28 february day 10

28 February - Day 11

Merhaba to all -

Because I wasn't able to post for an entire week, I have too many

things to tell you about. So I think I'll give small posts and include

random stories here and there.

Today has been a great day. We didn't catch any hamsters, but we got

fantastic video of one of our males coming out and in of his burrow.

We also successfully located both males with our transmitters. Other

activities for the day: a trip to Kilis for cash (a daily occurrence),

a 3.5 mile run (yes, I RAN - without stopping - for 3.5 miles!),

sorting through owl pellets for rodent skulls, a short game of

soccer/football, and a happy dinner with wine and baklava.

My random story for today will be about our evenings. After dinner, we

usually yawn, look at our watches and say, "Is it really only 6:30??"

When Nuri and the crew were still here, we would gather in one of the

bedrooms, drink wine or beer, and chat while Nuri played the Cumbus

(the Turkish version of a guitar). It was marvelously fun and

relaxing. Now our group is smaller but no less festive. A couple of

nights ago, Cumali and I played backgammon - he is VERY good, as

backgammon is the national pastime of Turkey. He taught me a lot about

backgammon strategy. While we were having our game/lesson, Safak,

Alice, Laura, and Ben were embroiled in a hot game of Euker. There was

lots of laughter all around! Last night Ben, Alice, and I did yoga for

about an hour. Ben had a DVD called Yoga for Surfers - how's that for

ironic given that I don't surf and that we are completely landlocked!

so he brought it along. It was actually quite difficult - but very

fun. At one point, Safak walked in and started to laugh so hard at all

of us in down dog I thought he was going to faint!

Then tonight I think we're going to watch a movie... but at the moment

everyone is busy with their own thing - Alice is reading journal

articles, Ben is watching hamster video from previous field seasons,

and Laura is checking her email.

So for now, I'm going to sign off and actually do something

work-related, or watch a movie.

(And I confess, I haven't taken a single photograph! The others have