Zambition

Hello from Zambia! I'm back in the warmer temperatures working on this water technology research again. I know you're all surprised to see a blog post, but I've decided to try to restart this while I'm here in Zambia. I'll try not to write only about work. 

Last year when I went to Zambia, I came straight from a weekend in the mountains learning to ski. This time, I've also come straight from the mountains, but I wisely left out the skis this year. My friends Dave and Janine were getting married, so instead of skis, I took sassy high heels and a pair of white snow boots with furry tops (so fun!) and spent all afternoon and evening switching between the two any time I went inside or outside. "Snow boots with a dress?!" I can hear you asking.  I really think the fur made it work. :) So inside it was grey suede heels, and outside it was white fluffy boots. Here's a tip though: don't wear a dress shorter than your coat. It makes one look a teensy bit trampy. Here are a few pictures from the wedding weekend:

Saanen, Switzerland. Just up the valley from the famous Gstaad, where fancy folks vacation.

I met a cat at the hotel.

I didn't have the best photo-taking location during the ceremony, unfortunately, but you can kind of see the inside of the church here.

Five course dinner at the hotel! Did you know that those curvy knives that look like mustaches are fish knives? I thought they were butter knives. Luckily, I was across from a classy Austrian who set me straight about my table knife etiquette.

Raph, Lincoln and Henry

Youjin and moi

Patricia, the classy Austrian scientist

I was seated in the Tropical and Public Health Institute corner.

Ed and Eva. They were seated in a German-speaking corner.

"flash mob" dance at the reception. Most of the dinner guests practiced this line dance between the first reception and the dinner as a surprise for Dave and Janine. While they were learning that, I was riding in a horse-drawn sleigh with the bride and groom to their next photo location, holding a plate full of snacks for them, while Raph kept the snow at bay with a giant umbrella. 

Head table discussing details

Because aliens don't wear hats

Artsy fartsy and research methods

This semester is shaping up to be about two things: creative endeavors and research methods. That's good, because working on creative skills keeps me healthy, happy and sane, and working on research methods will make the rest of this PhD go a lot better.

On the creative side, I'm painting with a friend once a week. The first day I went to her house to work I happened to be kind of stressed about various things, but about two hours into fixing trees and warming up my sky, I realized that in focusing on making something, I had forgotten about everything that was bothering me. Drawing pictures is one of the only things that has that effect for me, although other creative projects can come close sometimes. So my theory is that more drawing now means fewer wrinkles later.

I'm also taking dance lessons, one by myself in a big group, and one with Lukas in a small group. In the big group, our Peruvian instructor teaches in German but counts in Spanish, and the rest of the class looks about 19. Every new dance partner is delighted to discover that I speak English, and tells me about his last US vacation. In the class with Lukas, however, we count in a funny dialect where Zwo means 2. Who says Zwo!? I've never heard Zwo in all my five years in Switzerland. I understand a lot of what she says, but not as much as I would if she were more inclined to say "Zwei" or even "Zwoi." But we're still learning, and we're not even too bad at it.

And research methods...well, 3 courses on the subject. I should be research design competent by the end.