Photos!

These are the best 100 or so of the 735 pictures I took in Tanzania. Enjoy!

Today's Highlights

Adjusting back to work after two weeks of vacation has been a little bit of a roller coaster. For example, day one I got greeted by my coworkers her were super excited to have me back and here all my stories but then I got cornered by the nurse manager who basically told me she felt I wasn't working hard enough. Ummm, first day back and I counseled 4 patients out of a possible 6, yeah I'm such a slacker.

The best part of the week are always at the pediatrics clinic. I just love the environment and the people and the patients. This week was no different and I especially loved that the majority of my patients were improving their BMIs. The highlight of my week was receiving the nutrition dividers for the pediatric charts. Now I have my own section where all my notes go. No longer am I getting in the way of the nursing and doctor notes. Now all of my information is in my section.

Today is my long day of work, 10 hours at the adult clinic. This morning I was absolutely slammed with patients. Out of a possible 6, all of them showed up, plus the front desk decided it would be a good idea to give me two walk-ins despite the fact that my box was full of scheduled patients. Remind me to thank them for that one. I guess the universe responded to my pleas for help cause this afternoon I think I only counseled two patients. Which gave me plenty of time to go through all the stuff I have accumulated over the past 8 months. I felt so accomplished when I walked out this evening knowing that my entire office was clean, organized and under control.

I have to admit I am very happy that tomorrow is only a half day of work and then it's the weekend. It couldn't have arrived soon enough!

44 Hours Later

44 hours later and I am finally back home. Yeah, 44 hours of travelling to get home from Tanzania, can you believe that?! I arrived at the Dar Es Salaam airport Saturday morning at 8am (midnight Friday night East Coast time) and finally walked through my front door in Virginia at 8pm Sunday night East Coast Time (4am Monday morning Tanzania time). I have to say that was the longest travelling time I have ever had.

• 9 hours at the Dar Airport, flight didn't leave until 5pm.
• 5 hours on the flight from Dar to Dubai
• 2.5 hours layover in Dubai
• 13.5 hour flight from Dubai to New York - JFK
• 10 hours hanging out at JFK watching as my flight back to DC got delayed and then cancelled
• 2 hours getting rerouted and taking a taxi to LaGuardia airport
• 1 hour flight between NY and DC
• 1 hours to make a baggage claim on my delayed luggage (fingers crossed my luggage arrives today!) and getting a taxi to my front door

I am so happy to be back in America. There's hot water! Electricity! Showers! Mattresses made from more than just foam! And my personal favorite, everyone here speaks English. Oh the luxury of it all. Pictures to come real soon I promise but to tide you over here's one from my safari.

Hello From Africa!

So right now I sit in an internet cafe in Njombe. This is the town we have stopped at on our way out of Jessica's village (Kifumbe) and on our way towards our Safari in Ruaha. The trip so far has been absolutely amazing! I arrived about a week ago and spent the night in Dar Es Salaam. The next day Jessica and I travelled via bus to Iringa, halfway to Jessica's village, where we met up with Charlie. After a night in Iringa Jessica and I headed on towards her village in Kifumbe.

 

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday Jessica and I worked at the village clinic. Monday was baby weighing day. All the momma's bring the children into the clinic to be weighed. Each child is weighed once a month and their weight is plotted on a graph to see whether they are healthy weight or not. The children also receive their vaccinations at 9, 15 and 21 months. Jessica showed me how to help her and even let me give a child a few polio drops. It was awesome. Tuesday was prenatal checkups. Jessica taught me how to feel a momma's belly to locate the fetus and then how to use my fingers to count the weeks of gestation, definitely not a technique we use in the US! I was so glad the momma was willing to let me learn on her. Then Thursday Jessica and I taught our nutrition lesson to the mommas. We covered boiling water, weaning foods and then did a cooking demonstration on how to make tomatoe sauce/soup. The momma's really liked the food and we taught eachother how to slice tomatoes and onions. It was so much fun!

 

But I have to say the highlight of the entire week was the text we received Friday morning from Momma Love, the lady who runs the clinic. Her text basically said, "Come to the clinic now!" When we got there we got to witness the birth of a baby. It was so empowering. The mothers here barely make a noise throughout the labor and birthing process, maybe just sigh here and there. Unbelievable considering the fact that they are laying there completely naked, on a board covered in cloth, with no drugs, and a window open to provide light into the room. A window without glass or nets that the wind blows straight through. Unreal. After the birth the mom delivered the placenta then stood up and walked to the next room which is known as the recovery room. Tomorrow she will probably be back to work! Very different from the American way but actually much more appealing to me, it just seemed so peaceful. Lucky for me Jessica had a cold and I was able to carry the baby from the birthing room into the recovery room. He was so sweet.

 

This will probably be my only post while I am in Africa. Tomorrow we continue our journey on towards Ruaha where we will be going on a three day safari. Lucky for us we saw some twiggas (giraffes), tembos (elephants), and swalas (impalas) on the bus ride to Jessica's village. Hopefully on the safari we will be able to see them closer up and actually take photos. I am also hoping we get to see a lion and hippos. After the safari I will be heading back to Dar to return to the US. Hard to believe I am only halfway through my trip but then again hard to believe I am ALREADY halfway through my trip.

Almost There!

I stand right now in the Dubai International Airport. Hard to believe that I am only five hours away from being in Tanzania. The flight wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. A little daunting to be on the plane for 16 hours but the flight actually felt shorter then some of the five hour trips I have had between the coasts in the US. The best part of the flight was the entertainment system. TV shows, movies, games and music on demand. I think I watched a total of four movies: Vantage Point (filmed when I was in Puebla, Mexico two summers ago), 27 Dresses, Meet the Robinsons, and Juno. Add to that a couple of TV shows, a little snooze, reading through US Weekly and before I knew it we were once again on the ground.

The funny part about the Dubai airport is that everywhere you look there are people sleeping. On the chairs, on the floor, and in the "quite rooms". Absolutely everywhere. And not just a couple of people, entire families, men, women, and children. It's pretty funny. That and the fake palm trees. Oh yeah, and they have dunkin' donuts and cinnabon here. Oh the comforts of home!

I have a couple of hours to wander around and figure out which gate I am supposed to go to and then it's off to Tanzania! I plan to sleep on the plane ride otherwise I'll probably end up a walking zombie when I meet Jess. So exciting that I am almost there!!!

I've been Tagged, have you?

So I wasn't exactly tagged for this by Stephanie but I thought I would go ahead and post my responses anyway. It looked like fun plus I can tag other people to post, mwah ha ha.

The rules: Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

What was I doing ten years ago?
In the summer of 1998 I had just finished junior year of high school and was getting ready for senior year. I know I attended cheer camp and I'm pretty sure I spent some time visiting colleges.

What are five (non-work) things on my to-do list for today:

1. Mail the check for my renters insurance.
2. Finish up the six eggs, half a bottle of wine and plain yogurt in my fridge.
3. Register with the US Embassy in Tanzania.
4. Put an on vacation message on my email.
5. Watch the So You Think You Can Dance elimination show.

Five Snacks I Enjoy:

1. Dark Chocolate
2. Fresh Strawberries and Blueberries
3. Chips and Salsa
4. Cashews or Pistachios
5. Tortillas with margarine and cinnamon sugar

Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

1. Pay off the mortgages of my brother, sister, and parents.
2. Take my soul friend on a vacation.
3. Fly to CA to get my hair cut.
4. Purchase/build a brand new building for the clinic I work at and reduce my hours to half time.
5. Invest it and live off the interest.

Places I have lived:

1. London, England
2. Amstelveen, Holland
3. Los Altos, CA
4. Isla Vista, CA (Goleta)
5. Coventry, England
6. Monterey Park, CA
7. Puebla, Mexico
8. Alexandria, VA

Jobs I have had:

1. Babysitter of neighborhood kids throughout high school.
2. Nanny of 6 month old twins for a neurotic mother. Quite possibly the worse job ever and as a result I wish twins upon absolutely no-one.
3. Cashier at Linens N Things.
4. Office Assistant for Ryan Associates.
5. Temporary office professional (receptionist, data entry) for Office Team. I got to work at so many different places: Diesel Shoes, a Bank, a Loan Company, a GPS company, Ducati Motorcycles, American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators.
6. My mother's personal assistant. Yes my mother paid me to do things for her.
7. Guest Services Associate at Kidspace Children's Museum.
8. Babysitter and nutrition assistant for a work-from-home registered dietitian.
9. Registered Dietitian at the health clinic I work at now.
10. Lead Nutrition Educator for a family-based lifestyle intervention program.

Five people who should post this:

1. Paige
2. Travis
3. Erin
4. Irene
5. This Fish

Whirlwind Weekend

What a weekend!

• Wednesday: Arrive in San Francisco 11pm
• Thursday: drive up to Stockton to celebrate the wedding of one of my college roommates
• Friday: (morning) breakfast with the bride and groom in Stockton, (afternoon) no-bbq bbq lunch with high school friends in Oakland, (evening) dinner with parents in Palo Alto.
• Saturday: serve breakfast to the homeless in South San Francisco, Allison Brown tour of Oakland cemetery, Giants vs Dodgers baseball game in San Francisco.
• Sunday: brunch in Oakland followed by an afternoon of errands with the parents in Palo Alto and capped off with a red-eye flight back to Virginia.

Phew! I'm tired just typing about all that. I'm glad to be home but unfortunately I am only here for four days before I head off to Africa!!! So much to do, so little time to get it all done.

Post #300 - Happy Early 4th of July!

Unfortunately this weekend I will not be celebrating the 4th of July in the nation's capitol. But I can't say that I'm really all that unhappy about it. Instead I will be in CA celebrating the wedding of one of my best college friends. This of course means that I will also be spending some time with my parents and with my high school friends.

To make up for not being here for the fourth of July I was taken to the sunset parade at the United States Marine Corps Memorial (Iwo Jima Memorial) last night. First off there was music by the United States Marine Drum and Bugle Corps followed by a precision drill performance by the Marine Corps Silent Drill Platoon. It was incredible. Below is a picture from the Marines


If you look closely enough you will see that the two guns are actually in the air. If you are ever in DC on a Tuesday evening between Memorial Day and Labor Day you have to check this out, cause words can't describe just how incredible the whole routine is.

Oh yeah, and this is post #300 for my little blog. Can you believe it?!