7.30.2009
7.28.2009
7.27.2009
end of the day
Waiting for our ride back to the station...
... hoping it comes before the rain.
This is Zuo Xaioan, my sort-of collaborator. Super nice guy.
7.25.2009
how do you measure progress?
By the bag?
By the quad?
By the movement of a shadow across the pavement?
I thought I was on a roll, but today I realized I have made some plant ID mistakes that will probably result in me redoing about 2 days of fieldwork. So frustrating. I have to keep reminding myself that, due to time constraints, I have had to learn the plants as I go; never an ideal situation. The field assistants that actually know the plants, and could potentially help me, only know the Chinese names and do not speak any English. So I'm kind of on my own. Seriously regretting my general lack of proper botanical training. At least my 250 soil samples are all sieved and labelled!
7.23.2009
on being homesick
Things I miss:
-my sweetie
-my pooch
-my bikes
-my bed
-my softball team
-diners
&...
-STL in general
What? Did I just write that?
If you had told me 5 years ago that I would be living in STL one day, I would have laughed. My experience with Midwest cities pretty much ended at Grand Rapids and Detroit, and I had become pretty accustomed to life on the east coast.
But the opportunity presented itself. And, always up for adventure, we moved to the center of the country.
My mantra on the 18 hour drive from NY to MO was It can't be that bad!
And in fact, it isn't. STL won us over pretty quickly, in fact. But still, in that first year if you had told me we'd be buying a house there I would have resisted. It was fun, sure, but not for more than 2 years. Maybe 2.5. I missed my friends in the Northeast.
Then I switched to a PhD program.
Then the tax incentive for home buyers came around.
And meanwhile, bit by bit, STL grew on me.
The neighborhoods.
The parks.
The urban grit.
South City in general.
I'm not saying we'll be hosting Christmas for the grandkids there or anything, but when I get back in 3 weeks, it will be nice to be home.
-----
(With that said, one big gigantic thing I do not miss: humidity.
And STL weather in general in summer and winter. Civilized people should not live that way.)
it's the little things
It is not the desert heat or the blazing sun. For that I wear long sleeves and a hat. (Note to eap: and sunscreen!)
It is not the thorns. For those I wear long pants.
It is not the incessant wind. That actually cools it down a bit.
No.
It is the flies.
More specifically it is one bee-fly (I cannot tell which as it does not stop long enough for me to get a positive id).
The world's loudest bee-fly.
Take the regular buzzing of a fly, and then multiply it by one hundred.
And then send it swirling around your head and legs all. day. long.
Frantically swirling and bouncing off your hat, and pulling Top Gun stunts in front of your face.
Crazy. Making.
7.22.2009
productivity fail
What I meant to do after dinner:
-enter data from the past 2 days
-start analyzing some data from a different project
-write a post for the research blog...
What I did instead:
-watched the lightning storm
-drank a warm Coke
-took a shower in the dark (power out!)
-wandered around my room
-made tea and didn't realize until halfway through that I forgot to put the tea in it. mmmm..hot water!
-listened to an old episode of This American Life while organizing digital photos (3 cheers for laptop batteries)
-did a yoga podcast (hip openers!)
Wow.
Even in China, I am boring.
7.20.2009
planning
Today at lunch one of the grad students looked over at me out of the blue and said, "You are very independent". I had to laugh. It is true, but that independence has also been the source of some of my frustration here, as I am so used to being able to do my own thing, on my own schedule, as far as fieldwork is concerned, but here I have to exercise patience and just slow everything down a bit. Also, I have had to learn to accept the help that people offer. I am used to working alone, and often at the start of a new piece of the project I prefer to work alone so that I can have the luxury of mulling things over as I go along, and tweaking things a bit until I figure out just the right way to do things. It is hard to be slow and methodical when there is someone standing there waiting for instructions. However, this is not a good long-term plan, as some work is just so much faster with two sets of hands, and some of the people who have come out to help me have had good insights into my methods. Additionally, the students here are anxious to learn about how I do what I do, to compare it to their methods, and even more excited to practice their oral english. Plus, I like working with them, they are great. I just prefer to do it once I have everything figured out.
I did some fieldwork this morning, but it wore me out completely. I passed out cold for 2 hrs after lunch, so I took this afternoon to do some desk work & plan out the next phase of my work here. I really need another good experimental design chat with someone, but everyone is really busy right now, so I'm plodding through it on my own. I know that I will have to tweak things a little once I get back out there, but at least I have a better idea of where I want to start.
Sometimes I am anxious that I will get back and my committee will look at what I accomplished this summer and say "That's it?! Two months and this is all you could do?!" But I am trying to move past those thoughts and remember that this experience is about more than data (although the data are important too, for sure).
The next big hurdle will be to actually get my hands on the equipment that I need. There are around 15 grad students here right now, and everyone is vying for limited equipment. By this point in time I have learned that I cannot just expect to be able to work on a particular day. I have about 2 weeks to finish up... cross your fingers!
7.19.2009
keepin' it real
Locals just go to the Monoglian restaurant with the yurts and the entertainment indoors.
Much more civilized.
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