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23 November 2003

Little Sharks

My day off and I spent it in bed curled up in the fetal position. I am sick again, but when I finally got up this morning I discovered Amy came back from the field early with the same food-poisoning/bacterial symptoms. The expected intestinal cramps, gurgling, and as soon as I eat a little bread or sip a little water out it comes. We both got out the Cipro. Tomorrow I’ll have to show up to dinner and attempt rice or I’ll have the whole sanctuary coming to check up on me.

29 Nov 03

Update: my stomach flu lasted only four days after three of the five of us got sick. I’m back to eating the spicy dinner meals.

Tonight’s English class was more like daycare. The only English we got through was “Today is...” which only two students copied. Anyway, so they weren’t focused and I thought I could “cheer up the mood” by giving them monkey pictures to color. I didn’t think that I wouldn’t be able to tear them away. They grabbed at the pictures like sharks at an open wound. After they dived into the markers I couldn’t even interest them in the primate picture book. I couldn’t even get them to repeat “gibbon” and rhesus macaque,” much less write the names. At least I got “ Goodnight” in on the way out. And, they are very well mannered otherwise, putting away all the binders and markers they used.

30 Nov 03

The leaves have fallen here, crisp off the trees and it is a brisk 50F in the early morning. There was no simultaneous color burst though, it is too warm for that. Instead, the leaves simply dried out and fell—almost a non-event save for the crunchy carpet that now litters our trails. We spent most of the morning pushing through dense difficult undergrowth, me trying to keep pace with Wichian (who was trying to keep pace with the langurs) as I also scanned for snakes, bristly caterpillars, and the other numerous small dangers that are easily run into when bushwhacking. Our un-habituated group, PB, spent the day inside the Tpop loop where there are no trails, making them a difficult follow. At noon, after losing a group of ten, we heard an adult male double bark 100m to the west. Wichian and I went charging, nearly running in the direction of the sound, but only found the sole male when we arrived. Crunch, crunch, crunch, every movement an advanced warning for hiding langurs. I’ve tried tiptoeing on the balls of my feet, I’ve tried keeping to the outside edges of the soles, careful to step in areas with the most dirt showing through—all futile attempts.
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13 November 2003

Thermoregulation

We were like lizards this morning, searching out pools of sunlight to warm ourselves. It has been feeling downright cold in the mornings, yet I'm sure the temperature still hovers near 60F. The problem is we rapidly hike in to langur sleeping sights and end up sweaty. Because it is still dark, we sit and wait for visible movement. We sit and wait and our sweat evaporates and we get chilled.

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"At the gathering Bacon asked why dance? I retorted, Why paint? He dragged on his cigarette and said painting was the language he would give his soul if he could teach his soul to speak. Yes!" From DANCER by Colum McCann.
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05 November 2003

Interview Disaster

Grrrrr...pent up annoyance and anger at myself. In October I applied for a Smithsonian Conservation GIS Internship position. Specifically, I am interested in learning the skills to map habitat for endangered species and learn the application of Geographic Information Systems and remote sensing in everyday management situations. I was supposed to be interviewed by someone from the Smithsonian Conservation Center who was interested in me in the first place because I am currently in Thailand and may be able to collect data for her. She is mapping the extent of the dipterocarp forest (we have patches of it in the sanctuary and around our study site) to look for possible unknown populations of endangered Eld's Deer or possible sites for reintroduction.

The interview was a disaster. I had to take a day off of work, borrow Carola's cell phone, and drive 45min. on the motorbike to the sanctuary entrance where there is usually good reception. It was a cold drive (I actually wore long underwear and two fleece jackets and gloves). We connected, I emailed my interviewer the correct time difference, however, the phone connection was horrible. I think she could hear me, but her voice was fragmented and static and electronic. Not the way to conduct an interview. They had over 100 applications for the position and I knew I needed to stand out way above and beyond, so I was nervous. This was not helped by the poor phone connection. We got through one question, "So, tell me about your current work." My response was horrid. I started out the answer speaking too quickly and was too broad before I jumped to disjointed thoughts about how I find my current work tedious and instead think GIS would better fit my interests and computer skills. After that I could barely make out her questions and so she agreed to email me the questions, but I won't be checking email again until the 24th! Off to a bad start, but keep your fingers crossed.
 

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