I am enjoying life back in Kenya. I left Alberta in a bit of a snowstorm and am glad Dad's truck has snow tires - and that he is more experienced driving on snow and ice than I am. Although, I did get some practice this past year. I also left before the arctic chill moved in. I am happy to have left Alberta before it got below -25C.
My flights went well. I was able to catch up on some movies and even got some sleep. Despite landing in Nairobi many times I always am a little nervous. Will the passport line be long? - will my luggage come? Will my large bag come out at the normal carousel or at the oversize section. This time I got lucky the bags, all three, came out quite quickly. Then the next hurdle: Customs. Will they open every bag? Will they x-ray every bag? Will I have to unload my carefully balanced cart? Will they charge me fees? With a prayer and a push of the cart, I went through Customs with only one bag going through x-ray. I was thankful to be out of the plane and in the taxi after only 40 min.
Kenya is a large cash society. So a quick stop at the ATM, had me in my sleep-deprived, jet-lagged state surprised. While I was away Kenya changed their currency so instead of the normal 100oshilling notes I was used to, I got orangey/pink ones. It took a bit for me to recognize what it was and then take my money and go.
After a few days in Nairobi getting a new cell phone sim card, buying groceries for the next few weeks and renewing my physiotherapy license. From there it was the 4 hour trip to Tenwek and settling back into my place. I moved back into the same house as before. While I was away some short term visitors stayed in my house. Some things were packed away and so the unpacking began.
Every time I move (or pack into or out of storage) I am amazed about how much space everything takes up. I had left myself a list of some of what I had in storage. I had left a note - telling myself to not bring back socks from Canada. 95% of the time I wear sandals anyway. However, while I was unpacking, I was a little worried, as I did not find my socks until the very end. A few were in the slow cooker, wrapped around kitchen stuff - boy, am I glad I looked inside before I put it on the shelf. It took only a week to get settled and after being back at work for two months, it feels like I never left. I have settled back into the routine of work being patient care and education, answering e-mails for visitors who want to come and everything else that is part of life here. Below are some pictures to give you a taste of the last two months.
When it rains here it pours, we have gotten a few days of rain every week since I got back even though it is supposed to be dry season.
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| A shift change lecture to the nurses on Arterial line management |
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| So driving home from Nairobi last month I was following this truck down the escarpment, part of this road has steep drop-offs and I am nervous in my SUV, glad I was not driving this wide load. |
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| Last week we did a 2 day ICU crash course for nurses who are new to ICU. Was busy but fun. |
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| We receive many short term visitors, these medical students and residents asked for teaching on ventilators. I never say no to the option of teaching. Especially as the residents take overnight call, and if they learn how to do it, they don't page me at 2am. |
