A classic Ronald ride

Finally some photos from one of my Sunday bike rides. they continue to be a highlight.  One of our group is a young Dutch teacher who takes us on these fantastic, single track, technical rides. we always know when Ronald is the leader. i would never be able to get us back to a main road because we wind through villages, fields, dodging herds of cows. they are some of my favorite rides - especially when it is muddy.

Here is the famous Ronald in the middle of the picture. Half my age, super athlete, nice as can be.

my first fall since i started riding with the group - amazingly enough. Ronald rides really fast on these technical paths - it is some work to keep up, but that is part of the overall challenge for me. love it!

some local 'riders'. bicycle is a major form of transportation here. the locals are in no hurry. they must think we are so crazy in our fancy outfits, riding fast and furious.

"Hardship Post"

I am working in what is considered a hardship post. what exactly does that mean? some days i think i have it so good, i am offended this is considered 'hardship' and then there are all those other days.

Case in point. i arrive home from Minneapolis on a Friday evening (after COB of course for all you DOS people reading this) to find this very large crate in the middle of my living room. the shippers thought it was a great idea to leave it here for me - and scratched the marble floor in the process.

Another joy here. eServices. if you look closely at the photo below, you will see little black dots. those are black flies. now imagine what you see covering every surface of our secondary bathroom. it took me 3 months and multiple requests to get this taken care of. it is frustrating as a former home owner. i would have had this taken care of within the week.

 Ultimately i have little to complain about. We are lucky to be in Ouagadougou. Oh right, but i am talking about what makes it hard... the oppressive heat, not being able to find grocery staples for weeks-months, crazy traffic, donkey carts blocking your way, nobody speaks English :), having to wash and sanitize all produce and the worse thing of all.... no dishwasher.

Not so bad huh!

CALS - Minneapolis

I have just spent the past week in lovely Minneapolis.  I feel a bit bad, because I was badmouthing it here before I came (because it is one of 'those' middle states). Of course i had never been here, but being a PNW snob, i felt it my right/duty to judge it as inferior.  It rivals Portland (at least at this time of year). lots of water, bridges, biking/running trails, amazing buildings and a great mix of old and new. i really like it here.

The course has also been good (Comprehensive Advanced Life Support) - a lot of review of managing emergency situations and practicing procedures (fresh cadavers!!). all of this makes me very glad my background is in emergency medicine. it is frightening to think about what my resources are in Ouagadougou and how i would manage a truly bad medical condition. I realize how much i have taken for granted all of the resources and ancillary support i have become used to, working in the US. now i will just go back and keep my fingers crossed that i will never have to use any of this knowledge.

a little side note about the fresh cadavers. can i just say (to anyone listening), that the people who donate their bodies to science cannot be thanked enough for what they provide us learners. there is just no way to compare practicing procedures on an animal and/or plastic mannequin, compared to a human. it hurts my heart to work on these folks and think about the life that has ended and the loss that is felt by their family and friends, but i hope that they can realize what heroes these people are for giving us the chance to learn.

as for photos. once again, i could fill this entry with pictures of this beautiful city, but you can just look it up on google and the photos would probably be better than any of mine. except for this one...

My crew. These are the people i went through orientation with (Cece, Jerry and Kayle) a year ago. it has been fantastic beyond words to spend the past week with them. I don't know how we lucked out and were brought together. i feel like they are my family (and Jerry likes to call us his wives).

I head out tomorrow. It will be good to be home. I miss Otto and i know there is plenty of work to be done waiting for me.

bad luck

i think i am cursed when it comes to getting items delivered to me in Ouagadougou. Anyone following this blog knows my pain related to getting my car...6 months after it was shipped!! so then i had my consumables shipment (also sent through Abidjan...bad idea). so, it finally arrives 6 months later. but the good news, is that i now have a real camera (no more iphone avant garde art). I have plenty of comfort food with my consumables and even some photos with my new camera.

Proof I bike every Sunday. Here is the wonderful group i bike with at one of our many regular coffee (sometimes beer) stops.

Otto in our current Koulouba house. posing for our new camera photo shoot practice.

Otto's buddy getting a haircut at the local shop. I couldn't convince Otto to get a hair cut there at the same time.

Random street scene. classic Africa!

Back to school

Can't believe we have already been home nearly a month, but then again, Portland seems like ages ago.  We are getting back into the school routine. Sixth grade is much harder - well, more work anyway, not really that hard.  It has been a bit of an adjustment for Otto after a pretty easy year in 5th grade. He even went so far to say that he is mad at his 5th grade teacher for not giving more homework. He is now officially in middle school, so he gets homework in all of his classes pretty much every day.  He is also in band (not by choice...) and chose to play the trombone. he is pretty good - not as painful to listen to him play as i thought it might be!

Work has been more than its normal busy since i returned, because my nurse is on her vacation (for a month). i have been doing everything. some days it is hard to believe i was ever a nurse - but i guess it is like riding a bike. Still, I HATE giving injections - and of course our flu shot stock came in the week after i got back.

After nearly 6 months we finally got our consumables shipment (and after many, many emails...some showing my frustration). A couple of boxes worth of stuff had expired, or will very soon. Fortunately the shipping company is going to go out and purchase and then ship those items to me.  My beer arrived in good condition though and i have been enjoying my yummy IPA.  We also got our new camera, so hopefully i will be taking better photos to put on the blog.

My bike riding Sundays continue and now that we have had a whole new influx of people at post, there are about 30 people signed up and interested in doing the weekly ride. the only problem is we have needed to split into 2 groups, the gentle ride Saturday and the Sunday 'regular' ride (read: FAST and long). We have some good riders here (which i like because it pushes me), and it hard to manage all of us together with the different abilities.  So far it seems to be working - those of us in the regular group are taking turns going out with the Saturday group to show them some of the routes. I went out with the gentle group today to show them the ride we call the Brewery Tour.  And now i get to ride again tomorrow - what could be better.

Lets see if i have any pictures...

My best travel buddie

One of the consumables boxes i received. not bad considering it traveled all the way from Portland, got stuck on a broken ship in Amsterdam for nearly a month and then sat in Abidjan for a month. Even my bag of chocolate chips were in good condition on arrival. just would have been much nicer to get it in June as originally promised...

More Portland love

There has been a food cart explosion in Portland.  somewhere around 500 of these i am told. i have mixed feelings about them (i have had some good and some completely mediocre food, have had to wait 15 minutes a couple of times). and where do they wash their hands? but i couldn't pass this one by with the lovely garden sitting area and bright cart. a great place to enjoy this beautiful summer day and get in some people watching.

Aaahhh Portland

 

Being away definitely makes me appreciate being here even more - if that is possible. i spent the first week in Eastern Oregon. recovering from a very bad cold i got the day before i left Ouaga (I still dont have my voice back fully). then went camping at Clear lake near Sisters. it was so beautiful there - glass clear lake (way too cold for me to swim in!!), amazing hiking to 2 spectacular waterfalls.  Otto and his dad, my brother and dad all came.  i love being outside!!

the weather has been gorgeous here - after what sounds like a less than summery summer. I like to think i brought the sunshine with me.  We went to the Oregon coast for a day trip (Tillamook) and had a picnic on the beach and ran around collecting rocks with Otto. I have been staying at my mom's place - a bit far out of Portland, but it is very nice to have a chance to hand out with her. I have been lucky in that Otto's dad has been working quite bit, so i have been able to spend plenty of time with Otto. Otto has also had a chance to reconnect with his Portland friends (even Liam who now lives in Yuma). I have been catching up with friends. Visited the clinic where i most recently worked - i miss all my work friends/colleagues.  Did a great bike ride yesterday and visited my neighbors.  Life is good in PDX, esp when you dont have a job.

I thought about taking pictures, but i am sure a quick google image search for Portland would show photos much better than any i would take. so instead i have just one photo to share that really describes one of the reasons why i love it here.

Mmmmm, breakfast at Gravy

I have been floating between coffee houses, favorite restaurants and brew pubs - 3 weeks is not long enough in Portland to cover all the places i love.  This is the good life.