What is this 'time' business about, anyways?

Good mornin', folks!

Wait a minute...morning?..it's almost midnight! Indeed, I like to start my days early, a day early, to be exact. I slept all day today. Now, before you cast judgement let me explain. Or go ahead and judge, that's fine by me too.

Anyways, I am having one hell of a time (strong emphasis on hell) getting through to a certain organization which happens to be 9 hours ahead of Bremen time. It is crucially important prior to my travels that I get some sort of feedback/ confirmation/sign of life- hell, I'd even be content with a text message or a smoke signal.

Yesterday went something like this:

My plans to call said organization and some contacts in Buka, Bougainville were foiled when I realized around 10 pm that I was so wiped out that an "all- nighter" at the office was not in the cards. Have you ever put in overtime, busting your arse working, only to look back and think "what one thing of true significance have I actually accomplished today?" That was the general sullen feeling I had as I caught the last bus home. I did manage to accomplish some things back at the house though (second wind?!), which took me exactly until the point when the sun came up. Or at least I think it did; it's Bremen after all-it's either light grey or dark grey outside. Imagine London then then add more snow, flurries, hail, fire and brimstone...but I digress.

Oh yeah, back to the Oceania talk. Now, Melanesia is a very special and wonderful place in countless ways. Trying to get there with all of your essential paperwork approved, however, is not so magical. Road bumps and unexpected setbacks ultimately find me despite my best efforts. In a cartoon world it would most closely resemble a heat- seeking missile homing in on its infrared target: me: Wiley Coyote. A true Road Runner, I am not. I also have it on good authority that I am not the only PhD candidate, or even tenured professor, working in Melanesia who experiences these difficulties.  It's the nature of the work and, apparently, well on its way to becoming a universal law.

Today (tonight), I planned things a little differently. Take note- I DID in fact plan this ahead of time, daytime snoozing included. In order to make those calls, I figure I can take the first possible bus (5 am, I think) and reach all my New Guinean contacts while they are still at work. Backup plan: I started collecting cell phone numbers. Gotcha! After that I can get some work done in a nice, quiet office (please, oh please) until I have a conference call with my Supervisor at 11 am. Around lunchtime I will most likely be propping my head up on a stack of books, but I know I'll be re-energzed when I get to play with all the new toys after lunch: an Iridium satellite phone, a sungorrilla 60 watt solar panel, my MacBook and new DSLR. That's right, it's practice day for plugging up, then unplugging (Repeat) my field equipment. Can you imagine getting to an atoll in the south pacific with no stores and realizing you forgot an adapter cable? No thanks! I know just how frustrating it is because I've actually lived it. Let's leave it at that; it's a sore subject I just try to block out. This time around it's practice, practice, practice. I'm drowning in checklists, just as it should be. Now if only I could balance that with finalizing my methods...

Other than that it's been a bit tough keeping pace. I keep getting sick. In no way does it have to do with my completely screwed up life/ work balance routine. None whatsoever. I'm blaming it entirely on the antibody creation war currently waging in my immune system. Last week I lost but am a bit more hopeful for this week. Next Monday is round 427.333 of operation "health is wealth"- next up: Typhoid vaccination- joy! I actually got so used to going to Findorff (part of Bremen) on a weekly basis that I showed up this past Monday only to be greeted by the two regular nurses, both with concerned and puzzled expressions. "Noo, Ms. Mösinger, Typhoid is next Monday. The week after that is Hep A + B again." 4.50 € well spent on that bus round trip, I tells ya. Naah, I'm working through it the best I know how, and espresso helps.

Enough whinging already...I'm getting really stoked about fieldwork! While most German folks I know would shudder at the thought of uncertainty or a lack of strict time schedules, I consider this an utterly exciting part of the whole experience. "Where will you end up tomorrow?" Not sure. "What can you expect to see?" Dunno. "How long will you be there?" Not a clue. "How will you get there?" I'll look into that when I'm back on the ground. I live for this! Melanesia is the absolute best place to be for uncertainty and leisureliness (at least in my travel experience). I mean that with the utmost respect and even a little admiration. Island time pretty much goes like this: Schedule an interview for Wednesday at noon, and perhaps you will cross paths with your informant on Friday. Then again island time can also backwards. I was left standing on a Solomon Island airstrip once because "most" of the passengers (5, to be exact) where there. The plane took off an hour and a half early. It's simple in theory, though: See ya when I see ya!  :-)

Lukim yu klostu taim, wantoks!

First glimpse of Takuu Atoll (Mortlock) in the South Pacific

Nukutoa, depicted in frame (C) (and regrettably misspelled in the sat images), will be my new home for the next 12 months. Takuu Atoll (or Mortlock) is located 270 km north-northeast of Bougainville, Papua New Guinea. With a population of 500-600 people, the islanders' main food sources include fish, Taro (a root crop), bananas, coconuts and papayas. The population density of the atoll islands is roughly 500/km^2. Or in other words: crowded! (especially with regards to the resources available). There is no source of electricity nor fresh water, but the village does have cisterns to catch rainwater. During droughts, islanders' rely on coconut water to stay hydrated. The garden island (Takuu) and the settlement island (Nukutoa) cover a mere 90 hectares, and 23 hectares are devoted to 2 species of Taro. After the census of the mid 2000, the population density on just the taro gardens is an astonishing 1926 ppl/km^2 (Bourke and Betitis 2003). That is a extreme amount of pressure on the starchy resource, but, as mentioned above, this is also supplemented with a variety of fish species and coconuts. How long can people live on just coconuts and marine products? I'm no dietician, but that must cause immense nutritional deficits. How is a persons health affected by this in the long term? While people are quick to point the finger at the blanket terms such as "climate change",  the quantity of root crops in this 'agricultural community' may indeed be the limiting agent for locals to remain on Mortlock. However, one can't forget that salination from sea level rise is decreasing taro yields, thereby exacerbating the situation. There are heaps of interconnected processes going on, and I'm pretty stoked to be able to try and untangle some of it.
I'm heading to this "equatorial outlier" in April to gain an understanding of locals' perceptions and coping strategies on the "front lines" of climate change impacts.  Mortlock's complex socio- cultural, historical and ecological characteristics and values are just as intriguing as the ongoing speculations surrounding the extent of climate change's impacts globally as well as on the "atoll" scale.
-PS-Upcoming posts will be more lighthearted and spontaneous. Today was choice between a little background info or a full- on f**king rant about logistics and research problems. I chose the former- consider yourself spared. ;) Inconceivable: I'm too tired to even make smart ass comments. I'll make up for it later. Lukim yu!