Work day #2

I did my first LP (lumbar puncture) today, and also did a therapeutic paracentesis, both supervised by Dr. Gluckman, and both successful on the first try!! I was pretty proud. But it was a pretty busy day – we were running around taking care of all the admissions from the day before. Phil and Lisa managed to get to the main mall in the afternoon, which is close to the hospital, and Phil bought a phone back for me – it was P300, which is like $50.

I could actually have gotten out at 5pm, but waited for others to get out (Kiona and Kristy) so that we could walk together. Apparently when it gets dark, it’s not the wisest thing to walk alone on this little path that we use. That night, Kristy, Dr. Gluckman, Dr. Barry Nanders? and I went to an alternative movie – Aguirre, The Wrath of God, directed by Herzog in 1972. It was interesting but was a little out there. It reminded me a little bit of the style of Apocalypse Now, which is a little strong for me. I guess this Herzog guy, who is from Germany, is supposed to be pretty famous.

When I got back, Kavita and Josh, my roommates, were there with Molly, a Stanford anthropology student who has been crashing at our flat a couple of nights a week. She was here last summer as well, and has been here a couple of months this summer, so she really knows her way around. I'm not sure why she stays with us though - she's pretty good friends with Kavita, and I don't know if she has another more permanent place to stay. I know Gill (pronounced "Jill" - she's the administrator of our program) isn't too happy about the situation, and neither are a few other people. Anyways, that night I went a little crazy and made a whole meal of beef short ribs, rice, and sautéed spinach and onions. To be honest, it wasn’t very good – the beef was super tough. I guess that’s what I get for buying the cheapest meat. Next time I’ll make it into a stew or something.

Botswana vs. Tanzania rugby match

When we got back, we were super tired. But we didn’t really have time to rest – we went almost immediately with the rest of the group to a rugby game! I’d never been to a rugby game before, and it was pretty big. It was Botswana vs. Tanzania, and they were playing in one of the two grass stadiums in Botswana (both are in Gaborone). Botswana trounced Tanzania – it was so much fun! They played some awesome music and the crowd was great. There were these teenage girls sitting a few rows in back of us that were so funny… they kept doing these great cheers and were so into the game! It was hard to not get involved, and I was totally rooting for Botswana. When they played the techno-ish music, all of us were dancing in the stands with the crowd. I definitely missed Pete during some of the dancing. They kept on playing this really really good song called “Stand up.” Apparently, it’s by Right Said Fred! Who even knew he was still around? I need to download it. And it’s funny – in the states, the bar closes before the stadium closes, I guess so people don’t drive home drunk. Here, the bar stays open way after the game ends. Most people aren’t driving anyways, I guess, but the definitely make more money that way.

It was cool seeing a rugby game and learning about it too. There are these funny things called scrums… where the two teams basically have a shoving match against each other as a team. It’s sort of like a jump ball in basketball. Whoever gets to the ball in the middle first throws it to someone on their team on the outside. And the scoring is a little tricky, but it’s basically like football in that you have to run it into an endzone. The only passing that is allowed is lateral or behind you, otherwise it’s an off sides call. And when you run into the endzone, it doesn’t count as a score until you touch the ball to the ground. And where you touch the ball to the ground is the point at which you line up at to kick the extra point, so many players try to get to the middle as much as they can before touching the ground. I’m sure I’m butchering the rules, but it was pretty fun to learn.

We also met quite a few people there – they seem to enjoy meeting foreigners, and I think some of them don’t know quite what to make of me, a Chinese woman. Two guys we met were Tanzania fans, and they were so funny. Every time Botswana scored, they ordered another beer, and were like, maybe this will make it better. And after the next score, nope not any better! They're the two guys in striped shirts in the picture. It turned out that one of the guys owns Primi’s (the place we went to dinner two nights ago). Their names were Ronald and something I couldn’t quite make out – it sounded like Adam. They invited us out for drinks at Primi’s, so a few of us went there for dinner after the rugby game. Even Steve Gluckman and Barry Nathans went! It was a ton of fun, and they ordered us so many different shots, especially me at first. But I was getting sick and by the end, I had stopped drinking and was ready to go. It was nice to meet some other people though… they invited us out for other things later, like fishing or going out to other clubs! I don’t think we’ll keep in touch with them that much, but it’s nice to know we have other options. Here are a few more pictures of us and the people we met:

Ronald took this nice picture of Kiona, Kristy and I.

This is Kiona, Thabo, Josh and Lisa.

From top left: Dr. Steve Gluckman (who started the whole Penn in Botswana program), Dr. Barry Nathans (pediatrician), Kristy (med student), Kiona (med student), Lisa (resident), Mike (resident), and Josh (recent Penn grad)