Day 31: Got Milk?

Hello friends!

Today was a nice day to sleep in just a little, like 7:30 am. To get my bananas eaten up that I had gotten from Tigist, I had one of those and some apple juice. Afterwards, Hannah and I went to meet Dr. Jean so she could look at the data we had collected so-far and see where the gaps are. She called it our halfway check-in. I'm glad she's able to help us understand what we have done so far and challenge us with even more questions.

Right before we left for lunch, Dr. Jean told us that we would be going to do another market survey as well as visit a milk processing plant in a town north of Addis. She helped us prepare some questions and then we all went to lunch. I love being apart of the forages people, all 8 of us sat at a table together to have lunch. I had the lasagna and potatoes. After lunch, Hannah and I went to change into our rubber boots in case it was muddy and then we headed out with our driver and translator. We drove all the way up to town way up in the mountains (over 9,000 ft elevation) and arrived in Sululta (the genetics building is named after this town). It wasn't market day so we went to grain shops and a processing mill to do our market survey. To end out our time there, we stopped at Elemtu Dairy Processing Plant. It was really really cool to see. They were not working unfortunately but we still got to see the equipment. I sat down with one of the workers and asked some questions. He told me that they buy milk from over 10,000 farmers. That is a lot of milk! On our way out, our translator actually bought us some yoghurt! Before we left for Sululta, Dr. Jean said how much she loved their yoghurt so we made sure to get her a couple cups.

The drive out there was so beautiful! I honestly love going way up into the mountains. The weather is cool and the scenery is gorgeous!

Now, tell me that isn't beautiful. Tomorrow we go back to Debre Zeit for even more farm visits and surveys. I'm hoping to get most of the visits done before the last full week we are here. This weekend, Dr. Tadelle said that we were going to eastern Ethiopia for the weekend to see the animals out there. That should be really fun! Time is really going by fast! 3.5 weeks left!

Day 30: Just a beef kid in dairy world

Hello everyone!

So far, today has been great! Mikhel, our driver, came to pick us up at 7:30 to go to Debre Zeit. We arrived at the research center there and Hannah got started into her chicken weighing. I was the assistant who wrote down the weights while she actually weighed the birds. After that, we headed out to meet Mohammed.

Mohammed had a meeting in the morning, so it ended being about an hour and fifteen minutes later when he was ready to go. It sucked waiting, but I did get a new high score on my game! When Mohammed finally came out, we went to Tilahun Kopessa. This was a small farm but dairy was their main business so they had 15 dairy cows. The whole family was apart of the business and while I was asking questions, everyone stood around us. It was kind of funny to see that they were so interested in what I was doing though they could not understand me. When we went out to see the cows, there was one that they claimed was of the Jersey breed. Mohammed and I both chuckled because it looked very much like a Holstein. Also, my photographer - Hannah - had some fun while I asked questions.

  (The so called Jersey)

The next two farms we visited were right next to each other. They both had 19 head of cattle. I was not able to get pictures of these cows because they were worried about biosecurity. Even though I am not the one that is communicating directly with these farmers, I love to talk about their management practices and see how those practices really reflect on their milk production. There is a lot that goes in not only beef cattle but dairy cattle as well. As one that has grown up entirely with beef it's interesting to compare the two, especially because it is in a developing country. I am actually looking forward to writing my 15-22 page research paper for the World Food Prize. It'll be neat to put my own work in to words. 

For the rest of the day, I will enter data into my table and afterwards I will go to the gym. I am looking forward to relaxing the rest of the day!

Day 29: Friends

Hi everyone!

Today was such a nice day! The weather was perfect, around 72-75 degrees all day. This morning, Hannah and I went to church with Tigist and her daughter who's 16. It was a different pastor this morning because the last one had already made his trip back to Texas, where he was originally from. The sermon was about fully admitting your sins and coming to christ. It was a very nice service, like always.

Afterwards, Tigist took us all out to coffee and some breakfast. I had a cappuccino and cinnamon roll. It was really good. Tigist also insisted on getting us some bananas (about 13) and apple juice to help keep us healthy. She's such a great person and really is like a mother.

We returned just in time to change clothes and head over to the Zebu to meet Dr. Jean's husband. He's a retired tennis player and a just recently retired coach from the Zebu club. He met us, the South African student working on her masters, and a colleague of Dr. Jeans' that works at CIMMYT in Mexico but he has worked all over the world (including ILRI). He travelled over to their home about 15 minutes from ILRI. It was a big and beautiful home, gated of course. It was similar to a modern American home in my opinion. We sat out on the terrace, chatting and waiting for their Ethiopian-American friends to arrive. When they did arrive, we eventually went up to the second floor where the living room, kitchen, and dining area was. Dr. Jean had made lasagna, salad, and coleslaw. It was really good (I was happy that it wasn't injera)! We chatted some more over lunch and Samson, the Ethiopian that lives in LA, began to tell us how awesome he thought it was that Hannah and I were there on internship. He said he was proud of us and wanted his daughters to be like us when they got older. It made me feel really good that someone, especially coming from Ethiopia himself, saw the importance of this internship. Samson and his wife had another engagement so they took off but, Ky (CIMMYT), Kealeboga (Master Student), Hannah and I stayed for about another hour or two and continued talking. The conversation ranged from tennis, college, travels they have taken, jobs, and other colleagues. I enjoy just listening to them talk though I may not know what they are talking about. I am very glad the Dr. Jean invited us all to have lunch with them at their home. 

Her husband, Birhanu, dropped us off at the Zebu and we all headed back to our hostels. Birhanu went to the Zebu to watch the Wimbledon Tennis Championships. The rest of the day, Hannah and I will probably take a nap and get some dinner later. Tomorrow, we are going back to Debre Zeit to get chicken data and visit more farmers. 

Until next time!

Day 27 & 28: Firinge!

Good morning!

Day 27
I was going to write about yesterday but it ended up being later than I expected. But anywho, yesterday after breakfast Hannah and I met with Dr. Hanson to see what we would do today. Hannah and I both suspected that we would be analyzing data yet. But, we got there and Dr. Hanson wanted us to do market surveys! She helped us prepare some questions and what kind of things we should take a look at while we were at the market. She rounded us up a driver, who had very good english might I add, and a gene bank worker who knew the way around markets. Hannah and I jumped in the jeep (it was actually a Land Cruiser) and away we went.

Our first stop was at rural town not too far from Addis. Unfortunately, it was not market day so we went to a small mill that was grinding different feed ingredients. They had wheat, barely, and teff. With a few different varieties and qualities of each. We asked for the cost per kilogram and per quintal (100 kg). Once we had the data from the mill, we went next door to a chicken farmer. Hannah was able to survey him on his feed and farming for her research. When we finished up in that small town, we went back into Addis. There was actually a very large cattle market going on. But, because it had rained almost all night and most of the morning, it was so incredibly muddy. We didn't even dare go down the hill to actual market. So instead, we stayed up by the railing and watched from afar and we even pet a few Zebu that were up by the railing. The largeness of this cattle market was due to Wednesday's and Friday's being fasting days for Orthodox Christians. Cultural knowledge: Though they do not eat animal products on these fasting days, they would by the cattle for the next day. Another thing with the beef market is interesting. A lot of meat stands will have either a red cross or a moon and a star on the outside. The cross stands for a christian meat stand and the moon with the star stand for a muslim stand. The only difference is when the bull/steer is slaughtered a difference in prayers is said over the animal. So the meat can be either christian or muslim. At this same cattle market, when we were walking down the railing to get a better look at what was happening a group of small boys were laughing and saying "Firinge! Firinge!". Which in Amharic, it means foreigner. I couldn't help myself but laugh and they began to laugh even more when I did. Once we agreed that there was no data to be found for us at this market, we got back into the car and went back to ILRI for lunch.

 

At lunch with Dr. Hanson, we talked about our morning and what our afternoon was going to look like. At 2 pm, the same guys from the morning, came to pick us up and take us to a town west of Addis. It was about an hour and half drive. But, it was super pretty out there. Like, 'the real' Ethiopia. The town we went to was called Holetta and they too did not have market day today. So, we went into different shops that sold feed ingredients and got prices. While we were there, another group of boys followed us around for a bit saying 'Money! Money!'. Hannah and I just laughed. They were also playing with bull-whips. Hannah gave it go but couldn't get the snap down quite right. It was still fun. The first shop we went to, there was man that began to follow us as well. He asked us how we were then began to speak in Amharic to our driver and translator. Once we got back in the car when we finished, the driver told us that the man said we were from the government and were collecting taxes. He also said that the government paid for white people and that the store sales people should not tell us the correct prices for these items. Because we didn't know what was going on at the time, it was pretty funny laugh about later. We drove back to Addis and stopped at market that went on everyday. Shola Market. It was so incredibly big and one could very easily get lost. But, we followed the translator and found someone selling eggs and chickens for Hannah as well as someone selling grains. They had one of everything! It was super cool to see and we were able to get really good data. We finished up and headed back to ILRI. We talked to Dr. Hanson about our day and she was glad that we were able to get solid data on a variety of feed ingredients. 

(There's actually restaurant in this plane.)

Later that night, Tigist was at the Zebu and wanted to take us out to dinner. We went to the Chicken Hut and yes, I had a cheeseburger at a chicken place. It was very good! I also tried pineapple Fanta, it's for sure a new favorite. We talked about our projects, more comparisons to the U.S., and just life in general. We got back just in time for me to fill out my laundry sheet, shower and get to bed. It was a very busy day but it was so fun!

Day 28

Today, Hannah and I don't have much planned. Dr. Hanson wants Hannah to go to a market the sells eggs and dressed chickens to look at the prices. We also want to visit a brand new mall that's been built not far from ILRI. We plan to go out once the rain lets up (if it does). As for tomorrow, we are going to church with Tigist and after Dr. Hanson has invited us to lunch with her, her husband, as well as some of their friends originally from Ethiopia that live in the U.S. It should be a fun day and I'm looking forward to it!

Day 26: A little data & A little culture

G'day friends!

This morning, Hannah and I met for breakfast at a little bit later time so we could sleep in a bit. I had a piece of banana bread, strawberries, and an omelette. Afterwards, we headed to the genetics building. On our way over we here this tapping on the glass coming from one of the forage offices. It was Dr. Hanson. She was waving profusely and smiling. We went to her office and talked about our experiences yesterday while at the farms. She challenged us with more questions and gave us some more food for thought on our topics.

She sent us over to our desks that she has given us to work at on the first floor (the forages and gene bank floor). We entered in the answers and data from our surveys to our excel sheets and started to analyze the data. By the time we finished with that, it was lunch time already.

Dr. Hanson told us that the almost the whole forage office was going to a 'baby shower'. One of their colleagues wife had just had a baby boy about two weeks ago. This was their second child. We all walked over to their house on campus, together. In Ethiopia they have a celebration and get together after the baby the baby is born. Dr. Hanson and we were thinking it was due to the possibilities of problems that could happen especially back in the day with a lack of doctors or help. Dr. Hanson also shared that normally the women spend 1-2 months at home with the new baby. At the celebration, they had food, a traditional coffee ceremony, and a blessing for the mother. The food was very traditional and being that the colleague is from southern Ethiopia, the food choices were from that region as well. We had bread and false banana (a rubbery, flat piece of root from a banana tree that does not produce bananas) that were the 'scoops' for the kitfo or minced meat with spice, cottage cheese and cottage cheese with spinach or herbs (it is not like the cottage cheese that we know!). There was also a food made of barely flour with butter and hot pepper in the center called genfo. This dish is only served after a baby is a born. The guests eat it but after everyone eats, the women have a blessing of a single dish of genfo then for however many more children the mother wants, the women serve her a scoop of the genfo. Then a few people say some words of wisdom for the family and the father opens the gifts.

It was very cool to see a traditional get together and try some more traditional food. Although it may not be my favorite, I can at least say that I tried! The parents were also so kind in welcoming us all into their home to celebrate the birth of their new child. I enjoy being able to experience all these new things and meet these people.

Right now, Hannah and I back at our desks continuing on our data and questions. Once we are finished up here around 4 o'clock or so we go back to our hostel's and relax and get some dinner later on. Currently, we are unsure of what we are doing for tomorrow. Dr. Tadelle is supposed to return sometime today and hopefully give us some insight as to what we should be doing tomorrow. We will have to see, tomorrow!

Ciao!