Sunday, August 7, 2016

Writing up our results, steeping in Buryat culture

The day was occupied with a mad dash to write up the findings of our
experiments. Since Abby and Helena's experiment is more long-term and
they do not have their data yet, they have been organizing our work
into a cohesive whole (thanks Helena and Abby!). As of this moment,
at 9:15 pm, the race is still on. Some of us occasionally took breaks
to play Frisbee, consume copious amounts of caffeine, and sprint into
the lake. The super nice cleaning lady brought a butterfly into the
lab to lift our spirits. It died.
From 4:00 to 6:00, we had a real treat: Vladimir Munkhanov came to
speak with us. Munkhanov is a Buryat, a member of an indigenous
Siberian community, a great friend to the course, and the uncle of our
interpreter, Vitya. Our group first met Munkhanov over skype during
the school year, but what a blast to finally meet him in the flesh!
Today he taught us about Buryat culture, history, and religion, and
accompanied Professor Hodge on a truly scenic hike up the Malaia
Kotynka creek. We asked Professor Hodge to rate the fun of his hike on
a scale of 1-10 and he said a 9 (would have been a 10 if not for the
pestering flies). We're all jealous and already planning our own
excursions (of course after all of our work is done)!
Rebecca and Sarah

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