Brief stop in the city.

We're in Moka! It is wonderful.
25 September 25, 2008

We have been in Moka for two days and one night. Moka is gorgeous. What a contrast from the city! Last night was clear and we saw the milky way and many unfamiliar constellations. I brought my star book with me, but left it in the city. Next time, I’ll bring it.
The students have started learning how to do their surveys. Last night I went with the group studying chameleons. We found one on our way back to the wildlife center. TS, FF and MW measured, marked and photographed the chameleon under the direction of TB. Similarly, tonight HR and I went with the group studying galagos. We returned early to the wildlife center to finish some work but on the way back we saw a galago for one and a half to two seconds. It was jumping along the ground in some elephant grass under a Trema. I have not gone with any of the daytime survey groups yet.
TS and I went for a run up the hill from the center to the cell tower. It’s about a three km round trip but it’s all hill. I’ll see if I can find the elevation change before I post this. I don’t know how long it took, but it was a nice run, not too fast. We may have internet here in Moka this weekend.
We brought our USB internet key but it doesn’t work up here for some reason. It can’t connect to the remote computer. When people can not use the key with their computer in the city (where it works on some computers) the error message the computer returns is that the device is not connected when clearly, it is. There is no signal strength up here for the USB key. I was under the impression that it operated on the same network as cell phones but, clearly something is different. We get great cell reception up here. Since the generator runs mostly during the night time surveys, I have not yet charged my cell phone. We take our phones everywhere so if there is a problem we can call someone. Luckily since I have not had to use my cell up here much, it hasn’t needed to be charged.
Our group clicked pretty quickly. We’ve had some stress trying to welcome the UNGE students into our group. It is happening, but slowly, as you can tell by my language. I am speaking a lot more Spanish up here, which is good for me. As we ate dinner the night before we left the city, TS suggested we all say a high point and a low point about the day. We have continued this here in Moka, with the addition of saying our highs and lows in English and Spanish. It reminds me of pow-wow at EYA. It is a good way to include everyone and it shows us all that we all have a difficult time speaking in which ever language is not our native tounge. The bonus of seeing each other struggle publicly with unfamiliar language has been that during the day we are all more willing to take the risk of appearing foolish or saying something wrong in the language we are trying to learn. It is becoming easier to switch languages during a conversation and it is very comfortable to ask how to say words.
There is so much greenery here. I am starting to learn the names of some of the plants. Some that I was familiar with like datura, ficus and morning glory are easier to remember. Also elephant grass, because it is the only thing that looks like it. I haven’t seen any monkeys yet but I will go with the monkey survey group soon. They saw one troop today and did seven hours of surveying.
I am much more relaxed here than in the city. Also the people who live here seem more relaxed than those who live in the city. It doesn’t matter here if I smile at strangers in stores or on the street. People stare but so do I. I am as curious about the people I see on the street as they are about me. I was prepared for women carrying huge loads or baskets on their heads but today I saw a woman carrying a single can of condensed milk on her head and her toddler on her hip. Although a can of condensed milk is not hard to carry in one hand, this freed her non-toddler-ed hand for things like opening doors.

1 October, 2008
Wow, time flies! We have no internet access in Moka, but maybe this Sunday we will. I have loads of pictures which I will upload after posting this text.