Reticence

Reticence (n)- the state of being not open or communicative, not saying all that one knows

I have neglected this blog for approximately a month. I’m not entirely sure why. The simplest explanation is that I have been occupied. I have been unbelievably busy with schoolwork, helping with the penguins, SCUBA diving, and socializing in the free time I find. I have not been reading any literature, not been sketching any, not been writing much in my journal, not even watching Doctor Who!  That says something. The zany time traveler and his companions are such an escape for me. I suppose I don’t have time here to escape. I really shouldn’t want to escape in the first place; to travel halfway around the world just to sit in my room watching television programmes wouldn’t exactly constitute an adventure.

I have been learning, gathering ideas and points of view as the proverbial initial snow clump gathers more and more mass as it rolls down the mountain slope. I am still processing these thoughts and ideas and I don’t really feel like talking about them yet. I hope that’s acceptable. The lack of posts is due more to time management than reticence, but I don’t really feel the yeuk to say much. Sometimes it’s nice to just be quiet.

In lieu of my altiloquent ramblings, I provide you with a list of what I’ve been busy with for the last month or so, along with some photographs.

-chicken skeleton

-a beautiful trip to Eerste Rivier with Mapache

-isiXhosa orals. Awu, kunzima!

-SCUBA pool sessions (plus two ocean dives so far!) 

-Penguin care and keeping

-Biochemistry practicals [preparing our ELISA (Enzyme-linked immunosorbency assay) plate with Walid]

-an amazing conservation biology trip, of which I have much less reticence towards but do not have the energy to type everything out now. More will come, I promise. 

Reticence is something I have struggled with for years. It takes effort to make a voice heard. No one likes a know-it-all and it is presumptuous to think I know and understand all that is going on. I would rather abstain from speaking out of turn or presenting a false window based on limited information.