My Fifth Week at CIMMYT!

 My Fifth Week at CIMMYT!

07/20/2024: 

This Saturday I went to Mexico City with a co-worker! I was so excited to get a chance to explore the city. He picked me up at CIMMYT with a car and for breakfast we ate blueberry and chia seed cookies. It was a little over an hour to get to Mexico City but we got there around 11:30 AM. First we went to the historic district of Zocalo and got to see the city square. It was so cool to see in person because I had learned so much about it in Spanish class in the United States. There were so many flags too and a pyramid in the center. There were a bunch of street markets all around the area which I love being able to see and buy things at. Everything is so cheap and they have such a wide variety of things. Afterwards we went on a tour of the Cathedral in the historic district. I love churches so this was the perfect tourist spot for me. It was so detailed and big inside, I think I took around 1,000,000 pictures. Afterwards, we ate at a rooftop restaurant. He had enchiladas and I had chilaquiles verdes because it's one of my favorite foods here in Mexico. I'm going to miss the authentic version here in Mexico when I go back home because I just love it so much! I also drank a hot chocolate that had cinnamon in it which I loved. I love cinnamon so much and the hot chocolate was so smooth and rich. It was easily the best I've ever had, I ever looked up a recipe after so I can make it in the United States for my family. After the restaurant, we went to a bakery in the center of Mexico City. I don't remember the names of anything we tried but it was all so good. One was a flaky cookie dipped in chocolate, another was a strawberry concha, and the last was my favorite. It was a horn shaped dough fried and filled with strawberry jam with crispy sugar on the outside. It was all so good, I love bakeries and getting to explore the different baked goods in different cities. Then we went to a churro place where I tried a churro filled with blackberry jam and a plain churro. They were so good too! I love how crispy it is but with a fluffy inside and the taste of the sugar and cinnamon on the inside. Then we went to an OXXO which is a gas station here in Mexico. There we just got some Mexican candies to try and water. I got to try a chocolate covered Pan de la Rosa which I think is my new favorite candy. It had chunks of peanuts in it that paired so well with the chocolate. We were so full and tired after all the foods and baked goods so we went to a park and sat down for a while. It was so fun to people watch and see all of the happy families there and all the fun activities everyone was doing. The park was so pretty, there were trees and fountains and statues everywhere. There was also another street market right next to the park that we explored after. There I got a bag to hold all of my stuff and then I tried a cinnamon artesian ice cream that I loved! I just love cinnamon so much if you can't already tell. Then we walked to the Riley's Believe it or Not Museum and spent a few hours there. It had all kinds of crazy things to see which was so fun. I'm so glad I got an opportunity to visit one of their museums. Afterwards, we went to the Angel of Independence and luckily the road was closed down that day so we got the perfect view of it. Then we went to a specialty gelato place where I got to try passionfruit sorbet and a speculoo gelato. It was the best gelato I've ever had and they shaped it like a rose which was so pretty. Speculoo is a European cinnamon cookie served around Christmas time. When I lived in Germany I would eat them almost every day, I thought that they were the best. I still do. Then to end the day in Mexico City we went to a Chicago Style burger place which tasted exactly like something you might get in America. The burgers were so good and the loaded fries were even better. I had a Horchata with my meal which is a Mexican cinnamon water and it was so good too. Then we drove home and I was so tired I fell asleep almost immediately. It was such a fun day and I'm so happy I got to explore Mexico City before I left!

07/21/2024: 

Today was a lot more relaxing and lowkey than yesterday. I went to a zoom church in America, did my laundry, and did bible study in the morning. Then I ate lunch which was hamburgers today at the cafeteria with vegetables. Afterwards I went for a long walk in the fields and lifted some weights in the gym before going to the grocery store to get milk. I use milk every morning in my coffee so it's the one grocery item I need in my suite that I can't get from the CIMMYT cafeteria. Then I called my family back in America and snacked on some Mexican candies. Then I did some more bible study before bed and drank tea. It was a good rewind for the week ahead!

07/22/2024: 

The start of my fifth week here, I feel like time is flying by so fast. There wasn't much to do today and a lot of people didn't even come into work at the Genebank. In was kind of an in-between day where tests were still processing and there wasn't much we could do. I set up some meetings and trips for later in the week like a meeting to explore the distribution sector of CIMMYT tomorrow and a trip to the other CIMMYT station in Agua Fria on Wednesday. Other than that, I worked on research and stayed in the office for most of the day other than one meeting in the main building. For lunch I ate veggies and shredded beef. After work, I lifted weights in the gym, went for a run, and showered.  Then I went to the cafeteria for supper and ate fruit, seemed veggies, and balsamic pork which was one of my favorite meals I have had here so far. Then I did some bible study and went for a walk with another student here. By then I was so tired so when I got home I went to bed immediately. It was a good day, slow but good!

07/23/2024:

More work on germination today! I came into work around 8:00 AM to work with Gabriel on our germination tests that were processing the day before. We figured that we might spend a few hours on this today but we wound up working on it all day and a little in the evening. First we counted 100 count seed samples of each seed type, expect for Video Meter samples which we counted 125 seed count samples for. Then we tested and recorded the humidity of each sample. After this, we used the video meter to record 24 individual samples and save them with a specific feature set. Then we took all of our samples and began conducting the accelerated aging process. This was longer than usual because due to recent discoveries of mold in our germination testing we had to soak each sample for a minute in chloride water to help prevent this. We also had more samples than usual since each Video Meter sample was separated into four samples each. After this process, we ate lunch with Gabriel's wife. It was so good, today was an egg bake quiche with birria which is like a type of beef stew. It is also what I ate for supper except I had sweet potato salad with olives instead of the birria. I love when they have breakfast type foods for lunch and dinner. When we returned to the lab, we finished labeling and completing this accelerated aging process. Afterwards, we checked our germination tests from four days ago. The germination rate was very good, I personally recorded six samples with a 100% germination rate on the fourth day which I've never done before. The difference between this time and last is that in previous germination testing cycles, we watered the germination rolls every day. Even on weekends I would come in to take observations and water them. This time we didn't, we watered them on the first day and again when we checked them on the fourth day but that was it. I'm excited to see how they germinated on the final 7th day of testing (this Friday). Once we finished this, it was a little past 5:30 PM (17:30 PM). Gabriel gave me a plain marzipan de la rose because I loved the chocolate covered one so much but had never tried an original. He also gave me a packet of gummies covered in chammy which were also very good. I love Mexican candies, I think that's what I'll miss most about my time here. After work, I went for a run and did some small arm lifting exercises. I don't like lifting much because A. I can't lift very heavy B. I don't know what I'm doing and C. I just don't like it that much. But I want to learn how and get better so I decided how is a good time to start. Then I ate supper and studied a bit before bed.

07/24/2024:

Instead of going into work in Texcoco today, my boss took me to another CIMMYT station in Agua Fria. Agua Fria is a tropical station about three hours away from Texcoco. It is so much hotter there than it is here and the humidity was so high too. It's about an hour from the coast. It's more like how I had imagined my time in Mexico would be. Where Texcoco can be very cold and rainy, Agua Fria was very hot and humid. I'm so glad I'm in Texcoco because I couldn't even imagine working in the fields at Agua Fria. When we arrived, we checked the weather stations and loaded the data onto my boss's laptop. Then we travelled around the fields to load data from other weather stations. Afterwards, we went to the grain dryers to see how the process used to be done and brainstorm ways to change it. Then we travelled around the station to do quality checks, see how it could be improved, and to get each process explained to me. It was so interesting to see how the processes change from one station to another. It is important that they are different, however, because of the climate difference. The seed has to be handled differently to prevent grain damage or quality loss due to the weather and the machines work differently in the different environmental conditions. Afterwards, we went to an ice cream place in the town of Agua Fria. I got mango flavored shaved ice/icecream and a macadamia nut flavor too. The mango was good but I LOVED the macadamia nut flavor, it was so good. Then we drove about an hour in the direction of Texcoco to eat at a restaurant. I had chicken and rice soup and chicken with mole sauce. I loved the soup and the free bread for the table. I also liked the chicken with mole sauce but it was a little spicer than it normally is. This restaurant was in a city called Puebla which is very beautiful. I loved it so much. That is also the town that my co-worker Gabriel is from and I am very excited because he said that he would take me there next weekend to explore it a little more. Then we drove the last two hours home and got home in the evening. I ate supper, took a shower, and cleaned my room because talking to my sister in America a little and going to bed. 

07/25/2024:

I began today like any other day, waking up and reading my bible and doing my devotional before getting ready and heading into work. I got in around 9:00 AM today to catch up on some work I missed being gone yesterday before my first meeting of the day at 10:00 AM. This meeting is with Rocio who is in charge of distribution here at CIMMYT. For the most part, I have been walked through every major process here at CIMMYT except the distribution process so this was the final step in understanding the entire process. It was such a great meeting. She was so nice and answered any question I had. She explained the entire process and even did some steps of the process for an order so I could see it. CIMMYT distributes seed to farmers, governments, internal distribution for conservation or testing, and to universities among many other places. The specific order she worked on while I was in there was for a university in California, but it was so cool to see how many seed orders CIMMYT gets from all around the world. Other than this meeting, I worked on germination testing and better understanding the video meter. I am working more on understanding how to better calibrate it when needed and what all it might be able to do. After work, I went for a run in the gym and saw a few of my co-workers there! We talked for a little bit and then went to watch a soccer game on campus. Afterwards I ate supper and showered before calling my friend in America and heading to bed. 

07/26/2024:

The last day of my fifth week, I can't even believe it. I feel like every week flys by so fast. Today I had to go in early around 7:20 AM because there was a seminar given by a professor from Uruguay at 9:00 AM. I had to test the humidity of each of my Videometer sample tests and start running them through the Videometer before the seminar so that I would have time to complete everything I needed today. The seminar was amazing, Rafael, the professor who gave it, was the same person who taught me how to use the Videometer and has joined me on a lot of my adventures. He talked about corn varieties in South America, specifically Brazil and Uruguay. He also talked about scientists and different projects that they were working on in Uruguay that related to corn races. It was very interesting to hear about how corn is used and valued in Uruguay and the work that they are doing to better support corn plant health and diversity for the future. Afterwards, I went back to the lab and finished scanning each sample through the Videometer. Then I tested the humidity of the remaining samples and analyzed the germination tests form three days ago. The germination was good or some of them, but for others all of the seeds grew mold and died. I'll be excited to see how the final report and final results look at the end of my time here. Then after lunch we spent a few hours making new germination rolls with our new samples. Then I went to the post office to pick up a package from America! It was from a friend in America and had my favorite snacks, some letters, and Fourth of July things. I'm expecting another package from my mom so hopefully that will be here next week! After work I went on a run, ate supper, and went on a walk with some friends. Next week I'll be working in the Biosafety labs for a few days and I'll have an interview with ICAA. I'm so excited!