new pictures

my next installment of japanese adventures is up on facebook (sorry, carms....i tried to 'share' it with your email address, but they might have just sent a fb message to your account...ehhhh). just thought i'd let you know. a picture is worth a thousand words, and i'm mad busy so 1000 words is not an option. i've been working on all kinds of random but totally fun conservation bio and climate change projects, trying to hang out with other gaijin (foreigners) on the weekends and nights, doing a lot of schmoozing with japanese scientists. i'm STILL not tired of the food and i'm even sort of getting used to the bitchass hot and sweaty weather. the rainy season just ended so it's less wet but the blazing sun now makes daily appearances to deep-fry me. i now understand the parasol thing, although the skin-bleaching seems like a BIT MUCH. can't we all learn a lesson from the late great michael jackson?

also, if you are in the field or position to take interest (which is peripherally everybody i think), my old Environmental Econ prof Kate Sims just came out with a couple of papers on the economic trade-offs of establishing protected areas in developing countries - https://www.amherst.edu/aboutamherst/news/news_releases/2010/07/node/206397. You can check them out but the basic idea is that protected areas are not economically harmful to poorer surrounding communities. But whether or not they represent the interests of those communities or impinge upon their traditional practices or sense of independence is a question for ya'll anthro ladies. From a conservation bio standpoint, enormous government-funded reserves are pretty awesome, but it's almost always a top-down endeavor.

anyways, miss you all (and English! and idioms! ah, me!) see you on the flipside.

japan

Konnichiwa!
So I've been here about two weeks. The first week was all oreintation at this random hotel south of Tokyo, complete with language classes, guest lectures, lots of free awesome food, beers, and a homestay. Then I arrived in Yokohama to start working in a lab. These grad students work hard! And they do field work on weekends, but I'm still going to try and finagle some time to hang out in Tokyo with friends and visit Kyoto, Osaka and maybe even Nagoya. Anyway, nothing describes Japan like pictures! So go to this link! Or if it doesn't work, just check out my facebook album entitled 'first two weeks'. Complete with captions!!!! In Japan we use too many punctuation marks!!!! Love you guys!!! >_< :* ;) :D
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2040285&id=4002210&saved#!/album.php?id=4002210&aid=2040285