transitions

Imagine what this sounds like in a downpour...

Rainy season is in full force here at Tenwek. So far it’s not been too much of a tragedy that I was completely unable to find my rain jacket before I left Boston – it’s all about timing your dashes to and from the hospital properly – but it has been a little chilly, and I’ve been very glad that I decided to pack my flannel pajama pants. We arrived yesterday in the midst of a veritable monsoon: the rain started just as we were passing through Bomet and by the time we made the final turnoff to the hospital, it was a downpour, complete with thunder and lightning. But the dry season was very hot and very dry this year, and the rains were late in starting, so everyone is grateful.

I’m working on settling in and finding my rhythms again, and there have been a few surprises so far. On Monday morning before I left Boston, I got an email from the Bemms asking if I wanted to stay in their house while they were away. I had been scheduled to be in the guesthouse, and having a real house for a week and a half  (with a kitchen! and reliable hot water! and a kitchen!) made me very, very happy. Of course, that meant grocery shopping in Nairobi for two weeks’ worth of food, which is sort of a laughable task for someone whose idea of meal planning involves surfing the internet for recipe inspiration mid-afternoon and realizing that she has to stop by Trader Joe’s again even though she was there less than 48 hours ago. The result of my efforts? A bunch of random staples, three mangoes, the ingredients for sweet potato corn chowder, and a pound of sausage (because… yum). You know what I find to be the most challenging part of shopping for groceries here? The produce, whose price is listed in shillings per kilo. Doing two conversions at once always seems like more effort than it's worth, so I usually just buy the stuff I figure should be pretty cheap and hope for the best. (Sorry, Dad.)

The other notable surprise since I’ve arrived is that consultant responsibilities on pediatrics have changed since I was here last. With a pretty consistent staff of two pediatricians this year, they’ve divided the service in half: one consultant generally rounds on the ward and the ICU/HDU in the morning and the other rounds in nursery in the afternoon. Amy, the other pediatrician here, kindly offered me the ward, which was great, but I hardly knew what to do with myself when we finished rounds and chai time teaching by 11:30! But since I’ll be on service for three and a half weeks, perhaps I should accept this gift as a means to keep up with work from home and prepare well for my time in Nairobi.

Okay, this is already longer than I planned (short = readable, right?) so I’ll quit for now. Continue to pray for my transition – there have also been a few minor surprises that have been more frustrating than exciting – and for energy heading into this weekend. I’ll be on call Saturday and Sunday and have more stories to tell, I'm sure.