In which Annie dons the beekeeping suit once more

I'm back in Kombo to do in-service training, and I have to say that so far this has been some of the coolest technical training Peace Corps has given me.

Yesterday we learned to process honey and wax (this is awesome because it's fun and you get to keep your end results), and also how to weave grass hives (I'm a natural, if you were wondering).

Once it got dark, we put on our bee costumes and tramped into the apiary. We were at an organization called Siffoe Beekeeping Association that kept their bees in a cashew grove in what kind of looked like bee prison, with about 30 hives locked up in a long row building with a barred front. I worked on hive 26. It was hot and sweaty, and I managed to accumulate a pretty impressive helmet of bees (I am chalking this up to the fact that whoever wore this bee suit before me was definitely wearing cologne). Being out there with african killer bees is pretty exhilerating though. We probably worked on our hive for about two hours, cutting through cross combing, taking out old hive and capped honey, and just investigating the world of the bees. I was also impressed because in the Gambia most of the bee keepers I've met so far have been men, but one of the people from Siffoe in my group was a woman. It's nice to see gener empowerment in the Gambia.

After closing back up the hive, we took our big buckets of honey comb and just kind of wandered in the forest in the dark for a while trying to get all the bees off our suits. This takes a long time. I learned my lesson last time I went beekeeping and got stung twice while taking off my suit. Patience. Patience. This time I am proud to say I was sting-free. I just loved the bees.

Variations on a Theme: Gambian Men Trying to Get my Attention

Toubab women in the Gambia get a lot of cat calls. A lot. Here are just some of the many that have come my way recently:

Hi! Hi! Hi! Hello! Hi! Hi! Hello! Hi! Hi! Hello! (Continue until out of earshot)
I love you!
Hey, beautiful girl.
Hello Toubab! What is your name?
Yo, come talk to me.
Wait, wait, wait, wait, I just want to talk to you. So can you come talk to me?
Toubab! How are you?
Hey, boss lady!
Hey, Chinese-o!
Hey, Chinese boss lady!
Hey, Chinois (I think at least 60 percent of all Gambians think I am Chinese)

These are just the ones I got on my walk from the car park to the internet cafe today. I wish I could remember more because some are pretty classic and hilarious, but unfortunately when you try to hard to ignore them they just go in one ear and out the other.