Am-
1. Karibu is the first word you hear. Welcome.
2. Summer year round? Ndio, asante sana.
1. Karibu is the first word you hear. Welcome.2. Summer year round? Ndio, asante sana.
3. Why drink water with parasites when you can drink Cokes all day?!
4. I could get used to Africa time: 4 hours of work, a nap every day, in bed by 10 pm.
5. I want to carry my baby in a kanga.
6. Bartering is really fun, even if you still get mzungu prices.
7. A fruit salad to feed a small army costs about $2 and you can buy everything from the mamas right outside your house.
8. There's a lot of work that needs to be done.
9. Swahili is a beautiful language.
10. I am a millionaire in Tanzania! ($1=1500 Tsh)
Am not-
(above: some of my favorite nurses at my "going away" party at The Station in Carrboro)
1. It's really hard to get hugs across the Atlantic Ocean.
2. Being a nurse is a difficult battle in Africa, and being a nurse practitioner is unheard of.
4. I could get used to Africa time: 4 hours of work, a nap every day, in bed by 10 pm.
5. I want to carry my baby in a kanga.
6. Bartering is really fun, even if you still get mzungu prices.
7. A fruit salad to feed a small army costs about $2 and you can buy everything from the mamas right outside your house.
8. There's a lot of work that needs to be done.
9. Swahili is a beautiful language.
10. I am a millionaire in Tanzania! ($1=1500 Tsh)
Am not-
(above: some of my favorite nurses at my "going away" party at The Station in Carrboro)1. It's really hard to get hugs across the Atlantic Ocean.
2. Being a nurse is a difficult battle in Africa, and being a nurse practitioner is unheard of.
3. I love all 4 seasons.
4. I prefer to sit... not squat.
5. I'm spoiled and appreciate electricity... especially when it's dark.
6. Dala dalas make Carolina's U bus on a rainy Monday in August seem like a limosine.
7. The amount of cereal I eat in a month would cost $24 (36,000 Tsh) and I like it better when it crunches because it's fresh... not because it has ants in it..
4. I prefer to sit... not squat.
5. I'm spoiled and appreciate electricity... especially when it's dark.
6. Dala dalas make Carolina's U bus on a rainy Monday in August seem like a limosine.
7. The amount of cereal I eat in a month would cost $24 (36,000 Tsh) and I like it better when it crunches because it's fresh... not because it has ants in it..
8. I like wearing dresses, skirts, and shorts that are quite scandalous... the stop above my knees.
9. It's annoying to have your skin color be associated with wealth and therefore be harassed because of it.
10. White girl of Irish descent in Tanzania = sunburn
Before & after: What I had in my suitcase upon arrival and departure:
Before- (See the previous post on how ridiculously unprepared I was.) In short, a few medical supplies, 7 shirts, 4 pants/skirts, 3 tubes of sunscreen, 1 towel, 3 pairs of shoes, 2 packs of Skittles, my laptop and ipod
After- 5 pounds of coffee, countless bags of tea, 6 kangas (the wrap skirts that the women wear), 4 pairs of shoes (please note I came home with more shoes than I left with despite having left my hiking boots in TZ), antibiotics/antiparasitics/antifungals from the duka la dawa, very few clothes
5 foods I dreamed about while I was gone:
1. All things Mexican
2. Cinnamon buns
3. Tar Heel pie
4. Thanksgiving stuffing
5. cereal
Ways I grew that I never expected:
- I cannot have much sympathy for people in Tanzania because I don't actually have any idea what they go through on a daily basis. My capacity for empathy grew exponentially as I saw their situations, listened to their stories, and helped them deal with the circumstances of their lives.
- My passion drove my career to work with children because they are so dependent and vulnerable to insults against their health. Imagine how I felt when you add economic disparity, a resource-limited health care setting, and a country that has twice the health risks.
- I know that I am enormously blessed to be an American. I had no idea how blessed I was to be an American woman, have value in my family, to befrom a middle class family, to have an education at the graduate level, and never worry where my next meal will come from. I do not take so much for granted anymore.
Embarrassing moments a la East Africa:
-Messing up the greetings (which are very important) on my first day and having a room full of Tanzanians literally laugh at me.
-Hosting a dinner party at my house in the doctor's compound and having our ever-leaking toilet water run into the living room. Classy.
10. White girl of Irish descent in Tanzania = sunburn
Before & after: What I had in my suitcase upon arrival and departure:
Before- (See the previous post on how ridiculously unprepared I was.) In short, a few medical supplies, 7 shirts, 4 pants/skirts, 3 tubes of sunscreen, 1 towel, 3 pairs of shoes, 2 packs of Skittles, my laptop and ipod
After- 5 pounds of coffee, countless bags of tea, 6 kangas (the wrap skirts that the women wear), 4 pairs of shoes (please note I came home with more shoes than I left with despite having left my hiking boots in TZ), antibiotics/antiparasitics/antifungals from the duka la dawa, very few clothes
5 foods I dreamed about while I was gone:
1. All things Mexican2. Cinnamon buns
3. Tar Heel pie
4. Thanksgiving stuffing
5. cereal
Ways I grew that I never expected:
- I cannot have much sympathy for people in Tanzania because I don't actually have any idea what they go through on a daily basis. My capacity for empathy grew exponentially as I saw their situations, listened to their stories, and helped them deal with the circumstances of their lives.- My passion drove my career to work with children because they are so dependent and vulnerable to insults against their health. Imagine how I felt when you add economic disparity, a resource-limited health care setting, and a country that has twice the health risks.
- I know that I am enormously blessed to be an American. I had no idea how blessed I was to be an American woman, have value in my family, to befrom a middle class family, to have an education at the graduate level, and never worry where my next meal will come from. I do not take so much for granted anymore.
Embarrassing moments a la East Africa:
-Messing up the greetings (which are very important) on my first day and having a room full of Tanzanians literally laugh at me.
-Hosting a dinner party at my house in the doctor's compound and having our ever-leaking toilet water run into the living room. Classy.
-Getting caught with my thighs exposed.
Bert asked me to use 3 adjectives to describe my experience in Africa:
welcoming, slow, delicious
Bert asked me to use 3 adjectives to describe my experience in Africa:
welcoming, slow, delicious
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