Re: greetings from the desert

[Don Smith <dasmith at rotse2_physics.lsa.umich.edu>]

Nathan wrote:
> Was that brickwork in the sidewalk?

Could be.  Which picture do you mean?  Since Namiba was a German colony 100
years ago, there are still a lot of german influences.  Most people I've met
speak English (the official language), German, and Afrikaans.  I never quite
know which language I should talk to people in.  The streets in Windhoek
alternate between things like "Independence Avenue", "Feldstrasse" and "Jan
Jonker Weg".  Anyway, areas with strong German influence will often have
brickwork sidewalks.

> Even the dirt roads look nice and smooth. :)

You haven't seen the backroads pictures, have you?  :-) I am loving the desert
of Namibia.  I did not like Windhoek at all.  Security guards and armed
soldiers everywhere.  Did not make me feel secure, that's for sure.  Not
a very pleasant town.

> Let alone all the things you're actually there for. How many degrees would I
> need?

Depends.  There are four of us here right now.  Myself and one other post-doc
(two degrees each), a professor (two degrees) and a grad student (one degree).
We post docs are leaving next week, the professor leaves the week after that,
and the grad student is staying on almost two more weeks after that.  Of
course, *he's* going from here to Tanzania, to revisit the place where he was
in the peace corps.  But if you wanted to do this sort of thing, go to grad
school for physics or astronomy and attach yourself to a project that is
putting up equipment in remote places.  :-)

Got to go.  We're about to have a little dedication ceremony for the telescope.
-- 
Don Smith                           Robotic Optical Transient Search Experiment
donaldas at umich_edu                                http://www.rotse.net/dasmith/

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