Today Tim and I measured the alkalinity of his six ponds, Tim showed me how. We measured the alkalinity by the process of titration. I didn’t have an opportunity to look up what alkalinity was and how it is caused and effects fish, so comments would be helpful. We took a small water sample then added 5 drops of ethyl orange as an indicator. Then we slowly added a different chemical (sorry forgot the name) until the sample turned pink. At that point we write down the amount of mystery chemical it took to turn the sample pink. We then use a formula to find the alkalinity.
The next and final stop with the international students was a demonstration on how to feed fish. Most of it was pretty obvious but I did learn something. I saw the workers adding small amounts of water to power fry food. This causes it to sink in small chunks instead of just sitting on top of the water. Then Tim taught a short class on what he was doing at the six ponds to the rest of the international students. Before Tim could start he was interrupted by the other students getting all worked up about a water snake in one of the ponds.
I have not been impressed by the international students. Not because they don’t know very much about fish or fish farming, which is true, but because they don’t really seem to care. For example, during the floy fish tagging three of the adult women were more interested in using the shiny plastic tabs as jewelry than listening. They used to tabs as forehead decorations and added them to their earrings. They even distracted everyone else by giggling and talking during the presentation. Now I’m all for slacking off in big classes, 50 or more people. But not paying attention in a group of 8 people with the teacher right there is not cool.
The scenery was beautiful this morning; a mist was rising off the rice paddies and ponds. Because of the mist you couldn’t see the ground; you could only see the palm trees and buildings in the distance.
No comments:
Post a Comment