SATELLITE-TRACKmG PROGRAM — HAYES 331 



went on arclieological and other field trips with their husbands, learned 

 the local language, and by such means filled their days with activity. 



No less a range of response occurred among the observers themselves. 

 Some could hardly wait to return to the United States. Others, work- 

 ing under the happiest of circumstances for themselves, flourished 

 and gained a new kind of education that perhaps would not in those 

 years have been possible in any other way. 



As individuals and as families, they learned that entertainment 

 could come without mechanical means, such as radio and TV. The 

 emphasis was on participation. One could not in this situation be a 

 passive individual. He had to take part in the life going on around 

 him if he himself wished to enjoy life. It was, in the words of one 

 observer, "a return to fundamental human relationships." 



It could be, and for many was, in every respect a broadening and 

 fascinating experience. The observers and their families began to 

 think "globally." There developed the notion that the world was full 

 of people not unlike themselves. For in spite of differences, the 

 similarities between observers and nationals were overwhelming. And 

 even the differences became less and less as the language barrier was 

 surmounted. 



Perhaps what had to be learned was best summarized in a brief 

 essay that Paul Wankowicz wrote while in Iran : 



Persia is a country of melons. Tliey come in all sizes, shapes, and colors, and 

 the supply seems almost inexhaustible. 



In Iran, as in the United States, the problem remains the same. The cold, 

 silent outside of the melon tells very little of what you will find inside. 



The most common method of determining whether a melon is ripe is the 

 thump system, which entails gently thumping it with your knuckles. If the 

 thump is hollow and resounding the melon is good. If it is hard, with a bell- 

 like sound, then the melon is green. And, of course, if your fingers sink into it, 

 the melon is rotten. Melons tend, however, to vary greatly in their thump 

 quality. 



The next method depends on the structural quality of the shell. If you gently 

 squash the melon in the middle it will elongate slightly so that you can feel 

 its springiness. You possibly can develop a feel for the tensile strength of the 

 outside and the compression that the seeds and pith will take on the inside, as 

 well as of the stiffness of the meat between. Of course, slightly later you 

 discover that melons vary according to the region in which they were grown. 

 The melons from villages that skimp on water or have lazy jube diggers tend 

 toward a harder inside. So the tensile-strength analysis does not yield 

 thoroughly satisfactory results. 



For the next step, you decide that the condition of the melon can be deter- 

 mined from the little grey patch on the bottom, which has continually rested on 

 the ground. This patch tends to be slightly softer than the rest of the melon 

 because of the moisture that it has picked up from the ground, and the shade 

 in which it has been kept as the melon ripened. If it is too soft the melon is 

 probably over-ripe. If it is too hard, moisture of the ground hasn't had time 

 to work on it, and the melon is probably unripe. But when you have found one 



