Typhoon Dolphin
I experienced my first typhoon! And to be honest, it was a little bit of a let-down. I was expecting Hurricane Katrina. I was expecting death and destruction. I had my flashlights, chlorine tablets, gas siphon, bottled water, canned food, camping stove, gas canisters--all the supplies a girl needs to survive the apocalypse.
You know what I got? Some rain and a bit of wind. Now, of course I'm not upset that it wasn't bad. I'm glad that nobody died and nothing terrible happened.
We didn't have power for a day, and we didn't have water for about four days, but other than that it was all good. And I'd rather have power than water--gotta keep all my food cold!
School's out, yay!
My first semester of graduate school ended mid-May and I'm happy to report that I'm not going to get kicked out for bad grades just yet! I was really worried about failing that algae class and being asked to leave, haha! Actually, I got all A's, but grades for grad school classes are really just a formality so don't put too much stock in that. (Dear family, don't brag about that please--it really doesn't mean much.)
Now that school is over, don't expect to find me at the beach every day, because now I can work a lot more! I'm limited to 20 hours a week during the school year, but over the summer and breaks I can work up to 39 hours a week. Yay money!
Work, work, work
My job as a research assistant involves a lot of diving, which is awesome! Our dives always go the same way. First, we have to find the starting point, which is marked by a buoy attached to the reef. This is sometimes the hardest part, especially if the water is murky. After we find the buoy, I lay a transect line, which is basically a very long measuring tape, along our pre-determined path. I lay three lines that are each 30m long and 20m apart, then we swim back to the beginning, attaching zip ties as we go along. These zip ties are used to find the exact same path the next time we come back.
Back at the beginning, my boss starts the survey. This basically involves her counting corals, identifying them, measuring them, and recording all the data. If we're very lucky, we have other people along on the dive who will do the surveys. That leaves us time to find corals to tag and monitor for disease. If we have coral-expert buddies to the survey, each dive takes about two hours and we can hit two sites in a day. If it's just the two of us, this whole process takes about four hours and we can only do one site. Either way, that's a lot of time underwater, and it's great!
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| A picture of (part of) our transect line. Really nice topography at this site! |
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| My boss collecting data! |
Extra bonus: when we have our coral-expert buddies, that leaves me a lot of extra time... to take photos! The project required cameras to take photos of the corals, but when the camera isn't being used for that, I get to take photos of anything I like. Obviously my primary job is to stick near my boss as her dive buddy, but apart from making sure she doesn't die (not a huge concern for an experienced diver at 20 feet below the surface) I'm free to take photos! I'll post some photos soon--two hours leaves a lot of time for picture-taking, so I have some sorting out to do!
Car troubles
Big bummers all around. My car, Irma, is out of commission. Last week my roommate went to China, and I figured that was the perfect time to take my car in to get checked out because I'd be able to use her car. Now, my car was running pretty okay, but it was burning oil and huge plumes of grey smoke came out every time I started it up. It wasn't an urgent problem, but I wanted to do the adult thing and get it checked out before I got stranded somewhere. So last Thursday, I decided to do the adult thing and get Irma in for a diagnostic test.
The shop I took Irma to is right down the street, and they weren't very helpful. The mechanic basically said, "Your engine is busted. You should consider buying a new car, otherwise you'll need to replace the engine." I drove her home and about two hours later, she totally crapped out. I had her towed to another (more reputable) shop, where the mechanic actually explains what's wrong. We're waiting for a part but hopefully Irma will be back on the road within a few weeks! And hopefully I won't need a new engine, ouch.
But as (bad) luck would have it, I'm not the only one having car problems. My roommate's car died on Friday, and another lab student's car died yesterday. These cars are dropping like flies, yikes!
Mount Lam Lam
I've only done one hike in the last month but it was a nice one! Mount Lam Lam is the highest peak on Guam, and the hike up to the tippy top is lovely. Fun fact: the elevation change from the top of Mount Lam Lam to the bottom of the Marianas Trench is the world's largest in such a short distance! There's a great 360-degree view of the island from up there, I definitely recommend it.
There are also a number of religious crosses and a candle-shrine on the way up the mountain, which is a little bit creepy. I hear that on Easter someone actually nails themself to a cross and walks to the top. Yikes.
Here are a few panoramic photos I took on the hike! I strongly suggest clicking them to make them bigger, so you can fully appreciate how beautiful Guam is.
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| On the way up. Lots of long grass. |
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| More long grass! |
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| View from the top. |
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| So much green surrounded by so much blue! |
And that's all for now! Check back soon for some nice underwater photos and maybe some snake pictures too! :)
-Ashton
