Change of Plans - A Quiet Day

It was a relatively quiet day today. I had planned to help with the honey process today, but the lady in charge didn't feel well, so it has been pushed to tomorrow. I will tell you all about it then!

Dr. Raina (my head supervisor) came down to visit me today. He asked me how my project was doing. I told him we were still in the trial and error stage, but that it was coming along and I was confident it would do well. He seemed very pleased with this, and mentioned that is why I was chosen to do this study. Since I am already involved in bees back home, he knew I would understand the importance here and be invested in my work. He also invited me to dinner with him and his wife sometime next week.

I decided to go for a run today, and as I was walking out of the guest center, Dr. Raina saw me and offered to show me the on campus gym. Right now it is more of a studio, but there is a personal trainer that has a class Tuesdays and Thursdays. I’m not sure if I will go yet or not…. Maybe after some more running and in better shape… no need to embarrass myself.

Running was nice though. I only did 3 laps of the campus (which was only about 20 minutes) but it still felt nice to do something. While running I saw a crane. I didn't even know Kenya had cranes! I was only a few feet away from it when it took off, then all of a sudden there were 5 giant birds in the air going nuts! Squawking away… They came up from the field I was running by, but it still made me jump….

Next week I will be heading out to Kakamega forest for a day or two. While there, I will see hundreds of hives of stingless bees. These bees are raised by the locals there. Icipe helped the farmers there set up the hives, train them on beekeeping and honey processing, and supply them with any equipment or money they may need. The farmers harvest and profit is all their own. I am excited to be able to maybe speak with some of the farmers there. Going with me with be Dr. Raina, my mentor Kiatoko, one of the female technicians, and also a reporter guy who wants to tag along for his own project. It will definitely be a time that I take LOTS of pictures.

Also, before I end, I would just like to let you all know that it was a nice sunny 64 degrees here today. And while I am wearing a light jacket and capris, everybody else is wearing sweaters, scarves, and coats. I personally am enjoying this weather very much.

I’ll keep you updated and I hope you are enjoying my posts!