Bait sandwiches

i’m not going to lie, the last week in the murnad house was quite challenging. i am starting to find the edge of patience and tolerance. monday started with us arriving early to the sites to set up the grids and traps. i was on a team with 4 other guys who either didn’t notice or didn’t tell me that my pants ripped in the butt…nice. then that night, there was big fight in which 2 of the field team members screamed in my face. then one of my sandals was mysteriously missing the next morning (a dog got it i am told - which could be true) meaning that the only shoes i had for the week were my hiking boots – but actually it didn’t matter because i didn’t go anywhere at night. so for the rest of the week, 2 of the people were not speaking to one person making the work and house a tense environment. sometimes i feel like i am a camp counselor for a middle school summer camp. it is quite exhausting after working in the field all day. one more month of field work before my advisor and 5 undergrad students join me here. i am hoping that it will be a relief to have them here, but it could just add to the drama – we shall see…

the camera traps are continuing to yield results which is great. i think we got a picture of a jackal – i am working with the mammal specialist here to get a positive id on it. this siting is particularly exciting as jackals are starting beginning to decline rapidly in this area due to habitat loss. we are still getting extremely low trap rates with the small rodents, but are also getting good results with the track plates that basically take the foot prints of the animals as they go into a box to get bait and then come back out.

i am still scared of riding in the jeep, particularly with the driver that is an older man. he really personifies the phrase “bat out of hell” with his driving and i have learned that he has problems with his eyes – great. we usually have 7 people in the jeep – the driver, the 2 women in the front seat, then me and 3 or 4 guys in the back. i feel like being squished in the back seat is safer, but still you hold on for dear life. the young men here are very affectionate with each other – sitting on each other’s laps, holding hands, putting their arms around each other. it just means that they are friends and there isn’t any flirtation involved really which is strange, they are just sitting in the back seat of the jeep holding hands. men and women are not allowed to date or really have much physical contact with each other at all until they are married, so this type of affection does not happen between the men and women at all. it happens a little between the women as well, but very little compared to the guys it seems.

i made a mexican dinner for everyone on thursday night which went over well. we had warm, crappy beer to go with it (or the guys and i did) – the first sip suddenly brought me back to my high school days, umm warm beer :) the meal turned out well, other than the fact that i got rice flour instead of wheat flour for the tortillas – so the women jumped in and made chapatti that we used as tortillas – so it was a mexican/indian dinner actually. the driver does not speak much english, but loved the food. he said “thank you for mexico food. please make it every day, i will help.” it was very cute.

it is difficult for me to figure out what to eat with only a gas burner – no refrigerator or oven. most of the things that i eat require refrigeration, i think. i eat peanut butter and honey sandwiches sometimes. they don’t know peanut butter here other than that i make it for the bait. one day when i was making my sandwich, asha said – eww, that smells just like the bait. i said told her it basically was. so now they think i eat bait sandwiches. i got eggs one day – which i knew from costa rica that if you get them fresh, they do not need refrigeration. i learned last week, that to tell if they are still good – you shake them and if it makes a noise, it has gone bad. i am reading this great book by barbara kingsolver called animal, vegetable, miracle. i have read of all her books which i think are all fiction except for this one. it is about her and her family trying to eat only things that they can buy locally or grow themselves for one year and the challenges and rewards that presents. it is full of interesting information like how most of the vegetables that we get in the us have been bred to survive long distance travel in ice trucks, so they are left with very little taste, first from the way they are bred and then after long journey. it also speaks about how we as americans are used to having any food that we want, no matter what the season. that we don’t even really know which fruits or vegetables are in season any more. i am feeling this here. for example, as some of the things that i cook require limes – humus, salsa, juices – and they are not in season here and they are hard to find - and i find myself getting annoyed about this, but they are not in season, they do not grow year round. i might try to be more conscious of this when i get back to the states.

a hindi movie, 3 idiots, is the new craze here lately. it is about 3 guys going to college in delhi and of course has songs and dancing. we listen to the sound track, which is quite good. i have only seen a couple of scenes from it and they to be translated for me – maybe one will come out with english subtitles. for my field team, i am the expert on america (which yes, i know is kind of scary). i get asked all sorts of questions – america is famous for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches? lincoln was the first black president? what happens in the bermuda triangle? michael jackson sings pop, but dances break? - um, sure, yes…