So, I’ve decided to stagger my writings a bit, just so I don’t have a bunch of entries that all say “same old same old”. I’ll still write several times a week and if something important happens though.
Yesterday we spent a while labeling and staking over 200 tomato plants. We also cleaned out a growth chamber and turned off its cooling system to kill any leftover bugs. A little time was spent cleaning and reorganizing them too.
Today we cleaned the chamber up some more then booted it back up to load all the tomato plants in. It took two truckloads to move them all. By the time the second load came, it was starting to rain, and we unloaded quickly and spent some time indoors to organize them in the chambers. It dumped quite a bit of rain, but I was really just a cloudburst since it had all but stopped when I left an hour and a half later. I did feel bad because Hank and I had to ride his motorcycle back, and he lent me his coat, so he got pretty wet from the puddles and the little bit that was still coming down.
In other news, it’s now mango season. Apparently, mangos here are like squash and zucchini back home. Everyone’s grows at once so everybody is trying to get rid of a bit. I’ve received 4 mangos, a passion fruit, a banana, and an ear of corn the last few days, all grown locally in my coworker’s gardens. Honestly, I had no idea how to cut or eat the mangos or passion fruit, so mostly I just peeled the skin off or cut them open then ate it over the sink. They’re incredible. If you’re ever offered a ripe mango, never, ever say no. The passion fruit was super weird. I had to look up pictures to make sure the one I had gotten wasn’t sick or infested with something. It was pretty good, but definitely not what I expected.
We have a new intern arriving tonight. All that I’ve heard is that she a grad student from Florida and that she should be in around 11 pm. There have actually been quite a few new faces around as there are a few positions open for an interview. One applicant is a man from Germany named Lutz, who gave a presentation on the gender wage gap in Kenya a few days ago. I’ve heard through the grapevine that most new interns should be coming next week, but besides the one tonight, that was everything I could find out, so I’ll guess we’ll wait and see. 
Tomato Girl 