Everyday Life

Everyday Life

I'm going to probably open each blog with a sunset picture for the foreseeable future.

I'm pretty sure the ants here have made a nest inside my keyboard.  Everytime I get on the computer, I see them crawling in and out of my keys.  I guess I really should have gotten my keyboard replaced after the infamous freeze pop incident, but how was I supposed to know that it would attract ants later?

Anyway, I thought that I would devote this post mostly to what life around the station is like, because it's a lot different from a typical school.  Our days are, for the most part, planned out in advance for us.  We have classes four days a week (M, Tu, Th, F), with usually around four (although sometimes more, sometimes less), hour-long lectures each day.  We then typically have some sort of exercise, which can be as awesome as snorkeling through mangroves and seagrass beds to prepare for our field identification quiz, as we did on Monday and Tuesday, or it can be as ordinary as using Excel to analyze some fishery data in order to assess stocks using all sorts of exciting formulas.  Actually, that last part probably came across as sarcastic - even though not as much fun as a field exercise, I do enjoy (to a certain extent), the math aspect of fishery management.  I gained a much greater appreciation for the field; while it may come across as being as simple as counting fish over a period of time and setting catch limits based on this data, it has to take into account not just biology and math, but economics, culture, and quite a lot of luck, as all fishery assessments are estimations.

This is why I always feel so safe at the center.

So, yeah, kind of got off on a little tangent there, but as I was saying, we have classes four times a week.  On Wednesdays and Saturdays, we go diving and we have community outreach and center clean-up.  Community outreaches don't start until Saturday, but they can range from activities with local children, to teaching classes to adults, to setting up small-scale farming on the island.  I signed up for beach clean-ups, where we will, obviously, go out on some local beaches and pick up garbage, but we also plan to document the amount of trash to see if any trends develop over time.  Naturally, I picked the "sciencey" project.  The dive sites that we have gone to are beautiful, despite some degradation.  South Caicos is considered to have some of the healthiest reefs in the greater Caribbean region, due in a large part to the absence of tourism in the area.  We have only gone on two dives, but we have seen huge stingrays, some great barracuda, and even a sea turtle, not to mention all sorts of incredible invertebrates!  Unfortunately, the staff didn't want students to bring cameras on the first few dives to allow people to get acclimated, but I assure you, I will soon have some pictures from diving, and when I get those, I'll spend a post describing the seascape in more detail.

Until then, here's a picture of the boats we use to go to different dive sites!

Oh, and Sundays we have off, so we usually spend all day exploring the island.  Once again, when I get more pictures from some of the places we have been, I'll go into more detail.  But I will tell you that it is, without a doubt, the most unique place I have ever been.  And that's all you get for now.  Tantalizing, eh?

Despite getting off track in a few spots, I described the general outline of the program above.  Now, I'm going to spend the next few paragraphs (and pictures - I know you love the pictures!) finally describing everyday life at the center.

 After that huge wall of text, here's a picture of the center taken during a break period

We have breakfast at 7 every morning, except the weekends.  A few of us usually get up at 6 to work out.  We often do some weight training in the abandoned salt shed next door.  It's actually a designated national historic area.

Do YOU exercise in a national historic area?  (and yes, that's a big tire in the background!)

There's not much in terms of workout equipment, so we improvise.

After breakfast, we have a short morning meeting at 7:45, where we go over the plan for the day, play a short game, and the student of the day inspires us with a quotation.  We then usually jump into class.  As mentioned before, lectures are an hour long, but after two of them we get a 20 minute break!  Then, we go back and usually have another two lectures before lunch.  Everyone here takes the same classes at the same time.  It sounds useful, but it really isn't that great.  You see, back in Clemson, whenever I would see my roommates working, I wouldn't feel bad slacking because they were engineers, and, well, work is what engineers do.  Now whenever I slack off and see everyone working, I feel almost guilty because we're in the same classes.  The good news is that this irrational feeling passes pretty quickly. 

Here's a picture of the view from my seat in the classroom.  You can't tell because it's too bright, but I can see the ocean in the distance (hence why I always sit in that seat!)

As for lunch, and all meals really, the food is always good.  So far, I haven't had any complaints.  The best part about lunch is that we get off from 12:30 until 2:00 for it, so by the time you eat, it's usually about an hour break before afternoon activities start.  

This is the common area where we eat meals and tend to hang out, study, etc.

Afternoon activities are usually our field  exercises.  This week alone, we toured a fish processing plant, went snorkeling, and worked magic on Excel.   These usually take some time, and may occupy us until dinner.  If not, we usually play volleyball, snorkel, or just hang out. 

Island jam session.  It actually didn't sound half bad for our first time.

After dinner, we rarely have anything planned.  It's our time to complete school work, or, more commonly, play games.  We can also head outside of the station to explore the island or the town.  Or we can just forego the exploration and go to the bars (we know where they are!).  However, on Tuesdays we have a student activity, such as live action Clue or a movie. 

Not a bad setup.  Although the board is nice, the darts are pretty lousy.  Just more TCI problems.

After packing up for the night, we head into our rooms.  I got stuck in the room with six people, so it's kind of packed - three bunk beds.  The bedrooms, like most of the center, are essentially outdoors.  Sure, there's a roof and walls, but they are not sealed to the elements.  Hence why mosquito nets are necessary.  And why we also find cockroaches in the bathroom (some of them are pretty big, too!)  But it's not a bad setup.  

Sure it's crowded, but we hardly spend any time in our room anyway. 

Well, not the most exciting post in the world (but it sure was long!), but I wanted to spend some time going over the mundane to give you a better look at what it's like here.  I'll probably try to do some of these themed posts in the future, such as one that focuses on the town, etc.  I think it will be a good way to keep posting new stuff even if nothing too new and crazy happens.  You see, while I'm staying at an incredible place, it still is a small island with little chance to get off and travel around.  I can see myself getting locked into a routine pretty quickly, and while I will be enjoying it, I'm not sure how I would be able to keep you entertained by simply talking about what I have been doing once it reaches this point.  

Anyway, til next time, here's some more quick thoughts:

• Putting sunscreen on indoors is not a good idea here.  Oftentimes, your hands will get too slick to grip your door and you'll need someone to rescue you from entombment.
• I mention it earlier, but everything is open to the outdoors.  Which is part of the reason why there's no air conditioning (the other part being how expensive electricity is here).  At least it has been breezy since we got here, keeping us cool!
• I'm still amazed at how safe I feel on the island.  I have never felt threatened walking back home at night (and don't worry, Mom, I always walk with a buddy!).