Hello friends and family,

Sorry for the long gap in between posts. I must say that it was, in part, deliberate. Since my last posting on October 4th I have been working mostly on my camera trapping application to the wildlife department. I thought that it would be important to get the application submitted before or during the Global Tiger Workshop that was taking place in Kathmandu on October 27-30th. Prior to the workshop a colleague of mine and I started meeting with people (wildlife managers, naturalists) in Chitwan who would have insights on the permission process and also inform us about the general state of tiger conservation in Chitwan. I think we were successful. I met with lots of folks in Chitwan who are quite knowledgeable about tigers and tiger conservation. Then I went to Kathmandu to try and meet with the members of the wildlife department including the Director General. I think I was very successful there as well. I met with the several people from the Department and they gave me some feedback about the application. I got some support letters for the research and submitted the final application just a week ago or so. At any rate, I couldn't bring myself to write a blog when I was so focused on that process. I was also very fortunate to be in Kathmandu for the first couple days of the tiger workshop. I was able to meet with tiger conservationists who I would not have had the opportunity to meet in any other way unless I traveled to their neck of the woods. I met with Dale Miquelle, the program director for Wildlife Conservation Society--Russia. I have been looking forward to meeting him for some time. After I graduated college I cold sent him an email stating what my interests were (tiger conservation) and if he had any volunteering activities for me in Russia! Ha. He actually wrote me back and told me to go to graduate school and keep pursuing my interests. I have written him periodically throughout my graduate schooling and he has always quickly responded with very thoughtful emails. I can honestly say that he is the only person that has ever been so considerate and reliable with his emails. At any rate I feel like he took me under his wing a little at the workshop and introduced me to several other conservationists there. It was great! I made some contacts and learned about global tiger conservation in the process. Before I left Kathmandu I went to the famous and popular Swoyombhu Stupa, also known as Monkey Temple. It is a giant temple for Buddha that sits up on a hill overlooking Kathmandu valley. Its most striking feature are the giant painted buddha eyes on the side of the building. Unfortunately, they were renovating those walls and so I didn't get a chance to see them. Nonetheless, the temple is a fun and interesting place. I took lots of pictures of monkeys running around without a care in the world.

In late October I also experienced the Tihar festival. It is 4 days long and celebrates the relationship between brothers and sisters. Specifically, the first day is dedicated to crows, the second day to dogs, the third day to cows, and the last day to brothers. No one was at work so I was mostly alone at the guesthouse. However, Rishi, the caretaker, came over once in a while to check in on me and feed me sometimes. He also took me around his neighborhood on his motorcycle. When we pulled up to his house I saw a dog wearing a colorful lei and in between his eyes was a white patch of fur with a bright red streak of dye. This is a tika given to people (and animals apparently) as a blessing. I didn't know about the second day of Tihar being dedicated to dogs so naturally I was tickled pink over the idea of a dog with a lei and a tika. I called Jenna and told her to put a tika on Ronin. Amazingly, the dog in Nepal didn't seem bothered about his accouterments at all. In fact, after watching him some I got the distinct feeling that he knew that day was all about him and he was quite proud of himself. On the 3rd day of Tihar my friend Krishna asked me and Alex (other researcher staying at guesthouse) to come to his house for Tihar. Krishna explained to us that the thing men anticipated the most about Tihar was gambling. Apparently, men play a card game called 'marriage' all day and night in big groups virtually during the entire Tihar festival. We sat in on Krishna and his friends playing. The game is surprisingly complicated. So that night I asked Krishna to teach us how to play. Krishna also told us that gifts are supposed to be exchanged between the brothers and sisters on the last day of Tihar. I was not aware of this and so the next day when Krishna informed us that his wife, Sabitha, would be our 'sister' for the day I immediately went to the market and picked up a little handbag. Most of Krishna's family came over for the celebration. It was lots of fun. I got a traditional Nepali hat from Sabitha in addition to a blessing and the tika (see pictures).

I am now back at the guesthouse working on other aspects of my research. Unfortunately, I have not had the opportunity to do any field work. I am hoping to start a survey about community forest management policies next week which will enable me to get out and about in Chitwan. I have been cooped up in my room a lot working on applications and letters and emails and calling various people. I have also been playing lots of Badminton with several of my colleagues. That has been a blast. In fact, I look forward to it each day. We go out right after the work day and play on a nice court next to the guesthouse. Its good exercise and fun. Till next time. Check out the pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/nhcarter07/ and the album is VariousThingsInNepal.