I arrived in Gondar on Saturday. To my disappointment, there was no university car to meet me as my contact had told me. I ended up taking a taxi to the University Guest House where I'm staying - on the ride over, all I could think about was what if there's no one there? what to do? - I had forgotten to exchange money into Ethiopian birr at the airport so all I had was US dollars. I couldn't even pay the taxi driver - he was kind enough to tell me to pay next time.
The University Guest House is a complex. I got dropped off and a girl showed me into a unit and handed me a key and promptly left. Here I was, in a foreign country, in an empty unit with no kitchen utensils and no food and no local currency. I was pretty anxious as my contact hadn't emailed me her number so I had no idea how to contact anyone.
I survived on 2 granola bars, eating instant oatmeal out of my water bottle cap, and discovered I could heat up water on the stove in my water bottle.
SOO happy to see Nicole on Tues. I called the same taxi driver, he even paid for my breakfast at the airport (coffee is really good here) while we were waiitng for Nicole to arrive. We went into the city, finally made it to the bank, and checked email to get the phone number for the ppl at the university. Things are coming together.
Today's the first day at the University. A lot of kids with clubfoot here which they treat with serial casting - quite effective if treated early - ie. before the kids are 2. We'll be teaching in the morning for 1hr each day, in outpatients in the morning and then the ward in the afternoon.
Random Points:
-There's a mosque close ot the guest house that plays prayers at 4:30am and 5:15am everymorning over loud speakers.
-Sleeping under a mosquito net
-Walking down the street - we seem to gather a group of kids who follow us
-People call me "China" here on the street, 'adjusting' to being a foreigner or "farengi" with people staring while I walk down the street and calling out, or kids running up to say hi.
The University Guest House is a complex. I got dropped off and a girl showed me into a unit and handed me a key and promptly left. Here I was, in a foreign country, in an empty unit with no kitchen utensils and no food and no local currency. I was pretty anxious as my contact hadn't emailed me her number so I had no idea how to contact anyone.
I survived on 2 granola bars, eating instant oatmeal out of my water bottle cap, and discovered I could heat up water on the stove in my water bottle.
SOO happy to see Nicole on Tues. I called the same taxi driver, he even paid for my breakfast at the airport (coffee is really good here) while we were waiitng for Nicole to arrive. We went into the city, finally made it to the bank, and checked email to get the phone number for the ppl at the university. Things are coming together.
Today's the first day at the University. A lot of kids with clubfoot here which they treat with serial casting - quite effective if treated early - ie. before the kids are 2. We'll be teaching in the morning for 1hr each day, in outpatients in the morning and then the ward in the afternoon.
Random Points:
-There's a mosque close ot the guest house that plays prayers at 4:30am and 5:15am everymorning over loud speakers.
-Sleeping under a mosquito net
-Walking down the street - we seem to gather a group of kids who follow us
-People call me "China" here on the street, 'adjusting' to being a foreigner or "farengi" with people staring while I walk down the street and calling out, or kids running up to say hi.
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