Need... caffeine
Monday, June 5th, day 32 - i think after eating mostly rice for a month changing things up with Indian food threw my stomach for an absolute loop. I wasn't hungry for breakfast, i was only able to pick at my lunch, and even my light dinner of mangos and watermelon i only ate the mangos (tbh the watermelon seemed to taste strange?)
Unfortunately, having not gone to breakfast i didn't have any coffee, much to my later regret.
We had our first day of training the group here, at the very large and airy (and echo-y) GNAT Hall. My translators are two experienced beekeepers that were involved in last years training, Mubarak and (Jonas?). Indeed Jonas mentioned he's worked with a queen breeder in California and a beekeeper in Israel. Normally it's an uphill battle to gain the respect of people this experienced but i was glad to get the feeling i already had from last year.
Last year with Mubarak's hives we "split" one, which i hadn't previously thought would be feasible here. I've been teaching it ever since but always in the back of my mind the worry that it hadn't worked. Well he said both parts of the split produced a good crop of honey and they split ten more hives. In addition using my training they'd captured a lot of swarms they otherwise wouldn't have. So even this experienced beekeeper, my training allowed him to significantly increase his number of occupied hives. So that testimony of success really made me feel good.
Jonas took me just next door during a break into a block that looks like a forest (pictured above) where his brother has a bunch of hives. I'm really amazed by the number of trees right in this city.
Unfortunately by afternoon i was absolutely fiending for caffeine but the GNAT Hall restaurant has no caffeinated beverages. It's not hard to buy a flat of coke bottles elsewhere in town, it boggles my mind the restaurant management can't be bothered to get some into stock.
I started to feel so fatigued i wondering if i was getting sick, but i think it was just the lack of caffeine.
The trainees were so quiet at first i thought we'd once again have the problem of no questions, but then when I paused for questions there were plenty, they were just being attentive and well behaved! Stayed right on pacing target finishing the first ("basic bee biology and behavior") PowerPoint by the end of the session and then filling in a ten minutes gap with a video of me going through a hive in Australia.
Then it took an hour and a half to get everything wrapped up, which felt like it took forever in my fatigued state. And mosquitos started eating my feet. Finally got back to the hotel, bought a coke from the hotel store with my last 7 cedis until i manage to change more money, and then crashed out having a nap, waking up just to eat some mangos and go back to sleep.
Now it's 6:20am the next day and I'm definitely gonna have coffee.
Added a small update at the end of last post if you had seen it before that was there.
Unfortunately, having not gone to breakfast i didn't have any coffee, much to my later regret.
We had our first day of training the group here, at the very large and airy (and echo-y) GNAT Hall. My translators are two experienced beekeepers that were involved in last years training, Mubarak and (Jonas?). Indeed Jonas mentioned he's worked with a queen breeder in California and a beekeeper in Israel. Normally it's an uphill battle to gain the respect of people this experienced but i was glad to get the feeling i already had from last year.
Last year with Mubarak's hives we "split" one, which i hadn't previously thought would be feasible here. I've been teaching it ever since but always in the back of my mind the worry that it hadn't worked. Well he said both parts of the split produced a good crop of honey and they split ten more hives. In addition using my training they'd captured a lot of swarms they otherwise wouldn't have. So even this experienced beekeeper, my training allowed him to significantly increase his number of occupied hives. So that testimony of success really made me feel good.
Jonas took me just next door during a break into a block that looks like a forest (pictured above) where his brother has a bunch of hives. I'm really amazed by the number of trees right in this city.
Unfortunately by afternoon i was absolutely fiending for caffeine but the GNAT Hall restaurant has no caffeinated beverages. It's not hard to buy a flat of coke bottles elsewhere in town, it boggles my mind the restaurant management can't be bothered to get some into stock.
I started to feel so fatigued i wondering if i was getting sick, but i think it was just the lack of caffeine.
The trainees were so quiet at first i thought we'd once again have the problem of no questions, but then when I paused for questions there were plenty, they were just being attentive and well behaved! Stayed right on pacing target finishing the first ("basic bee biology and behavior") PowerPoint by the end of the session and then filling in a ten minutes gap with a video of me going through a hive in Australia.
Then it took an hour and a half to get everything wrapped up, which felt like it took forever in my fatigued state. And mosquitos started eating my feet. Finally got back to the hotel, bought a coke from the hotel store with my last 7 cedis until i manage to change more money, and then crashed out having a nap, waking up just to eat some mangos and go back to sleep.
Now it's 6:20am the next day and I'm definitely gonna have coffee.
Added a small update at the end of last post if you had seen it before that was there.