And to our left we have a mosque built in 1525

I would say that I've been busy and that is responsible for me delayed posting; however, the truth is that I've been watching a lot of The West Wing and sleeping.

Work: Since my last post, I've continued counting CCNs and helping Elfinesh when she needs it. I finished counting my samples today and started washing new ones. (The cycle continues!) Gul is currently in Antalya, a coastal town on the Mediterranean Sea, with her husband and his family. Amer is either planning, traveling or already in Palestine (the West Bank NOT Gaza) for the holiday and his brother's wedding later in August. Either way, I saw Amer for the last time before I leave for America which is kind of sad, but I know he is only an email away. For those of you wondering about the holiday it is called Eid al-Fitr or Ramazan Bayrami. It celebrates the breaking of the fast from Ramadan and is a three day long celebration. Although the Institute is closed for the three days (Monday-Wednesday), Elfinesh, Cui and I have been working.

Before Gul left, however, I was able to set up my "own" experiment regarding CCNs. I inoculated 14 varieties of wheat to test their resistance to CCNs. I also inoculated 4 varieties with known resistance and susceptibility to serve as checks. My plants will be ready by the end of September and Gul will email me the results.

Not work: The working over Eid is alright. None of us are Muslim and we didn't feast during Ramadan. We've been celebrating in our own ways though by cooking and going into town. On Saturday Elfinesh made a traditional Ethiopian dish called Doro Wot. Doro Wot is simply chicken and sauce but is oh-so delicious. We cut up a whole chicken and saved have for soup we are going to make later and baked half for the Doro Wot. As the chicken baked, I made the sauce from tomato paste, onions, garlic and an Ethiopian pepper. The sauce cooked for quite some time. Once all was done we combined everything and ate it with bread.

The next day, after the food from the night before had settled, we went to town to take advantage of the holiday sales. I got a majority of my gifts for people back home during this time as well as some stuff for myself. I have to say, I rather enjoy shopping in Turkey. Back home I loath it, but here it is--dare I say?--fun.

I hate to say "not much is going on" because I am in a foreign country where quite a bit is happening. I'll add quickly that my title refers to a mosque I was able to see when Zafer, a Doctor from another part of the Institute, took me to town to do some site-seeing. It was a remarkable moment and one that I will remember for some time.

The workers come back to work tomorrow and Gul comes on Monday. I'm purposefully refraining from saying how much time I have left because it serves as a reminder that this is only temporary and I can't stay forever. So, I have a finite amount of time left here that shall remain unsaid.

The Field Trip (Pun definitely intended)

Today started out like the last few days have. Get to the lab, make coffee, count nematodes, gag at the smell of rotting debris in stale water. However, around 11 a.m. EEST I asked Gul what if we had any plans for the upcoming holiday--the three-day celebration for the end of Ramadan. She said she would talk to Amer to plan something for Cui, Elfinesh and I to do (I'll come back to this later). I went back to counting and Amer walks into the lab. This is unusual because he lives/works in Ankara about four hours away. We chat about my work and how I've been and then he sets off to find Gul and Cui. I continue counting until I'm interrupted by Gul about 15 minutes later. I'm told I should finish the slide I am on and then grab a hat. I do so and hop in Amer's car with Gul and Cui. 

We venture through town and end up in some research fields just outside Eskisehir to the northeast (the institute I'm staying at is on the outside to the southwest of town). Cui and I are given brown paper bags and told to collect soil samples from the roots of the wheat plants. So, I zig-zag through the field ripping up the wheat plants and shaking the soil into the bag. We continue this for several more fields in the area and then hop back into the car. 

Next comes the exciting part. In order to get a random sample, Amer stops the car on the side of a fairly busy road next to a wheat field and we hop out and collect our samples. Now, these fields aren't owned by CIMMYT nor did anyone ask the land owner about sampling there. We simply stopped the car, collected our samples and went on our way. After collecting on the north side, Gul and Amer decided to get some more from south of town. We drove like we were going back to the institute but kept heading south instead of turning west when the time came. 

By this point it was around two and Gul mentioned a restaurant nearby. I was a little shocked because Gul and Amer are fasting for Ramadan. We ended up stopping and eating at this beautiful place in a park. It was along a creek that had been blocked in order to divert water for irrigation. It surrounded by tall conifers and smelled of pine and cool water. We had grilled meat that was very Turkish. Gul ate with us but Amer did not. 

Afterwards, we kept going south and collecting samples in the same fashion. We ended up in a town called Kutahya which is apparently famous for their porcelain and China. I made some purchases for my family and friends and we headed back to Eskisehir. All-in-all it was a very nice break from the regular lab routine that had developed over the last few weeks.While in the car, Amer mentioned that I might be the only intern to stay in Turkey during the entire month of Ramadan. For me it is okay--it is a nice experience and Elfinesh is a wonderful cook. 

Speaking of cooking, Elfinesh, Cui and I made an amazing pizza on Sunday night. I made the crust and Elfinesh made the sauce out of fresh tomato paste with some thyme, oregano and Ethiopian spices. The sauce was beyond amazing. I asked for some of the spice so that I can bring it back home and try it there. 

Back to the beginning, I'm still not sure what I will be doing for the holiday but Amer is thinking about it tonight and will get back to Cui, Elfinesh and I tomorrow. I am praying for a beach vacation in Antalya. I know I lied above when I said "one more thing," but I'm over it.

One of the field sampling sites.

The best pizza ever, hands down, no competition. 

Me getting all up in that soil. 

My two outstanding supervisors. Left: Dr. Gul (the "u" should have two dots above it) Erginbas Orokci. Right: Dr. Abdelfattah "Amer" Dababat. I would like to add that they look flawless and I'm sure woke up like that. 

Me with my bag o' soil and my two amazing supervisors. 

 

Where are you from? *America* Oh, America! Like New York? Miami? L.A.? *No, Iowa* (Blank Stare) *It's in the middle of the country.* Oh

I know I haven't posted in a while. Due to a lack of interesting stuff, unreliable internet and my inability to think of a whitey title, I've been putting off updating my blog. 

Work:

This week I've mainly been counting Cereal Cyst Nematodes. I take a small bottle of debris from soil, pour it on a slide that has raised edges that make it look like a maze and then count the number of lemon/popcorn looking things (those would be the cysts). It can be very tiresome. Gul asked me if something was wrong with my eyes because they were all red. If you've been around me long enough you know that sometimes they just get that way. Once in a while they will just look like I smoked a lot of weed; however, rest assured that I've never smoked pot, sometimes I just look like I do. When I wasn't counting nematodes, I was helping Gul and Elfinesh score wheat for Crown Rot. It took about a day and a half to score all of the plants to see if the strain of Fusarium was pathogenic or not. 

While Gul and Elfinesh were scoring, Amer came in with Elfinesh's supervisor from Ankara University. His name is Aziz and as it turns out he's actually been to Marshalltown. He did not respond like most of the people here do as I noted in my title. When I said Iowa he asked where. When I responded he said, "Oh yeah that is a nice small town." I was shocked to say the least. He got his Ph.D. from Iowa State and lived there for three years. He said I was very smart to go into Agronomy as they have an outstanding department. It was nice to meet someone from Turkey who has been in Marshalltown. 

Not work:

Other than work, I've basically been doing the same things. I didn't get to run as much this week because it rained two afternoons. We had internet in the guest house for one day. Elfinesh and I think it only comes on once every two weeks. We finally got drinking water on Tuesday after not having it since Friday. It sounds like a big deal but I had milk and juice and we could boil water. I was, however, very relieved when the jugs were full on Tuesday morning. I'd like to add a dream that I had last night. Maybe someone reading out there can let me know what it means. I'm really counting on all of you who took AP Psychology. So, in the dream I was talking with Mrs. Fritzell, Abby and Wynn about Envirothon and I asked how Rihanna was doing. They tell me that she had to be let go because of her work ethic. I was very sad and confused when I woke up. I'm still not sure why Rihanna was on the MHS Whales Envirothon team. Maybe she really likes nature and stuff.

This isn't a lot for having not posted for an entire week but it is all I have right now. I have three weeks left and I'm not sure if I want to leave. I love the Turkish lifestyle and the city of Eskisehir. There are many shops, parks and restaurants in which you can get lost in for an entire day. On a side note (I just remembered and had to share) there is this restaurant that sells a food called Donas. It is like a burrito (finally) but more American. They take a flat bread (kind of like a tortilla) and roll it with chicken, tomatoes, lettuce, FRENCH FRIES, and some spices and a sauce. You can then add sliced pickles and onions. It was, well I would have cried if I wasn't in public, that is how good it was. 

Taman (Okay in Turkish) I'm done with my incoherent ramblings for now.

Doses & Mimosas

To be honest, not much has happened since my last post but I'll update everyone. 

The title, I take great pride in every one of my post titles, is a shout out to my future farming buddy Wynn Tan. She has an outstanding taste in music. Speaking of music, I've never listened to this much music in my life. Everyday I'll open my Spotify and listen to a new playlist. Thankfully Wynn and Abby have also been giving me songs and bands to look into. Both have yet to let me down! (Pressures on)

Over the past week at work, I have been entering data into Excel. It has been tedious but it is important and necessary work. I've made the observation that science is 30 percent experiment and 60 percent excel and 10 percent "Dear God I hope this works." The scores Gul, Amer and I took about the crown rot and my scans of the roots were all entered into their corresponding files. Eighty-nine pages of numbers from one to five and four and a half pages of seven root parameters--quite tiresome. Luckily while I was working I got to listen to music (see above) and NPR (Terry Gross never disappoints). 

In my free time I've been writing, reading, running and watching Sherlock. The writing has surprised me. I've been able to freely write my thoughts and ideas. It is a very freeing feeling to clear your head and see your mind on paper. I am about half-way through the Agatha Christie murder mystery (I think it is the sister-in-law). Since I can't lift weights around here I have to settle for running. It has been freeing to run on the roads that lead into and encircle the fields of wheat. I can start to feel cooped up after a couple days. However, it is down hill at the start and up hill at the end with the wind constantly in your face. "Oh Adam, the wind constantly in your face? surely that is not possible!" You are all wrong because it surely is. 

As for today, I woke up around seven o'clock, as per usual, to find that there was no running water, as per unusual. So, no shower today...yet. 

Here are some of the pictures I promised! 

Elfinesh, Cui and I made a type of fried chicken with potatoes. It was a culinary experiment. We were just going to bake it with the olive oil, onion, garlic and curry sauce but I suggested we bread it. It was unbelievably good. 

Since I know not everyone has Snapchat, here is the selfie I took at the cafe after I got my hair cut. 

Here I am filling 250 grams of soil into dishes. The soil will then be washed to collect and count the number of Cereal Cyst Nematodes in each sample. Notice the unruly hair!

100 grams of soil and five roots from wheat are soaked in water through filter paper here for 72 hours. The water will then be collected and used to count the number of Root Lesion Nematodes in each sample. Amer informed me that in Florida, the University extension charges $25 for each plate to do this test. I set up 160 plates.

As an update to Elfinesh's work, she has found out which strain is most aggressive and is happy with her results! On to the next one!

Judging Wheat: USA 9.5/10, France 9/10, Germany 10/10 and Russia 6.3/10

*Note: The title is supposed to be a joke about the Olympics, NOT about my feelings toward any nation.*

Today was another tiresome day. It didn't help that last night I got Netflix to work--only after downloading a program that makes the website think my computer is in America (thanks Zane)--and stayed up way to late watching the BBC show Sherlock. To say it is addicting is an understatement. Anyway, in the morning Dr. Gul, Elfinesh and I scored the wheat from Elfinesh's experiment. This is the one I mentioned earlier that was growing in the growth room and that I had been watering periodically. Her results look promising! When I find out more I will let you all know what the next step is. 

Around mid-morning Gul and I went out to a make-shift shelter made out of two-by-fours and cardboard behind one of the greenhouses. It was made to keep us in the shade as we scored the wheat. What is scoring wheat you ask? Well, in a nutshell Gul looks at the crown of the wheat--the part just above the roots--and can tell how severe the Fusarium Crown Rot infection is. Gul gives a number from one (healthy) to five (severely infected). A "one" plant would look like normal, healthy wheat. This "one" designation would tell the wheat breeder that this type of wheat is resistant to that particular strain of Fusarium.  A "five" plant on the other hand, would have a honey brown to black root crown. This "five" rating would tell breeders that this type of wheat is susceptible to this strain of Fusarium. So, Gul looked at the wheat, said a number from one to five out loud and I recorded it on the data sheet. Ever now and then she would test me on what I thought the number should be. I got better as time when on. We scored a lot of wheat. I didn't count but it took from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. with an hour break for lunch (or simply rest for those fasting).

This past weekend I had my faith tested. When I first stared telling people about this amazing internship and opportunity they would always say something along the lines of, "Wow! So who is going with you?" or "How many Americans are going?" When I told them it would just be me, by myself, getting on a plane to Turkey and working at an institute I have never visited before nor met anyone from there, they would either stare in disbelief or make some comment about how I was brave, faithful or stupid. I had faith it would all work out, especially after talking to Lisa Fleming and the rest of the World Food Prize staff. I never really saw it as going alone to a country half way across the world. I always saw it as an amazing opportunity and had faith that it would all work out. So far I've been right! So, getting on the airplane and traveling was a piece of cake. The real test came on this past Saturday--the day I got my haircut. Omer, thank Allah for him, picked me up in the afternoon and took me to the city center. We walked a short while and eventually came to a small, and I do mean small, barber shop. After some warm welcomes between Omer and one of the stylists he conveyed to them my situation. Omer asked if I wanted an "American" style and I though "what would be the Turkish perception of an 'American' style?" So, I agreed and sat down in one of the three chairs (I told you it was small). Here is where the faith part comes in. I let a man who didn't speak the same language as me go at my hair with a razor and scissors with only the guidance of the words "American style." It all turned out very well. My hair looked great and Omer said I looked beautiful. 

Afterwards we met up with Elfinesh and Cui (the Ph.D. student from China)  at a cafe. Omer left because he is fasting so the three of us stayed and had tea. We remembered that a World Cup game was going to play soon so we found a place in town that was playing it. I had a nice cup of coffee the best waffles I've ever had. They were covered in a chocolate and raspberry sause with bananas, kiwis, whipped cream and ice cream. For about 10 minutes I didn't care about the game--it was simply me and my waffles. 

Though these posts might make it seem like I am constantly gallivanting about the town and institute, I actually have a lot of down time. In order to past the time I have started reading The Murder of Roger Ackroyed by Agatha Christie. Not sure why I picked it, it just happened to come up on the Kindle page and I thought "why not?" Maybe it sensed that I was also watching Sherlock. I'll be sure to give my thoughts on it later.

That is it for now! I'm going to post some pictures soon!

Twerking Hard or Hardly Twerking

People here in Turkey didn't seem to find that saying as funny as I do. It loses it's appeal when you have to explain it and then eventually just say "it's an American thing," as they shrug and pretend to understand. 

I wasn't going to post today because my work for the past couple days hasn't been interesting--just labor intensive. However, I am going to use my energy to talk about some observations and non-work stuff. It won't be in any order, mainly just things as they pop into my head so bear with me. 

1. When I use the computer at night, I have to go to the building that has most of the offices and many of the labs here at the institute. I share an office room with Elfinesh and any other CIMMYT students/trainees they have. Currently it is just myself and Elfinesh. Anyway, when I post at night I get pretty scared because the lights in the hallway are all motion sensor but you have to be right underneath them for them to turn on. And, when they do they are very weak and only stay on for a couple seconds--not enough time to make it to the next one. Also, the many labs have equipment that cycles on and off so you hear many strange noises. So, the lights and the sounds all culminate into the set of a bad 1970s horror film that takes place in an insane asylum. 

2. The Ph.D. student from China, I don't know how to spell his name yet, speaks in this broken English that Elfinesh, Amer and Gul don't quite understand. I have to translate China-English to Turkish/Arabic/Ethiopian-English. I'm pretty good at it if I do say so myself. *Brushes off shoulder*

3. Tonight I celebrated iftar, the breaking of the Ramadan fast for the day, with Amer, Gul, Elfinesh, Omer, the Ph.D. student from China and Sevil. I had lamb ribs, çorba (soup), lots of water and some bread. The food was especially Turkish. Çay and Turkish coffee followed--hint that is why I'm posting at 12 a.m. local time. 

4. I'm not sure if I've posted this one before, but even if I have it is worth a repost. There is a drink here in Turkey that people love called ayran. It is...wait for it...a type of Greek yogurt mixed with water and...wait for it...salt. It was handed to me under the pseudonym of milk--it is far from milk. The first time I tasted it, I thought the milk had spoiled--God was it sour and bitter at the same time. As the people around me drank an entire liter, I sat there thinking "how am I going to get through these next eight ounces?!" Elfinesh doesn't believe me when I say I hate it. She thinks that if I just keep drinking it and don't think of it as milk then I'll learn to love it. Personally, it taste like dairy that came from a diseased cow and that has been sitting in the hot sun for 72 hours. 

5. I love that they play American music here. I was walking in town and I heard Britney Spears, Miley Cyrus and Robin Thicke within five shops. It is a little reminder of home. 

Alright, that is enough for tonight. I can feel the Turkish coffee wearing off. Happy Independence day from Turkey!

I Must Harvest Wheat for the Motherland

The internet has been spotty over the past couple days so I'll try my best to update everyone about what has happened over the past couple days. 

Ramadan started on Saturday and most people in the lab are fasting. The place where we take lunch has shut down for the month so Elfinesh and I have been cooking. She is quite the cook and thanks to her, Fateh and the many Turkish restaurants, I have yet to have a bad meal. 

Elfinesh explained to me her entire Ph.D. project which is very involved but interesting. I won't go into the detail that she did, but it is very interesting. She spend four months this past winter at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington. I'm mentioning this because after meeting many Ph.D. students and doctors, I've started looking for what I might do after my adventure at Iowa State. It's never too early to start looking. 

Today was a hard day of work. We spend the morning labeling thousands of envelopes, thousands.  In the afternoon we headed out to the greenhouse to harvest the wheat, hence the title. We picked the seeds off about 350+ plants and stuffed them in the envelopes we had labeled earlier. It was incredibly hot but I couldn't complain because the other workers were fasting and couldn't drink water until about 8:30 tonight. 

I'm forgetting a lot but Baklava is waiting along with the USA vs. Belgium World Cup Game. 

Me, harvesting wheat for the motherland.

Since there is no dryer, I had to turn my room into a drying center while watching the World Cup Game. 

*Edited/Updated 2/7/14 6 p.m. Turkey Time*

I have some stories to add that I couldn't get on here before the game yesterday. So, here they are. 

Probably the biggest thing that happened yesterday was one of the stories I left out. Elfinesh and I joined (I would really like to list names but I can hardly pronounce them let alone spell them in their respective languages) a Ph.D. student from China, a woman from Azerbaijan, a man from Turkmenistan and two gentlemen from Turkey for dinner in the city. We were hosted by Dr. Alexey Morgounov, the head of CIMMYT's International Winter Wheat Improvement Program as well as celebrating Dr. Beyhan Akin's birthday. Note: from now on instead of saying the food was great, fantastic, outstanding, etc., I will only say "it was Turkish." So, dinner was Turkish and Alexey and I talked extensively about America, he is from California, my family and school. He suggested that I should come out into the field with him some time soon so I can observe what he and many of the other people at the table do. It was nice to share a meal with so many distinguished scientists from all over the world. At a table of nine, only two or three where from the same country. It was rather beautiful.