A Peek at the Peaks of the Week

Whenever I check up on my blog, my favorite thing to do is look at the "audience statistics" page. It shows what countries I'm getting hits from. Obviously the U.S. is on there a lot, but I have people checking in from all over! A lot of times I see the country and can guess who's on the other side of the screen: Uganda, Malawi, Ghana, France, South Korea, and Micronesia are all countries where I have friends and family, but other times I think Who the heck do I know in Uruguay? Or Russia, Ireland, Poland, the UK, South Africa, and the list goes on. That said, if you're browsing from some unfamiliar country, post up a comment and check in, I'd love to know who you are and what you do there! Even if you don't "know" me outside of just reading my blog, I'm stoked on learning more about my audience. Specially if you're the Russian mafia, in which case I gotta start covering my tracks ;)

On Sunday I had a relaxing beach day in Limbe. I found a boogie board that the beach just has there for people to use, so I had fun catching waves for about 2 hours. After that I walked around the town for probably 2 more hours and I think I got a little sunstroke because my memory of that part was fuzzy even by that night. All I know is I ended up with souvenirs that I don't remember who I had in mind to receive. I neglected to reapply sunscreen after my swim in the ocean, so I got fried really bad. Surprisingly enough, that's the first serious sunburn I've gotten since being here! Took some aspirin and drank a lot of water  that night and felt fine by the next day. For dinner I ate at the zoo restaurant for the second time and ordered a grilled cheese, tomato, and pesto sandwich. That part of the day is still quite vivid in my mind, and my mouth's watering again just writing about it.

On Monday after work I went to the gym. When I was leaving I turned around to try and positively ID an owl I had seen hunting earlier (either a Barn Owl or African Grass Owl). I didn't see the owl, but the side of the mountain caught my eye. It was clear enough that evening that I could see thin glowing ribbons winding their way down the mountain. They've been burning the trail in preparation for the yearly mountain race. Knew my camera wouldn't take a good enough picture so I just stared for long enough to etch the image in my mind.

Tuesday was pretty cool because I got to pick my first vein! The patient had nice veins and needed an IV injection, so I asked Samuel to let me try. It went well. The guy came back Wednesday and I had to poke him twice, but did it again. The doctor has been letting me do consultation interviews too so that's made things a little more interesting. Seems like more often than not there's nursing interns running all over the place, 9 or 10 at a time. Another crop just showed up for a 6 week stint. Truth is they get on my nerves. I guess when there's 15 people on rounds it just seems a little ungainly. Kinda smarmy little gals too. Always trying to get me to learn all their names. Like there's 10 of you, and every time I figure it out you all get new weaves. Not to mention the 35 others who've come and gone since I've been here. I'm tired of wasting my time, and besides, they'll be gone in February and a new batch will show up.

I think the holidays have slowed the mail service a lot! I've checked and checked, but kept getting disappointed lately. Until Tuesday I had had a 3 week dry spell, all the more aggravating was the knowledge that there were a number of packages in purgatory somewhere between the U.S. and here. I went to the Post Office on Tuesday expecting another disappointment, but was surprised to find one small box! It may have been small but it put a big smile on my face! On the way home I noticed a supermarket I'd never seen before - turns out they just opened a week ago. A quick look showed that they carry applesauce, granola, sterilized milk (which tastes funny but it's better than dry cereal), chocolate chip cookies, and a few other items that I can't find anywhere else in Buea! You have no idea how much of a treat cereal and milk is after 3 months of eggs, hashbrowns, and oatmeal for breakfast! My money situation isn't real luxurious, and I pretty much blew my budget for the week, but it was definitely worth the morale boost.

On Wednesday night I went  and played squash with my German friend David. It's a lot like racquetball, but different enough that I feel like I would be better off not having played either one before. For one thing the ball's a lot smaller and not very bouncy. It's like playing with a hacky sack almost. The racquet is smaller too. Serving was my weakest area, and David won 5 out of the 5 rounds we played. I wasn't much of a challenge for him, but I had a good time, and he seemed to anyway. During a rest, he told me of his plans to climb Mt. Cameroon with the rest of the guys that went to Kumba. The 3 day trip starts tomorrow at 7am...        and they want me to come so that the price will be less per person. The price IS really competitive, and climbing it with acquaintances seems like it's worth the extremely short notice. I himmed and hawed and eventually decided what the heck, let's do this thing! Everything's kind of fallen into place within the last 24 hours. Seems like a pretty big thing to undertake so impulsively, hopefully I don't regret it!
This morning I at least went with David and paid, and tried to get all the accommodations taken care of (porter, food, sleeping bag, tent, etc.). Fortunately I had money saved specifically for this type of a trip, so I didn't blow my budget for the week AND for the month in the span of 3 days! At any rate, that's the reason you're getting this post a day early, because tomorrow morning will find me charging up 4,000-something meters of the tallest active volcano on the African continent! Wish me luck! And look forward to pictures of the experience next week.

Later today I went to the post office again and the floodgates have opened! There were 6 package slips in the mailbox! It costs me ~$4 per package to receive them, and I only had enough cash on hand to get 3, so I'm going back on Monday or Tuesday next week!

TL;DR It's been a wild and woolly week! Sunday I went and boogie boarded in the Atlantic, and ate some fantastic grub. Tuesday I picked my first vein, and was fighting the doldrums some until a package showed up and brightened my day. Wednesday I picked my second vein (same pincush...    err, patient), and tried playing squash for the first time ever. During squash, I decided to accompany my German friends on a 3 day backpacking trip with 36 hours to prepare for our departure. Today has been spent writing this, opening late Christmas packages, and frantically packing/carbo-loading.

The face of relaxation

Lilies at the tributary near Etisah Beach

Obligatory food photo.

Action packed dinner show. Complete with chest thumping and displays of dominance

I hope someday I do something worth a statue that makes me look like half the stud this guy must have been