Beeeezzaa & Honey

Hello everybody! I hope you are all well and miss you all terribly. These last two weeks I've been in IST training and its been a ball. The subjects of this training were beekeeping, fruit tree nurseries, tree grafting and gardening. I really enjoyed the beekeeping as you will see.

Me making a native bee hive out of grass. Its like making a basket:)

The Bees

As I said beekeeping was completely thrilling. I only got stung once but it wasn't when I was invading the hive stealing the bees loot, it was a random act of nature that occurred while walking through a Cashew orchard. The suits are fun! I took a few moments to pretend I was an astronaut and a member of a bio hazard control unit, characters the suit satisfied.

The practice hive and gear.

I was part of a group of 4 and we each had a job. One is a cutter (cutter of the comb), a light source, a bucket manager and a smoker. I was the smoker. Once we maneuvered are way into our oversized bee suits we walked through a Cashew orchard to there the hives where. And like a thief in the night (@ night bees are calmer) we smoked them, grabbed their gold and looked over the intricate workings of the colony, all this while beeing swarmed by female workers. The workers are the gathers and protectors of the hive and they let us know by swarming us, buzzing in our ears and covering us with their "gettem scent".

My bee task force!

Our honey!!!!
We got a heaping bucket of honey and the next day we learned how to extract the honey, process the bees wax, make bees wax hand & foot cream and marketing of it all.

Yummy yummy honey in my tummy;)

Extracting honey for the comb.

Ok don't freak but I ate 5 bees that had drowned in honey. Very sweet and a little crunchy. Its a common thing to do after harvest, honest.

I'm going to try to set up some hives at the National Park in the hopes that it will be a source of income for the park, which it needs. Slowly Slowly as they say. After the bee charming we moved onto trees and grafting. I'm learning some really cool skills that I've always been interested in, I just hope I can put them to use someday.
Citrus Nursery
So now that the training is over I have to say good bye to my wonderful peeps and friend here, head back to site and start some REAL work. I may not be able to write next month because I need to stay at site and invest some much needed time. But I plan I writing lots of letters. So keep your eyes on your mailboxes.

The pic below shows a local Gambian paper and one of headline is "Peace Corps Volunteers Not CIA Agents", funny;).
I miss you all and thinking of you:)

Hugs

Just A Quick Hello

Hello everyone! I've been here in The Gambia for 6 months now and time is starting to fly. I'm also starting to feel more at home and less like a visitor. However the more at home I feel the more amazed and taken back by everything. I've noticed that my culture shock is being replaced by astonishment. Every single day I feel that sense and think "holy shit I'm in Africa!", it never ceases to amaze and daze me. This place can be so beautiful in every way, so f#%$ed up in every way and sometimes both at the same time. I can say that I'm learning a lot about myself and I've found I'm much stronger than I thought.
Dancing with the girls at my friend Alicia's site.

Work is getting easier in the sense that I'm getting good ideas. If they take hold and actually evolve is another story entirely. My garden has sprouted! I'm growing tomato, cucumber, garlic, basil and lettuce in one bed and I have a smaller bed where I grow my seedlings of Moranga and Pigeon Pea trees. The trees are very cool because they have highly nutritious leaves and fruit plus they're delicious.
My (baby) garden.


My town and family are still wonderful and I'm very happy. I'm doing lots of exploring when I'm not working or visiting with my family or neighbors and found lots of cool spots to hide in in case I need to get away.
This is a Red silk cottonwood tree that is by my village and it is HUGE and striking. I love to play in the grooves and scare the lizards
My momma musa is so beautiful and kind to me. We sit on her mat in the heat of the day and she helps me with my Mandinka (even though she doesn't speak a work of English) or we just hang out. I will miss her terribly when I go home.
The culture can be very raw and takes some getting use to. I've seen more animals killed for meat and ceremonies than I could ever imagine. The way Gambia's treat their animals is one of my on going inter battles. Especially the animals that we love and care for back in the states. Dogs and cats are especially treated horribly. There is no such thing as animal right here. Love you pets people, love them!
This cow was bought by 5 families during a religious holiday and will feed those families for a week. Food is very much part of holidays or celebrations here. It very common for families to bye a goat or share a cow so they can feast during these times.
You all should know that I've been taking some videos with my camera so I can show you them when I get home. They are short and sweet but say volumes.
Its strange but there is nothing more to say now. Is that a sign of settlement? However these next months coming should be full of story's for I have lots of projects in mind.

Miss you all and think of you everyday!
Big fat hugs from The Gambia