Soldering and Cute Monkeys

I have just finished the first few days of classes at the training center and starting to develop a routine for the day, which makes the transition a bit easier.

I wake up at 6:30 to shower. The first few days Neema, my host mom, prepared a bucket with hot water for me to shower with since the faucets only run cold water. Today, I decided to just take a cold shower. It was alarming, refreshing, but most of all very quick.  After showering, Mikkel and I prepare our tea as Neema and her sisters make breakfast food for the family.  I eat breakfast, prepare a lunch, and then Lughanu drives us along with some other Engineering World Health (EWH) students to the training center.  We take Swahili until lunchtime with a tea break at 10.  During lunchtime we have been playing beach volleyball on the campus with the group, and also soccer and basketball at the end of the day after classes.  The afternoon consists of medical devices lectures from our professor Larry and labs led by our group coordinator Alex.  In lab, we built an extension cord and worked on soldering and electrical connections.  

Soldering practice, extension cord, and Jennie and Lea soldering

The classes are extremely fast-paced and I will need to learn a lot to be prepared for working in Nkoaranga hospital in four weeks.  After class, I walk or get a ride back to the homestay where Mikkel and I hang out and talk with Lughanu about soccer and Swahili or play with Lulu before dinner.  Neema is a chef extraordinaire – today was fish, avocado, rice, noodles, beans, bananas, delicious sauces, cucumber, and passion/mango juice Neema prepares herself daily. In Tanzania, one eats with their hands, so I have started to do that today. Lughanu tells me you “feel more” when you eat with your hands, a more wholesome and complete experience. I agree and it is quite enjoyable, albeit very messy.

My host father Lughanu spends lots of time with Mikkel and I. He told us today to think of him not as “baba” (father) but “kaka” (brother).  We laugh a lot with Lughanu and he is an expressive and exciting person. Lughanu is an accountant, but still holds a job as a prison guard. This post was rather long and mostly not exciting I’m sure so I will end with cute pictures of baby monkeys.  Monkeys live around the campus at the training center and will climb on trees and rooftops throughout the day – makes it plenty hard to pay attention during class!