In the office

Perhaps stranger than being in a new country is being back in an office after not working in an office for over two years.

Natura's office is much bigger than I expected - and unlike the last office I worked in, there are windows everywhere. It's lovely. I'm working in an office, which I will be sharing once my Yale counterpart arrives, with a big window to the center of the office and a big window to the outside, which unfortunately only has a view of a big cement wall, but through which I can listen to the sounds of a nearby schoolyard all day. Yesterday that included coordinated singing, what sounded like fireworks, and loud screaming every time the bell rang. Oh, and my office has its own bathroom with a shower.

So far I have been getting set up - which has included downloading a bunch of things onto this brand-new computer they sent me here with - and reading a lot - studies I printed out before I came here, background on the project, materials about survey design, and some actual surveys to serve as guides. This weekend I'll be going with some of my coworkers out to Los Negros, where Natura has already instituted a PES project, to get a sense of where we'll be testing out our survey.

I am currently downloading Picasa so expect pictures soon.