The same old same old is going on here except now we are dealing with a new forest danger. It is bee and wasp season. Lek, one of the rangers, got stung yesterday on his head. He was only stung once, but the entire side of his face and neck swelled incredibly. And, he isn't allergic. They tell me that amount of swelling and pain is a normal response from a sting from this species of wasp. Wonderful. We keep a running tally of all our leech bites (they have to draw blood to count) and bee stings. I'm doing pretty good, only 3 stings and 26 leech bites.
We now have two graduate students from Stony Brook University who joined the project at the beginning of June. Eileen was a field assistant for the langur project two years ago and now she is doing a pilot study before jumping into full out data collection for her Ph.D. Chris is only staying for three months just to get an idea of what it is like to work in Thailand. Anyway, so I've been pestering them with questions about Stony Brook. When I applied to work on this langur project the idea of going to graduate school at Stony Brook was in the back of my mind, especially if I ended up liking Carola and Andreas. Well, they are both wonderful people, would be terrific to work with, and it would make the future a lot more clearer if I made a smooth transition from working with them here to having one of them as an advisor at school. But, I was already leaning away from the sort of questions they are asking in their research (I'd rather work from an applied conservation angle) and now talking with Eileen and Chris I am even more turned off by the school. Basically they haven't told me one positive thing about the school (other than some of the people they work with). To make a long story short, the campus is a commuter campus so there is no "community" feel and they can't live on the stipend they receive because of high costs of living in the area (Long Island, NY). They are both incredibly in debt from student loans. So, I decided Stony Brook is not for me, but now I am back to the beginning of trying to figure out what to do next.
I'm really questioning whether or not I want to submit myself to the stress of graduate school at all (Eileen told me the first two years were the worst years of her life and I have heard similar stories from other people). And, if I still decide to apply I still haven't figured out what the heck I want to study. I need to find a specific research interest. So, I'm enjoying my time here but I haven't gotten any closer choosing my next path.
Doubts
When I was at Kalamazoo I craved going camping, but now after three months I'm getting kinda antsy. I think being on the quarter system at Kzoo got me stuck on a three month chunk schedule. After three months I am ready for something new. I feel like I have learned all the key components of Andreas and Carola's study. Days are routine now, it is just a matter of if I am doing habituation, trail work, grid painting, or walking the transect. Of course there are still things I haven't seen yet (elephants, binturong, wild dogs), so I should stick around. But, I've been thinking of grad. school lately and I'm leaning away from the type of work that Carola and Andreas are conducting. Yes, I enjoy the fieldwork and the process of data collection, analysis, write-up. I'm even looking forward to Andreas showing me how to make maps of trends in weather data. But, and a big BUT here, does it really matter to determine the inter-birth interval of langurs in Phu Khieo? Whether or not these groups in this particular area form all male bands? Whether or not they eat termites? Yes, part of science is gathering data to support answers to specific questions like these, but, here is the but again, will this help us keep viable populations in Thailand for the next 50, 100 years? Where's the conservation aspect? When do you APPLY what you have learned about the species? Many people publish data and base line data, but who takes it to the next step? I guess I'm just feeling lost right now because I don't think this work with Carola and Andreas will end with me at Stony Brook. That would be a nice, smooth, easy transition, but I'm thinking it's not the route I want to take. And, that takes away some of the driving force behind getting out in the forest every day.
Chatuchak Weekend Market
This morning I went to the Chatuchak Weekend Market in Bangkok. I’m getting used to walking in the city now and negotiating the sky-train (an above ground subway). The market is a huge area of 6,000 open-air stalls to peruse. (For those of you from Mukwonago, think Maxwell street days times 1,000). There was a diverse selection of silk, designer lamps, silver, dishes, plants, clothes, home accessories, and artwork. I was only there for two hours among the hot and sweaty mob and had enough, but I was also out of money by that time. It was actually nice to go alone because I could browse at whim and stick mostly to the craft area. I’m not too bad at bartering and even attempted to ask prices in Thai. I played the part of a student with little money and they usually took pity on me. My best buy was a beautiful matted, framed, watercolor/coffee painting done by a local artist for 380 baht (about $10). (The first time I came by the seller said the price was 900 baht). And, I had originally paid her 430 baht, but she gave me 50 back because she saw that I had zero money left and no way of getting home! Also bought a bedspread made of silk fabrics that is put together quilt-like and another swatch of silk.