One week in…

… and I’m still loving it!
After driving with nothing but my singing as company (despite the purchase of CD’s in Nelspruit), I arrived in Jo’burg. It was amazing how after just a week in Skukuza, I felt myself tense up as I drove in. A bit of shopping and I was at Wits for a very welcome cup of coffee and an attempt to organise most things. Notice the attempt! Then home to a yummy dinner. The next morning was a bit of a rush, but was spoilt for my Birthday! Back to Wits to attempt (again) to sort stuff out, then shopping (again) and to the airport to pick up students. I now know the airport relatively well, and after the 1st lot of students, also managed to ID OTS students as they were coming through! We eventually left the airport just after 8pm (even when travelling, I don’t think I’ve ever spent that long in an airport!) and drove through the rain to eZemvelo. Lectures started the next morning and by that afternoon the students were really happy to get into the field. Little did they know that the next few days would be grappling with the idea of science and quite a bit of rain later, a bit more field work and model testing. There was the occasional break though – we managed to go on a game drive when the rain let up a bit to allow the roads to dry enough to drive on. I took the students to the Wilge river – you couldn’t even see where the bridge should be! Laurence, Karen and I also went on a bike ride on the muddy roads and the occasional HUGE puddle (read we had wet shoes!). We also managed to get the students on a night drive and saw some springhares – really cute! The staff have also ended up playing scrabble a couple of times – I fluctuate between uselessness and the odd brilliant word. Then it was on to stats and the intricacies and wonder at what excel can do (I wish I knew about pivot tables BEFORE I did my PhD!) and some theoretical modelling. Even if their brains weren’t fried, mine was and I really appreciated the day off today – some PhD, some horse-riding (amazing… even though I’m stiff already!) and some sleep.
Not many pics yet but check out:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lancasterjenny/OTSEzemvelo?authkey=PR6nJ4khAwI#