Going towards Easter – and a study?

Even though having gone through some stress lately, I realized I don’t want to be anywhere but here at the moment. Maybe me having taken so long to update You is one of the signs that life (and people!) are treating me well this side of the equator.

Tuesday, 02 April: What can it mean when our lab boss Jean-Thierry suddenly calls me with “I need You!”? Well, my German knowledge was in demand for translating one of the machine’s manual. In old orthography… but apparently it works fine. In the evening Sarah and I went to CERMEL Fitness Club because I enjoy exercising after a long day so much! Or because Sarah and Yorrick from our lab made me… thanks though.

Wednesday, 03 April: Dearie moved into her new place, and today was our little relaxed house warming, so Sarah, Yorrick and I paid her a visit. Finally, someone to spend time with outside CERMEL premises!

Thursday, 04 April: Today I finally had the plumber come to do some maintenance – which is difficult when there’s no running water, but today we had some.

Friday, 05 April: I guess Your girl was named competent to read Plasmodium slides today! (malaria diagnostic by microscopy)

Saturday, 06 April: What better way to spend Your weekend than by doing some much needed grocery shopping in the heat? We rewarded ourselves with picking up another clothing order, see for example my new shorts. They immediately had to be inaugurated, so Sarah and I had dinner at Dearie’s before heading to Summit. Where else to be on a Friday or Saturday night? And to my German friends who wonder why I’m suddenly partying so much: They just dance way better here, sorry guys.

Sunday, 07 April: Partying doesn’t keep me from attending church though, one has to set her priorities straight. Johannes took me to St. Francois, the local Catholic church which has an actual “European style” church building and a very lovely choir. Afterwards we went to Refuge again with Sarah and met some other CERMEL people there as You might see in the picture. To finish off the weekend, we were invited to a farewell dinner of our housemate Vahid who was leaving. For some odd reason we couldn’t get a taxi, I’m still searching for an explanation why they didn’t stop for us. Well, we do have feet to walk on and finally ended up having a very lovely conversation, as well with Georgelin.

Thursday, 11 April: At noon, with a hefty delay due to the rain (apparently, we are all made of sugar and can’t go outside when it rains), there was a CERMEL women’s meeting. You’ll find out later what for. In the evening Sarah’s colleague Térence celebrated his birthday at a bar, which was quite nice, as I got to hang out with colleagues from the Parasitology department that I don’t normally see. The whole day was a bit complicated by the Airtel mobile network having completely broken down.

Friday, 12 April: After a while I went out to the field again, if only for the morning. It is really not so easy to find patients with not everybody having a phone, numbers not passing, people constantly moving… I always appreciate the opportunity to go see the area a bit. In the evening we continued celebrating Térence’s birthday. Guess where on a Friday night? Summit.

Saturday, 13 April: Because we had never seen it, my German crew (Johannes and Sarah) and I went to see company soccer training before having a chilled day of doing next to nothing. Quite odd, but we all were just lacking any kind of energy. In the evening, there was yet another farewell dinner. Luckily, Carle is only moving away from campus but still working with us.

Sunday, 14 April: For Palm Sunday we had a mini procession and the loveliest service with all kind of music and several choirs. Afterwards, Johannes and I spontaneously spent hours walking the town. We went to town to get new SIM cards (Airtel is not living up to what it promised), got some lemonade, ice cream, walked around the island… My phone said we almost walked 14km, my feet hurt, my skin bronzed. It was so good! We ended off with a movie night. This was just the purest kind of Sunday.

Monday, 15 April: After work I went out with Dearie. Socializing and quality time is just bliss, not much need to explain.

Tuesday, 16 April: Yes, it’s also a thing in Gabon! Dearie spent her on-call duty at my place and we got to finally enjoy the new final Game of Thrones season debut.

Wednesday, 17 April: Having been announced the afternoon before, we got a day off for Women’s Rights Day. Well, not really off, as that means the lunch break for the next working days will be shortened. Somebody please explain this system to me? Anyway, I had a little work to do and also learned that I would have to redo my Loa slide reading assessment (diagnosis of a worm disease by microscopy). Maybe it’s just my destiny, just as with my driver’s licence, to do everything twice but then to be good at it 😉 Sarah and I went to the tailor yet again to order something for the 1st of May, You’ll know why. We had some visit and then Sarah, Johannes and I went out for dinner once more.

Thursday, 18 April: Workwise and generally this was such a productive and enjoyable day! I even managed to go to sports out of my own free will.

You see, a lot is about to happen and also, I’m settled enough to see about it. I wouldn’t have thought it, but the past few days have been almost relaxed. This will pass again though, I’m sure.

See You, take care,

Doro

071 days in Gabon