Open the gates! I'm an American!

Finally on African soil!  Well, unfortunately my dear devoted readers, my travels were about as exciting as driving through North Dakota with your mom(sorry Rocco I know you like that flat place).  I took off from Chicago at 1020pm headed to Istanbul where I was probably the only female on the plane that was not traveling with 5-9 screaming children.  But it was nothing that 2 mini-bottles of Turkish wine and a little white pill couldn’t make disappear.  I woke up in Instanbul with 20 min to run through customs and make it to my gate.  Of course, after sprinting through an airport that doesn’t really have signs (and when there were signs you can bet your Turkish delights they weren’t in English) I found my gate and discovered my plane was delayed.  Everytime.

When I did get on the plane it was about 6pm-ish Istanbul time.  I, of course, was not at all tired as it felt like morning to me.  So I stretched out in my emergency row seat and watched as many movies as possible, one being Jeff, Who Lives at Home (that was for you Carlisle…and yes, you are Jeff, and yes it is totally a sign that you had just told me about that movie and then it was on my plane…). 

I landed in Addis Ababa at approx 2am and thanks be to whomever you choose both of my bags made it.  Unfortunately my large suitcase that I have never used before was sporting a huge gash down the seam.  Cool.  My first night I stayed at the Hilton which was a very overpriced, but a good idea because they had a shuttle waiting for me and some grumpy businessmen.  When I arrived at the Hilton I luckily got on facebook to discover a friend had posted an article on my wall that skype had just been outlawed in Ethiopia and using it carries a 15 year jail sentence.  Awesome timing.  So there goes my mobile communications for now.   Hopefully blogs are still allowed…

I woke up in the Hilton and my phone said it was Sunday so it must be true.  I stumbled down the street to find the Harambee hotel which boasts a $25/night charge, is a 5 min walk from the hospital AND has free yummy breakfast!  So I checked it, pseudo-unpacked and promptly passed out for 5 hours.  I woke up at dinner time and against everything in my body, forced myself to eat.  I tried Doro Wat for the first time and it was delicious!  Dear Samoa, meet spices! 

Today I started work at Black Lion.  I mean, it was the first day and what first day isn’t exciting?  I was picked up by my Ethiopian mentor whom I have been harassing with emails for the past 6-7 months.  Luckily, he took it easy on me.  He showed me around the hospital, which was…eye-opening.  Before I left, the vascular surgeon from UW that I am working with, told me that when you go to Africa you need to take a different nose because the smells can be so overwhelming.  It was like every 5 steps I was hit with a different intoxicating scent, from harsh metallic to sweet spices.  I did not take my camera because I didn’t want to seem like a tourist on the first day, but I hope to take pictures in the future as my inept writing skills would not do it justice.

After my short tour we went to a staff meeting/rounds.  I found out (not for the first time that day) that Ethiopians are incredibly soft spoken.  Maybe my eardrums are just de-sensitized to screaming rugby girls, but I could only catch a word or 2 about every 5 sentences.  After the meeting we went on a hunt for OR log books for my research.  I came here with 3 projects in mind, hoping that one would turn into a paper.  We found that one of the projects I was considering, a study on ED mortality, was already being done by a group of Canadians.  1 project down.  Blame Canada. 

After this discovery I went on rounds with my mentor and a bunch of overexcited and overeager med students.  Ahhh…reminds me of home.  What did not remind me of home were the patients.  There was little boy with a goiter the size of a cantelope, like the kind that we only see in text books.  (sorry if that is to sciencey – just google goiter and you will see what I am talking about).  After rounds it was time for lunch.  My mentor took myself and an other female resident from UW who is also working here out to a pizza joint.  I know…who knew? 

When we came back to the hospital I started working an other research paper idea and have pretty much been doing that ever since.  At any rate, that is my first couple days.  No super crazy stories as of yet, but I am sure that can only last so long…love to you all and more to come!