Wash day blues
After writing the blog last night, I decided that I should do a bit of laundry ... oh boy, I am so not cut out for hand washing clothes! There was water every where by the time I was finished. It also didn't help that there really isn't anywhere to hang anything so more water was added to the floor from the dripping clothes. Initially I thought the water on the floor wouldn't be a problem because there is a drain hole in one corner but the floor doesn't slope towards it so all the water pooled on the other side of the bathroom. Hope it didn't leak into the bathroom below mine. Actually it would serve that guy right because this morning he flicked a match out of his window which got caught in an up draught and landed in my room. Luckily it was no longer burning!
Another funny thing this morning was that I had no sooner got out the shower when there was a knock at my door ... the maintenance guy just wanted to check if I had hot water HUH!!!! Was he lurking around in the hallway!
During today's course sessions we really did not have much theory but instead spent the day doing all sorts of tasks with Nansis. The first thing we had to do was actually enter some data from a previous survey. It was challenging as we were paired up to do this and the pairing worked so that very few pairs were of the same home language. My partner is from Madagascar and his English is passable but we both had to repeat ourselves ad nausea to get some understanding across - quite frustrating when you are calling out data or listening to data being called out and you can't figure out what is actually being said. We managed to get through our data sheets though so all was ok in the end. In the afternoon we learnt how to validate the data using the programs inbuilt capabilities and then did some exporting and drawing of maps. It all takes time though when you have to wait for 23 people to carry out all these tasks. We managed to finish by 5pm though which was good.
We finalised our social plans for the weekend too today. The Mauritian Fisheries Ministry is really taking really good care of us and gave us a choice of dinner tomorrow night or a cocktail function on Saturday night. Being a democratic group the decision was put to a vote and us cocktail slurpers won out! This function comes with some traditional Mauritian entertainment - not too sure what this will be but I am sure it will be entertaining. On Sunday, the Albion Fisheries Research Centre has arranged a tour of the island for us for those who are interested. This is to be from 9am to 5pm and we will be taken to all the interesting sites. I'm looking forward to this too. It does mean that the only time to wonder around Port Louis will be on Saturday afternoon so I will make the most of that.
It was still light when I left the conference room so I quickly changed into some shorts and T-shirt and hot footed it down to the waterfront. It is a really strange sensation crossing under the main road to go to the water front because you leave behind an area that really looks and feels like a developing country city and come out the other side of the subway in a place that could be in Cape Town complete with pubs and restaurants looking onto the harbour. There is even a Keg there! Just two photos tonight and neither are very good - will take some nicer ones on Saturday afternoon.
Another funny thing this morning was that I had no sooner got out the shower when there was a knock at my door ... the maintenance guy just wanted to check if I had hot water HUH!!!! Was he lurking around in the hallway!
During today's course sessions we really did not have much theory but instead spent the day doing all sorts of tasks with Nansis. The first thing we had to do was actually enter some data from a previous survey. It was challenging as we were paired up to do this and the pairing worked so that very few pairs were of the same home language. My partner is from Madagascar and his English is passable but we both had to repeat ourselves ad nausea to get some understanding across - quite frustrating when you are calling out data or listening to data being called out and you can't figure out what is actually being said. We managed to get through our data sheets though so all was ok in the end. In the afternoon we learnt how to validate the data using the programs inbuilt capabilities and then did some exporting and drawing of maps. It all takes time though when you have to wait for 23 people to carry out all these tasks. We managed to finish by 5pm though which was good.
We finalised our social plans for the weekend too today. The Mauritian Fisheries Ministry is really taking really good care of us and gave us a choice of dinner tomorrow night or a cocktail function on Saturday night. Being a democratic group the decision was put to a vote and us cocktail slurpers won out! This function comes with some traditional Mauritian entertainment - not too sure what this will be but I am sure it will be entertaining. On Sunday, the Albion Fisheries Research Centre has arranged a tour of the island for us for those who are interested. This is to be from 9am to 5pm and we will be taken to all the interesting sites. I'm looking forward to this too. It does mean that the only time to wonder around Port Louis will be on Saturday afternoon so I will make the most of that.
It was still light when I left the conference room so I quickly changed into some shorts and T-shirt and hot footed it down to the waterfront. It is a really strange sensation crossing under the main road to go to the water front because you leave behind an area that really looks and feels like a developing country city and come out the other side of the subway in a place that could be in Cape Town complete with pubs and restaurants looking onto the harbour. There is even a Keg there! Just two photos tonight and neither are very good - will take some nicer ones on Saturday afternoon.
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