Satisfying September

Just this week I've said goodbye to my favorite housemate, field buddy, and older lab sister, Maressa. She finished her year of field work last Sunday and has now flown home :). Congratulations, Mareese! You've worked so hard - time to enjoy being back. Maressa has been my *lovely* house mate for the past four months, and I'm lucky to have shared the time with her. Now, I'm starting the eight month haul solo. As I'm still living in "Hans' house", you might even say I'll be flying… Hans Solo.

The current Cords Lab
pictured in the field:
Holly, Nic, & Maressa

In other lab-related news, in August our newest labmate Holly came out to get her first taste of the forest. It was great to welcome her and fun to see the forest as novel again through her eyes.

Mid-September, Maressa and I had the great opportunity to present our research to the biology and ecology department at our affiliated university in Kakamega, MMUST. My assistants came to help me present and did a fantastic job, having rehearsed their speaking parts and looking exceptionally *smart*. The audience was mostly advanced graduate students that were eager to listen and asked interesting questions. I was grateful they could make it - we started about an hour later than announced, so I'm not sure how they did! Ah, the mysteries of African culture.

The last half of September, I spent most of my time managing the team to round up data for the end our first "period" (i.e. two months of behavior and hormones). Aside from the usual routine of serially searching for a monkey and writing down everything it does for 20 minutes, you can see (left) what else ending a data period can lead to, i.e. maniacally praying for a monkey to pee and triumphantly collecting it (one day, I will explain our hormone analyses).

Last thought: as I'm settling into month 5 and starting to live Hans Solo, I've started to realize that my life here is really not so different from that in NYC, even despite some slight variations:

Running is the best medicine to clear the head (in rainforest vs. riverside park)

Commuting by public transportation is good thinking-time (motorbike vs. subway)

The bathroom is kinda far away (outdoors to the long drop vs. down the hallway of a railroad apartment)
My laptop is my evening companion (while I mind solar power usage vs. minding the hour of night)

Popcorn is a go-to lazy meal (pot vs. air popped)

Binge watching TV shows is still a thing (am currently into Homeland - pirated dvd's :'( vs. Netflix)

A good chunk of Sunday goes to church - worshipping, soaking in a message, meeting new people and catching up with others (dirt floor schoolhouse vs. The New York Times Center).

Yup, all-in-all pretty similar.

I'm looking forward to setting up some new routines to keep in even better touch with people going into the next 8 months. Thank you to those of you with whom I already get to occasionally chat - the simple chats mean a lot! :)

Lots of love,

Nicole

P.S. A shot from Maressa's going away party - a festive event complete with three legged races, beerpong (incidentally, without beer), and a whole lot of food. The beerpong game face seems to be universal :).