Update 11-23-07
The antenna has not yet been properly installed in a suitable location, but hopefully this will be taken care of soon. It’s starting to sink in that we only have a week and a bit left here and it’s an odd feeling. Megh’s buffalo just had a calf, it is very cute but very awkward. As a celebration we have been having coagulated milk from the new mother. It is very tasty, although a bit filling. It is also orange season, and I have learned the hard way that the sweet sweet fruit is protected by sharp pointy thorns.
At this point all of the rice and millet has been harvested and the women have been busy planting the winter crop of potatoes. The land is looking somewhat bare without the rice paddies, and many of the trees have had branches cut off to feed the buffalos. It is quite a different landscape than when we arrived. Zach and I were marveling earlier how the change happened incredibly quickly, as for the first month and a half nothing really seemed to change. The river Taoli, which we cross to go to Ghari Bazaar, at times had been so swollen that it was too dangerous to attempt. Now the water is so low it seems more like a small stream or brook passing through mounds of rocks.
Tonight there is a nearly full moon, which is casting tons of light upon the land. It is possible to navigate most of the trails here by the full moon, although if there is too much canopy overhead it becomes difficult. It is much brighter than in Illinois though, this much is certain. Zach is convinced that it also looks different than back home. The ascendant moon has religious connotations as according to tradition the people are not supposed to are not supposed to eat meat or drink during the waning moon. Also ancestor worship is practiced at the beginning of the waxing moon.
That’s all for now!
David
The antenna has not yet been properly installed in a suitable location, but hopefully this will be taken care of soon. It’s starting to sink in that we only have a week and a bit left here and it’s an odd feeling. Megh’s buffalo just had a calf, it is very cute but very awkward. As a celebration we have been having coagulated milk from the new mother. It is very tasty, although a bit filling. It is also orange season, and I have learned the hard way that the sweet sweet fruit is protected by sharp pointy thorns.
At this point all of the rice and millet has been harvested and the women have been busy planting the winter crop of potatoes. The land is looking somewhat bare without the rice paddies, and many of the trees have had branches cut off to feed the buffalos. It is quite a different landscape than when we arrived. Zach and I were marveling earlier how the change happened incredibly quickly, as for the first month and a half nothing really seemed to change. The river Taoli, which we cross to go to Ghari Bazaar, at times had been so swollen that it was too dangerous to attempt. Now the water is so low it seems more like a small stream or brook passing through mounds of rocks.
Tonight there is a nearly full moon, which is casting tons of light upon the land. It is possible to navigate most of the trails here by the full moon, although if there is too much canopy overhead it becomes difficult. It is much brighter than in Illinois though, this much is certain. Zach is convinced that it also looks different than back home. The ascendant moon has religious connotations as according to tradition the people are not supposed to are not supposed to eat meat or drink during the waning moon. Also ancestor worship is practiced at the beginning of the waxing moon.
That’s all for now!
David
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