A Jay-Z/Beatles mash up kind of day

Tuesday

I woke up this morning and quickly after got a text from my attending saying that he was sicker than he had ever been in his life. So I went downstairs to talk to the rest of team and we decided that I would go to Black Lion by myself (the rest of the team was going to Cure for the day).

I went to Black Lion and met up with the pediatric surgeons. We did the one case or at least half of it. I really pushed to finish it but the Ethiopian doctor refused to let me. This was disappointing at best, however there was nothing that I could do. I was as forceful as I felt appropriate and then I had to let it go. The cultural climate of this country doesn't seem to allow women to make the rules.
I still can't decide how I feel about the fact that we listened to jay-z hard knock life on loop during the procedure.

Anesthesia in this country can only be described as terrifying. Many patients are not monitored (meaning no one in the operating room knows what the patient's vital signs or breathing is like.). I will spare you the horrible details, but bad things have happened.

After the case I walked back from the hospital and stopped in shops, bartered, and talked to people. I have always thought that bartering is entertaining and a great way to get people talking. However, when the starting price is a dollar it makes it tough. The only clear solution is to buy more! Kidding of course (my mother reads this blog and she just let out a sigh that my sister in NYC could hear). In truth I probably only need one fluorescent striped hat made of horse hair.

After lunch I went to the national museum, which began with a TSA worthy sexual assault. The lady who checked me definitely did a rather aggressive boob squeeze followed by a groin check. Maybe that is what I get for going to the museum alone.

After that cheap thrill, I headed into the museum to visit Lucy, the 3.3 million 3 foot tall fossilized wonder that is housed in the basement with her friends Ardie (4 million years old), another dude (5.7 million years old) and Selam the first child (3.3 million years old). Lucy was named after the Beatles song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. The Ethiopians call her Dinknesh which means "wonderful". The fossil part of the museum had animals, tools, a bunch of educational stations. The rest of the museum contains relics and a mixture of religious and modern art. Outside the museum there are extremely active big turtles.

When I finished with the museum I waited outside for a bit and our driver wasn't there. Since I on the tallish side of the equation not to mention white I attracted a lot of attention outside the gates of the museum. Since i was not so sure that i could handle another "frisking" , I called Abdur (our driver) and he had gotten busy with hospital and clinic stuff, so I decided to walk the almost 2 miles back.

The walk was great. A ton of people watching. I went in a couple of grocery stores (bought some banana flavored gum which doesn't sound overly delectable, but it seemed way more interesting than mint). I resisted the snack bar that I passed thinking of the "troubles" that some of the people on the team were currently suffering from.

On the walk I met a little boy who looked like he was about 5 who came up to me after getting permission from his sister and said:
"How are you?" I responded "Great! How are you?" He looked shocked and looked up at his sister for help. She then explained that he had just learned that phrase in school today.

The evening food vote:
Indian: 6
Asian: 6
People who abstained: 2 (only one due to sickness, & my inability to vote for either because both choices were suboptimal)

Arrrrrgggggghhhhhhh!!!!

Pics:
We gave out coloring books at the hospital
The national museum
Lucy
Turtle!
My walk back
A shoe shiner
An now deserted slum
The prime ministers house