Excuse the delay.

Written today! Which means this is the end of posting old emails, and the beginning of posting actual blog entries!

Hello again.

I realize that most of you are probably living your lives feeling unfulfilled without the latest news from your friend Helen. I apologize sincerely. But the truth is, life has once again become pretty mundane.

Work is work, just another job. Of course, this job mostly entails sitting on the beach or along the riverside, waiting for fishermen, then touching lots of dead fish and taking funny pictures. But periodic fights with my boss and an overall desire for action have left me feeling unsatisfied. I've come to realize that my research is just some silly project that has been pawned off on me because they didn't know what else to do with me. Of course, I had written methods and even gotten funding for another project, but that has most unfortunately long since been forgotten.

November marks the end of data collection and the official start of data analysis. After only a couple days playing around with my data, I feel I have already analyzed most of what there is to analyze. Hopefully something productive will come out of this, but in the mean time I still have plenty of free time to play with my animals and read for fun while lazing in the hammock.

The most exciting event for me recently was the Halloween party Thiago and I had at our house. Though extremely stressful, the party was a huge success. For days we were being congratulated around town for what was surely a party to be remembered in the tiny fishing community in which we live. We rented speakers, which were promptly burned due to plugging a 110V device into a 220V socket. Luckily, that was the DJ's fault and not ours. Also luckily, we arranged some smaller speakers and continued to party. For me, the highlight of the party was the vaca atolada (stuck cow) which is a stew made of beef and manioc. We got the local restaurant owner to make it for us (the only restaurant in the neighborhood) and everybody loved it, including Vagabundo who by the end of the night had eaten so much that he couldn't even stand up. Vagabundo LOVED the party, since he is very social. Favela, my other dog (a pincher with a broken leg) did not enjoy the party as much, and spent most of the time hidden in a dark corner.

I now have only 48 days until I leave Brazil. That reality is a pretty crazy one. I do really love my town, and I generally enjoy my existence here, but I'm extremely ready to return. However, I have no real plans after New Year's. I may move to Europe (Italy, Portugal, the Netherlands, Switzerland, or elsewhere), I may stay in Eugene, I may move to Canada, who really knows! Feel free to give suggestions.

I hope all is well with everybody at home or around the globe.