Sunday, September 26, 2010

Oh the places we will go.





Hello my blog following friends and family! Finally starting to feel like this time is going to fly by! I must admit when I arrived I had some moments of WHAT IN THE WORLD WAS I THINKING on the way here, and the first couple days I was way out of my element BUT now I've met some people and I think I'll be home before I know it! 

Another pic of the Great Rift Valley

Zachary
Friday evening I went running up at Rift Valley Academy. I gotta take some pics of that place it is so amazing they have multiple football fields, tennis courts, a big basketball gym...my roommate said she feels bad there is a place like that amidst all this poverty and that is a pretty good way to describe it. They have a great run around the perimeter of the campus EXCEPT there is this HUGE, IMPOSSIBLE hill. I definitely do not have enough RBCs to be running up this high! My goal is to make it around the perimeter by the time I leave but that is a pretty lofty goal given it'll be at least three weeks before blood cell compensation kicks in. Anyway, Friday night I made my first fire ever! It made me feel pretty good about myself given several others had tried unsuccessfully. :) 


Saturday was a fun day of relaxation. I hung out with my roomie Dayna and another resident Beth and her child Zachary (see pic of adorable child). I then took a glorious two hour nap! After that I met my upstairs neighbors! They are two wonderful missionaries from Seattle here for a year with their son. The dad is an emergency medicine doctor, mom is a nurse but not practicing here, and son is my brothers age. Dr. Fisher (dad) told me I needed to make the most of my experience here and try not to miss cool things. So...he told me that he is going to call me whenever he is on call and has to go into the hospital or whenever he is at the hospital and has cool things going on! He said if there are intubations or chest tubes or anything like that to be done I can do them and he will just coach me through them!! Um...so cool! They then invited me to go to Hell's Gate with them today! 

Masai Warrior Tour Guide Jackson

Hell's Gate Gorge
Hell's Gate National Park was really beautiful. There is lots of wildlife on the front part and then the back part is a hike through the Hell's Gate Gorge which is full of settled silt and rocks, but when flash floods come through (like once a year) they wash out the bottom of the gorge and it is so deep you cannot walk through it until everything settles again. Apparently alot of Tomb Raider was filmed  there. Our Masai Warrior Tour Guide Jackson was telling us all kinds of stories about how mean Angelina Jolie was, but they did all think she was hot and a hard worker. Another missionary couple went with us, and they were all so warm and fun. Because of Dr. Fisher I got in on a 'resident' rate and paid only $6 instead of $25! We saw zebras, giraffes, antelopes, warthogs, and BABOONS! We stopped at a cool place on Lake Naivasha on the way back, and I had delicious Tilapia and Crayfish. Got to see more monkeys but no hippos as we weren't there late enough! On the way back we got an excellent fruit smoothie, and I bought a pineapple which is DELICIOUS. 


Back to work tomorrow - clinic day for my team. Hopefully i'll see some fun stuff! 


Hell's Gate Gorge
A ship in a harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for. (a quote on a picture in my living room)

2 comments:

  1. Beautiful pictures. Thanks for the posts, its good to know what you are doing and that you are making the most of your time there!!

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  2. Your weekend sounds like a blast--glad you met some cool people to hang out with and go sightseeing with! Pics are amazing, especially the one of Zachary--adorable! Hope you have a fantastic day tomorrow in clinic! I'm praying hard for you and miss you tons!
    -Rach

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