of people, door to door, in Rosario; and then the driver told us to get off at a gas station. Hmmm, okay. It’s amazing how much more you can trust people if you don’t understand what’s happening. The driver got our bags and loaded them into a waiting car. This was not another bus for the final three-hour leg of our trip, not even a taxi, just a regular car with a printed out sheet stating the bus companies name. Our driver didn’t look sketchy, so what the heck. We had more legroom and the temperature in the car allowed my frostbite from the bus to thaw just a little.

On a side note, I read reports that Santa Fe is supposed to get pretty hot during the summer. In fact, that’s all anyone talked about. I checked on a map that it is at about the same latitude as Charleston, SC the day before I left. Yes, the south in the States does get pretty hot during the summer. However, I only realized in my whole body shivers that yesterday marked the last day of winter here. Although it will only get warmer as spring progresses, it is pretty damn cold right now! My down jacket is definitely getting a lot of use already.

We sped by the countryside which is remarkably flat. The landscape was predominated by agriculture consisting of grassy fields upon which the cattle grazed. Fruit stands dotted the freeway selling bags of oranges. Ben tried naming most of the birds we saw yet had some difficulty as we lacked a bird guide for Argentina and we were driving at a good speed. Honestly, I do best when I have the bird in a scope or better yet in my hand to figure out what it is. Perhaps if I know what I am looking for, I’ll improve in that area too.

We finally made it to the bus terminal at Santa Fe and called Martin who wasn’t expecting us for another couple of hours. Luckily he was in town and picked us up in half an hour. The apartment wasn’t ready yet, so he took us along the river where the locals had gathered to drink mate, a traditional drink. We were then shown the apartment. We each have our own room; there are two bathrooms, a kitchen, a family/dining room, and a utility room. The floor plan is quite different from what I am used to, and managed to get lost in trying to find the way out. (Perhaps the mate and a couple beers helped.) It’s not fancy, but it will certainly do for the next three months. My room has windows looking out in both directions, offering a great view of the city as we are perched atop the 12th floor of the building. I also have a slider out to one of the many balconies that surround the floor plan. (More on this later.)

I am freezing!!!! So I am going to try to curl up in a ball and get some shut eye. Ttyl!



PS. Send Me On My Way is my absolute favorite song. It just makes me want to get up and go somewhere, or at least dance. It's by Rusted Root by the way. :)

One Day

It is amazing how much life can change in one week. One day for that matter...

Have you ever heard of the book Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day? Yesterday morning I woke up early, took a shower, and packed some food for the day. I then powered up my computer to print off my registration and directions for my GRE test. The printer had no paper. There was no paper anywhere in the apartment. So I took a piece of paper that had the least notes written on it and made my copy.

Then I call my mom to find out if she left a key to get out of the parking garage. No such luck. In fact I didn't have any keys to the apartment at all. So I leave the apartment, close the door, and realize that I forgot the copy I just made. Okay, this is okay. I used the computers downstairs to make a new copy. Then I go to the front desk to get some help in freeing my car. Instead I am greeted by a sign saying the concierge will not be back for another 10 minutes. This is not the time for delays. I check my cell phone and realize I have 20 minutes to get to my test.

I finally get my car out after she returns. I punch in the address in the gps in my car, only it does not recognize it. I punch in the business name, again without luck. So I guess which freeway to take. I guess right, only to guess wrong when the freeway split. I drive in a huge circle on a couple more freeways and FINALLY made it to my test.

Once I get there I have to "write" out the whole passage saying that I am who I say I am and all that jazz. Did I mention I made it there late? Surprise. Anyhow, I have not had to write in cursive since, who knows when! My signature is basically a scribble, so that certainly doesn't count. I had so much trouble forming all the twists and turns of what should have been elegant script with my hands shaking so much. I eventually finished and then began the computerized exam.

As soon as I finished the test, I could see my score. Sufice it to say that the verbal kicked my butt, but I did score almost 200 points above it on my quantitative. As I exited the building, I turned on my cell phone. Listening to the message, my brain settled into a catatonic state. I simply couldn't process any more information. I could hardly believe what I was hearing.

Chris, the recruited I interviewed with the day before, called me to say that the placement officers got back to him already. He just nominated me to the Peace Corps Protected-Areas Management program in Central/South America leaving in mid-May!

So in one day I opened up my options for graduate school and have the next three years of my life planned. My life, planned? That's a first. I leave in just three days for Argentina. (Geesh, I better get on that.) All this is happening so fast, but I am so excited. Though I could have been placed in an Environmental Education, I am so happy to have the other placement. I figured, I could always develop a secondary project for EE, but it would be much harder to do it the other way around. Just listen to this description:

• Volunteers provide technical assistance and training in natural resource conservation, generally in close affiliation with national parks or other reserves. Their activies include technical training of park managers, workign with park staff on wildlife surveys, conducting community-based conservation such as sustainable use of forest or marine resources, and promoting ecotourism adn other income-generating activities for communities living near protected areas.

That's like my dream job! I can't wait!!! (My day definitely brighted after a rocky start.)

Getting Excited

Okay, so I am freaking out a little actually. But hey, that's practically the same as being excited. I've been stocking up on what I need and realizing that there is not a whole lot of time to do everything I'm trying to get down before I go. Well, first off the list is cleaning up... it's not like that's anything new.

Emails from Golondrinas are starting to pour into my inbox. There actually haven't been that many, but they are packed with more info. One was in regard to flights: yep, add that to the to do list. One mentioned that we have a trailer to carry all of our stuff into the field: I guess the sites won't be as local as I thought. And another answered a bunch of the questions I asked, but only now I have about a million more! I am so thankful though that this project is so much more organized than the last. I'm really excited to see how everything unfolds and get out into the field!

Today I raided Target and bought enough drugs to set up my own pharmacy. If I have any problems with a stuffy nose, sneezing, headache, fever, bad food, cuts, etc, I'll be set. It's interesting to see how much packaging they use on each drug. I took the meds out of the outer boxes, and reduced the space it all takes up by at least half. Sorry for filling up your recycle Kels!

As I was driving back and sitting in traffic, I reflected on just how impulsive I am. Anything that allows me to make decisions on the fly, I'm all for it. That is why I have fallen in love with Google's version of 411 (1-800-GOOG-411). It is amazing. If I am out and about, all I have to do is call it to find out what used book stores are in Raleigh, ask for details, and get the addresses. I then plug it into a gps and am good to go! How great is that? There's no need to plan out my day before I leave the house and get directions from point A to point B. I do love technology.

Alright, so this is pretty much just rambling. I'll end here and hope that I get some more planning done today!

Employed!

I am soooo excited right now! I just found out that I'll be moving to Argentina in less than two weeks. There are probably a million things that I need to do to get ready, but I really don't care to think about any of that. I'm floating on cloud 9.

The project I'll be working on is amazing. Basically, Golondrinas de las Americas is a network of sites all across the western hemisphere seeking to answer why birds lay more eggs in higher latitudes. Now that probably sounds lame, but throw me a bone here. I'll be addressing the many theories with all sorts of methods. Plus, I'll be improving my Spanish or desperately trying to understand it depending on how you want to think of it.

Yes that's right, I've become a professional intern. But why would I want a real job when I can get all my travel expenses, housing, and food paid for and still have a bit of money to stash away? I'll join the real world at some point, but this is sure working for me right now!

In Transition

It's been just under a month since I left Nome, Alaska behind. I then flew back to Marin county in CA to help Laura get ready for her wedding. Jumping on a plane after the beautiful ceremony, I landed in Raleigh, NC for a week of adjusting back to real life and taking care of Tusker while Kels and Jeff were in WA. Once they returned, I visited Courty in DE with my parents. I spent a week up north and am now back in Raleigh doggie sitting again.

Although still I feel like I haven't stopped moving for a long time, I have been able to send out some more applications, run much needed errands, and compose lengthy emails to settle matters to ready myself for my next endeavor. In the following week I hope to have a more clear goal of what I will be doing in the next few months.

I had an interview for a job in Argentina which would be fabulous as it would bring me to a new part of the world, working alongside locals. The job entails working with swallows to answer why birds in the tropics lay less eggs than those in higher latitudes.

I am eagerly awaiting the reply of both that job and the status of my Peace Corps application. Although I am only in the beginning stages of the process, I hope to be abroad by early next year. If that doesn't pan out though, I have a job offer in Mississippi working with Sandhill Cranes which would be a great experience.

I'll keep posting on my progress and hope that one of these plans comes to fruition in the near future!