Reading week!

Reading week is starting today. Finally!


I got a new bike. I spent all day and all night last night trying to fix it. The valve on the front wheel is a little lose so everytime I tried to pump, it goes flat...

I am planning to spend the whole week next week, training hard, study hard and do extra shifts.

Making progress and making changes

I have not written a blog post in ages. University life just kind of took over.

christmas dinner at lan's

Since my last post, I had an amazing night in London with Carla and Nicole in London. Got my results from essays and coursework back. I think I am proud of my ethnography essay since it was on Ebola, a topic that is very relevant at the moment and not many studies have been done on the issue.

Apart from being super busy, I am enjoying university very much (may be more the social aspect of it!) I had a slight change of heart with my course. We are going more specific than the introductory first term and that’s pretty great but I felt like I wanted to learn more about the physical side.

I went through the whole process of discussing a switch to EGID (BSc Environmental Geography and International Development) the BA is not bad. I just felt may be I would benefit more taking modules more on the environment side, seeing that I care a whole lot more about the environment but still want the human aspect in it. Anyway, switching didn’t went so well because I’m already half way through the year and missed some year long module so the precondition for me to switch at the end of the year is : getting good grades in the BA.

In the mean time, I’ve decided to master ArcGIS and acquired some math skills. This involves taking two giant books out of the library and many self-taught/computer lab sessions.

Joining the UEA Triathlon club is probably one of the best choices I have made. It was tough at first. My first few weeks with tri were just full of pain and mental breakdown. After a 2 hours swim training, I literally broke down and cried in front of our coach because I was so tired and disappointed of how slow I was. Since then, I’ve learnt to go at my own pace and really doing the sport out of my own enjoyment. Positive attitudes do help! I kept turning up to track, turbo, swim, circuit and the occasional Park Run. Considering how much I hate running, I have improved quite a lot.

Definitely think is down to the support of having other people suffering with me! Emily has started joining me for a swim and some training session which motivated me a lot more to turn up to things even on days I felt like urrrgh, a slob!?

This term, we started off with a full 8 days of turbo. I did 7 of them and Mary went for 8. The best bit, of course, was no way the constant pedaling indoor in humid sweat. We celebrated with a Sufferfest social on Tuesday night the week after. It was hosted at #NTD03 and I had a blast. There were around eight of us tri people and my flat mates. We ended up playing all sorts of “Tri” drinking game, which involved a degree of flexibility to pick up a carton box with your teeth. (I won :D , not alone haha) Then it was just the case of freaking my flat mates out - 1,2,3, 10 pushups, 6,14 … In return, my tri friends freaked out about how nuts my flat mates are! LCR was next and it was a fantastic night!

Emily is really my motivator at the moment. Doing more swimming and turning up to training. Track sessions are often difficult but they do help make me start running for the rest of the week. Yesterday was probably the hardest track session I’ve done (felt like it anyway =.=’’) We had to do 400m sprint, 200 jog and another 200 sprint. Now, normally, I would say I gave it ago, as fast as I could… I cut down 2 seconds on my first 400m. Fought hard to keep going! By the third repeat I was getting out of breath … The fourth was agonizing… but apparently, somehow I was literally sprinting for 200m or so during my 400m, before crashing halfway. I mean I felt like it was so slow and I had to stop but I came back and then people were telling me how fast I was. Like what!?! I couldn’t breathe. Another 500m were on the plate and gosh I had to keep running. With lots of encouragement I pushed myself hard. My legs felt like it was going to fall off. The last lap was absolute agony but I sufficed and pushed myself like mad on my last 200m. Receiving some encouragements of how much I have improved from the coach and everyone was definitely a bonus point! I think the improvement since my first few tracks is finally showing. I’m quite pleased!

I went for a swim around 1.8k before coming to track and then we had a film turbo, which lasted around 90 minutes. I am quite done for the day now!

In a way, I am quite proud of myself for trying to learn all this, on top of my main studies, training and having a job. Hence, I am super busy at the moment. Some days I would feel great and some days I would feel like the world is coming down on me. I think I am learning the importance of rest, enjoyment of the things I do and having a balance fun time!

What I mean by this is limiting to just 2 days a week that I will go out to Tuesday @LCR and Saturday. As usual, I will only drink so much that I can dance and sober up in the LCR before heading off to bed for a good night sleep. Weekends are spent doing readings and lecture notes. Any extra hours during the week should be doing the same thing. 5 hours at least should be spent sitting down and working through ArcGIS. To make it less boring, the shifts hour for my job would be scattered through out the day, between my studies just so I don’t get so bored. Most importantly I need to remember to get enough sleep!

Reading week is fast approaching. I need to really utilise this week to do some catch up on reading, start my essays and courseworks. Perhaps do more ArcGIS too. 

Missing my family #NTD03

A semester has passed. I'm sitting here in my bedroom in yet another place I call home. I have moved around way too much these past four years.

No, but this time, I actually feel this is home. In the last three months, I have enjoyed life so much more than I thought I ever could. East Anglia is definitely the best decision I made!


My flatmates are absolutely wonderfully-crazy! We had so much fun together and had somehow bonded as a family so quickly. I remember vividly how I met them all.

The first day I moved in, there were only three of us - Puna, David and I. We spent a few days in a quiet hallway. My sister and her boyfriend came down from Birmingham to visit me. I remember vividly how we all met. It was a sunny Saturday and as much as I was busy showing my sister around, my new flatmates were arriving with boxes and bags of stuff. Their parents, worried they were, spent the morning helping their child organise their rooms.

I was overly hyper and way too smiley. I knocked on everyone doors and introduced myself. There was Ben, Faye, Charlotte, Leah, George, Alfie and Raian. After the parents leave and everyone had a moment to settle down. We all sat in the kitchen, talking and having banter, admiring the copius amount of kitchen utensils we brought. Surely, us lots aren't going to cook that much?!

We went out that night to the LCR, dancing and drinking! It was honestly the best night I had with them all. The better spent of course, were all prinks, where we do silly things and laugh our head off as we get to know each other more and more. I emphasised on this because in the next month or so, I could not go out at all.... At one point, we had a cactus pet name Schmitt! It litterally was drinking/eating/suffering from whatever we had.

George and I are besties, we had a tons of laugh about the shit that we do, we drink and all sorts more. Then there is the boys who seem to overpopulate this flat. We were lucky though because there are 4 of us doing the same course.

I joined the triathlon club and since then have started cycling and running. I am slowly improving but I am making it! I finished my first duathlon just 3 weeks ago. The club is so much fun and I am getting all the support I need to just enjoy doing the sport!


What did I learn about myself?
I could reinvent myself here. Be who I really am - the crazy Vietnamese girl with a funny accent who loves drinking and dancing! (as long as I still study well, of course) The fact is, this is the first time I felt I am allowed to "fit in". I hate using that words because it implies that I am trying to change myself for that purpose. No, I am allowed to be myself with the little quirky things I do and still have people laughing with me. I am not being judged for my appearance and I can be as different as I want to be!

Budgeting as a student: I could survive with less food that I thought. Laundry is expensive, I share my laundry, handwash most of my stuff and we do not use the dryer. Booze take a high proportion of my bill.

Just to remind myself: Good things come out of a bad situation.

---------------------------------------------
It's Christmas holiday now.

It feels strange.  The corridor is empty, no-one is playing cricket, no laughter, no banter, the kitchen is clean for once and I have started cooking again... Something is definitely not right!

I miss my flatmates but I hope they all have a nice time at home with their families, being well taken care of and well-fed in the hands of their loved ones.

Merry Christmas and See you all in 2015!

A new start - East Anglia!

Moving into University of East Anglia.

Madagaskara

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Madagascar - A report for the Old Millhillian travel grant

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In between the packing and repacking, I was anxious and nervous not knowing what to expect for the seven weeks I was going to spend in Madagascar volunteering for ReefDoctor. Months earlier, I had a long talk over coffee with Roderick the director of the ReefDoctor NGO and felt compelled to spend my time with this NGOs instead of going through other volunteering companies.

I was not wrong. I had the most incredible seven weeks adventure in this little village of Ifaty on the Bay of Ranobe, South Madagascar.

The journey to the ReefDoctor site was not easy, mostly due to the lack of French I possessed and the general transportation of Madagascar. However, I was welcomed in almost instantly by other volunteers and staff, and soon enough, it seemed like I had been here for ages. It didn’t take me long to realize perhaps I packed a little bit too light for the winter season.

Within the next few weeks, I was required to complete my Science Training which means learning to identify different types of corals, invertebrates and fishes to be recorded in the monthly survey. Since there were only two of us who were new, we had to pick up the pace quite quickly. The training period involved doing underwater IDs, mimic transect line, coral table cleaning and passing an exam at the end.

Every morning, we would get up early and dive. It was a mental challenge everyday to jump down into the cold winter water at 6 in the morning but it’s always worth it! The Bay of Ranobe is a semi-enclosed lagoon in the southwestern coast of Madagascar. Within there are several habitats from barrier reefs, patch reefs, sea grass beds and mangroves. Our dives are conducted within the lagoon on a few specific Marine Protected sites close to ReefDoctor.

Life is very simple in the village of Ifaty. The village is small but comprised of roughly 300 inhabitants called the Vezo which means they are a fishing village. The locals speak mainly Vezo dialect with a little bit of French. They live in thatched leaves hut close together extended inward from the Bay with only one primary school built with help from ReefDoctor after a storm destroyed it. Everyday, the men would take their fishing boat – an incredible design itself – and paddle out to the sea whilst the women and children wait for low tide and collect anything that is strained behind on the shore.

At ReefDoctor, we live in huts made just like the villagers. There is no electricity line or running water, everything was done by hand. We get to charge our phones for three hours a day, no Internet, shower by taking a bucket and no light. Every evening we had dinner in the most stunning sunset by the sea waiting as the night full of stars take hold.

Alongside with our daily work, volunteers were also encouraged to get involved as much as possible with other projects. This meant helping the aquaculture project, which involves a strenuous trek through an extensive seagrass bed amidst the fear of stepping on sea urchins, to build sea cucumber and seaweed farm. Several days of the month were dedicated to fisheries where we would wait to ID the fishermen’s catches to build up data in the monthly survey.

With help I honestly have learnt so much about the marine environment and the coral reef system within just a few weeks.  It slowly became clear to me the main issues affecting the marine habitats within the Bay of Ranobe had a lot of do with the increase in local population and to a certain extent, the sustained increase seawater temperatures across the globe. The increasing population of Madagascar has led to an increase in the native Vezo people and other migrants living on the coastal of the Bay of Ranobe. With this pressure, not only are there pressure on land but also on the marine environment to cope with nutrient loading from agricultural fertilisers and intensive fishing techniques. All the coastal habitats interact with each other. On World’s mangrove day, we were invited to visit the Honku NGO who were working in the same region and witness the affect of deforestation of forests and mangroves on the Bay of Ranobe – high sedimentation. This resulted in sediments covering the coral reefs and disrupt the life cycle of this habitat.

Of course, it was not just all work, no play. The most memorable moment for me was the release of two incredibly beautiful turtles back to the sea. On top of that, seeing a extraordinary pair of humpback whales on one of our dives was just unbelievable. Everyday, I got to sit by the sea and watch the stunning sunset go as the starry night took hold. Then there was the mind-blowing scenery of the trek through Isalo NP that showcased the impeccable beauty that Madagascar has to offer! It was incredible to witness the various landscapes from dry tropical desert to the extraordinary canyons among savanna grassland within Isalo. Also, the diversity of species in Madagascar.

During the 6th weeks, time flew by, I felt immersed in the Malagasy culture (thanks to Rina for teaching me Malagasy!) and was so sad I had to part with all the friends I’ve made along the way at ReefDoctor. We’ve had so much fun, countless laughter and crazy moments.

All I can say is that I have had such an unbelievable time at ReefDoctor that simply cannot be described. There were so much laughter, friendship and wonderful time. I have seen so many awesome animals like the amazing humpback whales during one of our dives, the biggest Peacock Grouper I have ever seen, releasing two beautiful turtles back to the ocean and taking a selfie with a gorgeous green Chameleon. Oh and lots of lemurs too!

So I will write all the lessons I’ve learnt from this trip:

1.  Things never go to plan but relax, that’s part of the fun!

Getting around Madagascar rarely ever goes according to plan. If anything, I have learnt to stay calm and have a laugh because virtually every single journey I have taken has been interesting.

The first time, I landed at Tana airport into the chaos of the Malagasy styled immigration and visa office. I was aware I would have a language problem but I didn’t comprehend how overwhelming it would be. It didn’t help that they were announcing my name on the speaker in French either. After a while struggling to explain myself, I found my way to pay the visa fees and the officers took my passport away along with 10 others, all at once.

Finally we got out to find that our domestic flight to Tulear has been moved earlier with no warning given. So I decided to tough it out and stay at the airport, freezing until the next morning. We watched the final world cup match until they kicked us out.

The airport was definitely not designed for people to wait in. There weren’t many seats to find. We ended up sitting in a narrow aisle, on a set of coloured worn out plastic chairs where we met a brave young mother who just had her baby boy and they were going to see the father for the first time.

The village of Ifaty has to be reached by an hour and a half ride on a taxi-brousse. There is no better way to have a true Malagasy experience than having a ride on the local transport - taxi brousse. They range from small trucks to bigger truck/car travelling on mostly unmade road. It can be overwhelming at first when it seems like the whole village is coming with you. Every inch of the vehicle is fully utilized because anything and everything goes in and on a taxi brousse.

As I sat on the seat, rice bags and wood panels would go under and piled up to our seats so that sometimes I would have to crawl into a ball. Then the furniture, bags would be strapped to the top as well as animals being taken to the market like chickens. The fishes went under the truck. You will grow to love the blasting upbeat Gasy music, especially the infamous DJ “Mr Nice”. It is not unusual to be hanging off the back of the truck for an hour either when there is absolutely no room left but trust me you will appreciate it considering how stuffy it would be inside when the driver is unwilling to go, circulate around the town until he can fill the entire truck to the maximum.

Nothing that goes on a taxi brousse surprises me anymore. In fact, they always gave me a good laugh. On my journey back to the capital Antanarivo, a goat was strapped down on the truck above my head for 20 hours overnight, then there were baby cribs, turkeys etc. However, I am glad I took this route along the RN7 highway – Madagascar’s best road, because I got to see the beautiful landscape changes from the dry desert sand of the south to the rice paddy of the central highland. It was definitely worth seeing!

2. Learnt the local language

This was definitely my gateway into the Malagasy culture. Within the first two days arriving at the campsite, I met the most awesome Malagasy girl with a wicked sense of humor.

With the kind help from Rina, I was able to "speak" Malagasy and be understood with a laugh from my friend at the village. As part of our work, we held English lessons for children and adults from the village. My basic Malagasy proved to be very useful to translate some words in English into Malagasy. In returns, the kids taught me how to count in Malagasy!

3.  The People

I have to say the most important component of my whole experience was all the people I met over the 7 weeks. I have made so many friends and was inspired by so many for their love for the ocean and the environment from all walks of life. They have been so patient to answers all my questions and so much kindness it has definitely made my entire adventure unforgettable.

The Malagasy people are diverse, with 18 different ethnic groups, the differences don’t just range from different origins and dialects but also customs and “fady”. “Fady” is the Malagasy word for taboo.

The 7 weeks in Madagascar all seems like a dream to me. I spent the last week making my way back to England bringing with me so many memories that I hope will never forget.

Thank you for giving me the most incredible experience in Madagascar that I could ever ask for. Without the generosity from the OldMillhillian and the support of my friends and family, I wouldn't be able to have had such an opportunity.

Thank you!

Week 7 - A long journey home

Sunday
Taxi brousse at 5am
Delphine and I, Nadine and Ella. Cale
Arrived in Tulear, straight to Manatan.
Met Jaani, went to breakfast, had sorbet then shopping
Manatan until 12, lunch at Le Jardin
Goodbye to Nadine, Ella and Delphine
Goodbye to Cale
Walk with Jaani back to hotel

Took over Jaani's room with Ed.
Sat with the boya until they leave at 4pm.
James gave me photos
Gave Jaani a hug, no longer roomate, no burning hut down fear
George and his tintin chair
They got on 4x4, gave Jamie, James and ciaren
Julian a hug, Ed, arjen
They left.
Stayed in my room until jivan texted.
Met him, went for a walk, talk, laugh. He kept finding way to touch my arm, wrap his hand around me. Talk about reefdoctor, he wanted to wait for me to come back. I said Idont know when Iwill. I make no promise.
Back at hotel, talked for a while and then we parted. I gave him a hug, he whispered in my ear 'i love you'. I said thank you

Monday
Walk all around town, bought new pant, a camellion
Met the Honku's girls who just came.back from weekend in Anakao.
Le jardin/gelateria closed.
Went to la colombe instead, ate sambosa and had grilled vegetables with shrimps
Back to hotel
Packed, pay for room, try to sort out
1.30 Jivan came to pick me up.
Puss puss to station

Tuesday
Cold, freezing as we get into the highland area
11 am arrived at Tana
Taxi to moonlight hotel
Walking and exploring Tana
Got room
Went out again

Wednesday
Walk around, all the way to isokara
Bought stuff
Went back, sleep, check out
Wait on the terrace

Taxi to airport at 10.00 pm
Check in
Flying with Kenya airway.

First stop Nairobi. Then Nairobi to Amsterdam. Amsterdam - London

Thursday
Arrived late 5pm, got out 6.30pm.
Went on Northern Line

Week 6 - Last week at Reef Doctor

Monday
Fisheries with peppin
walk to berevy with ella and ed
Learnt fishes flashcarda, im.quite good now
Waited a long time due to voat coming back near 1 or 2
We had nothing until 2pm I started recording tons of fishes
Didnt have lunch
Ella and ed left to go back for 3pm dive
Peppan, 2 guys, we walked along to beach back and then we got on a piroge, sailing back to ifaty
Late lunch back at reefdoctor
New guy, Jamie arrived

Kate's last night, jose
She is loved by everyone bc they all came.
Played werewolves
Jivan really likes me. He came over and sat next to me. He had like 4 beers or sth. Held my hands and say he will.miss me when im gone. Will i come back? I dont know how I feel. I do, really like him but im leaving and Idont know when Iwill be back. He had to work at night for sea cucumbers. I told him to go.
Manjo came

Tuesday
6.30 dives ppl left, I talk to beth about tanks problem, she has ear infection
I said will help her with anything she needs
Found lauren to fill our tanks
8.30 dive became 9 due to lack of tanks
Good dive, id fishes myself now bc everyone has a point out, i didnt need one.
Came back, low tide, boat left outside
Sea cucumbers being weighted.
Jivan and leva are exhausted.
I helped them to build the sea cucumber fences.
Jivan took off his shirt and started digging. He was singing some french song to me.
Came back at 2. Dog ate our food. They cooked noodles for us, tiny portions...
Swam with Nadine
Shower, walked to jose with her, bought chocolate and 10 samosa
Pineapple time
Rina, looi, nadine and I all together
Tried to talk to jivan but i think he is way too exhausted or not happy with me last nite... idk. I feel bad. They have to finish the fences tonight. Wth! Its night time
They cant do that... :(

Wednesday
Mimics with George and James
Tank leaking, george switched with me
Helped Liva with sea cucumber fence
Jaani special dinner for bday
Zebu feast for everyone
I got lots of poached egg, cheese on top. Plain and rather bad... chips was good. Cake too big
Rhum after
Talk with george, nadinr, ella, rob, looi

Thursday
Dive at 6.3
Coral garden
Point out with Ciaren and george
Me doing expert fishes
George got lost. We surfaced and come back to boat
Someone lost a weight, manjo freedive down 14m, picked up and swam quite a distance back to boat... amazing
Came running in from dive to look for result
Not working
Magz later lend me her computer to check the internet
Ed got into Oxford
I got into UEA, no clue about results, coulnt access it
Showed manjo my drawing of him :)
10.30 walk to mangily with cale, looi, nadine, delphine, ciaren
Lunch except me and Nadine
Got my results. Not so happy with econ and art
Both went to do data together, walking in mud, treading through seagrass, stepping on urchin
Bought 3 pineapple at Mangily
Walked back, rina

Friday
Dive at Ambifina
30m vis, pippa and arjen, point out/photohunt
Stone fish

Looi dropped out of Cale's aquaculture group to the southern villages: berevy and ambolabouy. I volunteered.

Walk to berevy, met pepin and fisheries guys who will take us for lunch. Must wait for him to count fishea. I joined to ID fishes myself.

Nice lunch with fish.
Walk to beach, start our survey, Nadine and I, ed and jaani, rob and cale
Nadine and I, knee deep higher in mud and seagrass for first half hour. Play with sea cucumber, talk random shit. 2 seacucumbers stuck on one of her foot as she lifted her leg up. Hilarious!
Heading back!
Bought 10 samosas with ella before dinner. Ate all!

Trivia night!
Team bean turd with Julien, Cale, beth.

Saturday
Kit up at 7am
Dive trip to Coral Garden
Nadine took pic of me, found stone fish, triton shell eating a star fish
Boys left the camp
Pineapple time with Looi, ella, nadine, cale
Nice lunch made by Victor the awesome cook
Packed my bag in the scorching heat, washed my clothes, stuff them in my bag

Walked with Ella to Eva's lodge to order dinner. We are the first customers at this new place.
Took dinner order for Nadine, Looi, Ella, Rob, Delphine and I.

With Ella to Jose, picked up Trouble' puppy and drop it off with some kid on the way to Jose.
Bought food, telma credit

Goodbye to Maggie and Beth :(

Walk to Eva's lodge, the owner asked for Gasy dancing/music ambelagasy - banjo, gasy guitars, girls singand dance
Awesome salad, ate so much, big gtilled fish, fruit salad
Said goodbye to Lauren on the way back. Im food drunk. Gave her a big hug, plan for future travel in Vietnam and Asia next year. Told her that I have lots of admiration for her and that she has to be amazing :)