Yesterday I started out the day with a nice run. It was nice out when I left, but as soon as I got just about as far as I wanted to go, it started pouring rain...literally pouring. So I had no choice but to run home in the storm and getting completely soaked (it looked as though I had jumped in the bay fully dressed). I thought that would be the biggest event of my day.
But apparently not. A few hours later, some sirens went off on the island, and Val came running in, announcing there'd been an 8.3 earthquake off the coast of Samoa and that a tsunami might be coming our way...within fifteen minutes. We checked online and saw that tsunami warnings had indeed been issued for most islands in the South Pacific, as well as for New Zealand and Hawaii. It really wasn't expected to be too bad in Moorea, considering we were quite far away from the epicenter and have a nice barrier reef protecting us, but we decided to be cautious and all go up the hill to the library, especially since our dorms are right on the edge of the water. It was actually kind of funny, in our moment of haste we grabbed electronics, wallets, the dogs, baguettes, nutella, and rum -- all quite important for survival, apparently. The whole class gathered on the balcony of the library, waiting for the tsunami to hit...but of course it never did. It was still an exciting experience, although we did hear in the news that things were not so lucky in Samoa and elsewhere in the Pacific.
So I guess we're really getting a taste of the island life: work hard, go for a row, snorkel, avoid stonefish, evacuate when tsunamis come, and relax the rest of the time.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Rotten fish, anyone?
Yesterday evening was the much awaited Polynesian Feast. We started off the night with drinks up at the Gump House, where the legendary Gump, who donated the research station to Berkeley, used to spend his time. Neil Davies, director of the station and known to have once dated Miss Tahiti, now lives there. This house is absolutely amazing. First off, the view is astounding: it’s up in the hills, so you can see the entire bay from the huge bay windows and lovely outdoor patio. The living room, kitchen, bedrooms, and bathroom are all in separate little huts carved of wood and stone. The living room is full of traditional Tahitian style furniture and decorations, and the odd “Go Bears” and “Cal” banners hanging around, quite a funny juxtaposition. After two hours of wine and beer, half of which I spent talking to one of the heads of the NSF (National Science Foundation, which gives huge grants to students for research)who was visiting the Pacific stations, we headed down to the Fare Pote’e (our outdoor hut) for the feast. The Polynesians had prepared us all kinds of traditional fare: chicken and some kind of pork and cabbage dish (cooked in the ground for hours), poisson cru (“raw fish,” a dish of uncooked fish marinated in lime and coconut juice), taro, bread fruit (anyone seen Mutiny on the Bounty? Captain Bligh would have been jealous), banana mush stuff (no idea what it’s called), some other starchy root vegetables, and the much anticipated fafaru, a traditional dish of uncooked fish in fermented sea water (in which fish has been allowed to rot for a few days). I decided that since this might be my only chance to ever eat any of this stuff, I would forego my vegetarian ways and try a bite of everything. The fafaru was actually not as horrible as expected, although I think we were given a mild version – it basically tasted like chewy, salty sea water. Bread fruit is quite strange: it’s a huge green fruit (about the size of a football) that grows on a tree yet tastes a lot like potato (when fried, it tastes like fries); this was what Captain Bligh and his crew came to Tahiti for the 1700s, as the goal was to bring it to the Caribbean to feed the slaves.
The fun part about the feast was the people. Our 22 students were there, as well as our three professors, George, Brent, and Pat, the graduate student instructors, Maya, David, and Steph, a whole bunch of Biocode researchers (working on coding DNA for every animal and plant on the island), as well as the Polynesian staff of the station and their families. It was so nice to hang out with the professors and listen to their (often inappropriate) jokes and stories, something that is rarely done at Berkeley. Brent pointed out that we are learning how to become scientists, which includes leisure time as well (apparently to become a scientist, one must get used to drinking a lot of beer). One of the most entertaining guests was “Auntie,” Hinano’s great aunt (Hinano is married to Frank, who is one of the head administrators). Eighty-six years old, four feet tall, and not speaking a word of English or French, Auntie has the reputation of greeting people by kissing their nipples and then grabbing them in inappropriate places. Brent had in fact been to a dinner the previous night at which Auntie was in attendance, and had to request to move seats when things got a little too raunchy. Auntie actually ended up behaving very well at the feast and kept her hands to herself, although she was definitely very liberal with her kisses and enjoyed standing up every once and while and dancing a jig, particularly when someone began to play the ukulele. Hinano then gave us Tahitian dancing lessons, which was a lot of fun, and did a beautiful solo dance herself, using a table cloth as a skirt. Auntie even sang us a song.
Anyway, it was really a fun night, and now it’s time for sleep in my mosquito net covered bed. I can hear the sound of the water lapping in the bay, the chirping of crickets, and the squawking? barking? chirping? of geckos. It’s weird, I’d never heard it before, but geckos make really loud noises for their size – they kind of sound like birds. And with the occasional rooster crowing at any odd hour of day or night, as well as the crazy Polynesian drivers racing down the nearby (and only) road, it sounds like a typical night in Paradise.
The fun part about the feast was the people. Our 22 students were there, as well as our three professors, George, Brent, and Pat, the graduate student instructors, Maya, David, and Steph, a whole bunch of Biocode researchers (working on coding DNA for every animal and plant on the island), as well as the Polynesian staff of the station and their families. It was so nice to hang out with the professors and listen to their (often inappropriate) jokes and stories, something that is rarely done at Berkeley. Brent pointed out that we are learning how to become scientists, which includes leisure time as well (apparently to become a scientist, one must get used to drinking a lot of beer). One of the most entertaining guests was “Auntie,” Hinano’s great aunt (Hinano is married to Frank, who is one of the head administrators). Eighty-six years old, four feet tall, and not speaking a word of English or French, Auntie has the reputation of greeting people by kissing their nipples and then grabbing them in inappropriate places. Brent had in fact been to a dinner the previous night at which Auntie was in attendance, and had to request to move seats when things got a little too raunchy. Auntie actually ended up behaving very well at the feast and kept her hands to herself, although she was definitely very liberal with her kisses and enjoyed standing up every once and while and dancing a jig, particularly when someone began to play the ukulele. Hinano then gave us Tahitian dancing lessons, which was a lot of fun, and did a beautiful solo dance herself, using a table cloth as a skirt. Auntie even sang us a song.
Anyway, it was really a fun night, and now it’s time for sleep in my mosquito net covered bed. I can hear the sound of the water lapping in the bay, the chirping of crickets, and the squawking? barking? chirping? of geckos. It’s weird, I’d never heard it before, but geckos make really loud noises for their size – they kind of sound like birds. And with the occasional rooster crowing at any odd hour of day or night, as well as the crazy Polynesian drivers racing down the nearby (and only) road, it sounds like a typical night in Paradise.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Stonefish are lurking.
Friday we awoke to a huge rain and wind storm that lasted most of the day. What better weather to work on our project proposals? It was nice, everyone was huddled in front of their laptop in the common room in the dorms, sipping tea and working hard. I really like the dynamic in this group, it's nice to be living with twenty-one biology kids. We all sit around and discuss our project ideas, helping each other out and sharing ideas...definitely a good work environment.
We did have one welcome distraction though. Val, one of the station organizers, suddenly came running in screaming "BALEINES!!!" -- a mother humpback whale and her calf were hanging out in the bay right in front of the dorms, so we got to watch their blow holes erupt and fins fly out of the water every once and while.
In the evening some of us went out rowing again with the Polynesians. It was a great row, we got to see the sunset on the mountains from the boat. Back at shore, we hopped in the water and carried the boat out. Unfortunately, as we were doing so, my friend Trisha stepped on something sharp. She started feeling light headed, so we ran to get the Polynesians to help us. They took one look at her foot, exclaimed "poisson pierre" (stonefish) and ran out the door. And this is where we saw ethnobotany in action. Turns out Trisha had stepped on the most dangerous fish in the world, an extremely ugly fish with a perpetual frown on its face and the ability to blend into the substrate on the bottom of the ocean perfectly. The neurotoxins are released from the spine when the fish is stepped on, and can be fatal if left untreated/allowed to spread near the heart. Hinano, one of the women in charge of the station, ran outside and picked a plant known as Barringtonia, and the men then proceeded to pound at it with a hammer to release the juices. They then put it in a pot of heated sea water, and stuck Trisha's foot in it. The plant's sap has properties that break down the neurotoxin and numb the pain. Hinano also had one of the students cut Trisha's wound a bit to put some of the plant's juices in the cut. Luckily, this botanical cure was very effective: while Trisha was still in severe pain for the night and the following day, her foot didn't turn black like it supposedly can, and she is now fine. It was definitely cool to see the locals use their traditional knowledge of plants and their healing properties, and Hinano really seemed to have the situation under control, so even though the most dangerous fish was involved, it wasn't too scary.
Yesterday was again spent on working on project proposals. I talked to Brent, our professor, about my topic, and he gave me some good tips about how I should go about with my coral biodiversity studies: the current plan is to go to different parts of the reef all around the island, snorkel around, identify the coral species, and calculate species richness. I will then compare this data to some data taken on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia, and analyze this results. Should be really interesting and lots of fun, considering all the snorkeling I'll have to do. Plus I'll be a coral specialist by the end of this...
After finishing and turning in our project proposals, a few of us went out for a swim, and then played some volleyball. Then in the evening we went out for a row again (this time everyone wore shoes to avoid stonefish) and were out for over an hour. We left Cook's Bay and went towards the right, to the town of Maharepa, which was supposedly about 15 km round trip. It was amazing, we rowed on turquoise waters through which we could see the bottom of the ocean about 15 feet down, with sting rays swimming along the bottom and colorful coral everywhere. The Polynesians we row with, two older guys, are hilarious -- they are constantly laughing and had fun splashing us with water as we got sweaty on our super long row. They have decided that once we will row AROUND the whole island, which supposedly takes four hours (and no breaks?)!
Last night we had a party in the dorms, in which every room had a theme. People did a great job decorating, there were rooms full of tropical plants and sarongs hanging everywhere, and people dressed up in plants and make grass skirts. We even had a couple of crab races (we collected crabs and put them in a ring) -- we lovingly named the crabs after our professors.
Today is another lazy Sunday, our day off on which we are not allowed to do any work at all, which is always welcome. Plans yet to be determined!
We did have one welcome distraction though. Val, one of the station organizers, suddenly came running in screaming "BALEINES!!!" -- a mother humpback whale and her calf were hanging out in the bay right in front of the dorms, so we got to watch their blow holes erupt and fins fly out of the water every once and while.
In the evening some of us went out rowing again with the Polynesians. It was a great row, we got to see the sunset on the mountains from the boat. Back at shore, we hopped in the water and carried the boat out. Unfortunately, as we were doing so, my friend Trisha stepped on something sharp. She started feeling light headed, so we ran to get the Polynesians to help us. They took one look at her foot, exclaimed "poisson pierre" (stonefish) and ran out the door. And this is where we saw ethnobotany in action. Turns out Trisha had stepped on the most dangerous fish in the world, an extremely ugly fish with a perpetual frown on its face and the ability to blend into the substrate on the bottom of the ocean perfectly. The neurotoxins are released from the spine when the fish is stepped on, and can be fatal if left untreated/allowed to spread near the heart. Hinano, one of the women in charge of the station, ran outside and picked a plant known as Barringtonia, and the men then proceeded to pound at it with a hammer to release the juices. They then put it in a pot of heated sea water, and stuck Trisha's foot in it. The plant's sap has properties that break down the neurotoxin and numb the pain. Hinano also had one of the students cut Trisha's wound a bit to put some of the plant's juices in the cut. Luckily, this botanical cure was very effective: while Trisha was still in severe pain for the night and the following day, her foot didn't turn black like it supposedly can, and she is now fine. It was definitely cool to see the locals use their traditional knowledge of plants and their healing properties, and Hinano really seemed to have the situation under control, so even though the most dangerous fish was involved, it wasn't too scary.
Yesterday was again spent on working on project proposals. I talked to Brent, our professor, about my topic, and he gave me some good tips about how I should go about with my coral biodiversity studies: the current plan is to go to different parts of the reef all around the island, snorkel around, identify the coral species, and calculate species richness. I will then compare this data to some data taken on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia, and analyze this results. Should be really interesting and lots of fun, considering all the snorkeling I'll have to do. Plus I'll be a coral specialist by the end of this...
After finishing and turning in our project proposals, a few of us went out for a swim, and then played some volleyball. Then in the evening we went out for a row again (this time everyone wore shoes to avoid stonefish) and were out for over an hour. We left Cook's Bay and went towards the right, to the town of Maharepa, which was supposedly about 15 km round trip. It was amazing, we rowed on turquoise waters through which we could see the bottom of the ocean about 15 feet down, with sting rays swimming along the bottom and colorful coral everywhere. The Polynesians we row with, two older guys, are hilarious -- they are constantly laughing and had fun splashing us with water as we got sweaty on our super long row. They have decided that once we will row AROUND the whole island, which supposedly takes four hours (and no breaks?)!
Last night we had a party in the dorms, in which every room had a theme. People did a great job decorating, there were rooms full of tropical plants and sarongs hanging everywhere, and people dressed up in plants and make grass skirts. We even had a couple of crab races (we collected crabs and put them in a ring) -- we lovingly named the crabs after our professors.
Today is another lazy Sunday, our day off on which we are not allowed to do any work at all, which is always welcome. Plans yet to be determined!
Friday, September 25, 2009
I officially have booty tan lines.
So for those of you who don't know, booties are the neoprene boots you wear with fins when you go snorkeling/diving...hence the tan lines. Oh well, at least it means I'm having fun!
Anyway, let's back up a bit. Sunday was our day off, so I went for a swim in the bay. That is one thing that's nice here: I love swimming in a pool, but there's something so much better about swimming and seeing swarms of tropical fish and corals below you as you swim! Right when I got home, some of the guys decided that they wanted to swim across the bay, so I was enlisted along with my friend Julie to kayak with them to protect them from oncoming boats. It was sooo nice, Julie and I made some awesome musical kayakers, rowing and singing as we crossed the bay. Next on the agenda was wine and cheese at Professor Brent Mishler's hut on the hill. Each of the professors gets his own little hut up on the hill above the Gump Station, from which there's an amazing view of treetops and the bay. Brent provided us with boxed wine (which actually wasn't too bad) and some hors-d'oevres, and we hung around chatting with the professors and GSI's (graduate student instructors). It's so nice, I've never really gotten to know my instructors like I have here. We invite the graduate students to dinner every couple nights, so we're actually getting to know them too.
Monday we went on the last of the class field trips, a hike with Jean-Ives the French botanist to the Col des Trois Cocotiers. Jean-Ives was quite a character with his extremely French accent, army shorts, knee high red socks, and transparent plastic jelly sandals...arrgghh I wish I could upload pictures! Anyway, that was a nice hike, we followed a ridge up to the top of a gorgeous lush mountain, learning about plants on the way. We got to the top, where only one palm tree remains as the other two burned down ("Col des Trois Cocotiers" means "Pass of the three palms"). The view from up at the top was amazing, but it soon began to rain...and REALLY rain. We were all soooo drenched by the time we got down, but it was oddly fun at the same time, since it was warm tropical rain.
The next couple days were devoted to working on a write-up for a class assignment and figuring out projects. I went out snorkeling again and decided that I really like corals...there are soooo many species that are so colorful and intricate, and it'd be really interesting to work with them. The ultimate goal will be to compare their biodiversity with the coral biodiversity in the Great Barrier Reef, Australia, and maybe try to figure out WHY differences in biodiversity occur. Well, that's the current plan anyhow...it'll probably be modified multiple times.
Last night, to celebrate the end of our write-ups, we went to a Tahitian dancing show! It was a lot of fun. I asked my friend Trisha, who has family in Hawaii, how it compares to hula, and supposedly it is a lot faster paced than traditional Hawaiian dancing. The best part of the night was when a few of our students got dragged on stage to dance with the Tahitians...oddly enough, the guys were a lot more into it than the girls, and it was pretty hilarious!
This morning Irma, the Tahitian housekeeper/house mom, taught me how to cut papaya and pineapple (the local agricultural school gives us huge baskets of fresh papaya, pineapple, bushels of baby bananas, and Tahitian apples)...she likes me because I speak French :) Apparently she likes to treat us as her 22 children.
Today there was a huge walk out at Berkeley to protest the budget cuts and furloughs, so in solidarity, the professors gave us a lcture about the history of the university and its budget. It was really interesting to hear their perspective, but rather depressing - apparently, at the rate everything is going, Berkeley won't be able to keep up the same quality of education for that much longer...and there's not too much any of us can do.
Anyway, sorry for the looooong entries, unfortunately I don't get a chance to write too often, and then when I do, I go all out... Life here is just sooo different from home. Over here, we can tell the professors where we want to go, for example to snorkel in a particular area, and they will actually listen to us and take us there! We are the ones with the power! So strange.
Well that's all for now! Hope everything is good in the real world ;)
Anyway, let's back up a bit. Sunday was our day off, so I went for a swim in the bay. That is one thing that's nice here: I love swimming in a pool, but there's something so much better about swimming and seeing swarms of tropical fish and corals below you as you swim! Right when I got home, some of the guys decided that they wanted to swim across the bay, so I was enlisted along with my friend Julie to kayak with them to protect them from oncoming boats. It was sooo nice, Julie and I made some awesome musical kayakers, rowing and singing as we crossed the bay. Next on the agenda was wine and cheese at Professor Brent Mishler's hut on the hill. Each of the professors gets his own little hut up on the hill above the Gump Station, from which there's an amazing view of treetops and the bay. Brent provided us with boxed wine (which actually wasn't too bad) and some hors-d'oevres, and we hung around chatting with the professors and GSI's (graduate student instructors). It's so nice, I've never really gotten to know my instructors like I have here. We invite the graduate students to dinner every couple nights, so we're actually getting to know them too.
Monday we went on the last of the class field trips, a hike with Jean-Ives the French botanist to the Col des Trois Cocotiers. Jean-Ives was quite a character with his extremely French accent, army shorts, knee high red socks, and transparent plastic jelly sandals...arrgghh I wish I could upload pictures! Anyway, that was a nice hike, we followed a ridge up to the top of a gorgeous lush mountain, learning about plants on the way. We got to the top, where only one palm tree remains as the other two burned down ("Col des Trois Cocotiers" means "Pass of the three palms"). The view from up at the top was amazing, but it soon began to rain...and REALLY rain. We were all soooo drenched by the time we got down, but it was oddly fun at the same time, since it was warm tropical rain.
The next couple days were devoted to working on a write-up for a class assignment and figuring out projects. I went out snorkeling again and decided that I really like corals...there are soooo many species that are so colorful and intricate, and it'd be really interesting to work with them. The ultimate goal will be to compare their biodiversity with the coral biodiversity in the Great Barrier Reef, Australia, and maybe try to figure out WHY differences in biodiversity occur. Well, that's the current plan anyhow...it'll probably be modified multiple times.
Last night, to celebrate the end of our write-ups, we went to a Tahitian dancing show! It was a lot of fun. I asked my friend Trisha, who has family in Hawaii, how it compares to hula, and supposedly it is a lot faster paced than traditional Hawaiian dancing. The best part of the night was when a few of our students got dragged on stage to dance with the Tahitians...oddly enough, the guys were a lot more into it than the girls, and it was pretty hilarious!
This morning Irma, the Tahitian housekeeper/house mom, taught me how to cut papaya and pineapple (the local agricultural school gives us huge baskets of fresh papaya, pineapple, bushels of baby bananas, and Tahitian apples)...she likes me because I speak French :) Apparently she likes to treat us as her 22 children.
Today there was a huge walk out at Berkeley to protest the budget cuts and furloughs, so in solidarity, the professors gave us a lcture about the history of the university and its budget. It was really interesting to hear their perspective, but rather depressing - apparently, at the rate everything is going, Berkeley won't be able to keep up the same quality of education for that much longer...and there's not too much any of us can do.
Anyway, sorry for the looooong entries, unfortunately I don't get a chance to write too often, and then when I do, I go all out... Life here is just sooo different from home. Over here, we can tell the professors where we want to go, for example to snorkel in a particular area, and they will actually listen to us and take us there! We are the ones with the power! So strange.
Well that's all for now! Hope everything is good in the real world ;)
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Ta'ui!
Hello!
As of yesterday, I have officially been here for a week! We've done so much in the last few days, though, that it feels like I've been here forever...
I'm beginning to see more and more similarities between France and Tahiti. Thursday we were supposed to go on a hike with a French Polynesian botanist, but he couldn't make it over to Moorea from Tahiti because the ferry people were on strike...hmm, do I see a trend between here and France? So we ended up having free study time in the morning, and in the afternoon we headed over to Mari Mari's house. Mari Mari is a woman of about 65 or 70 whose grandparents got married in Moorea many years ago, and as a wedding gift, received an entire valley (Opunahu Valley). Although the family lost much of the land over the years, she still owns a considerable chunk, and much of it is kept nice and full of native plants. She went to university in the States and has some kind of connection with Pat Kirch, our anthropology professor, so we got to have a tour. The best part about her house is her dog -- she never tires of running after coconuts at bullet speed and bringing them back. Mari Mari is kind enough to offer up her land for us to do research projects on if we choose, so we went clambering up in the hills to see all the vegetation...of course, no one had told us we'd be bush-walking, so we all ended up covered in scratches and mosquito bites.
Ah yes, the mosquitos. I now have...let's see...at least 26 mosquito bites (I just counted) and every day I wake up to find I have more. I have no idea WHERE I get them, though, they just sort of appear. Thankfully I have a bright orange mosquito net on my bed, since otherwise I'd probably have a few hundred more bites.
Anyway, on Friday the more serious work began. We woke up at 4:15 am to pile into the bus to make it out to the reef flats before the tides rolled in. Once out there, we saw a gorgeous sunrise, and then had to work quickly, setting up a transect and little quadrants in an attempt to estimate live and dead coral cover, algae, and animal numbers out on the reef. The hardest part was that the waves were growing larger by the minute, and by the end of the morning everyone was covered in scratches from being thrown into the corals. We then went over to one of the two fresh water streams on the island, and clambered around searching for snails and bugs. The Polynesians who lived next door were looking at us as though we were insane. We then hiked up a bit, following the stream up the mountain and taking new data every once and a while, and eventually reached a gorgeous waterfall. After a nice swim, we headed back down and home. Friday evening we had a delicious enchilada dinner, played a few games of Uno, and then had a spontaneous dance party outside under the Fare Pote, a traditional thatched hut we have on our front lawn.
Saturday was another free study day. Some local Polynesians row a "va'a" off of our dock, a traditional canoe type boat that is paddled with small oars. They offered to take us out for a row, so we joined them. Every time the head rower grunted, everyone else shouted "TA'UI!" ("change") and switched sides with their oars. It was really a fun experience, not to mention absolutely gorgeous, as we were in the bay surrounded on all sides by gorgeous mountains.
After a quick swim and gourmet meal of homemade barbecued pizza (with peach and goat cheese, yum!), some French guys (friends of a few of the students in my class) came on over from Tahiti as they were spending the day in Moorea. This was another interesting experience, since they didn't speak a word of English and most Berkeley people don't speak a word of French, so there was definitely a bit of a communication barrier...I was the interpreter once again.
One thing I've been picking up about the Polynesians: the young people speak pretty good French, as they learn it in school, but the older people speak a strange fusion of French and Tahitian, and have a funny sentence structure -- I couldn't understand a word of what one of the rowers was saying, but I later realized he probably was speaking entirely Tahitian. So I'd better work on my Tahitian...
That's all for now! Today is a lazy Sunday, and our professor Brent invited us over for wine and cheese late in the afternoon. The intensity is definitely rising though, we need to write a full report about the reef transect work we did on Friday, which requires quite a lot of research and calculations, and then by Saturday, we need to have our research proposals done, meaning we need to know exactly what project we will be doing and how we will be doing. I still want to do a comparative study between the Great Barrier Reef and the reef of Moorea, but within that, I have no idea what I want to study -- corals? molluscs? fish? algae? snails? Ahhh the possibilities are endless...I'll figure it out eventually :)
As of yesterday, I have officially been here for a week! We've done so much in the last few days, though, that it feels like I've been here forever...
I'm beginning to see more and more similarities between France and Tahiti. Thursday we were supposed to go on a hike with a French Polynesian botanist, but he couldn't make it over to Moorea from Tahiti because the ferry people were on strike...hmm, do I see a trend between here and France? So we ended up having free study time in the morning, and in the afternoon we headed over to Mari Mari's house. Mari Mari is a woman of about 65 or 70 whose grandparents got married in Moorea many years ago, and as a wedding gift, received an entire valley (Opunahu Valley). Although the family lost much of the land over the years, she still owns a considerable chunk, and much of it is kept nice and full of native plants. She went to university in the States and has some kind of connection with Pat Kirch, our anthropology professor, so we got to have a tour. The best part about her house is her dog -- she never tires of running after coconuts at bullet speed and bringing them back. Mari Mari is kind enough to offer up her land for us to do research projects on if we choose, so we went clambering up in the hills to see all the vegetation...of course, no one had told us we'd be bush-walking, so we all ended up covered in scratches and mosquito bites.
Ah yes, the mosquitos. I now have...let's see...at least 26 mosquito bites (I just counted) and every day I wake up to find I have more. I have no idea WHERE I get them, though, they just sort of appear. Thankfully I have a bright orange mosquito net on my bed, since otherwise I'd probably have a few hundred more bites.
Anyway, on Friday the more serious work began. We woke up at 4:15 am to pile into the bus to make it out to the reef flats before the tides rolled in. Once out there, we saw a gorgeous sunrise, and then had to work quickly, setting up a transect and little quadrants in an attempt to estimate live and dead coral cover, algae, and animal numbers out on the reef. The hardest part was that the waves were growing larger by the minute, and by the end of the morning everyone was covered in scratches from being thrown into the corals. We then went over to one of the two fresh water streams on the island, and clambered around searching for snails and bugs. The Polynesians who lived next door were looking at us as though we were insane. We then hiked up a bit, following the stream up the mountain and taking new data every once and a while, and eventually reached a gorgeous waterfall. After a nice swim, we headed back down and home. Friday evening we had a delicious enchilada dinner, played a few games of Uno, and then had a spontaneous dance party outside under the Fare Pote, a traditional thatched hut we have on our front lawn.
Saturday was another free study day. Some local Polynesians row a "va'a" off of our dock, a traditional canoe type boat that is paddled with small oars. They offered to take us out for a row, so we joined them. Every time the head rower grunted, everyone else shouted "TA'UI!" ("change") and switched sides with their oars. It was really a fun experience, not to mention absolutely gorgeous, as we were in the bay surrounded on all sides by gorgeous mountains.
After a quick swim and gourmet meal of homemade barbecued pizza (with peach and goat cheese, yum!), some French guys (friends of a few of the students in my class) came on over from Tahiti as they were spending the day in Moorea. This was another interesting experience, since they didn't speak a word of English and most Berkeley people don't speak a word of French, so there was definitely a bit of a communication barrier...I was the interpreter once again.
One thing I've been picking up about the Polynesians: the young people speak pretty good French, as they learn it in school, but the older people speak a strange fusion of French and Tahitian, and have a funny sentence structure -- I couldn't understand a word of what one of the rowers was saying, but I later realized he probably was speaking entirely Tahitian. So I'd better work on my Tahitian...
That's all for now! Today is a lazy Sunday, and our professor Brent invited us over for wine and cheese late in the afternoon. The intensity is definitely rising though, we need to write a full report about the reef transect work we did on Friday, which requires quite a lot of research and calculations, and then by Saturday, we need to have our research proposals done, meaning we need to know exactly what project we will be doing and how we will be doing. I still want to do a comparative study between the Great Barrier Reef and the reef of Moorea, but within that, I have no idea what I want to study -- corals? molluscs? fish? algae? snails? Ahhh the possibilities are endless...I'll figure it out eventually :)
Thursday, September 17, 2009
This island is amazing.
The last few days have been absolutely amazing. Monday we took a bus, more like a giant pick up truck, on a tour around the island (in Tahiti, these are called "Le truck"). We stopped numerous times along the way, getting a taste of all the different ecosystems we could possibly work in -- coast, intertidal areas, swamp, etc. We did everything from torturing crabs and snapping shrimp to hunting down tiny snails that were once thought to be extinct. On the way home we stopped at a public beach and went snorkeling in some amazingly clear water and once again saw pretty amazing marine life.
Next day was the Marae Hike. We clambered into the class jeeps and the professors drove us to some amazing viewpoints from which we could see a large portion of the island. We then went into the Opunohu Valley and took a hike among the ruins of the marae, ancient Polynesian temples that one of our professors, Pat Kirch, had excavated. We got a pretty extensive and fascinating history lesson from the archaeologist himself, had a picnic in the forest, and then headed back at the station. In the late afternoon we took a trip into Maharepa, the closest good-sized town, about a fifteen minute drive away. I found myself a new job: class interpreter -- I helped a few people at the bank, post office, and other stores by translating French. Surprisingly few of the locals actually speak English; I think that a lot of the tourists that come here are French, so it is not necessary for them to speak English.
After a stop at the local supermarket, we went for an evening snorkel by the station, and then ate dinner and listened to a lecture about the "fun-tastic" world of fungi.
Today was probably the best day so far. We divided the class into three little boats and sped away to the motus, which are small islands that form around volcanic islands, built from calcium carbonate and sand. Along the way, we saw a gigantic marlin hopping in the waves, passed by a sea turtle, rode our boat through a pod of spinner dolphins, saw crazy flying fish that actually flew for huge distances, and then were lucky enough to spot a couple humpback whales. Then the real fun began. We stopped off at a part of the reef where dozens of sting rays swarm the area to be fed. This was pretty crazy -- these huge rays, with a wingspan of a couple of meters, swam right up to us for us to pet them. There were also quite a few reef sharks around. Next we went to the motus, where we got a short lesson on their formation, and then got to explore the beautiful little island. This was absolutely gorgeous - turquoise waters and reefs surrounded it, just like on the postcards. We boated over to another motu for lunch, and went on another snorkel, this time to see more colorful corals and fish. We met some interesting characters: a little tropical fish followed my buddy Stosh and me for at least 10 minutes, and these little brown fish kept trying to stare me down and scare me away by darting at me -- needless to say, they were quite unsucessful, considering they were about half the size of my hand.
Back at the station, we took another trip to Maharepa, where I again acted as interpreter, as well as bought some "jelly shoes," plastic shoes that the locals commonly wear in water, as well as a pareo. (I'm pretty sure I had a pair of jellies when I was little, except those were pink and sparkly.) It's great that we have jeeps available for us to use (although they have to be driven by older students), since our station is quite isolated. The nearest supermarket is about a 25 minute walk away, and there really isn't much civilization-wise on the island at all, besides a few tiny towns and many hotels. The people live quite simply, but they always look so happy: they seem to hang out a lot outdoors, and always wave when you pass by. Apparently everyone on the island knows who we are, since every year a fresh crop of young American students appears on the island. They are certainly very welcoming.
Then came the most challenging task of the day: making dinner for twenty-two people. My two cooking group buddies and I decided to make lasagna for everyone -- three hours, 7 blocks of cheese, 7 eggplants, 6 jars of tomato sauce, and 8 zucchini later, we finally had it on the table, and luckily it was a big success. One dinner down, eight more to go (each cooking group takes care of one meal a week).
Anyway, that's about it for now! Time to go to bed so I can enjoy more of this paradise tomorrow...
Next day was the Marae Hike. We clambered into the class jeeps and the professors drove us to some amazing viewpoints from which we could see a large portion of the island. We then went into the Opunohu Valley and took a hike among the ruins of the marae, ancient Polynesian temples that one of our professors, Pat Kirch, had excavated. We got a pretty extensive and fascinating history lesson from the archaeologist himself, had a picnic in the forest, and then headed back at the station. In the late afternoon we took a trip into Maharepa, the closest good-sized town, about a fifteen minute drive away. I found myself a new job: class interpreter -- I helped a few people at the bank, post office, and other stores by translating French. Surprisingly few of the locals actually speak English; I think that a lot of the tourists that come here are French, so it is not necessary for them to speak English.
After a stop at the local supermarket, we went for an evening snorkel by the station, and then ate dinner and listened to a lecture about the "fun-tastic" world of fungi.
Today was probably the best day so far. We divided the class into three little boats and sped away to the motus, which are small islands that form around volcanic islands, built from calcium carbonate and sand. Along the way, we saw a gigantic marlin hopping in the waves, passed by a sea turtle, rode our boat through a pod of spinner dolphins, saw crazy flying fish that actually flew for huge distances, and then were lucky enough to spot a couple humpback whales. Then the real fun began. We stopped off at a part of the reef where dozens of sting rays swarm the area to be fed. This was pretty crazy -- these huge rays, with a wingspan of a couple of meters, swam right up to us for us to pet them. There were also quite a few reef sharks around. Next we went to the motus, where we got a short lesson on their formation, and then got to explore the beautiful little island. This was absolutely gorgeous - turquoise waters and reefs surrounded it, just like on the postcards. We boated over to another motu for lunch, and went on another snorkel, this time to see more colorful corals and fish. We met some interesting characters: a little tropical fish followed my buddy Stosh and me for at least 10 minutes, and these little brown fish kept trying to stare me down and scare me away by darting at me -- needless to say, they were quite unsucessful, considering they were about half the size of my hand.
Back at the station, we took another trip to Maharepa, where I again acted as interpreter, as well as bought some "jelly shoes," plastic shoes that the locals commonly wear in water, as well as a pareo. (I'm pretty sure I had a pair of jellies when I was little, except those were pink and sparkly.) It's great that we have jeeps available for us to use (although they have to be driven by older students), since our station is quite isolated. The nearest supermarket is about a 25 minute walk away, and there really isn't much civilization-wise on the island at all, besides a few tiny towns and many hotels. The people live quite simply, but they always look so happy: they seem to hang out a lot outdoors, and always wave when you pass by. Apparently everyone on the island knows who we are, since every year a fresh crop of young American students appears on the island. They are certainly very welcoming.
Then came the most challenging task of the day: making dinner for twenty-two people. My two cooking group buddies and I decided to make lasagna for everyone -- three hours, 7 blocks of cheese, 7 eggplants, 6 jars of tomato sauce, and 8 zucchini later, we finally had it on the table, and luckily it was a big success. One dinner down, eight more to go (each cooking group takes care of one meal a week).
Anyway, that's about it for now! Time to go to bed so I can enjoy more of this paradise tomorrow...
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Sad news
So I was planning on posting lots of pictures today, but found out that apparently we are not allowed to upload pictures due to Internet limits :( I'll confirm this later, but seems like everyone might have to hold off on the pics...
Today I went for a jog with a few fellow students, which was one of the prettiest and sweatiest runs I've ever done. The Polynesians are all so friendly, everyone walking or driving by would smile and say "Bonjour!" We later went for another gorgeous snorkel and saw some barracuda, beautiful coral, and more tropical fish. I tested out my underwater camera and took lots of awesome pics, made easy by the fact that the water was so clear.
That's about it, tomorrow we're headed out for an island tour!
Today I went for a jog with a few fellow students, which was one of the prettiest and sweatiest runs I've ever done. The Polynesians are all so friendly, everyone walking or driving by would smile and say "Bonjour!" We later went for another gorgeous snorkel and saw some barracuda, beautiful coral, and more tropical fish. I tested out my underwater camera and took lots of awesome pics, made easy by the fact that the water was so clear.
That's about it, tomorrow we're headed out for an island tour!
Saturday, September 12, 2009
I have arrived in Paradise.
Ia ora na (hello in Tahitian)!
Here I am sitting in my little bungalow in Moorea, French Polynesia. The waves are lapping literally 10 ft in front of my door, and every once and a while a wild rooster crows (they have completely taken over the island). It's a pretty idyllic place to be for the next nine weeks.
I am here as part of the UC Berkeley Biology and Island Geomorphology class, in which twenty-two students learn how to be scientists by working on individual projects and eventually ending up with a scientific paper and oral presentation. Lucky for me, in order to do so, I need to live on the beautiful island of Moorea for the next nine weeks, 12 km from Tahiti in the Society Islands group of French Polynesia. In case you have no idea where that is, here's a map:
So yesterday I boarded Air Tahiti along with ten of my fellow classmates and flew from LAX to Tahiti. Once arrived, we attempted to take the 10-minute plane ride to Moorea, but weren't able to get last minute tickets, so we ended up catching a cab and then taking a 30-minute ferry ride over to the island. Moorea is gorgeous -- I was half expecting to be disappointed, since nothing ever really looks like it does on the postcards, but this time it's the opposite -- it's better. The island is full of luscious green jagged peaks, coconut palms, beautiful turquoise waters, wild roosters and chickens, and little crabs that scurry around when you approach. The ferry we took over had a huge Polynesian choir on it, made up of hundreds of women wearing colorful dresses and elaborate head dressings, all singing and laughing on the way across -- it was really quite the experience.
Our professor Brent Mishler came to pick us up at the ferry dock in his jeep, and drove us over to the Gump Research Station that is owned by Berkeley. The station is right on the water in an area called Cook's Bay. The dorms are right on the water as well, and I was lucky enough to get the only bungalo, so my two roommates and I live in a more secluded area than is separate from the other students' dorms. We are about 10 ft from the water, and immediately all jumped into the water for a forty-five minute snorkel -- we saw amazing tropical fish, sea cucumbers, colorful clams, little Christmas tree snails, and lots of other amazing species. We later walked over to the local supermarket that is in Pao Pao, the nearest town...the supermarket is about all that makes up the town.
Anyway, that's about all for now...pictures will come soon. It definitely seems like the next nine weeks will be amazing. The island is so gorgeous and it's a lot of fun to speak French again, although the Polynesians do have an interesting way of rolling their r's.
All right, off to socialize with some fellow scientists!
Here I am sitting in my little bungalow in Moorea, French Polynesia. The waves are lapping literally 10 ft in front of my door, and every once and a while a wild rooster crows (they have completely taken over the island). It's a pretty idyllic place to be for the next nine weeks.
I am here as part of the UC Berkeley Biology and Island Geomorphology class, in which twenty-two students learn how to be scientists by working on individual projects and eventually ending up with a scientific paper and oral presentation. Lucky for me, in order to do so, I need to live on the beautiful island of Moorea for the next nine weeks, 12 km from Tahiti in the Society Islands group of French Polynesia. In case you have no idea where that is, here's a map:
So yesterday I boarded Air Tahiti along with ten of my fellow classmates and flew from LAX to Tahiti. Once arrived, we attempted to take the 10-minute plane ride to Moorea, but weren't able to get last minute tickets, so we ended up catching a cab and then taking a 30-minute ferry ride over to the island. Moorea is gorgeous -- I was half expecting to be disappointed, since nothing ever really looks like it does on the postcards, but this time it's the opposite -- it's better. The island is full of luscious green jagged peaks, coconut palms, beautiful turquoise waters, wild roosters and chickens, and little crabs that scurry around when you approach. The ferry we took over had a huge Polynesian choir on it, made up of hundreds of women wearing colorful dresses and elaborate head dressings, all singing and laughing on the way across -- it was really quite the experience.
Our professor Brent Mishler came to pick us up at the ferry dock in his jeep, and drove us over to the Gump Research Station that is owned by Berkeley. The station is right on the water in an area called Cook's Bay. The dorms are right on the water as well, and I was lucky enough to get the only bungalo, so my two roommates and I live in a more secluded area than is separate from the other students' dorms. We are about 10 ft from the water, and immediately all jumped into the water for a forty-five minute snorkel -- we saw amazing tropical fish, sea cucumbers, colorful clams, little Christmas tree snails, and lots of other amazing species. We later walked over to the local supermarket that is in Pao Pao, the nearest town...the supermarket is about all that makes up the town.
Anyway, that's about all for now...pictures will come soon. It definitely seems like the next nine weeks will be amazing. The island is so gorgeous and it's a lot of fun to speak French again, although the Polynesians do have an interesting way of rolling their r's.
All right, off to socialize with some fellow scientists!
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