Science cruise and kangaroos!

So it took a little longer than I expected to find time to post a new blog, but here’s a long blog to make up for it, with lots of pictures, too! After a looong day last week, the 2 Seagliders I’m using for my research were successfully deployed in the Indian Ocean off of Western Australia!

Before we took the gliders out for deployment, we had to calibrate their compasses so they can navigate through the oceans, which is not a particularly difficult task, but a time-consuming and laborious task. The compass-cal’s went well. After that, we pressure tested the gliders in a hydrostatic pressure chamber to test their waterproof seal viability. We use hydrostatic testing (pressurized water) rather them testing with compressed air for 2 reasons: (1) It’s a more realistic scenario since the gliders will be in water during their operation, and (2) hydrostatic is MUCH safer. Water doesn’t compress very much…it already has a lot of molecules packed into a small space. On the contrary, air does compress…A LOT. The molecules in air are few and far between, spread over a large space, so they compress a lot until they’re tightly packed. Therefore, once the hydrostatic chamber is filled with water, it only takes an additional cup or 2 of water compressed into the chamber to makes a big difference in the ambient water pressure. About a cup or 2 of added compressed water results in a pressure of about 300 meters of water depth (almost 1000 feet). However, it would take A LOT, and I mean A LOT of air to compress to equal that same pressure. Therefore, if a hydrostatic chamber was to fail, the potential energy it holds is not very great. Once it lost about a cup of water, it would be back to a sea-level pressure…it doesn’t really hold and explosive potential energy. However, air pressure testing holds massive amounts of potential energy. If an air pressure chamber were to fail, a HUGE volume of air that is compressed into the chamber would want to rush out and expand to the natural area it would take up in a split second. In other words: HUGE EXPLOSION. Of course these chambers are well monitored and checked for safety, but anything can happen at any time. So since we have the choice, we choose hydrostatic testing. So anyway, all of the gliders we tested passed the hydrostatic pressure test to 300 meters water depth. The gliders will dive to 1000 meters (about 3280 feet) in the ocean, but a successful pressure test to 300 meters generally indicates a proper seal on the glider.

So once the gliders passed the pressure testing, we were onto the ocean deployments! Time for an ocean story…the best kind!

We left the dock a little after 6:00 AM, and it took about 2 hours to steam out over 30 nautical miles off the coast to Perth Canyon– in rough waters no less. As the saying goes: “Red skies and night, sailors’ delight. Red skies in the morning, sailors’ take warning”. I’ll leave it to you to guess what color the skies were that morning, and they weren’t orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, brown, white, or black. Enough of a hint?? Luckily, somehow we avoided all of the rain…though we watched it around us in all directions all day long! It wasn’t exactly “Deadliest Catch” conditions, but we weren’t on a boat nearly those sizes either! There was about a 6-foot swell and wind chop from about every direction you can imagine…not exactly ideal conditions, but about as good as they get at this time of year that far out at sea. Shannon was hanging over the side of the boat many times “feeding the fish” (aka throwing up from seasickness), and, though I didn’t throw up, I wasn’t feeling too great at times either.

If you’ve never been seasick, well…you’re lucky. It’s really something that’s very difficult to understand the effects of unless you’ve actually experienced it before. But it’s powerful enough to bring the biggest, burliest man to his knees in an instant. Not fun. They do make seasickness medicine, but some people (such as Shannon) say they prefer not to take it, because they still get seasick but they just can’t throw up when they take the seasickness medicine. So they prefer to not take medicine because, once they throw up, they feel better! At least for a couple minutes.

If you do get seasick, you’re supposed to stare at the horizon, which is supposed to give your brain a better perception of which way is up and what is level while the fluid in your ears moves around like a mini-ocean in a hurricane (the fluid in your ears gives you your sense of balance and 3-dimensional direction). The WORST thing you can do when you’re seasick is to engage in dexterously-intensive tasks, such as focusing on typing and text on a computer screen or tightening a screw. Well guess what we get to do! Focus on typing and text on a computer screen and tighten screws! What are the chances…?!

However, great oceanographers work through the perilous conditions at sea! And that’s just what we did. All in the name of (ocean) science! We actually deployed three gliders: SG514 and SG520 for our research, and SG516 for testing. SG516 ended up being ballasted too light and wasn’t able to dive, so we brought her back onboard to re-ballast her back in the lab to test her at another time. Luckily, SG514 and SG520, with some flight dynamics adjustments, are flying great!

We also rendezvoused with U209, the Slocum glider, to fix the science sensor issues, which was successful. However, two days after the rendezvous, the glider flight data showed a sudden, continuous roll to one side; a telltale sign of a lost wing. However, it could be caused by a number of other things as well, such as something stuck or attached to the glider. Dennis is out on a boat today to pick up U209, as her batteries are very low. Just moments ago, Dennis just recovered U209 to find that our suspicions were correct: U209 was missing a wing. Luckily, that is a very minor issue for a glider! Wings can easily be replaced, as opposed to other components, or gliders themselves.

On the way back home, the waters calmed and bit, and the sky opened up a bit for a gorgeous Australian Sunset.

So a little more about our research project! We’re studying the Leeuwin Current System, which consist of several different water masses contributing to two major water flows: the Leeuwin Current and the Leeuwin Undercurrent. The Leeuwin Current System is vital to the physics and biology of the waters off of Western and Southern Australia.

As aforementioned, we will mainly be flying SG514 and SG520 in the Perth Canyon. The Perth Canyon is a deep portion of the ocean, much like a trench. It is actually an ancient part of the Swan River. A long time ago, when the sea level was much lower, the Swan River flowed out much farther along land to reach the ocean, and, similar to the way the Grand Canyon was formed, the water flow from the Swan River eroded away rock and earth to form a canyon. The ocean has since risen and covered up the canyon, which is now a sudden, deep trench-like formation in the ocean floor (also called “bathymetry” – the ‘lay of the land’ under the ocean. Topography is the lay of the land from sea level and up, while bathymetry is the lay of the land from sea level and lower). The ancient Swan River canyon is now called Perth Canyon! It’s an important mixing zone for the Leeuwin Canyon and has physical and biological features not seen in shallower portions of the current system.

We will be studying the Deep Chlorophyll Maximum (DCM) and Deep Oxygen Minimum (DOM) in correlation with the physical structure of the current system as well as phytoplankton blooms. The winter phytoplankton bloom off of Western Australia is not well understood, so we are hoping to help resolve the unknown!

In addition to the science portion of this project, we are also delving into a new wave of glider usage: flying more than one glider along the same transect at the same time. This is something that University of Western Australia/ANFOG has never done before, and we haven’t done this at Rutgers/IMCS before either! We will be flying SG514 and SG520 along the same path to gather better spatial data and comparative data. We will be flying them in different patterns throughout the mission to achieve different comparative opportunities.

For the past week, we’ve been closely monitoring the flight characteristics of SG514 and SG520 and making the necessary adjustments to get them flying as well (and as energetically efficiently) as possible in order to maximize the time the gliders can stay out in the ocean to collect data and to give the gliders the best fighting chance they can possibly have to fly against strong oceanic currents. They are both pretty well dialed in by this point, just a few more adjustments and they’ll be pretty close to perfect. From there, we’ll constantly monitor them for any changes that need to be made as they gliders become bio-fouled (ocean life growing on or attaching to the gliders) or enter ocean waters with different characteristics. Since gliders rely on finely-tuned buoyancy engines to function, even the slightest changes in temperature, salinity, density, etc, can have a huge effect on their performance. Therefore, we are constantly monitoring the gliders’ performance and ocean conditions in order to make necessary changes as pilots to maximize the gliders’ performance. It’s a 24-hour-a-day/7-days-a-week job…especially when you add more and more gliders out in the ocean at the same time.

I’m also monitoring the science sensor data to start to recognize the characteristics of the different currents and water masses. The primary oceanic science data we’re getting from SG514 and SG520 are water temperature, salinity (salt content), water density, dissolved oxygen concentration, chlorophyll-a concentration (there are 3 different main types of chlorophyll!), concentrated dissolved organic matter, and backscatter. I’ll get more in depth with the data in another blog post, as that’s a blog post in itself! But we’re getting some REALLY cool data so far, and I’m excited to share it with all of you!

This past weekend, Dennis and Kerrie took Shannon and me backpacking and camping out in the Australian Bushlands! We hiked along a short piece of a very long trail called the Bibbulmun Track. The “Bib” has little shelters for hikers called “Bib Track Huts” all along the trail for hikers to camp in, so we hiked out to a Bib Track Hut, set up camp, and then hiked out to a high point called Mt. Cuthburt, from which we enjoyed some really nice of the Australian Bushlands and Outback, and then we hiked back to camp where we started a fire and made some Australian-style s’mores! Shannon and I brought our backpacking/camping/travel hammocks with us, so we set up our hammocks to sleep in under the hut! Dennis and Kerrie were kind enough to lend us a couple sleeping bags so we didn’t freeze during the cold winter Australian nights! The night was absolutely pitch black and silent, and the stars were incredibly bright.

Dennis told us that if we put some peanut butter on a log, once it got dark, a bandicoot would come out to eat it. So we put some peanut butter on a fallen tree…and guess what. We saw a bandicoot! We also went to 2 national parks over the weekend and saw (and touched!) several kangaroos and saw an echidna!

It’s been raining the past week or so (the Western Australia wet season), and although the rain itself is not much fun, it made some waterfalls flow and made for some really beautiful scenery. After all, the rain is beautiful…it’s getting wet that sucks! Normally the waterfalls here are dried up for most of the year, so we were lucky to be able to see them the way we did!

Anyway, gotta get back to work! I’ll have many more things to update you on, and perhaps an excited surprise depending on several factors. Also, although I’m really enjoying being here at UWA/ANFOG, I’m also getting very excited to visit Cairns in August! Thanks for reading everyone! Until next time…

-Dave :)

Dusseldorf: The Post Industrial Landscape: May 31st - June 6th

From Berlin we took a 4 hour ride on one of the high speed German regional trains(that put Amtrak to shame in speed and comfort) to Dusseldorf. Dusseldorf is nestled in the Ruhr region and home to the adaptive re-use of various post industrial sites, the reason for our journey. This adaptive re-use that I talk of is using, for example, an old coal manufacturing plant, as a park space and also a place for educating the public about its past without losing the character and identity of the site. The region is very well suited to these types of uses because it has a strong link to manufacturing, mining, and refining from back when these entities were thriving, but now remain unused. These old sites were once very productive, back since the 1850’s and most remained active until the past 30 years or so. Just recently these places have been given historical preservation statuses, and the opportunity to be reshaped by Landscape Architects to make park spaces that celebrate this industrial heritage, and preserve the cultural heritage that is attached to it. Often times there are various contaminants in the soil, issues with degrading architecture, and various problems associated with a site that has been left to itself for quite some time. These things are often contained by different methods like specific plantings to help improve soil or water quality, or other remediation methods.

Our first day in Dusseldorf began with another walking tour of the neighborhood, and also the main open space of the city, the river promenade. This was also the scene for one of the best meals I would have on the trip. In Dusseldorf there are four main breweries, and they all make the same variety of beer, the alt, and each would tell you that theirs is the best. The breweries are interesting in that often people stand outside at tables just drinking with friends. Waiters constantly bring out beers, as soon as you are done with yours, a new one is brought out to you and a tick mark is placed on your coaster as a means to keep track of your beers, thus making your coaster your receipt. Once you have had you fill you simply place the coaster on top of the empty beer and no more will be brought to you. But onto the best part, the food. Growing up my mother used to make a dish called Rouladen that her stern German grandmother taught her how to make. It happens to be one of my favorite homemade meals, and I was quite looking forward to finding it in Germany. It is thinly sliced beef wrapped up with various stuffing’s, usually bacon and onions and served with gravy, sounds good, I know. So naturally I wanted to try the real thing, and to my surprise, they stacked up even, in taste. In size the German dish was more than three times the size and served with boiled potatoes.

Zollverein Industrial Complex

The Zollverein coal plant was a once functioning plant, but has now been turned into a museum and park space. A few floors of the old plant have been turned into a museum to the old coal plant, the industrial region Ruhr, and some general history of the area and some of the area surrounding the plant has been turned into a park space. The museum was excellent and thoroughly explained and celebrated the Ruhr region. However, the landscape areas, could, to put it nicely, use a little more work. The park space wasn’t clearly defined and was difficult to get to. From there we took a tram line a couple of stops down to Margaretenhoe. It is currently a very exclusive neighborhood, with a very long waiting list for renters. However, it was once used as housing for the workers and their families of the factories in the surrounding areas. The development was actually built by the owner of the factory in an effort to bring people to work for the plant as there was a worker shortage during the industrial boom. We walked around a good portion of the neighborhood, and it was very well kept, but the actual houses were rather small and didn’t seem like the exclusive title was rightfully attached.

Benrath Palace

A rococo mansion just outside of Düsseldorf was the next stop. It is home to a European garden museum and a baroque garden in addition to the impressive mansion. The baroque garden is characterized by a strong axis coming from the mansion framed on the ends by different focal points. The museum was very comprehensive and the landscape was equally impressive. Similar to Sans Souci in some ways, but much smaller in scale.

Bike Tour #1

What a different way to see a vast landscape over the course of the day. We began with a train ride to Duisburg where we were renting bikes for the day. It was to be a bike tour along the Emscher river and along old rail lines that used to run close to the river. It was a little bit of a nervous bike ride out of Duisburg, but once we found our way to the bike path it was smooth sailing to various stops along the river. One of the first stops was along a German cemetery. This sounds uninteresting initially to us in America, as we are used to the large open more arboretum set up. The German cemetery is made up of small garden plots that are maintained by the families. They are maintained by the families because it is said to help with the grieving process. Also unlike the US, the plots have lease periods, and after the lease is up, the family has the option to renew the plot or to allow another person to rent the plot.
The next main stop we took was at a sewage treatment plant. This was also another example of an adaptive reuse site. There are two treatment basins, one is still functioning, and the other has been converted to a wildflower garden. They are located close enough to each other that when you are in the middle of the park you can see the stark difference of the spaces. Other features of the park include a childrens playground, interactive water fountain, and small café.
The last stop on the trip was a raised soil mound left over from the mining of the area. It has been transformed into a terraced walking and bike path up the hill culminating in a large plateau with a very tall observation tower. The tower had several platforms leading to a small one 70 meters above the ground. The climb to the top was slightly unnerving, only made worse by very, very strong gusts of wind.
The was the last stop on our journey for the day, we arrived at a different train station and dropped off the bikes. Everyone was pretty exhausted after a day of riding over 40km.

Duisburg Nord

Duisburg Nord is the example in postindustrial sites. I was abandoned in 1985 as a steel and coal plant. There was an international design competition held in order to get fresh ideas for the future use of the site. The winner of the competition was the office of Peter Latz. This was to be his first attempt, of what would become a career specializing in this area. We were very fortunate in that Peter Latz had strong ties to the technical university of Munich in Freising, where we would be doing our one week intensive design workshop, and that our professor on the trip worked for his office. Latz would also be giving a lecture on some of his current projects when we got to Freising as well.
The site itself is the perfect blend of industry and park, excelling where the Zollverein complex dropped the ball. There are areas where contaminated soils are being treated by phytoremediation, old waste water areas are also being treated. Recreational areas, both active and passive are provided. An old gas tank has been converted into an underwater ruins for scuba enthusiasts. There is a covered seating area that holds over 1000 people for small concerts and performances. Over an acre of the sites old building infrastructure has been converted into a post industrial rock climbing haven. River and meadow walks are provided. Even swimming areas in a once polluted, but now cleaned and safe canal exist. Some of the larger industrial towers have been kept open, to climb up the old plant and see the old machinery that was used. They provide view points from about 5 stories up over the park and the surrounding area. And like any good park, there are a series of cafes for visitors who, like our group, wish to spend the entire day there.

Sondela June 30- July 3

It’s pole pole going slow
But still we’re keeping time
We’re facing forward looking up
Forgetting what’s behind
Twende Afrika heyo! (Let’s go Africa heyo!)

Twende Twende song by Eric Wainaina

I was taken away by another EcoLife guide to go back to Pretoria for the next two nights. My friend, Rima, and I were to go to the US Consulate to get our new passports. After paying to get two sets of photos taken (the first weren’t the correct size) and waiting from opening until closing we had temporary passports in our hands.

We soon joined back up with the group at an elephant sanctuary. Here we learned how amazing elephants are and what they are capable of. These trained giants can respond to over 80 commands, including ones that help to find poachers. Elephants have a sense of smell that is 50 times better than a dog and they can follow a scent over water.

This makes them extremely valuable in tracking poachers, especially since you can ride them so you don’t have to worry about keeping up. Eventually we mounted them and went for a short ride around the ranch. We ended our tour of the project by discussing culling and how we could utilize the elephants to prevent overpopulation.

We retreated to the bus for an hour long bus ride to Sondela Nature Reserve. While Rima and I were in the city, the group relocated and settled camp. Sondela had animals that roamed the land: sheep, goat, kudu and horses. Every morning the kudu joined us for some breakfast and snacked on some of our bread and the horses would sniff at our tents at night. We were coming up to our last full day in South Africa and spent the morning at the Sondela Rehab Center. There, we bottle fed some of their young antelope and giraffe. We got a VIP tour of the facility and got to walk into some of the cages. A caracal was allowed weave between our legs and a zebra came to sniff our hands. The Sondela guide told us stories about hippos and rhino they have rehabbed and showed us where they were kept. In the afternoon we had a final essay about wildlife management where we had a case study to solve. That evening we had a catered dinner and a little graduation ceremony. We had a campfire that night and stayed up way too late. The next day we were all packed up and said our goodbyes at the OR Tambo Airport. A lot of things were left in South Africa, and a lot was also taken away from it. These three weeks seemed like forever, yet I was in New Jersey before I knew what happened. I want to go back and there is no doubt in my mind that I will. I want to work more closely with game capture and try to work beside a wildlife vet. My first goal is to land an internship at the Six Flags Safari Park since it’s just a tad bit closer and tad bit cheaper.

I would like to thank Monica Emery and Dean Young for this wonderful opportunity, without their help South Africa would have been hard to conquer.

Respect food for the fact that it should be enjoyed as more than a plate of calories. It is an art form, and it should be appreciated

Writing about food has never really been my thing. I prefer to take pictures of food and even more I like to cook food. As a result, I have to do something pertaining to French food. I’ll try to provide some dialogue to the food that I saw and that I ate while I Ire in Paris, the differences in food as I headed to the south of France and the food preferences as I visited Cluny. Food is an art form and is as variable and scientific as the making of wine. You could say that food is magical as Ill as mystical. It is an insult to try to recreate the mysticism of food in a test tube as so many food companies do today. I will be taking the side of the food snob in this homage to French cuisine.

To start, I really have to think about what is food? Is food simply calories on a plate or is it something more? And another question where do I draw the line between what is calories on a plate and what is that something more? So I will clear this up with my own opinion of what food is. Food is an art form that is made with a clear thought in mind of the end product that is too be formed both in color, texture, and flavor. Food is described in quality, not quantity, and food is not merely calories on a plate. What I think of as food is a complex means of conveyance to get calories into the human body. Most people eat with knives and forks in a “civilized” manner, our food should be just as civilized to compliment the method of eating.

This is where my food snobbery comes into view. Eating at chain restaurants where food is reheated and plopped on a plate and then served in a sit down setting. To me, this is a glorified form of fast food. By comparison the calories are just as high in both forms of food, the salt is just as high, and a food chemist was involved in both forms of business. My view of food goes beyond the chain restaurant to the restaurant where raw ingredients are brought in and selected by a trained chef to be used in his or her kitchen. A point to be clarified here, many people don’t know it, but there are many restaurants masquerading as non-chain restaurants but if you looked in their freezer you would find neat boxes by companies like Sysco foods that say things like, “pepper seasoned chicken thighs” or “three cheese macaroni”. These foods are heated up in the kitchen and put on the plate and the consumer is charged a premium. Gone are the days where a chef or a cook was in the kitchen really cooking.

I say all this not to depress anyone and not to say that all restaurants are the same. I say this to make people aware that they need to be critical of the food they eat and make the choice between eating mass-market calories, plopped on a plate and an art form. See the video at the end of this post to learn more about slow food and really respecting your food. It is in an insult to the chef and the animal that was sacrificed to not have a great appreciation of food.

By and large from what I can tell, many of the restaurants that I visited before arriving in Cluny Ire cooking in the old fashioned way. However, I did eat at a cleverly disguised pasta chain in Aix en Provence.In Paris there is as wide a variety of food as you would find in New York City. Every kind of food imaginable was there and often separated by districts, which are called arrondisments. In the Latin corridor you find a lot of North African foods as Ill as Middle Eastern food. It is largely Ill priced and a lot of people that you see in this part of Paris will be of other races and nationalities. That’s how I learned to find the good food. If there are a lot of people of the same nationality as the food being served, it is probably pretty darn good.

If you jump from there to the more residential district such as the 10^th arrondisement, the food changes. The food prices decrease and things like omelets become regular fare as Ill as warm goat cheese salads and copious amount of bread. I found that prices dropped by as much as half when I left the heavily touristy regions and when in search of local street fare. Head out for lunch around midday and follow the men and women in business attire. That how I found one of the most fantastic sandwich and quiche bars that I have ever been to. You can pick up a whole-wheat roll and with fresh ripe tomatoes, basil olive oil, and fresh goat cheese for 2.70 euros. Or a wonderful piece of quiche for only 2 euros and a dessert for no more than 3 euros. You can make a picnic lunch for two out of 10 euros, which even with the exchange rate is still less than a lunch in the United States.

If you then jump back to the business districts of the 4^th and 6^th arrondisements and even into the 7^th, your wallet must thicken considerably. With the increase in level of the clientele, the food quality increases, as does the style of service. Restaurants become sit-down places with the service staff as salaried employees dressed in ties and button down shirts. The service becomes prompt and courteous with an emphasis on really enjoying the meal and a lot more drinking. It appears that restaurants make a lot on the wines and beers the sell. As a result, there is a large push to accompany each course of the meal with a different drink. There are of course at least 3 courses so you can imagine the amount of alcohol that is dispensed and the bill growing considerably as a result. To put it in perspective, a plate at a restaurant will cost 12 euros and a glass wine will cost 4 to 6 euros. It is all worth it though because the service is almost always good and the drinks they provide are Ill worth the cost. This is a narrative of food but the food speaks for itself. See the picture below.

The food of Paris could take up a whole novel but it is better in pictures. After all a picture is worth a thousand words so I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves. See the album at the end of this entry.

As I travelled South to Aix en Provence and to Avignon the food became significantly cheaper as a result of cheaper clientele and lower operating costs. Food became more family oriented and chain restaurants such as the one that I found in Aix en Provence popped up. Still though a big difference in cuisine between Paris and Aix is the amount of expensive type dishes. In Paris, the chefs make careful molds to layer foods and take exquisite lengths to make sure that the food looks like art. There is also a pressure on lots of meat of many different sorts in Paris. Almost every dish has some kind of meat ingrained (pun intended if you get beef jokes) into its very core. One particularly notable factor is that every restaurant in Paris has a form of beef tartare. In Aix the food becomes more fishy and also more pasta based. Not hard to believe because Aix is much closer to Italy. I only spent one day in Aix before moving onto Avignon which became a highlight of cooking in my mind.

The cuisine of Avignon was what is called Provençal. There is a heavy influence of the Mediterranean in the dishes. Olives and olive oil make the seen as well as aromatic vegetables and lots of fresh vegetables. In my experience, I was able to sit down order a glass of cool white table wine and a vegetable platter that came with crusty bread and a bottle of spiced oil. Every meal is washed down with a cup of espresso and often a small cup of gelato from one of the many gelato bars. All that would cost you no more than 20 euros per person for a meal. I wish I had my camera when I sat down for that meal but I had left it behind in my hotel room. This is a good place to note that everywhere you eat should be outside with lots of people sitting at tables. That means that food is probably good and you get lots of fresh air. There is nothing like sitting out at lunch at 1 PM on a warm afternoon under a umbrella watching French life go by and very often unleashed very well trained dogs. I spent an hour at lunch in Avignon watching two French Bulldogs beg from their owners and use their bulldog manners to protest not being fed table scraps.

My time was short lived in Avignon and I moved on again back to Paris and then to Cluny where food changed again. I will have to go back to Avignon to visit the city of Arles and Marseille where I think that I will get quintessential southern France food. Cluny food is very diverse and warrants its own entry. I will break off here and leave food behind for another day.

I will make a mention here about the amazing French breakfasts I have had. Consisting of unsweetened yogurt served with honey and jam as well as fresh bread that is still warm from the baker and the most amazing croissants imaginable. The method of serving the breakfasts is just amazing. In the bed and breakfasts, they are brought to you on a silver tray with a ceramic pitcher of piping hot coffee and another pitcher of steamed milk and a basket of warm floured rolls and slightly sweet croissants. Eggs make a rare appearance and when they do they are hard-boiled or the are poached and served with fresh bread. Fresh jams are always provided in either small ceramic dishes with freshly whipped butter or in little individual glass jars. I wish I had taken more pictures of the breakfasts to show what I am writing about, but I am not a morning person and as I result I did not remember to bring my camera to breakfast often enough.

Moral of the story from me. Respect food for the fact that it should be enjoyed as more than a plate of calories. It is an art from, and it should be appreciated

Mostly Work and Little Play on Little Cayman

There are only three days left, two days if I don’t count travel. It’s kind of weird. I don’t feel as if I have been here that long at all. Although each day seems long, it’s still only felt like a week.

The past couple of days were interesting. Even 1,400 miles away there can still be drama back at home, and that is a lesson everyone can learn from. Although you may be in paradise, (despite all the work), the rest of the world keeps on spinning. Despite of problems back home arising for some of the students we are still all concentrating on the last few days here.

Two days ago as we were sitting down for dinner a storm passed overhead. We eat in a little outside patio surrounded by screens, so it was cool to be able to see the storm. Considering we are only about 20 feet from the ocean, it is a pretty scary experience when the lightning and thunder comes. Although it was crazy awesome, I have never heard thunder that loud or lighting that intense. There were two large lighting strikes that hit right in front of the food area, and it was so big and it hit the reef so you could see a burst of fire about 5 feet high coming out of the water. It was one of the coolest things I have ever seen.

Yesterday we had a day off and we went to Owen Island, which was a small island off of Little Cayman where people sometimes go just to relax. A few of us walked around the island, which was probably not a good idea without shoes. It was mostly rocky, but we found a random ship, and got to see beautiful mangroves. The crabs would also run into their little holes when we walked by. Later as we were lying in the water and just tanning, talking, or looking at baby hermit crabs (yeah we are cool), we noticed that a storm cloud was going across little Cayman. It wasn’t going towards us, but we started to hear thunder. Two of the students decided to swim back and get a boat for us. We were feeling a little sick f being on the island anyway and wanted to do a few other things. We went swimming at the Conch Club, a small resort on the island, and then took about a mile long walk to go to the gift store (which was closed), and then to the grocery store. I got a Welch’s grape soda. Here we only drink water and coffee and tang, so it was nice. It was also one of the only things that were USA priced. It was only a dollar while everything else is super expensive. We then walked to a bar called the Hungry Iguana for dinner. We were there an hour before dinner would be served so we just sat around, watched some baseball, tennis, le tour de france, etc, and had some drinks. There were 10 of us students and 3 daughters of professors, so it was funny to see the bar full because we only saw about a handful of people walk in while we were there from 5 to 730. (Little Cayman is realllly small). We went back to the station and had another drink and then went to bed, and now here I am writing this blog. :D

Anyway, all the students are starting to prepare for our project presentations. Everyone is sitting around talking to their partners about there project, discussing standard deviations, and linear regressions, and excel spreadsheets. I’m slightly on my own in this endeavor, and I won’t lie, I’m behind. I’ve been putting it off, but mostly because I’m so busy since I’m alone. I’m excited because it actually looks like my corals are growing, which is awesome for only a week. My entire project depends on them growing, so it’s definitely important. Some of my coral over the past few days have appeared bleached, which its when the corals symbiotic relationship with zooxanthellae is disrupted and the zooxanthellae is expelled from the coral. Zooxanthellae provide corals with needed nutrients and provides energy though photosynthesis, so without them the corals may grow slower or may cease to grow at all. I’ll get different data, but then that makes me results a lot more interesting to dissect. I’m about to go out to collect my coral, weigh them, and then analyze them. So WISH ME LUCK!

Heather

Karma's Luck

Fun Fact: Did you know that a symbol on the Singapore dollar glows neon while under a blacklight?

I found out this interesting fact while taking out some money while at a "Glow In the Dark" store, that's something I didn't expect. Singapore has an interesting relationship with money, whether it be through anti-forging measures (their money is not paper, but plastic) or even traditions on good karma and wealth. I found this tidbit out when one of my coworkers from Spain found a S$5 bill on the ground while heading in for work, thus leading to a deep conversation on the ethics of money. My Singaporean grad student supervisor all asked us this simple question after hearing about his discovery, "If you found money on the ground, what would you do with it?" I had to answer with, "It depends on the amount of money," because a small amount of money found and kept isn't hurting anybody, right? Now imagine yourself stumbling on $5 or maybe even $20 0r $100, how would this scenario play out with you? Personally, a small amount is no big deal. Now if it was a large amount, I would report it missing. BUT interestingly enough, even if it's a coin found on the ground, the most reasonable thing that my grad student would do...is donate it. Every effort would be made to find the owner of the missing money because it is actually bad luck for you, the finder, to keep the financial gain. Why? Because you are actually passing bad luck to yourself! In essence, you used up your good luck in place of someone elses bad luck--and bad karma will kick in as a result. I might take that moral to heart and donate dropped money in the future because it is with good reason.

My 21st birthday update! WOW I have never had so much fun on my birthday weekend in my life. My birthday (June 17) landed on a friday, so I worked for most of the day with a really cool morning birthday surprise crafted by Devinn, then I visited Asia Beerfest, which was epic. I have never seen so many beers in one place in my life, but I only sampled a Kronenberg lager and decided that was enough to last me the whole night. I then met my co-workers at Zam Zam Singapore Indian restaurant, but I was too late to eat anything! So we went for desserts on Arab Street, a beautiful Arabian District with mosques on almost every corner, and street venders selling really good (and spicy) food and elegant sari's and pashmina scarves. It was soo pretty so I will be making another visit on a different date, but for dessert, I had to try out a homemade wine sherbert. We followed up with yet another excursion for really interesting Singaporean desserts--I bought beancurd and You Tiao, which is a delish pastry (pics below). That sums up Friday night fun!

Saturday, one of my co-workers invited me to a picnic on Sentosa beach, a really popular beach in Southern Singapore. We followed it up with good food, great desserts (Ias Kacang!), and wonderful company. The topper of the night was seaside fireworks! I can honestly say that this was the best birthday I have ever had, and these memories stick with me forever.


It's really pleasant to have a good relationship with my co-workers as most of them are around my age (ranging from19 to 24 yrs old). But when we are all in the lab, we know there is work to be done! I can't give too much information on my exact experiments (company policy, and if that is strict for ya, you should see the armed soldier with a barking german shepard that I have to pass at the gates to get to work, plus the metal detector scanning with biometric card and fingerprinting). What I can say is that I am running experiments on increasing glycerol production in algae by modifying its environment. Currently, I am testing the total carbon that composes the algae to determine the percent carbon dedication to glycerol synthesis. It's really fun stuff and I cannot wait to see the results!

As a side note, I have had really interesting luck with meeting and making friends with Singaporean people. The weekend after my birthday, I decided to go to Chinese Gardens at 10pm (mind you, the gardens close at 11 pm, I don't know what possesed me to go up there so late anyway) and I was walking around Fragrance Garden enjoying the floral air until I seen bright lights on a fancy Chinese pagoda. So I was curious and walked over to the lights and guess what I saw... a film crew! A large group of people were actually filming a scene from a movie "True Love" that they expect to enter into Indie movie festivals. The movie is about a husband and wife who have to make a decision on who they really love in life due to a series of unfortunate events. The husband made a bad decision with a gangster loan shark and must now decide on taking the life of his wife or another man affiliated with the loan, but things get heated when he finds that his wife is in love with someone else...another woman.

It was the coolest thing EVER, but I forgot my camera!! I got to see two scenes being filmed, one being the choking and death scene but I can't tell you who the husband chose! And another where the woman ended the relationship with the wife. I also met the actor and actresses that were in the scenes along with the makeup artist, movie photographer, and the movie director! The movie should be finished soon si I will be sure to post updates. Shocklingly, everyone was around my age, with the director being at the ripe age of 24, so we swapped facebook accounts (oh, facebook) and one of the actresses gave me her phone number, that was unreal! Most of the crew was Singaporean with the remaining few from San Francisco, CA. I actually HAD to get to know the film crew after a while because the garden ranger came over to us and was yelling at us for being at the gardens for so long (this was 10:55pm, technically my cue to leave but I couldn't resist!). A little over a half hour later (11:30pm, past garden closing time) the guard returns and starts shouting swear words at the director in both English and Malay language! Everyone told me that the guard would only do the same to me if I left now so I had to stay with them until the end, which ended up being 12:00am. They actually had one more scene to shoot but I had had enough action for one night. Then, a few weeks later, the actress called me and invited me to a Ladies Night Out, which I was more than happy to attend (pics below with the director crashing in on our ladies night!). It was soo much fun, I can't contain it! If only words could describe! I can't even catch a film crew in the US! I still have more adventures to share, including our 4th of July, Singapore-style! That is all for now and good luck on your adventures!



~Lynnicia