A Day In the Life

Early shift today meant I was up at 7:00 in order to be at work at 8:30. I opened the practice, and got it ready for the day's work. The two vets came in before 9:00. One of the vets has a dog who has been having some health issues, so I helped her take a blood sample and got it ready to send to an external lab for some tests. Clients began arriving for appointments at about 9:00. I admitted one dog to be spayed,  weighed her, and got her settled in a kennel. A cat also came in for an operation, but the vet needed to check her over and have a chat with the owner before admitting her. I took payment from the clients who had come for appointments, dispensed medications when they were prescribed by the vet and gave the vets a hand when they needed an animal held still for an injection. Meanwhile, I got the operating theatre ready for surgery - a soft bed on the table; the oxygen turned on; the instruments and drapes ready; clippers and disinfectant for the incision site; mask, gloves and gown for the surgeon.
Meanwhile, a vet had admitted another dog to be hospitalised and put on fluid therapy. I set up everything needed to place a catheter in her vein. The head nurse came in for the late shift at 10:30. She won't be done until 7:30 tonight. Appointments were over by 11:00. The vet doing the surgeries today told me the drug dosages for the cat and the dog that were in for spaying, and I drew them all up into syringes. We gave the dog a sedative to help ease her into her general anaesthetic, then I held her while a catheter was placed in her vein. (Placing a catheter is one of the things I'll be taught how to do soon.) Then she was put under general anaesthetic, placed on oxygen, and prepped for surgery. The head nurse monitored her while she was under anaesthetic, and I went about getting things ready for the next operation.
While I was doing that, an owner phoned in a state of shock. He said he had just checked on his rabbit and found that his ear had been torn off! I got his name and told him to bring the rabbit straight to the clinic. The head vet examined the bunny when he arrived and admitted him straight away to be fixed up. A fox (they're everywhere in London) must have grabbed the ear when it poked out between the bars of the rabbit's cage. It was completely ripped off at the base of the ear, with no ear to be found anywhere. The poor bunny was being brave as could be, eating and drinking and acting happy, but that's just what bunnies do. As prey animals, they hide any sign of sickness or pain, or a predator would get them in a flash. That makes it really tough to tell if a rabbit is well or not. Anyway, I soon had the drugs drawn up for his anaesthetic and the vet and I set out to help him feel better.
When he was sedated, we clipped all the hair from around the wound - no easy task, as the blood was matted into the fur and dried.  Then the vet began cleaning and debriding the wound. She cut out any necrotic tissue that was there and applied a gel that will keep the wound moist and help it begin to heal. She decided not to put in any stitches at this stage, but to let the wound drain for a day or so before she does. We will keep the bunny in hospital for another day, at least. Meanwhile, the other vet and the head nurse had finished with the dog and had prepped and spayed the cat, as well as getting the hospitalized dog on fluids. As usual, all the animals woke up beautifully from their operations - no distress. We all helped clean up the operating theatre and prep room and then we nurses got to the usual tasks that keep the clinic running from day to day. We vacuumed, mopped, filed papers, ordered supplies, cleaned, did the wash, scrubbed and sterilised the instruments. We took turns having our lunches, and the vet took her dogs out for walks. Evening consults began at 5:00, with it's usual rush of taking payments and dispensing drugs. I headed out the door at 5:30. The cat and dog that had been spayed would go home later, having recovered fully from anaesthetic.
I had dinner with the Koalaman when I got home, then sat down to study for a test on muscles that's coming up this week at college.
And that's what a normal day is like for me.

A Ride in a Dalla-dalla

Many 3rd world counties have an efficient ride-sharing transportation system, and I had not experienced it before our visit to Tanzania.  The dalla-dalla takes to form of a minibus, pickup truck, or other vehicle with lots of space for people to squeeze in.  They have set routes, and passengers simply board as one would a bus, ride until their destination is reached, and pay according to the distance travelled.  Dalla-dallas do not operate on a fixed time schedule, but depart from their starting point only when they are full.  So if a would-be passenger arrives at the dalla-dalla hubs in a city and the dalla-dalla going to his or her destination is empty, there could be a long wait before it departs.

The dalla-dalla we rode from Stone Town to Nungwi was a bit like a covered military transport.  It had benches running down the length in the back which could comfortably seat 8 people per side.  However, they squeezed about 12 per side, plus people sat in the center aisle among the baskets of fruit, plastic buckets containing the day's catch, and whatever shopping the occupants happened to be caring with them.  When it was too full to squeeze another person in, they would stand on the back bumper and cling to the roof rail.  Up on the roof were some of the larger items the passengers were taking with them, including our bags, a giant stiff swordfish, a bundle of timber, a coil of small gauge rebar, and numerous boxes wrapped with pieces of cardboard box and binder twine.
There is an operator who rides at the back with all the passengers, taking payment from them and ensuring the driver does not take off before everyone has boarded.  He also speaks with the police stationed at the numerous, seemingly useless checkpoints.  The police always just seemed to have a short conversation gave we passengers a cursory scan, and then waved us on.  Our operator spoke English, and told us to pay in advance the fee of $3.30 each for the 1.5 hour ride.  We thought this was a good deal, because hotels charge upwards of $60 for the same distance in a private car.  But as we travelled along the journey and saw money changing hands, it became clear that most passengers were paying a tiny fraction of what we had been charged.  Proof that our operator was lining his pockets came when, on our return journey 5 days later, our operator charged us a fee in line with the others at $1.30 each.  It is an extremely small difference to most of us, but the thought of having to deal with corrupt people stings nonetheless.
As for the comfort of the trip, it could not be described as plush by very many people's standards.  The bench was thinly padded, but after sitting on it for an hour it felt like nothing but a stiff board.  There were so many people squeezing my legs against the edge of the seat the circulation was cut off.  The bucket under my nose containing some smelly, stiff little fish was not pleasant.  But to the locals, this is their main method of transport, and they don't complain.  Some of the small children in their mother's laps slept through all the jostling and rearranging as their fellow passengers got on and off.

More for Less

On our return from Zanzibar to Dar es Salaam on the mainland, we had a bit of time to kill before we needed to leave for the airport.  We decided to get a bite to eat and found a restaurant on the 2nd floor of an office building.  We scanned the long menu and decided on something from the burger page.  Tanzanians serve fries with just about anything, but after the abundant seafood of the island we were hankering for a main dish that tasted a bit more normal.  We both decided to order cheeseburgers - strangely, cheeseburgers were listed on the menu as cheaper than hamburgers!  We chuckled at the way these strange Tanzanians do things and placed our order.  Our waiter made a great show of placing our cutlery in front of us in just the right place, and twisted all the condiment bottles so their labels faced us - we figured this was his way of vying for a great tip.  Surely he couldn't be expecting much on a $2 meal? Despite much clattering coming from the kitchens, no food came out for the next hour.  We got a little concerned because it was approaching the time we should leave for the airport.  The patrons at the next table seemed unconcerned, and when their bowl of potatoes arrived we figured our meal couldn't be far behind.    Finally our cheeseburgers appeared, with extravagant swoops of the waiter's arms to place the dishes before us in a carefully considered orientation.  Upon first sight, it became obvious to us they did not have and burger buns, for the top and bottom were circles cut from pita bread. With Dan's burger it appeared they had run out of pita so they had fitted together a little puzzle of pita scraps and one complicated shape of cut bread to top his burger.  It was so comical we burst out laughing.  When we peeked inside them we discovered there was no patty; instead there was a jumble of tenderized beef pieces.  There was also no cheese in our cheeseburgers.  Dan mentioned this to the waiter, and the waiter joined in our laughter, saying "Oh, the chef must have been confused and forgot the cheese.  Don't worry, I will make sure you only pay the cheeseburger price!"

It's a Mad, Mad World

Our ride from Dar es Salaam to Julius Nyerere International Airport outside the city limits was an excellent example of what transportation in a 3rd world country can be like.  The trip is normally a 30min journey and follows the aptly named Julius K Nyerere Road.  This is a multi-lane, divided highway with occasional stoplight intersections and many dalla-dalla pullouts along the route.  We expected our 8pm journey to be quick as we made our way out of town into the unlit industrial outskirts, but soon found out otherwise.  The 3 lanes heading out of town suddenly became jammed with cars, trucks, and overstuffed dalla-dallas.  The reason for there being a jam out here, we found out later, was some sort of police checkpoint at one of the intersections ahead.  Our driver, perhaps in his own impatience or perhaps realizing we did have a flight we needed to catch, steered onto the potholed shoulder and began to pass the stationary mess. A short distance later he exited onto a little access road leading to the industrial estate.  We carried on there, next to large, whitewashed concrete buildings, with other cars and we moved at a good pace parallel to the main highway.  But this road, too, became jammed with cars and we sat for a while without moving again.  Between the road we were on and the main road to the airport, there is an elevated sidewalk.  Pedestrians who cannot afford their own transportation still have to get from A to B, and this sidewalk keeps them off the road and out of harm's way.  A steep, dirty bank was all that kept drivers from rolling up and onto the sidewalk and utilizing the open space.  After our driver observed one SUV charging up the bank and onto the sidewalk, he decided we would follow in our little Corolla.  We had a good laugh as we motored along the elevated sidewalk, pedestrians dodging when they appeared in our headlights.  Progress was good... until we encountered the police checkpoint.  Not wanting to be caught on the sidewalk, our driver made a 5-point U-turn and headed back the way we had come.  This time we weren't just encountering pedestrians, but a line of cars who had decided to follow our lead.  It was a tight squeeze getting past everyone, back to the short access road we had first used and onto the jammed Julius K Nyerere Road again.  This time, our driver decided to rip along the shoulder, braking quickly to avoid plunging into the deepest potholes and edging back onto the pavement.between gaps in cars where necessary. It was a hair-raising experience but we arrived in one piece at the airport an hour later.  Thankfully, Swiss Air let us check in even though we were past their advertised cut-off time.

The Great Blue Sea

Zanzibar was the sort of relaxing holiday location I never dreamed I would get to visit.  I can see why it is a popular honeymoon spot, and known well among Europeans.  The white sandy beaches, the clear turquoise water, the always-warm weather, and friendly natives - you can't tick all of those off anywhere in the UK.
I really enjoyed snorkeling and scuba diving.  It is another whole world down there, and such a treat to see exotic wildlife in their natural habitat.  I took a Discover Scuba Diving (DSD) course on one of the afternoons we were in Nungwi.  We first watched an instructional video to learn about the diving, the equipment, and the safety elements we would need to observe.  Then we had some classroom time with a Dive Instructor to learn how the equipment works and how to use it. Finally, we spent an hour in one of the hotel pools practicing our breathing, equalizing, buoyancy control, and some safety drills, like clearing your mask of water while underwater, and breathing from another person's octopus (backup regulator).  Dan also was with us for the course because he hadn't dived in a few of years and they required him to take a refresher course, which they ran alongside ours.  The DSD course includes an open water dive, but some of the students in my course elected not to continue with this because they either couldn't get the hang of equalizing, or the pool dive was about all that they could hold their interest for.  But diving in the ocean was the best part!  For the ocean dives we went out the next day on a 20 minute zodiac boat to Mnemba Atol, a marine wildlife reserve.  The boat was positioned at the edge of the reef, and before hopping in the water we had a bit of a briefing on the dive site by the Dive Master.  Since the water was a bit choppy and the boat was moving up and down a lot I started to feel a bit sea sick.  I was glad when we got in the water because under the surface you don't feel the effects of the surface conditions at all.  The scenery was spectacular - many kinds of coral made up the reef, and hundreds of fish were swimming around.  I saw some amazing lion fish, some clown fish hiding in their anemones, dory fish, a sea snake, moray eels, trumpet fish, giant trevally, and many many types I could not begin to identify.  The experience was so incredible, I've signed up for a course back here in the UK to get my open water diving certification!

Zanzibar, Friday evening

The Koalaman and I dragged ourselves out of bed at 3:30a.m. on Wednesday. We had to get a taxi to the airport because not even the Tube runs at that time of night. We hopped on a plane to Zurich, Switzerland, then changed planes and flew to Nairobi, Kenya, let a few people off the plane, and then on to Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.
This is a crazy place. You can't walk down the street without someone, sometimes several people accosting you. They say,"Jambo! How are you? Where are you from?" and they walk along beside you, but they are not only being friendly. They want to sell you something. They want to take you in their taxi. They want to show you the way to your hotel for a tip. They want to sell sunglasses to you. Or necklaces, or handkerchieves, or artwork, or carvings. I haven't bought anything yet simply because I hate being pushed like that. But I will. I really need sunglasses, actually. 
We got to the hotel on Wednesday night just fine, but we were so tired after our long day of travelling. The next morning we got up and ate breakfast and then headed to the ferry terminal. The guy that sold us the tickets scammed us - he sold us economy class tickets for the price of first class. I'm sure he pocketed the difference. I got slightly seasick on the two hour journey across to Zanzibar, but not too bad. We got off in Stone Town, once again to be greeted by a lot of people wanting to give us some sort of service, but we managed to eventually shake them off and wander through town a little bit. 
Stone Town is full of sights and intense smells. The meat market, in particular, I hope to never smell again. Or see, for that matter. They don't seem to care whether flies land on the meat and fish or not. But the fruits and vegetables are beautiful.
We decided to go to our destination village of Nungwe the way the natives go - by daladala. It's most like a flatbed pickup truck with a low roof on it and hard benches around the edges, and it functions as a bus. At one point we had at least 30 people in ours. It seemed a long ride to Nungwe.
When we arrived, we had a bit of a walk to get to our hotel. It seemed impossible that there would be a hotel in this place. The 'roads' are such that you need to have a four wheel drive vehicle in order to navigate them. The houses are cinder block, and very very basic. But we followed the signs to the hotel and then entered a different world. 
We were greeted with cold, wet towels to wipe the sweat from our faces. It was the most refreshing thing I have ever felt. They brought us fresh cookies and guava juice as we were checking in. Our room overlooks the swimming pool and the Indian Ocean, and there are coconut palm trees. The sea is turquoise and warm, with clean white sand. Of course, this changes as soon as you walk down the beach. It's dirty there, covered in litter, and we even saw a boy pooping in the sand today.
Today we wandered the beach in the morning. We found a company to go diving with, and this afternoon we went back for the training bit. I SCUBA dived! In a pool, but still. We'll go out to Mnemba Atoll tomorrow in a boat and do some real diving. I can't wait.       

Happy Holidays!

The Koalaman and I leave for North America tomorrow! We'll be gone for two and a half weeks. A week in Canada, a little over a week in Washington, plus travel time. I'm so excited to see family and friends again. And I love having days when I don't have to be somewhere at a certain time, especially if that time is early in the morning.

I'm only sorry that I don't have enough time to visit ALL my friends around the country.