"We do not follow maps to buried treasure and X never, ever marks the spot."

My research project has been in full swing the past month or so, so I wanted to give an update about that. If you want an overview of the Fulbright Scholar Program, my post from June 28, 2010 has some info.

In my submitted application that I put together July 2009, I had to include a proposal for a research project and a few course syllabi for the course(s) I would teach at UCR. This was part of the 5 page personal statement that I had to submit. But before I could even write that, I had to make contacts at UCR to 1) get a letter of invitation from the host saying that they would like me to come to their university and 2) figure out what my research project was going to be. Judging by the website of the physics and chemistry departments, I knew that they had some equipment that I know how to use and some equipment that I wanted to learn to use, so that was a good sign. But, it turned out that a friend of a friend in CR happened to be writing a proposal for a new project combining archaeology and materials science characterization techniques! What are the chances of that happening?! I get to be Indiana Jones with a physics background??! (side note: I almost minored in Archaeology at UCLA) So, I was able to write a decent personal statement/proposal that had specific goals, mentioned specific people and projected outcomes. I had no idea what my chances were for receiving the award or how many people applied for the award I applied for. The cool (but also scary) thing is that the Fulbright program does not offer any help with finding a position, contacts, picking a country, housing etc, so it is very independent but also flexible. They simply offer a list of countries and list the openings of awards (what field are they funding awards for in that specific country for that specific year?). There were no Physics awards for any Spanish speaking countries, so I applied under the "all disciplines" award for the only university that wrote back to my 'cold email' tactic asking if they were interested in hosting me at their university.

When I arrived, I was busy preparing for my course (I'll write a different post about that experience), so it was ok that the archaeological samples that we planned to examine were not in our possession (the museum did not release them). However, once we got the samples, my research project took off and I was able to get my hands dirty. Unfortunately, not dirty from digging at an archaeological site (maybe someday?!).

The research project team roughly consists of an archaeologist, 2 chemists, and me. We are basically trying to study the properties of ceramic samples (pieces of pottery) from a few local archaeological sites around Costa Rica. The use of scientific instruments to study archaeological samples is called Archaeometry (archaeological science). These pieces are pretty old, BC times even! What kind of properties are we studying, you ask? The general term is spectroscopy, seeing how light waves of different energy/wavelength interact with matter (ie my samples). Depending on what the sample is made of (molecules, minerals, elements, crystal structure, special bonds etc) the incoming light reacts/scatters differently, and that difference can be measured. The incoming light can be Xray, Infra-red, or visible light (lasers). My challenge is learning as much as I can about this field and applying it to our samples, this has nothing to do with my nanoscience background, but a lot to do with physical chemistry (my PhD specialization was Chemical and Material Physics, not pure Physics or Astrophysics). By learning about the composition of these samples we can trace the history of the specific civilization that made them, what did they use, are the style and materials used similar to other civilizations in the area, what temperature was the pottery fired at, etc. It is adding one more piece of a puzzle that tells a story of a civilization(s) in a certain region.

Because this is so interdisciplinary, it requires an interdisciplinary team.

It has been a great experience so far to add more tools to my scientific tool box and CV, and learn more about Archaeometry as a field. Passing up doing a traditional Post-Doc in a university/national laboratory right out of graduate school was the best decision for me, now just have to figure out what I want to do next . . .

homesick

A few people have asked me if I'm homesick . . I'm not sure what that means exactly but I usually say NO. To me, homesick means that something doesn't feel right, like you're not at home, or something is missing, or you can't get comfortable or just feel out of place. I imagine it being a dull, constant feeling that doesn't go away. I definitely don't feel that way. I feel at home, and have made a life and home for myself, even if it is only for 6 months. Maybe the fact that it is 6 months makes it more bearable, whereas if I was here for an indefinite amount of time it may be more difficult. But I'm sure when it's time for me to leave, I may feel like staying longer! Especially if the work I'm doing is successful.

Although I am not homesick, I do feel what I call "pangs of nostalgia." It's more of a sharp, sudden memory that makes me nostalgic for a certain time/place in my life. Sometimes I miss UCLA, and the smell of vanilla coffee reminds me of free coffee at Kerchoff during finals week and studying . . or the way a salad bar is set up reminds me of the dorm food and 2 hour long meals with friends. It's a sudden, very specific memory brought on by a sight, smell or sound. Seeing a bicycle reminds me of riding my bike around UCI, and getting yelled at by Matt for trying to ride with no hands. I'm sure once I'm far away from San Pedro, the sound of whistles, thunder and pouring rain will make me nostalgic for the moments that will eventually be ingrained in my memory. Even today, it didn't rain for once and something just didn't feel right!

Outsourced

This past Thursday night was NBC's big Fall premiere night, with my favorite shows starting up again, 30 Rock, The Office and Community. Luckily, with the amazing cable hookup in my apartment, I get NBC, CBS and ABC from Denver, CO. Why are these some of my favorite comedies? It usually has to do with witty, original writing, a cast of diverse characters with a range of points of view (point of views?), avoiding obvious cliches and stereotypes, and the plot is usually secondary (I think I'm somewhat of a comedy snob/elitist of sorts!).

NBC premiered a brand new series this past week, Outsourced. It's about a guy from mid-west US who gets sent to India to run a call center (same plot as the movie from 2006). I was a bit skeptical about it, it could easily just make fun of Indians using cliche, unoriginal stereotypes. I watched it with an open mind and thought the writing and jokes were OK, nothing too original that I haven't heard/seen from ethnic based comedy. The scene where the manager first gets to India had a typical Indian street scene with a black and yellow rickshaw, but the background looked suspiciously and obviously green screened. There were jokes about: Indian food giving you diarrhea (fart jokes too), cows being holy to Hindus, Indian accents, weird Indian names, and apparently the character Manmeet didn't know the about the American concept of "dating" (this show is supposed to take place in Mumbai, not some small, traditional village). There were also some stereotypes about the US and Americans, lines like "In America, you can do whatever you want!" (talk about freedom etc etc) And for some reason, the time difference between the US and India was not addressed. During the work day in India they get calls from the US, but that would be mean its the middle of the night in the US?

The one character I thought was funny, the obvious odd ball of the bunch, was Gupta (Parvesh Cheena). It is cool to see that many South Asians on one TV show at prime time on a major US network though! Hopefully the show does well.

I'll keep watching it, maybe it will grow on me.

Campus Life

Although I'm missing out on going back to UC Irvine this fall, it's been nice getting used to a new college campus, exploring and carving out a life that isn't so different than my life in So Cal; I think that says more about what I need in life to keep me happy/sane than about So Cal specifically. I'm getting used to the rain and lightning and thunder that usually strikes between 12-1pm, finding new places to read and drink coffee, heading out to the campus gym, people-watching, and always keeping an eye out for cool happenings on campus. And if for some reason there is not lightning and thunder between 12-1pm, my day just doesn't feel right!

Tunnel of love.

Parts of the university campus are connected by covered, concrete walkways, which are great for when it rains (which is everyday for now, usually between 12-5pm, with the heaviest being around 1pm). The sides of the walkways are lined with benches so people can chill somewhere dry in between classes. What this really means is that when it rains all the couples on campus that previously were snuggling somewhere secluded claim a bench under the walkway and continue their snuggling/snogging. It’s pretty funny and cute, so I call it the Tunnel of Love.

Food.

There’s tons of places to eat on/around campus, mostly pastries (empanadas, donuts, cakes, cookies) and pizza on the main street on one side of campus, and on campus there’s “sodas” which provide cheap, full plates of the “plato del dia” (plate of the day). This usually includes rice, beans, chicken dish (or pasta for vegetarian dish), plantains, salad, juice and maybe a fruit. All for less than $3 usually!! Unfortunately for me, the vegetarian main dishes haven’t look that great, and that’s actually way too much food for me for lunch. Most restaurants also have a plato del dia, but if there’s no vegetarian plato del dia, they won’t substitute a vegetarian dish unfortunately (so I miss out an amazing lunch deal sometimes!). Leaving campus on the farther side, there’s a Hooters, Taco Bell, Subway and TGIF!! I haven’t been to Hooters but maybe I’ll go one day. There’s also a pretty good sushi place and a café (with crepes) that I’ve been to with my Phriday Physicist Lunch group (when I go to lunch with my officemate and her friends, also physics profs). We went to an Indian restaurant this past Friday, all vegetarian, called Cafe Gokul. The 'thali' like plate was the plato del dia, which basmati rice, beet bhajiya, squash & potato bhaji, dal (but was really garbanzo beans not lentils), salad and juice. Someone also ordered Matter Paneer, and that was reallly good. Will definetaly need to go back when I'm craving some Indian food. The owner almost tried to speak Hindi to me, but my brain could not switch over from Spanish to Hindi. My brain tends to freeze up when thinking between Spanish and Hindi, so I have to ctrl-alt-del that process and start over in either English or Spanish.

Some afternoons around 3 or 4pm I join other physics professors for some coffee and pastries at the nearest soda. It's a good break and time to fuel up for the gym, and also get to know other people in the department. They tell funny stories and of course talk about the RAIN.

Gym.

The university gym offers tons of aerobics classes, but it gets packed! Membership is $20/month, amazing. However, I do miss my Abs & Thighs class at the ARC, and my fave instructor Cindy. I do daydream of teaching a Bollywood Cardio class sometimes . .

The classes are also a great way to learn some spanish vocab; I hate memorizing vocab from flashcards, so doing something active and visual helps to learn body parts and directions.

Fashion.

The faculty here seems to dress pretty casual, even jeans and sneakers for some. I try to dress up a bit when I teach (just b/c I brought semi-dressy clothes to CR) and other days stick to my jeans/linen pants and sneakers. I can't imagine wearing fancy shoes/heels, the sidewalks are very uneven and the rain makes them very slippery. I do regret not bringing my black boots, especially since it turned out that I didn't get charged for my 3rd check in bag!

The students dress pretty much like US college students (tight jeans, little tops or long tops, side bangs), although fabric boots are very common here even though they're not waterproof. Piercings are a big deal here too with the youth, tons of nose rings, multiple earrings, thick posts/gauges, even nasal septum rings (bull rings), eyebrow rings and other places on the face that aren't so obvious for piercings.

And of course the most common accessory across genders and generations is the all-important umbrella!

old books

I have a thing for old books. Maybe it is the romantic in me (underneath the cold, scientist exterior) that likes to imagine who else has read this book before me, where it has been, where was it bookmarked and why; I like seeing passages marked and highlighted, maybe it reminds me of high school English class where I learned to scrutinize everything I read with an analytical eye. I like seeing the bends in the spine, the smell and yellowing of the paper. Of course, it's satisfying knowing that used books are cheaper and help conserve the resources that go into printing new books.

I visited the campus general library today and located the fiction section. There's a limited selection, especially of books in English, but I found a few gems. Most books are super old and tattered, even with some photocopies of pages inserted into them. I checked out an old Asimov (classic science fiction) and Michener (The Source - which has an Indiana Jones feeling to it). This is going to be much better than having to buy new english paperbacks for 2X the price as the US listed price! (I bought The girl with the dragon tattoo for wayyyy to much $$)

What I love even more than old novels is old textbooks or science books. I have a few at home, including a 1st edition Theory of Special Relativity, an old astronomy book, and an old hardback collection of the Feynman Lectures from the 60's. At UCLA I worked at the Science and Engineering Library within gifts acquisitions, which meant I got to go through books that people donated (specifically professors that passed away and their families donated their books) and see if the library already had them. If they already had multiple copies, I was able to take what I wanted!

One day I'm going to have a library specifically with gothic design interior and tons of old books, a fire place, cozy couch and of course a butler to bring me coffee and pastries.

Independence Day - Sept 15

Today is Costa Rica's Independence day! The story is pretty interesting and the festivities have been cool to see, and its a holiday!

On the 14th night, there is a passing of the Freedom torch (similar to the Olympic torch) that goes through cities as people hold lanterns that they've made (with a light or candle inside) to represent that torch. When the Central American countries declared independence from Spain there was a torch that traveled from Guatemala to Costa Rica, to signify that they had gained independence. Last night in San Pedro, there was an event at the nearest park, with speeches, music and folklorico performances. Then the street was shut down as groups of students ran with the torch with a police/fire dept escort. It was really cool to see the lanterns, people put a lot of time into making them. Some of them were really creative, small houses, or an underwater theme.

This morning I was able to wake up bright and early and made it to San Jose by 815am. I heard there was a parade but wasn't sure when it started or where it would be. So wandered around until I heard music and found the route. Most of the parade was made of groups of students holding flags, dressed up in traditional clothing, marching bands. There was some folk dancing that looked very similar to garba footwork! Not any floats or animals really. I hung around for a few hours, took some pics, did some shopping and rode the bus back. For once, it was still cloudless and sunny at 12 noon! by 2pm though the clouds rolled in and its sprinkling a bit right now.

Last night I came home to find the power was out! For some reason our whole block didn't have electricity and it was a bit scary walking home but I keep a flashlight in my backpack so was able to get home OK. I heated up some water on the gas-tank-powered stove and was able to take a quick bath, cooked some dinner by candlelight and just when I decided to get comfy and read by flashlight with a glass of wine, the power came back on. So all in all, it was only out for 3 hours, not bad!

"Eres tica?"

It's always interesting when someone is trying to figure out where I'm from. My English accent + Spanish accent + the way I look = confusion, but it usually is a good conversation starter. Someone this weekend asked me if I was Tica (eres tica? = are you costa rican?), what a compliment! Sometimes they ask, "de donde eres?" (where are you from?) and I say "los estados unidos" (the united states), then they ask quizzically, "si, pero sus padres?" (yes, but your parents?) and at this point I know they are trying to figure out my ethnicity. Then say I say, "si, mis padres son de India pero yo naci en los estados unidos." From here the conversation can take a few different paths, maybe they'll talk about Indian food/restaurants they've tried, dance, music someone else that they know that is indian, or if they know my academic background and why I'm here, they'll start with the ever pervasive stereotype, "Oh yeah, Indians are really smart right?" I try to then say, "Not really any smarter than any other group of people," and try to laugh it off, but I don't think they get it . .

There's a telenovella (soap opera) in spanish called 'India: una historia de Amor' (india: a story of love, love story) that takes place in the present, in India and Brazil. I did some reading on it and apparently it deals with the caste system, a love square (between Raj, Maya, Bahu and Duda) and arranged marriages, I'll give it a shot the next time its on. It won the 2009 International Emmy for Telenovellas. It will be interesting to see people in Indian clothes speaking Spanish!