I'll be home in three weeks!

Hello everyone, so I know that I am the worst blogger ever (at least for this site.) I also know that Caitie is likely the only person who will read this! Hey Caitie I miss you! Oyy the scope of what has been happening is something I am not capable of covering in one measly blog post, or even by words. I figured I’m just going to upload as many pictures as possible from my time here and you can sort of see for yourself. So far I have finished three classes; Ecology of the Turkana Basin, Geology, and Paleoanthropological discoveries of the Turkana Basin and I am halfway through vertebrate paleontology and paleobotany. Our last class was super interesting, but a lot of work (Matt I have so much sympathy for you, memorizing bones is crazy.) I also have a new favorite anatomical word, Trochanter, “a very great prominent eminence”, which led me to believe that a trochanter is really a wizard or something. I read a really good book entitled “The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet”, which I now recommend to you all because it was amazing. I also read a book written by Richard Leakey entitled “Wildlife Wars.” It focuses on his time as the head of the Kenya Wildlife Service, which he founded, and his efforts to eliminate poaching and the trade of ivory. It is amazing, informative, depressing and heartwarming, I recommend it as well! I am steadily working my way through the collection of books by Richard Leakey here.

           

Enough about books for now! We’ve been doing a lot here, I went camping in the desert, found a bat cave, found fossils that date to 3.5 million years ago, saw crocodiles, found a really cool crocodile fossil, planted trees and did more presentations than I’ve ever done in my life! I am happy here though. Every day is an adventure, even the ones where we don’t do anything. I am simultaneously so homesick that it is painful, and yet never wanting to leave. I feel a sort of panic setting in as I realize that in less than a month I will be getting on the plane to head back to New York. I have one thing to comfort me though; the director of TBI told me that they have a TA position available for the fall semester. If I manage to take a few summer classes and then maybe either do an independent study or do research for credit here in the fall I can still graduate on time in the spring. I am really excited because not only do I get to return to Kenya and TBI, but it would definitely be beneficial to my prospective career. This is all depending on whether I get the spot or not, but I am hoping!! 

Life is different here, different to the point that I don’t think I can adequately explain it. Sunday we went to one of the local schools here to plant trees and play with the kids. There are several small buildings there, smaller than TBI and yet over 170 kids attend school there. It’s hard for many of the parents to send their children to school because they need them at home to help with the animals or other activities and on top of that there are always fees to attend the school. So if anyone is interested in sponsoring some kids here in the Turkana Basin, let me know and I will do my best to help you make a donation. Besides the difficulties the people face here clean water, adequate food, it is really a beautiful place. During the day the temperature settles at around 115’, and yet it doesn’t feel that hot to me anymore. I’m sure I’m going to freeze when I come home and it is 50’ out! We go hiking around TBI a lot and the variation in terms of the landscape is amazing. The riverine forest borders the turkwel, which you see in a lot of my photos, that is what I see at my dorm and the mess hall during every meal. Sometimes I look up and am struck by how amazing the things I see everyday are. It is sad because I find myself getting used to the stark beauty of the desert, but I know that I will miss it when I go back home. To the south side of the Turkwel, where TBI is located, is the riverine forest which is bordered by steep rock formations that were deposited by an ancient river. They also still flood annually during intense seasonal rain storms. These formations are filled with amazing caves and hidden gorges with fossils protruding from the sediment. It really is the most beautiful place I’ve ever been. I have over 2000 pictures oy.

We had rain the other day! It was totally amazing! It actually drizzled a few times this week, but it wasn’t at all what I expected. Drizzle?! Then finally a few nights ago at 4 am I awoke to what sounded like pebbles being dumped on the metal roof. It was raining! This rainstorm lasted only an hour or two but it was intense!

            Anyway I have so much more to say but I think that is all I can get out for now. I love and miss you all especially you Caitie! I can't wait to watch Doc Whobies with you!

 

 

2 weeks down!

Hello everyone! I am sorry about never posting on this blog :( Anyway, we just finished our first module which was ecology of the Turkana Basin! I got the highest exam grade! That made me really happy! I also did my presentation on solifugae today and it went really well! I am surprised at how easy it was to adjust to life here, I can already tell that I am going to be heartbroken when it comes time for me to leave. I am rooming with my two friends Hanna and Sarah, and we always joke that we have a mini family in our dorm. The food is absolutely delicious, I am eating better than I ever have in my entire life haha. Ecology was awesome I've learned so much it's hard to put into words. Bugs are amazing, I'll never look at them the same way again. i'll also never be scared by any bug Long Island could possibly dish up, not after monster spiders and scorpions. When we get back to Stony Brook a few other girls and I are going to try to start an apiary producing organic honey at Stony Brook. Dino is coming to NY in April and said he would help us get started! Monday we start our geology module and I'm really excited about it. The landscape is amazing here, and there are so many different geologic features! Just walking around the compound, every other rock you pick up is a geode! Next week we get to go on a camping trip, apparently it's in an area where there are known hyenas. Don't worry Noelle I will be careful and take mad pics for you. I hope I get to see one crunching away on a bone or something!! Today a bat flew into the classroom right before our exam started! My friend Eunice (who did her project on the bats around here) named him Bruce, I <3 her. I'm going to put up some pictures for you guys, I have made a reputation for myself here by doing crab eye a lot, going mehhh, and making the most horrific faces in every picture taken of me. Our first module professor, Dino, is leaving Sunday and we are taking him into Lodwar to say goodbye. He'll be back in a week but we're going to miss him. However, going to Lodwar also means a shopping trip, which we are all eager for! It's so hot here but we have all adjusted to the temperature. When it goes under 90 I feel cold!! I never thought I would be piling blankets on in 80 degree heat. There are so many things I want to tell you guys about and I am definitely going to try. Now that all my work is done and I'm a bit more settled I'm really going to try to update this, but once again read and comment on the SBU blog. It's pretty boring over there so show me some love and comment, please!

Here are some pics for you guys. . . I have so many more but it's taking forever and I'm so sleepy!

Caitie and Lindsey!!! I am in love with your apartment! For real I can not wait to come visit you guys and you better be willing to marathon Dr.Who with me! Caitie you must cook me dinner and then we will go get so many drinks! I am so excited haha. Caitie I have seven million things to say to you including I love that dress! I am going to message you right now and call you tomorrow, I want to hear your voice!

Mom and Dad I love you guys and miss you. Happy early birthday Mommy! I love you so much I am going to call you guys in the morning, tonight for you! Dad I am about to shoot you a quick e-mail, I have an academic question for you that is important. So read it!

Sandy, Paul, Christian, Ava and Kai I love you guys so much. HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRISTIAN! Did you guys get my e-mail?

Greg!!!! I love you and miss you. I am going to e-mail you back tomorrow!! I suck, I'm sorry :(

I wish I brought some poetry with me, I was thinking this today and thought of you and my lord Byron picture I sleep with my face next to on my pillow.

Noelle Shurtluff and Josh Lindo! I am so excited that you guys have picked a date! I can't wait to come home and plan wedding things with you, seriously I am so happy for you and Joshy. I love you !

Desert living.

Hello everyone! First things first, if you have e-mailed me and I didn't respond I'm sorry! The internet is sporadic and very very slow here. I'm going to post on the Stony Brook blog tonight (which is functioning again) about all the things I have done in Nairobi and also at TBI, but for now I'll just say I really miss everyone. It's absolutely beautiful here it's the kind of landscape that you can't really imagine until you are in it. The bugs are huge, but I am coping quite well and am actually doing my first research project on camel spiders (google image them), you'll be impressed. I'm going to try to e-mail everyone back today as we have some free time before and after lunch, but our schedule is rather tight. We generally wake up at six, breakfast at 7, an excursion and class from 8 to 12:30, lunch at 1, break until 3:30 when we typically go on another outing. Dinner is served at 8 every night and we have become accustomed to swimming in the river before dinner if we get back to the compound in time. So far I have not gotten sunburned!! This is a personal triumph for me, as we are right on the equator! We all tend to pass out before 10, walking around in the sun all day can be rather tiring, also the bugs get rather adventurous at night and we would all rather be tucked away behind our mosquito nets safe from scorpions and large spiders! I'm happy to say everyone in the group is super nice and we haven't had any scuffles so far! Last night we went out after dark for a walk so our ecology professor Dino could show us how scorpions fluoresce under a black-light, it's amazing how cool nature is! The stars have fully lived up to my expectations, they are bright and beautiful and clearer than I have ever seen them before! I have been experimenting and failing completely at night photography but maybe by the end of my time here I'll be able to take a photo of them!

Love you all,

Kim

Kalimaaaa

Hello everyone! Today is the day! I am leaving for JFK in 20 minutes and I am so excited/terrified! Anyway here is the link to my blog through SBU:

http://admissions.cc.stonybrook.edu/studyabroad/?p=88

It is more than likely that I will post more frequently there, and use this account for the bad jokes that I am unable to tell on my student blog.

Love you all!

Kim