When you’ve been living in a new culture for a few months, I
think you get to a point where the novelty starts to wear off. You think, you’re
not a tourist anymore. This is just your day to day life. This feeling, of
course, is a complete illusion, especially in a country where every season
brings new foods, holidays, and traditions, all of which can be very confusing,
but also very exciting.
Anyway, I was feeling this sort of sense of complacency,
when one day I noticed that A) my host father and brother were bringing many
random boxes from the garden into the living room, and B) there were A LOT of
bees around.
It took me about half an hour of watching to actually figure
out what was going on. They were harvesting the honey, which involved, very
bravely, carrying the honey comb boxes in with their bare hands. I was not so
brave and spent the rest of the day hiding in my room.
In the evening, my host family finally coaxed me out telling
me not to be afraid and that, more importantly, that I needed to eat. There
were less bees now, but still a lot to me, and although I yelped every time one
came near me, I managed to be fairly
calm.
But I’m glad I stayed because it was great to watch and even
help in the honey extracting process. For those interested, this is what it
basically entails:
1. Manually slice the extra protruding parts off of
the honey combs. These are put by the fire to soften. (I could not be trusted
to help with this step. Seemed complicated.)
2. Line all the honey comb trays up in this barrel
thing with a handle on top that spins the honey out. (This I was allowed to
do.)
3. When the barrel is full, open a hole at the
bottom so all the honey comes out.
Meanwhile, you can snack on pieces straight from the honey
comb—super fresh honey and then you chew on the wax left behind. Nature’s
chewing gum, as they say…as maybe a couple people have once said.
