double party

last weekend we got invited to our own party. a couple days before the word had gotten around to us that we were apparently hosting a dinner. maman sophie was doing all the cooking. and what a feast! she made rice pimenté (spicy), feuille de manioc (like greens), chicken in peanut sauce, crocodile, fried plantains, unfried plantains, eggplant, fried carp, and even french fries. the crocodile was much better than that at chez leonie (maybe the lack of glistening scales and four-digit paw helped). other folks added drinks, salad, and dessert. yumminess. and of course maman sophie held court as only she can, regaling us all with her personal commentary on gabonese traditions, politics, and lifestyles. add to that a little hospital gossip and you’ve got quite the entertaining evening.
the funny thing is that we had already planned a small get-together for the next day. we wanted to thank our downstairs neighbors for inviting us over for dinner a few weeks ago. well, unfortunately, folks, that one has to go down in the books as a big flop. guillaume was on time, our willing connect to all things gabonese. he’s helping me with my souvenir hunt. maman sophie arrived and helped liven things up. but the real guest of honor (downstairs neighbor) was marooned at the hairdresser’s all evening. by the time she came, everybody was tired, so we had to issue her a rain check. i was particularly done after the ants invaded the cookie bowl.
there are also many vignettes from the hospital that i just haven’t had time to record. i saw a kid with superinfected zoster so bad one ear was larger than the other. somehow, he was discharged before the necessary hiv follow-up was organized. there was a newly orphaned infant at pmi who was malnourished and being cared for by her older sister. since their mother died of “vampire alcohol” poisoning, the sister quit school to take care of the baby. i’m still kicking myself for not giving the kid more bread. a meningitis kid went awol because the mom blamed the vampire more than the microbes. a grandmother rubbed mint tea leaves over a baby’s external genitalia to calm the discomfort. dr. bonito had to clean up the mess with betadine. somebody brought a dead kid to the er and the staff was very upset: “come see what you brought us. she’s already gone.” the attempted resuscitation lasted all of thirty seconds. the family picked up their kid and left. my presentation on neonatal hyperbilirubinemia (jaundice) actually went pretty well. hallelujah that’s ancient history. time to organize goodbye parties and budget out the last francs. only two more weeks...by the way, i got invitations to interview at mass general and st. louis. woohoooooooo:)

food and fire

it’s been a long time, my friends. there has been stress in the valley. internet has been on its last leg, but officially kicked the bucket a week ago. folks say it’ll take another two weeks before the necessary cable arrives from germany. so the slow labo wireless is a no go. there was a week where i accomplished nothing requiring a computer until i found someone who knows about the internet café. it’s not too far, the price is reasonable, and the connection is actually faster than the one at the laboratory. the problem is that it’s not open on sunday and it’s hard to get there during the week. if you’re me (which means you’re someone who’s trying to apply to pediatric residency online and submit an honors thesis proposal that requires a bit of logistical olympics) then this is still a tough row to hoe. i am, however, happy and relieved to announce that after two and a half months of striving, my residency application was officially submitted this morning. woohoo! i also applied for match (the system that matches applicants with training programs) and finished my end of the honors proposal. let’s hope the rest of that works out.
as far as news on the homefront, the rainy season is in full swing. it has swallowed up what used to be beach. the mangos are fatter and falling all the time. it’s a wonder no one’s been seriously injured by one yet. the never-ending supply of small children find great joy in knocking mangos down with other mangos that often fall on our roof even at seven in the morning. thanks, kiddies. one of the biggest mango trees is just outside the réfectoire that nearly burned down last week. the oven caught fire. i was the only one in the dining area. i noticed the smoke, but thought it was coming from somewhere else. eventually, the kitchen lady came to save me. some guys dragged the burning oven outside. we ate cold food for a week until the new stove arrived. we had been told to expect three weeks of bad food, so, needless to say, i was so ecstatic when regular food came back.
on the subject of food and fire, we had a nice riverside cookout back when there used to be a beach. our gabonese friends, guillaume and aléka, treated us to traditional eats. they wrapped seasoned fish in foil, buried it in the sand and then built a fire over the whole shebang. it was actually quite tasty, somewhat undercooked, but tasty all the same. rachel and i were in charge of the rice. we were very proud of our handiwork, having spiced it up with tomatoes and onions...mmm mmm. there’s another potluck affair tomorrow at our place to bid a fond farewell to french buddy olivier. he will be leaving gabon thursday. he actually arrived here the same day as me in the same van. hard to believe his 2.5 months is nearly up. even harder to believe my 3 months are coming to a speedy close. but before they let me out of here, i have to give a presentation in french. it’s gonna be on neonatal jaundice. that’s wednesday. wish me luck...