Hank, Jake, and Gary...

I made some new friends this week. At first I didn't know how to treat them. They're just so different from what I'm used to. After a few awkward moments I decided to like them. Hank is the coolest of the three. He is warm and friendly but still aloof in a way that all the cool ones are. Gary is really shy. He fades away very quickly when you address him. I hope to bring him out of his shell a little over time. Jake though, Jake is special. Jake is curious. I was fine with how Jake stared at me in wonder but when he started to walk towards me to check me out, I warned him. At first, he got the warning and it was all ok but eventually the curiosity got the best of him. So I killed him. Now, some might say to let it go and make the argument that he was just a cockroach. I named him, called him friend, and all he wanted to do was check me out while I brushed my teeth. Fortunately for me, this possible guilt trip was stopped the next day when I walked in the bathroom to see a younger cockroach staring at me in the same old way Jake used to, except this this time he stayed his distance while I brushed my teeth. "Welcome back Jake," I said, "I'm glad you learned your lesson."

Have you ever attended a goat training in a language you don't really know? I have now. I spent the better part of two days observing a goat training this week. It was entirely in Bangla. I didn't understand much, but that wasn't what I was there for. I was there to observe.

I did some more work on the spreadsheet this week. I'm hoping to be mostly done with it this weekend.

It looks like I might start spending a lot more time out in the field. A lot of the next phase of my job is observation so that I can know what questions to ask and what problems might exist. It looks like this might be starting tomorrow. I was debating all week long whether to go to Dhaka this weekend and finally decided against it about two days ago. Then tonight at about 8:30 my boss calls me and says that there are people heading to Dimla for 4 days starting tomorrow at 6 a.m. He says that there is no pressure to go and that I don't have to but I knew right away deep down inside that I will be going. I spent a good while debating it trying to come up with good excuses to not go but upon finding a lack of truly good ones, I'm just going to go. The sad thing is that as much as I know I don't want to go, I also know that I'm going to love it and that it is the right choice.

That said, don't expect to hear much from me for the next couple of days.