Day 58 July 18 – Goodbye Tim
Today is my last day at Abassa, Egypt; and my last day with Tim Sprick. I spent the morning cleaning my room and filling my suitcase. After spending about an hour cleaning up, I cooked myself breakfast. Then I headed over to the office to find Tim already looking around the internet. It was then he told me that he was leaving at three to go to some church I had never heard of. He said neither had he but Dr. Samir assured him it was famous and worth seeing.
Well three o’clock rolled around and I said goodbye to my roommate of two and half weeks. I am sure we will keep in contact through his blog and facebook. So now I was alone and very bored; being the weekend I was the only one here. I spent the rest of the day getting everything ready and cleaning. I had to sweep everything, mop, clean the shower, and do the dishes. I also removed all of my old food from the fridge, I have a tendency to just push food I don’t want to the back.
I ended up finding plenty of old nasty food in there.
Here is the plan of my return home. Someone will drive me from Abassa to Cairo. Dr. Elghobashy will drive me to the airport. I will get to there early to make sure everything goes right. Then I will fly British Air from Cairo to London. Three hour layover. Long flight from London to Phoenix. Take shuttle from Phoenix to Speedway and Wilmont, Tucson. Someone will give me a ride home from there. Anyone want to take my bet that it will not all go that smooth?
Got an Email from U of A saying I will get my roommate assignment tomorrow, nervous? Oh yea, I don’t need a crazy.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Day 58 July 18 – Goodbye Tim
Today is my last day at Abassa, Egypt; and my last day with Tim Sprick. I spent the morning cleaning my room and filling my suitcase. After spending about an hour cleaning up, I cooked myself breakfast. Then I headed over to the office to find Tim already looking around the internet. It was then he told me that he was leaving at three to go to some church I had never heard of. He said neither had he but Dr. Samir assured him it was famous and worth seeing.
Well three o’clock rolled around and I said goodbye to my roommate of two and half weeks. I am sure we will keep in contact through his blog and facebook. So now I was alone and very bored; being the weekend I was the only one here. I spent the rest of the day getting everything ready and cleaning. I had to sweep everything, mop, clean the shower, and do the dishes. I also removed all of my old food from the fridge, I have a tendency to just push food I don’t want to the back.
I ended up finding plenty of old nasty food in there.
Here is the plan of my return home. Someone will drive me from Abassa to Cairo. Dr. Elghobashy will drive me to the airport. I will get to there early to make sure everything goes right. Then I will fly British Air from Cairo to London. Three hour layover. Long flight from London to Phoenix. Take shuttle from Phoenix to Speedway and Wilmont, Tucson. Someone will give me a ride home from there. Anyone want to take my bet that it will not all go that smooth?
Got an Email from U of A saying I will get my roommate assignment tomorrow, nervous? Oh yea, I don’t need a crazy.
Today is my last day at Abassa, Egypt; and my last day with Tim Sprick. I spent the morning cleaning my room and filling my suitcase. After spending about an hour cleaning up, I cooked myself breakfast. Then I headed over to the office to find Tim already looking around the internet. It was then he told me that he was leaving at three to go to some church I had never heard of. He said neither had he but Dr. Samir assured him it was famous and worth seeing.
Well three o’clock rolled around and I said goodbye to my roommate of two and half weeks. I am sure we will keep in contact through his blog and facebook. So now I was alone and very bored; being the weekend I was the only one here. I spent the rest of the day getting everything ready and cleaning. I had to sweep everything, mop, clean the shower, and do the dishes. I also removed all of my old food from the fridge, I have a tendency to just push food I don’t want to the back.
I ended up finding plenty of old nasty food in there.
Here is the plan of my return home. Someone will drive me from Abassa to Cairo. Dr. Elghobashy will drive me to the airport. I will get to there early to make sure everything goes right. Then I will fly British Air from Cairo to London. Three hour layover. Long flight from London to Phoenix. Take shuttle from Phoenix to Speedway and Wilmont, Tucson. Someone will give me a ride home from there. Anyone want to take my bet that it will not all go that smooth?
Got an Email from U of A saying I will get my roommate assignment tomorrow, nervous? Oh yea, I don’t need a crazy.
Salam Wallaycum
Day 57 July 17 – Salam Wallaycum
This morning Tim got up early to see another harvest; I was lazy and decided not to go. I have seen plenty of fish harvests, I understand how it works. It really isn’t a complicated procedure, just time and effort consuming. I am happy to see how different farms do harvests but here it is simple; lower water, net fish, scoop in buckets up to side, sort by species and size.
Today is Thursday, the final day of the workweek so I need to say all of my thank yous and goodbyes. It was arranged yesterday that a car would come at noon to drive me to CLAR about ¾ mile way. I was perfectly happy to walk but they insist because they say it is hot and dangerous… Well at two o’clock I was tired of waiting around so I just walked over. There I said goodbye to Dr. Said, the director of CLAR, and the other top scientists. They conveniently all happened to be in the same room which saved me lots of effort.
I also wanted to thank the actual scientists who I spent about a week with actually learning the methods. I found them in their lab and spent a good hour saying goodbye and thank you to a bunch of people. One of the scientists was nice enough to give me a motorcycle ride back to my room.
I spent the rest of the day beginning to get all of my stuff together, after two months it seems to be everywhere. I did my laundry and did some of the dishes, we don’t have a dishwasher. As I took my laundry out of the washer I noticed all my whites had a distinct green tint, oops.
Because Tim had attended the harvest this morning he was given four Tilapia. We both agree that they look gross when they are just thrown on the fire so we cook them more. When we get them they look like black and brown blobs, so I peel the skin and fry the meat. Then throw that on some rice and it tastes pretty good.
This morning Tim got up early to see another harvest; I was lazy and decided not to go. I have seen plenty of fish harvests, I understand how it works. It really isn’t a complicated procedure, just time and effort consuming. I am happy to see how different farms do harvests but here it is simple; lower water, net fish, scoop in buckets up to side, sort by species and size.
Today is Thursday, the final day of the workweek so I need to say all of my thank yous and goodbyes. It was arranged yesterday that a car would come at noon to drive me to CLAR about ¾ mile way. I was perfectly happy to walk but they insist because they say it is hot and dangerous… Well at two o’clock I was tired of waiting around so I just walked over. There I said goodbye to Dr. Said, the director of CLAR, and the other top scientists. They conveniently all happened to be in the same room which saved me lots of effort.
I also wanted to thank the actual scientists who I spent about a week with actually learning the methods. I found them in their lab and spent a good hour saying goodbye and thank you to a bunch of people. One of the scientists was nice enough to give me a motorcycle ride back to my room.
I spent the rest of the day beginning to get all of my stuff together, after two months it seems to be everywhere. I did my laundry and did some of the dishes, we don’t have a dishwasher. As I took my laundry out of the washer I noticed all my whites had a distinct green tint, oops.
Because Tim had attended the harvest this morning he was given four Tilapia. We both agree that they look gross when they are just thrown on the fire so we cook them more. When we get them they look like black and brown blobs, so I peel the skin and fry the meat. Then throw that on some rice and it tastes pretty good.
Not For Chemical Fumes
Day 56 July 16 – Not For Chemical Fumes
Today the big event was finishing the nitrate test we began yesterday. Tim didn’t know why this test is important but we will ask tomorrow. Yesterday we took a 50ml sample of each of the six ponds and filtered them. The filter used is very, what’s the word, precise? Therefore we must use a vacuum to pull the water samples through the filter or it would take hours. Then we put each of the filtered water sample is a ceramic dish. The last step we did yesterday was put the six ceramic dishes on a heater so today only the dissolved solids will remain.
Today we arrived to find all the water form the samples evaporated with only the salts remaining. Tim told me to add 1ml of some chemical to each of the samples. It is not that I wasn’t paying attention it is just the vial of chemical had no label. When I added the chemical and stirred it a horrible smelling vapor rose up. At this point Tim remembered that we were supposed to be wearing masks. Soon he handed me a dust mask, I asked what these were for. Tim told me that we had to wear these because the vapors are dangerous. I didn’t think these were meant for that so I checked the box; in big bold font the box said “Not for protection from Chemical Fumes.” Oh well.
The next part of the test needed to be preformed in a hood, a special table with a fan/vacuum to keep the worker from inhaling fumes. We had to add 4ml of 33% ammonium to each of the pond samples. This is where it got slightly dangerous, when adding the ammonium to the samples noxious fumes were given off. The hood didn’t work great so we had to be careful to breathe away from the samples. After adding about 45ml of distilled water to the samples we brought the samples back to the lab. The final step of the process was to take a very small amount of each sample and measure it under the spectrometer.
Later in the afternoon Dr. Gamal came by and gave us some Egyptian deserts. Most of them were very good, but there were a few that were…an acquired taste. I’m finally starting to get everything packed up, and cleaning us the dorm room.
Today the big event was finishing the nitrate test we began yesterday. Tim didn’t know why this test is important but we will ask tomorrow. Yesterday we took a 50ml sample of each of the six ponds and filtered them. The filter used is very, what’s the word, precise? Therefore we must use a vacuum to pull the water samples through the filter or it would take hours. Then we put each of the filtered water sample is a ceramic dish. The last step we did yesterday was put the six ceramic dishes on a heater so today only the dissolved solids will remain.
Today we arrived to find all the water form the samples evaporated with only the salts remaining. Tim told me to add 1ml of some chemical to each of the samples. It is not that I wasn’t paying attention it is just the vial of chemical had no label. When I added the chemical and stirred it a horrible smelling vapor rose up. At this point Tim remembered that we were supposed to be wearing masks. Soon he handed me a dust mask, I asked what these were for. Tim told me that we had to wear these because the vapors are dangerous. I didn’t think these were meant for that so I checked the box; in big bold font the box said “Not for protection from Chemical Fumes.” Oh well.
The next part of the test needed to be preformed in a hood, a special table with a fan/vacuum to keep the worker from inhaling fumes. We had to add 4ml of 33% ammonium to each of the pond samples. This is where it got slightly dangerous, when adding the ammonium to the samples noxious fumes were given off. The hood didn’t work great so we had to be careful to breathe away from the samples. After adding about 45ml of distilled water to the samples we brought the samples back to the lab. The final step of the process was to take a very small amount of each sample and measure it under the spectrometer.
Later in the afternoon Dr. Gamal came by and gave us some Egyptian deserts. Most of them were very good, but there were a few that were…an acquired taste. I’m finally starting to get everything packed up, and cleaning us the dorm room.
This is Thriller
Day 55 July 15 – This is Thriller
Today was a long day, busy busy busy. The first thing I did was work with Dr. Waheed as he stocked another net with four male and female catfish. Tim and I picked out the fish this time, Tim’s first time working with live catfish. I also looked at the hours old catfish fry that we worked on yesterday. The catfish eggs are much smaller than Tilapia eggs, the fry also hatch from their eggs much smaller.
Tim has a schedule that lists when he needs to perform the different tests on water samples from the pond. Some tests need to be preformed every two days, while other only need to be done once a week. Today it worked out that we had to do every single test. This process took almost three hours but game us something to fill our time, a nice change.
For about the tenth straight day we had pasta with tomato sauce on it for dinner. I think I will go into town tomorrow to get a haircut. It only costs a dollar here so I will do it now so I don’t have to spend thirteen dollars when I get home. I’m getting more and more excited to come home. I love to make fun of Tim because he has to stay here for another two weeks alone. I am so excited to hang out with Sean and go see all the movies I missed. And I miss my wonderful bikes, the trails are calling to me.
Afternoons here are pretty boring so we have to find ways to entertain ourselves. Tonight we watched Jurassic Park II, terrible movie. After that we just put iTunes, full blast on shuffle, hilarity ensues.
Today was a long day, busy busy busy. The first thing I did was work with Dr. Waheed as he stocked another net with four male and female catfish. Tim and I picked out the fish this time, Tim’s first time working with live catfish. I also looked at the hours old catfish fry that we worked on yesterday. The catfish eggs are much smaller than Tilapia eggs, the fry also hatch from their eggs much smaller.
Tim has a schedule that lists when he needs to perform the different tests on water samples from the pond. Some tests need to be preformed every two days, while other only need to be done once a week. Today it worked out that we had to do every single test. This process took almost three hours but game us something to fill our time, a nice change.
For about the tenth straight day we had pasta with tomato sauce on it for dinner. I think I will go into town tomorrow to get a haircut. It only costs a dollar here so I will do it now so I don’t have to spend thirteen dollars when I get home. I’m getting more and more excited to come home. I love to make fun of Tim because he has to stay here for another two weeks alone. I am so excited to hang out with Sean and go see all the movies I missed. And I miss my wonderful bikes, the trails are calling to me.
Afternoons here are pretty boring so we have to find ways to entertain ourselves. Tonight we watched Jurassic Park II, terrible movie. After that we just put iTunes, full blast on shuffle, hilarity ensues.
Family Fun
Day 54 July 14 – Family Fun
Tim woke me up early this morning so I could see Dr. Waheed show how they perform natural catfish spawning. Dr. Waheed told us that the important factors of natural catfish spawning were water level, population density, and temperature. I was surprised to hear that the male to female ratio is 1:1.
The first step was to set up a net in a concrete tank which made a pen about 1 cubic meter in size. Then we picked out eight fish; four male and four female. We checked the color of the eggs but getting the right color didn’t seem vital. We then put the fish into the net. The water was about a foot and a half deep, warm, and clean. Putting the eight fish into such a small area made the population density slightly higher than what I have seen in normal ponds.
While I recognize that natural spawning is simple I think overall artificial spawning is better. Artificial spawning has much higher fertilization rates and a greater degree of control. Artificial spawning does require much more training but I believe the benefits greatly outweigh the costs.
Around 6pm Tim and I were sitting around watching the movie “Wanted” when the doorbell rang. Outside we found Dr. Gamal and his 18 year old son. Dr. Gamal introduced his son to us and after some chit-chat he left. After a slightly awkward goodbye I was left with the suspicion that Dr. Gamal wanted his son to stay with us. This was not at all clear but I asked Tim if he thought the same thing, he confirmed my suspicion. We agreed that Dr. Gamal meant us to hang out with his son so we headed out to find him playing soccer with his little brother. He seemed very relieved when he saw us and asked us to play with him.
Dr. Gamal’s oldest son is named Mohamed and his younger son is named Akmed. We played soccer for a few hours, surprisingly we were evenly matched. We talked about what Mohamed was going to do in his first year of college, he spoke excellent English. After a few hours Dr. Gamal and his small daughter came and joined in the game. We all quickly got exhausted while playing a full speed game in the Egyptian sun. Soon we all headed back to our rooms for cold showers and drinks.
Tim woke me up early this morning so I could see Dr. Waheed show how they perform natural catfish spawning. Dr. Waheed told us that the important factors of natural catfish spawning were water level, population density, and temperature. I was surprised to hear that the male to female ratio is 1:1.
The first step was to set up a net in a concrete tank which made a pen about 1 cubic meter in size. Then we picked out eight fish; four male and four female. We checked the color of the eggs but getting the right color didn’t seem vital. We then put the fish into the net. The water was about a foot and a half deep, warm, and clean. Putting the eight fish into such a small area made the population density slightly higher than what I have seen in normal ponds.
While I recognize that natural spawning is simple I think overall artificial spawning is better. Artificial spawning has much higher fertilization rates and a greater degree of control. Artificial spawning does require much more training but I believe the benefits greatly outweigh the costs.
Around 6pm Tim and I were sitting around watching the movie “Wanted” when the doorbell rang. Outside we found Dr. Gamal and his 18 year old son. Dr. Gamal introduced his son to us and after some chit-chat he left. After a slightly awkward goodbye I was left with the suspicion that Dr. Gamal wanted his son to stay with us. This was not at all clear but I asked Tim if he thought the same thing, he confirmed my suspicion. We agreed that Dr. Gamal meant us to hang out with his son so we headed out to find him playing soccer with his little brother. He seemed very relieved when he saw us and asked us to play with him.
Dr. Gamal’s oldest son is named Mohamed and his younger son is named Akmed. We played soccer for a few hours, surprisingly we were evenly matched. We talked about what Mohamed was going to do in his first year of college, he spoke excellent English. After a few hours Dr. Gamal and his small daughter came and joined in the game. We all quickly got exhausted while playing a full speed game in the Egyptian sun. Soon we all headed back to our rooms for cold showers and drinks.
Ruby Slippers
Day 53 July 13 – Ruby Slippers
Today I once again headed out to the ponds to check on the water levels of our ponds. We checked seepage and evaporation today because the workers refilled the pond this morning. Tim once again couldn’t reach the cover of the pipe so I had to go swimming. We had to record the initial water levels so future evaporation levels will be relevant. We didn’t have to change anything for the seepage, that is unaffected by the water level.
Home is getting closer and closer and I can’t wait. I’ve been away from home for long periods of time, but I have never wanted to be back in Tucson as much as I do now. Egypt is great but as Dorthy said, “there’s no place like home.” I wish I had some ruby slippers; they would be much more convenient than 17 hours of driving, jets, delays, and layovers. But I’m not looking forward to the five essays I need to write upon my return to Tucson.
I think I will talk a little about the clothes people wear here at the lab. The manual workers all wear one piece jumpsuits, similar to what you might see at a car mechanic shop. They don’t wear anything on their feet and most wear what looks like an old boonies hat. The scientist all wear long dress style pants with a long button down shirt tucked into them. They sometimes wear white lab coats if they are doing work outside of their offices.
Today I once again headed out to the ponds to check on the water levels of our ponds. We checked seepage and evaporation today because the workers refilled the pond this morning. Tim once again couldn’t reach the cover of the pipe so I had to go swimming. We had to record the initial water levels so future evaporation levels will be relevant. We didn’t have to change anything for the seepage, that is unaffected by the water level.
Home is getting closer and closer and I can’t wait. I’ve been away from home for long periods of time, but I have never wanted to be back in Tucson as much as I do now. Egypt is great but as Dorthy said, “there’s no place like home.” I wish I had some ruby slippers; they would be much more convenient than 17 hours of driving, jets, delays, and layovers. But I’m not looking forward to the five essays I need to write upon my return to Tucson.
I think I will talk a little about the clothes people wear here at the lab. The manual workers all wear one piece jumpsuits, similar to what you might see at a car mechanic shop. They don’t wear anything on their feet and most wear what looks like an old boonies hat. The scientist all wear long dress style pants with a long button down shirt tucked into them. They sometimes wear white lab coats if they are doing work outside of their offices.
Back to Work
Day 52 July 12 – Back to Work
Today was wonderful; we had almost nothing to do. I woke up late and headed over to the office to see what we were supposed to do. After I found Tim sitting around and he told me what the days plan was, I joined him on the computers. After a few hours we went around to the other offices to check up with all the other scientists. I talked to Dr. Gamal about how I was going to get back to Cairo and the airport.
In the afternoon I needed to go into town to get some food, we were totally out. For the third time I invited Tim to come with me into town. Tim has always refused to come with me because he thought he wasn’t supposed to leave the compound. After explaining to him that I can only buy however much food I can carry, he volunteered to come. After ignoring the stupid warnings of my useless bodyguard Tim and I walked into town. Eventually we got a tuk-tuk taxi to take us the rest of the way into town. We got all kinds of fruit, bread, and chips - junk food. After showing Tim around town we headed back on a different tuk-tuk.
I was thrilled to find that Tim had all kinds of movies saved on his laptop, MOVIE NIGHT!! He copied all the movies I wanted to my computer so when I head home soon, I will have some entertainment. But I was nice to watch the movie Stop-Loss, a nice change of pace. It is a movie that points out many of the things I hate about the military but is also an excellent movie.
Today was wonderful; we had almost nothing to do. I woke up late and headed over to the office to see what we were supposed to do. After I found Tim sitting around and he told me what the days plan was, I joined him on the computers. After a few hours we went around to the other offices to check up with all the other scientists. I talked to Dr. Gamal about how I was going to get back to Cairo and the airport.
In the afternoon I needed to go into town to get some food, we were totally out. For the third time I invited Tim to come with me into town. Tim has always refused to come with me because he thought he wasn’t supposed to leave the compound. After explaining to him that I can only buy however much food I can carry, he volunteered to come. After ignoring the stupid warnings of my useless bodyguard Tim and I walked into town. Eventually we got a tuk-tuk taxi to take us the rest of the way into town. We got all kinds of fruit, bread, and chips - junk food. After showing Tim around town we headed back on a different tuk-tuk.
I was thrilled to find that Tim had all kinds of movies saved on his laptop, MOVIE NIGHT!! He copied all the movies I wanted to my computer so when I head home soon, I will have some entertainment. But I was nice to watch the movie Stop-Loss, a nice change of pace. It is a movie that points out many of the things I hate about the military but is also an excellent movie.
Early to Rise
Day 51 July 11 – Early to Rise
Today I once again woke up at 6:30am to go measure the oxygen levels of twenty ponds. After spending twenty minutes of fiddling with the stupid oxygen meter, I finally realized I was the dumb one because it was working fine the whole time. I thought it was broken because the oxygen levels were much higher than I expected.
Usually, the ponds I measure in the morning have a dissolved oxygen level of .5 to 3 mg/liter. When the ponds I measured had an oxygen level of almost 7mg/liter I assumed that the oxygen meter was, once again, broken. After almost twenty minutes of fiddling with and calibrating I tested on another pond. After this I realized that it was just the oxygen levels of Tim’s ponds were dramatically higher than the other ponds. When I returned to the room I meant to ask Tim the reason for this difference but decided going back to sleep was much more vital.
At 2pm I woke back up and asked Tim about the difference between his ponds and the other ponds. Tim told me that he asked the same questions to his boss. He told me that there were a few reasons for this difference. First, his ponds have concrete walls but a muddy bottom. These walls prevent the growth of reeds, grasses, and other plants; while these plants create oxygen in the day they remove it in the night. So with concrete walls the daily variation of the oxygen levels would be much less than dirt walled ponds.
Another factor in the difference between oxygen levels is the fact that Tim’s ponds are not seeded. For some reason Tim’s ponds have not had chicken waste added to spur the growth of plankton. The plankton leads to natural food but also to a large fluctuation of the oxygen levels.
Today I once again woke up at 6:30am to go measure the oxygen levels of twenty ponds. After spending twenty minutes of fiddling with the stupid oxygen meter, I finally realized I was the dumb one because it was working fine the whole time. I thought it was broken because the oxygen levels were much higher than I expected.
Usually, the ponds I measure in the morning have a dissolved oxygen level of .5 to 3 mg/liter. When the ponds I measured had an oxygen level of almost 7mg/liter I assumed that the oxygen meter was, once again, broken. After almost twenty minutes of fiddling with and calibrating I tested on another pond. After this I realized that it was just the oxygen levels of Tim’s ponds were dramatically higher than the other ponds. When I returned to the room I meant to ask Tim the reason for this difference but decided going back to sleep was much more vital.
At 2pm I woke back up and asked Tim about the difference between his ponds and the other ponds. Tim told me that he asked the same questions to his boss. He told me that there were a few reasons for this difference. First, his ponds have concrete walls but a muddy bottom. These walls prevent the growth of reeds, grasses, and other plants; while these plants create oxygen in the day they remove it in the night. So with concrete walls the daily variation of the oxygen levels would be much less than dirt walled ponds.
Another factor in the difference between oxygen levels is the fact that Tim’s ponds are not seeded. For some reason Tim’s ponds have not had chicken waste added to spur the growth of plankton. The plankton leads to natural food but also to a large fluctuation of the oxygen levels.
Phosphorous
Day 50 July 10 – Phosphorous
Let me begin by explaining why my recent entries have not been so packed with information. First, I am nearing the end of my trip and I have learned the basics of all the relevant subjects. Second, my current project is working with my roommate Tim in caring for six ponds. This job does not require lots of time but enough that I cannot leave to go work with the other scientists here. While learning the science is important, actually being responsible for ponds is vital; perhaps even more important.
Today I once again got up early to go with Tim and take the dissolved oxygen levels of his ponds. Everything was fine so we headed back to the lab to perform a phosphorous test on water samples from each pond. We had planned on doing this test yesterday but were thwarted because there was not enough of a certain solution. So we made the missing solution but it had to sit for 24hours.
Today everything was ready so we began the test. The way this test works is you take a sample from each pond and put them into a spectrometer. The spectrometer is set to a certain frequency, 880nm, and the light is fired through the sample. The frequency used is specific to phosphorous and is interfered by it. The amount of phosphorus in the water can then be derived by measuring the amount of light lost as it travels through the sample.
This process might sound familiar because I talked about it a few weeks ago. This same process, using a spectrometer, can be used to measure many different materials in water samples.
Let me begin by explaining why my recent entries have not been so packed with information. First, I am nearing the end of my trip and I have learned the basics of all the relevant subjects. Second, my current project is working with my roommate Tim in caring for six ponds. This job does not require lots of time but enough that I cannot leave to go work with the other scientists here. While learning the science is important, actually being responsible for ponds is vital; perhaps even more important.
Today I once again got up early to go with Tim and take the dissolved oxygen levels of his ponds. Everything was fine so we headed back to the lab to perform a phosphorous test on water samples from each pond. We had planned on doing this test yesterday but were thwarted because there was not enough of a certain solution. So we made the missing solution but it had to sit for 24hours.
Today everything was ready so we began the test. The way this test works is you take a sample from each pond and put them into a spectrometer. The spectrometer is set to a certain frequency, 880nm, and the light is fired through the sample. The frequency used is specific to phosphorous and is interfered by it. The amount of phosphorus in the water can then be derived by measuring the amount of light lost as it travels through the sample.
This process might sound familiar because I talked about it a few weeks ago. This same process, using a spectrometer, can be used to measure many different materials in water samples.
Bodyguard
Day 49 July 9 – Bodyguard
Last night I foolishly agreed to accompany Tim at 6:30am as he went to measure the oxygen levels of about 20 ponds. While normally this wouldn’t be too bad, that time is when mosquitoes are most active.
I was surprised to see how dramatically the oxygen levels had decreased overnight. I assumed that the oxygen level of ponds would only show substantial decrease if the pond contained a large fish biomass. I was surprised to see oxygen levels of 2units, compared to 8-9units in the day time in Tim’s ponds. I interpret this to mean the algae has a much larger affect on the reduction of oxygen levels than I originally suspected. It is also possible that even the small fish in Tim’s pond are making a substantial difference in the pond, but I doubt it.
At 9am we had an official weigh in for all six of Tim’s ponds. This was to be his first set of results, very exciting. We walked out to the ponds to find the working sitting with all the gear. It was not our place to tell them to get to work so we had to wait 20 minutes for Dr. Gamal to come and tell them to do just that. The workers would get into the ponds, they are about 4 feet six inches deep. They used a medium size net to catch about 20 fry, hopefully a random sample. Then Tim would measure and weight 15 of them.
The only problem I could see with this process was I don’t think the fish were an accurate random sample. First, the biggest and strongest fish would have a better chance of not getting caught in the net. Next, the fry were transported in a crate with holes it, allowing the smallest fish to fall out and not be recorded. Lastly, the person who handed Tim the fish seemed the grab the fish that he knew would be easiest to hold, the largest.
At around 4pm Tim had to go back out to his six ponds and measure the seepage and evaporation. There is a PVC pipe stuck in the mud and covered to prevent evaporation. We had to uncover the pipe and record the water level, this is seepage. Then we record the difference between the water level inside and outside the pipe, this is evaporation. We couldn’t get the top off one of the pipes so I got in the water to remove it. The water was so nice and warm I stayed in for a few minutes, until Tim reminded me of the snake… A few days ago we found and had a water snake removed from one of Tim’s ponds. This was adequate motivation for me to get the hell out of the water, flash back of Snakes On A Plane occurred to me.
Well I finally meet me bodyguard. We were running low of food so I headed back toward Abassa for the fourth time. As I got to the security gate the guard asked what I was doing, after telling him I was going to town he told me “no, too dangerous.” Then my bodyguard walks over, he is either in his late 40s or early 50s. He was unarmed and it was quickly obvious he could no more protect me than do a push-up. My bodyguard starts speaking in Arabic and pointing toward town and himself. Now I never asked for a bodyguard, nobody at Abassa asked for a bodyguard, and he is obviously useless. So I stop asking and more start telling him to open the damn gate, I can take care of myself. I tower over everyone else here, I’m fit, and always bring my knife with me when I go into town alone. Most importantly I have already been into town many times and never had any problems.
Eventually the guard opens the gate and I start walking away, ignoring the bodyguards Arabic. I wondered weather my bodyguard was going to walk the two miles to town with me, I wasn’t sure he would be able to. Therefore I was not surprised to find myself walking alone along the dirt street. Everything was fine in town and returned with some badly needed food.
Last night I foolishly agreed to accompany Tim at 6:30am as he went to measure the oxygen levels of about 20 ponds. While normally this wouldn’t be too bad, that time is when mosquitoes are most active.
I was surprised to see how dramatically the oxygen levels had decreased overnight. I assumed that the oxygen level of ponds would only show substantial decrease if the pond contained a large fish biomass. I was surprised to see oxygen levels of 2units, compared to 8-9units in the day time in Tim’s ponds. I interpret this to mean the algae has a much larger affect on the reduction of oxygen levels than I originally suspected. It is also possible that even the small fish in Tim’s pond are making a substantial difference in the pond, but I doubt it.
At 9am we had an official weigh in for all six of Tim’s ponds. This was to be his first set of results, very exciting. We walked out to the ponds to find the working sitting with all the gear. It was not our place to tell them to get to work so we had to wait 20 minutes for Dr. Gamal to come and tell them to do just that. The workers would get into the ponds, they are about 4 feet six inches deep. They used a medium size net to catch about 20 fry, hopefully a random sample. Then Tim would measure and weight 15 of them.
The only problem I could see with this process was I don’t think the fish were an accurate random sample. First, the biggest and strongest fish would have a better chance of not getting caught in the net. Next, the fry were transported in a crate with holes it, allowing the smallest fish to fall out and not be recorded. Lastly, the person who handed Tim the fish seemed the grab the fish that he knew would be easiest to hold, the largest.
At around 4pm Tim had to go back out to his six ponds and measure the seepage and evaporation. There is a PVC pipe stuck in the mud and covered to prevent evaporation. We had to uncover the pipe and record the water level, this is seepage. Then we record the difference between the water level inside and outside the pipe, this is evaporation. We couldn’t get the top off one of the pipes so I got in the water to remove it. The water was so nice and warm I stayed in for a few minutes, until Tim reminded me of the snake… A few days ago we found and had a water snake removed from one of Tim’s ponds. This was adequate motivation for me to get the hell out of the water, flash back of Snakes On A Plane occurred to me.
Well I finally meet me bodyguard. We were running low of food so I headed back toward Abassa for the fourth time. As I got to the security gate the guard asked what I was doing, after telling him I was going to town he told me “no, too dangerous.” Then my bodyguard walks over, he is either in his late 40s or early 50s. He was unarmed and it was quickly obvious he could no more protect me than do a push-up. My bodyguard starts speaking in Arabic and pointing toward town and himself. Now I never asked for a bodyguard, nobody at Abassa asked for a bodyguard, and he is obviously useless. So I stop asking and more start telling him to open the damn gate, I can take care of myself. I tower over everyone else here, I’m fit, and always bring my knife with me when I go into town alone. Most importantly I have already been into town many times and never had any problems.
Eventually the guard opens the gate and I start walking away, ignoring the bodyguards Arabic. I wondered weather my bodyguard was going to walk the two miles to town with me, I wasn’t sure he would be able to. Therefore I was not surprised to find myself walking alone along the dirt street. Everything was fine in town and returned with some badly needed food.
Secret Service
Day 48 July 8 – Secret Service
So during a short conversation with Dr. Gamal he informed me I had a bodyguard. It turns out when I registered my passport with the police department, to extend my visa, they took note. The police now have a guard posted at one the two gates. Dr. Gamal told me that he thought this was ridiculous and wouldn’t let the police man onto the grounds. He said he was posted there more to show off than to actually protect me. I think having my own guard is ridiculous; the only time I have feared for my safety was from a police man, now I’m stuck with one.
Tim is sick and feeling lazy so I followed suit, this worked out great for me. The day was not a complete waste; Tim taught me how to do the phosphorus test. To do this test we made a solution, I have the formula here but it’s kind of boring. The next step would be to put the samples in the spectrometer to obtain a measurement. Tim told me that we will actually perform this test on pond samples in a few days.
So during a short conversation with Dr. Gamal he informed me I had a bodyguard. It turns out when I registered my passport with the police department, to extend my visa, they took note. The police now have a guard posted at one the two gates. Dr. Gamal told me that he thought this was ridiculous and wouldn’t let the police man onto the grounds. He said he was posted there more to show off than to actually protect me. I think having my own guard is ridiculous; the only time I have feared for my safety was from a police man, now I’m stuck with one.
Tim is sick and feeling lazy so I followed suit, this worked out great for me. The day was not a complete waste; Tim taught me how to do the phosphorus test. To do this test we made a solution, I have the formula here but it’s kind of boring. The next step would be to put the samples in the spectrometer to obtain a measurement. Tim told me that we will actually perform this test on pond samples in a few days.
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