On establishing routine and killing lizards

So, I’m sitting here at 9pm, outside by the so called “wi-fi building” (only called so by me) at 28°C. Tee-hee to everyone freezing at below 10°C and calling that spring. At least You don’t have to protect Yourselves against mosquitoes, they finally discovered me.

It’s been another week, so here’s what I’ve been up to:

Tuesday, 12 February: I’m growing more into my research work. Well, it might still take some time, but at least I feel well in my office. I’m seated between a local physician and one from Nigeria, and they are quite good company. Also, I’m getting more organized with household stuff. As there was still no gas for the stove, Johannes and I carried the empty bottle up the road to exchange it, unsuccessfully. But later, we could convince the admin lady to organize gas for us, which will be quite nice. Going out every night kills a lot of time… We ended up spending the evening with another Nigerian physician who is just here for a while to observe how clinical trials are being conducted in Lambaréné. In the picture You can see an atanga, the fruit’s German name translates to “African plum”, which You eat cooked, e.g. with baguette.

Wednesday, 13 February: At least for now, I have to walk to the administration building frequently which leads me across the Albert Schweitzer Hospital premises. If it wasn’t so far (well, 10mins…), it would quite picturesque. And hey, the paths are roofed as sun-protection. There’s cooking gas now! I’ll still take me being new to the place as an excuse to go out for dinner often for a while though.

Thursday, 14 February: Highlight of the day – We had tap water!!! For like 8 hours straight. I can’t quite grasp this water problem in the rain (!) forest, but apparently, it’s due to the supplier. Anyways, as work is only 2mins away and starts at 9am, I’m trying to be healthy and started to do sports in the mornings now. Routine is key to making a place home, I think.

Friday, 15 February: As this was Lilith’s last weekend, we went to la terrasse in Isaac again to have some very good street food. Luckily, I remembered to take a photo before eating this time, because me eating a fish here still lucks very much like a massacre. Another massacre: The lizard I accidentally killed. Coming home, my door was “stuck”. When I pulled harder a little lizard fell down my step and looked at me from dying eyes. I’m sorry little friend, I think You were cute. Props go out to Gerrit for being a very discreet gravedigger. It’s very enjoyable how many animals can be seen here. Our campus is crowded with little lizards, there’s different bird species on the hospital grounds… I can’t name them, but I’ll try to take pictures of them. I’ll leave out the mice and insects though.

Saturday, 16 February: After sleeping forever, I was just so tired, Johannes and I went to do some shopping. My room has a doormat now, so it’s basically a home, right? We then got stuck at the tailor’s shop due to the rain which wasn’t so bad, because I got to order my first custom-made pants made from pagne (a fabric with local patterns, not a loincloth!). The water came back again! And spoiler alert: It’s still there. So maybe the supply is going back to normal. In the evening we celebrated Lilith’s farewell by baking some pizza and going to “Summit”, a night club. This was a quite remarkable experience… Let’s say it includes a tall mirror that You face as Your dance partner. Very weird. Still fun.

Sunday, 17 February: My colleague Dearie, Johannes and I were very commendable this Sunday and got up early to attend an 8am service at Atongo-Wanga – we’re still not sure what we think about being anointed with olive oil. Afterwards we went to a fruit shop which I was very excited about – While many booths especially on the markets offer some vegetables, fruits are rather rare and allegedly mostly imported due to a small domestic agriculture. I can say it wasn’t the cheapest purchase. Another treat that I also got there are the peanuts that You get everywhere here, really to my taste. In the afternoon, the tiredness kicked in for a while. Still I read a bit in my guide, to give me some background knowledge about history, flora, fauna and touristic sites. The fatigue was instantly gone though, when Gerrit suggested to swim the Ogooué river downstream to a bar. As I really like swimming, I was of course all in. Is it maybe odd that there were no other people in this blue (rather brownish) stream? Were we warned of the hippo? Did people take pictures of those weird white guys swimming in the river? Yes. Was it fun though? Yes. And they said the hippos live further upstream. Don’t miss out on our latest compilation:

Monday, 18 February: Today was quite a productive day for me workwise – We made some progress towards the study that I’m assigned to, I think. Furthermore, I started my lab training for learning how to read malaria slides. And I wrote up this entry for You 😉 Lilith left today and Julian had his farewell function, so I might already have to prepare myself to be more independent soon. Nothing I haven’t done before fortunately.

I can’t believe I’ve been here for almost two weeks now, as I’m far from being settled. While I think I’m getting by quite well, I am still very exhausted. Climate (I’ve been sweating by the bucketful today), unfamiliar surroundings, work that I don’t know how to do yet… “Ça va aller”, it’s gonna be well though. Please reach out, I love to hear from You.

See You, take care,

Doro

012 days in Gabon

#Gabun #Doktorarbeit #doctorat #Ankommen #Routine #research #exploring