On
Monday I really had to do my laundry, so I did. Go figure. Laundry is always a
process but it was difficult this time because the wind was blowing so it was a
struggle to get my clothes to stay on the line to dry. Most people would tell
you to use clothespins but this is Africa! I haven’t bought any clothespins
yet. So after I finally got all of my clothes on the line I took my bucket back
inside and when I came back out, two of my shirts had already fallen off and
how I have to rinse them off again. So I decided it was a losing battle and
brought all of my clothes into my room to dry in there. It just took three
times as long but nothing else got dirty so we’ll call that a win. Have you
ever tried to hang clothes in a room with next to no furniture? You have to get
pretty creative. Fortunately I have been in this situation before and had some
idea. I hung clothes on my curtain, window, mosquito net, bet, chair and
suitcase. That may sound like lots of places but it’s really not that much space
especially since I washed all of my shirts so some got put in places where they
would kind of dry until the really good drying places opened up again.
We went
to Lilongwe yesterday to meet with some people from Feed the Children. They
work with Nuskin to distribute Vitameal. They also teach nutrition classes specifically
to help young children and some other stuff. They do some good things. After
the meeting we shopped until we dropped. We got everything we needed for our research
this week and some other stuff just for fun such as some Thai sweet chili
potato chips that we are slowly becoming addicted to here. Finally, after we
got everything and were sure we didn’t need anything else, we came back to
SAFI.
When we
came back we had dinner and got right to work to get ready for our run this week.
We pretreat our sweet potato slices with four different brines that also kind
of pre-dry them by osmosis. It’s a really cool idea. We wanted to get them
ready the night before so we could be faster in the morning when we had to get everything
else ready which turned out to be a wonderful idea. While I was working on the
brines, Whitney was emailing and hanging out while Emily was working on the
budget and stirring the brines for me. This was all in the same room that the
stupid bugs were swarming that one night and I couldn’t get it because I hate
them so much but they didn’t show up until after we were inside last night. It
was like a horror movie. Everything we peaceful and quiet but then you’d hear
something hit the window, then something else and before you know it, it sounds
like a hail storm! The bugs were attacking! Fortunately the windows were
closed. Unfortunately, the windows don’t close very tightly so the bugs could
still get in single file and that’s exactly what they did. Once one got in,
Whitney and Emily would go on the attack and I tried not to get in the way.
Whitney and Emily figured out a really great way to get them because they fly like
they’re always dizzy. So the best way to get them is to turn off the light
until they get tired of flying and then they land. Then you turn the light back
on, find them on the floor and smash them! Whitney was really good at it and we
had a little pile of dead bugs by the end of the night. I even got a couple
after the brines were finished and Whitney left.
This
morning we had to do the real work. This is the third time we’ve done a run of sweet
potatoes but we have yet to get it all done before lunch. Today we forgot to put
one treatment in to soak so that put us back a ton. Right now the limiting
factor is the one scale we have and it doesn’t always like to work with us but
we figured out how to make it work anyway so we will actually get useful data
this time.
After
we finally got everything drying some kids from the neighboring village came to
sell us some cakes. John wanted to try some and so he bought some for all of
us. They were like scones. They were good. The kids were funny because they were
older and liked to laugh at the way we look, which is fine I think we’re all
used to it at this point. We told them our names and seriously, the second time
they said them, my name turned into Lonny. People here really just can’t get my
name very well so I’m thinking about changing it. The options right now are
Lee, Lynn and Sonya.
When we
finally got everything cleaned up, we got a much anticipated break. The first
thing I did was see if the water in the shower was working. We also had a break
before lunch while the treatments were soaking. I tried to take a shower then
too. I checked the water to make sure it was working and it was! So I got all
ready and by the time I was back in the shower, it wasn’t working again so I
had to do the walk of disappointment back to my room and put my clothes back
on. However, after lunch I was determined to get it done. The water was working
so I knew I could probably at least wash my hair so I did and then the water
was starting to run out but I finished anyway. Eventually the water did run out
on my so I just rinsed off with water from a bucket and relished being clean.
Speaking
of showers, Dr. Steele left us a solar shower in case we wanted to do the work
for a warm shower. So I think it was last week when I was taking a shower and
only got halfway. I was frustrated so I decided to try out the solar shower just
for the sake of knowing I could finish my shower. So I pulled it out and filled
it up with as much water as I could get out of the sink and laid it outside to
warm up. I came back a few hours later and it was gone! I thought I was going
crazy but nobody knew where it was so I just figured it was gone for good. About
a week later, Akim (our driver) told us that he found some kids playing with
it. He said that the kids thought we didn’t want it because we left it outside
but Akim took it back so he could give it to us. We like Akim, maybe he can
find our missing data logger too.
I have crazy eyes because I'm a witch with my brew.
These are the evil bugs but we haven't been able to find a name for them. Nobody knows what they're called
No comments:
Post a Comment