Zanzibar

When we were riding to work on Tuesday morning the ground was a bit wet from the rain during the night. At one point a car ahead of us stopped very suddenly and the motorcycle behind it, carrying two young guys with no helmets, couldn’t stop in time and they laid down the bike. It … Continue reading »

On Monday morning Tanya and I went running at 6:30 am. Even though the sun rose just a few minutes earlier, it was still hot and sweaty. Sadly, my nice cool shower was quickly negated by the bike ride to work, which was nearly as sweaty as the run. We had decided that it might … Continue reading »

Here’s a video Tanya and I made of our house. You better watch it because it took 3 hours to upload here.

On Sunday Tanya and I went running at 6:30 am before it got too hot. It was a sweaty and humid run but it was good to get out and be active. We had granola for breakfast since we had gotten it at the store the day before. Yum! Makame and Juma picked us up … Continue reading »

We asked Makame and the driver, Juma, to pick us up at our house at 8 am so we wouldn’t have to bike to work then drive past our house on the way to where we would be doing the mapping on Saturday. At 8:15 we called and asked where he was. Tanya tried to … Continue reading »

Friday was a rollercoaster of a day. Tanya wanted to sleep in a bit after all of her travels, so we had Masoud pick us up at 8 to go to ZMCP. We made the round of introductions then got down to business of planning the next few weeks. Since next week the company cars … Continue reading »

I think I have finally adjusted pretty well to the time change. I’ve been sleeping better and awake to hear the call to prayer then fall back asleep pretty easily. It starts to get light around 6 am so I’ve been getting up around 6:30 or so. With so much natural light I haven’t had … Continue reading »

Things at work calmed down a bit on Wednesday. I had a list of things to do and worked on them in the morning then one of the district supervisors came in with the last month of positive malaria samples. I did the voucher correctly and got the correct signatures, but then he had to … Continue reading »

Zanzibar is 10 hours ahead of San Francisco time, which means the best time to set up a Skype call is when it’s early morning here and night in SF.  Stacy and I had a call with Bryan and Michelle, our advisors, planned for 7 am ZNZ (Zanzibar) time, or 9 pm SF time.  In … Continue reading »

On Monday an all day conference was happening between all of key players of malaria control for Zanzibar.  This meeting included ZMCP, CDC, WHO, USAID, PMI, RTI, and several other acronyms that I won’t bother listing.  Knowing that Stacy and I only had two days to train, we met at 7 and took a taxi … Continue reading »

Feeling refreshed after a long night’s sleep, I started to make a plan for the day: I needed to check out of the hotel, move into the house and get that settled and call Stacy to see if she wanted to get together.  Stacy is an American who has been working at the Zanzibar Malaria … Continue reading »

Welcome to Zanzibar!  The Spice Islands!  It only took 30+ hours of traveling, but I, and my checked bag, made it safely. Upon entering the terminal, I had my yellow vaccination card checked to see that I a current yellow fever vaccination.  I’ve never had anyone check before so I’m really glad that I brought … Continue reading »

After a 10 hour flight, during which I watched three and a half movies (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows I, The Chronicles of Narnia Voyage of the Dawn Trader, The Social Network, and part of Happy Feet) and listened to two small children scream for nearly the whole flight, I arrived in Amsterdam where … Continue reading »

Thanks to everyone for the send off e-mails! I really appreciate you reading this and wishing me well.  I’m at SFO now, boarding a plane to Amsterdam in 10 minutes!  I have a 12 hour lay-over there so I’ll get to see a bit of the city (thanks to Gene and Kris for recommendations). The … Continue reading »

This is my first blog entry.  I usually don’t think my life is so exciting to warrant anyone reading about on a daily basis, but since I’m about to embark on two months of adventure, I thought I’d give this a try. For those of you who don’t know, I’m going to Zanzibar on Thursday … Continue reading »