Real data collection, getting away, and keeping in touch.

Sheila and me during
a reliability test.

After 43 days of training 7:30 to 17:00, real data collection has begun! Huzzah!! Consolata, Sylvia, Sheila, and myself are now out Monday to Friday recording behavior and collecting hormone samples in our three study groups. The data are streaming in. What a blessing are good teams? I'm amazed to think that, in one week, four of us accomplish what I alone could accomplish in one month. I'm adjusting to spending my evenings and weekends managing the incoming data, and my weekdays coordinating collection so that when two observers are on the same group, they don't collect the same data. Cheers to new routines!

Last weekend, I went to the city of Kisumu to visit some American friends that I met in years past at a Christian wildlife retreat near camp. They've lived in Kisumu for 10+ years as missionaries. Whilst visiting them I treated myself to some of the latest treats of this growing city.

(Red dot: Kakamega)

Treats available in Kisumu: movie theater, java house with wifi and IHOP style breakfast, woolworth's, healthy u! (can buy quinoa, brazil nuts, nutritional yeast, bio-degradable dental floss, etc.), massages, lunches by lake Victoria, and a plush new hotel with gym, swimming pool, and shmancy restaurant. But by far, the best thing about Kisumu is the ex-pat missionary community. Last Saturday I was able to rejoin the praise/prayer meetings that I started going to in 2013. It's awesome to fellowship with these people (Americans, Brits, Germans) and hear about the crazy/incredible ways that they sacrifice themselves (e.g. special-ed teaching in orphanages, reuniting runaway boys with their families). I'm grateful to be a highly welcomed novelty (oddity?) in their missionary circles. Pictures of Kisumu to come...

There are dozens of people who I need to thank for keeping me afloat here. Some of you wrote letters that I brought here - THANK YOU! your letters are gifts that keep on giving. Some of you just casually keep in touch - via gmail, facebook, whatsapp, or just commenting here in blogger. I am super grateful for you. There is nothing like friends back home or elsewhere to keep perspective and keep going.

A few special shout outs: 1) Mike Zapata and Cornelius Van Wright sent along letters from the kids at church (I've been helping lead their Sunday school once a month for a few years). This was such an amazing surprise! 2) Clara Cheong: you are amazing. Really, how do you do it? Clara sent me here with a little present for each month accompanied by a note. At the beginning of August I opened up two little perfume samples. They smell like Eau de $$$. So exciting. 3) I have to testify that a miracle occured in early July… Hannah Omolade and Heather Obasare took a chance and tried to Facetime me from Australia. The call came through!!! We Facetimed as I stood in the middle of a parking lot, to the amusement of many onlookers! This was a momentous occasion :). Missing and loving you guys and many others.

Lastly, in response to someone (erratum: 'twas Mrs. Steele!!)
who wanted more pics of me in the field: here's a Nat Geo quality shot of me and a lady named Sputnik ;). 

Lots and lots of love,

Nicole

P.S. Resounding scripture of my week: If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and I have faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 1 Cor 13:2

Obama visits Africa

*Warning: the following blog post contains mild political and religious opinions*

This is a picture of Sho-sho, the mother of the Pastor's wife with whom I had the pleasure to stay with last weekend, and she's watching the news when Obama arrived in Kenya last Friday night. His arrival was heralded as a "homecoming" here and was especially emotional for the Luo people, the tribe his father came from, which happened to be the same tribe of my hosts. My hosts scrutinized all: who he was happiest to greet on the tarmac, his outfit, his wife and family, and whose brother knew someone's cousins' housekeeper that knew Obama's father's family. When I went to Indonesia in 2009 just after he was elected to his first term, the Indonesian people in many ways claimed him for their own, too. He lived in Jakarta with his mother and Indonesian step-father for several years as a child, and that seemed enough for him to bear Indonesia's national stamp. When I lived in the UK, Obama made a trip to Ireland and news had it that he was visiting the home of his mother's ancestors. Yup, Obama was also Irish. I read recently that a senator called Obama's international policy to be, essentially, the worst of any American president in history (this was in relation to trusting Iran to scale back its nuclear program). I don't know the specifics of his foreign policy, but I can tell you from my anecdotal experience that international travel has been easier with him as my head of state. People of the world generally like him. That's nice when you're an American in their country. I made a trip to Brazil in 2006 and was shunned as a war-mongering American to most locals in Rio to whom I introduced myself. Their scorn for GWB was real.

Obama's addresses to the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Nairobi and to the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia have received some criticism - particularly the latter. Perhaps you have or can catch these speeches for yourselves. I'll avoid any pointed opinions, but overall I was impressed. His ideas were clear and I thought he was brave to express them. His speech to entrepreneurs put business in its place as a solution to many of the world's greatest challenges, particularly poverty. An innovative and entrepreneurial spirit seems rare here in Kenya, at least in its rural areas - where the stock ambition among many men is to progress from bicycle taxi driver, to motorcycle taxi driver, to automobile taxi driver. These simple and routine ambitions aren't for want of intellect, just opportunity and exposure. Women largely remain at home, which is never bad in itself, but they have few to no other options. Perhaps I should give kudos to his speech writers? I thought they were able to promote these ideas without sounding superior, distant or trite. Nevertheless, some people still felt they were exactly that and worse. As Americans, Obama and I are outsiders here, but I'm proud of him for respectfully reaching out and having an honest discussion about issues that are important for all people.

Take care and keep in touch.

Love,

Nicole

Big forest, tiny house

We have two houses in the forest, Hans' house and Marina's house... I've never met Hans, but I hear he is a lovely and elderly German ornithologist who makes the occasional visit to the forest. When he's away (i.e. usually) 1-3 of my supervisor's students live in his house - like me! Thank you, Hans! Here you can see the inside of our kitchen/office/dry lab/bedroom/common area. The tacit point here is that space is limited. The white thing on the left is our recently installed solar freezer where I store all fecal and urine samples collected from the monkeys.

The back room is a designated bedroom. Maressa's bed is on the left and mine (momentarily sans mos-net) is on the right. The desk was moved from the kofficebedlabroom when the freezer arrived. On the other side of the desk's wall is our shower-closet where we take bucket baths. At the foot of Maressa's bed and underneath both beds are where we store our clothes and extra equipment. I hope you're getting the idea... getting along with housemates and timing your farts appropriately is really important here.

 Here is a picture of the full summer crew at Hans' house for dinner. Clockwise from the photographer's left is Maressa, Megan, Lauren, Taylor, Alan, Darcy, and my supervisor Marina. Most of these people have now left and a few new ones have come. Maressa and Lauren are still here with me.

For dinner, we each take turns cooking for everyone else. Typical foods on our menu are curried vegetables, rice, pasta, and the occasional treat such as homemade pumpkin gnocchi (huzzah!) which Megan makes so well. We also take regular turns cleaning the house. As you might guess, we don't have a basement for laundry nor a weekly trash collector. Being at the end of the line in terms of waste management makes one very conscious about the quantity of waste produced. We have an organics pit for compost, but we burn plastics and paper. Yes, the photo below-left is one of the Ozone screaming, to quote my friend Chase Nuñez. Nevertheless, I find staring into undulating flames of the burning trash to be very therapeutic. Do you have great alternatives for trash burning? Let me know. For now, I just reduce, reuse and recycle like I'm going for a Girl Scout badge. Sorry to my housemates in New York City, who have to experience my stickler habits of trash sorting which are difficult to drop.

Therapeutic trash fire and its fumes wafting into our drying laundry.

Maressa and Megan processing plant samples outside Hans' house.

Good internet is difficult to come by, so don't be surprised if I'm only posting here about twice per month! Feel free to comment or follow the blog for alerts of new posts ;).

Lots of love,

Nicole