wearily we roll along

finishing up the trip to the hospital...

my flight into gabon was actually pretty uneventful. i’d like to delete the woman-of-shifting-elbows in the neighboring seat, but what can you do? i guess it didn’t help that my reading light was aimed at her seat instead of mine. anyway, i arrived and made my way through the immigration process with around an hour of waiting in line. my ride was not in sight, so i headed to pick-up location #2, hotel tropicana, where they were more interested in serving breakfast to customers than helping me phone for transport. happily, dr. wolf rescued me from my angst and introduced me to the german group who would also be traveling to the hospital.

we had breakfast while he did an orientation to gabon in german, most of which was translated into english by the kind gentleman to my left. i felt sorry for the french-speaking pharmacy student, olivier, who was getting zero out of the experience. since our van was full, we had to leave our luggage that would be transported in a second trip. so by 6 hours after i landed in libreville, we took off for the hospital making several stops along the way. we visited the german embassy (i think i almost fell out of my chair asleep), and a few roadside markets where we got water, fried dumplings, fruit, etc. we also stopped at the equator where this little kid amused himself running outside his house, doing a little dance, and then running back inside. lol. i think the ride was about four hours. i was intermittently conscious throughout.

we arrived at hôpital albert schweitzer where the ladies served up some yummy food from the earlier lunch. i met up with rachel, my fellow schweitzer buddy and roommate, who helped me to get settled in. my luggage did catch up with me by the next morning...

on to today...

my computer is up and running now and all is right with the world again:) today was a cleaning day. this house is really starting to look like a home. we did a bit of decorating and figured out how to play music. i’m listening to yeyo (erika badu). i like to think it made the baby downstairs stop screaming. a family lives on the floor below ours.

so today’s big excursion was a trip to the market. the open-air market is one-stop shopping. there’s dried smoked fish about every other booth as well as fresh fish, panties, other clothing, shoes, produce (avocado, taro, pineapple), leg of some antelope-like animal (fur and hoof included), dumplings, etc. you can get practically everything you need to make a meal (dishes too), but there’s a grocery store down the street, too. the locals don’t rush upon you to make the sale. they also don’t seem to be the bargaining types. all in all, prices are quite reasonable. i got a small thing of cookies, juice, and yogurt for the equivalent of two bucks. med students get a rep for eating whenever and whatever they can. i must say that the food here has been exceptional compared to the hospital cafeteria and pizza lunches i’ve frequented. looking forward to more chocolate mousse for dessert tonight. mmm mmm good:)