Cows Eat Garbage and Shrews Stink

today started out with me putting on my boots that had sticky, velcro like seed things all over them from the field this week; gathering all my equipment for the field and bait which have to make homemade peanut butter for these little creatures almost every night; walking down the street to the junction where the jeep picks me up at 7am; and then promptly falling on my face. i don't know what happened, the velcro things on the left boot's shoe lace got stuck to the right boot shoe lace and then with all my bags i couldn't regain my balance and just fell in the dirt. i didn't do any fancy dives into the dirt like my friend lisa, just fell. there was a man walking towards me and i know he saw the whole thing, but he didn't even laugh. i would have laughed - if they weren't hurt.

there is no garbage collection that i can tell of. my field team throws garbage everywhere and says someone will clean it up. its very strange. there are concrete receptacles on the side of the road to put your garbage (or so i've been told) and i think then the garbage gets burned. most of the time, you can see dogs and cows eating out of them though. both of which just roam freely down the streets. the dogs can be menacing and you are supposed to throw rocks at them if they are being aggressive towards you. the cows i guess are harmless, but i still cross over to the other side of the street if they are there.

so this was the first official week of the mammal study and i am exhausted...only 26 more sites to go! these past couple of weeks have been a little rough on me with the logistics for the research and trying to figure out how i am supposed to teach the field team how to do it, when i actually don't know myself. all very nerve-wracking.

while sitting alone in the field one day jumping at every sound, i came up with the top 10 reasons (and made a list) why this whole trip may have been a bad idea :)

1 - i don't like spicy food

2 - i don't know how to do this research even though i'm supposed to lead a team (already mentioned that one)

3 - i don't like being the forest alone

4 - i think i'm afraid of animals

5 - i like showers

6 - i don't like people telling me what to do and being ordered around

7 - i like having some time to myself

8 - i don't like not understanding what people are saying, especially when they are talking about me

9 - i like to wear shorts and a tank top when its hot out

10 - i don't even really drink coffee

i obviously had/have a bad attitude right now :)

so at the first site, we have already caught 2 shrews that smell really musky (one died when we were measuring it and trying to handle it this morning. i feel really bad about that), 1 rat that was actually kind of cute and bouncy with big ears that escaped, and then 2 tiny little mice. i have proven to be useless when it comes to handling the animals and tagging them. i really just want to see what they are and then let them go. i have left most of the handling to the brave ones in the group. in this picture, i am putting the trap with the animal in it, in the bag - that's the only thing that i know how to do.

the other day while doing field work, an elephant and 3 men were walking down the street. apparently, these men train the elephants. kiran and i took a quick picture with them. my sweat shirt is no longer oatmeal color, but more of a brown shade. actually it doesn't look that dirty there - but i am soaking it right now to see if i can get it a little cleaner. the sweatshirt with the hood has been really useful though because there are these big ants along the coffee branches that get on you when you passing by (or in my case crashing into) the branches and their bite feels like a stink. i almost striped down one time when i had like 10 on me. so i put up the hood when i am going through the coffee farms. crouching down under these branches is quite difficult for me. my knees (and head) do not like it. i have also started soaking my feet when i get home like an old lady. i am trying to stay healthy and get rest so that i can survive the remaining 15.5 weeks - yes i counted :)

my mantra "i am like bear grylls. i am like bear grylls." hasn't been helping as much as i would have hoped. maybe i'm not putting enough feeling into it. i'll try harder. at least i don't have to eat a raw frog or pee into a snake skin and drink it - i really saw an episode where he did that. nasty.

well i am off to dinner at the indian/swiss guys house with the other european researchers. he is the one with an oven and he has made bread!