A Cultural Weekend!!

Yesterday marked my one month in Tanzania milestone!! The days seem to pass slowly, but the weeks certainly fly by. We ended up staying in Arusha this weekend and partaking in some local culture.

On Friday, we went to the new hospital to meet with Dr. Jacobson and start our research. We encountered a few snags in data gathering and may have to rethink our project a bit. In the afternoon we went for lunch at Bambo Café and then Christine and I headed to the Arusha Natural History museum. It was pretty hilarious! We paid 2000 shillings ($1.50) for entrance and a guide. The museum had human skeletons and dioramas of ape-like people eating berries. They also had exhibits on locusts, mosquitoes, and tsetse flies. Some of the lights were burnt out, so our guide used his cell phone to illuminate the exhibits! We also saw a taxidermy room, a tilapia fish pond, a tortoise, and some historical pictures from the time of German colonization. Let’s just say it was no Smithsonian! After the museum we stopped at Meat King for groceries, walked home, and I went for a short run. At 6:30 Babu Kent picked us up in the Green Monster and took us to Khan’s bbq for dinner. This restaurant is an auto shop by day and in the evening they set up big bbqs on the sidewalk and serve fabulous chicken, beef, and mutton (sheep). We had a feast and then headed home to sleep!

On Saturday morning, Brandon and I went for a run and then we all headed into town to go to the circus!! The circus travels around East Africa, but most of the performers are from Tanzania. We paid about 7000 shillings ($5) for VIP front row seats! The tent was small and intimate and the show was like a mini Cirque du Soleil. They had acrobats, jugglers, contortionists, “strong men,” and of course a clown. I was pulled on stage during the juggling act and Katie was pulled on stage by the clown! It was an entertaining show and I think only African men (and Phil of course) could look that good in that much spandex! After the show we went for dinner at Dragon Pearl and then met Kent, Chrisanne, and Rob at the Impala for drinks and dessert. A fun and busy day!

On Sunday we went to church (which is always a 2+ hour endeavor) and then Kent drove us to the Arumeru Safari Lodge to pick up a box of Kilimanjaro supplies left behind by Christine’s doctor friends! They left us hats, a sleeping pad, water purification tablets, Clif bars, hand and toe warmers, and antibiotics and altitude sickness medication! Yippee! Kent then took us to Le Jacaranda for lunch and we had a lovely afternoon sitting outside and talking. We came home and relaxed for awhile and then we went to the Flying Medical Service dinner at the Arusha Coffee Lodge. This is a group of about 20 pilots, nurses, and doctors that are in charge of flying sick patients to various hospitals in the region to get treatment. We are hoping to go on some missions with them and wanted to do some networking. The lodge was gorgeous and the pilots had great stories to tell!

Today I am starting pediatrics at Selian!!

ps…56 days until Phil comes to Tanzania…in case you were wondering :)