All Work and No Play

This is now the end of the first week. Only seven left!! Where is the time going?! 

On Friday Elfinesh and I worked from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m. setting up her experiment. I placed pre-germinated seeds on wet paper towels as she inoculated them with a specific amount of spores. The amount of spores was determined and calculated in our previous days. Once she inoculated the seeds, I rolled them up and put them in tubes of water. We repeated this process for two experiments, three trials each, for 52 variables. A total of 312 times plus some controls of course. These were then randomized and put in the growth chamber. By the end of the day, Elfinesh and I a were "consumed" as Fateh would say. 

Today we rested. I slept rather late and then walked around the institute. Elfinesh corrected me when I kept calling it CIMMYT because CIMMYT only works in a couple of the labs. The entire campus is owned and operated by the Republic of Turkey Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock. Since Elfinesh and Fateh had cooked the nights before, it was my turn to be chef. So, I went into town and bought supplies to make Mac and Cheese. Easy, right? I had the ingredients pre-translated and written down so all I had to do was point. Once I got into the market I was pretty overwhelmed by the different options. I knew I needed milk (süt) but there were so many types! What is whole, what is 2%? Do they even do that here?! I had been fooled once before by "milk" that turned out to be Greek yogurt mixed with water and I was not about to make that mistake again. In the end I left it up to chance. Now onto cheese. I needed cheddar and when I went to the counter I took out my paper and pointed. With some hand gestures and my faith in the Lord I got the cheese. They didn't have the blocked cheese or shredded--only pre-sliced, so I had to make due. The real find of the day came when I was about ready to leave. A passing thought of "wow, I could go for some popcorn right now," entered my head. Then, as if by divine chance, a bag of maize with popped popcorn on the label. Without thought I snatched the bag and went to pay. (On a side note, this was my second or third time in the this market so the check-out person new just to point to the numbers for how much I owed.)

After a short minibus ride home, I started preparing the food. Fateh joined me and started cooking a type of lentil soup. So there we were, soup, cheese and pasta cooking on three out of the four burners in a small (almost make-shift) kitchen. Fateh is an excellent cook and knows a lot about Middle Easter/Mediterranean food. Myself, on the other hand, was ridding the struggle bus. Overall it turned out alright. I'd give it a 6/10 but Fateh and Elfinesh liked it and Elfinesh even asked for the recipe. 

Tomorrow, Sunday, I will help Fateh in the lab. He is counting nematodes and only has a short amount of time before he has to go back to Belgium. In the afternoon we are going to a different part of town and may even have a BBQ--some much needed "play." 

As for now, I am well fed, healthy and enjoying life.

The tubes that contain the germinated wheat seeds and are inoculated with .5 mL of the spore solution. Elfinesh is in the upper left corner. 

The CIMMYT office in Ankara. Amer's daughter Luna is standing beside me. 

Amer's son, Ahmad.

Amer and I. (Photo by Ahmad)

The Eskişehir city center.

Preparing slides to determine the amount of spores per mL.  

There is a river that flows through Eskişehir with a lock and dam system that is pretty neat.

The final product of a long day's work! The plastic is to keep moisture in so the spores can grow and do their thing--causing crown root rot.