Well, hard to believe its thursday already. I must review the week. After 4 other interns arrived in the past week, our project is now at maximum capacity. I have now been here over 3 weeks and people ask me where to get things and to run errands for the project. Imagine that. Most of the staff is out of town in Mombasa this week and will return tomorrow with the big boss, Susan Allen. Luckily I have nothing but great progress to report. My projects and training materials are moving along nicely. The only hold up now is waiting for the immunology folk to vacate my prep room so that I may perform all duties with proper technique.
On a more interesting front, I leave for safari two weeks from today and I don't know if I can stand the excitement. While I'm gone, my comrades will venture into DRC to Goma to see the ACTIVE volcanoes. Lava could never move slow enough for me to peer into an active volcano, so i'm okay with missing that trip. We are also planning an adventure up to Kampala, Uganda for some Nile white water rafting and a bunjee jump over the falls. Its going to be amazing. Africa really is an adventure.
Unfortunately, our house is not suffering from some technical difficulties, we mostly have no hot water, sometimes have electricity in the kitchen, now do not have any propane for our stove, and definitely don't have enough room to dry our clothes outside (so everything i own including my person smells faintly of mold or algae). We are hopeful that this is a temporary problem as I do not want to adjust to smelling of mildew and then not be able to tell when i stink or switch to a raw food diet eating in the dark. But, this is Africa right? Got to go with what works!
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Sunday, June 10, 2007
$0.40 Motorcycle Rides
After our crazy weekend of travel last weekend, I was ecstatic to just chill out around the house this weekend. Last weekend we ventured to Butare, home of the National Museum of Rwanda and the national genocide memorial at Marambi. We travelled by minibus which is exciting and sort of stressful at the same time. Imagine our elation when Enrique's "Hero", Destiny's Child, and Aerosmith played throughout the ride. We were the rowdy Americans singing along as the silent stoic Rwandan's stared. They were completely annoyed but you know what, TIA right! The motto for the summer has now become Africa: Whatever Works. We were exhausted this week and after the stomach illness, it seemed best to take it easy. Friday night we walked to Republika for a dinner out and to say goodbye to Noel and Thomas. Yesterday we made ice cream at a friends house and cooked a feast for our 3 newest interns: Brandon, Erica, and Melissa. Roasted potatoes, fish curry, and tumeric potatoes - its a rough life right? There is quite a crew of us and we are all combining our culinary talents.
Apparently, on of the most Africa things to do is to take a motto. So, I took a motto to the grocery yesterday for 200 RWfr which is about 40 cents. What a steal. The head of our project from emory arrives on friday, Dr. Allen, and we are anxious to share our progress with her.
I had a break through in my project this week which I will attempt to explain in non-technical jargon. I'm here to set up a molecular technique (PCR) which requires expensive machinery and very fragile ingredients ie enzymes that MUST be kept cold and DNA that must be handled very carefully for preservation. When I arrived I was told that several reagents weren't working and the head of the lab had been unable to successfully get any product from these reactions. In a last ditch effort, I ran one more PCR on Thursday and tested it for product on Friday. And.... I got some! this is such a boost of confidence for my skills over here. Its one thing to perform a procedure in the safety of an emory lab with experts all around me, but doing it alone in an african lab where I'm a stranger is a whole other story. So, YEAH!
Hard work week ahead. I'll keep you all posted. By the way, I think we are training for a half marathon of sorts while i'm here. Should be interesting.
Apparently, on of the most Africa things to do is to take a motto. So, I took a motto to the grocery yesterday for 200 RWfr which is about 40 cents. What a steal. The head of our project from emory arrives on friday, Dr. Allen, and we are anxious to share our progress with her.
I had a break through in my project this week which I will attempt to explain in non-technical jargon. I'm here to set up a molecular technique (PCR) which requires expensive machinery and very fragile ingredients ie enzymes that MUST be kept cold and DNA that must be handled very carefully for preservation. When I arrived I was told that several reagents weren't working and the head of the lab had been unable to successfully get any product from these reactions. In a last ditch effort, I ran one more PCR on Thursday and tested it for product on Friday. And.... I got some! this is such a boost of confidence for my skills over here. Its one thing to perform a procedure in the safety of an emory lab with experts all around me, but doing it alone in an african lab where I'm a stranger is a whole other story. So, YEAH!
Hard work week ahead. I'll keep you all posted. By the way, I think we are training for a half marathon of sorts while i'm here. Should be interesting.
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Bought a Giraffe from a Pygmy
yes yes, you read it right, i bought a giraffe from a patois pygmy on saturday his name is Gilbert. He's pretty awesome. Despite his stature, He keeps me company. He's small and ceramic and sits on my night stand but he's a great listener. This was the highlight of saturday.
This week has had a slow start. Lakshmy has been sick with some sort of dysenteric infection which i've gotten a touch of. We've been taking it easy and have postponed our trip to lake kivu off for a few weekends. I think this weekend we will just hand around the city.
I did get a new roomate, her name is Kate and she just graduated from Johns Hopkins. She's lived in africa before but is still getting adjusted to how things go here. She's going to be my new running buddy. We went for a jog last night.
The birthday festivities were fun on Monday. Went to Ice and Spice for dinner and had an Indian feast with April, Clement, Taylor, Ty, Kate, Ajanta, and Lakshmy. I was stuffed.
Its been raining a lot as the rainy season draws to a close and I will be ecstatic when the mid day sun returns. My plane ticket for my safari arrived today and I'm very excited, so is mom. We leave three weeks from tomorrow and I am counting the days to seeing a zebra in the wild, and a cheetah, and an elephant, and about a million other things. Its been great to hear from the states so much. At least once a day I have a moment where I think "what am I doing here?" and the emails and phone calls from the states are the only things that keep me sane. Love to you all.
This week has had a slow start. Lakshmy has been sick with some sort of dysenteric infection which i've gotten a touch of. We've been taking it easy and have postponed our trip to lake kivu off for a few weekends. I think this weekend we will just hand around the city.
I did get a new roomate, her name is Kate and she just graduated from Johns Hopkins. She's lived in africa before but is still getting adjusted to how things go here. She's going to be my new running buddy. We went for a jog last night.
The birthday festivities were fun on Monday. Went to Ice and Spice for dinner and had an Indian feast with April, Clement, Taylor, Ty, Kate, Ajanta, and Lakshmy. I was stuffed.
Its been raining a lot as the rainy season draws to a close and I will be ecstatic when the mid day sun returns. My plane ticket for my safari arrived today and I'm very excited, so is mom. We leave three weeks from tomorrow and I am counting the days to seeing a zebra in the wild, and a cheetah, and an elephant, and about a million other things. Its been great to hear from the states so much. At least once a day I have a moment where I think "what am I doing here?" and the emails and phone calls from the states are the only things that keep me sane. Love to you all.
Friday, June 1, 2007
Mazungu
so here is how my days go, i wake up at 730 because my load but totally nice and geeky roomie, Taylor, is making coffee with our ghetto rigged coffee maker. i get up about 30 minutes later, get dressed and go into the kitchen where there is either water on the floor, ants in the sink, or some stranger outside my window doing laundry. no naked time in this house! the coffee is like gasoline here, just how you like it, and so i drink some with whole milk and real sugar and immediately have to poop. i'm just finishing rotations so i go to one of the 5 buildings here and shadow someone who generally smells like africa and speaks only french and kenyarwanda. i've been speaking a lot of french. we stop at 1030 for tea time, about 1/5 black tea and 4/5 unpasteurized cow's milk. literally, if you listen closely, its still mooing. oh, and about a pound of sugar. its so rich, i have to water it down half and half and its still what i would imagine breast feeding to be like. but its custom here so you shut up and do it. they start at 8 here but i usually roll in closer to nine. the sleep here is better than i have had in a long time. windows open on a little foam cot but its peaceful and uncorrupted. the thing happened where with all of the people i interact with all day, my problems are insignificant. its kind of like meetings but much more rich and cultural. (no i'm getting choked up thinking about how i miss home). the super fun part about being in africa is that you don't have to care about what you look like. i wear the same clothes 4 days in a row, don't wear make up, pile my hair on top of my head, and nobody cares. anyways, i was at first eat the prepared lunch which is 500 rwandan francs (a little less than 1 dollar). lunch is a mountain of red beans, rice, plantains, potatoes, etc. not a fresh veggie in sight. that lasted about two days where i would eat and then go take a 4 hr nap right after. so now we cook. we= me and lakshmy (pronounced lack-shmeee) who is indian but she's from portland. the lab facilities are awesome and the only problem i've encountered with my project so far is that some of the ingredients did not arrive in Rwanda refrigerated so some of my enzymes and primers died. the afternoons of work are slower because most of the patients are seen by 130 and the testing and couseling ends by 2. so its a lot of internet and computer work. all of the local staff stop at 3 because they have english lesson every day. thats when we usually go watch an episode of SVU on DVD or take a nap. then we walk down into the local houses (basically they are slums like you see in the movies) and we buy veggies to make dinner. we have tomatoes, avacados, potoatoes, little green eggplants, onions, and kasava root. no lettuce, no brocoli, no squash, no zuchini. Lakshmy and another intern, Ajunta, have made some amazing curries. we make eggs a lot (the only safe form of protein that we can get our hands on). Just learned how to make french crepes from beata. It gets dark promptly at 6 and we make dinner for about seven. Frequently we all eat together. Then later we watch a DVD or walk over to the club Republika or the American Club (we are going tonight). Rwandans don't really go out after dark so most people we run into out to dinner or at a bar are Expats or business men coming through. The president, Paul Kagame was around the corner from our house the other night. Its was pretty exciting. He is very loved and respected in the community. I am learning a lot of Kenyarwanda from the nurses, lab techs, and little 5 yr old children who chase us everywhere. They call us Mazungu which means wanderer. I don't think i wander but thats just what they call foreigners. The only thing these kids know how to say in english is 'hello' and 'give me your money'. Besides that, they are perfectly nice and get a big smile on their face when we say hello back.
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Africa Nights
the view from Rwanda is something else! i've never seen a night sky like there is here. wish you all could be here to see it too. we went to a bar called 'le republikan' last night and i was really happy that it had no US political party affiliations. we made our first big dinner last night: sweet pototatoes, home made naan bread, eggplant and fish curry, and avacado salad! yummy.
i wrote and email to a lot of people before and was not clear about phone contacts so i've included a more clear explanation:
for anyone who is feeling adventurous and wants to try and call me this is my house number.
just dial 011 from the US to get out of the country then +250 503 679. We are six hours ahead of east coast time! best time to call me is at night here which is afternoon in the US.
today is umuganda which is a rwandan tradition where everyone closes up shops on saturday morning and does community service all day. the US should have something like that. the police arrest locals who are not doing work and take them to plant trees and clean up the streets. its really neat.
i'm slowly learning bits and pieces of kenyarwanda which sounds a lot like swahili. its pretty tough. big long words with lots of syllables.
i wrote and email to a lot of people before and was not clear about phone contacts so i've included a more clear explanation:
for anyone who is feeling adventurous and wants to try and call me this is my house number.
just dial 011 from the US to get out of the country then +250 503 679. We are six hours ahead of east coast time! best time to call me is at night here which is afternoon in the US.
today is umuganda which is a rwandan tradition where everyone closes up shops on saturday morning and does community service all day. the US should have something like that. the police arrest locals who are not doing work and take them to plant trees and clean up the streets. its really neat.
i'm slowly learning bits and pieces of kenyarwanda which sounds a lot like swahili. its pretty tough. big long words with lots of syllables.
Friday, May 25, 2007
Live from Africa...
here we go:
First and foremost, i packed way too much. i checked two huge bags from atlanta to nairobi and was still exhausted from carrying the enormous pack and million pound laptop bag around the airport. got to nyc fine until British Airways told me and Lakshmy that when travelling through London, you can only have one carry on, so i had to check my pack, which had all of my important (cannot be separated for fear of increasing my abandonment issues) things, but we had no choice, and we checked it anyways for an additional 220$. I'm never flying BA again. London was amazing thanks to my incredible friends Beck, Szilvia, Guy, and Sara who i have not seen in 3+ yrs. L had never been to London so we did a whirlwind tour in 8 hrs, ate 3 times, rode a double decker, and crammed the city down her throat on 4 hrs of sleep then returned to Heathrow and left for Nairobi. Good movies on the plane and good food and then we got to Nairobi, at 7am. We were just flying through but we did have to retrieve our bags, but they would not give me a Visa. We did have to LEAVE OUR PASSPORTS at immigration before we got our bags, which did miraculous arrive unscathed. I was then directed out of the double doors of the baggage claim into Kenya while L thought maybe she should go grab our passports. L had the good idea. I had the bad idea. At this point Emily is wandering around the Kenya airport with 4 huge bags, no passport, and no visa and they will not let me back into the airport. I'm now have the most american blonde moment ever. and i haven't slept in two days, and am about to make it a blonde american girlie moment cause i swear i'm going to cry. when i return to the double doors there is a herd of immigration officers and L standing there explaining the situation. needless to say, my first hour in Africa is NOT GOING WELL. they let me back in with this 'typical american' scowl on their faces and i proceed to recheck my bags on the Rwandair plane, get another boarding pass and go sit at the gate and wait for my flight. from there, it was easy peasy! it was like i blinked on the plane and we were in Kigali.
Rwanda is sooo beautiful. its hilly and temperate. it gets dark at 6pm since we are on the equator, and it gets dark really fast. the house is really nice. i have my own room and we keep the windows open because there is a lovely breeze all the time. 75 during the day and 60's at night. the jetlag is brutal but its getting better.
I have an idea for the new motto of africa: AFRICA: Welcome to Carb World! Oatmeal for breakfast, rice beans and plantains for lunch, and pasta for dinner with a side of potatoes. my liver is in heaven. whole milk, goats meat, and no salads galore.
I'm heading off to the lab now. will blog more later.
On a side note, the support from the states has been amazing. I could not have done it without the sweet emails that mean more than you guys can ever know. I defintely feel half way around the world away and I just about started bawling yesterday when I got emails from all of my friends back home. You guys are the best.
First and foremost, i packed way too much. i checked two huge bags from atlanta to nairobi and was still exhausted from carrying the enormous pack and million pound laptop bag around the airport. got to nyc fine until British Airways told me and Lakshmy that when travelling through London, you can only have one carry on, so i had to check my pack, which had all of my important (cannot be separated for fear of increasing my abandonment issues) things, but we had no choice, and we checked it anyways for an additional 220$. I'm never flying BA again. London was amazing thanks to my incredible friends Beck, Szilvia, Guy, and Sara who i have not seen in 3+ yrs. L had never been to London so we did a whirlwind tour in 8 hrs, ate 3 times, rode a double decker, and crammed the city down her throat on 4 hrs of sleep then returned to Heathrow and left for Nairobi. Good movies on the plane and good food and then we got to Nairobi, at 7am. We were just flying through but we did have to retrieve our bags, but they would not give me a Visa. We did have to LEAVE OUR PASSPORTS at immigration before we got our bags, which did miraculous arrive unscathed. I was then directed out of the double doors of the baggage claim into Kenya while L thought maybe she should go grab our passports. L had the good idea. I had the bad idea. At this point Emily is wandering around the Kenya airport with 4 huge bags, no passport, and no visa and they will not let me back into the airport. I'm now have the most american blonde moment ever. and i haven't slept in two days, and am about to make it a blonde american girlie moment cause i swear i'm going to cry. when i return to the double doors there is a herd of immigration officers and L standing there explaining the situation. needless to say, my first hour in Africa is NOT GOING WELL. they let me back in with this 'typical american' scowl on their faces and i proceed to recheck my bags on the Rwandair plane, get another boarding pass and go sit at the gate and wait for my flight. from there, it was easy peasy! it was like i blinked on the plane and we were in Kigali.
Rwanda is sooo beautiful. its hilly and temperate. it gets dark at 6pm since we are on the equator, and it gets dark really fast. the house is really nice. i have my own room and we keep the windows open because there is a lovely breeze all the time. 75 during the day and 60's at night. the jetlag is brutal but its getting better.
I have an idea for the new motto of africa: AFRICA: Welcome to Carb World! Oatmeal for breakfast, rice beans and plantains for lunch, and pasta for dinner with a side of potatoes. my liver is in heaven. whole milk, goats meat, and no salads galore.
I'm heading off to the lab now. will blog more later.
On a side note, the support from the states has been amazing. I could not have done it without the sweet emails that mean more than you guys can ever know. I defintely feel half way around the world away and I just about started bawling yesterday when I got emails from all of my friends back home. You guys are the best.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
less than a week now. i've been preparing for this for so long, i just need to go already. everyone says goodbye and they look at me like its final or the end or something. its just a summer. thats what i keep telling myself. just a summer. can everything change in a summer? i guess we will see. i've packed, un packed, repacked, and then reunpacked again. pretty soon it will just be me and the planes and the layovers and customs and visas. it will be nice to put my feet on the ground in Africa. i'm sure the ground will feel the same. actually, i'm sure of nothing, i hope the ground will feel the same. i'm unsure of what my reaction to the culture will be. what if they hate me? guess we'll just have to find out when we get there.
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