Day 11: Hump Day

Hey all!

It's another beautiful day here in Addis Ababa. It was also so awesome to sleep in a bit today. I woke up around 6 am, 7 am, and 8 am when my alarm clock was set for 8:30. I got out of bed at 8 anyway because I was awake. Both of us went down for breakfast around 9:30 where I had toast with apricot jam and mini pankcakes with syrup. After that, we met up with Nardos and we finally have our stipend situation straightened out! We were told that we should be receiving those today!

At 11, we met with Dr. Jean Hanson who showed us a video about ILRI, the Genebank, and the people that are being helped. Once the video finished, she took us and one other graduate student on a tour of the actual GeneBank. That place was so, so, so cool. The technology is so very advanced and just the idea of it is ingenious. They take the seeds, dry them out to a very specific moisture level and then seal them so they retain that level. Once the seeds are sealed they are put in 'cool rooms' with specific rows, columns, and package numbers. The seeds in these cool rooms are said to last around 20-30 years. Recently though, some seeds have surpassed that length of time and are still highly viable. They have barcodes put on the package as well so they can be easily tracked within a computer system. Dr. Hanson shared that they are trying to move everything to an online system like tablets and not deal with papers or computers so much. She then showed us the 'deep-freezing' coolers. The seeds in those special coolers are said to last 50-60 years or more! The seeds eventually get distributed to worldwide organizations and some even to farmers. Dr. Hanson said that technically, the GeneBank is the worlds and ILRI simply houses it and they take care of those seeds.

Once we finished up touring that, Dr. Jean Hanson, the graduate student (I'm not sure of her name), and one of Dr. Hanson's colleagues plus Hannah and I all went out to lunch at the cafeteria. I got the baked pasta with of course 'chips' (fries). We walked back to Sululta afterwards and Dr. Hanson told us that if we ever need anything we would know where to find her. Also, if we were ever to get bored she would help us with that as well. She is very much an amazing lady and I hope in the following weeks while I am here, that I get to work with her.

(Half-eaten baked pasta and chips)

At 3:30, we had a skype call with the ILRI director in Nairobi (Nardos' supervisor). She just wanted to check in with us for our so-far experience. After the call, we were notified that our stipend checks were ready for us. We went down to finance, picked them up, and went to the bank to cash them. It was only 13,000+ birr (😂). I promise, I am not carrying all of it around! Soon, Hannah and I will go dinner. Neither of us are super hungry so we're going to share a plate. 

Tomorrow is the big day! We are going to the Debre Zeit research farm. I am super, super excited! I'll finally know what I am doing for my project! I am so pumped! Until next time!