Out of hotdog buns?

Yeah, so we were running low on food here for a while. Our shipments of food to the center are biweekly, and they just didn't stock enough last time for some reason. Our regular meals were down to "Haitian refugee" status, according to Mike, the guy who makes the facility tick. I mean we were basically eating rice and some assorted vegetables. Oh and Conch. Its a big snail that lives in the water here. It's actually really good, the local establishments sell conch fritters, which are little pieces fried in batter, delicious. Anyways bagels were the first things to go, devoured by us hungry students. Then we ran out of bread, and so we were eating hot dog buns for a while as snacks, with peanut butter or whatever. My favorite was to put butter and cinnamon and sugar on a toasted hot dog bun. Anyways when I woke yesterday morning I walked out my door and was greeted by the welcome sight of the food boat incoming from the Dominican Republic. There was much rejoicing, and there were many bagels consumed that day.

We are working on corals and invertebrates identification now, so our afternoon snorkels are devoted to that. Its easier than the fish were since they don't swim away from you, but on the other hand I didn't know many by their common name to begin with and they are also hard to tell apart. Anyways, I'm finding it awesome how comfortable I am becoming in the water. When I'm snorkeling I hardly want to spend any time on the surface. It's just a great feeling to dive 20 feet down, and swim along the bottom of the ocean floor from one coral formation to the next one, taking time to stop and look at the small fish and invertebrates that make each one their home. Or to glide a few inches away from razor sharp fire coral blades that can cut and sting me. Or to post up inverted with my fins to air, balancing myself on a single piece of empty rock while I spy under ledges. Saw some spiny lobsters doing that yesterday, and found myself face to face with a spotted moray eel. It's a fun thing, even though our dive got canceled today I'm excited to just be snorkeling again.

I get to go do some underwater filming on saturday. That is the project I mentioned last post. Saturday afternoons we have some of our community involvement time, which for me, three other students, and one of the interns is to create a film for the community about coral reefs. It is a no budget project, we are basically doing it as an educational thing to show the community how amazing the reefs right off their coast are, since the only people that actually are very familiar with them are the fishermen who free dive there. It is going to promote sustainable fishing practices and educate people about behaviors that are harmful to corals. It will also give a biological and ecological overview of the coral reefs, geared towards all ages. There is a lot to work on, narration, music, structure, filming, editing, etc. I'm really excited about it, I think it is a great project, and even though I don't have experience in underwater filming, I have a decent amount of other media experience, and I am passionate about the subject. I think it is going to be a good thing for the community overall.

Tiger Shark

"Come quick, someone just speared at 10 foot tiger shark and they are dragging it up at the docks!"
As soon as I heard someone yelling from outside I was throwing on my sandals and running down the path to the docks. Once I got there I saw it: A tiger shark just above the waterline on a ramp leading to the ocean, bleeding from a hole in her head. There was a small circle of locals and students here that was steadily growing, giving it a bit of room. Thinking it was dead, I walked up to it. While I was next to it, it started thrashing around and snapping its powerful jaws. I was pretty startled, and I stood back a bit. The man who had speared it pulled it up further on the ramp by a rope attached to its tail, and then posed for a couple pictures. Afterwards, a few locals began the process of skinning it, while it was still alive. I had pretty conflicted feeling at this point.

For one, I admired the animal. I touched it while her while she was still alive, stared her in the eye, and could tell how powerful an animal she was. Her head was as broad as my shoulders, and when she snapped her jaws I could see just how easily she could remove limbs from a person in the water. Then I glanced over at Val, another local fisherman who was on another dock, scaling his fish with a knife in one hand and his stump of an arm holding the fish down. He lost that arm in an encounter with a tiger shark. One of us from the school asked the men why they were skinning it alive, and the response was: "It would have done the same to us." And I could see from their perspective. It was still hard to watch. A cut was made from the tail to the base of the head, the dorsal fin was removed, and then the skin on the flanks of the shark was cut away. During this time the shark was still moving its eyes, still thrashing around some. The tail was cut off, a lot of the blood was drained, and then the organs were cut out. Sharks have large livers for buoyancy purposes and this one must have weighed at least 70 pounds. The stomach was cut open, and all that was inside was a few crabs.

See, tiger sharks only come into shallow water when they are pregnant or really hungry, and this one didn't have pups. So again, I understand the reasoning in killing the animal. It was actually speared off of Middleton, where I had been snorkeling just days earlier. The head was cut off, the jaws removed as a trophy, and all the useful meat cut from the cartilaginous notochord and split up for the fishermen to eat at home, since it can't be sold here on South. It was an intense experience. I didn't include too many pictures because it is fairly graphic, and I didn't take the time to bring my camera, but a good album one of my friends here took can be found here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2025428&id=1087980106

The next afternoon we went snorkeling at Shark Alley. With the memories of the tiger shark fresh in our minds, we were a little nervous. Shark alley is a reef off the north side of Long Cay that has a sloping gradient into a channel that a lot of pelagic organisms come in close with the tide, such as sharks. We anchored ourselves outside the reef, where jagged rocks thrust above the surface, reminiscent of shark's teeth. We actually saw a shark from the boat before we even got in the water, but none at all during our snorkel. We did however see a spotted eagle ray (Aetobatus narinari), looking rather majestic as it flew through the water. Oh and a bunch of barracuda. They are fine as long as they don't get too curious.

I took my Reef Fish ID test this morning at HDL, off Dove Key. Nothing like swimming down 25 feet past gorgeous purple soft corals billowing in the current, to look under a rock and see if this surgeonfish that just ducked under there is an Acanthuris bahianis or an Achanthuris chirurgus, and then writting the proper scientific name on my slate as I swim up to the surface for air. This test was a bit harder then my last one, since it was in deeper water and there were a lot more organisms we needed to know. I'm about to go work on my community outreach project, I'll talk more about that next post.

Splash

BC, check.
Weights, check.
Releases, check.
Air, check.
Final check, good.
Right hand over my regulator and mask. Left hand on the mask strap on the back of my head. Lean backwards, legs straight, and I'm in the water, with a cloud of bubbles surrounding me as I complete my backflip below the surface.

The backwards splash entry off the boat that you see scuba divers do in movies is actually a lot of fun. We went out diving again yesterday, and ended up having to switch our dive site because one of the boats couldn't handle the waves. The sea was a little choppy still from the recent storms. We ended up diving at a place called Spanish Chain. The visibility was "bad" by caribbean standards, but still good enough for us to find a couple enormous southern stingrays (Dasyatus americanis, since I am memorizing). I swam over one of them and was just thinking "yeah, thats bigger than me." They were somewhere in the eight foot wingspan range, with barbs on their tails the size of my arm. This dive was still a very low key dive, getting everyone comfortable with diving here before we start actually doing research dives. I'm getting very comfortable underwater now, its awesome once you get your buoyancy control down. I can just hover in one place, and control moving up and down in the water column just by how much I fill my lungs with air.

After I cleaned my gear and put it away, I grabbed a van ride over to the local primary school. Me and a couple other students helped out in a reading class there, helping the teacher with her materials and giving the students one-on-one attention. I hung out with this little guy Justin, who spoke English as a second language. My limited Spanish actually came in useful, as I taught him how to spell and sound out words. We are going to paint the wall of the classroom to make a reading corner for the kids. They really need more books actually, its sad how bare their bookcase is. On the way back, I stopped at Saul's house, he is this local fisherman whose dog just had six puppies. They are really adorable, and plenty of the students here are thinking of taking one back home, pretty much due to the way dogs are treated here.

Probably one of the biggest cultural differences here is the way dogs are treated here. There are a lot of wild dogs for one thing, and they basically just eat trash and chicken bones, and people yell at them and throw rocks at them. It's pretty sad, if you reach down as if you are going for a rock the dogs here will run away from you. When we first got here, the people at the center told us basically not to interact with local dogs, since if we show them affection or feed them, not only will they follow us everywhere but it will be a cause of resentment against us from the locals. What they said makes sense in theory, but it is really hard to be cold and clinical about it when you actually see these dogs on the streets.

Anyways, I just got out of the water from snorkeling at Admiral's Aquarium, there were comb jellyfish all over the place, and a very cute little sea turtle who was probably snacking on them before he got startled by a few of us curious snorkelers. We also happened to see a lot of young yellowtail damselfish, which may be my favorite fish. Here is picture of one which I did not take:

Any pictures I have seen do not do it justice, the blue dots it has defy description. Adjectives such as electric, stunning, unreal come to mind, but its hard to put words to something that is naturally so visually appealing. I saw one gorgeous one that ducked under a rock today, and I dove down inverted, fins towards the surface, hair brushing up against the sand, so I could look under the ledge. I just wanted to stay there longer, watching it but my lungs started screaming for air and with that, I had to surface.

Stalked

I glanced over my left shoulder and did a double take. Floating in the water column at the same level as was a huge barracuda. It appeared out of nowhere, its silvery blue coloration blending perfecting with the water we were swimming in. I only noticed it when it flicked its tail and started to follow me. I covered my watch face, trying not to attract attention as these fish are interested in shiny things. This fellow was nearly as big as me. Since I was the last person in the snorkel group I was in, I was the only one who noticed. It kept a distance of about 10 feet for a while, but every time I checked over my shoulder it was still stalking me. Barracudas are pretty decent predators with fairly large teeth, but I didn't say anything, not wanting to panic anyone else in the group. Eventually he lost interest, and I got distracted by a group of squid. That was yesterday, on one of our reef fish ID sessions, over by The Sphinx. There are 85 species of fish that I need to know by thursday.

Today's session got cancelled, as we were getting ready to board the boats. We were sitting there on the dock, all geared up and ready to go, but a menacing storm front threatened in the distance. We watched the lightning playing on the horizon, and listened to the thunder as it came closer. All of a sudden there was a disturbance on the water to the southeast of Long Cay. I watched what looked like a cloud of spray on the surface of the water, and then all of a sudden a dark funnel cloud punched out of the sky. I was watching a waterspout moving across the ocean, with the thunder and lighting and a solid sheet of rain approaching. It was decided that conditions were not optimal to get in the water.

The storm hit us as we were coming back up from the dock, and the rain felt amazing, I joined many other people in taking a free freshwater shower outside, and just watching the storm. Its really hard to explain island time to someone from California. Coming from the bay area I would not have really understood, but it is just different here. I don't feel stress at all, I don't feel like I always have to be doing something. I can take time just to listen to music and watch the clouds go by, or see the green flash at sunset, or watch lightning storms over the ocean at night.

Salty Clean

The silver moonlight reflected on the water as I sat on the edge of the dock peering into the water. What I first thought was a ring of plastic or something bobbing in the waves disappeared when I shone my flashlight on it. Then I noticed that it wasn't floating up and down on the surface, but instead was sitting below the surface. The creature peacefully pulsed rings of blue and green light, drifting with the current. Then I noticed more of them, blinking like fireflies. I sat there for a while, an accidental observer of this ethereal light show, and then slowly eased myself into the water with the comb jellyfish. It had been a long day. I needed a sea bath and I was fine sharing the water with these creatures.

Today I took another sea bath, this time in the morning but instead of calm water we usually have by the docks, instead we had huge swells caused by hurricane Igor. The swells were actually large enough to cause our morning dive to be canceled, which was very disappointing. I love taking sea baths though, its so easy. You just hop in the water, climb back out on the dock, lather up with biodegradable soap, and then hop back in the water. Not being able to shower regularly with fresh water is no big deal.

Academic Excellence

This morning I found myself kicking strongly, pointed headfirst into the current, trying to stay in one place while I peered into the water thinking: Does that two inch long fish about five feet away from me have a black or brown stripe on each side? Even though it was clear and sunny when we left the dock and returned to Moxybush for our field ID exam, it was now pouring rain, giving the surface of the water above me a rolling appearance, like the ocean was being brought to a boil. At the same time I was trying to write underwater on my dive slate, "Halichoeres bivittatus Juvenile (Labridae)." I finished, popped my head to the surface, spit my snorkel out of my mouth, and proudly began to swim back to the boat. That had been the 20th out of a series of species that were pointed out for me to identify, encompassing everything from algae to mangroves to seastars to burrowing worms to flighty fish. By the time I boarded our boat, the sun was out in full force again, (today's UV rating was 11 out of 12 by the way), and I felt great. That was the most interesting test I have taken in my life.

This blog post is basically to illustrate that even though I am in the Caribbean, swimming in the ocean everyday and watching beautiful sunsets off my doorstep every night, I actually am doing school work. A lot of it to be honest. As such it's going to be boring so I'm gonna sprinkle some pictures I've taken here so far throughout. I am taking three classes right now, Marine Ecology, Environmental Policy, and Resource Management, all with a specific focus on the issues confronting South Caicos. All three of these areas provide insight and research opportunities into the central question of the School for Field Studies here: "How can we better support the government and local community to better manage the marine resources and prepare the local community of South Caicos for the advent of mainstream tourism?"

See, South Caicos is at a unique point in it's history. In the past, there have been maybe one or two functioning hotels on a very small scale. However, there are two resorts in development right now that will house more tourists than there are locals on the island. They have been in development for a long time, and there is no signs that they will be completed in the near future, but like it or not, mainstream tourism is inevitable and there will be changes here on the island. Later in the semester, we will begin our directed research projects, focusing on the two pertinent case studies. The first is "the status of the marine resources that are currently considered important to the ecological and socioeconomic well being of the TCI environments and inhabitants," and the second is "Management strategies that assist in maintaining or improving the status of the marine resources in the TCI and contribute to economic development and diversification."

I am more on the marine ecology side of the spectrum, but it is awesome and important to see the management and policy side of things too. It is so great to be here in a real life situation doing what I want to do instead of just reading about it in a textbook. I feel integrated and important, I don't have to wait to graduate college before I can start making a difference.

Yeah, I mean the classes are intense, I read about two dense scientific papers a day, and am packing my head full of scientific names, but its not that bad, I mean its impossible to be unhappy in a place like this. I even have time for reading on the side, currently I am reading Sea Change, an excellent book by Sylvia Earle, which I highly recommend.

The Drop Off

8:30 AM: Jumped on the boat and headed out to sea for my first legit scuba dive here. We went to the other side of Long Cay, the island across from the center. On the way we passed dive sites that our veteran dive officer pointed out, with alluring names such as The Grotto and Shark Alley. We stopped and anchored our boat at the dive site known as The Plane. Some of the other students on my boat were getting seasick, I am really grateful that I'm not affected by the swell. The visibility was amazing, as soon as I entered the water I could see the bottom 60 feet down. My group of eight descended together, and then swam over to the site's namesake, wreckage from a crashed drug plane.

I don't know what it is about wrecks that give them such an air of mystery and adventure. My first one under the water did not disappoint. We swam over the derelict remains of what used to be a proud piece of human technology, now claimed by the deep. The main structure of the wing and engines were visible above the sea bed. The outer metal surface had been colonized by corals and algae and sponges, the wiring and guts from the engines a parody of the colorful convoluted corals in the surroundings.

Its really hard to describe the feeling of scuba diving in such clear water. I loved being weightless and just flying over the huge coral and sponge formations, the cups and fans and blades in clusters along the sea floor. There were a lot of fish I recognized, and some that I didn't. There were a lot of young groupers and some jacks. Gorgeous parrotfish nibbled at coral, their beaks making clacking noises. I drifted along, keeping my hands by my side and proppelling myself with full leg kicks, watching the floor a few feet below me. All of a sudden I looked up and there it was: the drop off.

If the floor I had been traveling over was the surface of a cake, it was like God had just cut a massive slice out of it right in front of me. The depth changed from 60 feet to 6000 feet as the sea floor fell away into a steep cliff that plunged down into the abyss. Beyond that, is just blue. Deep, deep blue. Staring into the expanse is a hugely humbling feeling, all at once I felt so small, and wanted to know so much more about the ocean. Peering into the depths of the ocean was a powerful experience, akin to looking at the stars. It puts things in perspective. I always knew that this is what I was meant to be doing, but that was a huge confirmation moment.

And that was just my morning. Gonna go get some lunch now. Also, I have a mohawk now world. Pictures to come.

Stormy Seas

Sunday is the only day we have off here, so I took the opportunity to go explore some parts of these 8 square miles that I live on. Me and a few friends headed up this hill to Miss May's house. It is an old abandoned house that used to be the the mayor's wife's house, but it was wrecked when Hurricane Ike came through. It was kinda sketch going up on the second story, since the floorboards were rotted, but I was rewarded with some great views. Afterwards, we jumped in the ocean and swam over to this pier that was also completely wrecked by the hurricane. We had to swim out and climb up it, since it didn't reach the shore anymore. I cut my foot on a sea urchin on the way up, but diving off was worth it.

Once I got back to the center, it started sprinkling, and within a few seconds, the few drops of rain turned into a downpour. It was wonderful, everyone was just standing out in the rain enjoying the fresh water. Today was more of the same, it was overcast, windy, and raining a bit when we took a boat ride to Middleton, an island about fifteen minutes away from the center on South Caicos. Once we got there we proceeded to start snorkeling and identifying the the algae, seagrasses, mangroves, echinoderms, gastropods, cnidarians, and fish by their scientific names. We are all preparing for a field ID test where we are going to have to know 40 organisms by their scientific names and their higher taxonomy. For example, when I see this colorful fish on the right, I don't call it a Blue-headed Wrasse, I know it as a Terminal Phase Thalasoma bifasciatum, from the family Labridae. It is challenging for sure, but the ID snorkels are so awesome.

The site we went to off Middleton was suited for the current weather actually. We were snorkeling around these huge piles of empty conch shells, all encrusted with hard calcerious Chinese noodle algae. The visibility was still great, but without the sun, the graveyard atmosphere was enhanced. They were great to explore, I never knew what juvenile fish I was going to find peaking out of the shells. There was a great variety of life in this seagrass bed and conch midden area, including juvenile angelfish and squid, but the highlight of my trip was cresting a pile of conch shells and seeing a nurse shark just chilling on the other side. It only tolerated us for a few moments before it decided to swim away. The thunderstorms here are intense, especially because our view out to sea is so open, so we can see lighting from a long way off, and when the thunder rolls in it rattles the windows. And that's just a normal thunderstorm, you better believe I'm keeping an eye on the weather being here during hurricane season.

I'm trying to limit my snorkel trips to one a day cause I am trying to get my foot to heal, but considering how much saltwater I expose it to every day that might not happen. I'll settle for avoiding infection, I generally never wear shoes here so my feet aren't the cleanest they have been.

I'll end this with one of the views from Miss May's house. The three rocks to the left are Huey, Dewy, and Louie, and then there is the Sphinx and Dove Cay.

First Week in the Logbook

At night here, the temperature drops towards the daily lows of about 80. The absence of the sun and the breeze blowing through makes being outside very comfortable. On a clear night, you can see so many stars here. I was sitting over by the cliff the other night looking out at the ocean, in the moon and starlight I could make out the nearby islands, and watch the dark ocean knowing that the water was still as warm and easy to swim in as it was in the middle of the day. Maybe it was the cannons I was sitting next to, or the clouds travelling past that reminded me of sailing ships blown by the trade winds, but my imagination was alive. I stared out into the mist in the direction of the Columbus Channel, and in my minds eye I could see pirate ships emerging out of the gloom. I knew some of the rich history of this area, and that it was a pirate hideout, but we ended up learning all about the piratical exploits in the area in class the next morning. If you don't know the story of Calico Jack, you should look it up. He's the guy Jack Sparrow is based (very loosely) on.

So the internet has been down here for a couple days, but its all good. I got my first dive here in, and I have been snorkeling so much. I swear it is the most peaceful thing. I just drift and the surge carry me up and down over corals and sponges, and schools of reef fish, all in gorgeous visibility and dappled by the reflections of the tropical sun above the surface. Everything here is amazing and I could sit in one spot watching a patch of the reef for an hour. Every trip I make I see something remarkable, stingrays, giant barracuda, lionfish, and so on. The sights are special in themselves, but I love the sounds once my head is underwater. The most obvious is my steady breathing through my snorkel but you can also hear the sounds of the water moving and the constant crackle of crustaceans, and any boat engines from a very long way off.

I went to this island, Moxy Bush, to practice field identification of mangrove and sea grass species. It was one of the most beautiful places I have been to. The island is completely covered in mangroves, you can't actually progress very far inland. The dense vegetation makes the island appear like a pristine emerald set in the light blue sea. The surrounding ocean is very shallow sand flats, only ankle depth at some points, so the water was an amazing color. I literally felt like I was in the middle of a postcard, just sitting in the water, staring out across the ocean while being watched by the snowy egrets perched in the mangrove forest behind me.

Some of the locals I have met here are real characters. Many of them go by aliases, so I know these guys by names like Chucky, a friendly fellow with half a mustache, or Tweak, who is just as ridiculous as his name suggests. One of the locals that I've hung out with a few times responds to the name Money. Overall it has been an awesome first few days. I took my first freshwater shower this morning and it felt amazing. My body is already visibly changed, I am a lot darker, burnt in patches, I've got some blisters and mosquito bites and jellyfish stings but it's all good. I'm really loving life here.

Island Life

The conditions here are are a little more intense than I am used to. The climate for one is still oppressive, I am just not used to soaking my sheets with sweat past midnight while I am trying to go to sleep. There is no natural fresh water source here, consequently I can only take one fresh water shower a week. All our fresh water is rain water collected in a cistern. Electricity comes from a diesel generator, and it costs 4 times as much as it does back in the United States. Plenty of the buildings here are in terrible condition after the a hurricane hit the island a few years ago. This hurricane season is the supposed to be the strongest in a while, so we'll see how that goes. There are poisonous spiders, scorpions, and centipedes. The plants here are rather hostile as well. There are Acacia bushes with thorns the length of my pinky finger. There are grasses that tear up your feet, and this nasty thing called a Pencil Tree that has some sort of toxic chemical coating.

The water has plenty of things that bite, sting, and stab. Local residents include Lemon Sharks, Nurse Sharks, Reef Sharks, Bull Sharks, Tiger Sharks, Barracuda, Lionfish, Scorpionfish, Sea Wasps, Portuguese Man of War, Fire Worms, Fire Coral, an assortment of stinging Hydroids, Spiny Sea Urchins, Stingrays, Moray Eels, all sorts of things that I am going to try to avoid contact with.

With that being said, I love it here. I mean, I'm definitely still in culture shock, coming from a private school in the silicon valley where we use flat screen TVs as posters on the walls, and ending up on this place where fresh water isn't taken for granted. Also the lifestyle is completely different, I don't miss the bay area rush and busyness at all. The atmosphere here is just the most chill thing ever. I went out and visited a couple local bars last night. I went to Trench Town, and then Chicken Bar. I ended up playing dominoes at Chicken Bar, which appears to be quite the popular local game. As I was standing up from losing, I made eye contact with this local man in the corner of the bar. He was sitting on a stool and smoking a blunt, he looked around 50, and had short dreads. First words out of his mouth:
"You smoke the reefer?"
An awesome conversation ensued, he explained to me that he would free dive 50 feet and could stay at the bottom for a minute to catch lobster and conch for a living. Then he told me that he smokes weed in the morning before work. I guess I really am in the caribbean. He was really chill, a common theme here, and I'm sure I'll see him around on an island this small.

Oh and the water is amazing. I've been snorkeling three times today, twice off the dock by the center and my third trip was to a patch reef, Admiral's Aquarium. It was my first time swimming in a reef and there was SO much to see. If it wasn't for the current I would have been perfectly content to sit in one spot for an hour, there was so much life and things happening. There are so many fish I do not recognize. I need to start hitting up some of the field guides. While we were out there a Nurse Shark, a Lionfish, and a Barracuda all made an appearance. Can not believe its only my second full day here. It is such a good feeling to be doing what you want to do, and be in the perfect place to do it.

No pictures yet, still don't have internet on my computer. I should be doing homework right now, so I'm going to get on that.

Arrival

So a few people said I should blog while I'm abroad, and I decided to make an attempt. I'm sure my posts will be fairly limited and most people won't care anyways, but hey, might as well give it a shot. For those of you that don't know, I am spending the next three months on the small island of South Caicos, part of the Turks and Caicos islands in the Caribbean. The population is about 1200, if that gives you an idea of how small the island is.

I left last night from Santa Clara, flew from SF to Dallas to Miami to Providenciales to South Caicos. By the time I was on the last leg of the journey, I was sleep deprived, dehydrated, really hungry, and sweating like crazy in the local climate, but I didn't even care. The view from the plane window was amazing, I really felt like I was flying into paradise. Beautiful blue sky filled with puffy white clouds, crystal clear blue water dotted with reefs and small islands, as far as the eye could see. The small plane dropped me and the other students off on South Caicos, and we took a van to the center that is going to be my home for a while. It is a small cluster of buildings on a cliff overlooking the sea. Words really can't describe how amazing this place is. I ate dinner in our open air dinning area while watching the sun set over the ocean, (No green flash, but I'm going to keep my eye out for it.) and it just all seems really surreal right now. I'm not even going to attempt to describe the views I have just walking around this place. I'll post pictures when I get a chance, I'm writing from one of the center computers right now cause I haven't figured out the internet on mine.

I'm about to turn in, I haven't slept in a long time. I hope my mosquito net works out for me, it was a struggle rigging it up and it turned out hella sketch. I just wanted to post that I'm here, and I'll be blogging a little bit now and then.