Day Two Addendum

Day Two Addendum

Returning sleepily and slightly wine drunk through the rain to our fairy tale hotel, I couldn’t help but think how this trip is already changing the course of my life. Suddenly I find myself in the company of people who speak of heat-shock proteins when discussing the climate of various places and how one acclimates. People whose conversation jumps from drunken Monrovian wine cellar parties to the implications of introducing a hybrid mosquito into the wild. I can’t get over the experiences of these people I find myself surrounded by. By far the youngest, all I can do is sit and listen to their stories of being in Warsaw pre-Solidarity council and living in Somalia, and traveling in Thailand, and a million other seemingly offhand exchanges which leave me wanting those same kind of opportunities. Stick with me Cales, we’re goin’ placesJ

The dinner party was incredible. Incredibly intelligent people, three languages flying around, and most know another, guitar by lovely nerdy Tony, and an impromptu lecture given by none other than yours truly…that’s right, Dr. Black put me on the spot, in front of everyone, to explain my project! Good thing we’d had a 20 minute tutorial last night in the airport…It seems I performed all right, getting congratulations from Dr. Black, and even eye contact from Janeane (who actually kissed me goodbye tonight, amazing!) Laura is excited because my project directly gives her something to use to extend her fellowship for another year…she had been worrying how to do it. So, pressure is on I guessJ At least now I’m more invested, and it sounds like I get to come back down and work with Laura on the big cage releases…which would be awesome! She’s great, and Luca, her boyfriend has been extremely helpful. We three are the youngest, with the other Megan coming in fourth…although; her tambourine playing tonight was quite youthfulJ

I love and miss you all, good night,

Megan

Pictures: A Tilapia fish the local had in a five gallon bucket, collecting in the cemetery, and a view of the cemetery (I've been hangin' with a lot of dead people lately).

Day Two

Day Two 9/5/08 Collection Day One

I love this hotel! I feel like a princessJ Last night we got in late, I stepped into the marble tiled lobby and knew this was going to be amazing. My room is amazing!! Apparently they are out of the smaller rooms at the moment, so I got a “suite” which means there is a couch and chair, and a king size bed. The air conditioner works, and everything is immaculate and I am being seriously spoiled!

Today began with a delicious breakfast in the restaurant downstairs. Black beans are typical for a breakfast food, plus tamales of various types and fruit and fresh squeezed orange juice, ect. We headed over to the laboratory, and after only about an hour and a half we had gathered all of our supplies and pinned down a driver and we were off. The first stop was Rio Florido. We stopped at a local elementary school where they had a couple of water tanks, and a couple of discarded toilets and a random metal drum thing. We found skeeters in all. Then we stopped at a house across the street. Upon removing the wooden cover of one water tank, about fifty mosquitoes flitted out…needless to say, we hit the mother load!:)

The next stop was a town on the ocean! I didn’t even know we were so close and would be going to the coast! It’s beautiful, big waves and palm trees and a delicious breeze off the water. We sampled in a cemetery. It’s customary to leave pots of flowers on the tombs of relatives; they gather water and hatch mosquitoes. This cemetery had actually been moved a few yards because the ocean has started to eat away the shore and apparently graves were in danger of getting sucked away (not sure if any actually did…) Mexican cemeteries are beautiful though, full of color and big tombs, not a somber place in the least. Toward the end of our collections there, some locals stopped to chat and gave us each a giant coconut with a straw stuck in the top to sip the coconut milk. So fresh! Someone climbed up the tree to get them for usJ My Spanish incidentally isn’t as bad as I thought…still pretty bad, but I ge the gist of most conversations. I have a really hard time speaking and putting coherent sentences together, but by the end of the trip I know I’ll be a lot better already. Dr. Black says I have to take a Spanish class next semester (along with advanced vector biology or something like that).

Our last stop was another town quite a ways away. We passed huge banana plantations along the way. I sampled in another cemetery while some of the others went to a few houses. Not as many larvae to be found here, but plenty for our purposes I gather. I was so tired by this point; good thing I brought along some snacks (Caley be proud).

We then headed back to the laboratory, not for a lunch break, but to pick pupae (the ones about ready to emerge as adult mosquitoes). The next step will be to knock out the adults long enough for us to sort out the species we want, then blood feed them and gather the eggs after they lay. We have seven more sites to collect from. If we got three today, I imagine we can do at least that many tomorrow and the day after and I think there is one site that takes a whole day. But, it sounds like we won’t have to collect for the whole ten days. Yay!!! It’s tiringJ Plus, I want to go shopping for some of the Mexican silver that I LOVE!

Tonight is dinner at Janeans(sp?) house. She’s the one I don’t really like. Oh well, at least she’s feeding us and possibly a few cervezas??

Hopefully I’ll be able to post this tomorrow at the lab! I miss you all so much even thought I’m having an absolute ball!

Ciao,

Megan

Pictures: The Center (where our laboratory and insectary are located), Dr. Black Mike Megan and Antonio getting ready to head out to collect, two places we find mosquitoes (old toilets and cemeteries), the ocean!!!

Day One: 9/4/08

Day One 9/3/08 The plane is empty! I have my own row and have stretched myself out across all three seats to write the first part of my first entry for the trip! I imagine I’ll have to write more tonight after we make it to our final destination of Tapachula, Mexico! Caley says I’m guilty of using too many exclamation points…I think 3 in the first 4 sentences is hardly enough☺ I’m such a wimp, I kept it together (kind of) until Caley walked out the sliding glass doors, but then the tears started leaking out. Not because of anything in particular except maybe just a fear of the unknown and how fast goodbyes at the airport always are. Ironically we forgot to say the typical goodbye “I love you.” Which prompted not only a tearful phone call five minutes later, but a smile because we don’t really need to say anything. Things to do that I don’t really want to do this trip are, one, get bitten by mosquitoes…but I forgot my bug spray! Two, study….but I have an exam three days after I get home, and really don’t want to reschedule it. Three, get a tropical parasite….my class has me a little paranoid. And four, be a mopey cranky little girl…I think I can manage, only as long as my granola bar stash survives. All right, time for some Scrubs☺ Sitting in Mexico City airport...terminal two (took forever to find it...) I just had a delicious cerveza and wrap type thing. Mexico City is HUGE as in the biggest city in the world!!! The things I noticed

I was rudely interrupted by a frantic last minute boarding procedure, turns out they sent us to the wrong gate… Anyway, Mexico City was amazing, it would be fascinating to spend more time there, tour the churches and see all the culture. I think I might have caught the traveling bug already.

WE inadvertently caught the same flight as some of the big wig scientists here at the institute. I guess they’re in town for a few days on a political visit. Already I don’t like the head lady, she’s domineering and loud and clearly a woman who gets her way. Obviously it’s taken her far, but I don’t think many people actually get along with, or like her.

I’ve taken lots of pictures so far, and will try to find somewhere to post them, I was hoping for a miracle and wireless here in the hotel, but it’s not gonna happen. I miss you all already and feel very far away.

Ciao,

Megan

Ps. I love the green bear

Pictures: The car on the way down to the airport, my room at the hotel, me in my room on my first day in Mexico!

Graduate School, Week One

Well, I'm here, a bonified graduate student. Honestly, I'm not quite sure what to think yet. I had a pretty stressful first week, full of bureaucracy and spending too much money on books and rent and such. Apparently there was a mix-up with the deposit slip I used to set up a direct deposit of my salary...and no salary appeared when it was supposed to. As you can imagine, for someone who lives paycheck to paycheck this was a bit of an issue. I think I have it figured out, and hopefully can get everything paid before I leave for Mexico on Thursday. THURSDAY!! Yikes! I've always been one of those people who talks about how much they want to travel to foreign countries, but never has. I'm scared! Logically I know everything will be fine, and I'll be so busy I won't really have time to be lonely or even really think about how far away from home I am. But, that doesn't always quiet the worries and thoughts in my head right now.
Classes are going to be pretty tough. The one graduate level class I'm taking, Statistics, is going to be a toughie. I have homework due on Friday that I haven't started yet due to the parents visit, so hopefully it won't really take 20hrs like Erick said it might...I'm really really hoping it won't:) Parasitology is a 400 level class, and won't be too bad I don't think. Like any other micro class I've taken. Fun lab, and lots to memorize for exams that I just might promptly forget upon completion:) I have to do well in that class though, my advisor is one of the professors...wouldn't do to slack off!
The parents just headed home after a lovely labor day weekend visit. They brought Lucy, and all three of them slept on the futon last night, a very cute picture. Uncle Kevin outdid himself as usual with delicious breakfast and dinner yesterday, Caley missed out! I love when parents come to visit because I don't have to pay for any food, they stock up my cupboards, and buy me beautiful tables and rugs and shoe holders. I'm charging my camera right now so I can take some pictures of the apartment to post. Caitlin keeps asking for them, and I keep forgetting. Now the rooms are almost complete though, I kind of have to show off how wonderful my place is!
I hope I can track down some internet access while down in Mexico, I'd like to be able to keep a diary of that trip as well. I'm not so confident the internet will happen, so maybe I'll just type something every night and post them all when I get home.

Sorry I haven't posted forever, you know how it is...and I'm always like this with diaries and things. I go through phases of tons of writing, then slack off for months at a time. Oh well, now that I'm on the computer all the time at school, perhaps the posts will be more regular.

ciao,
Megan

Maine in Retrospective

Let me first say, I absolutely fell in love with Maine, and I WILL go back there:)

My favorite memories of Maine include, for starters, the lobster boat and subsequent walk along the Marginal Way back to the cottage, boogie boarding, and an introduction to shovel ball. I think now, as school gets rolling, I miss the peacefulness of summer and water more than ever. I would be all for going back to the beach cottage during winter break, but apparently it gets a bit chilly...pshhh, sweaters and blankets I say! A few pictures for your enjoyment:

Quick Boston Story

Boston was quite wonderful and exciting:) Our first night, Sunday began with wonderful naps and relaxation followed by a delicious lobster dinner. I must say, eating lobster is a highly entertaining endeavor, you have to seriously work for your food! After dinner we drove around Melrose is Caley's Papa's car, which so happens to be a very sporty black convertible. Lucky us! I felt so glamorous sitting in the passenger seat with my hair flying all around.
Next day we watched The Tour in the morning and caught the T into Boston for lunch at Thaniel(sp) Hall. Soooo many people!! I'm definitely not used to cities. The 3-D Imax at the aquarium was too interesting to pass up (especially with AC...) and we wrapped up the visit with a short walk through the Museum of Fine Art. Only so much you can see in 5 hours, but I'm sure we'll make it back someday:)
Dinner at Caruso's was quite a trip:) Mr. Caruso, Italian to the extreme complete with jaunty little hat, treated us with delicious pizza and homemade wine. Stories fly thick and fast with the Botte clan, and the two young girl cousins are soooo cute:) After dinner, Caley and I stole the sports car again and headed to the beach for some exploring. I love the ocean!!
Today we are headed up to Maine and I'm sooo soooo sooooo excited! I'll tell you all about it when I get back:)
ciao,
Megan

Fitchburg Synopsis

Fitchburg was, in a nutshell, a great success! Caley and I arrived early evening on Wednesday planning on pre-riding the time trial course, but the weather looked iffy, so we drove. Good thing too, because about ten minutes into the drive, it started to pour as only rain on the east coast can pour! Dinner at Olive Garden that night where the portions are for three people instead of one...literally, neither one of us could finish! Next morning was clearish and sunny, I went off first and felt pretty good climbing the 6.5 mile course. I think I ended up 36th or something like that. Caley finished well in around 15th place? In any case, he did well. We tried eating at the hotel that night, but after sitting for about 20 minutes without even being spoken to by a waiter (of which they had one...and only about 10 customers total...) we decided to risk it in town. To our surprise, Fitchburg was hopping! Civic Days or something like that. Caley introduced me to fried dough, and we wandered the streets until settling on a pizza place for a delicious calzone and some more fried dough. Apparently fried dough is the ultimate pre-race food:) The next day dawned cold and rainy and completely socked in. Needless to say, we were both pretty unhappy about starting:( Caley went off first this time, I followed by about 10 minutes, and didn't get lapped by any boys, yay!! I managed to hang on the the front group for most of the race, only getting popped completely off the back on the last loop. I was kind of popped on the one hill pretty much every time, but only because I don't have the kick these darn low elevation girls do over the tops of the hills! Anyway, finished a little ways behind the front group, got into around 46th place overall. Caleys parents showed up as well and managed the feed zone. It's always cheerful to see people you know on the side lines:) Circuit race was fast, again only one big hill that I got popped on. I managed to find a group of about 6 other girls and we all finished together. Caley took 2nd place in his race!!!!!!! It was so exciting!!!! I can't believe the kick that boy has, especially on an uphill sprint finish:) The crit was pretty much the same for me, hanging on to the back of the tigers tail. I just can't seem to be able to get myself up in to the top twenty consistently. Again, my lack of acceleration out of the corners and over the tops of the hills is a big weakness. Caley got second again!!!!!!! He really should have won, 10 more feet and he would have had the guy, if he'd had a leadout it wouldn't have even been a problem. All in all a very successful weekend, and I got to meet some of the Botte family (Caley's moms side) as well. Next post shall be about Boston...don't have time to do it justice right now. Love you all! ciao, Megan