After 3 months of lab work, I can officially say that I am done with all of my experiments. Now I just have a lottttt of data to work with. Anyways, I'll be returning home now since there isn't much more I can do here.
So Ethiopia.. Looking back at the months here.. what a life changing experience. Its been so much more than running a few trial experiments in the lab! I don't even know where to being..
I'll start with the food, just because I'm hungry while writing this post. The food we had access to upon arrival was better than expected but still not great. We quickly realized that the food we got for lunch, would be exactly the same for dinner, which would be exactly the same as for lunch the following day etc.. And not that it was terrible but definitely wayyyy too much oil. But when we started exploring the cafes and restaurants on campus & in the neighbouring city, Harar, I found out that I love Ethiopian food! Definite favorites include: Tibs, Bayenetu, Shiro, Kitfo, Sprees...... etc etc! So much good stuff. Definitely worth trying when in Ethiopia. Ok technically Sprees isn't a food, its a drink, where they layer different fruit smoothies into a single smoothie. It's pretty and soooo delicious!
The experience there really made me appreciate the little things in life too. I was out at a fruit vendor place one morning, where I ended up buying 2 kg of mango & papaya for a mere 2euro. I asked the local with me, what the fruit vendor and her family were eating - after a conversation back and forth in the regional language I ended up being invited to join them. I ended up having a few nips of their maize porridge with a little oil and spice. Firstly, it was wonderful! Secondly, a family who was making a mere 2 euro on 2 kg of fruit wanted to share their food with a foreigner who had shown an interest in what they were eating. I have never as more privileged and appreciative of their kindness. The people of Ethiopia in general proved to be such a loving and truly happy population, or at least in the rural communities.
Apart from appreciating the kindness from other people, I have also learned to appreciate the daily water and electricity (and with electricity, internet). The part of the world that lives with stable water and electricity really take this part of life for granted and if power failures do happen it often leads to extremely frustrated people. What you learn when living in rural communities were power and water failures are constantly occurring is to take the time spent being frustrated and instead spend it appreciating the beauty of the world we live in. Instead of being absorbed by the facebook or the lasted news about Trumps newest diss, the world around us where ever we may be is beautiful. I cannot even being to count the amount of times I sat in the rain, as it often was the cause of the power shortages, and enjoyed the sound of the birds, the rain and people running as to not get wet.
Now I am unfortunately off to Denmark. Back to the cold to study all the data and hopefully draw some valid conclusions on which lactic acid bacteria as best at acidifying camel milk & which would be best to continue with in future yogurt & soft cheese production. Until next time Ethiopia - I'll be back!
