Better late than never

Hello people!  Here's a post from earlier in the week that I wasn't able to post because of sketchy internet! Apparently this week, UB did not like google or any other fancy website.  Thank goodness there are other search engines out there or I would have been in a pickle!   On the topic of intenet, Pandora will not work here but I found a new website called Jango.  It streams music for me pretty well.  Yay music! :)

Tuesday

Tuesday was a "get er done" day.  I went to class Tuesday morning and then decided I would do laundry instead of attend my 10am class.  I packed up all my dirty clothes, grabbed my laundry detergent, and headed to the washing facility.  When I got there it was like a mad house.  Of the machines that were working, all of them were being used and people were calling machines so that each machine had a line of people waiting to use it.  I was a bit overwhelmed and finally these two super nice girls helped me out.  They arranged for me to get their machines after and then chatted with me for awhile.  I did two loads and headed back to my room to hang my clothes up in the windows of my common room.  The whole process took about 2.5 hours.    Once I was back in my room I got busy working on a lab report.  I was tempted to skip Setswana in order to continue working on the lab report.  Instead I made a deal with myself that I could have an egg and cheese papata if I went to class.

It was delicious!  I know this isn't the best picture but I'm including it anyway.  I really miss eggs!  After class, I continued to do school work and then went for a run.  I ran 39 minutes averaging a 11 minute mile.  Woo hoo!  It's nice to see progress! I ran with a girl who does track and cross country so she's a good motivator. 

Wednesday

I skipped French class in order to split a cab out to Mokolodi with Rebeccca.  Yay reduced price!  Our project Wednesday was to catch up all the birds, check them over, and weigh them.  This included two large vultures, a martial eagle, a heroin, and two owls.  We also weighed the tortoises and two pythons.  It was quite an ordeal.  I’m glad I had the experience from Crow on how to properly handle the animals.  Another volunteer is trying to start a program where they will be weighed every month to keep track of them but I really doubt that will happen once we leave.  It’s a tight rope to walk because on one hand you want to make sure the animals are healthy, but you also do not want to stress them too much or cause injury to your volunteers/staff.   How do you ensure that captive wild animals have an adequate lifestyle, enough enrichment, proper diets, the correct habitat all on a nonprofit budge with not enough staff to go around?  Keeping animals that were previously wild in a cage for the rest of their lives is a big responsibility yet they can do a lot of good in educating people about the importance of respecting wildlife, conservation, etc.  Again.. It's a fine line to walk.   I'm still working on where I stand with issues like these.  Meanwhile, I'm busy collecting experiences!

Miss. Jones- A vulture with an old wing injury.  I believe she's been there for 10 years or so.

 The martial eagle.  What a majestic animal.  He was actually really docile when caught.  I think a past volunteer tried to train him to a glove.  I can't imagine.  He's simply too big.









For the rest of the day we played with snakes, broke up some dirt, and made a few adjustments to the new roof we put on.  While holding the larger python, I apparently moved my leg to fast for its liking and it bit me.  It’s the first time I’ve been bitten by a snake.  It really didn’t hurt, nothing like a dog or cat bite, but it did draw some blood.  I got this great picture that makes it look intense, but I promise it wasn’t.   The girl has been feisty recently because she hasn’t been getting handled as much as she should be.   The employee running the sanctuary is no longer working there so everything is in a bit of transition right now. It felt that most of the day we were just waiting around for a job, or waiting to find someone, or tracking down this.  The time of doing nothing can be a bit frustrating.  I always feel like I should be doing something.  I think this is just part of the adjustment to African time. 

Wednesday night I was exhausted.  I hand wrote the lab report I had finished the day before.  It took me like an hour and a half.  Quite a waste of time!  The teacher wanted everyone to practice their penmanship.  Unfortunately, I believe that she will be requiring handwritten work for most things.  Well, I guess here is one way for me to work on my spelling abilities.   After writing that I hit the hay.  

 

Thursday

Ohhhh Thursdays… My longest school days… and usually the most special.

My morning was normal as usual.  I had two classes and then went back to my room for a bit of a snack and to study.  At 1 I headed off to Setswana.  I’m better adjusting to the new teacher but it still has it’s special moments.  The teacher really tries but it is all a bit slow and boring.  Never less, I am learning Setswana bit by bit!  ( I can tell at the vet clinic I’m better able to recognize words!)  After Setswana,  I headed to my physiology lab.   The same man who gave me heck last week for trying to walk into the lab room without my lab coat on again caught me outside the lab today.  He walked up to me and asked what lab I planned on going to.  Confused me was like uhhhh bio 214…?  His response was “not with those shoes, I will not let you in this lab, you must go…” and then he sashayed off into lab before I could respond.  I started the long journey to the other side of campus to put on shoes that were not opened toed.  It bothered me so much because he had been so rude about it.  Like obviously, I’m not sure to the way things are done here.  I didn’t think drawing and labeling eye ball and ear models would require close toed shoes. I arrived back at lab twenty minutes late and still managed to walk in with four other people.  The lab itself was simple and basic.  They didn’t like my drawings because I hadn’t used a ruler and it wasn’t perfect, but everything was labeled right and you could obviously tell what it as.   She gave me a 7/10, preached to me the importance of drawing well and how I would fail the test if I couldn’t, and sent me on my way before most of the other students were done.  Aye Aye Aye. I’m sorry but I do not have the patience or motivation to spend two hours meticulously drawing an eyeball.  There is a reason I’m a scientist and not an artist. I think I’m destined to just be the odd man out in that lab.

After lab, I decided that a run was necessary because I was all antsy (and trying to avoid studying for my test…)  I did a new loop where I left campus and headed to river walk.  I enjoyed the loop but felt pretty tired and stopped after 31 minutes.  I used map my run (love that thing) and saw that I ran a 10 minute mile!  (I increased speed so that’s my excuse for running less time….)   For the rest of the night, I studied for my Dynamics of Savanna Ecosystems test on Friday and then crashed around 12.  

It was quite a busy week.  I think next week will be much smoother and then it will be time for break! Woo hoo!