Workshop, Workshop, Workshop

One full week of the workshop down and another to go. Yesterday I got the opportunity to stop stapling and preparation of the workshop CDs (to be passed out to the students at the end of the workshop) and got to listen to some of the talks. A senior grant officer from BMGF--can I please have your job?--spoke on clinical trial design and the malaria vaccine pipeline. In small groups we--I actually participated this time--put together our own TPP (target product plan) for a transmission blocking vaccine in Phase IIa trial. P assigned me to the TBV (transmission blocking vaccine) group because of PapaBear--my Dad worked on a transmission blocking vaccine for year at the NIH. We were given about an hour to do it and present a powerpoint with it. Let's just say that it was a hectic hour. People spend months on this stuff and I wasn't really impressed with or proud of the result. However, the exercise got me thinking, especially about possible thesis topics.

The general theme of the week has been exhaustion. For some reason waiting around for that burst of urgency is extremely tiring. I'm sure the pizza and the party that followed over at our place hasn't helped. I was the first to excuse myself from the get together we hosted last night which made me feel a little like the first girl that falls asleep at a sleepover.

(Home)sick

Thank goodness for Pepto (and B for bringing Pepto like an experienced and well-prepared traveler)! My stomach has been very mad at me the last couple of days. The combination of the GI problems and the heat and the demands of the workshop have really worn on me. Of course, it was only a matter of time before the stomach problems kicked in but the coincidence with the workshop has proved embarrassing. I clued B and T-Man in and within a few hours the faculty all took an interest in my condition. Unfortunately, I fear that I will forever be known as that "intern girl that was sick all of the workshop."

At dinner at SUASA with a number of the faculty, each put in their suggestion about what I should eat. I was thinking of a vegetable curry with rice but they suggested just plain rice. So dinner on Wednesday was just that, rice. Not going to lie, at this point I'm pretty sick of rice. And SUASA. And Oasis. And Dragonaire. Crunchy vegetable roll at Kinya with JC and C-Bear and Pinkberry with P would be pretty awesome right about now. 42 days until I return to the States...not that I'm counting or anything...

It's funny how being sick brings out the baby in me. I just want to go home and be in my non-mosquito netted bed.

More Pizza!

So it's finally here. After months of planning, because in Tanzania everything takes months, the East African Regional Training Workshop is finally here. (You can read more about it here) I've been looking forward to interacting with the faculty and the students, and having something to stress me out a little. My time--mostly with regards to my internship--here so far has been relatively stress free so a little nervous energy was exciting. B gave a presentation on sample size calculation. Apart from being fun and nice, she's also crazy smart--especially when it comes to biostats.

Most of the faculty arrived yesterday and we went for a dinner at Dragonaire--twice in one week!!! The ride there and back was part of the fun. I rode in the back of the truck in the flat bed. Luckily P went slow on the unmarked speed bumps and on the side "road" to Dragonaire. One of the workshop faculty members tried to talk me out of Med school. Not happening. High on my list of things to do while I am here is start on my post-bac program applications. Apparently I still haven't learned the garlic-in-moderation lesson and paid for it dearly with a weird sort of stomach ache all of last night. The faculty all talked a lot of science...lucky I am so cute because I certainly couldn't keep up with them.

Washing the Mane

So today was hair washing day. Anyone that knows me well, or has even seen an adequate pictures, knows that I've got very high maintenance hair. When I broke my arm freshman year, my poor roommate had to help me control it. She can vouch for me on this one. One of my biggest worries coming to Tanzania was maintaining my hair. Sure, I brought the largest bottle of conditioner I could find at K-Mart but the lack of water pressure has required a little more creativity on my part when it comes to the hair washing situation.

I can't complain about the new house. It's clean, quiet--except for what I think are some rodents scratching in the walls, I woke up to it this morning, heard it in the kitchen when I was preparing breakfast, and again when I was in the shower. As I have described previously, the shower is more like a hose with less water pressure. Thankfully, the water is warm--but only if you turn on the hot water switch, B. I thought it might be a little more difficult than at NORAD and I was definitely correct. I don't know how long the whole thing took but now I have a cramp in my shoulder and neck. Good thing I don't have to do this everyday. Regardless, I'm going to have to come up with a better method.

Still Sneezy

My allergies (I refuse to admit that I might have a cold) are still terrible and so I decided to opt out of a hike with T-Man and B. Our other house-mate, C, went to Dar to help with Saba Saba events so I had the new place to myself.I spent a relaxing Saturday sleeping and reading What is the What, and eating a lot. When two of C's friends came over to pick up their laundry around 5, I was still in my pajamas (Like mother, like daughter I guess).

On Saturdays we go to Hotel Oasis for Indian food, but I hadn't been since my very first day in Morogoro. Will, Dundy, and I headed over there, planning to meet T-Man and B over there. We ordered drinks and because they get pretty much the same thing every week, Dundy ordered. Still no sign of T-Man and B and we started to wonder if they were actually coming. Should we eat the rest (even though we were already TOTALLY stuffed)? Several phone calls later we heard there was another miniature disaster at the lab; one of the students from the upcoming workshop was having trouble getting his ticket at the bus station. Meanwhile, my allergies (I swear, it is not a cold) were getting worse by the minute.

By the time we got back to the house (pictures coming soon), I was exhausted and totally full. One pseudoephedrine and liter of water later I was out for the night. A busy two weeks ahead with the workshop. Looking forward to being busier!