So I'm about to embark on my first of three field trips in Australia, and I'm not really looking forward to it all that well. Thursday we went over what we'll be doing up in Naracoorte and this is the sum of what it sounds like we'll be doing; looking at teeth. For us simpletons who weren't aware of this, aparently your enamel is the strongest substance found in your body. Why my body never invested in making enamel bones I'll never know, but it would've saved myself for a lot of radiation exposure over the years in the form of x-rays. Well, because enamel is such a strong substance, it is commonly the most preserved, and msot fossils found are just teeth. Of course, you find bones all the time, but not nearly as often. So Saturday and Sunday this week I'll be looking at teeth and bones in a cave system known well for bone preservation in South Australia and, with any luck, will be able to find what species was living in these areas, what these species were eating, and their relative abundancy. I'm sure there was a lot more said, but I was kind of tired during the prac due to the all to often warm room teamed up with dimmed lights and a later bed time the night before. All too common in my trip to Australia is the need to take naps during class. Either someone scheduled classes during my nap time, or (more likely) I need to get to bed earlier for a better nights rest. Not having a computer this week has definitely helped out with that, but then I just get into good conversations at night, which are even worse because you can't just turn those off when you're feeling a little sleepy. It kind of sounds like I mean that I'm having good conversations with myself, that most often is not the case.
Training on Thursday was all together unsuccessful, mostly because when I got back after class I got into a debate with myself as to whether I should eat or go for my run, and after an hour of watching television instead of deciding at all, I asked Annemette to call Simon for me and ask if he wanted to meet me for a repeat of the delicious burger that I'd ate on Saturday night. He said yes, Annemette was also interested, so I said to myself that I'd go for a run after supper. But, while out at supper we get a text from another friend informing us of $2 pints at a bar way up the street. The typical pint on special is worth a fiver in Australia, so to find a twoonie per beer was golden. (In the stores I have a really hard time telling people 'Oh I have a looney (or twoonie), one sec' while avoiding getting change back) So although you might predict a story of Cris consuming too much followed by a hard morning the next day, that is not what's to follow. I showed restraint, regretfully purchased four beer (for Simon, AM, Nina and I) and found out the $2 deal didn't even start for another half-hour. No matter, they were poured, I shared them around the table, and when it was time for Nina to order a second I hestitated, stayed for the second and then went home. A lot of damage could've been done that night, but I'm wising up to the world of alcohol and late night snacking. I drank my second, went home and enjoyed a night of reading over a friends essay followed by a few pages of the still amazing book and bed.
I had an early morning, or it was planned that way, at the pool but as the sun broke though my window pane at sevenish in the morning, I wasn't ready to start moving yet. I stayed there for about another hour beforeI finally convinced myself to go, and got my breakfast made and was out the door. In the pool though, it felt like I should've slept for another eight days. I was so slow this morning, and really don't know why at all. I'm talking slow, real slow. But I struggled through the workout, got mad at myself over the intervals, and cycled home to get ready for class, practical and the field trip. The practical (labs as we would call them back at home) was for freshwater ecology and we were actually just taking samples of water and identifying what was inside it. Let me tell you, with a powerful microscope, sometimes you find out too much of what you're probably drinking every day. I'm really glad I don't have the ability to identify the stuff that wasn't actively moving in my petri dish, but I was quite impressed by the ability to zoom 4x into the dish and watch a zooplankton eating whatever it pleased. Zooplanton are small organisms that eat phytoplankton (photosynthetic organisms of the water, see algae) and have a transparent outside, but coloured and mostly opaque organs. The more you look at stuff on the microscope, the less earthly the world becomes.
As a closing, so pictures from last weekends surf trip -
The Beast (Holden hatchback with 'sport-enabled driving'? and Goolwa beach
Everyone suited up and ready to go (1- Kim and Trine, 2- Simon posing, 3- Trine, myself, Kim entering the water, 4- Some wierd looking geek at the beach 'Radical, dude')
Catching waves, well mostly...
