heaven

So since I last wrote we basically have started our group experiments! You can check mine out at http://rncmoorea2010.blogspot.com/ !! follow us! it will be updated at least three times a week :) anyways so that has been going on. lots of late nights writing our proposal, cage making while watching disney movies, and encountering many challenges and injuries in the field. yesterday was the official start of our experiment. after dying all of our algae in situ the previous day, we had to apply all the correct treatments. because im a mermaid, i generally have the harder tasks in field because i can work underwater more aptly and can hold my breath for longer than even i expected. i stepped on a pearl oyster though and sliced the bottom of my foot nice and deep....two parallel lines cuz of the mouth of the oyster...kinda funny but really painful. everyone is really concerned when you get cuts around here because staff infections are a huge problem so my foot looks like it got attacked by electrical tape (its the only thing that will stick in this humidity...that or ducktape). we finished applying all our treatments like 3 times faster than expected yesterday so we didnt have to go back to the site in the afternoon aka free time! two of the girls (michelle and jackie) and i tried to formulate a plan to do something fun with science and roombah for the night time. came up with jello roombah shots in syringes. our mission that afternoon, thus, was to go to the store, get jello and roombah, borrow syringes from the lab, and create these fun lil treats. just as we were about to walk to the store in pao pao (25min), a csun grad student here who is super chill (Boston Kate) offered to drive us...so we went to Maharepa which is a much bigger store/city/atm, etc.  we got our roombah but jello must be a rare comodity...savor it, guys. haha. then we went to a store that had a bunch of moorea souvenirs...lots of dolphin stuff...refuse to get anything until i see some. Boston Kate claims to see them all the time in our bay...i must be blind or seriously unlucky. anyways its a goal. after the souvenir shop, we went over to this lil ice cream parlor with all these tropical flavors of homemade ice cream....mmm pineapple ice cream is baller.  we got back to gump, and i decided to catch up in my field notebook while sitting on the beach. i was shortly joined by tim who wanted to leave early for our secret adventure :) i rallied nick and casey, and we all raced down the street before anyone could see where we were off to....the Hilton for happy hour and a sunset.  it was like a 30 min walk. ive frequently driven this way to go to Oponohu Bay which is the next bay over but there really is so much you miss when youre driving, even if youre really looking. i was literally in shock....that this was my life. walking down a paved road surrounded on either side by lush green trees and tropical flowers. the ocean was visible to our right and with each step, i could see more and more of the sun. and to compound this breathtaking moment, i was walking with my best buds/brothers....laughing, joking, living it up. once we arrived at the hilton, i was stunned. the hotel is gorgeous and the view even more so. perfect sunset complimented by one too many pina coladas and what we doned fried flowers (prob more like potato chips but they looked like flowers but not taro). by the time we decided to leave our beautiful spot, it was sprinkling....tropical rain. couldnt have been more perfect. nick and tim gave me their shirts to cover my dad's precious camera and we were off. this walk will be ingrained in my mind forever...basically pitch black, weaving, Nick grabbing me out of the street when cars would fly by and holding me up when i needed it, Tim retrieving my flower when it would fall out of my hair, me giving Tim at least five flat tires, talks of ice cream and pizza desires, personal talks, jokes, boy talk, and sneaking back into Gump 15 min late for dinner, all of us buzzed, and floored to find two tubs of ice cream on the kitchen counter. nothing could have been better. after dinner, tried to keep the buzz going with games of kings cup and spoons but to me it was so subpar compared to the entirety of the day that i resigned to my bed. randomly woke up to brush my teeth and found tim climbing in the rafters above our rooms. <3 moorea