Summary of the Week!

8/8/2013

So pretty much at work I’ve been focusing on improving the database. I’ve also been trying to work on outreach to people in the community so they know more about what we’re doing with the elephants. Specifically lately.

 Cleaning up the old records, because some of them have been misidentified or mislabeled, or they are just bad images.

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    Creating a set of protocols because currently it’s sort of a free for all. I’m hoping this set of protocols that I’m writing up will give those after me basic rules and help them figure out the system faster and help add uniformity to identification. Currently I think it’s safe to say that I am the person who has spent the most time looking at the images of elephants and sites and working on the database. I feel pretty cool when I’m looking through new records and am like “Oh there’s Yenzi and her three babies with Iguela and and Sounga and oh! There’s Malolou tagging along a few minutes later with Ngowe. Interesting.”

-       I’ve reached out to the Yenzi community (where the management of Shell lives) because that’s where our camera traps are. I’m really trying to get more information out there about what we’re doing, because currently not a lot of people know about the elephant project. So I signed up for the Yenzi email list and asked people with quality photos of elephants to email them in to help me out and I can email them back with info on the elephant if we’ve already identified it. So far it’s been a lot of the same elephant, Vembo, who is super old and sassy. Today though a fellow named Dave Chippendale came in and he had actually set up his own camera traps and gave me some of those images, which was really nice of him. Some good shots of Totou, Simba, Malolou, Vembo and some unidentified babies.

-       Currently I’m making a slideshow of images from the camera traps so that during our tours of the lab we can show people how we identify the elephants. It’s nice to be able to show people things instead of just talking their ear off. And people always like looking at elephants; they always have their own stories, which is cool because it gets them involved.

-       Writing up little placards to attach to the camera traps in English and French. A lot of the times I get photos on the cameras of people looking at them all confused or posing for them, so I thought it would be neat to laminate a little info card that they can read so they at least know what they are for. Also some contact info so if they want to know more they can get in touch.

-       Other than that it’s all been data entry or Thom and I trying to rework the database so that it’s simpler and more manageable. Basically Thom is like a hero around here because he’s so tech savvy and we are so not. It’s difficult because as far as I know, nothing has really been made before like this database. Of course there have been similar ones, but it’s not like we can just copy somebody else. Which makes it exciting but also difficult.

All that stuff is probably really boring to everyone, but maybe someone will think it’s interesting, or maybe when I look back on this later I’ll be like cool, glad I wrote that down. Then I’ve also been working on biographies of people working with Smithsonian, as well as getting stuff together for an Environmental Day in November that I won’t actually be here for.

Other than that, Michel, my colleague at work, had to leave a week early because of an emergency. So now it’s just Axel, Thom, and myself. Two interns and a volunteer! We’re holding it down though. I think Axel and I have given four tours of the lab so far, and we’re cleaning it up/organizing it a little more on the daily.

Thom! We took a detour while checking camera traps.

Thom invited me to dinner with his family when he got back on Monday. IT WAS SO DELICIOUS. It was at Belair, I guess it’s the restaurant in Gamba that most of the ex-pats go to. Anyways I got to meet Thom’s family (or rather his mom and sister, I had already met his dad Thomas) and they’re very lovely and Dutch. And they all spoke English for me, which was sweet of them. I had chicken kebabs, rice, and fries, which is pretty standard here but it was very well done, especially the chicken. Thom brought me back instant coffee, a keychain of a ceramic clog from HollanAlso, Thom took me to the Economat here, which is like the grocery store for people living in Yenzi. I got fresh fruit for the first time here aside from the one time I got bananas with Michel. Pear, peach, apricot. And I also got this really good chocolate that I will cherish until the last crumble.

Lastly, today I got my tailored shirt! Here are some not-great photos of the tailor shop that Lena and I went to. I want to go back and take more. Lena got a fancier shirt that had three quarter sleeves and a ruffle around the waist, I opted for simplicity because I had never done this before and had no idea what I wanted. This was 10,000 F CFA which Lena said is expensive for this type of shirt (hers was the same amount even though it had more material and more difficult sewing job, also a previous shop said they would be 7,000 F CFA but I didn’t like their fabric) but I thought about it and I was like, $20 for a tailored shirt, whatever style I want, with whatever kind of fabric I want? That’s cool with me. I figured this’ll be the one thing I buy for myself as a keepsake from Gamba, so it’s worth it. Perez made this little squeal when I told him how much it was but then he conceded that it was a good souvenir.

The tailor shop.

Then after we got our shirts, we saw Gigi on the street and we went to the stand to get gateaux and la lait caillé. I told Lena that I’m really going to miss la lait caillé when I get back to the US and she said next time we could ask the lady that we always buy from for a recipe so that I can try to make it when I get back. Which would be great because it isn’t as sweet or heavy as ice cream, but it’s richer then frozen yogurt.

Typical store in downtown Gamba.

Tomorrow is a day off because it’s the end of Ramadan, so I’m probably going to go to the store and get some things, do laundry, and maybe do some work. I’m always a little cautious about going to stores because they never have prices marked on things, and I have no idea how much things cost here. For example I wanted to get a couple more button up shirts for work, so I went to this store and I paid 4,000 F CFA for two shirts, which is like three or four dollars per shirt, and Gigi was like “ANNA YOU WERE ROBBED!”

It makes me think of that scene from the Blues Brothers (which I watched in my room on Monday) where Elwood and Jake are stuck at the gas station before the show, and the pretty girl pulls up and mistakes Elwood for the gas attendant and so he fills up her car and is like “Okay uh, that’ll be $94.00.” and without batting an eyelash she hands him $95.00 and tells him to keep the change. That’s like exactly what would happen to me here if I were to buy a sponge here and they would charge me 1,500 F CFA.

Anyways, this is one of the last weekend that Gigi and Lena and Perez will be here, and I’m going to miss them tons, especially Lena because it’s been so especially nice to have a girl friend. Hopefully I get to see them again sometime, whether it is in France, Gabon, or the US. Gigi already said that after I graduate I could come visit him in France if he’s still there. I’m seriously considering that, especially because Thom said that he’ll be coming back here next summer and said I could stay with them and their place in Yenzi if I wanted to visit again. Of course this is all just “what if” right now because lord knows where I’ll be at when I graduate, but I’m dreaming about bopping over to France, saying hey, and then continuing on to Gabon, staying for little, and then on to the next.

Last photo, this made Lena and I laugh because Perez’s nickname is Rick Ross (for multiple reasons), and it was too perfect. I actually really want it but I can’t really justify buying it. My favorite is the last line of the small print, “Both songs are good tracks but that’s only expected from the Miami Boss, Rick Ross”